Koozie's Powertech PvP Pyrotech Guide

[pquadro]

Koozie

 

 

What sniper MM spec are you running? 35//3/3?

[NateSoGross]

You should run 36/7/3

[pquadro]

Thanks

[NateSoGross]

Hey again Koozie, first of all big fan. Recently I watched your awareness and positioning and I listened to u about your teammates overextending. I've recently been told I overextend a little too much, and I didn't feel like I found the answer from your video. With a melee class like pyro PT how can u not be up close, I've recently stayed back and while ranged kill I fire rapid shots with a Ed and rail shot here and there. I do t feel like I'm apart of the match when I do this, what is your advice?

[Kooziejr]

Hey again Koozie, first of all big fan. Recently I watched your awareness and positioning and I listened to u about your teammates overextending. I've recently been told I overextend a little too much, and I didn't feel like I found the answer from your video. With a melee class like pyro PT how can u not be up close, I've recently stayed back and while ranged kill I fire rapid shots with a Ed and rail shot here and there. I do t feel like I'm apart of the match when I do this, what is your advice?

 

You have to be up close. Overextend doesn't mean ur too close to the enemy. It means you have bad positioning relative to the rest of your team. I overextend on my PT only when I have heaps of cooldowns active including breaker. Otherwise I kill things within a safe range of my team. My top objectives when I play are never die/max dps/winning. Probably in that order for regs Overextending when 2 - 3 people attacking you is the same as trying to do a 2 - 3 v 1. I hope that clarifies for you. In the video I told people their ideal positions based on the class they play. Have a listen again :-) You don't need to be in the very backline to do monster DPS and kill lots of things. These annoying DPS in the back can easily be taken down by LoS if they are playing the old dot and run tactic.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Kooziejr

[BladeAX]

First off, excellent guide! read most of the posts and there is a ton of useful info from yourself and other players. I've tried all 3 specs for PT for both pvp and pve and like pyro the best. I'm no expert, but a decent pvper, (prefer pvp over pve) and have learned a lot simply by trial and error, but have some comments and a question and would like some feedback/opinions. I have the 4/6/36 spec even before reading this guide, my ranged crit a bit over 25% and my tech crit around 32%.

 

1) I've heard some people say pyro is 'squishy', I somewhat disagree, I have 34k hp (getting all endurance datacrons really helps), between chaff flare (rocks!), shield, kolto, carbonize, electrodart, and the 2 wz adrenals, I'm fairly durable and I can confidently guard a node solo against 2-3 attackers and at the very least hold on long enough to prevent cap and get help from team mates. as you mentioned just have to space out defensive abilities and healing correctly.

 

2) Absolutely luv shoulder cannon, have killed attackers who are low on health many times while I'm actually stunned/immobilized (I try to save determination for when I absolutely need it) with 4 quick shots, especially if explosive fuel is used before I'm stunned. and it's great for heat management.

 

3) I read post about this earlier but missile blast can be very effective at certain times on low health targets at range 25-30m away, either snipers/slingers or people running to a heal up, to finish them off. It does generate a lot of heat, but it is 'instant' and 2-4 quick shots with a crit hit or 2 can do the trick especially if your relics kick in. I've also heard the comment, 'can't believe you killed me with a missile blast', lol.

 

4) Also read about people having problems with heat management as pyro, as long as you get used to using vent heat and shoulder cannon at the right times and sprinkle in some rapid shots in between high heat abilities heat buildup can be fairly well managed.

 

5) I agree with your assessment of volatile igniter and flame sweep in pvp, it generates a ton of heat and does mainly 'fluff' damage. just an opinion. Ironically I like volatile igniter and flame sweep for quickly clearing mobs in pve after they've been engaged by a tank, just gotta keep an eye on the heat.

 

6) my main question is this, I saw you wrote that you didn't like Unload that much if I'm not mistaken, do you use it all? and if so when? my unload actually does decent damage and the CGC always kicks in when I use it, I mainly use it on people attacking a team mate, when I'm not being targeted, and at range 20-30m away and follow up with an explosive dart and railshot. what I don't like about unload (and also flamethrower) is that you have to stand still and you become a sitting duck for a few seconds.

 

Again, great guide and thanks for all the information you provided.

[Zoom_VI]

1) I've heard some people say pyro is 'squishy', I somewhat disagree, I have 34k hp (getting all endurance datacrons really helps), between chaff flare (rocks!), shield, kolto, carbonize, electrodart, and the 2 wz adrenals, I'm fairly durable and I can confidently guard a node solo against 2-3 attackers and at the very least hold on long enough to prevent cap and get help from team mates. as you mentioned just have to space out defensive abilities and healing correctly.

The issue with Pyro's defensives isn't that they are weak, the issue is they are all basically DR cooldowns. Unlike abilities such as obfuscate, reflect, camo, evasion, shroud, etc. You cannot use any of the powertech's cooldowns to counter another class. so basically when you realize you are going to take a lot of damage you can only pop a cooldown and pray it gives you enough DR to not die.

 

2) Absolutely luv shoulder cannon, have killed attackers who are low on health many times while I'm actually stunned/immobilized (I try to save determination for when I absolutely need it) with 4 quick shots, especially if explosive fuel is used before I'm stunned. and it's great for heat management.

You should not be using SC when stunned unless you are absolutely certain you can kill the opponent with it, or if you are stopping a sap cap. Otherwise SC should be reserved to complement you burst.

I also do not get what you mean by "great for heat management" SC is off the global and therefore has no effect in the amount of heat being generated in your rotation.

 

3) I read post about this earlier but missile blast can be very effective at certain times on low health targets at range 25-30m away, either snipers/slingers or people running to a heal up, to finish them off. It does generate a lot of heat, but it is 'instant' and 2-4 quick shots with a crit hit or 2 can do the trick especially if your relics kick in. I've also heard the comment, 'can't believe you killed me with a missile blast', lol.

I concur that missile blast has some very niche uses for striking a killing blow on target at range, however your use of it should be very limited, generally I will only use it once or twice in a warzone, occasionally more if I have to stop a lot of spam caps.

 

4) Also read about people having problems with heat management as pyro, as long as you get used to using vent heat and shoulder cannon at the right times and sprinkle in some rapid shots in between high heat abilities heat buildup can be fairly well managed.

See my last sentence in my response to #2

 

6) my main question is this, I saw you wrote that you didn't like Unload that much if I'm not mistaken, do you use it all? and if so when? my unload actually does decent damage and the CGC always kicks in when I use it, I mainly use it on people attacking a team mate, when I'm not being targeted, and at range 20-30m away and follow up with an explosive dart and railshot. what I don't like about unload (and also flamethrower) is that you have to stand still and you become a sitting duck for a few seconds.

The problem with unload is the amount of damage it deals for the amount of time it takes. Unload requires 3 seconds which is two global cooldowns. Firing Rapid Shots twice would take up the same amount of time, would deal more damage, and wouldn't generate any heat.

[Ryuku-sama]

6) my main question is this, I saw you wrote that you didn't like Unload that much if I'm not mistaken, do you use it all? and if so when? my unload actually does decent damage and the CGC always kicks in when I use it, I mainly use it on people attacking a team mate, when I'm not being targeted, and at range 20-30m away and follow up with an explosive dart and railshot. what I don't like about unload (and also flamethrower) is that you have to stand still and you become a sitting duck for a few seconds.

The problem with unload is the amount of damage it deals for the amount of time it takes. Unload requires 3 seconds which is two global cooldowns. Firing Rapid Shots twice would take up the same amount of time, would deal more damage, and wouldn't generate any heat.

 

Unload is worst than Missile Blast. It doesn't have any pushback protection, does rather mediocre damage and has no control effect. It simply sucks. Do you know that the only reason Unload is so powerful on an Arsenal Merc is they can field over 80% armor pen?? And Pyro still have 30% armor pen on it. PT doesn't...

[Zoom_VI]

Unload is worst than Missile Blast. It doesn't have any pushback protection, does rather mediocre damage and has no control effect. It simply sucks. Do you know that the only reason Unload is so powerful on an Arsenal Merc is they can field over 80% armor pen?? And Pyro still have 30% armor pen on it. PT doesn't...

 

The reason Unload is so powerful in Arsenal is because Arsenal has a talent that increase its damage by 33%, another talent that increases its crit bonus damage by 30%, and then a proc that increases its damage by 25%. In addition to the fact that mercs have a offhand that makes all of their white attacks deal more damage.

 

Powertechs have none of those, and do not have a offhand, and honestly Unload is only a base ability because the devs wanted to tease some of the commando/merc playstyle before people got to level 10.

[NateSoGross]

With 3.0 on its way do you plan on making a new guide and possibly one for mm sniper?

[GodDyr]

koozie do you plan on updating this guide and the AP guide to match the new 3.0 update?? If you've been following with the changes I am sure u know that pyro and AP has swapped roles and the rotation has changed a bit. I'm a big fan of your videos and your guides and would be interested in how you min/max your gear and how you execute the new rotation

[Sandreid]

Will this guide be updated for 3.0?

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Will this guide be updated for 3.0?

 

I doubt it, Koozie has said he's moved from PT to some other class, so someone else will have to take his stead, I'm loving AP PT so when i hit 60 on him and get my bearings on the rotation and utilities i could probably make a PvP AP Guide, I dont like the new Pyro and will not make a Pyro guide, even if you forced me.

[OMGitsCHARLIE]

AP/Tactics is more or less the same as old Pyro pre 3.0.

 

They're a tad squishier with the loss of Pyro Kolto Overload, but they gain a ridiculous nuke ability in Energy Burst/Cell Burst.

 

With the 6 PC set bonus for the Energy Burst autocrit, on the top of my head the opener for maximum burst would be:

 

TD > Flame Burst* > 4 Stack Energy Burst > Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Railshot (+shoulder cannons +explosive fuel)

 

*Now I'm fully aware Magnetic Blast replaces Flame Burst in the spec, however it also procs your Rail Shot. The 6 PC set bonus requires either Flame Burst or Magnetic Blast to make your Energy Burst an autocrit. Flame burst doesn't proc Rail shot anymore so by using that for your Energy burst auto crit you save an extra railshot into your opener (while also building towards your next Energy Burst quicker). Now my VG isn't 60 yet and I have yet to test the heat/ammo management but this is what I could think of while just sitting here bored at work.

 

Edit: I didn't throw retractable blade in there but so far from my limited play time with the spec, it seems more of an inconvenience of getting in there to dot the target up. Especially with the changes to TD and specific utilities to be able to effectively play at midrange

Edited December 5, 2014 by OMGitsCHARLIE

[Mularky]

I doubt it, Koozie has said he's moved from PT to some other class, so someone else will have to take his stead, I'm loving AP PT so when i hit 60 on him and get my bearings on the rotation and utilities i could probably make a PvP AP Guide, I dont like the new Pyro and will not make a Pyro guide, even if you forced me.

 

The only thing that really changed was our rotation. The defensive cool downs mostly depends on the situation, from experience in pvp you will know how to predict damage. For example you sort of tell when people are starting to turn their attention to you. Try to force your self to use your warzone adrenal with Kolto Overload to get the maximum amount of it.

 

The best tip I can give is to work in and out of melee range when attacking melee. When going against ranged be cautious about over extending and thinking about where your team is in comparison to you and the other team.

[Zoom_VI]

AP/Tactics is more or less the same as old Pyro pre 3.0.

 

They're a tad squishier with the loss of Pyro Kolto Overload, but they gain a ridiculous nuke ability in Energy Burst/Cell Burst.

 

With the 6 PC set bonus for the Energy Burst autocrit, on the top of my head the opener for maximum burst would be:

 

TD > Flame Burst* > 4 Stack Energy Burst > Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Railshot (+shoulder cannons +explosive fuel)

 

*Now I'm fully aware Magnetic Blast replaces Flame Burst in the spec, however it also procs your Rail Shot. The 6 PC set bonus requires either Flame Burst or Magnetic Blast to make your Energy Burst an autocrit. Flame burst doesn't proc Rail shot anymore so by using that for your Energy burst auto crit you save an extra railshot into your opener (while also building towards your next Energy Burst quicker). Now my VG isn't 60 yet and I have yet to test the heat/ammo management but this is what I could think of while just sitting here bored at work.

 

Its more important to have a armor debuff on target than it is to have gut up. The armor debuff is a lot more important now than gut because all of our damage is K/E and we have no other armor pen outside of railshot.

 

I would try

 

Ion pulse>AP>gut>HiB>SS>CB>HiB

Edited December 5, 2014 by Zoom_VI

[OMGitsCHARLIE]

Its more important to have a armor debuff on target than it is to have gut up. The armor debuff is a lot more important now than gut because all of our damage is K/E and we have no other armor pen outside of railshot.

 

I would try

 

Ion pulse>AP>gut>HiB>SS>CB

 

Gut and the armor debuff are definitely important over the course of a lengthier fight. However my opener was leaning towards more of maximum burst trying to sync AP and CB together.

Edited December 5, 2014 by OMGitsCHARLIE

[Zoom_VI]

Gut and the armor debuff are definitely important over the course of a lengthier fight. However my opener was leaning towards more of maximum burst trying to sync AP and CB together.

 

You are still losing just around 1k on CB and AP for not having a armor debuff, although it varies based on target's armor rating. Also in my experience if I go AP>X>Y then AP usually detonates a half second after Y goes off, which in this case means I lose the 5% tech damage bonus, unless I hold CB which is awkward.

I'm liking the one two punch of AP & HiB then CB than just having one big burst with no followup.

 

Also a nice thing to notice is that the 3% damage bonus isn't tied solely to gut, you can get that bonus from any dot that shares the same bleed icon as gut, such as Smuggler's vital shot or Annilation marauder's bleeds. And of course if the target already has a armor debuff you can skip that step too.

 

EDIT:

I did some playing around with it and came up with TS > AP > SS > CB > HiB > stuff.

 

While I do immediately proc the HiB right off the bat, the ICD on the proc finishes by the time I actually fire the first HiB.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Zoom_VI

[OMGitsCHARLIE]

I'm liking the one two punch of AP & HiB then CB than just having one big burst with no followup.

 

With the opener I posted above you have one big burst (AP+CB) followed by your second punch of (HiB>SS>HiB)

 

Again I'd have to test it out when I get home but thats about as best of a 1,2 Punch as you're going to get.

Edited December 5, 2014 by OMGitsCHARLIE

[TACeMossie]

I hereby provide the best opener example:

 

ED -> TD -> [Explosive Fuel, Begin SC Spam] RP -> RS -> MB -> EB -> RS

 

ED + RP = ~12k

TD + RS = ~18k

MB = ~5k

EB = ~15k

RS = ~10k

SC x7 = ~14k

 

Total damage = 74k over 9 seconds or 8.2k dps.

If you ignore the rail shot at the end, its 64k over 7.5 seconds, or 8.53k dps

Edited December 5, 2014 by TACeMossie

[Mularky]

I hereby provide the best opener example:

 

ED -> TD -> [Explosive Fuel, Begin SC Spam] RP -> RS -> MB -> EB -> RS

 

ED + RP = ~12k

TD + RS = ~18k

MB = ~5k

EB = ~15k

RS = ~10k

SC x7 = ~14k

 

Total damage = 74k over 9 seconds or 8.2k dps.

If you ignore the rail shot at the end, its 64k over 7.5 seconds, or 8.53k dps

 

Tac,

 

What do you think of charlies possible rotation?

 

TD > Flame Burst* > 4 Stack Energy Burst > Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Railshot (+shoulder cannons +explosive fuel)

 

The idea behind it is that you don't waste a Railshot proc because apparently flame burst doesnt proc Railshot but you get the auto crit on EB/CB by using flame burst

[TACeMossie]

Tac,

 

What do you think of charlies possible rotation?

 

TD > Flame Burst* > 4 Stack Energy Burst > Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Railshot (+shoulder cannons +explosive fuel)

 

The idea behind it is that you don't waste a Railshot proc because apparently flame burst doesnt proc Railshot but you get the auto crit on EB/CB by using flame burst

 

You miss out on the 2% damage boost from Mag Blast from the 2-piece set bonus. By delaying the burst with an ED at the start instead, you get the proc to happen immediately, and allow yourself to use a Mag Blast where that flame burst is, and then the rocket punch will still proc rail shot.

 

If you don't want to do that, you can alternatively use flame sweep before engaging to put a lockout on the proc, but you don't have much time to leave it before you have to start or MB will still proc it.

 

I still think its better off buffing the EB with the armor debuff though - on the average guy, its gonna be about a 5% damage boost for everything by getting the armor debuff in early

Edited December 6, 2014 by TACeMossie

[KainrycKarr]

What's the new optimum gear now? Crit? Alacrity? Accuracy? We lost a lot of innate crit for both specs from the gear and passive removals.

[Kooziejr]

Ask Kwerty the qs.

 

My main toons are sorc heals, tank vg/pt, and MM sniper. I don't play the PT DPS specs anymore because frankly. they are a joke in one way or another in comparison to other specs in the game. That is, they are NOT well rounded.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Kooziejr

[TACeMossie]

What's the new optimum gear now? Crit? Alacrity? Accuracy? We lost a lot of innate crit for both specs from the gear and passive removals.

 

Accuracy: 304+ if you dont want rail shot missing, 0 if you dont care

Surge: Enough to get higher than 300, and no more

Alacrity: Remaining enhancements/implants

 

Crit: None for pyro, ~100 for AP

Power: Everything. Even augments.