I want to take a step up as an arsenal DPS.

[Elothan]

Just a question here, I have the 198 commsagear armor (implants and ears are still 192)

I know commsgear is not the best, but there is only so much I can do as a solo player

 

I pull get about 3.2-3.4k damage in Parsec on the 1mill HP dummy, and while I know my APM needs work (in the low 30s), what is a resanoable goal in that gear for an average Arsenal PvE player ?

 

I am not looking to top the dps lists or anything, I just want to be able to contribute better in HM FP's and SM ops for a start. (Most of them go fine, but I still want to pull my weight better)

 

I assume my APM cab use a lot of work, but I am worried a bit about the stat distrubution as well, since I had to put on what I consider to many acc. augs to get above the magical limit.

 

Should I start hogging 192 setgear tokens or such ?

Should I try to increase my power trough getting other item modifications etc?

 

I am kinda new to min-maxing in SWTOR, so any help would be apreciated.

 

-Elothan

Edited May 24, 2015 by Elothan
ccorrected parser name.

[JouerTue]

flashpoints enhancements and even 190 blues from ziost are going to be better than the 198 comms gear ones.

apm will be 37-38 tops..

ravagers is really easy and pugged everywhere so start with that..it takes moreless one hour to complete in a pug..ops help with the mods so don't be shy needing on the offhand once you have your set pieces..and don't forget implants..

also tos can be helpful to do for relics and earpiece..any group even the worst is going to do the first two bosses and a lot less players need on relics and ear..

[Elothan]

Ah, but I should keeo armorings and such from 198 or replace the entire thing ?

Oh, and I have cleared those two a couple of times each, so I got relic and such.

 

I also belive most of the proble lies in my ATM, as I am struggeling a bit to increase that.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Elothan

[venomlash]

A big part of keeping your APM up is using Blazing Bolts effectively. You may want to get into the habit of counting GCDs to make sure you proc Barrage as often as possible, but that I'm sure you already know. You CAN delay the use of Blazing Bolts to get HSM or Railshot or Priming Shot off on cooldown, so long as you're still able to get BB off before the ICD runs out on Barrage.

 

Do try to proc Barrage during Supercharge (the Alacrity bonus slightly reduces the ICD on the proc) and fire off Blazing Bolts just before the end of the Supercharge window (in effect stretching the Alacrity bonus out for the duration of the channel). I'm gonna repost my assessment (with math!) of what I THINK is the optimal Supercharge window:

-Try to time your Supercharge usage so that the Grav Round that gives you your 10th Supercharge stack procs Curtain of Fire (ideally with Demo Round, High Impact Bolt, Vortex Bolt, and even if possible Electro Net coming off cooldown in a few seconds). Boltstorm will build your 6 stacks in 2 GCDs guaranteed; using Grav Round/Demo Round/Vortex Bolt to build them takes 3 GCDs, and can even take longer if you muck up the rate limit. Ideal Supercharge window is probably (I haven't run the numbers):

 

Supercharge + Boltstorm -> Demo Round -> Vortex Bolt -> Electro Net -> High Impact Bolt -> Grav Round -> Boltstorm

 

With 0 alacrity from gear (3% from Armor-Piercing Cell, 6% built during Boltstorm), the second Boltstorm will activate 9.735 seconds into Supercharge (lasts 10 seconds), just squeaking it in so that it'll channel faster (extra 6% alacrity helps). Latency might be an issue in getting it off in time, but if you've got any alacrity on your gear you should be able to get it done regardless.

 

DISCLAIMER: I don't really parse, and I haven't NiM raided since the level cap was 50. I just play Gunnery a lot and think about mechanics.

Apologies for all the Commandonese.

[JouerTue]

Ah, but I should keeo armorings and such from 198 or replace the entire thing ?

Oh, and I have cleared those two a couple of times each, so I got relic and such.

 

I also belive most of the proble lies in my ATM, as I am struggeling a bit to increase that.

 

keep 198 until you have a set bonus 192 or a set bonus 198..

[Elothan]

keep 198 until you have a set bonus 192 or a set bonus 198..

 

I was thinking more along the lines of If there were anything usefull in the 198 commset to keep, like the offhand compared to the 192 OH, etc

[Ubikface]

I was thinking more along the lines of If there were anything usefull in the 198 commset to keep, like the offhand compared to the 192 OH, etc

 

Armorings, OH barrel, any mod/enhancement that actually has more aim/power than the equivalent 190/192 from ziost/massasi MK-2/ops token.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Ubikface

[Jojomagro]

This was my best gunnery parse with BiS 198s and 192 MH. APM was nearly 38, DPS around 4.7k. You can check the rotation tab to see what order I used abilities in and the interval between BS/BB for a good idea of your target time for procs.

 

The main thing to remember for this spec is to prioritize Proccing BS/BB while keeping HiB/RS and DR/HM on cooldown. Be sure to get five stacks of the damage increase on HiB/RS before it comes off cooldown. Use VB/PS on cooldown as well but be sure it doesnt screw your proc of BS/BB.

 

As far as gearing this was done with 99.99% accuracy (three purple augments), roughly 600 crit rating, one alacrity piece and three surge. Try augmenting more accuracy if you feel you have too many enhancements. Augmenting Aim or Power at this point in the game isn't as good as it used to be.

 

Your set bonus is really critical for getting high end numbers as you are guaranteed a huge hit on DR/HS as well as a static 2% DPS increase. But if you dont raid that can be an issue.

Edited May 26, 2015 by Jojomagro

[LukeTheGeek]

I'm currently in all comms gear trying out a new build and I hit 4.3k on average with 186 relics

[mrvwbug]

So what is our general stat weights? The dulfy article was never clear on this other than 400+ crit. I'm at the point where I am trading around mods/enhancements to shift some stats around while I try to pick up set pieces.

[-Damask-]

As a rule, you want whichever mod has the highest mainstat+power. Just add the two numbers up and whichever is better, take that, regardless of the actual number or color of the mod.

 

If any piece has endurance higher than any other stat (and you are not a tank) that's bad.

 

For enhancements, go with the best adept or initiative you can get. Once you get your accuracy to 100/110 then you can start worrying about adding some crit, depending on your class.

 

When you talk about the offhand you mean the top slot, right? The 198 comms offhand barrel/hilt/armoring will always be better than the token 192, but if you have mods or enhancements from the 198 you will want to replace those with the min/maxed 192s.

 

Keep your 198 comms armorings until you can replace them two at a time with set bonus pieces. Unfortunately the new set bonuses are absolute garbage, and for the majority of classes the 6-piece is the only one that matters. Some classes actually do better with the old set bonuses despite the loss of mainstat. So if you want to wait until you have all 6 to switch them out that's fine too. Unfortunately for mercs you get screwed by biofail's terrible gear allocation, IIRC only one set piece has decent mods or enhancements (i.e. agile mod, adept/init enh) so yes you will have to need on additional pieces that you will then have to redeem at other class vendors for your enhancements. The upside of that is that you will have additional 192 set bonus armorings and mods for your alts.

 

As for maximizing your DPS, the best place to start is by reading the guides and studying the combat logs of those in your class who top the leaderboards. Assuming you don't make a fool of yourself by dying constantly and wiping the raid, you may become a regular sub for certain raid groups, despite being a solo player. Obviously youll want to make sure youre fully augmented in either reflex or overkill augs if youre not already. I wouldn't go with more than one accuracy aug.

 

Also make sure to read the operations guides and watch the videos so you know how the fight is supposed to go.

The fact that you give enough of a **** to ask about this stuff and to try to better yourself already distinguishes you apart from 90% of SM pugs. Most of them can't even do a proper rotation and put out terrible dps (due to them leveling to 60 in a few days and never actually learning to play their class) so you're already ahead of the game.

Edited May 29, 2015 by -Damask-

[Elothan]

Thanks to all that answered so far.

I noticed that alot of my pronlems stem for an abyssmal low power stat thanks to the gear.

 

Also I am clipping BB early alot along with some other rotational fails.

 

Still working on fixing mt flaws (and gear) but things are looking better alreadt, just after getting a few new implants and other bits and pieces.

 

As for the operations, I hve now cleared all on SM atleast .

I Always read the guides beforehand on each, boss, but sometimes you just cant get a feeling for it before you have tried it once

 

Atleast I managed to snag my 192MH from ToS the other day

 

Edit: I see what you mean about crappy stat distribution.... It seems biware do not want me to have a lot of power in my gear...

Edited May 29, 2015 by Elothan
to many smilies.

[Elothan]

While I hate to doublepost, I just needed an answer to a question:

 

I now have the belt and just got the leggings (still in box) ., but as far as I can see, none of the mods seems to really be better than the 198 commsgear, rather the opposite. So I seems to me I have some options:

 

A.) Wait for more pieces and get 4/6 piece set bonus before doing anything with them.

B) Getting a piece from another set to boost up power more, thus missing out out on set bonus

C) Pop in armorings for the set bonus, thus reducing stats but gaining bonus.

D) Look confused.

 

Advice would be apreciated.

(I am currenly reading the guides, but english is not my first language, so its going a bit slow.)

Edited May 29, 2015 by Elothan

[TheWookiee]

While I hate to doublepost, I just needed an answer to a question:

 

I now have the belt and just got the leggings (still in box) ., but as far as I can see, none of the mods seems to really be better than the 198 commsgear, rather the opposite. So I seems to me I have some options:

 

A.) Wait for more pieces and get 4/6 piece set bonus before doing anything with them.

B) Getting a piece from another set to boost up power more, thus missing out out on set bonus

C) Pop in armorings for the set bonus, thus reducing stats but gaining bonus.

D) Look confused.

 

Advice would be apreciated.

(I am currenly reading the guides, but english is not my first language, so its going a bit slow.)

If you are talking about unassembled set piece 192 gear, then the mods from those are better than the commendation 198s. You want to have the endurance as the lowest stat on your mods for proper min/max and the secondary (power/crit) as the second highest behind main stat. Just remember, for Min/maxing, high endurance on the mod or enhancement is bad.

Edited May 29, 2015 by TheWookiee

[Elothan]

If you are talking about unassembled set piece 192 gear, then the mods from those are better than the commendation 198s. You want to have the endurance as the lowest stat on your mods for proper min/max and the secondary (power/crit) as the second highest behind main stat. Just remember, for Min/maxing, high endurance on the mod or enhancement is bad.

 

That I get, but as far I can see, on the pieces that are available to me, the mainstat & power are still lower than the 198s.

 

There are a bit more critical rating thou. (Hey I am noob at this, up to now it has been easiest just getting the classgear)

Edited May 29, 2015 by Elothan

[AgentDib]

The 198 unoptimized mods are comparable to the 192 optimized ones: 127 aim/52 power vs. 97 aim/82 power. Power and aim are pretty close at this point so I wouldn't worry about downgrading.

 

The 192 optimized enhancements, on the other hand, are far superior to the 198 unoptimized.

[Elothan]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

 

I still have a bit to work with on the APM (still at 31-33), I belive I am starting to see the picture a bit more clearer here.

I got the 192 ear and one implant, as well as swapping out a single enhancment to one with a bit more power, and my DPS popped up by several hundreds.

( The rotation practicing might have helped a bit as well)

 

Just curious what ammount of power in my gear I should be looking for at this level ? (198 Commsgear /192- setpieces)

 

I still have not put in the 192 setpiece armorings, as I am waiting for atleast the 4piece bonus before doing that.

 

Also: What pieces are best to canibalize for power inccreases ?

Edited June 2, 2015 by Elothan
spelling

[AMightyKnight]

I still have a bit to work with on the APM (still at 31-33), I belive I am starting to see the picture a bit more clearer here.

I got the 192 ear and one implant, as well as swapping out a single enhancment to one with a bit more power, and my DPS popped up by several hundreds.

( The rotation practicing might have helped a bit as well)

Your focus should be on improving your APM atm. Gear can help a bit, but it really doesnt matter much since you're apparently still struggling with the priority list. No amount of gear can fix an apm of ~32. Aim for 37-38.

 

Also, dont work yourself up because of dummy parsing results. Its an indicator for your ability to put out sustained dps in a low stress environment, which translates poorly to actual fights. Arsenal is a rapid burst spec with rapid target switching capability. No matter what you do, Arsenal will always be inferior to other specs when it comes to hitting a target for five minutes without pauses. Just focusing on dummy parsers ignores the actual strengths of the discipline.

If you want to improve your performance during acutal encounters, learn how to burst and how to use ebbs and flows in fights.

 

Just curious what ammount of power in my gear I should be looking for at this level ? (198 Commsgear /192- setpieces)

Your power will be comparatively low and your aim will be high. Doenst matter at all, power and mainstat are pretty much equal, especially for the level you want to play at.

I would use no more than 400ish crit rating at your gear level, but thats more personal taste than anything else.

Just keep in mind, it really doesnt matter that much. Your main problem is APM, not gear.

[capsales]

Are you augmented fully on all 14 pieces? Are you able to follow the rotation from dulfy? I personally remember having the same questions you have been asking. When your answer is Yes to both of my questions some of your questions will answer themselves. I hope you are in a good guild with some helpful people. Also work that rotation at least 5 times a day no matter what. Set your activation time to 1.0 and let your cast finish on blazing bolts or whatever Full Auto is called impside, (lol) APM will increase with repetition. Have fun, it will get better.

[mrvwbug]

Your focus should be on improving your APM atm. Gear can help a bit, but it really doesnt matter much since you're apparently still struggling with the priority list. No amount of gear can fix an apm of ~32. Aim for 37-38.

 

Also, dont work yourself up because of dummy parsing results. Its an indicator for your ability to put out sustained dps in a low stress environment, which translates poorly to actual fights. Arsenal is a rapid burst spec with rapid target switching capability. No matter what you do, Arsenal will always be inferior to other specs when it comes to hitting a target for five minutes without pauses. Just focusing on dummy parsers ignores the actual strengths of the discipline.

If you want to improve your performance during acutal encounters, learn how to burst and how to use ebbs and flows in fights.

 

Your power will be comparatively low and your aim will be high. Doenst matter at all, power and mainstat are pretty much equal, especially for the level you want to play at.

I would use no more than 400ish crit rating at your gear level, but thats more personal taste than anything else.

Just keep in mind, it really doesnt matter that much. Your main problem is APM, not gear.

 

So just a question when you refer to APM are you referring to effective APM or just idle button mashing, because there is a big difference? Starparse shows an APM of around 32-33 with the natural flow of the Arsenal "rotation", this assumes using the 1.0s queue and not clipping BB, to me I think that 37APM with arsenal would be a lot of idle button mashing while on the GCD, especially when the 1.0s queue gives you plenty of time to queue up the next ability.

[AMightyKnight]

So just a question when you refer to APM are you referring to effective APM or just idle button mashing, because there is a big difference? Starparse shows an APM of around 32-33 with the natural flow of the Arsenal "rotation", this assumes using the 1.0s queue and not clipping BB, to me I think that 37APM with arsenal would be a lot of idle button mashing while on the GCD, especially when the 1.0s queue gives you plenty of time to queue up the next ability.

Starparse should show ~37 APM. Whether or not this means a lot of button mashing depends entirely on your playstyle.

[mrvwbug]

Starparse should show ~37 APM. Whether or not this means a lot of button mashing depends entirely on your playstyle.

 

In an actual fight that is believable due to movement, on a dummy it seems faster than the GCD would allow.

[AMightyKnight]

In an actual fight that is believable due to movement, on a dummy it seems faster than the GCD would allow.

In an actual fight your apm will obviously much lower.

~ 37 APM on the Dummy is very doable as long as you stack attacks and use auto attack as filler.

[TACeMossie]

In an actual fight your apm will obviously much lower.

~ 37 APM on the Dummy is very doable as long as you stack attacks and use auto attack as filler.

 

I don't think ~37 would be doable without a decent amount of alacrity. Off the top of my head, my sub-par rotation which delays demo round (Heatseeker) + High Impact Bolt (Rail Shot) to 18 seconds for the sake of making it easier to pull off, the APM is ~37, but thats with more uptime on Supercharge Cell which means more APM (as each use of Supercharge Cell is an extra action + more alacrity). I'd expect it to naturally be closer to ~35/36 APM

Edited June 19, 2015 by TACeMossie

[AMightyKnight]

The number of auto attacks and stacking error have a higher Impact than alacrity.

35-36 is fine too, 32-33 is just too low.