Assault or Gunnery for PvP

[FourPawnBenoni]

What's the current opinions of the forum?

[mandoforlife]

For PvP, Gunnery. You can set up your burst much faster with GR > DR. Assault's burst was needed, so its hard to kill anyone in PvP with it as efficient as you could with Gunnery.

[jesseleeca]

Gunnery is much improved. As shown by our ability to get top DPS and throw around 9k DRs with full PvE gear. Edited May 22, 2013 by jesseleeca

[sakica]

Sorry for being a noob but what cell use gunnery and what assault? First time play commando:)

[cs_zoltan]

Gunnery= armor piercing

Assult= combustible gas

[jesseleeca]

Gunnery= armor piercing

Assult= combustible gas

 

It's Plasma cell for commandos.

[Keizak]

Based on the feedback here, Assault seems to suck compared to commando. Try them both and see what you like. I could only see myself playing assault with my vanguard.

[namkcas]

I have played both successfully in PvP. They are very different in what you can do and what you can achieve. Gunnery packs a lot more up front punch than Assault. But as noted, it is not as mobile.

 

Gear is a huge deal with Assault. The crit thing is huge and is very synergistic with the 4 piece of our PvP set. The whole point of it is to proc as many critical HiBs as you can and use your DoTs (which are enhanced by Burnout) to close the deal. Now one of the big things is that this is great with mobile healers to keep the pressure on them while they run around and use their instant heals on themselves.

 

Gunnery has a whole bunch of burst direct damage - you can use the Double Triggered TO to get 2 extra instant Grav Rounds out. My burst generally looks like GR, DR, GR, HiB, TO, GR, GR, then normally you should have CoF up and you can use that to stop those running healers.

 

The one thing that I can say is that I find Gunnery Commandos are most troubled by Snipers. With Assault you can LoS them much more easily. With Gunnery, you really can't outdps a similarly geared Sniper once they are behind their screen.

 

So, I like to switch back and forth and play with both regularly. Gunnery Commandos do make Healers panic where Assault does not. My recommendation would be to stick to Gunnery until you get your 4 piece then give Assault a try. But remember Assault is a real pvp spec where LoS and positioning is important. If you are going to dabble in PvP, Gunnery is probably better for you.

Edited May 26, 2013 by namkcas
bad syntax

[TUXs]

Based on the feedback here, Assault seems to suck compared to commando. Try them both and see what you like. I could only see myself playing assault with my vanguard.

 

I run Assault exclusively in PvP. It took a big hit in 2.0, but the mobility is far too important to give up imo. Gunnery is much better than it was pre-2.0, but still far too prone to interrupts for my playstyle. In PvE, I run PvE exclusively. NPC's don't LoS or interrupt like decent players do.

[Gyronamics]

I run Assault exclusively in PvP. It took a big hit in 2.0, but the mobility is far too important to give up imo. Gunnery is much better than it was pre-2.0, but still far too prone to interrupts for my playstyle.

 

What is your Assault playstyle, your attacks and what mobility are you talking about.

 

In PVP I run Gunnery with the 2 set bonus from medic and eliminator for:

 

10s HTL with a 25s CD (40% uptime)

20s Concussion Charge

 

And just from talents there is:

 

1m30 CC break (instead of normal 2m CC break

Root on Stockstrike

Extra powerful Concussion Charge

70% slow on Full Auto procced or not

Diversion causes next incoming force or tech to hit for 0

Reduced CD on shield

Passive damage absorbing

 

 

If I use the same set bonus for Assault it is:

 

6s HTL and 25s CD for 24% uptime

25s Concussion Charge (but see below talent as well)

 

Snare break on Diversion

Ammo regen if messed with

Burning shield

Reduced CD on Concussion Charge

30% reduced DoT damage if you use cleanse

 

The defensive and "messing with people" package for Gunnery is better and since long weak DoTs in a WZ are a great way to waste ammo and give healers some soft damage to sponge away Gunnery also does more useful damage.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Gyronamics

[namkcas]

I think the thing you are missing was my point about the 4 piece eliminators set. The whole point of PvP dps in Assault is critical High Impact Bolts (HIB). You should be able to get near 50% crit on this alone without compromising anything else. The DoTs add up and if you get 2 - 3 of them ticking then a Full Auto (FA)/Charged Bolts (CB) + HiB can get many folks below 30%. The reality is that even most healers don't notice the damage until it gets to about 50%. Once you hit 30% health on your target only a healer's full attention...stopped standing their healing will save them. At that point, you pretty much have them.

 

Against DPS, tell me what do you do as Gunnery about a Sniper in an open field. You can't get off a Grav Round without dying or losing 50% of your health. With Assault, it is still hard but your LoS DPS is about the same as your normal DPS. The same can not be said of the Sniper.

 

Now what I like about Gunnery is the front loaded direct damage and stronger snare. I am definitely not saying that Gunnery is bad. What I am trying to say is that Assault is a lot more subtle both on the defensive side (Suit FOE is highly underrated for example).

[Gyronamics]

To proc HiB at the 6s point each time you are hugely reliant on CB which is much more vulnerable than Grav round since Gunnery still has the proc option of CB with Grav locked out and doesn't rely on casting to regen ammo.

 

Against a Sniper in an open field Assault is completely useless. Sniper cover will sponge HiB, CB, FA and the dots will not do enough.

 

Or do you mean not an open field but a convenient pillar which you can try to LOS behind while the sniper lays down an orbital strike and plasma probe on it. LOS is a flawed concept for a heavily casting spec and merely becomes mediocre damage between hiding.

 

What I would do as Gunnery is either HTL and escape or attack depending on whether I could get first hit or not, first hit means a massive advantage and I could follow up with more tech attacks (unblockable by dodge or cover).

 

If it is not an escapable scenario then I'd instant/free a plasma grenade, sticky grenade while HTL behind his cover and unload a FA into his back.

 

All shields up, Diversion to absorb the next big tech hit, cleanse if hes that type of sniper. Knockback out of cover if not entrenched.

 

Probably get interrupted on FA at which point grav, demo more grav, more FA. HiB. I have a very good chance of outgunning him especially if he tries to escape from his almost useless cover which is now facing the wrong way at which point he loses major defensive bonuses and most serious attack abilities.

 

 

 

Suit FOE is only relevant vs a DoT spec you cant cleanse (force) because Sniper and Operative Dots you remove with that cleanse anyway. Balance or Watchman is not a popular spec to play in PVP.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Gyronamics

[namkcas]

So, I disagree strongly with your assessment. If you can cleanse the sniper, then so can I and mine cuts 30% of all DoT damage. Second, CB is not solo - FA gets the same results. Which means one can be interrupted but not both AND I still have 4 instants that are meaningful. The DoTs that I have are not laughable - it is your playstyle that makes you mistake them for it. Which is my point.

 

You run away from the sniper. I beat him. He will eat a lot of my health but even behind his little interrupt proof shield I can dot/dot/dot/bomb/bomb and he has 1 effective move. After about 15 seconds, he will realize the trouble he is in but then its too late as the DoTs will burn him down. That is the entire point....I wait to do a full auto/cb until he is under 50%.

 

I have not said Gunnery is bad anywhere. What I have said, and will repeat is that Assault is just fine. You don't like it - Hey that's great. If you are casual in PvP, I definitely do not recommend Assault. But for a player skilled at positioning and control, I think it is better than Gunnery. You don't and that is fine. But do note that your post has you running away. That is your post - not mine.

[Gyronamics]

You have issues in your own confidence.

 

I have nothing to correct in my post and in the unlikely event I see you in a WZ I know you're the macho player who will commit to an attack instead of LOS or breaking off even if I get first hits and cripple you.

 

Reducing DoT damage from snipers/operatives after removing them is just naff. You've removed them.

 

I've played Assault through every operation and in PVP since the game released. Up to 2.0 it was my PVP spec and still is sometimes my PVE spec.

 

As such I disagree with you strongly. But I don't see this going anywhere.

 

I am however fascinated that there's a ranked team out there that fields an assault commando. You're not casual right?

Edited May 31, 2013 by Gyronamics

[Macroeconomics]

Against DPS, tell me what do you do as Gunnery about a Sniper in an open field. You can't get off a Grav Round without dying or losing 50% of your health. With Assault, it is still hard but your LoS DPS is about the same as your normal DPS. The same can not be said of the Sniper.

 

Theoretically Merc dps (either tree) is supposed to be able to counter Snipers. Battle, then break LoS and continue via healing while the Sniper twiddles his thumbs. In the long run you should win.

 

In practice however it doesn't really work out that way. With multiple enemies on the field, the Sniper can continue dpsing. Even in the rare 1v1 scenario, most of the time, any LoS breaks that the Merc can achieve can be countered with a roll. In other words if you are losing that 1v1 against a Sniper, if he is any good, you will still lose it after a temporary LoS break. The good news is that in a pure 1v1, you really are not disadvantaged vs. a Sniper so it shouldn't get to that stage. Theoretically. Again, in practice with target switching, third parties, objectives to cover, etc. the Sniper will often catch you at a disadvantage. Or you will catch him. In those situations, burst is useful and that is why most Merc dps prefer Arsenal currently for pvp.

[Sangrar]

Go gunnery its the best dps for a commando