3.0 Mercenary/Commando DPS by Hotwired

[capsales]

gota confess my ignorance on my favorite class...but in the rotation..how are you doing two unloads/full auto back to back?

 

He is not saying back to back. Unload/full auto has a longer cast time (about double) and requires more energy (about double) than any other cast in the rotation. So you don't hit it back to back, you hit it once and it takes up 2 GCD's

[Bearcubb]

Gyro, thanks so much for your guidance in this thread. I've been very poor on my rotation discipline for IO Merc in the past, and overheated rather frequently. I've been practicing and finally got a parse over 4k. In fact, it's 4554!!! Here is the link:

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/53887/0

 

I know I still have lots of practice ahead of me, and have to figure out how to maintain this output in boss fights, but just wanted to say thanks.

 

For reference, current stats are as follows:

Aim: 4333

Power: 1509

Crit: 585

Surge: 471

Alacrity: 120

Accuracy: 756

Edited August 9, 2015 by Bearcubb

[GabrielGil]

Hello Ive been trying to get my parsec up past 3.7k and cant seem to hit 4.0k yet. Im a gunnery commando, i have a mix of 192 set bonus gear and 198 gear atm. im augged all the way. i dont know if it is my rotation or my if i need to add or change my mods or enhancements in my gear. Any suggestions?

[Lalainnia]

Quick question now that the medic set bonus works which adds 5 seconds to supercharge would it be better for dps specs to use 2p dps and medic 4p?

[Gyronamics]

Gyro, thanks so much for your guidance in this thread. I've been very poor on my rotation discipline for IO Merc in the past, and overheated rather frequently. I've been practicing and finally got a parse over 4k. In fact, it's 4554!!! Here is the link:

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/53887/0

 

I know I still have lots of practice ahead of me, and have to figure out how to maintain this output in boss fights, but just wanted to say thanks.

 

For reference, current stats are as follows:

Aim: 4333

Power: 1509

Crit: 585

Surge: 471

Alacrity: 120

Accuracy: 756

 

Good to hear.

 

Your timings seem to be more loose than they can be.

 

I can't recall why I did these parses, think it was a demo for someone after I took some gear off:

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/37878

http://parsely.io/parser/view/37882

 

Look under the Ability Usage tab and look at how tight the timings are to being perfect.

 

e.g. all abilities are more or less bang on the minimum time possible between uses, 15s, 90s etc

 

Look at your ability queuing and see if you can improve things.

 

Hello Ive been trying to get my parsec up past 3.7k and cant seem to hit 4.0k yet. Im a gunnery commando, i have a mix of 192 set bonus gear and 198 gear atm. im augged all the way. i dont know if it is my rotation or my if i need to add or change my mods or enhancements in my gear. Any suggestions?

 

The best items are in the hard mode operations, you cannot max gear from comms and story mode ops alone.

 

So yes your gear can be better, can't say how possible it is for you to access the best gear though.

 

Your rotation, I don't know, post an example?

 

Quick question now that the medic set bonus works which adds 5 seconds to supercharge would it be better for dps specs to use 2p dps and medic 4p?

 

No because the combat medic set bonus specifies that it will only work for the healer stance.

[GabrielGil]

my rotation is the same one dulfy suggested to use on her website.

[Gyronamics]

Yes?

 

Show me an example of you doing a rotation.

 

Upload a parse here: http://parsely.io/

Edited August 11, 2015 by Gyronamics

[rballen]

Where do you recommend dropping the dot spread abilities into the rotation with assault/IO? I've been experimenting a bit with it but haven't effectively found a way to do it.

[Gyronamics]

You can dotspread one ability per neutral rotation or by burning a resource CD you can do both.

 

In a neutral rotation you drop Assault Plastique for Sticky Grenade to spread Serrated Bolt OR Plasma Grenade to spread Incendiary Round.

 

Doesn't especially matter which one you use regarding damage but obviously one of those is instant and one is a cast so it can be situational which one you use.

 

It is neutral because you do a straight equal cost swap with Assault Plastique.

 

To do both at once you replace Assault Plastique for one then use a resource cooldown to spread the other as if you were filling with a Charged Bolt.

[MikeSparcle]

Hey Gyronamics, thanks for the great guide.

 

Could you tell me what should I improve?

 

I have 6/7 Resurrected gear including ear and imps, 192 MH and 198 OH, 2 x 41 power crystals and 14 x 186 Reflex augs

 

My current stats are

4408 Aim

1168 Power

777 Accuracy (100.19%)

720 Crit (36.83%)

222 Surge (64.04%)

111 Alacrity (1.47%)

 

I use Advanced Anodyne Reflex Stims, but I don't have any adrenals now

 

My parse; 4054 DPS and 36.35 APM on a 500k dummy using Fascinate and Marisi's rotation without an adrenal and Shattered Armor (I had to make some changes because with their exact rotation I become overheated at around 25% left on the dummy)

 

UPD: With Shattered Armor on the dummy and some changes in rotation (still without adrenal though) I managed to get 4252 DPS and 37.76 APM.

 

Since I have 6-piece bonus I think 4k DPS is way too low. Do you have any suggestions?

 

Thank you!

Edited August 27, 2015 by MikeSparcle
upd

[Gyronamics]

I'm not in favour of that rotation but it is no worse on resources than any other. You can only be overspending if you're not confident in how much you can spend before backing off and using Rapid Shots.

 

All you need to do is spend one ability too many and about 3 rotations later without repairing it (by cutting down the rotation so you spend less) you'll have a flat resource bar

 

This is why I start off by telling people the neutral rotation they can do forever.

 

Then I tell them they can do a bit more damage if they compensate for the extra cost using a resource ability.

 

E.g. spending one extra Power Shot can be compensated by an one Supercharged Gas OR a Thermal Sensor Override

 

Basically confidence in resource control. Your example parse is not showing that despite your changes because I can see large blocks of rapid shots appearing at the end.

[MikeSparcle]

The reason I used this rotation is because I saw a guy named Rth parsing 5590 on 500k dummy and 4905 on 1.500k, which makes him 1st and 3rd respectively on Parsley IO Merc leaderboard on all servers.

 

I also like this rotation because of its repetitiveness, therefore it is easier to apply on boss fights with a small amount of mistakes (yesterday I had the same dps on Torque as I had on dummy)

 

Anyway, I copied your exact rotation from here parsing 4537 with 1st try on 500k dummy, so it really works better for me. Thank you very much !

 

Now it's clearly the matter of improving gear. I'm still not sure what's the best power/crit/surge/alacrity balance. Could you please suggest something?

[Gyronamics]

You might find it easier to read the guide (first two posts of this thread) rather than copy an example parse but the important thing is you get along with it.

 

Do not take highscore parses as realistic, there is nothing real in doing identical parses until damage rolls and crit rates are freakishly lucky.

 

I prefer to emphasise that it doesn't matter much about stats as long as you get the basic accuracy sorted.

 

But people like goals so try going for this:

 

Up to 400 Crit, rest in Power

Even split between Alacrity and Surge after getting 100/110 accuracy.

Reflex augments

 

If you get into 198 gear you can swap 3 reflex augments for accuracy augments to free up one Enhancement slot for another Surge/Alacrity while keeping Accuracy up.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Gyronamics

[cairax]

Been following your guide for a while, would like your thoughts as i feel very dissapointed in my ability to reach a decent dps value.

 

http://parsely.io/parser/view/60003/1

 

info: my start rotation was very sloppy, some hammer shots that shouldn't be there. My surge and crit currently is too high and i have no alacrity, trying to change this asap. my timings seem to be right from what i can see all close the to 15s rotation. I think i might be using charged bolts not often enough but the energy balance get's tight.

 

Thanks beforehand.

[Gyronamics]

That was not a good opener.

 

An entire free Mag Bolt got wasted and you ended up resetting it without using it.

 

Hammer Shot should not appear in your rotation until you have usefully burnt out all of your resource cooldowns.

 

Double Hammer Shots mean you're overspending when you have no resource cooldowns ready or you're overusing Hammer Shot. Which ever it is, its bad practice.

 

Your timing is consistent but it is also consistently taking longer than it could be.

 

When 15 is the target then 15.7 on every 15s ability means there's room to tighten up ability use.

 

It might be the lack of alacrity but I have not tried zero alacrity, I can give it a go sometime and see what it can be tightened to. There is no alacrity in the tree now as part of a damage nerf the spec got so zero is pretty slow.

 

The other thing it can be is ability queuing, I didn't go through every ability you used to check the timings but are you queuing up your next ability before the first one is completed? Of course this can't be done while Full Auto is going because it breaks the channel but anything else can be queued.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Gyronamics

[Nemhain]

Thanks alot Gyro, I'm basicaly a Bodyguard Merc (healer) but from time to time I like to pick a DD (Damage Dealer) role and was struggling with the utilities to pick, really awesome guide you have here mate. From the importance of the utilities to the rotations, really awesome guide. I've picked your arsenal guide as base and adapting it to my playstyle, and it's really cool.

 

Thanks once again.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Nemhain
typos more info

[cairax]

Thanks for reply, i used your advice from earlier posts about using hail of bolts before fight, that's why i did a reset for just one mag bolt there.

 

i am queueing abilies, biggest reason i think my timings are not ideal is because i had experience of missing a free mag bolt when i wasn't within the 15s rotation, so i started doing things slower adding hammer shots which i imediatly regretted.

Edited August 29, 2015 by cairax

[Izmolkov]

sorry for offtop, but i can't find pvp guide for mercenary

[Antix]

with the post that came out about 2 months ago http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=821885&page=24 talking about optimal stats. what are your thoughts from that post compared to your own stats and gear lay out.

[Izmolkov]

with the post that came out about 2 months ago http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=821885&page=24 talking about optimal stats. what are your thoughts from that post compared to your own stats and gear lay out.

 

it's for me?

I mean, i interested: rotation; utilites- for 2(Arsenal &innovative ordnance) combat dps discipline for pvp.

[Cotlu-Hunlon]

sorry for offtop, but i can't find pvp guide for mercenary

 

[Gyronamics]

with the post that came out about 2 months ago http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=821885&page=24 talking about optimal stats. what are your thoughts from that post compared to your own stats and gear lay out.

 

I think it's an interesting project but I can see issues.

 

The calculated result would have me believe that Arsenal is within 200dps of Innovative Ordinance.

 

I know this to be so far from realistic that it undermines credibility.

 

I do not see anything wrong with the stat choices, they fall into the "it really doesn't matter" range but with all DPS figures you need to know what you're looking at.

 

Damage highscores are indicators of uninterrupted maximum damage on a dummy but will frequently be well over realistic averages, they may also involve unrealistic damage boosting techniques.

 

Synthetic DPS numbers start with a stack of assumptions and then a stack of calculations. A number of things can detach this from reality including modelling a fight scenario when no actual fights are like that so you need to understand the process the numbers went through and know if it can be replicated in live fights.

 

Live fight highscores are frankly often rigged either personally or by the raiding team collaborating to boost one player. You need to read the parse and understand how someone is getting the damage and if you believe that is honest play.

 

 

So who to believe?

 

No one, including me. Everyone has an angle of bias or tunnel vision which will distort how they look at things so either deliberately or unintentionally it will affect the results. Know why everyone is wrong and take only the information which has some sense to it.

 

And what is my bias?

 

I ignore specific scenario gains because each fight is different, none are training dummies and dammed if I remod for burst or sustained between fights.

 

BiS mods

Accuracy

Don't ignore any damage stat because the best returns are the first few mods.

 

That is all you need to know.

 

The rest is fine tuning for specific scenarios and that kind of fiddling is up there with arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic because RNG and fight interference has got something to say about marginal gains. Plus to really benefit you'd have to remod any time the upcoming fight changed between burst and sustain.

 

For reference these are my stats: http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=8328827&postcount=169

Edited September 3, 2015 by Gyronamics

[Izmolkov]

 

i' dont understand what he talk about....

i interested: rotation; utilites- for 2(Arsenal &innovative ordnance) combat dps discipline for pvp. not video.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Izmolkov

[DomiSotto]

Folks, a couple of questions about the Assault spec play (please, be merciful, am a noob):

 

1. before which ability do you pop the supercharged cell for maximum effect?

2. out of all 2nd tier 3 potential buffs to the shield, which one is a better pick? I am thinking the push-back one, to protect the first charged bolts cast or plasma grenade cast for spread.

3. in this part of the rotation:

 

GCD01 Incendiary Round (debuffing the target and applying the elemental DoT)

GCD02 Mag Bolt (making next Charged Bolts instant)

GCD03 Charged Bolts (making next Mag Bolt free)

GCD04 Mag Bolt (generating 5 energy)

GCD05 Serrated Bolt (debuffing the target and applying internal DoT)

GCD06 Assault Plastique

GCD07 ------ Filler Slot

GCD08 Full Auto (making next Mag Bolt free)

GCD09 Full Auto continued

GCD10 ------ Filler Slot

 

if I go in with 10 stacks already, I assume that the stacks will have to be used prior to the Charged Bolts, or I will be wasting the build up of the 10 new stacks. Yes?

 

TY

Edited September 9, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Gyronamics]

1. before which ability do you pop the supercharged cell for maximum effect?

2. out of all 2nd tier 3 potential buffs to the shield, which one is a better pick? I am thinking the push-back one, to protect the first charged bolts cast or plasma grenade cast for spread.

3. in this part of the rotation:

 

GCD01 Incendiary Round (debuffing the target and applying the elemental DoT)

GCD02 Mag Bolt (making next Charged Bolts instant)

GCD03 Charged Bolts (making next Mag Bolt free)

GCD04 Mag Bolt (generating 5 energy)

GCD05 Serrated Bolt (debuffing the target and applying internal DoT)

GCD06 Assault Plastique

GCD07 ------ Filler Slot

GCD08 Full Auto (making next Mag Bolt free)

GCD09 Full Auto continued

GCD10 ------ Filler Slot

 

if I go in with 10 stacks already, I assume that the stacks will have to be used prior to the Charged Bolts, or I will be wasting the build up of the 10 new stacks.

 

#1:

In standard rotation you do not pop it before anything. SCC grants you 10 resources which is enough to offset the 16 cost of a Charged Bolt or Explosive Round (buffed) you filled your rotation with.

 

However you will pop it at the start of a planned burst where you deliberately stack all your dots including Electronet for a heavy DoT burst. For example my standard opener is DoT focused not autocrit based (although the autocrit does happen a little later).

 

#2:

There is very little hard casting in Assault spec, only when filling will you be hard casting Charged Bolts, Full Auto is now immune to pushback. I typically ignore all shield buffs because they are pitiful. I might take extra healing during shield for RNGFEST 16m HM Cora where the likelyhood of taking massive damage is high.

 

Revan I take extra knockback range and faster CD on knockback in tier1. Any other fight you can take dam near anything because commando options with utilities are an illusion.

 

This is ofc assuming you take health, resources, htl, aoe reduction and channel on the move as standard/compulsory.

 

#3:

I would not be going into that rotation section with 10 stacks ever.

 

Why?

 

Because to have 10 stacks going into that rotation I'd have literally just finished Full Auto -> Filler Slot before it and I wouldn't be ignoring a filler slot if I had 10 stacks to burn.

 

I'd have gone Full Auto -> Charged Bolts (compensated with 10 resources from SCC) and THEN continued.

 

Otherwise in standard mid-rotation you do not hold onto stacks, you use it on the next filler slot available unless you are specially holding it to buff up a burst on something coming up soon. Like Master coming down on Master&Blaster.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Gyronamics