JimmyTheCannon Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 2) Why not use a Cerulean Nova or Kinetic Tempest relic? I would think our armor reduction capabilities would lend nicely to the effects these relics provide, but is SA and BA a better combo? If CN or KT is a decent choice, why is force damage better than tech damage? (or vice versa?) To answer the rest of this question, as the DPS difference has been noted, you'd want a CN relic for Tech damage. As a Merc who's geared properly you'll have a much higher Tech crit than a Force crit, so a CN relic would crit more for you than a KT relic (at least, at Arkanian+ level where CN is Tech and KT is Force). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted October 27, 2013 Author Share Posted October 27, 2013 I'm hoping for some tips/advice to improve my gunnery mando. I do alright, but I know there's room for improvement. Any and all help would be very much appreciated! TORParse AMR On the gear (to save you picking through the AMR), I've nearly got all the upgrades that I can get with comms (no token drops yet). I'm still using a Dread Guard BA relic while I wait for a DF drop. I'm using two 69 and two 72 armorings for my set bonus. I'm using all 69/72 enhancements rather than the high-endurance 78s. Your APMs are excellent, you're HSM/Rail efficiency is a bit low, and your rapid shots usage is just a touch high - not too bad. I would read the "How To Analyze Your Parses" section of the "IV.Tips & Tricks" in the guide on how to improve those, I would just be regurgitating that info as advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 (edited) Hey odawgg, i got sick of all this Mercspeak in your guide. And i was bored, so heres your guide in proper language. I didnt change anything but some of your tipps wont work for Commandos since we still dont have a percentage display of our energy status. Last Update to Guide: 10/10/13 Last Update to Parses/Gear: 10/15/13 ***Commandoenary Gunnery Guide*** in Commandonese (Updated for 2.4) - Pizza’dah’hutt In addition to showing you some of the changes 2.0 has brought to the Commando Gunnery spec, the intention of this thread is to help Gunnery Commandos take their PVE game to another level. It’s easy to bash 4-5 buttons without putting much thought into it and be an alright Commando. Don’t settle for being good, be great! [aname=table]Table of Contents:[/aname] [jumpto=dps]DPS[/jumpto][jumpto=skill tree]Skill Tree[/jumpto][jumpto=gear]Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto][jumpto=abilities]Abilities & Priority System[/jumpto][jumpto=tips]Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=survivability]Survivability[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=utility]Raid Utility[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=awareness]Raid Awareness[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=credits]Credits & Achievements[/jumpto] [aname=dps]1. Bring The Deeps![/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] I will be elaborating on all of these points, but let’s start with the fun stuff, how do you maximize your DPS? This requires a thorough understanding of the Commando Gunnery's: [jumpto=skill tree]I. Skill Tree[/jumpto] [jumpto=gear]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto] [jumpto=abilities]III. Abilities & Priority System [/jumpto] [jumpto=tips]IV. Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] But first and foremost, don't be lazy. Go get your datacrons (Aim and Cunning for dps) and max out your companion's affection for a 1% boost to Acc/Crit/Surge. [aname=skill tree]I. Skill Tree[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] New Talents for 2.0: Note: *I choose to put my 2 "elective" points in Tenacious Defense to reduce the cooldown of our CC breaker Determination. However I could see situations where Decoy or Concussive Force could be viable in certain encounters. [aname=gear]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gear: Dread Forged BiS Chart Kell Dragon BiS Chart (Archive) BiS Stats In Full 78 Gear: Aim > Accuracy (100/110%) > Crit (280 rating) > Power > Surge > Alacrity [aname=abilities]III. Abilities & Priority System[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] We get two new abilities in 2.0; one offensive, one defensive. This section is all about offense, and 2.0 has brought Electro Net into our rotation to be used on cooldown (every 1m30s). This is a handy DPS burst ability by way of DoT and should be used on cd following any higher priority abilities listed in the priority system section. New to 2.0: Note: *This ability doesn't act the same on NPCs as it does actual players in PVP. It doesn't matter if an NPC is moving or not, it will place a 10 tick DoT on the target, ticking once per second. The 2nd-6th ticks will increase in damage from the previous tick by 20%. The 7th-10th ticks will be identical to the 6th tick. Energy Control Is Key: Commandos follow a priority system based on damage and energy cost. Our energy cell regeneration is greatest (5 energy/s) when we stay between 60-100 energy. Therefore, you should do your best to always stay above 60 energy (also be careful not to allow your energy to reach 100 for more than an instant) unless the situation allows you to burn. This could be the end of a fight, or a time within the fight where you know a short break of dps is coming up where your energy will have time to dissipate. You should ALWAYS burn the target (ignore HS) when your Recharge Cells ability cd<~10s; this includes your opening sequence. The only exceptions are situational, usually the end of a boss fight when you'll need to be going all out. In these cases, wait on using Recharge Cells if you'll need it before the two minute cd is over. More Details: Staying between 60-100 energy cells at all times, amongst other things, maximizes your dps. Consider your overall energy pool in a 1 minute span when you're staying within this range. You're recharging 5 energy/s, your HVGC recharges 8 energy every 6s (from talent), and you have a 40 energy cell window on top of that: 40+5*60+8*10=420 energy cell pool Every second you spend below 60 energy cells, assuming you're above 20 emery cells, you're losing 2 energy (you regain 2 energy/s between 59-20 energy cells) from that pool. Although you can afford to go above this limit here and there, I wouldn't make a habit of it and if you do go over, try to limit it to 1-2s tops. Otherwise your sustained DPS will suffer. We can make a pretty good assessment on the new 2.0 priority system based off what we know from the pre-2.0 priority system. Pre-2.0 Priority System Source: Simulation Craft: Scroll down to "Action Priority List" to see where this priority system was derived. This site is no longer kept up to date, but reflects optimal rules Pre 2.0 1. High Impact Bolt (HiB) (energy < 83) 2. Demolition Round (DR) (energy > 76) 3. Reseve Powercell + Plasma Grenade (energy < 83) 4. Full Auto (energy > 24) 5. Grav Round (energy > 76) 6. *Hammershots *Should also be used when DR/Full Auto cd<1.5s Now we have 3 major changes in 2.0. First, HiB is no longer free (costs 2 or 10 energy depending on set bonus) but still efficient. Second, Electro Net (costs 8 energy) is our added ability that comes off cd every 1m30s. 3rd, you're now only going to need one Grav Round to gain the 25% damage boost to DR as well as 20% armor debuff instead of three. The armor debuff will now last 45s. This effect works the same as the sniper's shatter shot now. Single Target Priority: *Tech Override, Mortar Volley and Plasma Grenade are situational, i.e. you usually want to save Tech Override for using casted abilities on the move instead of wasting it in stand still position (but on a dummy use it to open and when your energy is going to hit 100)...or adds are prominent in the fight where Mortar Volley or Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade would be better used for AoE rather than single target. Opening Burst There are a lot of quality openers you can use, I encourage you to experiment with them. This is the one I've found to work best for me. 1. Tech Override + Grav Round (Only use PS on dummies and specific fights where you won't need to move for a while) 2. Relic/Adrenal 3. High Impact Bolt 4. Demolition Round 5. Electro Net 6. Full Auto (if CofF proc'd) 7. Grav Round 7. Proceed with Priority System using Mortar Volley & Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade situationally With no more need for multiple Grav Round, to get the armor debuff and damage gain to DR, there's no need to open with multiple Grav Rounds. Some players will wait for 4 stacks to fire off their first HiB. Perfectly acceptable, I choose to open with it sooner because it makes my flow easier going forward. 2.0 Priority System Energy < 76: HiB > RP + PG > Hammershots 76 < Energy < 83: HiB > DR > EN > RP + PG > FA > GR Energy > 83: DR > EN > FA > Tech Override + GR *Should also be used when DR/FA cd=<1.5s and energy is at or below 80 (as well as HiB - 4 stacks minimum if using new 4pc). **You can use Mortar Volley in single target situations when AoE is not needed for at least the next 60s. For maximum dps it should be used right after a Curtain of Fire proc'd FA when all other abilities are on cd. You can fire off Hammershots beforehand if your energy is below 80. Note: We aren't the most mobile class, we put out much more damage when we can turret down our target. But if DR and HiB are on cd when you need to move and your energy is sitting fine so you don't want to spam Hammershots. Consider using Sticky Grenade>Explosive Round while on the move and your energy is up. I like to rotate between those and Hammershots in these situations. Also, you could throw in a TR+GR or TR+RP+PG so they can be used on the run. Multiple Target Priority: Commandos have beastly AoE damage and the priority system is as follows: 1. Mortar Volley 2. Pulse Canon 3. *RP+PG 4. Hail of Bolts *You don't necessarily have to use Plasma Grenade with Reserve Powercell. It does produce higher DPS, but isn't as energy efficient, so if you're not worried about energy, use it without RP if you like. But unless you're going to get some downtime after your burn, I would wait for RP. Also, while you're running up to the mob you want to annihilate or waiting for them to position themselves in a nice pile for you, throw a Sticky Grenade OR Plasma Grenade (with or without RP depending on asterick'd note above) in there for a bit extra delayed AoE damage. [aname=tips]IV. Tips & Tricks[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Action Queue First thing you need to do as a Commando is turn on the "Ability Action Queue Window" and set it to 1s. This is found in Preferences>Controls. You should be utilizing this by queing nearly every ability throughout your "rotation" to minimize delay between actions. This will help maximize DPS. Don't miss out on CofF proc! You will often find yourself in the situation where you have all your big hitting abilities on cd and all you have is either GR or Hammershots at your disposal. You're fishing for a CofF proc: Rule of Three The 3rd GCD after you've unleashed your proc'd Full Auto, you have a chance to proc another Curtain of Fire. That means during the first 2 GCDs, your goal is to keep your energy as high as possible, GR spam is not necessary. You can use any of the following combos: GR>HS>GR HS>GR>GR HS>HS>GR As long as your energy doesn't reach 100, any of these combos are perfectly fine, your goal here should be to flirt with 100 energy cells without hitting 100 (more than an instant). Full Auto Queue: Neat trick you can utilize when fishing for a Curtain of Fire proc while spamming GR. It only pertains to the situation when all high priority abilities' cd>1.5s, your next GR would result in energy > 76 (or recharge cells cd<10s). 1. Press hotkey for GR 2. Press hotkey for FA during cast of GR 3. Immediately after GR cast is finished, tap hotkey for GR When step 3 is timed properly, it allows for 2 things: A. FA to cast immediately if CofF procs. B. GR to cast again with minimal delay if CofF doesn't proc. The benefit of A outweighs the minimal delay from B. The simplest way to know if the next GR will land your energy > 76 is to watch your energy as your GR casts during step one above. ((( doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) At the last split second, if your energy drops to single digits, you're good to queue Full Auto...if it's not in single digits, queue rapid shots instead. Note: * If you experience a lot of lag, this technique may not be possible. If you time step 3 a bit off, you could end up interrupt Full Auto, wasting a proc and a GCD. With practice and no lag, you should be fine. Instead of using this, some people will use the Double Cast GR & Step Out method. With this method, just as it sounds, you are double casting GR instead of queuing Full Auto. If CofF procs, you will step out of the 2nd GR into an Full Auto. They can both be effective, I like the former personally. Anticipate You need to be thinking ahead at least 1 or 2 abilities. See what's coming off cd soon, see where your energy is. You need to be able to anticipate what your energy is going to be by the time your "next" ability fires. For instance, when I'm casting GR, I'm looking at the energy, at the very last split second, I look to see if my energyt is dropping into single digits... ((( again doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) if it is, then I know my energy will be <24 when it finishes and I know I'm free to spam whatever ability is highest on priority list next. If not, I know I may need to queue a Hammershot filler. This goes for other situations as well, anticipate when you're free to "burn" the target ignoring energy costs, know when a target switch is coming up. This all comes with practice and familiarizing yourself with the operations and programming your muscle memory. How To Analyze Your Parses ]Ever sat there banging on a dummy for hours/days/weeks…a long time…and when you get done you look at the parse you uploaded to torparse.com and just see a bunch of abilities and numbers and not really know what to do with it? This section is for you! I’ve analyzed more parses than I can remember and I’ve learned a lot from them. One thing I noticed is that it’s actually relatively easy to glance at a Commandoenary – Gunnery parse and get a pretty good idea of what can be improved on. My goal is to show everyone how they can look at their own dummy parses and see what they can do to improve their own dps without relying on others to tell them. There are three things that I immediately look at when someone asks me to look at their parse…I call them “The Big Three”. The Big Three: APMs: Optimal APMs for Gunnery is ~35-36. What affects APMs? Action: Unnecessary Delay between abilities will lower your APMs. Solution: Increase reaction time/anticipation. Queue ALL abilities (only exception is during FA/Mortar Volley cast) using ability action queue. Action: If you use the double-cast GR + step out of GR for CofF procs technique outlined in the “Don’t Miss a CofF Proc” portion of the Tips & Tricks section of this guide….your APMs will be a bit fudged on the high side. You will need to recalculate your APMs manually to get a realistic APM output. Solution: No easy way, I usually will open the log, hit ctrl+f and search for “cancel”. This will let you jump to every ability that was cancelled, count the GRs you never let finish and divide that by #mins of the parse length. i.e. if you cancelled 5 GRs in 5 minutes = 5/5 =1 APM you should deduct from your total. Note: Lastly if you don’t use Mortar Volley in your dummy rotation, your APMs should be closer to 36+, if you get a LOT of CofF procs, your APMs might be an APM or so lower (rare). HiB/DR Usage: Optimal usage for HiB/DR is every 15s, so naturally 4/min will be the goal (20 in 5 minutes). How to improve HiB/DR usage: Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! You need to be aware when these abilities are coming off cd. 3s cd of either of these abilities is your queue to start preparing. If you just unleashed an FA or mortar Volley when </=3s is left on cd, you know you will be firing it right when it’s over. Otherwise, you know you have 2 GCDs to prep for it. Unless your energy is dangerously close to zero energy, expect to use Hammerhsots in at least 1 of those 2 GCDs to keep your energy low enough to fire at will. Note: The ONLY time either of these abilities can/should get delayed is if you are in the middle of an FA or Mortar Volley cast when they come off cd. This could potentially push them back ~1.5s and can add up over 5+ minutes time. Your goal should be to hit your 20th HiB/DR very close to the 5 minute mark (I rarely land my 20th beyond 5m3s). Since most players are using these abilities fairly early in the opening sequence, you have about a 10-12s buffer over 5 minutes to still get 20 in 5 minutes. Hammershots Usage: Optimal usage of HS is ~5-6/min (3-4/min with DG 4 piece Set Bonus). Under-using HS? Your APMs are likely low from unwanted delays between abilities. These delays allow you to regain more energy, reducing HS need, but in turn are lowering your overall DPS. Over-using HS? You are either A) under-energying (spending too much time under 60 energy) and needing more HS to bring it down, or B) Using HS too liberally and spending too much time at 100 energy. Both of these habits result in a dps loss. Note: You could be hitting this HS usage goal, but still not optimized. You could be doing a combination of the two above that balance out usage. The only way to know for sure is your own eyes watching your energy level during your parses, if you’re spending more than an instant at 100 or less than 60 energy at any time you are not optimized. Now, there are a few other nuances in a parse that go above and beyond “The Big Three” but if you combine this analysis with the information in the rest of the guide and you’ll be well on your way to hitting the big numbas! [aname=survivability]Stay Alive![/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] New to 2.0: Redesigned in 2.0: [aname=credits]***Credits + Achievements***[/aname] Special Thanks Keren's Commandoenary DPS Simulator: Many thanks for all Keren's hard work, this is a very handy tool. Although it can't capture every little nuance of a boss fight, it's spectacular as a min/maxing tool for gearing, talent build and ability priority system and I encourage EVERY Commando to utilize this. Aerro's Gunnery DPS Guide: This is an established thread dating back over a year. Thank you Aerro for keeping it maintained so long. Although we haven't always seen 100% eye-to-eye on everything, this is a fantastic discussion thread with many followers dedicated to end-game PVE for Commando-Gunnerys. 2.0 discussion begins on page 34, an excellent read. Also, everyone who's participated on this thread or the ones I've linked above, many many thanks. Keep the discussion going! Personal Bests Here's some parses if you like to disect them. Will update them weekly as I gear. Dummy: 5+ Minute Gunnery: 3381 DPS 5+ Minute Assault Specalist: 3619 DPS Dread Fortress 8M HM: Nefra, Who Bars the Way: 3158 DPS - Assault Specalist Gate Commander Draxus: 2411 DPS - Assault Specalist Grob'Thok, Who Feeds the Forge: 3193 DPS - Assault Specalist Corruptor Zero: 2736 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Brontes: 2148 DPS - Gunnery Dread Palace 8M HM: Dread Master Bestia: 2916 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Tyrans: 3233 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Master Calphayus: 2047 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Raptus: 2332 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Council: 3064 DPS - Assault Specalist Current Gear *The gear to follow is my current gear with full buffs and stimmed. Current Talent Build: 6/36/4 AMR Profile Aim= 3713 Acc= 439 (100.06% / 110.06% Tech) Power= 1278 Crit= 296 (31.85% / 29.77% Tech) Surge= 470 (72.96%) Note: *Since I get the crit vs. power question a lot, I just want to answer your question about it now...IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MUCH just stay between 140-350ish in full 78s and your average dps will not swing much Edited October 30, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paowee Posted October 29, 2013 Share Posted October 29, 2013 Hey odawgg, i got sick of all this Mercspeak in your guide. And i was bored, so heres your guide in proper language. I didnt change anything but some of your tipps wont work for Commandos since we still dont have a percentage display of our energy status. Last Update to Guide: 10/10/13 Last Update to Parses/Gear: 10/15/13 ***Commandoenary Gunnery Guide*** in Commandonese (Updated for 2.4) - Pizza’dah’hutt In addition to showing you some of the changes 2.0 has brought to the Commando Gunnery spec, the intention of this thread is to help Gunnery Commandos take their PVE game to another level. It’s easy to bash 4-5 buttons without putting much thought into it and be an alright Commando. Don’t settle for being good, be great! [aname=table]Table of Contents:[/aname] [jumpto=dps]DPS[/jumpto][jumpto=skill tree]Skill Tree[/jumpto][jumpto=gear]Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto][jumpto=abilities]Abilities & Priority System[/jumpto][jumpto=tips]Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=survivability]Survivability[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=utility]Raid Utility[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=awareness]Raid Awareness[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=credits]Credits & Achievements[/jumpto] [aname=dps]1. Bring The Deeps![/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] I will be elaborating on all of these points, but let’s start with the fun stuff, how do you maximize your DPS? This requires a thorough understanding of the Commando Gunnery's: [jumpto=skill tree]I. Skill Tree[/jumpto] [jumpto=gear]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto] [jumpto=abilities]III. Abilities & Priority System [/jumpto] [jumpto=tips]IV. Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] But first and foremost, don't be lazy. Go get your datacrons (Aim and Cunning for dps) and max out your companion's affection for a 1% boost to Acc/Crit/Surge. [aname=skill tree]I. Skill Tree[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] New Talents for 2.0: Note: *I choose to put my 2 "elective" points in Tenacious Defense to reduce the cooldown of our CC breaker Determination. However I could see situations where Decoy or Concussive Force could be viable in certain encounters. [aname=gear]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gear: Dread Forged BiS Chart Kell Dragon BiS Chart (Archive) BiS Stats In Full 78 Gear: Aim > Accuracy (100/110%) > Crit (280 rating) > Power > Surge > Alacrity [aname=abilities]III. Abilities & Priority System[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] We get two new abilities in 2.0; one offensive, one defensive. This section is all about offense, and 2.0 has brought Electro Net into our rotation to be used on cooldown (every 1m30s). This is a handy DPS burst ability by way of DoT and should be used on cd following any higher priority abilities listed in the priority system section. New to 2.0: Note: *This ability doesn't act the same on NPCs as it does actual players in PVP. It doesn't matter if an NPC is moving or not, it will place a 10 tick DoT on the target, ticking once per second. The 2nd-6th ticks will increase in damage from the previous tick by 20%. The 7th-10th ticks will be identical to the 6th tick. Energy Control Is Key: Commandos follow a priority system based on damage and energy cost. Our energy cell regeneration is greatest (5 energy/s) when we stay between 60-100 energy. Therefore, you should do your best to always stay above 60 energy (also be careful not to allow your energy to reach 100 for more than an instant) unless the situation allows you to burn. This could be the end of a fight, or a time within the fight where you know a short break of dps is coming up where your energy will have time to dissipate. You should ALWAYS burn the target (ignore rapid shots) when your Recharge Cells ability cd<~10s; this includes your opening sequence. The only exceptions are situational, usually the end of a boss fight when you'll need to be going all out. In these cases, wait on using Recharge Cells if you'll need it before the two minute cd is over. More Details: Staying between 60-100 energy cells at all times, amongst other things, maximizes your dps. Consider your overall energy pool in a 1 minute span when you're staying within this range. You're recharging 5 energy/s, your HVGC recharges 8 energy every 6s (from talent), and you have a 40 energy cell window on top of that: 40+5*60+8*10=420 energy cell pool Every second you spend below 60 energy cells, assuming you're above 20 emery cells, you're losing 2 energy (you regain 2 energy/s between 59-20 energy cells) from that pool. Although you can afford to go above this limit here and there, I wouldn't make a habit of it and if you do go over, try to limit it to 1-2s tops. Otherwise your sustained DPS will suffer. We can make a pretty good assessment on the new 2.0 priority system based off what we know from the pre-2.0 priority system. Pre-2.0 Priority System Source: Simulation Craft: Scroll down to "Action Priority List" to see where this priority system was derived. This site is no longer kept up to date, but reflects optimal rules Pre 2.0 1. High Impact Bolt (HiB) (energy < 83) 2. Demolition Round (DR) (energy > 76) 3. Reseve Powercell + Plasma Grenade (energy < 83) 4. Full Auto (energy > 24) 5. Grav Round (energy > 76) 6. *Hammershots *Should also be used when DR/Full Auto cd<1.5s Now we have 3 major changes in 2.0. First, HiB is no longer free (costs 2 or 10 energy depending on set bonus) but still efficient. Second, Electro Net (costs 8 energy) is our added ability that comes off cd every 1m30s. 3rd, you're now only going to need one Grav Round to gain the 25% damage boost to DR as well as 20% armor debuff instead of three. The armor debuff will now last 45s. This effect works the same as the sniper's shatter shot now. Single Target Priority: *Tech Override, Mortar Volley and Plasma Grenade are situational, i.e. you usually want to save Tech Override for using casted abilities on the move instead of wasting it in stand still position (but on a dummy use it to open and when your energy is going to hit 100)...or adds are prominent in the fight where Mortar Volley or Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade would be better used for AoE rather than single target. Opening Burst There are a lot of quality openers you can use, I encourage you to experiment with them. This is the one I've found to work best for me. 1. Tech Override + Grav Round (Only use PS on dummies and specific fights where you won't need to move for a while) 2. Relic/Adrenal 3. High Impact Bolt 4. Demolition Round 5. Electro Net 6. Full Auto (if CofF proc'd) 7. Grav Round 7. Proceed with Priority System using Mortar Volley & Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade situationally With no more need for multiple Grav Round, to get the armor debuff and damage gain to DR, there's no need to open with multiple Grav Rounds. Some players will wait for 4 stacks to fire off their first HiB. Perfectly acceptable, I choose to open with it sooner because it makes my flow easier going forward. 2.0 Priority System Energy < 76: HiB > RP + PG > Hammershots 76 < Energy < 83: HiB > DR > EN > RP + PG > FA > GR Energy > 83: DR > EN > FA > Tech Override + GR *Should also be used when DR/FA cd=<1.5s and energy is at or below 80 (as well as HiB - 4 stacks minimum if using new 4pc). **You can use Mortar Volley in single target situations when AoE is not needed for at least the next 60s. For maximum dps it should be used right after a Curtain of Fire proc'd FA when all other abilities are on cd. You can fire off Hammershots beforehand if your energy is below 80. Note: We aren't the most mobile class, we put out much more damage when we can turret down our target. But if DR and HiB are on cd when you need to move and your energy is sitting fine so you don't want to spam Hammershots. Consider using Sticky Grenade>Explosive Round while on the move and your energy is up. I like to rotate between those and Hammershots in these situations. Also, you could throw in a TR+GR or TR+RP+PG so they can be used on the run. Multiple Target Priority: Commandos have beastly AoE damage and the priority system is as follows: 1. Mortar Volley 2. Pulse Canon 3. *RP+PG 4. Hail of Bolts *You don't necessarily have to use Plasma Grenade with Reserve Powercell. It does produce higher DPS, but isn't as energy efficient, so if you're not worried about energy, use it without RP if you like. But unless you're going to get some downtime after your burn, I would wait for RP. Also, while you're running up to the mob you want to annihilate or waiting for them to position themselves in a nice pile for you, throw a Sticky Grenade OR Plasma Grenade (with or without RP depending on asterick'd note above) in there for a bit extra delayed AoE damage. [aname=tips]IV. Tips & Tricks[/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dps]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Action Queue First thing you need to do as a Commando is turn on the "Ability Action Queue Window" and set it to 1s. This is found in Preferences>Controls. You should be utilizing this by queing nearly every ability throughout your "rotation" to minimize delay between actions. This will help maximize DPS. Don't miss out on CofF proc! You will often find yourself in the situation where you have all your big hitting abilities on cd and all you have is either GR or Hammershots at your disposal. You're fishing for a CofF proc: Rule of Three The 3rd GCD after you've unleashed your proc'd Full Auto, you have a chance to proc another Curtain of Fire. That means during the first 2 GCDs, your goal is to keep your energy as high as possible, GR spam is not necessary. You can use any of the following combos: GR>HS>GR HS>GR>GR HS>HS>GR As long as your energy doesn't reach 100, any of these combos are perfectly fine, your goal here should be to flirt with 100 energy cells without hitting 100 (more than an instant). Full Auto Queue: Neat trick you can utilize when fishing for a Curtain of Fire proc while spamming GR. It only pertains to the situation when all high priority abilities' cd>1.5s, your next GR would result in energy > 76 (or recharge cells cd<10s). 1. Press hotkey for GR 2. Press hotkey for FA during cast of GR 3. Immediately after GR cast is finished, tap hotkey for GR When step 3 is timed properly, it allows for 2 things: A. FA to cast immediately if CofF procs. B. GR to cast again with minimal delay if CofF doesn't proc. The benefit of A outweighs the minimal delay from B. The simplest way to know if the next GR will land your energy > 76 is to watch your energy as your GR casts during step one above. ((( doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) At the last split second, if your energy drops to single digits, you're good to queue Unload...if it's not in single digits, queue rapid shots instead. ((( doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) Note: * If you experience a lot of lag, this technique may not be possible. If you time step 3 a bit off, you could end up interrupt Full Auto, wasting a proc and a GCD. With practice and no lag, you should be fine. Instead of using this, some people will use the Double Cast GR & Step Out method. With this method, just as it sounds, you are double casting GR instead of queuing unload. If CofF procs, you will step out of the 2nd GR into an Full Auto. They can both be effective, I like the former personally. Anticipate You need to be thinking ahead at least 1 or 2 abilities. See what's coming off cd soon, see where your energy is. You need to be able to anticipate what your energy is going to be by the time your "next" ability fires. For instance, when I'm casting GR, I'm looking at the energy, at the very last split second, I look to see if my energyt is dropping into single digits... ((( again doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) if it is, then I know my energy will be <24 when it finishes and I know I'm free to spam whatever ability is highest on priority list next. If not, I know I may need to queue a Hammershot filler. This goes for other situations as well, anticipate when you're free to "burn" the target ignoring energy costs, know when a target switch is coming up. This all comes with practice and familiarizing yourself with the operations and programming your muscle memory. How To Analyze Your Parses ]Ever sat there banging on a dummy for hours/days/weeks…a long time…and when you get done you look at the parse you uploaded to torparse.com and just see a bunch of abilities and numbers and not really know what to do with it? This section is for you! I’ve analyzed more parses than I can remember and I’ve learned a lot from them. One thing I noticed is that it’s actually relatively easy to glance at a Commandoenary – Gunnery parse and get a pretty good idea of what can be improved on. My goal is to show everyone how they can look at their own dummy parses and see what they can do to improve their own dps without relying on others to tell them. There are three things that I immediately look at when someone asks me to look at their parse…I call them “The Big Three”. The Big Three: APMs: Optimal APMs for Gunnery is ~35-36. What affects APMs? Action: Unnecessary Delay between abilities will lower your APMs. Solution: Increase reaction time/anticipation. Queue ALL abilities (only exception is during UL/DFA cast) using ability action queue. Action: If you use the double-cast GR + step out of GR for CofF procs technique outlined in the “Don’t Miss a CofF Proc” portion of the Tips & Tricks section of this guide….your APMs will be a bit fudged on the high side. You will need to recalculate your APMs manually to get a realistic APM output. Solution: No easy way, I usually will open the log, hit ctrl+f and search for “cancel”. This will let you jump to every ability that was cancelled, count the GRs you never let finish and divide that by #mins of the parse length. i.e. if you cancelled 5 GRs in 5 minutes = 5/5 =1 APM you should deduct from your total. Note: Lastly if you don’t use Mortar Volley in your dummy rotation, your APMs should be closer to 36+, if you get a LOT of CofF procs, your APMs might be an APM or so lower (rare). HiB/DR Usage: Optimal usage for HiB/DR is every 15s, so naturally 4/min will be the goal (20 in 5 minutes). How to improve HiB/DR usage: Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! You need to be aware when these abilities are coming off cd. 3s cd of either of these abilities is your queue to start preparing. If you just unleashed an FA or mortar Volley when </=3s is left on cd, you know you will be firing it right when it’s over. Otherwise, you know you have 2 GCDs to prep for it. Unless your energy is dangerously close to zero energy, expect to use Hammerhsots in at least 1 of those 2 GCDs to keep your energy low enough to fire at will. Note: The ONLY time either of these abilities can/should get delayed is if you are in the middle of an FA or Mortar Volley cast when they come off cd. This could potentially push them back ~1.5s and can add up over 5+ minutes time. Your goal should be to hit your 20th HiB/DR very close to the 5 minute mark (I rarely land my 20th beyond 5m3s). Since most players are using these abilities fairly early in the opening sequence, you have about a 10-12s buffer over 5 minutes to still get 20 in 5 minutes. Hammershots Usage: Optimal usage of HS is ~5-6/min (3-4/min with DG 4 piece Set Bonus). Under-using HS? Your APMs are likely low from unwanted delays between abilities. These delays allow you to regain more energy, reducing HS need, but in turn are lowering your overall DPS. Over-using HS? You are either A) under-energying (spending too much time under 60 energy) and needing more HS to bring it down, or B) Using HS too liberally and spending too much time at 100 energy. Both of these habits result in a dps loss. Note: You could be hitting this HS usage goal, but still not optimized. You could be doing a combination of the two above that balance out usage. The only way to know for sure is your own eyes watching your energy level during your parses, if you’re spending more than an instant at 100 or less than 60 energy at any time you are not optimized. Now, there are a few other nuances in a parse that go above and beyond “The Big Three” but if you combine this analysis with the information in the rest of the guide and you’ll be well on your way to hitting the big numbas! [aname=survivability]Stay Alive![/aname] [jumpto=table]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] New to 2.0: Redesigned in 2.0: [aname=credits]***Credits + Achievements***[/aname] Special Thanks Keren's Commandoenary DPS Simulator: Many thanks for all Keren's hard work, this is a very handy tool. Although it can't capture every little nuance of a boss fight, it's spectacular as a min/maxing tool for gearing, talent build and ability priority system and I encourage EVERY Commando to utilize this. Aerro's Gunnery DPS Guide: This is an established thread dating back over a year. Thank you Aerro for keeping it maintained so long. Although we haven't always seen 100% eye-to-eye on everything, this is a fantastic discussion thread with many followers dedicated to end-game PVE for Commando-Gunnerys. 2.0 discussion begins on page 34, an excellent read. Also, everyone who's participated on this thread or the ones I've linked above, many many thanks. Keep the discussion going! Personal Bests Here's some parses if you like to disect them. Will update them weekly as I gear. Dummy: 5+ Minute Gunnery: 3381 DPS 5+ Minute Assault Specalist: 3619 DPS Dread Fortress 8M HM: Nefra, Who Bars the Way: 3158 DPS - Assault Specalist Gate Commander Draxus: 2411 DPS - Assault Specalist Grob'Thok, Who Feeds the Forge: 3193 DPS - Assault Specalist Corruptor Zero: 2736 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Brontes: 2148 DPS - Gunnery Dread Palace 8M HM: Dread Master Bestia: 2916 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Tyrans: 3233 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Master Calphayus: 2047 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Raptus: 2332 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Council: 3064 DPS - Assault Specalist Current Gear *The gear to follow is my current gear with full buffs and stimmed. Current Talent Build: 6/36/4 AMR Profile Aim= 3713 Acc= 439 (100.06% / 110.06% Tech) Power= 1278 Crit= 296 (31.85% / 29.77% Tech) Surge= 470 (72.96%) Note: *Since I get the crit vs. power question a lot, I just want to answer your question about it now...IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MUCH just stay between 140-350ish in full 78s and your average dps will not swing much Oh might have to read this, i converted this thread into Commando terms as well here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) Hey odawgg, i got sick of all this Mercspeak in your guide. And i was bored, so heres your guide in proper language. Oh cool thanks, did you want me to pop that into the OP? Also, who's going to keep that updated? haha P.S. you had to be really bored...almost as bored as paowee Edited October 30, 2013 by odawgg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) Well its your post, do whatever you want with it. It wouldnt be a problem to do an update if anything major changes though. Nice site paowee Edited October 30, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted October 31, 2013 Author Share Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) Well its your post, do whatever you want with it. It wouldnt be a problem to do an update if anything major changes though. Nice site paowee I added the commandonese translation to the 2nd post and a link to it in the guide. If you get bored again you can change the jumpto and aname commands to something else so they actually work for the commandonese guide Again, thank you very much! Many commandos will be thankful Edited October 31, 2013 by odawgg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magsel Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) Have you guys been thinking about a 2nd relic if BW is ever going to fix the double stacking power proc bug? (Thread can be found http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6854138#post6854138) I myself don't like crit rating in gear since the beginning. I'd rather replace crit with power, but since you can buy a Dread Forged Relic of Devastating Vengeance (which will give you 425 crit rating for 6 seconds every 20 seconds), I'm thinking of replacing my Boundless Ages relic for the Devastating Vengeance relic. Anyone who has run this through a similation yet or have some experience with this? Edited October 31, 2013 by Magsel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 (edited) Should work now. Note that your post currently doesnt have 3. Raid Utility and 4. Raid Awareness. Which is logical since we dont have any If i'm really, really bored it could do a German translation. Well, maybe. Edited November 1, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thasensei Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 Your APMs are excellent, you're HSM/Rail efficiency is a bit low, and your rapid shots usage is just a touch high - not too bad. I would read the "How To Analyze Your Parses" section of the "IV.Tips & Tricks" in the guide on how to improve those, I would just be regurgitating that info as advice. You know as many times as I've looked at this, I never saw that section (whoops)! I'm working on minimizing my delay after CoF procs and predicting those HSM/Rail shots better and it definitely helps things flow better. Thanks much for the feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 You know as many times as I've looked at this, I never saw that section (whoops)! I'm working on minimizing my delay after CoF procs and predicting those HSM/Rail shots better and it definitely helps things flow better. Thanks much for the feedback! No prob I just added it recently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 (edited) As said, should work now. [noparse] Disclaimer: There are many ways to play the Commando Gunnery / Mercenary Arsenal spec and Bioware doesn't endorse just "one way" to play any class or spec. The suggestions I have in this guide are strictly what I, with the help of many others, have found to be the most optimal. You’re encouraged to experiment and find what works best for you and contribute your own feedback for discussion. Last Update to Guide: 10/10/13 Last Update to Parses/Gear: 10/15/13 ***Mercenary Arsenal Guide*** in Commandonese (Updated for 2.4) - Pizza’dah’hutt In addition to showing you some of the changes 2.0 has brought to the Commando Gunnery spec, the intention of this thread is to help Gunnery Commandos take their PVE game to another level. It’s easy to bash 4-5 buttons without putting much thought into it and be an alright Commando. Don’t settle for being good, be great! [aname=tablecom]Table of Contents:[/aname] [jumpto=dpscom]DPS[/jumpto][jumpto=skill treecom]Skill Tree[/jumpto][jumpto=gearcom]Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto][jumpto=abilitiescom]Abilities & Priority System[/jumpto][jumpto=tipscom]Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=survivabilitycom]Survivability[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=utilitycom]Raid Utility[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=awarenesscom]Raid Awareness[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=creditscom]Credits & Achievements[/jumpto] [aname=dpscom]1. Bring The Deeps![/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] I will be elaborating on all of these points, but let’s start with the fun stuff, how do you maximize your DPS? This requires a thorough understanding of the Commando Gunnery's: [jumpto=skill treecom]I. Skill Tree[/jumpto] [jumpto=gearcom]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto] [jumpto=abilitiescom]III. Abilities & Priority System [/jumpto] [jumpto=tipscom]IV. Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] But first and foremost, don't be lazy. Go get your datacrons (Aim and Cunning for dps) and max out your companion's affection for a 1% boost to Acc/Crit/Surge. [aname=skill treecom]I. Skill Tree[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gunnery 2.0 PVE Spec 6/36/4 New Talents for 2.0: Advance the Line (1pts): Increases the duration of Hold the Line (new ability explained in next section) by 4s. Overclock (2pts): Reduces the cooldown of Concussion Round by 7.5/15s and Tech Override by 15/30s. In addition, Tech Override has a 50/100% chance to yield a second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly Decoy (2pts): Diversion has a 50/100% chance to intercept and absorb the next incoming direct Force or tech attack. Lasts 6/12s. Reflexive Shield (2pts): When you take damage, you have 50/100% chance to reduce the active cooldown of Reactive Shield by 1.5/3s. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5s. In addition, when taking damage, you have a 10/20% chance to emit an Energy Redoubt, which absorbs a low amount of damage and lasts 6/12s. This effect cannot occure more than once every 10s. Charged Launcher (3pts): Increases the damage dealt by HiB, GR, DR and Electro Net (new ability explained in next section) by 2/4/6%. Note: *I choose to put my 2 "elective" points in Tenacious Defense to reduce the cooldown of our CC breaker Determination. However I could see situations where Decoy or Concussive Force could be viable in certain encounters. [aname=gearcom]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gear: Dread Forged BiS Chart Kell Dragon BiS Chart (Archive) Set Bonus: The time has come fellow mercs, for any Commandos still using the old 4pc set bonus and if you are beginning to transition into 78 gear. I recommend hanging up the old 4pc set bonus and start collecting the new Dread Forged 4pc. The stat gains are outweighing the decreased HiB cost by enough to notice at this point. The new 4pc grants 8% damage increase to HiB. This will require paying more attention to heat and mixing in more Hammershot fillers. BiS Augments: Advanced Reflex Augment 28 BiS Relics: Dread Forged Relic of Serendipitous Assault & Dread Forged Relic of Boundless Ages. *At the moment I believe KD & DF SA Relics can be used together which would make them BiS until fixed (will change which patch 2.4.3). BiS Stats In Full 78 Gear: Aim > Accuracy (100/110%) > Crit (280 rating) > Power > Surge > Alacrity Accuracy: Goal = 470 rating = 100.43/110.43%. Get this to at least 99/109% before worrying about Surge. Surge: Goal = 470 rating = 72.96% Power/Crit: Using the trusty ole' Keren's Simulator, it's seen there is a rather large sweet spot for crit in full 78 gear. You can fall anywhere between 200-360 crit and not see a noticeable difference in average dps output. This is a small sample size of scatter plots, but done with several thousand iterations at various crit ratings: (Crit/DPS Simulation Scatter Graph), this could be gained a number of ways through mods/enhances/ear/implants...The way I'm planning to do it...since crit enhancements are so incredibly easy to get in random loot drops, and power mods can be purchased through Ultimate Commendations...is to use 4 crit enhancements and a crit crystal. I will adjust if loot RNG creates another option[/Quote] [aname=abilitiescom]III. Abilities & Priority System[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] We get two new abilities in 2.0; one offensive, one defensive. This section is all about offense, and 2.0 has brought Electro Net into our rotation to be used on cooldown (every 1m30s). This is a handy DPS burst ability by way of DoT and should be used on cd following any higher priority abilities listed in the priority system section. New to 2.0: Electro Net Instant Cooldown: 1m30s Fires an electro net that ensnares the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% and dealing energy damage over 9 seconds. The damage dealt by the electro net increases by 20% for every second that the remains moving. This effect stacks up to 10 times on enemy players or up to 5 times on any other target. Additionally, the electro net hinders the target, preventing the use of high mobility actions and escapes such as charges, vanishes and speed boosts. Lasts 9 seconds. Note: *This ability doesn't act the same on NPCs as it does actual players in PVP. It doesn't matter if an NPC is moving or not, it will place a 10 tick DoT on the target, ticking once per second. The 2nd-6th ticks will increase in damage from the previous tick by 20%. The 7th-10th ticks will be identical to the 6th tick. Energy Control Is Key: Commandos follow a priority system based on damage and energy cost. Our energy cell regeneration is greatest (5 energy/s) when we stay between 60-100 energy. Therefore, you should do your best to always stay above 60 energy (also be careful not to allow your energy to reach 100 for more than an instant) unless the situation allows you to burn. This could be the end of a fight, or a time within the fight where you know a short break of dps is coming up where your energy will have time to dissipate. You should ALWAYS burn the target (ignore HS) when your Recharge Cells ability cd<~10s; this includes your opening sequence. The only exceptions are situational, usually the end of a boss fight when you'll need to be going all out. In these cases, wait on using Recharge Cells if you'll need it before the two minute cd is over. More Details: Staying between 60-100 energy cells at all times, amongst other things, maximizes your dps. Consider your overall energy pool in a 1 minute span when you're staying within this range. You're recharging 5 energy/s, your Cell Charger recharges 8 energy every 6s (from talent), and you have a 40 energy cell window on top of that: 40+5*60+8*10=420 energy cell pool Every second you spend below 60 energy cells, assuming you're above 20 emery cells, you're losing 2 energy (you regain 2 energy/s between 59-20 energy cells) from that pool. Although you can afford to go above this limit here and there, I wouldn't make a habit of it and if you do go over, try to limit it to 1-2s tops. Otherwise your sustained DPS will suffer. We can make a pretty good assessment on the new 2.0 priority system based off what we know from the pre-2.0 priority system. Pre-2.0 Priority System Source: Simulation Craft: Scroll down to "Action Priority List" to see where this priority system was derived. This site is no longer kept up to date, but reflects optimal rules Pre 2.0 1. High Impact Bolt (HiB) (energy < 83) 2. Demolition Round (DR) (energy > 76) 3. Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade (energy < 83) 4. Full Auto (energy > 24) 5. Grav Round (energy > 76) 6. *Hammershots *Should also be used when DR/Full Auto cd<1.5s Now we have 3 major changes in 2.0. First, HiB is no longer free (costs 2 or 10 energy depending on set bonus) but still efficient. Second, Electro Net (costs 8 energy) is our added ability that comes off cd every 1m30s. 3rd, you're now only going to need one Grav Round to gain the 25% damage boost to DR as well as 20% armor debuff instead of three. The armor debuff will now last 45s. This effect works the same as the sniper's shatter shot now. Single Target Priority: *Tech Override, Mortar Volley and Plasma Grenade are situational, i.e. you usually want to save Tech Override for using casted abilities on the move instead of wasting it in stand still position (but on a dummy use it to open and when your energy is going to hit 100)...or adds are prominent in the fight where Mortar Volley or Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade would be better used for AoE rather than single target. Opening Burst There are a lot of quality openers you can use, I encourage you to experiment with them. This is the one I've found to work best for me. 1. Tech Override + Grav Round (Only use PS on dummies and specific fights where you won't need to move for a while) 2. Relic/Adrenal 3. High Impact Bolt 4. Demolition Round 5. Electro Net 6. Full Auto (if CofF proc'd) 7. Grav Round 7. Proceed with Priority System using Mortar Volley & Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade situationally With no more need for multiple Grav Round, to get the armor debuff and damage gain to DR, there's no need to open with multiple Grav Rounds. Some players will wait for 4 stacks to fire off their first HiB. Perfectly acceptable, I choose to open with it sooner because it makes my flow easier going forward. 2.0 Priority System Energy < 76: HiB > RP + PG > Hammershots 76 < Energy < 83: HiB > DR > EN > RP + PG > FA > GR Energy > 83: DR > EN > FA > Tech Override + GR *Should also be used when DR/FA cd=<1.5s and energy is at or below 80 (as well as HiB - 4 stacks minimum if using new 4pc). **You can use Mortar Volley in single target situations when AoE is not needed for at least the next 60s. For maximum dps it should be used right after a Curtain of Fire proc'd FA when all other abilities are on cd. You can fire off Hammershots beforehand if your energy is below 80. Note: We aren't the most mobile class, we put out much more damage when we can turret down our target. But if DR and HiB are on cd when you need to move and your energy is sitting fine so you don't want to spam Hammershots. Consider using Sticky Grenade>Explosive Round while on the move and your energy is up. I like to rotate between those and Hammershots in these situations. Also, you could throw in a TR+GR or TR+RP+PG so they can be used on the run. Multiple Target Priority: Commandos have beastly AoE damage and the priority system is as follows: 1. Mortar Volley 2. Pulse Canon 3. *RP+PG 4. Hail of Bolts *You don't necessarily have to use Plasma Grenade with Reserve Powercell. It does produce higher DPS, but isn't as energy efficient, so if you're not worried about energy, use it without RP if you like. But unless you're going to get some downtime after your burn, I would wait for RP. Also, while you're running up to the mob you want to annihilate or waiting for them to position themselves in a nice pile for you, throw a Sticky Grenade OR Plasma Grenade (with or without RP depending on asterick'd note above) in there for a bit extra delayed AoE damage. [aname=tipscom]IV. Tips & Tricks[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Action Queue First thing you need to do as a Commando is turn on the "Ability Action Queue Window" and set it to 1s. This is found in Preferences>Controls. You should be utilizing this by queing nearly every ability throughout your "rotation" to minimize delay between actions. This will help maximize DPS. Don't miss out on CofF proc! You will often find yourself in the situation where you have all your big hitting abilities on cd and all you have is either GR or Hammershots at your disposal. You're fishing for a CofF proc: Rule of Three The 3rd GCD after you've unleashed your proc'd Full Auto, you have a chance to proc another Curtain of Fire. That means during the first 2 GCDs, your goal is to keep your energy as high as possible, GR spam is not necessary. You can use any of the following combos: GR>HS>GR HS>GR>GR HS>HS>GR As long as your energy doesn't reach 100, any of these combos are perfectly fine, your goal here should be to flirt with 100 energy cells without hitting 100 (more than an instant). Full Auto Queue: Neat trick you can utilize when fishing for a Curtain of Fire proc while spamming GR. It only pertains to the situation when all high priority abilities' cd>1.5s, your next GR would result in energy > 76 (or recharge cells cd<10s). 1. Press hotkey for GR 2. Press hotkey for FA during cast of GR 3. Immediately after GR cast is finished, tap hotkey for GR When step 3 is timed properly, it allows for 2 things: A. FA to cast immediately if CofF procs. B. GR to cast again with minimal delay if CofF doesn't proc. The benefit of A outweighs the minimal delay from B. The simplest way to know if the next GR will land your energy > 76 is to watch your energy as your GR casts during step one above. ((( doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) At the last split second, if your energy drops to single digits, you're good to queue Full Auto...if it's not in single digits, queue rapid shots instead. Note: * If you experience a lot of lag, this technique may not be possible. If you time step 3 a bit off, you could end up interrupt Full Auto, wasting a proc and a GCD. With practice and no lag, you should be fine. Instead of using this, some people will use the Double Cast GR & Step Out method. With this method, just as it sounds, you are double casting GR instead of queuing Full Auto. If CofF procs, you will step out of the 2nd GR into an Full Auto. They can both be effective, I like the former personally. Anticipate You need to be thinking ahead at least 1 or 2 abilities. See what's coming off cd soon, see where your energy is. You need to be able to anticipate what your energy is going to be by the time your "next" ability fires. For instance, when I'm casting GR, I'm looking at the energy, at the very last split second, I look to see if my energyt is dropping into single digits... ((( again doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) if it is, then I know my energy will be <24 when it finishes and I know I'm free to spam whatever ability is highest on priority list next. If not, I know I may need to queue a Hammershot filler. This goes for other situations as well, anticipate when you're free to "burn" the target ignoring energy costs, know when a target switch is coming up. This all comes with practice and familiarizing yourself with the operations and programming your muscle memory. How To Analyze Your Parses ]Ever sat there banging on a dummy for hours/days/weeks…a long time…and when you get done you look at the parse you uploaded to torparse.com and just see a bunch of abilities and numbers and not really know what to do with it? This section is for you! I’ve analyzed more parses than I can remember and I’ve learned a lot from them. One thing I noticed is that it’s actually relatively easy to glance at a Commandoenary – Gunnery parse and get a pretty good idea of what can be improved on. My goal is to show everyone how they can look at their own dummy parses and see what they can do to improve their own dps without relying on others to tell them. There are three things that I immediately look at when someone asks me to look at their parse…I call them “The Big Three”. The Big Three: APMs: Optimal APMs for Gunnery is ~35-36. What affects APMs? Action: Unnecessary Delay between abilities will lower your APMs. Solution: Increase reaction time/anticipation. Queue ALL abilities (only exception is during FA/Mortar Volley cast) using ability action queue. Action: If you use the double-cast GR + step out of GR for CofF procs technique outlined in the “Don’t Miss a CofF Proc” portion of the Tips & Tricks section of this guide….your APMs will be a bit fudged on the high side. You will need to recalculate your APMs manually to get a realistic APM output. Solution: No easy way, I usually will open the log, hit ctrl+f and search for “cancel”. This will let you jump to every ability that was cancelled, count the GRs you never let finish and divide that by #mins of the parse length. i.e. if you cancelled 5 GRs in 5 minutes = 5/5 =1 APM you should deduct from your total. Note: Lastly if you don’t use Mortar Volley in your dummy rotation, your APMs should be closer to 36+, if you get a LOT of CofF procs, your APMs might be an APM or so lower (rare). HiB/DR Usage: Optimal usage for HiB/DR is every 15s, so naturally 4/min will be the goal (20 in 5 minutes). How to improve HiB/DR usage: Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! You need to be aware when these abilities are coming off cd. 3s cd of either of these abilities is your queue to start preparing. If you just unleashed an FA or mortar Volley when </=3s is left on cd, you know you will be firing it right when it’s over. Otherwise, you know you have 2 GCDs to prep for it. Unless your energy is dangerously close to zero energy, expect to use Hammerhshots in at least 1 of those 2 GCDs to keep your energy low enough to fire at will. Note: The ONLY time either of these abilities can/should get delayed is if you are in the middle of an FA or Mortar Volley cast when they come off cd. This could potentially push them back ~1.5s and can add up over 5+ minutes time. Your goal should be to hit your 20th HiB/DR very close to the 5 minute mark (I rarely land my 20th beyond 5m3s). Since most players are using these abilities fairly early in the opening sequence, you have about a 10-12s buffer over 5 minutes to still get 20 in 5 minutes. Hammershots Usage: Optimal usage of HS is ~5-6/min (3-4/min with DG 4 piece Set Bonus). Under-using HS? Your APMs are likely low from unwanted delays between abilities. These delays allow you to regain more energy, reducing HS need, but in turn are lowering your overall DPS. Over-using HS? You are either A) under-energying (spending too much time under 60 energy) and needing more HS to bring it down, or B) Using HS too liberally and spending too much time at 100 energy. Both of these habits result in a dps loss. Note: You could be hitting this HS usage goal, but still not optimized. You could be doing a combination of the two above that balance out usage. The only way to know for sure is your own eyes watching your energy level during your parses, if you’re spending more than an instant at 100 or less than 60 energy at any time you are not optimized. Now, there are a few other nuances in a parse that go above and beyond “The Big Three” but if you combine this analysis with the information in the rest of the guide and you’ll be well on your way to hitting the big numbas! [aname=survivabilitycom]Stay Alive![/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] New to 2.0: Hold the Line Instant Cooldown: 30s Grants 8 seconds of immunity from movement-impairing effects, knockdowns and physics and increases movement speed by 30%. Redesigned in 2.0: Adrenaline Rush Instant Cooldown: 3m (once triggered) Activating this ability applies a Health Monitor that lasts up to 60 seconds, which triggers a Adrenaline Rush when your health is reduced to 35% or less. If your health is already 30% or less, Adrenaline Rush triggers immediately. Once triggered, Adrenaline Rush goes on cooldown for 3 minutes and rapidly heals you up to 30% of your max health for 8 seconds but will not exceed 35% of your max health. [aname=creditscom]***Credits + Achievements***[/aname] Special Thanks Keren's Commandoenary DPS Simulator: Many thanks for all Keren's hard work, this is a very handy tool. Although it can't capture every little nuance of a boss fight, it's spectacular as a min/maxing tool for gearing, talent build and ability priority system and I encourage EVERY Commando to utilize this. Aerro's Gunnery DPS Guide: This is an established thread dating back over a year. Thank you Aerro for keeping it maintained so long. Although we haven't always seen 100% eye-to-eye on everything, this is a fantastic discussion thread with many followers dedicated to end-game PVE for Commando-Gunnerys. 2.0 discussion begins on page 34, an excellent read. Also, everyone who's participated on this thread or the ones I've linked above, many many thanks. Keep the discussion going! Personal Bests Here's some parses if you like to disect them. Will update them weekly as I gear. Dummy: 5+ Minute Gunnery: 3381 DPS 5+ Minute Assault Specalist: 3619 DPS Dread Fortress 8M HM: Nefra, Who Bars the Way: 3158 DPS - Assault Specalist Gate Commander Draxus: 2411 DPS - Assault Specalist Grob'Thok, Who Feeds the Forge: 3193 DPS - Assault Specalist Corruptor Zero: 2736 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Brontes: 2148 DPS - Gunnery Dread Palace 8M HM: Dread Master Bestia: 2916 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Tyrans: 3233 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Master Calphayus: 2047 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Raptus: 2332 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Council: 3064 DPS - Assault Specalist Current Gear *The gear to follow is my current gear with full buffs and stimmed. Current Talent Build: 6/36/4 AMR Profile Aim= 3713 Acc= 439 (100.06% / 110.06% Tech) Power= 1278 Crit= 296 (31.85% / 29.77% Tech) Surge= 470 (72.96%) Note: *Since I get the crit vs. power question a lot, I just want to answer your question about it now...IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MUCH just stay between 140-350ish in full 78s and your average dps will not swing much [/noparse] Edited November 1, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 Thank you sir... Will update next time I'm at my pc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted November 1, 2013 Share Posted November 1, 2013 (edited) Theres is a slight problem, you wont get the tags stuff if you just quote my post. You need to copy the bb code from the spoiler manually. Edited November 1, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retla Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Is it better to drop the 4 piece bonus to grab 3 78 armorings? Going from 72's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Is it better to drop the 4 piece bonus to grab 3 78 armorings? Going from 72's Nah I'd wait till u get set bonus 78s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 As said, should work now. Done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) Not quite unfortunately The stuff you put in tags wasnt copied. It happens when you just copy the damn thing with the Quote function. You need to copy the code manually. Just mark everything and hit strg-c: [noparse] Disclaimer: There are many ways to play the Commando Gunnery / Mercenary Arsenal spec and Bioware doesn't endorse just "one way" to play any class or spec. The suggestions I have in this guide are strictly what I, with the help of many others, have found to be the most optimal. You’re encouraged to experiment and find what works best for you and contribute your own feedback for discussion. Last Update to Guide: 10/10/13 Last Update to Parses/Gear: 10/15/13 ***Mercenary Arsenal Guide*** in Commandonese (Updated for 2.4) - Pizza’dah’hutt In addition to showing you some of the changes 2.0 has brought to the Commando Gunnery spec, the intention of this thread is to help Gunnery Commandos take their PVE game to another level. It’s easy to bash 4-5 buttons without putting much thought into it and be an alright Commando. Don’t settle for being good, be great! [aname=tablecom]Table of Contents:[/aname] [jumpto=dpscom]DPS[/jumpto][jumpto=skill treecom]Skill Tree[/jumpto][jumpto=gearcom]Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto][jumpto=abilitiescom]Abilities & Priority System[/jumpto][jumpto=tipscom]Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=survivabilitycom]Survivability[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=utilitycom]Raid Utility[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=awarenesscom]Raid Awareness[/jumpto] [*][jumpto=creditscom]Credits & Achievements[/jumpto] [aname=dpscom]1. Bring The Deeps![/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] I will be elaborating on all of these points, but let’s start with the fun stuff, how do you maximize your DPS? This requires a thorough understanding of the Commando Gunnery's: [jumpto=skill treecom]I. Skill Tree[/jumpto] [jumpto=gearcom]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/jumpto] [jumpto=abilitiescom]III. Abilities & Priority System [/jumpto] [jumpto=tipscom]IV. Tips & Tricks[/jumpto] But first and foremost, don't be lazy. Go get your datacrons (Aim and Cunning for dps) and max out your companion's affection for a 1% boost to Acc/Crit/Surge. [aname=skill treecom]I. Skill Tree[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gunnery 2.0 PVE Spec 6/36/4 New Talents for 2.0: Advance the Line (1pts): Increases the duration of Hold the Line (new ability explained in next section) by 4s. Overclock (2pts): Reduces the cooldown of Concussion Round by 7.5/15s and Tech Override by 15/30s. In addition, Tech Override has a 50/100% chance to yield a second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly Decoy (2pts): Diversion has a 50/100% chance to intercept and absorb the next incoming direct Force or tech attack. Lasts 6/12s. Reflexive Shield (2pts): When you take damage, you have 50/100% chance to reduce the active cooldown of Reactive Shield by 1.5/3s. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5s. In addition, when taking damage, you have a 10/20% chance to emit an Energy Redoubt, which absorbs a low amount of damage and lasts 6/12s. This effect cannot occure more than once every 10s. Charged Launcher (3pts): Increases the damage dealt by HiB, GR, DR and Electro Net (new ability explained in next section) by 2/4/6%. Note: *I choose to put my 2 "elective" points in Tenacious Defense to reduce the cooldown of our CC breaker Determination. However I could see situations where Decoy or Concussive Force could be viable in certain encounters. [aname=gearcom]II. Gear & Stat Goals[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Gear: Dread Forged BiS Chart Kell Dragon BiS Chart (Archive) Set Bonus: The time has come fellow mercs, for any Commandos still using the old 4pc set bonus and if you are beginning to transition into 78 gear. I recommend hanging up the old 4pc set bonus and start collecting the new Dread Forged 4pc. The stat gains are outweighing the decreased HiB cost by enough to notice at this point. The new 4pc grants 8% damage increase to HiB. This will require paying more attention to heat and mixing in more Hammershot fillers. BiS Augments: Advanced Reflex Augment 28 BiS Relics: Dread Forged Relic of Serendipitous Assault & Dread Forged Relic of Boundless Ages. *At the moment I believe KD & DF SA Relics can be used together which would make them BiS until fixed (will change which patch 2.4.3). BiS Stats In Full 78 Gear: Aim > Accuracy (100/110%) > Crit (280 rating) > Power > Surge > Alacrity Accuracy: Goal = 470 rating = 100.43/110.43%. Get this to at least 99/109% before worrying about Surge. Surge: Goal = 470 rating = 72.96% Power/Crit: Using the trusty ole' Keren's Simulator, it's seen there is a rather large sweet spot for crit in full 78 gear. You can fall anywhere between 200-360 crit and not see a noticeable difference in average dps output. This is a small sample size of scatter plots, but done with several thousand iterations at various crit ratings: (Crit/DPS Simulation Scatter Graph), this could be gained a number of ways through mods/enhances/ear/implants...The way I'm planning to do it...since crit enhancements are so incredibly easy to get in random loot drops, and power mods can be purchased through Ultimate Commendations...is to use 4 crit enhancements and a crit crystal. I will adjust if loot RNG creates another option[/Quote] [aname=abilitiescom]III. Abilities & Priority System[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] We get two new abilities in 2.0; one offensive, one defensive. This section is all about offense, and 2.0 has brought Electro Net into our rotation to be used on cooldown (every 1m30s). This is a handy DPS burst ability by way of DoT and should be used on cd following any higher priority abilities listed in the priority system section. New to 2.0: Electro Net Instant Cooldown: 1m30s Fires an electro net that ensnares the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% and dealing energy damage over 9 seconds. The damage dealt by the electro net increases by 20% for every second that the remains moving. This effect stacks up to 10 times on enemy players or up to 5 times on any other target. Additionally, the electro net hinders the target, preventing the use of high mobility actions and escapes such as charges, vanishes and speed boosts. Lasts 9 seconds. Note: *This ability doesn't act the same on NPCs as it does actual players in PVP. It doesn't matter if an NPC is moving or not, it will place a 10 tick DoT on the target, ticking once per second. The 2nd-6th ticks will increase in damage from the previous tick by 20%. The 7th-10th ticks will be identical to the 6th tick. Energy Control Is Key: Commandos follow a priority system based on damage and energy cost. Our energy cell regeneration is greatest (5 energy/s) when we stay between 60-100 energy. Therefore, you should do your best to always stay above 60 energy (also be careful not to allow your energy to reach 100 for more than an instant) unless the situation allows you to burn. This could be the end of a fight, or a time within the fight where you know a short break of dps is coming up where your energy will have time to dissipate. You should ALWAYS burn the target (ignore HS) when your Recharge Cells ability cd<~10s; this includes your opening sequence. The only exceptions are situational, usually the end of a boss fight when you'll need to be going all out. In these cases, wait on using Recharge Cells if you'll need it before the two minute cd is over. More Details: Staying between 60-100 energy cells at all times, amongst other things, maximizes your dps. Consider your overall energy pool in a 1 minute span when you're staying within this range. You're recharging 5 energy/s, your Cell Charger recharges 8 energy every 6s (from talent), and you have a 40 energy cell window on top of that: 40+5*60+8*10=420 energy cell pool Every second you spend below 60 energy cells, assuming you're above 20 emery cells, you're losing 2 energy (you regain 2 energy/s between 59-20 energy cells) from that pool. Although you can afford to go above this limit here and there, I wouldn't make a habit of it and if you do go over, try to limit it to 1-2s tops. Otherwise your sustained DPS will suffer. We can make a pretty good assessment on the new 2.0 priority system based off what we know from the pre-2.0 priority system. Pre-2.0 Priority System Source: Simulation Craft: Scroll down to "Action Priority List" to see where this priority system was derived. This site is no longer kept up to date, but reflects optimal rules Pre 2.0 1. High Impact Bolt (HiB) (energy < 83) 2. Demolition Round (DR) (energy > 76) 3. Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade (energy < 83) 4. Full Auto (energy > 24) 5. Grav Round (energy > 76) 6. *Hammershots *Should also be used when DR/Full Auto cd<1.5s Now we have 3 major changes in 2.0. First, HiB is no longer free (costs 2 or 10 energy depending on set bonus) but still efficient. Second, Electro Net (costs 8 energy) is our added ability that comes off cd every 1m30s. 3rd, you're now only going to need one Grav Round to gain the 25% damage boost to DR as well as 20% armor debuff instead of three. The armor debuff will now last 45s. This effect works the same as the sniper's shatter shot now. Single Target Priority: *Tech Override, Mortar Volley and Plasma Grenade are situational, i.e. you usually want to save Tech Override for using casted abilities on the move instead of wasting it in stand still position (but on a dummy use it to open and when your energy is going to hit 100)...or adds are prominent in the fight where Mortar Volley or Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade would be better used for AoE rather than single target. Opening Burst There are a lot of quality openers you can use, I encourage you to experiment with them. This is the one I've found to work best for me. 1. Tech Override + Grav Round (Only use PS on dummies and specific fights where you won't need to move for a while) 2. Relic/Adrenal 3. High Impact Bolt 4. Demolition Round 5. Electro Net 6. Full Auto (if CofF proc'd) 7. Grav Round 7. Proceed with Priority System using Mortar Volley & Reserve Powercell + Plasma Grenade situationally With no more need for multiple Grav Round, to get the armor debuff and damage gain to DR, there's no need to open with multiple Grav Rounds. Some players will wait for 4 stacks to fire off their first HiB. Perfectly acceptable, I choose to open with it sooner because it makes my flow easier going forward. 2.0 Priority System Energy < 76: HiB > RP + PG > Hammershots 76 < Energy < 83: HiB > DR > EN > RP + PG > FA > GR Energy > 83: DR > EN > FA > Tech Override + GR *Should also be used when DR/FA cd=<1.5s and energy is at or below 80 (as well as HiB - 4 stacks minimum if using new 4pc). **You can use Mortar Volley in single target situations when AoE is not needed for at least the next 60s. For maximum dps it should be used right after a Curtain of Fire proc'd FA when all other abilities are on cd. You can fire off Hammershots beforehand if your energy is below 80. Note: We aren't the most mobile class, we put out much more damage when we can turret down our target. But if DR and HiB are on cd when you need to move and your energy is sitting fine so you don't want to spam Hammershots. Consider using Sticky Grenade>Explosive Round while on the move and your energy is up. I like to rotate between those and Hammershots in these situations. Also, you could throw in a TR+GR or TR+RP+PG so they can be used on the run. Multiple Target Priority: Commandos have beastly AoE damage and the priority system is as follows: 1. Mortar Volley 2. Pulse Canon 3. *RP+PG 4. Hail of Bolts *You don't necessarily have to use Plasma Grenade with Reserve Powercell. It does produce higher DPS, but isn't as energy efficient, so if you're not worried about energy, use it without RP if you like. But unless you're going to get some downtime after your burn, I would wait for RP. Also, while you're running up to the mob you want to annihilate or waiting for them to position themselves in a nice pile for you, throw a Sticky Grenade OR Plasma Grenade (with or without RP depending on asterick'd note above) in there for a bit extra delayed AoE damage. [aname=tipscom]IV. Tips & Tricks[/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] [jumpto=dpscom]Back to DPS[/jumpto] Action Queue First thing you need to do as a Commando is turn on the "Ability Action Queue Window" and set it to 1s. This is found in Preferences>Controls. You should be utilizing this by queing nearly every ability throughout your "rotation" to minimize delay between actions. This will help maximize DPS. Don't miss out on CofF proc! You will often find yourself in the situation where you have all your big hitting abilities on cd and all you have is either GR or Hammershots at your disposal. You're fishing for a CofF proc: Rule of Three The 3rd GCD after you've unleashed your proc'd Full Auto, you have a chance to proc another Curtain of Fire. That means during the first 2 GCDs, your goal is to keep your energy as high as possible, GR spam is not necessary. You can use any of the following combos: GR>HS>GR HS>GR>GR HS>HS>GR As long as your energy doesn't reach 100, any of these combos are perfectly fine, your goal here should be to flirt with 100 energy cells without hitting 100 (more than an instant). Full Auto Queue: Neat trick you can utilize when fishing for a Curtain of Fire proc while spamming GR. It only pertains to the situation when all high priority abilities' cd>1.5s, your next GR would result in energy > 76 (or recharge cells cd<10s). 1. Press hotkey for GR 2. Press hotkey for FA during cast of GR 3. Immediately after GR cast is finished, tap hotkey for GR When step 3 is timed properly, it allows for 2 things: A. FA to cast immediately if CofF procs. B. GR to cast again with minimal delay if CofF doesn't proc. The benefit of A outweighs the minimal delay from B. The simplest way to know if the next GR will land your energy > 76 is to watch your energy as your GR casts during step one above. ((( doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) At the last split second, if your energy drops to single digits, you're good to queue Full Auto...if it's not in single digits, queue rapid shots instead. Note: * If you experience a lot of lag, this technique may not be possible. If you time step 3 a bit off, you could end up interrupt Full Auto, wasting a proc and a GCD. With practice and no lag, you should be fine. Instead of using this, some people will use the Double Cast GR & Step Out method. With this method, just as it sounds, you are double casting GR instead of queuing Full Auto. If CofF procs, you will step out of the 2nd GR into an Full Auto. They can both be effective, I like the former personally. Anticipate You need to be thinking ahead at least 1 or 2 abilities. See what's coming off cd soon, see where your energy is. You need to be able to anticipate what your energy is going to be by the time your "next" ability fires. For instance, when I'm casting GR, I'm looking at the energy, at the very last split second, I look to see if my energyt is dropping into single digits... ((( again doesn’t work for Commandos since we don’t have a percentage display ))) if it is, then I know my energy will be <24 when it finishes and I know I'm free to spam whatever ability is highest on priority list next. If not, I know I may need to queue a Hammershot filler. This goes for other situations as well, anticipate when you're free to "burn" the target ignoring energy costs, know when a target switch is coming up. This all comes with practice and familiarizing yourself with the operations and programming your muscle memory. How To Analyze Your Parses ]Ever sat there banging on a dummy for hours/days/weeks…a long time…and when you get done you look at the parse you uploaded to torparse.com and just see a bunch of abilities and numbers and not really know what to do with it? This section is for you! I’ve analyzed more parses than I can remember and I’ve learned a lot from them. One thing I noticed is that it’s actually relatively easy to glance at a Commandoenary – Gunnery parse and get a pretty good idea of what can be improved on. My goal is to show everyone how they can look at their own dummy parses and see what they can do to improve their own dps without relying on others to tell them. There are three things that I immediately look at when someone asks me to look at their parse…I call them “The Big Three”. The Big Three: APMs: Optimal APMs for Gunnery is ~35-36. What affects APMs? Action: Unnecessary Delay between abilities will lower your APMs. Solution: Increase reaction time/anticipation. Queue ALL abilities (only exception is during FA/Mortar Volley cast) using ability action queue. Action: If you use the double-cast GR + step out of GR for CofF procs technique outlined in the “Don’t Miss a CofF Proc” portion of the Tips & Tricks section of this guide….your APMs will be a bit fudged on the high side. You will need to recalculate your APMs manually to get a realistic APM output. Solution: No easy way, I usually will open the log, hit ctrl+f and search for “cancel”. This will let you jump to every ability that was cancelled, count the GRs you never let finish and divide that by #mins of the parse length. i.e. if you cancelled 5 GRs in 5 minutes = 5/5 =1 APM you should deduct from your total. Note: Lastly if you don’t use Mortar Volley in your dummy rotation, your APMs should be closer to 36+, if you get a LOT of CofF procs, your APMs might be an APM or so lower (rare). HiB/DR Usage: Optimal usage for HiB/DR is every 15s, so naturally 4/min will be the goal (20 in 5 minutes). How to improve HiB/DR usage: Anticipation, anticipation, anticipation! You need to be aware when these abilities are coming off cd. 3s cd of either of these abilities is your queue to start preparing. If you just unleashed an FA or mortar Volley when </=3s is left on cd, you know you will be firing it right when it’s over. Otherwise, you know you have 2 GCDs to prep for it. Unless your energy is dangerously close to zero energy, expect to use Hammerhshots in at least 1 of those 2 GCDs to keep your energy low enough to fire at will. Note: The ONLY time either of these abilities can/should get delayed is if you are in the middle of an FA or Mortar Volley cast when they come off cd. This could potentially push them back ~1.5s and can add up over 5+ minutes time. Your goal should be to hit your 20th HiB/DR very close to the 5 minute mark (I rarely land my 20th beyond 5m3s). Since most players are using these abilities fairly early in the opening sequence, you have about a 10-12s buffer over 5 minutes to still get 20 in 5 minutes. Hammershots Usage: Optimal usage of HS is ~5-6/min (3-4/min with DG 4 piece Set Bonus). Under-using HS? Your APMs are likely low from unwanted delays between abilities. These delays allow you to regain more energy, reducing HS need, but in turn are lowering your overall DPS. Over-using HS? You are either A) under-energying (spending too much time under 60 energy) and needing more HS to bring it down, or B) Using HS too liberally and spending too much time at 100 energy. Both of these habits result in a dps loss. Note: You could be hitting this HS usage goal, but still not optimized. You could be doing a combination of the two above that balance out usage. The only way to know for sure is your own eyes watching your energy level during your parses, if you’re spending more than an instant at 100 or less than 60 energy at any time you are not optimized. Now, there are a few other nuances in a parse that go above and beyond “The Big Three” but if you combine this analysis with the information in the rest of the guide and you’ll be well on your way to hitting the big numbas! [aname=survivabilitycom]Stay Alive![/aname] [jumpto=tablecom]Back To Table of Contents[/jumpto] New to 2.0: Hold the Line Instant Cooldown: 30s Grants 8 seconds of immunity from movement-impairing effects, knockdowns and physics and increases movement speed by 30%. Redesigned in 2.0: Adrenaline Rush Instant Cooldown: 3m (once triggered) Activating this ability applies a Health Monitor that lasts up to 60 seconds, which triggers a Adrenaline Rush when your health is reduced to 35% or less. If your health is already 30% or less, Adrenaline Rush triggers immediately. Once triggered, Adrenaline Rush goes on cooldown for 3 minutes and rapidly heals you up to 30% of your max health for 8 seconds but will not exceed 35% of your max health. [aname=creditscom]***Credits + Achievements***[/aname] Special Thanks Keren's Commandoenary DPS Simulator: Many thanks for all Keren's hard work, this is a very handy tool. Although it can't capture every little nuance of a boss fight, it's spectacular as a min/maxing tool for gearing, talent build and ability priority system and I encourage EVERY Commando to utilize this. Aerro's Gunnery DPS Guide: This is an established thread dating back over a year. Thank you Aerro for keeping it maintained so long. Although we haven't always seen 100% eye-to-eye on everything, this is a fantastic discussion thread with many followers dedicated to end-game PVE for Commando-Gunnerys. 2.0 discussion begins on page 34, an excellent read. Also, everyone who's participated on this thread or the ones I've linked above, many many thanks. Keep the discussion going! Personal Bests Here's some parses if you like to disect them. Will update them weekly as I gear. Dummy: 5+ Minute Gunnery: 3381 DPS 5+ Minute Assault Specalist: 3619 DPS Dread Fortress 8M HM: Nefra, Who Bars the Way: 3158 DPS - Assault Specalist Gate Commander Draxus: 2411 DPS - Assault Specalist Grob'Thok, Who Feeds the Forge: 3193 DPS - Assault Specalist Corruptor Zero: 2736 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Brontes: 2148 DPS - Gunnery Dread Palace 8M HM: Dread Master Bestia: 2916 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Tyrans: 3233 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Master Calphayus: 2047 DPS - Assault Specalist Dread Master Raptus: 2332 DPS (death near end) - Assault Specalist Dread Council: 3064 DPS - Assault Specalist Current Gear *The gear to follow is my current gear with full buffs and stimmed. Current Talent Build: 6/36/4 AMR Profile Aim= 3713 Acc= 439 (100.06% / 110.06% Tech) Power= 1278 Crit= 296 (31.85% / 29.77% Tech) Surge= 470 (72.96%) Note: *Since I get the crit vs. power question a lot, I just want to answer your question about it now...IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT MUCH just stay between 140-350ish in full 78s and your average dps will not swing much [/noparse] Edited November 3, 2013 by AMightyKnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) what is strg-c? oh ctrl-c? Edit: Check it now Edited November 2, 2013 by odawgg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMightyKnight Posted November 3, 2013 Share Posted November 3, 2013 what is strg-c? oh ctrl-c? Edit: Check it now haha sure ctrl, language thing Looks fine now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiclasB Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Hello! I recently got my 78 main-hand and i bought 78 off-hand for commendations but i dont feel that i have a damage increase. I noticed from a friend (sniper) that when he got his 78 main-hand he got a huge increase but i dont feel like i have the same. Before i normally had more dmg or about the same, now he tops me with 300-500 in dps. I have some crit in the gear (around 29%) is that to much or what the hell am i doin wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magsel Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Have you guys been thinking about a 2nd relic if BW is ever going to fix the double stacking power proc bug? (Thread can be found http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6854138#post6854138) I myself don't like crit rating in gear since the beginning. I'd rather replace crit with power, but since you can buy a Dread Forged Relic of Devastating Vengeance (which will give you 425 crit rating for 6 seconds every 20 seconds), I'm thinking of replacing my Boundless Ages relic for the Devastating Vengeance relic. Anyone who has run this through a similation yet or have some experience with this? Just got my first Dread Forge relic now and I really have no idea which one to buy. ATM I'm using UW power proc and Arkanian power proc. I also have the UW power clicky, but I prefer the Arkanian power proc since they still proc together. I'm still thinking about buying the relic that gives 425 crit, but I don't want to waste a token if the power proc and power clicky are stil BiS. So does anyone know or is there a link to another thread on this forum? Mag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVaglin Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 Pretty sure Serendipious Assault is still the best relic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 (edited) Just got my first Dread Forge relic now and I really have no idea which one to buy. ATM I'm using UW power proc and Arkanian power proc. I also have the UW power clicky, but I prefer the Arkanian power proc since they still proc together. I'm still thinking about buying the relic that gives 425 crit, but I don't want to waste a token if the power proc and power clicky are stil BiS. So does anyone know or is there a link to another thread on this forum? Mag SA + BA is what I've concluded as BiS based on simulated results. The DV is fairly significantly inferior from the sims. Edited November 6, 2013 by odawgg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odawgg Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Hello! I recently got my 78 main-hand and i bought 78 off-hand for commendations but i dont feel that i have a damage increase. I noticed from a friend (sniper) that when he got his 78 main-hand he got a huge increase but i dont feel like i have the same. Before i normally had more dmg or about the same, now he tops me with 300-500 in dps. I have some crit in the gear (around 29%) is that to much or what the hell am i doin wrong? just the mainhand isn't going to help any dps class by 300-500 dps so there's something else going on there. Either he got better or u got worse understand that some of it could be a string of bad luck RNG, but again, not by that much dps. Your crit is fine, that's a non-issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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