IO/Assault Help: Switching Targets

[ZiggyTank]

Hello Everyone,

 

I've been practicing a lot of Mando lately and yes, the rotation is insane, my opener is typically fine, along with heat ramp and the "wait till heat ramp is up again" rotation. However, I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to keep my dps high when forced to switch targets?

 

Example: I have to interrupt my heat ramp to switch to walker 2, do I go immediately to my sustain rotation to wait for heat ramp cds to come back up again and finish the heat ramp rotation? Other Instances I can think of are Lurker rocks, Master/Blaster Carpet Bomb, Revan Phases.

 

Should I just self heal during these instances to build up super charge stacks?

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Here's a tip. For boss fights with alot of Target Swapping. Don't play IO/Assault. Arsenal/Gunnery is much better for target swap fights.

[ZiggyTank]

Not talking about fights w/ a lot of target swapping, simply tips on how to recover from having the heat ramp rotation interrupted by mechanics via white bombs, mistakes, etc.

[Gyronamics]

Swap target and do the next ability on that target.

 

There is nothing special to do.

 

 

However on walkers where all damage is wasted on a shielded walker, stop doing dot refreshes when you know shield is about to go back up, use another Power Shot/Charged Bolts or default attack instead.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Gyronamics

[ZiggyTank]

perfect, thank you, most of the people in my guild are slingers so I didn't have many people to ask.

[Floplag]

This was to me one of the weaknesses of the spec, very poor target swapping ability due to resource usage, especially in pvp.

You just couldnt re-ramp up your debuffs etc.. you just had to keep going and use them whenever they came back around logically or hope TO was up.

I tried many different ways to get this to be more fluid and in the end it just isnt designed to be it seems.

[TUXs]

Swap target and do the next ability on that target.

 

There is nothing special to do.

 

 

However on walkers where all damage is wasted on a shielded walker, stop doing dot refreshes when you know shield is about to go back up, use another Power Shot/Charged Bolts or default attack instead.

As always, solid advice! Thank God you're a part of our community!

[ChroniKill]

Target switching itself isn't that bad (in my opinion). Where the spec really struggles is in AoE.

 

On walkers, if the shield is coming up on 1 then I'll maintain my rotation, but rather than an extra charged bolts on 1, I'll dot up unit 2 so I get the benefit when I mag bolt 2. Other than that I just maintain a strict rotation.

 

For AoE, I really struggle to maintain energy. Malaphar and Sparky are actually the hardest fights (for me). How do most people manage those? I typically find that I just have to single target and ignore that I can AoE unless I can do a free plasma grenade to dot spread or hail of bolts. It would be awesome if the commando had a similar mechanic to sages and slingers whereby they regain resource through dots (either consuming stacks or critting).

[Alassa]

Delete Edited June 12, 2015 by Alassa

[mrvwbug]

Target switching itself isn't that bad (in my opinion). Where the spec really struggles is in AoE.

 

On walkers, if the shield is coming up on 1 then I'll maintain my rotation, but rather than an extra charged bolts on 1, I'll dot up unit 2 so I get the benefit when I mag bolt 2. Other than that I just maintain a strict rotation.

 

For AoE, I really struggle to maintain energy. Malaphar and Sparky are actually the hardest fights (for me). How do most people manage those? I typically find that I just have to single target and ignore that I can AoE unless I can do a free plasma grenade to dot spread or hail of bolts. It would be awesome if the commando had a similar mechanic to sages and slingers whereby they regain resource through dots (either consuming stacks or critting).

 

I think in most cases IO/AS are not expected to AOE adds, they just continue to single target and DoT spread if an opportunity presents itself. Walkers is one of those fights were Arsenal/Gunnery probably outperforms IO/AS due to the frequent target swaps. Malaphar/Sparky are easy enough that unless your group has more than one IO/AS there shouldn't be much of an issue leaving them on the boss.

[Fazaani]

I think in most cases IO/AS are not expected to AOE adds, they just continue to single target and DoT spread if an opportunity presents itself. Walkers is one of those fights were Arsenal/Gunnery probably outperforms IO/AS due to the frequent target swaps. Malaphar/Sparky are easy enough that unless your group has more than one IO/AS there shouldn't be much of an issue leaving them on the boss.

 

Atleast they say walkers dmg times are long enough for AS/IO, but for lurker and commanders gunnery has it's benefits

[TheJollyRogers]

Strictly speaking PvP here, but there's a few things I try to keep in mind:

 

1) If I know the other target is going to be switched to (such as the other guard switch target), I will use the opportunity when they are within 8m of my current target to spread Incendiary using Fusion and Serrated using Explosive Dart. This includes using the utilitied Rocket Punch to keep them rooted within distance.

 

2) If it's going to be a hard switch, I will sometimes just skip the DoTs and just jump straight into Thermal Det + Unload + Mag + Power Shot. Sometimes collapsing the burst window is more important than the long-term output, and for a DoT-oriented spec, IO has surprisingly strong burst windows.

 

Although IO has a longer ramp up than most classes, your DoTs do stay on for 15 seconds. That means that if you have to switch quickly back to your original target, you can go straight into your burst combo. That's a benefit people often forget about. I do wish it was 18 seconds instead of 15 seconds, though.

Edited July 9, 2015 by TheJollyRogers