Hybrid DPS spec for 2.0

[venomlash]

So I was bored and put this together on a lark. No idea whether it's feasible, but I figure I might goof around with it once 2.0 rolls. Tentatively calling this spec Rapid Fire.

Commando (0/28/18)

Basically, you keep your burns rolling with Incendiary Round and Explosive Round. You spam Grav Round to build stacks of Charged Barrel and proc Curtain of Fire to finish the cooldown on Full Auto. Use Full Auto to finish the cooldown on High Impact Bolt. Use High Impact Bolt to refresh Plasma Cell burns and regenerate ammo cells.

 

Off the top of my head, I figure this will allow us to use up Charged Barrel as fast as it builds up and combines the best procs from Assault and Gunnery. (You also get the slowing effects from Full Auto AND Plasma Cell, for what that's worth.) The big minus is that it lacks a lot of survivability talents, especially for PvP, doesn't maximize the damage of burns, and doesn't have Demolition Round.

I'm no theorycrafting expert, but I figured I'd toss this out there to see if anyone has an opinion on it. Feedback, positive and negative alike, is much appreciated.

Edited March 21, 2013 by venomlash

[ArchangelLBC]

If you're thinking of spamming IR and Explosive Round to keep up DoTs I think this spec is going to have some MAJOR ammo issues. Especially with Grav Round costing 19 ammo and High Impact Bolt costing 16 ammo, plus no Cell Charger.

[venomlash]

As far as ammo management goes, this build will be fairly similar to full Assault Specialist. The major differences are that you'd be using regular Grav Round instead of a discounted Charged Bolts, that you'd be using High Impact Bolt (with the Ionic Accelerator proc) more often, and that you'd be using Full Auto (with the Curtain of Fire proc) a good deal. Respectively, this would cause ammo to be used up faster, ammo to be replenished faster, and ammo to be used up slower.

 

Now, I do think this will have bigger ammo-management problems than either Gunnery or Assault in their pure states, but I'm willing to bet that this won't be insurmountable. The real test as to whether this spec is viable, in my opinion, is whether the improvements to High Impact Bolt and addition of burn effects make up for the loss of Demo Round and passive armor-piercing from Gunnery.

[ArchangelLBC]

As far as ammo management goes, this build will be fairly similar to full Assault Specialist. The major differences are that you'd be using regular Grav Round instead of a discounted Charged Bolts, that you'd be using High Impact Bolt (with the Ionic Accelerator proc) more often, and that you'd be using Full Auto (with the Curtain of Fire proc) a good deal. Respectively, this would cause ammo to be used up faster, ammo to be replenished faster, and ammo to be used up slower.

 

Now, I do think this will have bigger ammo-management problems than either Gunnery or Assault in their pure states, but I'm willing to bet that this won't be insurmountable. The real test as to whether this spec is viable, in my opinion, is whether the improvements to High Impact Bolt and addition of burn effects make up for the loss of Demo Round and passive armor-piercing from Gunnery.

 

If you've ever done PVE you know how streaky Curtain of Fire is. Sometimes you can go an entire 10 GCDs without proccing it. In addition Full Auto can be pretty finicky on resetting HiB too. You look at the percentages and you'll be using HiB a good chunk slower than assault spec (CB has a 45% chance to proc IA. Grav Round has a 45% chance to proc CoF which will then have a 75% chance to proc IA).

 

Add in the fact that you're spamming a full cost Grav Round without the benefit of cell charger or special munitions and I seriously think ammo starts to become a very real issue.

[Draqsko]

As far as ammo management goes, this build will be fairly similar to full Assault Specialist. The major differences are that you'd be using regular Grav Round instead of a discounted Charged Bolts, that you'd be using High Impact Bolt (with the Ionic Accelerator proc) more often, and that you'd be using Full Auto (with the Curtain of Fire proc) a good deal. Respectively, this would cause ammo to be used up faster, ammo to be replenished faster, and ammo to be used up slower.

 

Now, I do think this will have bigger ammo-management problems than either Gunnery or Assault in their pure states, but I'm willing to bet that this won't be insurmountable. The real test as to whether this spec is viable, in my opinion, is whether the improvements to High Impact Bolt and addition of burn effects make up for the loss of Demo Round and passive armor-piercing from Gunnery.

 

You're giving up all the ammo escapes in both trees that you can guarantee having, cell charger, rapid recharge, special munitions AP cell, and cell capacitor (in combat medic). IR and ER eat through ammo like crazy even in pure assault spec. Also IR is pretty lame for the ammo cost when you don't have Burnout and Assault Trooper to buff the DoT. Good Assault Specs don't even use IR unless the target is under 30% hp, or you can't get Plasma Cell to proc with 2 Hammer Shots (so you can get HiB off), or you have Reserve Power Cell off cooldown to use immediately before, or you can use Recharge Cells immediately after it. There is no surer way to bork your ammo and ultimately your DPS than to use IR outside of those times.

 

Per your original post, you are not getting the best buffs out of the Assault tree. The best buffs in the Assault tree start at the tier above where you stopped. Assault Trooper (+30% critical damage to PC, HiB, CB, IR, FA), Rain of Fire (+9% damage to HS, CB, HiB, FA, HoB on burning targets), Burnout (+30% burn damage on targets below 30% hp), Hyper Barrels (+6% damage to HiB, CB, FA). These are the abilities combined with the ammo escapes are what give Assault its burst.

[wishihadaname]

I actually posted that exact same spec a while ago and tested it on PTS. I couldn't get the ammo rotation down and ended up with a measly 1600 dps to show for it. I then switched to full gunnery and rolled out about 2.1k dps. Also, gunnery has most of its sweet stuff higher up too. Decoys, advance the line, overclock, demo round (which now crits like crazy, were talking 8k+), reflexive shield and charged launcher are all must have talents for pvp. Similarly assault has all of its goodies higher up as well, though that's already been covered.

[gluefoot]

I wouldn't think this would work. In theorycrafting I understand why this sounds great, but also it doesn't take advantage of what commandos are getting in 2.0

 

They key rotation for gunnery in PvP needs the "Overclock" talent. Here's why:

Scenario 1: You get the drop on an enemy and you get 1 grav round off before he notices you. You can use Demo Round with full effectiveness now so you blow that. Then you use double Tech Override stacks to get 2 gravs on the go to get full HIB proc.

Scenario 2: Escaping an enemy can be hard. You pop Tech Override and get off 2 gravs, then Demo then 4/5 stack HIB. While not the best, still pretty good imo.

 

Also there are no ammo efficiency talents in this build sadly. You're going to be running out of cells a lot for what looks like sustained as opposed to burst. If this had more bursty abilities (which HIB is, but nothing to complement it) then it would be excellent. Problem is though that as of right now we got good procs, but we still only have backloaded burst and no survivability or utility tools.

 

I will be interested to see how the spec plays to see if I can prove myself wrong. Thanks for the brain food.