Warforever Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 (edited) Is there any difference if my commando uses a rifle vs an assault cannon (over sized didlo)? ****** Edited June 24, 2013 by Warforever spelling error Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyronamics Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 You lose damage on Full Auto, High Impact Bolt, Hammer Shots You lose the ability to use Hail of Bolts, Charged Bolts The only time none of that is relevant is if you are a healer and not expected to be doing part time DPS in a tight enrage fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XCoOKiExMoNSteRX Posted June 25, 2013 Share Posted June 25, 2013 (edited) Is there any difference if my commando uses a rifle vs an assault cannon (over sized didlo)? ****** Assault Cannons are awesome but I guess it comes down to personal preference. Anyway most abilities require an Assault Cannon. Edited June 26, 2013 by XCoOKiExMoNSteRX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama-Eight Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 (edited) Assault Cannons are awesome but I guess it comes down to personal preference. Any most abilities require an Assault Cannon. Two abilities require an assault cannon, Hail of Bolts & Charged Bolts, some other abilities loose damage as Gyronamics said. Edited June 26, 2013 by Llama-Eight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XCoOKiExMoNSteRX Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Two abilities require an assault cannon, Hail of Bolts & Charged Bolts, some other abilities loose damage as Gyronamics said. Right, sorry about that haven't played my commando in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snordek Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 As a DPS commando, you should always choose the weapon type with the highest base damage. Fortunately, that's relatively easy to do, as assault cannons will always have higher base damage than blaster rifles (assuming they are of equal ratings). As has already been pointed out, you will not be able to use certain commando-specific abilities without an assault cannon (namely, hail of bolts and charged bolts), but that may not be an issue for you depending on your spec. If you are a gunnery commando, for example, charged bolts is completely useless and is replaced by grav round (which is cheaper, more accurate since it is a tech ability, and applies a useful debuff). Hail of Bolts is not a spec-specific ability, but is a very useful AoE ability than can make clearing packs of weak mobs quick and painless when mortar volley is on cool-down. (If you are a healing commando, then you are free to use whatever you like, as the choice of weapon type will not have any effect on your healing ability.) I play a gunnery commando primarily, and haven't really toyed around with assault in a long time, so I can't speak for that spec but... You absolutely want to have an assault cannon as a gunnery commando, despite not having any rotational abilities that specifically require you to have one. Full-Auto is your hardest hitting ability, and will often account for the largest portion of your damage output in boss fights. Since full-auto is a "ranged" ability (and not a "tech" ability), its calculated using your primary weapon's base damage as part of the formula (same for hammer shots and high-impact bolt - another heavy hitting ability). Full-Auto also benefits from +30% surge in the gunnery tree, which amplifies the benefit of having higher base weapon damage as your critical hits will be even larger. It also benefits from the 20% armor reduction applied by grav round, as well as the +25% damage buff from the curtain of fire proc. Comparing (for example) a rating 156 blaster rifle to a rating 156 assault cannon you'll get: Blaster Rifle: 434 - 651 energy damage Assault Cannon: 456 - 847 energy damage Difference: 22 min damage, 196 max damage That's just the base damage of the weapon. The assault cannon comes out ahead, and if you are a gunnery commando, then the assault cannon pulls ahead even further in damage output. TL;DR version... if you are a gunnery commando, then full-auto accounts for a huge portion of your damage output on a boss fight, and you'll be losing out on a very, very large amount of damage by using a blaster rifle instead of an assault cannon. Hope that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Beers Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 I'm pretty sure Assault cannons have higher tech power which would affect your healing and damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philmors Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Other than losing some power and damage, you only lose 2 abilities. So if you are fine with that, then it's just a matter of preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggardbr Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Other than losing some power and damage, you only lose 2 abilities. So if you are fine with that, then it's just a matter of preference. I agree with this statement. I myself use a rifle for general daily stuff. Just keep in mind that for 55 HM FPS and Operations, you MUST use a cannon, since they depend a LOT of DPS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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