Merc DPS PvP

[detowne]

Just came back a couple of weeks ago and thinking about dusting off my merc. It's been awhile since I played but I remember mercs being turrets. If left alone could put out some hurt but once found was easily taken out. Not much mobility.

 

Is survivability still low? How are mercs doing now a days in PvP? Pyro still the best?

 

Thanks!

[fujeo-finell]

Arsenal does well against single targets but comes into trouble when being focused. This is due to the fact that Arsenal kiting is based on controlling the target, and you can only effectively control one target at a time.

 

Some tips for handling being focused:

 

Use warzone adrenals whenever you use Energy Shield. ES + KO + adrenal does fairly well at keeping you alive, but your team needs to be putting out the numbers while you're being focused.

 

Power Surge + Concussion Missile is an easy 8 second lockout, but you have to make sure the target doesn't have his/her CC break up. The only way to make sure this is the case is to use your stun first and hopefully force a break. Best used against a melee target because of the 10 meter range on the stun (wink wink Bioware). Requires a completely empty resolve bar to do.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

If you want to play a Bounty Hunter in PvP i highly implore you to go to the Powertech side and play either AP or Pyro.

 

Mercinaries are a walking free kill in PvP unless you are REALLY, good. Arsenal has too many casting problems with Tracer Missile, and has 0 mobility while Pyro has low survivability due to Automated Defences being a PT only talent, if Automated Defences was a Pyro universal talent... Pyro Merc could become a competetive spec to it's PT brother. and dont even get me started on how crappy merc heals is in PvP unless you have the pinnical of skill...

[detowne]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a 46 PowerTech. With the boost to xp I could level him pretty fast. Maybe I will go that route.

[detowne]

Anyone else have any input? I am having a decent time leveling my PT but I do miss my Merc. I spend most of my time PvPing. Any thoughts on how to be successful as a merc dps in PvP?

 

Thanks!

[cs_zoltan]

Anyone else have any input? I am having a decent time leveling my PT but I do miss my Merc. I spend most of my time PvPing. Any thoughts on how to be successful as a merc dps in PvP?

 

Thanks!

 

Know the weaknesses and strenghts of your spec and everyone else's too. Use Pyro for solo queueing and Arsenal when in groups.

Pyro is relatively a good kiter so use it well.

Offheal yourself as much as you can get aways with it. Use LoS or overrides for that.

Try to anticipate as much damage as you can and use HO, KO and Degauss before it's too late.

Use stuns defensively because you need every edge you can get to survive.

 

 

That's it from the top of my head.

[detowne]

Thanks for the advice.

[Jammer]

Like DPSing, survivability is mostly about a rotation.

 

Here is one scenario.

 

You get into a 1v1 against a melee. This is really common since 5/8 classes are melee.

 

Start out by using rocket punch. Its a four second root. Run away and count to four in your head. Dont attack before four seconds because it breaks the root.

 

After four seconds turn around and tracer x 2 -> heatseaker -> rail.

 

They are gonna be on you again. So you should jet boost them off then immediately do unload. This will slow them.

 

By this time rocket punch should be back up.

 

If they are outplaying me. I will use the ability that makes next cast instant followed by mezz. Then pop a couple heals. This is because if you attack it breaks the mezz.

 

If they CC break your mezz then use your hard stun and skip healing and go straight to attacking.

 

Once the hard stun is up then repeat the rocket punch -> run -> tracer + heatseaker + rail shot -> jet boost -> unload rotation. That seems to work fairly well for me.

[Jammer]

Just came back a couple of weeks ago and thinking about dusting off my merc. It's been awhile since I played but I remember mercs being turrets. If left alone could put out some hurt but once found was easily taken out. Not much mobility.

 

Is survivability still low? How are mercs doing now a days in PvP? Pyro still the best?

 

Thanks!

 

I prefer arsenal over pyro because its pretty much just as mobile. Pyro still relies on unload and power shot to refresh rail. Pyro can do more damage while kiting because of Dots and that you only have to activate unload to refresh rail and can break the channel immediately.

 

Arsenal gets a 30 sec reduction to determination. +4 seconds to hydraulic overrides. 4 second root. Unload snares. Jet boost + 4 meters. 5 second reduction to jet boost.

 

Only thing pyro gets is that when comb gas cyl procs it snares for 3 seconds.

 

The Dots are pretty weak. The only thing pyro has going for it over arsenal IMO is that you can dot + kite. But the Dots are just too weak to make it worth it IMO.

[Jammer]

I forgot to add that the main dot ability lasts 25 seconds. So you pretty much eliminate the possibility of mezzing someone you have started attacking.

[LtBombshell]

You get focused in ranked a ton, but if your group knows what they're doing, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. In regular, it's not such a big deal.

[detowne]

Thanks for the insight. I will be rolling my merc again!

[Macroeconomics]

You get into a 1v1 against a melee...Start out by using rocket punch. Its a four second root. Run away and count to four in your head. Dont attack before four seconds because it breaks the root. After four seconds turn around and tracer x 2 -> heatseaker -> rail.

 

Arsenal rocket punch is useful, but against a good melee you can't use it in such a simplified fashion. Against a good melee, he can simply snare you and then do a 10m ability so that he loses basically nothing to your root. Indeed he gained on you since you were silent those 4 seconds.

 

Rather the time to use rocket punch is at the end of a hard stun. Think of it as a way to extend the duration of the stun w/o generating any more resolve for your opponent. And you should certainly attack during the 4 seconds after you use rocket punch. Rapid shots followed by Explosive Dart is the preferred combo to use after rocket punch. This allows you maximum movement flexibility while continuing to do damage AND still retaining the full 4 second root.

 

I forgot to add that the main dot ability lasts 25 seconds. So you pretty much eliminate the possibility of mezzing someone you have started attacking.

 

Actually it is 18 seconds. But you are correct that Merc Pyro basically loses the ability to mezz its opponent. This gets right to the crux of why Merc Pyro fails. It's abilities really have poor synergy with each other. Mezz skills on a DoT platform?! RS-short chop Unload-RS is the best burst dps combo for Mercs, even better than TM-HSM. Yet Merc Pyro places that burst combo on a platform with no finishing/assassination moves. And no, having increased DoT damage when the target is below 30% is not a finishing move. Merc Pyro is just a mish-mash of abilities that don't work well with each other. The only thing they do OK at is peekaboo hit and run attacks from behind a pillar. And Sorc does that far better.

 

You get focused in ranked a ton, but if your group knows what they're doing, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. In regular, it's not such a big deal.

 

If a ranked group loses to a group with a Merc/Commando dps in it, then they are simply bad. No team should ever lose to a team with a Merc/Commando dps in it. Unless they have a Merc too. Which is simply a stupid thing to do.