Vanguard Assault Specialist Guide

[meisterjedi]

This Burn Phase he is talking about are usually the last few % of a boss, where you can spend your resources relentlessly with the goal to hit 90-100% heat (0-10 Ammo) at exactly the moment where the boss dies/combat ends. This way you can push your DPS a little bit, but it is quite a risky move because if you hit that no resource point a bit too early you are forced to use Rapid shots/Hammershot multiple times and in fact probably loose quite a lot of DPS.

 

Same concept applies to Situations where you need to stop DPSing for several seconds because of fight mechanics (Operater IX shields, Olok Droid Phase, spinning Kell dragon, Brontes transition into the final Phase, Council transition into 2nd Phase, end of some Calphayus Phases (depending on Portal and DPS)) and therefore can use a bit more resources to use the resource regeneration in theese dowmtimes effectively (try to do it so you don't stand around with full resources for more than 1GCD but still aim to be at least at near full resources) all theese exact timings heavily depend on your Raid composition and RaidDPS, so it is only worth experimenting if you run with the same group regularly (or on the dummy/ while soloing content)

Edited October 20, 2014 by meisterjedi

[MackTK]

I was aware of that, but I was thinking about something more detailed, as without vent heating cooldowns you remain empty in 2-3 blocks, and with CDs active in about 6-8 blocks. At 20-25% HP starting to dump using Rapid Shots in favor of Flame Burst (still not used to Vanguard terms, so I don't know the exact equivalent) seems to overheat you quick.

 

I usually end my parses with 4.25 - 4.35K DPS and around 30-40 Heat (60-70 ammo). Mostly Dread Masters gear, besides: 3 x 180 mods, 2 x 180 enh, 1 x 180 Relic and chest/MH with only the armoring/barrel 180. Around 340 Critical Rating (Critical Chance at 30.xx %).

 

Comparing my gear to the dude who did 4.5K DPS (congrats again, by the way), mine is slightly better on all stats (not by much, but still). Compared to my parses though, he has better criticals on all abilities. And by all, I mean ALL. For the percentage use of abilities, almost the same, with a +/- 0.5% tolerance.

 

By the way, I've searched for "companions buff" bug, but didn't found something conclusive. What is that bug and how can I see if I am affected by it? Thank you.

[TACeMossie]

I was aware of that, but I was thinking about something more detailed, as without vent heating cooldowns you remain empty in 2-3 blocks, and with CDs active in about 6-8 blocks. At 20-25% HP starting to dump using Rapid Shots in favor of Flame Burst (still not used to Vanguard terms, so I don't know the exact equivalent) seems to overheat you quick.

 

I usually end my parses with 4.25 - 4.35K DPS and around 30-40 Heat (60-70 ammo). Mostly Dread Masters gear, besides: 3 x 180 mods, 2 x 180 enh, 1 x 180 Relic and chest/MH with only the armoring/barrel 180. Around 340 Critical Rating (Critical Chance at 30.xx %).

 

Comparing my gear to the dude who did 4.5K DPS (congrats again, by the way), mine is slightly better on all stats (not by much, but still). Compared to my parses though, he has better criticals on all abilities. And by all, I mean ALL. For the percentage use of abilities, almost the same, with a +/- 0.5% tolerance.

 

By the way, I've searched for "companions buff" bug, but didn't found something conclusive. What is that bug and how can I see if I am affected by it? Thank you.

 

Yeah I may have removed the section on the final burn when I moved it and added pictures, I forgot I made that comment.

 

It was basically a full energy burn (100-0 energy/heat) takes about 60 seconds with resource management cooldowns available, so for the last ~50 seconds of the fight you should throw caution to the wind and remove Hammer Shots/Rapid Shots in favor of Ion Pulse/Flame Burst

 

As for the bug with companion bonus's, basically the max affection boost from the Agents companions is currently stacking with the normal boost, getting +2% crit/surge/accuracy instead of a 1% boost like its supposed to.

 

The easy way to check is hit respec. Afterwards, buff yourself with the agent or smuggler buff, open the character stat sheet, and hover over the stats.

 

Surge bonus should be 1% from skills, or 2% if you have the glitch

Same with accuracy

Crit bonus will be 6%, or 7% with glitch

[MackTK]

It seems that is the case, as after I hit respec I think my accuracy bonus is 2%. Not sure, as the servers are down at the moment, but most likely this is the case.

 

Last night, as Bestia was belly up on NiM, my DPS was around 3400+ without adrenals (forgot to resupply), but with a huge mistake: without realising it, I used the same time Explosive Fuel and Vent Heat and had a surprise when I pressed Vent Heat and nothing happened a few blocks later. Had to cool off from about 70-80 Heat to under 40 in the middle of the fight with a series of Rapid Shots which decreased my DPS pretty much.

 

As I don't belive that the the perfect damager exists and every player must always struggle to improve his DPS (there is always room for that), I used to interpret Powertech / Vanguard parses for hours when Torparse.com was up in search for better ways to improve my rotation / DPS. Now the site is down and it don't show any sign it will be up soon: last comment from owners was about 3 weeks ago, when they stated it will be up in the next 2 weeks.

 

I wanted to link for some parses of mine to analyze and receive some advices for it, but probably it will wait until Torparse.com is back.

 

Thank you for all your hard work, TACeMossie.

Edited October 21, 2014 by MackTK

[TACeMossie]

It seems that is the case, as after I hit respec I think my accuracy bonus is 2%. Not sure, as the servers are down at the moment, but most likely this is the case.

 

Last night, as Bestia was belly up on NiM, my DPS was around 3400+ without adrenals (forgot to resupply), but with a huge mistake: without realising it, I used the same time Explosive Fuel and Vent Heat and had a surprise when I pressed Vent Heat and nothing happened a few blocks later. Had to cool off from about 70-80 Heat to under 40 in the middle of the fight with a series of Rapid Shots which decreased my DPS pretty much.

 

As I don't belive that the the perfect damager exists and every player must always struggle to improve his DPS (there is always room for that), I used to interpret Powertech / Vanguard parses for hours when Torparse.com was up in search for better ways to improve my rotation / DPS. Now the site is down and it don't show any sign it will be up soon: last comment from owners was about 3 weeks ago, when they stated it will be up in the next 2 weeks.

 

I wanted to link for some parses of mine to analyze and receive some advices for it, but probably it will wait until Torparse.com is back.

 

Thank you for all your hard work, TACeMossie.

 

I fear by the time TORPARSE is back, this guide will be completely obsolete.

 

NOT TO WORRY THOUGH

I am already working on updating this guide for patch 3.0! To make it even more interesting, Dulfy contacted me requesting that I write the guide for her website in patch 3.0 for Powertechs + Vanguards, and of course I agreed because I was writing one anyway!

 

As such, by December 9 at the latest (More likely December 2-3) expect the 3.0 version of this guide to be out.

[Chilledoutdude]

I fear by the time TORPARSE is back, this guide will be completely obsolete.

 

NOT TO WORRY THOUGH

I am already working on updating this guide for patch 3.0! To make it even more interesting, Dulfy contacted me requesting that I write the guide for her website in patch 3.0 for Powertechs + Vanguards, and of course I agreed because I was writing one anyway!

 

As such, by December 9 at the latest (More likely December 2-3) expect the 3.0 version of this guide to be out.

 

Congratulations Kwerty! Couldn't think of a better candidate to write the new guides. Both of your current guides are top notch. Really looking forward to trying out the new specs in both pve and pvp. I have a feeling we may be the fotm class in pvp.

 

As I don't belive that the the perfect damager exists and every player must always struggle to improve his DPS (there is always room for that), I used to interpret Powertech / Vanguard parses for hours when Torparse.com was up in search for better ways to improve my rotation / DPS. Now the site is down and it don't show any sign it will be up soon: last comment from owners was about 3 weeks ago, when they stated it will be up in the next 2 weeks.

 

I wanted to link for some parses of mine to analyze and receive some advices for it, but probably it will wait until Torparse.com is back.

 

Thank you for all your hard work, TACeMossie.

 

I take a different approach to this. Once you've learned the rotation it just becomes about awareness in fights. Dummy parses will just end up being lucky. Hunting for luck on HIB procs and Crits. As long as you know how to adapt to failed procs then rotations will remain the same.

 

If you want kwerty to take a quick look at your parse just take a screenshot like mine. He'll be able to spot any simple errors on your parse since the number of stockstrikes and Incendiary round is pretty static. Stat wise you appear to have the companion double buff on your crit as well. I'm at 29.22% ranged with 352 crit. Kwerty worked out that the double companion buffs will roughly gain you 50 extra dps.

 

Stat wise I doubt your parse beats all my stats considering mine uses stockstrike and ir on cool down. The difference between full 180 -186 is about 300dps on max potential. Also take note that because my parse is only 3.39 the number of uses on abilities will be lower.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Chilledoutdude

[MackTK]

I take a different approach to this. Once you've learned the rotation it just becomes about awareness in fights. Dummy parses will just end up being lucky. Hunting for luck on HIB procs and Crits. As long as you know how to adapt to failed procs then rotations will remain the same.

 

Totally agreeing with you. The way you adapt to counter failed procs is the trick that makes higher DPS.

 

Stat wise I doubt your parse beats all my stats considering mine uses stockstrike and ir on cool down. The difference between full 180 -186 is about 300dps on max potential. Also take note that because my parse is only 3.39 the number of uses on abilities will be lower.

 

Sorry if I wasn't clearer. For stats I was refering to gear stats (I just compared them with you character screen with mine) and made an error, too. Due to companion bug buffs (I think), my crit chance and surge rating are +1% or 2% higher than yours, but the amount of power stats is lower in my case (due to some lettered mods and not BiS mods, as well some missing pieces). My parses have almost the same percentages of abilities as yours, not the same numbers, as TTK diference making number of uses higher in my case. I guess you wanted to say you use on cooldown AP and Stockstrike, as IR has 18 seconds before it must be reapplied. Of course, I play in the same way.

 

I revised my gear and then I saw I made some mistakes in it. Tried some things at some point, and forgot to return to previous configuration and after making some swaps (got some new mods and enhancements), I ended my gear in full 186 except MH Barrel and Chest armor mod (not won that yet). After some parses in this newly optimised gear, I hit 4200-4300 with relative ease, and stopped when I hit over 4400 a few parses later.

 

The dummy parse is about luck, I agree: in some parses, for example, my Rail Shot crits 31%, in others parses 45% (maximum I got). 10% crit makes a huge difference, as well as the magnitude of critical (11K+ being the maximum). In rest, I would love to study other parses, to see how better people than me react to failed procs and some difficult situations.

Edited October 24, 2014 by MackTK

[TACeMossie]

Totally agreeing with you. The way you adapt to counter failed procs is the trick that makes higher DPS.

 

 

 

Sorry if I wasn't clearer. For stats I was refering to gear stats (I just compared them with you character screen with mine) and made an error, too. Due to companion bug buffs (I think), my crit chance and surge rating are +1% or 2% higher than yours, but the amount of power stats is lower in my case (due to some lettered mods and not BiS mods, as well some missing pieces). My parses have almost the same percentages of abilities as yours, not the same numbers, as TTK diference making number of uses higher in my case. I guess you wanted to say you use on cooldown AP and Stockstrike, as IR has 18 seconds before it must be reapplied. Of course, I play in the same way.

 

I revised my gear and then I saw I made some mistakes in it. Tried some things at some point, and forgot to return to previous configuration and after making some swaps (got some new mods and enhancements), I ended my gear in full 186 except MH Barrel and Chest armor mod (not won that yet). After some parses in this newly optimised gear, I hit 4200-4300 with relative ease, and stopped when I hit over 4400 a few parses later.

 

The dummy parse is about luck, I agree: in some parses, for example, my Rail Shot crits 31%, in others parses 45% (maximum I got). 10% crit makes a huge difference, as well as the magnitude of critical (11K+ being the maximum). In rest, I would love to study other parses, to see how better people than me react to failed procs and some difficult situations.

 

On a dummy my typical reaction is:

 

1. Stand still for 30 seconds

2. Restart fight

 

 

Its a little different in raids, if I start failing procs I go into eco mode (SS/IP -> HS -> SS/IP -> HiB) till I get back to max ammo, then resume the rotation. I don't have to do it often but its really frustrating when I do have to do it (e.g. our most recent Bestia kill I screwed up resources cause we killed the monsters so quick I couldn't abuse Into the Fray)

 

I also got both the relic and the earpiece too because everyone wanted boots from Calphayus (SK Lists ftw)

 

So with me that leaves:

 

Boots

Leg (Set piece armoring)

Mainhand

Chestpiece (set piece armoring)

Optimizing Enhancements + Mods

 

And then I can try break 4.5k

Or I can wait till 3.0

 

Ups, didn't see the other one burried on page 2

As the opening post redirected to both guides and I didn't see the other one I just assumed the title was not updated

 

I've come back after repeated testing. I can see why your priority list was created, before patch 2.4, energy management in Tactics/AP was terrible. The improved cell generator alongside the reduced cost on flamethrower made it so its not really needed anymore. Yours may be more reliable in terms of avoiding terrible RNG, but since 2.4 you can use a few stockstrikes that actually cost ammo. In other words, good in theory, in practice its got a better option out there.

Edited October 25, 2014 by TACeMossie

[meisterjedi]

if your testing indicates my method is a DPS loss can you estimate how big it is? would be interested if it's worth for me to relearn tactics (probably wouldn't bother if it's <50 DPS as I'm on tank duty most of the time for the last 2 years and 3.0 likely changes things again anyways) Edited October 26, 2014 by meisterjedi

[TACeMossie]

if your testing indicates my method is a DPS loss can you estimate how big it is? would be interested if it's worth for me to relearn tactics (probably wouldn't bother if it's <50 DPS as I'm on tank duty most of the time for the last 2 years and 3.0 likely changes things again anyways)

 

Yeah it averaged about a 20dps loss. However, Its still a good idea to get the new system into your muscle memory. There are good reasons behind this other than it being superior in DPS normally... But thats for another time. Probably mid-late November, Early December at the latest.

[Ryuku-sama]

Yeah it averaged about a 20dps loss. However, Its still a good idea to get the new system into your muscle memory. There are good reasons behind this other than it being superior in DPS normally... But thats for another time. Probably mid-late November, Early December at the latest.

 

Eh??? From what I have gathered they redesigned PT a little too much to let us use a rotation we are using right now..

[meisterjedi]

I think he was more referring to the complete removal of all RNG in DPS PT rotations (including 100% RS reset with a single attack), so using abilities on cd will likely be optimal for everything. unless you can't time all abilities in a way that they never conflict in cd or heat management does not allow it (unlikely). Only RNG remaining is in the tank tree, and even there it seems to be reduced immensely. Edited October 27, 2014 by meisterjedi

[TehMron]

I'm having a hard time following your explanation of the rotation through the 4x3x5 blocks/cubes diagram. It would help me a lot if you could list out the GCDs for the first several HiB cycles until things start to get more or less repetitive. I realize that the rotation has a bit of RNG when you occasionally have to fish for the ionic accelerator proc (with only 1 SS or IP used beforehand), but seeing the GCDs for an ideal rotation would still help me out a lot.

 

It's definitely different than the Commando rotation, where you want to keep the HiBs rolling every 6 seconds to keep your plasma cell dot up. But I like how it's different - makes it more interesting!

[TACeMossie]

I'm having a hard time following your explanation of the rotation through the 4x3x5 blocks/cubes diagram. It would help me a lot if you could list out the GCDs for the first several HiB cycles until things start to get more or less repetitive. I realize that the rotation has a bit of RNG when you occasionally have to fish for the ionic accelerator proc (with only 1 SS or IP used beforehand), but seeing the GCDs for an ideal rotation would still help me out a lot.

 

It's definitely different than the Commando rotation, where you want to keep the HiBs rolling every 6 seconds to keep your plasma cell dot up. But I like how it's different - makes it more interesting!

 

Here goes:

 

1. Assault Plastique: You use this first as it will have a delayed explosion, allowing you to get the explosion into your adrenal + Battle Focus

2. Incendiary Round: Next you put this DoT up.

3. Between IR and the next GCD, Activate all your offensive cooldowns. This will get your maximum potential out of them, as they will significantly increase all abilities used over the next few GCDs including those burns you just put up. Also start spamming shoulder cannon

4. High Impact Bolt - You dont have the proc yet, but due to natural regen and the ammo regen, you will end up with the same ammo after using it as you did beforehand

5. Stockstrike - The last ability you need to get the rotation flowing, using this will proc Ionic Accelerator most of the time.

6. High Impact Bolt if proc, Ion Pulse if not. - Obvious reasons

7. IN CASE OF FAILED PROC: High Impact Bolt

8. IN CASE OF FAILED PROC: Hammer Shots (needed for ammo management)

9. Ion Pulse. Does decent damage. Use here instead of next GCD to prevent ammo capping

10. Hammer Shots. Needed for ammo management

11. Ion Pulse, Procs Ionic Accelerator. You can use stockstrike here if there were failed procs, but I find that it screws up the smoothness of the rotation because you'll have to delay it later for an Incendiary Round if you do.

12. High Impact Bolt.

13. Stockstrike

14. Assault Plastique

15. Ion Pulse

16. High Impact Bolt

 

Now you use IR every ~18 seconds, delaying it by 1-2 GCDs if you had a failed proc. Use AP every ~15 seconds, delaying if procs fail (once again, by 1-2 GCDs), and Stockstrike every ~9 seconds, once again delaying for failed procs. Depending on the failed proc, you will either want to offset it with Hammer Shots, or just incorporate it into the Regen cooldowns.

 

I find that using this opener gets all the cooldowns synched up with each other, and results in the smoothest rotation with maximum possible DoT uptime.

Edited October 30, 2014 by TACeMossie

[TehMron]

Thank you for the response. I looked back at the guide again and saw your written out rotation just below the section of the #1-9 blocks of 4 GCDs. You written out rotation was super helpful to me because I can see how that works out and starts to repeat itself - and the adjustments of adding an IP and HS if you fail a HiB proc makes sense.

 

For whatever reason, the section with the #1-9 blocks really was not clicking for me, but thanks again for the other section.

[TACeMossie]

Thank you for the response. I looked back at the guide again and saw your written out rotation just below the section of the #1-9 blocks of 4 GCDs. You written out rotation was super helpful to me because I can see how that works out and starts to repeat itself - and the adjustments of adding an IP and HS if you fail a HiB proc makes sense.

 

For whatever reason, the section with the #1-9 blocks really was not clicking for me, but thanks again for the other section.

 

Yeah I tried to number them in order of how powerful they were, and it just didn't work. I'd change it, but since 3.0 is a month away and Im already working on the update for it, Im just leaving it for now.

[Ryuku-sama]

Yeah I tried to number them in order of how powerful they were, and it just didn't work. I'd change it, but since 3.0 is a month away and Im already working on the update for it, Im just leaving it for now.

 

WHile you're writing a guide for Pyrotech and AP ready to released in Dec 2nd

[TACeMossie]

In other news...

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7778277#edit7778277

 

I can talk about things on Saturday

(Im australian)

[Ryuku-sama]

In other news...

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7778277#edit7778277

 

I can talk about things on Saturday

(Im australian)

 

Tell me, oh Deity of the Powertechs and Vanguards, that you already have a 3.0 guide wrote up for all three spec!!!!

[TACeMossie]

Tell me, oh Deity of the Powertechs and Vanguards, that you already have a 3.0 guide wrote up for all three spec!!!!

 

Well I have one for Tactics/AP and one for Pyro/'assault' (name is censored till friday), but its still a WiP and you can find the prototypes with a little bit of looking around. About... page 4 on a specific subforums only a few people can see.

[Ryuku-sama]

Well I have one for Tactics/AP and one for Pyro/'assault' (name is censored till friday), but its still a WiP and you can find the prototypes with a little bit of looking around. About... page 4 on a specific subforums only a few people can see.

 

Sorry to tell you but I ain't you I wasn't invited in the closed PTS

[TACeMossie]

Sorry to tell you but I ain't you I wasn't invited in the closed PTS

 

 

Oh well, the knowledge of its existence is available to you. If/when you eventually get in. Otherwise, you'll have to wait till December 2 like the rest of the world

[xxSHOONYxx]

In other news...

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=7778277#edit7778277

 

I can talk about things on Saturday

(Im australian)

 

I'm ready for the PvP tears

[TACeMossie]

I think he was more referring to the complete removal of all RNG in DPS PT rotations (including 100% RS reset with a single attack), so using abilities on cd will likely be optimal for everything. unless you can't time all abilities in a way that they never conflict in cd or heat management does not allow it (unlikely). Only RNG remaining is in the tank tree, and even there it seems to be reduced immensely.

 

I can talk about things now!

 

The reason Im recommending the Stockstrike on cooldown rotation is because in 3.0, those who are playing Tactics currently will be playing Plasmatech. In Plasmatech, Shockstrike is a pretty damn powerful ability, and you want it used on cooldown. To further enforce this fact, The free proc was removed from Stockstrike and put on Ion Pulse + Flame Sweep instead, while being increased to a 100% proc rate coming off High Impact Bolt + Fire Pulse.

 

As such, the 3.0 rotation should look something like this:

 

Scorch -> Incendiary Round -> Pulse Cannon -> Shockstrike -> High Impact Bolt -> Ion Pulse -> Filler -> Fire Pulse -> Ion Pulse -> Shockstrike -> Incendiary Round -> Pulse Cannon -> Filler -> High Impact Bolt -> Shockstrike -> Ion Pulse -> Fire Pulse -> Ion Pulse -> Repeat

 

This is very similar to the Stockstrike-on-cooldown rotation linked in the tactics section of my guide, just with Mortar Volley removed in favor of using Scorch on cooldown and having free Ion Pulses/Explosive Surge (AoE rotation).

And since its either Ion Pulse OR Explosive Surge for the free proc, any case of Ion Pulse would become Explosive Surge in an AoE situation

 

As for the Filler cooldown: It depends on a number of things, but its mostly going to be either Hammer Shots or Ion Pulse/Explosive Surge

[Melon_Lord]

Does the new level 12 passive for AP / tactics warrant the use of dart / grenade in the rotation? 50% increase seems pretty substantial, unless the the new replacement skill is just that much better than flame burst / ion pulse

 

Sorry I know this question doesn't really belong in a thread titled Assault Specialist, but I didn't see one specific to Tactics in pve

Edited November 13, 2014 by Melon_Lord