Jump to content

Leveling guide for DPS commando?


SmoothKoopa

Recommended Posts

Straight up Gunnery, Alric Jorgan until you get Elara Dorne and then use her.

Basically spam Charged Bolts until you get Grav Rounds then spam Gravrounds to x5 and then HIB. Rinse, repeat.

 

Mortar Volley large groups, throw nades if there are 2 or more targets to make the ammo cost worth it.

 

Generally you're going to be pressing Grav Rounds a lot so bind it to a comfortable key.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mortar Volley on cooldown on groups of 3+ non-strong enemies. Sticky Grenade the center normal enemy whenever possible, or preferably on a melee normal enemy to keep him in the group.

 

Single target is a lot of Grav Round spam until you get the 33% Full Auto talent and Charged Barrel, both of which you get in the late 30s/early 40s. After that, prioritize Full Auto and MAKE SURE you don't go below 7 ammo if at all possible. There is a very harsh penalty for blowing your ammo bar too quickly.

 

Just prioritize Full Auto (w/ proc) > Demo Round > High Impact Bolt (5 stacks) > Grav Round

 

Grav Round takes priority until you get 5 debuff stacks obviously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically what everyone else said, but i find that hail of bullets + sticky grenade makes for good supplimental AoE when Mortar Volley is off cooldown.

 

Hail of Bullets seems to be the full auto of AoE damage, allowing you to regnerate most, if not all, its ammo cost during its channel time, and its seems to pack a decent punch as well. Definitely something I'd use when Mortar Volley isn't available (as mortar volley has the same 'near free' ammo cost, and deals MUCH more damage)

 

I just recently got plasma grenade, but i feel its hit ammo cost (4) doesn't quite make up for its increase damage, especially when sticky grenade costs half as much ammo, and has half the recharge. Is plasma really worth even being on your tray?

 

For single target, using your basic 31 points in gunnery talent tree (something like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#800McZrIkroMdokfzZf.1 ) you want a rotation kinda likt this:

 

Full auto -> Grav round x3 (use any CoF procs you get while building your gravity vortexes) -> HIB -> Demo round Using Grav round as filler when you have the ammo, and hammer shots as filler when you don't, to maintain all the various debuffs/buffs you have.

 

You want to lead with Full Auto so you don't waste the CoF proc that you'll pretty much get by spamming Grav round 3 times. You also want to try to use Full Auto every cooldown, even if you don't have CoF up, as Full Auto deals so much damage, and basically regenerates its ammo cost during its channel time (especially if it crits) so its more or less free damage. HIB and demo round you really only want to use when you have max stacks of the buffs that increase their damage (Charged Barrel and Gravity Vortex) so your not wasting the GCD and ammo on an attack that could be doing much more damage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just recently got plasma grenade, but i feel its hit ammo cost (4) doesn't quite make up for its increase damage, especially when sticky grenade costs half as much ammo, and has half the recharge. Is plasma really worth even being on your tray?

 

For taking out a tightly packed group of mobs? Yes. While plasma grenade is in the air cast hail of bolts. It almost does more damage than mortar volley. However, it does use up half of your ammo so only use it on weak mobs where you aren't worried about ammo usage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was wondering if anybody could give a spec, rotation, and maybe even the best companion to use for leveling as a dps commando?

 

The droid tank seems to be the best choice for leveling up. By pulling aggro it allows you to get off an uninterrupted full auto. With Elara you lose DPS due to pushback. To heal the droid just mount and unmount which returns 100% of health. The only downside is that the droid tends to pull extra mobs at times, especially when you are in an area with a lot of densely packed mobs. I don't know how well Assault Specialist levels, but Gunnery is very effective.

 

You will want to use AoE at every opportunity. Try to find ways of using pulse cannon, sticky grenade, plasma grenade, and hail of bolts whenever possible. Always use mortar volley when it is off CD. Other than that, use the standard full auto, gravround, HIB, Demo round rotation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The droid tank seems to be the best choice for leveling up. By pulling aggro it allows you to get off an uninterrupted full auto. With Elara you lose DPS due to pushback. To heal the droid just mount and unmount which returns 100% of health. The only downside is that the droid tends to pull extra mobs at times, especially when you are in an area with a lot of densely packed mobs. I don't know how well Assault Specialist levels, but Gunnery is very effective.

 

You will want to use AoE at every opportunity. Try to find ways of using pulse cannon, sticky grenade, plasma grenade, and hail of bolts whenever possible. Always use mortar volley when it is off CD. Other than that, use the standard full auto, gravround, HIB, Demo round rotation.

 

M14X is the best comp for anyone who chose Cybertech as a skill. If you picked Armormech, you have to wait til you get Vik. If you did neither, you will use Dorne and lose DPS and level slower. Sad, but true. Mostly everything else in this thread is correct. If you use a tank comp, you do not need charged barrier in your spec, as you won't be taking damage enough to warrent 2 points taht could be spent somewhere better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I noticed my down time was a lot lower with Dorne and I had significantly less trouble with Elites and multiple Strong npcs. To each their own I guess. trade off a little bit of damage for security that if I get jumped in open world, I have a healer and if I aggro some extras that I will survive.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I noticed my down time was a lot lower with Dorne and I had significantly less trouble with Elites and multiple Strong npcs. To each their own I guess. trade off a little bit of damage for security that if I get jumped in open world, I have a healer and if I aggro some extras that I will survive.

 

Your down time was less because it took you a much longer time to kill. A fully Cybertech equipt M1-4X does significantly more damage than your healing comp does and also prevents any push back. Don't forget about that 5% increased damage taken debuff that he and Vik puts on your MOBs as well.

You only have to mount or dismiss your tank comp in order to heal it. That's 1.5 seconds of "Down time". If you get jumped by multiples, your tank comps have AoE aggro skills that they will use to gain full aggro on everything. Open world PvP, ya, healer comp is probably better over all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...