Sniper PvP Guide by Express

[Zoidrinali]

never been one for min maxing myself. Personally never found my current setup a problem

[Defiantt]

NoTomorrow, Can you post your gear setup? I have full War Hero gear,but my stats are lacking.

[NoTomorrow]

NoTomorrow, Can you post your gear setup? I have full War Hero gear,but my stats are lacking.

 

I don't have an armory, but I can quickly tell you these stats:

102,5% ranged accuracy (with marksmanship accuracy talent)

41,15% ranged crit chance

605 ranged bonus damage

75% crit chance multiplier

19600 HP without the engineering endurance talent.

no alacrity.

 

something like 1300 expertise (i don't remember exactly, my both weapon crystals are power instead of expertise)

 

I rarely do ambushes beyond 5500 damage, but i think it's pretty decent.

Edited December 28, 2012 by NoTomorrow

[Quangus]

Nice guide.

 

Cant wait for the part about pwning sentinels/marauders...

[NoTomorrow]

Nice guide.

 

Cant wait for the part about pwning sentinels/marauders...

 

Hey Quangus!! well, finally someone i know that can help me write a guide about snipers vs marauders I can explain rage, but carnage and annihilation needs your expertise (no pun intnded )

[Baconfingers]

I've been experimenting with some hybrid builds, so I'll give my $.02.

 

MM/Engi (23/16/0+2 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bcrddMRRZbI0roR.2) was horrible. I think it's because I'm very rusty with the MM style of play, but it seems to me that going for Imperial Methodology is entirely unnecessary for MM. I feel like going for Imperial Methodology causes MM to lose too much talent-wise. IM doesn't work as well as I though here, because MM is mostly using EP+Ambush to kill people and the extra damage from Cluster Bombs was going to waste. That being said, I'm a larger fan of MM/Engi hybrid builds that pick up Interrogation Probe and the snare on it.

 

Leth/Engi (0/16/23+2 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400ZbI0rRoZGbbkrMhd.2) This is my favorite spec for Sniper. I will preface this build by saying the mileage isn't as good the more War Hero one gets. Not for any lack of damage, instead because the damage is so great that targets will die with 2-3 cluster bombs left. It plays just like a full Lethality build, but now you have the option to do massive burst with EP+Cull. I don't think any spec is capable of doing as much burst as this one is (MM probably can do more, though it is less reliable due to white damage). There is a huge loss of survivability, though from my experiences most Sniper deaths come from a zerg, so losing out on survivability talents wasn't a huge deal for me. In most cases I can just outrace my attackers on DPS, and if I can't then they probably had a healer or had to use every CD possible. I usually put the two extra points into Adhesive Corrosives, but they can go anywhere you want them.

 

Play it like full Lethality, but use EP and IP on the burst target (healer, ball carrier, etc) before culling. It isn't so much about AoE DoT spreading as it is about single-target. Generally with this spec I use SoS right after Cull to get the last Cluster Bombs to pop. I don't think I ever use Snipe or Ambush as this spec, though I probably need to work Ambush in more. Snipe, on the other hand, is entirely unnecessary; you have neither the energy nor the GCDs to be casting Snipe.

 

This spec isn't for rateds, by any stretch of the imagination. Any competent tech cleanser will shut you down completely. However, I wouldn't play anything other than this for a fresh 50 Sniper. Recruit gear is so pathetic on both damage and survivability that playing a more 'tanky' build just isn't a viable option. full Engi and Ballistic Dampers isn't going to do anything when you have 14k HP and low Expertise. This spec turns you from glass into something resembling a glass cannon. Engineering is still overall better than this spec, but I'd put this spec as more of a 'have fun' or 'I'm a fresh 50 and I want to actually do a noticeable amount of damage'.

 

Again, I don't think this spec is better than Engineering (I certainly think it's better than MM, but I'm severely biased against MM), but it's a hell of a lot of fun to melt though people like butter. This spec was awesome back in January and I still think it's awesome now.

[CJNJ]

For the MM/Engi hybrid I believe you are supposed to go EP+SoS, not EP+Ambush. Just going off of what you do for engi tree. Just by looking at the spec I would go EP+SoS+Ambush+FT. Things should be dead by then. My friends ran this spec before the changes to sniper volley had happened, it was much better for energy management back then

 

The lethality/engi hybrid I feel has the best theoretical burst, but takes too long to set up for pvp instances. Great damage but it takes too long. Wouldn't be a bad idea to use it when you are a fresh, but with my luck other people would be dead by the time I could cull, then I got to reapply all 3 dots on someone else... Think it's more worth it to just go full engi or MM at that point

[Baconfingers]

For the MM/Engi hybrid I believe you are supposed to go EP+SoS, not EP+Ambush. Just going off of what you do for engi tree. Just by looking at the spec I would go EP+SoS+Ambush+FT. Things should be dead by then. My friends ran this spec before the changes to sniper volley had happened, it was much better for energy management back then

 

The lethality/engi hybrid I feel has the best theoretical burst, but takes too long to set up for pvp instances. Great damage but it takes too long. Wouldn't be a bad idea to use it when you are a fresh, but with my luck other people would be dead by the time I could cull, then I got to reapply all 3 dots on someone else... Think it's more worth it to just go full engi or MM at that point

 

Yeah, that's what I was doing, but I always wanted a juicy Ambush to pop EP. I still don't like Sniper Volley at all. I have a hard time seeing how it's better than getting IM, but full MM is on my list of specs to try, even if it is the last.

 

As Lethgineer I never set up full burst unless the target absolutely has to die (ball carrier) or I know they will live long enough to pop some bombs (rdps). Setting up full burst isn't too hard on these targets, since no one is dpsing them or they absolutely need to die so the energy/CD loss isn't an issue. A vast majority of the time I'm just throwing poisons and culling, sometimes all 3 dots on a particularily tough target. If I need to be conservative with energy I'll use EP+SoS. I guess I'm just super conservative with my EP CD so I didn't have any problems wasting CDs. I certainly think it's better in general that full Leth, unless the entire team can cleanse DoTs.

 

Engineering is by far the best spec. Well, Plasma Probe is the best spec, but whatever. Burst in Engi is better than I thought. Maybe not as good as MM or Leth, but the added survivability (when gear is good enough for it to matter) and Plasma Probe is just insane. I miss the damage of Lethgineer, but every time I interrupt caps with PP I get all warm and fuzzy inside.

 

I'm seriously against MM in PvP. The damage is not as good as Lethality or Engineering (MM may post the biggest numbers, but the damage is super easy to stop compared to Engi and Leth), the survivability is lower than Engi, and it has nowhere near the utility as full Engi. Then again, I'm advocating janky Engi hybrids, so I can't say much against playing MM for the playstyle.

[Krayshawn]

Yeah, that's what I was doing, but I always wanted a juicy Ambush to pop EP. I still don't like Sniper Volley at all. I have a hard time seeing how it's better than getting IM, but full MM is on my list of specs to try, even if it is the last.

 

I'm seriously against MM in PvP. The damage is not as good as Lethality or Engineering (MM may post the biggest numbers, but the damage is super easy to stop compared to Engi and Leth), the survivability is lower than Engi, and it has nowhere near the utility as full Engi. Then again, I'm advocating janky Engi hybrids, so I can't say much against playing MM for the playstyle.

 

Sniper Volley is excellent, In can be used in nearly every altercation. IMO the reduced CD on SoS is just a bonus. The Energy Regeneration is extremly helpful and the alacrity, at times, has saved my in burst moments, the 1.3 second ambush/snipe. Sniper volley is overall the better than IM in my opinion because on the way to the top you grab the 60% less AoE damage while entrenched plus the lower CD on Entrench. No more death by smash, and you can tank through a morter volley...

[Svii]

I'm seriously against MM in PvP. The damage is not as good as Lethality or Engineering (MM may post the biggest numbers, but the damage is super easy to stop compared to Engi and Leth), the survivability is lower than Engi, and it has nowhere near the utility as full Engi. Then again, I'm advocating janky Engi hybrids, so I can't say much against playing MM for the playstyle.

 

I do much better in full (33+/x/x) MM than any Hybrid or Lethality build. Especially the awful 16/2x hybrid. I did play it for a couple weeks, and it was fun. It's actually very nice in 1v1 when you feel like LoS/kite'ing to win. Ultimately, like the above poster, it's prolly better as a fresh 50 when you want to delude your usefulness

 

Do not blind yourself looking at the scoreboard, DoTs and AoE inflate your (useless) DPS. MM is primarily single target, so 400k MM damage is usually more game changing than 400k Eng or Leth DPS. Just today I was top damage dealer as 35xx MM in about the 8 or 9 WZs I played among a ton of smashers and what not. Kill shots, objectives and minimum deaths were mostly among the top 1-3 of the board as well. Yes, I struggle against tanks, then again they're not my most important targets.

 

It's very much up to your play style. I'm not very patient, so DoT's is not my thing. I like popping 10-15k inside one GCD, all at once! Full Engineer is the only other build I run these days. Even then, I always miss the MM specific skills, like Diversion and Siege Bunker. Tried running Lethality for a couple days, it was a disaster.. It's just too slow

 

There is one MM/Eng build that I've had great success with; http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400bsrbdRkRrMZrI0b.2

 

No IP dot gives you control, while maintaining the MM burst. Negative side is energy management, you become useless in a long fight.

[Baconfingers]

I'll try MM tonight, then. I got really salty back in January seeing all my awesome abilities getting deflected by everything and went Lethgineer. The new Sniper Volley looks pretty sweet.

 

I don't look at the scoreboard as Engineering. PP is only used to stop objective caps or burst a priority target, never to pad numbers. EMP pulse is super awesome too, but my playstyle doesn't usually let me take advantage of double adrenaline probe.

 

I get the sneaking suspicion that any debate of what spec to play as Sniper will just become 'play what you want/are good at.' I'll probably default to Lethality at some point. I just love seeing that fountain of numbers from Cull.

[NoTomorrow]

Svii i am beginning to believe than Lethality is more dependent on warzone medpacks and adrenals than other specs. I dont like to waste my coms on this stuff in unranked, but when i did, leth seemed suddenly less susceptible to oh crap! moments than before.

 

As for total damage, i tell you this, 450k damage with 35\3\3 is INSANE in terms of how harmful you have been to the enemy team. Lethality to match that would need to do at least +200k

 

the fact that the debates about snipers specs still continue proove that sniper has a very balanced selection of specs. Now if we could only push for 31pts leth with 9% cunning, 10 energy AND ballistic dampers...

Edited December 29, 2012 by NoTomorrow

[Dhrasur]

Hello Express, great guide over here. I consider myself a good player, but it's always refreshing to read about other player thoughts, especially when it's so well organized.

 

I'm too tired to post a lot of useful stuff right now, but I can write about something specific : dueling marauders. Marauder is my main and sniper is one of my 2 alts. Gonna describe what I do with marksman as it is the spec I have the most experience with. I don't like lethality as it inflate numbers, break cc all the *********** time for your whole team and is not as satisfying to play (purely my opinion, I still enjoy it from time to time). Since reading your guide and the comments, I've been inspired to mess around with engineering again, but I won't write about dueling maras with it.

 

Now what I will describe is what can be done in a pure 1v1 duel without any LOS. Picture Dromund Kaas spaceport far away from the objects that could LOS and anyway I ask the marauder to not try to use LOS. I know this is not necessarily what happen in wz, but many of the things I'll describe can be applied in some way.

 

Admit he starts from more than 30m. It's also possible to win more than 50% of the duels if it's 0m start distance but I feel too lazy to write about this right now.

 

You should already be in cover, if he's smart, like real smart, he's gonna wait for your snap shot proc to expire. Let's admit he does that. When he comes toward you, your first ability should be leg shot. Shatter shot is not worth it in my opinion, the distance lost from using it is too big. As you all know, leg shot won't build resolve and root him for 5 seconds. If you're really fast, you can re-enter cover while he is rooted and use snap shot with laze target. It won't break the root if you do it before 2 seconds pass. Then I recommend using ambush. You could use explosive probe since it won't break the root, but I don't like that he can notice it on his bar and pop his CD, both or just one of them. You could also put orbital strike on yourself. This simple opener give you such a huge advantage, it's ridiculous.

 

Keep in mind if he pops his cc breaker on anything but flashbang, flashbang him. That's like autowin. Then you can do orbital strike, explosive probe, ambush(I don't spec into the knockback so he stays into the aoe) and followthrough AND his CD if he has them are ticking away or if he doesn't have them well... hello burst. This is also why I don't use orbital strike with the initial leg shot and why I like to keep explosive probe. But yeah, in a real wz you often get interference.

 

Pop target acquired for saber ward. You could use it to counter obfuscate but it's 90% accuracy reduction for 6 seconds and often they will do it at the same time as they have saber ward since it's 12s. So my warning sign is more saber ward then obfuscate, when I see obfuscate I'll use cover pulse or my 4s stun usually and grenade and shiv. Ah, also they'll often pop obfuscated when they see the ambush coming, I guess you could afford to interrupt it by moving out of your entrench. Use your cc breaker on force choke btw, his only other cc is a 6s mezz.

 

Against carnage, you could think using dodge to escape carnage is a good idea, but typically they will gore ravage scream or something like that. So if he sees your dodge he will interrupt his ravage and scream at you. If you use your 4s stun instead, he will waste his gore AND ravage. If he breaks it, flashbang and boom. That also let you keep dodge for when he gets you to 30% so you won't die to vicious throw(execute). Carnage mara are tough cause they can camo to free themselves from leg shot at the start, which you should counter by using cover pulse.

 

Against anni, use dodge before he gets his dots on you because that will delay his already backloaded DPS by a lot. Then if you can get away with a stun/root whatever before dodge finish, he's really missing out a lot of his dps.

 

Against rage, it feels silly to recommend anything as you can facetank them with entrench and your cc lol. Siege bunker ftw. I'd warn you against underestimating them though, yah smash is the biggest hitting ability but if you let yourself get ravaged, you're gonna be in trouble anyway!

 

Use diversion when he's rooted or mezzed as you won't lose DPS time since diversion don't do dmg and won't break the root or mezz. Don't use dodge and diversion at the same time! I know it's hard not to pop all CD at the same time when a marauder start bursting you right in your face, but using them at different times reduce his DPS by so much, it's crazy.

 

It's probably obvious, but try not to fill his resolve by chaining cc too fast.

 

Don't forget ballistic dampers! Especially if winning the 1v1 matter, it will make a difference.

 

Snipers are regarded as the counter to mara/sent, but even not so great sent/mara can cause you trouble when there is a lot of stuff going around the wz. Don't expect to faceroll them, even though you are supposed to be their counter. The circumstances will more often than not be in their favor imho. When I'm on my marauder, I typically won't lose to most sniper/gunslingers, but when I'm on my sniper, just to survive one medium skilled marauder will require all my focus and he'll probably get at least 30% to 50% of my HP bar even if he isn't good. If he's good well... it's gonna be painful no matter what you do.

 

Like Express said, sniper need the team to "tank", if they are exposed they just cannot use their tools to their full effect.

 

Lastly, imo, if a mara gets the jump on you, you should use cover pulse right away if you think he's gonna try to kill you hard. Using your 4s will require you to move and not do big dps, although you could use leg shot to extend the time he can't DPS you, but I prefer using cover pulse and having many tools left. He's gonna be rooted and far away from you, then you can do a snap shot and ambush and blablabla.

 

Quick edit : cloak of pain/rebuke will disappear if the mara/sent don't take damage for 6s, so if your CC allows it, you can try to let him waste that CD which give 20% dmg reduction and do some small dmg.

 

I did not reread what I just wrote, so sorry if it's messy. I'm going to stop writing there as it's already a longer post than I thought and not that helpful lol.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Dhrasur

[NoTomorrow]

Impressive work!! I will include it in the guide soon. My problem is that i dont know the damage potential of annihiation and carnage and their typical rotation. ive heard annihilate can do 5k damage. As for good marauders, lets not forget that most of them have been killed many times by snipers before so they certainly learned a lot.

 

The thng is, when fully played to its potential, sniper shoud beat a marauder 1vs1 with builds 35/3/3 and 7/31/3. It takes to:

1. Have a calm stance

2. Be well informed about what abilities counter what, and how to react to his choices.

3. Be able to execute your plan flawlessly.

Edited December 30, 2012 by NoTomorrow

[CJNJ]

Carnage is simple, just make sure you do something to interrupt the mara's Gore because that is their big burst window

 

I do have to admit that if you have a Mara dotted up its generally harder to kill em, because you lose half your CC and the roots are less effective, but still killable from there, just abit more work

[NoTomorrow]

Carnage is simple, just make sure you do something to interrupt the mara's Gore because that is their big burst window

 

I do have to admit that if you have a Mara dotted up its generally harder to kill em, because you lose half your CC and the roots are less effective, but still killable from there, just abit more work

 

I know about gore, but i dont have a plan for their berserk.

[CJNJ]

I know about gore, but i dont have a plan for their berserk.

 

They should only use berserk with gore, so the same applies really.

 

Evasion kills carnage tho, not sure wether it is better to pop it for ravage or berserk tho. Any thoughts?

[Dhrasur]

Carnage is way more dangerous than people think it is imho. They are probably the toughest spec to fight against as a sniper. Annihilation is a pain when he gets the jump from you and you don't see him coming and he manages to put his stacks of dot on you, but if you avoid that, it's not too bad. Carnage can beat you even in the best situation possible, like 30m start distance without LOS.

 

First, the damage outside gore is far from bad. Second, gore CD is 15s. In a pure 1v1, the cc and kiting involved and the CD of the mara will make the fight last long enough for him to have 2 gore. No matter what abilities he uses during gore, it's going to hurt, even if it's massacre without berserk(although of course that's not as bad as any of the other possibilities). Remember that with obfuscate or saber ward, he's gonna get his retaliation proc. That is a relatively low dmg melee attack OFF THE GCD. And since it's off the GCD he can almost always get him during his gore! (gore is also off the gcd).

 

Now you want to mess him up when he's using gore, of course. But that's harder than you'd think it is. When I'm playing carnage, no matter the class I'm against, if I'm about to gore, I will first check if I have the Blood Frenzy buff. Blood Frenzy is a buff that you get when you get an ataru strike proc from your stance. Their spam ability, massacre, let them get an ataru strike automatically. So admit I was unlucky with my hits and I don't have the blood frenzy buff, I can simply do one massacre and I'm going to get it. 1,5s GCD. That is not a long setup for the huge burst incoming. The massacre buff also increase your chance to get ataru strike. He can most probably get 2 ataru strike during gore since gore can proc it, or retaliation, or ravage multiple hits or massacre!

 

I mentionned it in the previous post, but I'll do it again since it might be more clear with the previous explanation. Since I always have blood frenzy ready before gore, I can have my auto crit force scream during gore. My force scream alone will hit for minimum 4,2k, more if I proc the 10% most dmg on rage spender, more if you get to use charge for the vindicator bonus, more if you bloodthirst. But a sniper can avoid charge most of the time and bloodthirst has a 5 minutes CD I think. Still, for the fun of it, imagine he charges to you and has retaliation proc and blood frenzy and execute 10% more dmg buff ready from another skirmish. When the GCD of charge finish he can gore - retaliation - force scream at the same time for about 8k in the best of case. Kinda pulling that number of my *** here.

 

Anyway, I lost track of where I was going again, since I have blood frenzy buff before I gore, no matter what you do, you are gonna get force screamed "if I want to" UNLESS you knockback me really far. Force scream has 10m range. So imagine I'm running toward you and I massacre then use gore and since you are a godlike sniper, you manage to stun me so fast I don't even have time to use on ability. I can still use my cc breaker and instantly force scream for 4,2k minimum + the dmg of gore. And maybe you just filled my resolve.

 

In wz, when I'm carnage, I will often use something even simpler. Since there is a million cc in this game, you'll often waste gore cause a sorc is happily using overload randomly because why not! (Imo lot of the bad players love to randomly throw their cc everywhere for some strange reason, you can easily see that a marauder is bad when he charge and follow it up with force choke as anni or carnage lol) So what I do is I massacre, wait for the GCD and gore instant force scream. That's minimum 5k dmg, probably more like 6k, but I try to give the lowest numbers possible cause I notice a lot of the people on the forums tend to use the higher circumstantial numbers as a standard. For example, a smash is never gonna hit for 7k against geared players, and mine(I don't have min/maxed power, but I still have a lot) will hit more around 5,6k against sages, maybe 5,8k. That's against the squishiest class.

 

Anyway this post is already huge so I'll try to no ramble too much. Other really important stuff.

 

If you use leg shot and try to run away, he can use deadly throw to root your for 3 seconds. Always keep in mind his force camo break all root and slow! A little known thing is that when you are carnage spec, your obfuscate has 10m range... be careful and watch your debuff bar if you're gonna use ambush after a knockback for example.

 

Finally, you guys mentioned berserk, well there is no real counter to it. Except being out of range! Cause berserk buff last long enough for him to be able to use it.

 

Like I explain above, he can relatively easily always use force scream with gore for minimum 5k each time and he'll probably be able to use that combo twice. Then if he gets to use ravage during gore, you're in trouble, same for berserk and these 2 things do a lot of damage even without gore.

 

So ah sorry to finish the post like that, but I guess my conclusion is just that snipers are ****ed against carnage LOL

 

I'll try to get my guildies to fight my sniper to see if I can find a way, but I can tell you in warzone I don't find snipers to be as scary when I'm carnage and if I decide to kill one, I'll usually be able to do it.

 

Btw I was writing this with marksman in mind, but I don't think the 2 other specs can do that much better, maybe engineering!

 

Edit cause of the post above mine :

 

Evasion is really difficult to use against carnage. Force scream will get through it, gore will give him the buff even if you dodge the dmg from gore BUT at least ataru not hitting you won't give him blood frenzy. So if you see him running toward you, you could pop evasion right at the start hahaha and he won't get auto crit on force scream, but I never really did that. Using evasion to counter ravage is annoying cause he'll often get the first 1 or the 2 first hits before you react, but at the same time he can uses ravage to force you to cc him and fill his resolve and then berserk and ouch.

 

If you see him use force scream, he has no more big force attack to hit you through dodge so it might be a good moment to use it. Personally, I like to keep it to dodge vicious throw at the end of the fight, but that's risky although really satisfying hahaahah

 

I'd say the most important thing is to not overlap your cc and CD, don't use dodge then knockback him 1s after for example. And don't use dodge to counter berserk, the berserk buff will last long enough for dodge to go away and he'll just build rage with assault until then, which he will dump in a serie of 4-5 massacre right after.

 

Ideas :

Dodge ataru strike procing blood frenzy at the start of the fight.

Dodge ravage.

Dodge vicious throw.

Don't overlap your abilities no matter what!

Edited December 30, 2012 by Dhrasur

[CJNJ]

MM is the best spec for Mara killing(ill go as far as 1v1 if they got their CDs up), hands down.

[NoTomorrow]

Jeeez, I need to work on the guide with all these new information. Thank you.

[Dhrasur]

Yeah sorry, I could go on and on but I'll give you a break. The amount of details I posted would be more in the scope of a guide that would only be about sniper vs marauder I guess. But take what you want from it. I have a lot to say cause some month ago I tried to find what was the strongest 1v1 class in a certain duel set up and I thought sniper had a chance to be it if played perfectly. I thought that because entrench can really limit what the opponent can do. But sadly, no matter my best efforts, scrapper scoundrel are invincible against snipers.

[Quangus]

Hey Quangus!! well, finally someone i know that can help me write a guide about snipers vs marauders I can explain rage, but carnage and annihilation needs your expertise (no pun intnded )

 

*sigh*, i knew i should have kept my mouth shut...

 

Well i was hoping to see some of that stuff in ur guide from urself and from other sniper vets rather than me giving some tips which i really dont know if it will work for most people or not. What i mean is that anything that is included in this post is heavily influenced by my personal view and experience and.. playstyle.

The reason im a little bit hesitant is because i play a sentinel as a main while also having a sniper alt that got to lvl 50 not long ago (Marksmanship). So there ya go, im not really one of u guys.

 

Since Sylk has covered all the nice deadly things u guys have i won’t go through them again but will highlight the ones that are absolute necessary to fight sentinels/marauders. And of course, i won’t list all of our abilities but only name the ones that i think can present a danger to u. (If u really wanna know everything about sents/maras u can always check our forums). The poster Dhrasur also has highlighted some of them in his little nice guide and while I don’t agree with a certain amount of things he said there, it is still overall a good source of info about what u need to know as sniper to fight my class.

 

Sniper (Marksmanship) VS Sentinel/Marauder

 

A fight between these classes is like a clash between 2 extremes: Total range dps against total melee dps. Both have the tools to take the other out. Basically that means if the sniper can keep the distance he will win, if the sentinel stays up close and personal most time, he will win. Sounds simple right? Ur goal is to force the enemy ur game on while prevent him to do the same, manage to get this done and u should always come out as winner.

 

From my experience on 2 servers i see snipers winning against sentinels more often than the other way around. While of course many factors can play a role in each of these fights and some even say that the sniper is basically designed as a counter to the sentinel, i believe that there are more skilled snipers than skilled sentinels out there. Most of the time the sniper wins because he was the better player and used his tools wisely whereas the sentinel did not. Of course, there are however those talented sents too that have been leveling this class since december last year and owning pretty much anything that moved on the battlefield. The ones that are causing all this stupid qq on forums and will continue to do so even after the big nerf that will inevitably come one day. Against these guys u will need more than what u normally do.

 

Below are all the defensive abilities every sentinel/marauder of each spec has access:

 

- Rebuke/Cloak of Pain (1 min cd): 20% Damage reduction for 30 secs, ends prematurely if not getting hit in 6 secs. Most sents u fight will have this available. i know that some people are saying *yo, just wait for that six secs to pass and not hit him during that time at all!* U can try this at ur own risk. But to me, its just beyond stupid. Even if u flashbanged him and wanna wait he will likely still get hit and take damage from other sources like aoe in wzs and it was all for nothing. (and flashbang could be saved for other important things) All im saying is that 6 secs can be enough for a very decent sent to get u in dispatch range, his finishing move.

 

- Saber Ward (3 min): Damage reduction and increased defence for 12 secs, often used in combo with rebuke. Because of the relative long cooldown of 3 min however, he will not likely have it available in the midle of a wz against u.

 

- Force Camouflage (45 secs): He goes into stealth for 4 secs and, plz keep that in mind, automatically out of ur targetting sight. Im saying this because if there are other hostiles in ur firing range u will likely hit them instead if u dont watch out. So make sure u have him right targetted again if he pops out.

 

- Pacify/Obfuscurate (1 min): Ur accuracy gets reduced for 6 secs. From my observation only decent ones use them regularly as they should while the 10000 others... dont know that this ability even exists. But if u meet one of the more decent type ull have to eat this.

 

-Guarded by the Force/Undying Rage (1:30, but in Focus/Rage spec it’s possible to have even just 45 secs cd!!!): Reduces 99% of all incoming damage for 4 secs (was actually 5 before the nerf), it’s the popular godmode everyone is talking about. But srsly, most of the time i use this i only postpone my death for a bit, thats all. Any stun or mezz will work fine.

 

-Awe/Intimidating Roar (1 min): An AoE mezz for 6 secs.

 

Any sentinel without any of these abilities available is a walking free kill for u. (he wears same medium armor type as u do). But a skilled one with all of them at his command can be a nightmare.

Now to the more specific issues u will be facing against the 3 different specs the sentinel can be. I said *different* but make no mistake, any of these are designed to bring u a quick painful death, just in their own individual style. Like ur AC he can only be dps, nothing ever else, and that is why his dps, no matter the spec, will be unrivaled if performed excellently.

 

Focus/Rage

 

The most played these days since latest patches and thus the most u will encounter. People like to call them *Smash monkeys*. And there is some kind of justification in it because most of them are really dumb and don’t/cant really do anything else. The simplicity of this spec (which hasn’t always been like this) draws the masses I guess. But I prefer to call them Zombies because even if they are dumb and u have lots of ways to counter them, once they got their dirty hands on u they still can rip u apart. One of them is very easy to counter, the danger really comes when they move in packs so then there is no escape from the smash and ur team will literally get overwhelmed. A bad focus/rage guy can pull out decent numbers, while a very decent one can hit a million overall damage if the match allows him to do so, no kidding. In fact, so far all the sents/maras who broke the million line have been this spec. If the rest were mindless zombies, I would call one of them an intelligent zombie. Pray that u will never face them because intelligent zombies are kind of… scary. To some of their key abilities in fight against u:

 

-Zealous Leap/Obliterate: His second leap which allows him to jump on u even if u are in cover. Makes his next smash an autocrit and deals decent damage anywhere from 2k-3.5k+. Biggest weakness, the range. Its just 10 meters. But please don’t underestimate this since it was always good enough for me to get on ledges in huttball and score afterwards. And if ur that sniper that positioned himself that close to the edge u will feel very sorry afterwards, so plz get down once u see any ballcarrier that has the Schii-Cho stance on.

-Force Sweep/Smash: Don’t think that I really have to say that much about it. As MM u should have an easy time because like the guide author alrdy mentioned, having siege bunker can pretty much nullify his biggest attack next to nothing.

 

Combat/Carnage

 

Usually every ranked team has at least one of them because of the nice utility he brings. 80%-opswide speed buff, 3 roots on demand and amazing burst is a lot one can offer, so no wonder there. But there is one big problem. They are super squishy. Unlike the Watchman he cannot heal himself and he doesn’t have the decent damage reduction of Focus spec. Besides rwzs, they are really rare because in normal wzs they don’t always get healed unless in a premade and can be shut down easily by some cc here and there. Things u should look out for:

 

Precision slash/ Gore: This will allow him to ignore 100% of ur armor in a window of 4,5 secs. Usually he will do master strike/ravage which hits like a truck for up to 10k+ followed by a bladestorm/force scream which auto-crits for anywhere from 4k to 6k+. To make it short, it is possible for him to almost one-shot anyone in this game including tanks in just a matter of a few gcds. But basically anything that he throws during that crucial time will hit u hard so ur primary goal is to always shut him down at this very moment. U can cover pulse, stun-stab him, flashbang... I don’t care just make sure u don’t eat this combo at anytime. It’s not difficult.

 

Force Camouflage: Yes, the other two also have this but whenever this one uses it he will break all ur roots so expect him to appear right behind ur *** again once he pops out. Consider this as another gap closer beside his leap.

 

Ataru-Form: This is his stance. The thing u should know about it is that it allows him to move 15% faster than all others during combat and if he pops transcendence with 80% more speed he can get from A to be B in no time.

 

Watchman/Annihaltion

 

Today almost no one plays this spec anymore and it is pretty ironic since at the start of the game last year and for a good amount of time even after that, 90% of the sentinel/mara population was in this spec. There are 2 reasons why it is so less desired right now: One being the lack of burst in comparison to what the other specs offer, two being the ability of all healers to cleanse dots. And after latest patch we even have a third point with their self-healing being cut in half. But their damage however is untouched and little self-heals are still better than nothing. Some say it still is the best spec for duels.

 

Merciless Slash/Annihalate: Besides master strike, this is his hardest hitting move. A well geared sent can hit for max 5k+ with it. But it costs him 5 focus which means it isn’t as much spamable as smash in the other spec.

 

Overload/Deadly Saber + Cauterize/Rupture: The first ability charges the blades of the sentinel with deadly energy which can apply dots on u if their melee attacks hit, the second one is an additional dot. And that is basically the whole rotation of this specimen – he will always try to spam dots on u as much and as long as possible, throwing in some hard hitting abilities to bring u down real fast. And since u cant cleanse dots u want to prevent him from applying them on u in the first place.

 

Zen: Whenever his dots crit, he will get himself healed up a bit. This buff Zen makes all next 6 ticks of his dots going to autocrit so his health goes up while urs goes down…

 

 

Some extra thoughts…

Whenever I fight a sniper I always wanna positon myself in between his back and a solid wall. Once I managed that, the longer I stay there the more my chances to win increase. So u never wanna be in a position like. But I also know that it’s not always possible in some scenarios like civil war or voidstar so u better move out and relocate where u can always knock him back and keep the distance. But it’s better to not let him that close in the first place, being the guy who is watching the battlefield for targets to take down, ur situational awareness should prevent any surprises. And if it happens that one of them catches u with ur pants down, do not panic... keep a calm head because as much of a danger he represents for u, u represent as much as a danger for him

[Dhrasur]

Ah man, you have to say what you disagree with! I'm open to criticism and willing to improve. Although I will defend what I wrote if I consider what you say wrong.

[Zoidrinali]

It's all very subjective all this 1v1 stuff. I mean as an engineering spec sniper I can legshot a guardian/jugga or senti/mara and walk right up to melee range and park myself pop entrench and proceed to plasma probe + OS and they'll be dead, it's that simple. It all depends on who you're playing against.

 

For example try doing that against stelios or dakaru....

Edited December 31, 2012 by Zoidrinali

[NoTomorrow]

My guide has been updated! I've added a guide for Marauders, Sorcerers and Mercs. Only Juggernauts and Assassins are left to do! Edited January 1, 2013 by NoTomorrow