3.0 Mercenary/Commando DPS by Hotwired

[Gyronamics]

You cannot compromise on accuracy. Higher level gear helps get that full accuracy but whatever level if you want to do your best then 100/110 accuracy is required.

 

Anyway, rotation tips are quite easy.

 

 

There is no fixed rotation for Gunnery just a short and simple priority list:

 

1) Get the Curtain of Fire proc by using Grav Round

2) Use the following abilities if they are available:

• Vortex Bolt
  
• Demo Round ONLY on a target with Gravity Vortex from Grav Round
  
• High Impact Bolt ONLY with 5 stacks of Charged Barrel from using Grav Round
  
• Electronet
  

3) Use the Curtain of Fire buffed Boltstorm

4) Use Grav Round if energy is available otherwise use Hammer Shot

 

And that's it, I could spin it out for longer but it's really that simple and that's a key reason it's popular.

 

As an opener I like to do Vortex Bolt -> Electronet + Supercharged Cell + Adrenal -> Boltstorm without Curtain of Fire proc -> Instant (because of Vortex Bolt) Grav Round. At that point I'm at #1 on the priority list and I go from there.

 

Remember to charge Supercharge to 10 stacks before any fight using Med Shot.

 

Your resource cooldowns of

 

 

• Reserve Powercell - 0 energy cost on next ability, best used on Boltstorm for the maximum possible energy saving.
  
• Recharge Cells - always take the tier 1 utility Improved Generates to instantly gain 15 more energy
   
  
• Supercharged Cell - remember this generates 10 energy
  

 

Should be used as much as possible to maximise your Grav Round spamming when anything better is on cooldown and allow you to use abilities as soon as possible when they come off cooldown rather than waiting for energy to recover.

 

The reason it always is Grav Round is because of a few things. Plain damage is one, Charged Barrel stacks is another and 1/10 of every Supercharged Cell you build up is a third. 1 energy generated and 1/10 of the damage bonus of Supercharged Cell is tied in to every Grav Round or Hammer Shot.

 

 

As well as that...

 

Get your 6 set bonus for the autocrit on Demo Round.

 

You only used Recharge Cells once in 1m hitpoints and your APM seems low and you have avoided using Hammer Shots.

 

I can see how that was possible by looking at your ability timings, you are activating abilities relatively slowly which means you have excess resources by simply not spending them.

 

As a random example...

 

16:31:33.180 Grav Round

16:31:35.260 Grav Round

 

Over two seconds between back to back Grav Rounds is huge. You can use your ability queue by hammering the next ability you want to use while the current ability is still casting/has triggered a GCD and that kind of spacing will drop to 1.5s or less depending on your Alacrity.

 

This will increase your APM, demand more resources, use of Hammer Shots and will increase your damage.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Gyronamics

[Alassa]

Okay, thanks for all the information. I'll see what I can do. I'm working on getting a 6 piece, I'll put in another acc enhancement then. Yeah, I noticed that my APMs are low, I normally can never get above 34. Getting higher APMs, that's just mainly getting used to the spec and timing, right? As for using Hammer Shot, I wanna use that when my resources start getting low, correct? Should I increase my crit, or is 468 crit rating a good number?

 

Sorry for all these questions, I'm new to Commando dps and I haven't seriously dpsed in like a year, so I'm a bit rusty.

[Gyronamics]

Crit/Power balance is irrelevant, some of my best parses were with well over 1000 crit which was widely believed to be excessive. I recommend a couple of hundred or higher crit.

 

Higher APM is down to queuing abilites up before the last one is completed (do not do this after Full Auto/Boltstorm because it will cancel the channel).

 

Hammer Shot costs nothing and you use it as a filler do damage while waiting for more resources to regen so you can use something else.

 

A combination of increasing your APM, keeping up your Boltstorm procs and really pushing your resources will increase your damage.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Gyronamics

[KDTMaster]

Heyha guys,

 

since the last patch i got an little DPS problem with my assault specialist. With the loss of the 2% alacrity and the crit-dmg bonus from assault trooper my DPS dropped from 4,5k to 4,3k. The biggest problem is the DPS-energy management while we are raiding... too much hammer shots for energy safing drops my dps a little bit too much. Any idea´s? maybe more alacrity augments?

 

thx

[Goatwhore]

Heyha guys,

 

since the last patch i got an little DPS problem with my assault specialist. With the loss of the 2% alacrity and the crit-dmg bonus from assault trooper my DPS dropped from 4,5k to 4,3k. The biggest problem is the DPS-energy management while we are raiding... too much hammer shots for energy safing drops my dps a little bit too much. Any idea´s? maybe more alacrity augments?

 

thx

 

Pay attention to energy levels and occasionally replace an assault plastique w/ auto attack.

[Gyronamics]

Heyha guys,

 

since the last patch i got an little DPS problem with my assault specialist. With the loss of the 2% alacrity and the crit-dmg bonus from assault trooper my DPS dropped from 4,5k to 4,3k. The biggest problem is the DPS-energy management while we are raiding... too much hammer shots for energy safing drops my dps a little bit too much. Any idea´s? maybe more alacrity augments?

 

thx

 

Alacrity does not help your resources, you attack faster so you use up any bonus regen it grants.

 

Neutral rotation unless and strictly unless you are going to absorb extra cost from Charged Bolt filling with a resource cooldown of Supercharged Cell, Reserve Powercell or Recharge Cells.

 

Neutral rotation for reference is using two Hammer Shots per 15s rotation. The only thing you can replace a Hammer Shot with while maintaining neutral resources is Electronet and that is only because of its low cost and long cooldown.

 

You cannot slip a sly extra attack in without resource compensation and carry on hoping it won't matter. You will crash and burn within the next few rotations.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Gyronamics

[Naritara]

This was my latest parse if you can read Imperial, so you can adjust your rotation to suit

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/22399/1

[Gyronamics]

Yep, looks fine and consistent which alone says heat and rotation is being managed properly.

[Arunas]

Not sure what to do with commando in Temple of Sacrifice Underlurker / Commanders fights. Assault is awful, cannot do full rotation on anything before forced to switch, and my gunnery DPS is not much better, just it does not get resource starved. At my gear level (192/190, 4 piece set bonus) I do 4.3k on dummy as arsenal and I can squeeze 4k on some ops bosses, but on these particular ones it drops to 2-2.7k...

 

Is there some way to make it work or I need to plan to switch to another char for these fights in HM?

[Naritara]

Not sure what to do with commando in Temple of Sacrifice Underlurker / Commanders fights. Assault is awful, cannot do full rotation on anything before forced to switch, and my gunnery DPS is not much better, just it does not get resource starved. At my gear level (192/190, 4 piece set bonus) I do 4.3k on dummy as arsenal and I can squeeze 4k on some ops bosses, but on these particular ones it drops to 2-2.7k...

 

Is there some way to make it work or I need to plan to switch to another char for these fights in HM?

 

Should be OK in SM with that number you only need to be over 2600, I do about 3100 with IO (Assault) and a bit less with Ars (Gunnery) for Underlurker you should be Gunnery anyway coz its a bursty kind of fight, but I reckon i do more with IO...each to their own I guess XD

 

I've been talking to a bloke about my setup and he was saying about 500 Crit rating should do, as anymore the DR kicks in hard, I had 795 and dropped it to 516 and added power, tbh i didnt really notice much of a difference tho and also to switch in 1 Alacrity piece (I use an Earpiece) with an alacrity augment (I run 163 atm 111+52) so I now have 13 Aim and 1 Alacrity.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Naritara

[Naritara]

Yep, looks fine and consistent which alone says heat and rotation is being managed properly.

 

That was mine btw not KDT's Yea I nvr run hot, until i start kicking in MB works awesomely

I tried going back and using Marisi's rotation, wrote it all down, did it perfect a few times, and did 300dps less than this rotation...apparently thier one is the **** but I cant get it to crank harder than this one

[rballen]

Thanks for this guide. This expansion is the first time my guild has needed me to play dps instead of a tank so I've been hopping around class to class trying to find one I like and then I saw this guide and settled on Commando. It has helped me tremendously and with only a few weeks of gearing I was able to pull off this parse:

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/27744/0

[Gyronamics]

I see you're using the same trick I use:

 

14:14:03.571 Tech Override

14:14:04.391 Charged Bolts

14:14:04.872 Reserve Powercell

14:14:05.877 Full Auto

 

 

Good job on the parse, I like to think my guides are easy to follow

[Naritara]

So I seem to have hit a wall with my dmg, maybe it's just a gear thing but I've been told of peeps in the same kind of gear knocking 4800+ over.

At the moment I'm running 100.63% Acc, 516 Crit, 240 Surge and 1333 Power and doing just over 4500 on the dummy.

I've tried switching in PS for RapS in my rotation i.e IM-MS-PS-MS-SS-TD-PS-UL-PS and I seem to come up short on dps, like 500 short, over the course of a fight I get around 4k using PS and 4.5k without it, I even switched utilities to the 2x Power Surge to add in another instant PS after SS when PowS is up and it's the same again, around 4-4.1k while utilising SupC on UL when it procs so I'm wondering if the hard cast time makes it dip that much compared to RapS which is 3 quick shots but keeps the damage up.

So just wondering if anyone has any pointers on this

[Naritara]

Ok so after browsing the forums I found This thread which includes a link to this Dps calculator I'm gonna suss it out when I get home and see what the verdict is :-)

[Gyronamics]

You seem to be thinking about it in an odd way.

 

Using RS is compulsory, you cannot be using PS instead of RS all the time or you overheat.

 

Do a parse, post it and describe your gear.

 

Do not take random utilities.

[Naritara]

Yea not for the whole thing. I use the 2x Power surge to kick in an instant SS then PS when it's up, and switch out RS for PS until it's getting heated then start with the TSO, vent etc, just can't seem to do more than 4-4.1k with it, but if I just use your neutral one RS-UL-RS the whole way thru I can nail 4.5k on a 1mil dummy, it's weird.

The guys in that other thread I posted before are saying to add a bit more surge and alacrity, I'm gonna run their sim tonight if I can errrr Aquire excel XD

[Gyronamics]

By taking 2x power surge you have given up Blazing Bolts on the move or the defensive utility (aoe reduction or lower CD on Energy Shield). It is a waste of a utility point and is not a DPS increase.

 

Running someones guesswork program will not change anything. Incredibly few people bother with sims, they follow the guides and practice until they get the numbers.

 

Parses need to be posted. Also more details on your gear.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Gyronamics

[Naritara]

Yea I drop the 30% aoe reduction for dummy parses, I dunno how hard casting a PS vs including an instant PS can't be an increase in dps lol

I posted mine the other day on Pg.14

http://parsely.io/parser/view/22399/1

That was the last one anyway, I'll try do a few tonight with the PS swapped in.

Not that I'm complaining about my dmg, I'm doing enough on most bosses to get by but I know I can do more ;-)

Edited May 11, 2015 by Naritara

[Gyronamics]

The reason why it's not a dps increase is because both of them take a whole global cooldown.

 

Casting takes 1.5 seconds

 

Instant gives you a dead period of 1.5 seconds afterwards where you can't do anything.

 

Your total gain is nothing.

 

Also your crit rate on that parse is hot which will give you a higher result than normal. One parse means nothing and highscore parses which keep trying for hot crit streaks mean less than nothing.

[Ryaja]

Hey Gyro, I have a feeling I have ruined my gear. I have not been able to find my DPS since the nerf. I have been all over the place. Before when I was hitting 4.7, I can't get above 4.3 now to save my life. Here is my Parse. Here is where my gear is sitting right now.

 

Aim - 4069

Power - 1366

Accuracy - 99.54% (711 rating)

Crit Chance - 35.20 % (632 rating)

Crit multiplier - 71.41% (444 rating)

Alacrity - 3.52 (276 rating)

 

I have seen some people recently on their parse showing a 36-38% crit rate on their parse. Mine is only 30%. I know the rotation like the back of my hand. What are some of your thoughts?

 

My only HM token piece is 1 implant. This might have something to do with it too. Everything else is min/max 192 token gear.

[Gyronamics]

The damage nerf and especially the loss of alacrity which disrupted the "smoothness" of casting by making it slower will have taken a chunk out of damage output.

 

On the other hand everyone can now access the 204 MH from the Ziost instanced boss which is a considerably easier task than killing Revan for the 198 MH. This kicks damage for all classes up quite a bit.

 

However you're worrying about your crit rate vs someone elses crit rate.

 

Completely random.

 

Parses people will upload to parse sites will be "hot" ones with unusually high damage/crit/proc rates.

 

Put highscore chasing behind you and focus on what really matters:

 

Actions Per Minute needs to be high (demonstrating good rotation and ability queuing)

 

Damage output needs to be quite flat throughout the parse after the initial spike (showing consistency in rotation and resource control)

 

As far as gear goes the only thing you can do aside from trying to get 198 pieces and the 204 MH is to fix accuracy so you're not missing 1/200 hits. That needs upwards of 750. You can use augments to adjust it as well.

 

No it's not worth having extra surge or alacrity if you're missing.

[cirruz]

The reason why it's not a dps increase is because both of them take a whole global cooldown.

 

Casting takes 1.5 seconds

 

Instant gives you a dead period of 1.5 seconds afterwards where you can't do anything.

 

Your total gain is nothing.

 

Also your crit rate on that parse is hot which will give you a higher result than normal. One parse means nothing and highscore parses which keep trying for hot crit streaks mean less than nothing.

 

It depends on how much time you're working with tbh, an instant cast will apply its damage instantly whilst a hard cast will apply the damage after the cast, in burst situations on dummy or boss fights it can be better, but it's not an increase of dps.

Edited May 27, 2015 by cirruz

[Hockaday]

I had a merc tell me the other night, that the neutral I/O rotation, while lower dummy dps, is equal or near equal to the advanced rotation.

 

This didn't exactly sound right to me, unless it was due to people messing up the advanced rotation on ops, thus lowering their dps. Does anyone have any input or parses they could share of both rotations on the same boss, similar fight?

 

I currently don't play a merc, or I'd try it out...just trying to help a couple of people.

 

Thanks.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Hockaday

[Gyronamics]

It's possible that someone is doing the same dps with

 

- neutral rotation, not using resource abilities

 

as they are with

 

- filled rotation, consuming resource abilities to replace default attack with higher damage abilities

 

But it would be because they are not fully in control of the filled rotation so by struggling with it they end up being less efficient than if they didn't do it at all.

 

To correct it requires lots of practice until using and burning resource cooldowns to counteract the extra resource use is smooth and does not slow your rotation down at all.

 

Key binds are essential not just for smoothly doing the rotation but it increases your ability to look around and move at the same time.