Underlurker 8M SM: Problems with DPS output: Advice please?

[Vladnar]

I'm in a guild currently trying to do TOS SM right now, but we're hitting a roadblock on Underlurker. Specifically, the adds are difficult to kill before the Ragestorm mechanic forces us to hide and move, then the cross comes and DPS is further reduced. We can usually get two down before the Ragestorm starts. We're all decent players in 186-192/198 gear.

 

I understand that lots of people have completed this operation, so short of spending months getting all 8 of us to 198 gear, can anyone suggest strategies for maximising DPS? Specific classes that might be useful, or tricks that can help us squeeze more DPS out while running around for the mechanics?

 

Thanks.

 

1 tank allowing extra dps....melee dps stay on boss while range take down adds and the adds must go down before you hide and you'll be on the right track...if the dps cannot get the adds down in time you will need different or better tuned dps at this time im afraid. Try it

[JamesMartinez]

It still bugged.

MT can get 44k hit in green cross.

No one can get any damage in red-yellow cross.

 

Yea tanks get hit hard, although ive never seen that hard of a hit on a main tank during a green cross. Thats not a bug though tbh. When im healing I always make sure both the tank and the fake tank are healed to at least 90% right before the cross ends

 

People think that the cross is malfunctioning, turning red when it should be green. That has been fixed from the 20 or so odd runs that ive been in since.

Edited March 5, 2015 by JamesMartinez

[DarthZaul]

Kill 3 waves of adds then just stack in the middle of the cross and ignore the adds but still do the rocks. This is much easier that using the real tacts but you need a powertech to use rebounder every cross and you will still wipe a few times from people just randomly getting 1-shot by the cross for no reason.

[Kacynski]

No you're not. You guys probably have a few average players and mostly really bad players. The first part of improving is recognizing the actual score. And the actual score is that your ops team has terrible dps players right now.

 

They can improve but the first part is for them to stop calling themselves decent. They are not even basically competent players currently.

 

You may be right with the assessment that TzuCon is overestimating the performance of their group. We were in the exactly same boat, that's why I'm mentioning it. People think they are doing decent damage, when in fact during the Underlurker encounter they do not. I would still call all of the guys of my OPs group decent, though, but for UL you will most likely have to step up your game significantly.

 

I highly recommend to use a parser tool for this fight and watch the dps output. Doing good dps on the dummy does mean nothing for the UL fight.

Just for reference, in my first UL pull I was doing an impressing 1.800 dps Thats with dummy parses of 3.9k at the time, which means only about half of my dps capacity actually landed in that encounter. Last week I did something just shy of 3.5k dps in that fight and that's with 4.4k parsing.

 

My improved gear makes for the difference between 3.9 and 4.4k on the dummy, but the main improvement is that I can land 80% of that potential on the boss now instead of not even 50% in the beginning.

 

So, what made me improve my performance:

- practice my rotation on the dummy until it is in muscle memory. Never having to think what key to press next and spending all my attention to the fight helps a lot

- choosing the most mobile specc of my class

- doing dps all the time, no matter what. Set the boss as focus target to see its cast bar, use every second out to dps boss or adds before hiding behind a rock. Dps while running, dps while activating DCDs, dps while using a medpack ... always do dps, even autoshot is bettern than nothing

- choose either of the two methods: use a maximum burst damage specc and rotation and concentrate on one add at a time. Or choose an AoE approach and position AoE in order to hit 2 adds + boss at the same time. Coordinate with your group and stick to chosen approach.

 

What my group does now (after many, many tries) is:

Have two dps AoE on 2adds + boss (Sage and Gunslinger). Have another two burn the third add (2 Commandos). Boss is placed between 2 adds to be hit by AoE. 5th dps (Melee, either VG or Sent) is on the middle add and shifts to boss when it is down. The two AoE guys finish of the outer add as soon as middle add goes down. This usually makes very quick work of the adds and leaves us enough time to land some damage on the boss as well.

We do 4 add waves before starting to burn only the boss.

[Soul_of_Flames]

'Story mode' is supposed to be for completing the "Story," oddly enough.

 

It shouldn't feature any overly challenging encounters. People who play story mode are doing it for that reason. People who want to overcome a challenge, up it to hard mode and nightmare.

 

If a common suggestion for doing this fight is to change your group's composition, then it's obviously over-tuned for a story mode encounter. I don't care what strategies you do or how many times you've cleared it.

 

DPS and Heal checks are things that should happen in hard mode and nightmare encounters. Not story mode. The highest DPS check a story mode encounter should do is for DPS that you could put out 3 gear tiers ago.

 

I'd even go as far as to say that Sword Squadron is over tuned. I've cleared it many times myself, but I can't fathom how an average pug group can possibly pull it off.

[FerkWork]

'Story mode' is supposed to be for completing the "Story," oddly enough.

 

It shouldn't feature any overly challenging encounters. People who play story mode are doing it for that reason. People who want to overcome a challenge, up it to hard mode and nightmare.

 

If a common suggestion for doing this fight is to change your group's composition, then it's obviously over-tuned for a story mode encounter. I don't care what strategies you do or how many times you've cleared it.

 

DPS and Heal checks are things that should happen in hard mode and nightmare encounters. Not story mode. The highest DPS check a story mode encounter should do is for DPS that you could put out 3 gear tiers ago.

 

I'd even go as far as to say that Sword Squadron is over tuned. I've cleared it many times myself, but I can't fathom how an average pug group can possibly pull it off.

 

It's not overly hard it's just people have gotten comfortable doing the old ops in 180 gear when the rating recommended was 156. It's the same boat was when 2.0 came out but we usually forget these things. While Lurker is a step up in challenge than most bosses, it's still doable as the poster above noted about doing objectively decent DPS. Not just guess but do better. If the ops were too easy people would complain about that and get bored and anyone trying to enter HM would have no point of reference as it would be an entirely new ball game (Like CZ story mode vs CZ on HM with the mines). My only regret is that the last 2 bosses are a let down in difficulty on SM and are much farther apart in difficulty (Especially Revan) than the earlier bosses comparing SM to HM.

Pugs can easily do Sword Squadron by chain bombing 1 to 5 then burning 2 to 5 as well then running last bomb. Most common problem I see is tank eating rapid fire or making the bomb runner eat it. If that's avoided then it's quite simple.

[DarknessInLight]

First thing to do is to learn to play whatever class you do play a little better.

 

Second thing to do is to PROPERLY augment your gear.

 

^^fixed