Which spec?

[Knorikus]

I've parsed both MM and lethality and lethality parses higher than marksman, but marksman has added utility that lethality doesn't (Longer entrench that reduces damage taken). Which spec do most people run with and why?

[DieGhostDie]

Marksmanship, the best stronk spec evar.

 

Huehuehuehuehuehuehue

[CJNJ]

If you are pve(assuming you are because you are parsing) MM is probably ideal. Sure you can use lethality but with the constant target swapping the spec falls behind in most cases

 

Personally I feel engi > all, but I have a bias

[Kadjunga]

first of all... what do you want to do with your sniper?

 

run dailies? run sm ops? run progression NiM? pvp? random hm fps?

 

once you figure out what you want to do, then you can decide which spec you can use.

 

For pvp... i'd strongly suggest learning the "kite lethality" and you are unstoppable. It is very effective in arenas as well, but if you can master engineering in team ranked. You have a equal competiton. Marksman in pvp... is good for reaching high numbers, but too static and easy to shut down.

 

For "social" pve... if you are just doing dailies, then marksman or engineering is a good bet. Quick kills, low downtime. Lethality has a long ramped up damage

 

For "raiding" pve. You should learn marksman AND lethality. Lethality puts out higher numbers on most bosses, but some require quick on demand burst from marksman, so you should learn em both. Most of the time, you can get away with leth. If you also can master the "jump+roll" trick, then engineering is a good choice, however very intensive and hard to manage.

 

 

so in short, figure out what you want to do, then choose the spec.

[Knorikus]

first of all... what do you want to do with your sniper?

 

run dailies? run sm ops? run progression NiM? pvp? random hm fps?

 

once you figure out what you want to do, then you can decide which spec you can use.

 

For pvp... i'd strongly suggest learning the "kite lethality" and you are unstoppable. It is very effective in arenas as well, but if you can master engineering in team ranked. You have a equal competiton. Marksman in pvp... is good for reaching high numbers, but too static and easy to shut down.

 

For "social" pve... if you are just doing dailies, then marksman or engineering is a good bet. Quick kills, low downtime. Lethality has a long ramped up damage

 

For "raiding" pve. You should learn marksman AND lethality. Lethality puts out higher numbers on most bosses, but some require quick on demand burst from marksman, so you should learn em both. Most of the time, you can get away with leth. If you also can master the "jump+roll" trick, then engineering is a good choice, however very intensive and hard to manage.

 

 

so in short, figure out what you want to do, then choose the spec.

 

Right now I am running SM OPS, but I will start to run HM/NiM once I get geared and experienced, so for now I will run MM and maybe with to leth in the future. Thanks for your help

[Eternalnight]

When you don't have set bonus better go MM

 

When you have full 4-piece set bonus, time to go Lethality most of the time (but still use MM for those bosses that are not good for dot specs like Leth)

[Sosajoshua]

Hmmm i never tried MM but I was Leth before 2.0 and switched to Eng because the crit changes which severely hinder the spec. For PvE better snipers than I will tell you that generally the fight dictates the spec to run but I would say MM or Leth are fine (albiet proper crit rating). For PvP I would say you are better MM or Eng since you have better single target and aoe dps (respectively) against a team and you end up wasting much more energy in PvP with Leth since you are always multi-DoTing to get as many crits for regen.

[Kadjunga]

Hmmm i never tried MM but I was Leth before 2.0 and switched to Eng because the crit changes which severely hinder the spec. For PvE better snipers than I will tell you that generally the fight dictates the spec to run but I would say MM or Leth are fine (albiet proper crit rating). For PvP I would say you are better MM or Eng since you have better single target and aoe dps (respectively) against a team and you end up wasting much more energy in PvP with Leth since you are always multi-DoTing to get as many crits for regen.

 

If you play leth in pvp and you just spam corrosive grenades on everyone, then you are doing it wrong. The only people that do that, are the ones who want to have "highest damage done" in a warzone, yet with almost 0 killing blows and are content in losing the match every time. If you like that, spam grenades

 

if not, get ~150-250 crit rating and energy issues are in the past. Unless you are only facing scrubs that die before your first cull is over. You can use pretty much the same rotation for dps in pvp as well, works well enough. But add in the pvp only abilities, to survive / add burst.

 

 

as to the OP. Marksman is good to start off with in sm raiding, but once you start doing nim, you should master both marksman and lethality. But once you reach NiM levels.. you probably know what you are doing already

Edited May 13, 2014 by Kadjunga

[Sosajoshua]

If you play leth in pvp and you just spam corrosive grenades on everyone, then you are doing it wrong. The only people that do that, are the ones who want to have "highest damage done" in a warzone, yet with almost 0 killing blows and are content in losing the match every time. If you like that, spam grenades

 

if not, get ~150-250 crit rating and energy issues are in the past. Unless you are only facing scrubs that die before your first cull is over. You can use pretty much the same rotation for dps in pvp as well, works well enough. But add in the pvp only abilities, to survive / add burst.

 

 

as to the OP. Marksman is good to start off with in sm raiding, but once you start doing nim, you should master both marksman and lethality. But once you reach NiM levels.. you probably know what you are doing already

 

Lol no i switched only because of crit changes and it was a bit less managable since i was not criting as much. I wouldntve spammed at all cause then you have no energy whatsoever. Idk of crits are easier than they were when 2.0 dropped but thats why i changed and im enjoying Enginerring at the moment