Pyrotech early tree

[Loc_n_lol]

So... I'm currently leveling a mercenary and I love the playstyle of the pyrotech (in contrast, the early arsenal seems like it's tracer spam and not much else) but I have issues with a large part of the skill tree, especially early on, and especially for PvE (I solo and PvP as DPS, play group PvE as healer). It seems the game is asking me to choose between a load of boosts that are all as useless as each other... I've never has do much trouble with a skill tree before. Usually, when there is an ability that is clearly meant for PvP, there are some viable alternatives for PvE, but here... not really.

I'm curious to see if I'm missing something and how you deal with it.

 

Tier 1:

System calibrations : 2 points for 2% alacrity, not completely useless but close.

Integrated cardio package : 3 points for a meager 3% endurance ? As a DPS class ?

 

Tier 2:

Superheated gas : 3 points for more CGC damage and trigger chance, not great considering how little damage it does in the first place, but moar damage can never be bad, I guess ? Also a requirement for superheated rail.

Sweltering heat : 2 points to slow down targets by 30%. Completely useless in PvE and doesn't seem all that useful in PvP either ?

Gyroscopic Alignment Jet : Anything that vents heat is good, but this one has its trigger completely out of the player's control... that's bad.

 

Tier 3 :

Pyro Shield : Not great, especially for PvE (assuming the tank does his job), but alright it's something...

Infrared Sensors : Seems completely useless for PvE again (and almost as useless for PvP, I doubt 2 levels of stealth detection are going to make a big difference in finding a stealther, unless they are really careless). And it's also unlocked much earlier than the stealth scan it buffs, making it a poor choice early on. Is the slight survivabilty buff worthwhile or noticeable ?

 

Tier 4 :

suit FOE : Questionable usefulness ? Good for ops with uncleansable DoTs maybe ?

 

Tier 7 :

Jet Rebounder : Buffs the damage of a get-out-of-my-face move that does almost no damage ? Does the cooldown reduction really make this worthwhile or are we just placing points here to unlock...

 

Tier 8:

Thermal detonator : despite the recent buff that still seems like a pretty lame ultimate, damage-wise ?

[kennethdale]

Tier 1: 3/3 Advanced Targeting - Pretty obvious why this is nice. Accuracy + More RS/Unload Armor Pen = Good

2/2 System Calibrations - Alacrity got a silent buff and its actually a bit better than you would think.

 

Tier 2: 3/3 Superheated Gas - Again pretty obvious why this is useful.

2/2 Sweltering Heat - The slow may seem pointless but while leveling you'll often use it on weaks/strongs and it can be a very nice little boost.

 

Tier 3: 2/2 Pyro Shield - In all levels of PvE, there is a chance you'll be hit by something and reducing that damage AND doing damage back is actually very nice.

2/2 Superheated Rail - This is obvious.

1/1 Incendiary Missile - Very obvious as well.

 

Tier 4: 2/2 Suit F.O.E. - While adding DoT protection doesn't seem very applicable to your damage but it helps a TON in PvP and in leveling since there are a lot of DoTs in both. It gives you an incentive to use cure on yourself (something that is good to get used to for end-game.

1/1 Prototype Particle Accelerator - Obvious.

1/1 Volatile Warhead - In endgame, this becomes a filler talent but while leveling missile blast is very useful and this gives you bonuses for doing it.

 

Tier 5: 2/2 Firebug - Obvious.

3/3 Rain of Fire - Obvious.

 

Tier 6: 2/2 Deguass - Gives you another defensive CD to use while soloing which is always useful. Plus, adding a defensive CD to your threat drop is very helpful in groups.

3/3 Burnout - Obvious.

 

Tier 7: 2/2 Rapid Venting - Obvious.

1/1 Power Barrels - Obvious.

2/2 Jet Rebounder - This is another that seems worthless at first glance but adding damage to your knockback can help a lot in leveling.

 

Tier 8: 1/1 Thermal Detonator - It actually hits a lot harder than you think. If timed right it will blow when you hit a RS which means that in good gear your hitting for ~14k in one second. Plus it adds a burn which deals more damage.

[Loc_n_lol]

Thanks for your input.

 

Any more info about this ninja alacrity change ?

[MVaglin]

It's no ya ninja change or very recent. It was changed with the expansion and the main addition is that it increases energy regen and decreases the GCD now.

 

So in general for dps it's nice to have but not something you gear for.

 

However, when playing pyro I've found alacrity is actually detrimental to the specs performance. It makes the timing for the PPA proc not line up properly, so you more frequently need another power shot cast to proc it. Some alacrity is nice to compensate for lag and pushback, but what we get from Rapid Venting is enough in my experience.

 

So yeah, you'll spend points on a lot of filler talents. But pyro is still one of the best (if not the actual best) single target damage spec in the game right now, so it's a worthy trade off.