Whats the best gunslinger discipline setup in pvp?

[RaithHarth]

Any help would greatly be appreciated

[OMGITSJAD]

Ballistic Dampers

Efficient Ammo

Reset Engagement

 

Heads Up

Hotwired Defenses

Lay Low

 

Holed Up

[diadox]

That would depend on the spec and the type of queue. For me there are only 3 utilities that wouldn't change depending on those things (Ballistic Dampers, Heads Up, Lay Low).

[Culhaven]

The OP asked about "Disciplines". Wouldn't that mean he/she is asking about SS vs Sab vs DF?

 

I myself and not sure, as I have not played my GS in pvp for several seasons.

[Salakast]

For Warzones and Group there's a general view that Marksman/Sharpshooter's burst makes it the most favourable discipline.

 

For Solo Ranked, roll a Sorc instead. Honestly, don't put yourself through the pain of solo as a Sniper.

[Camelpockets]

Learn to Sabo.

 

Kite like a bau5.

[sumquy]

virulence does at least as much damage as mm, if not more, and is way more mobile. can't speak to sabo, but i have heard good things about it.

 

fyi: as the post above said, if you are looking to do solo ranked, then now is a good time to reroll an inquisitor. queing on a sniper is going to have your teammates call you stupid just before you get stunlock killed in the first 8 seconds.

Edited June 11, 2015 by sumquy

[Pherdnut]

I don't know if it's an L2P thing on the GS sabotage-equivalent but I don't know what to make of that spec. I assume the point is ranged AOE attacks which every slinger is already quite powerful at but I played with it and it didn't seem as powerful as the other two, at least not for PVP. It might be great at splatting mobs/adds quickly in PVE but until I see a guide that convinces me otherwise, I'm not going to work at making it work for me in PVP.

 

Marksman/Sharpshooter is the easiest/most obvious in terms of focusing enemies and making them dead but they definitely scale in lethality as player skill improves. They probably also kill the fastest 1v1 as they get an awful lot of armor reduction tacked on to their attacks. They are particularly strong at taking down healers when opening with Aimed Shot after popping the crit cooldown as people often don't realize how much of their health just disappeared until it's too late and you're already done with your first trick shot and halfway through a penetrating shots salvo. Marksman also gets excellent spammable AoE with a major crit boost. It's plenty nasty even without the +25% bonus you can add via utility. Penetrate

 

Dirty Fighters on the other hand are basically DoT/Slow/assailable bomb spammers that aren't actually all that bad at burst once you learn to take advantage of no-cast dirty blasts. Other players should take note when they hear the characteristic pip-pip-pip of a DF slinger. If you have strong yellow damage attacks, focus them on anybody who's dotted. You'll like the results. DF slingers will also notice thermal bomb damage becomes downright respectable on assailable targets. Especially when you crit.

 

I came to the conclusion not too long ago that DF wasn't PVP-viable. I have since come to the conclusion that I wasn't good enough at playing a gunslinger to come to that conclusion. So definitely learn Marksman first and develop your general GS skills there. You can't go wrong with Marksman/Sharpshooter. There's an off-chance I've just been running into crappy teams with my return to DF Gunslinging in PVP which is fairly recent but I'm pretty sure it's PVP-viable and can be a strong choice when applied to its strengths.

 

IMO, a strong team is probably made stronger by a well-played DF than a well-played MM/SS owing to the overall detrimental affects you're having on the opposing team as a whole and of course they need to be strong in terms of looking out for their friendly neighborhood gunslinger because you will tend to piss the entire other team off all the time if you're doing it right.

 

One nice non-PVP advantage of DF is that you constantly regain energy on dot crits. They are excellent boss-murderers.

 

As far as utilities, I personally find the following essential:

 

Skillful:

 

Snap Shot: In a lot of PVP scenarios it's far too easy to LOS your most powerful attacks. This + Pandemonium gives you two rapid no-cast un-LOS-able charged bursts or dirty blasts which is the next best thing. That Dulfy guide guy doesn't know what he's talking about on this particular count, IMO. These are of major benefit in PVP.

 

Reset Engagement: Speed boost on pistol-whip is nice but mostly for the knockback at the end of speed shot/penetrating rounds. Awesome combined with the severe and generally reliable snaring you get from compounding impact.

 

For third option I tend to take Ballistic Dampers. They're a decent defensive boost and you can burn a dodge to pop out of/back in to cover to refresh in an extended fight. Efficient Ammo (especially for sharpshooter) and Flash Powder can also be very powerful. Flash Powder + distaction in particular will nerf the crap out of classes that rely heavily on non-tech/force attacks giving them a massive accuracy reduction.

 

Masterful

 

Heads Up: This one's a PVP no-brainer. Anything that helps you against CC is a big deal in. I feel naked leaving cover without a recent hunker or roll and will probably never not take this utility.

 

Pandemonium: I also consider this one essential for the insta-cast charged shot/dirty blast.

 

For the third option I'd say Hotwired Defenses might be your best choice. It doesn't look like much but you'll often see your shield actually last through brief 1v1 encounters meaning all damage was blocked. Lay Low is nice for hunker cooldown reduction and the knockback bonus is great for knocking people off of bridges. Dirty Trickster can be nice to have but smart use of cover/hunker/heads up tends to result in your regular cc-breaker being sufficient.

 

Masterful

 

I really only find compounding shots to be the essential choice in this category. Snares are one of the most reliable ways to slow people down in the game and pulse-detonate + charged/dirty with a speed/pen shot follow-up that slows them down AGAIN and then knocks them back AGAIN can do a lot to discourage meleers looking for easy slinger-farming.

 

Strong second choices are Kneecappin', Hold Your Ground, and Riot Screen.

 

I think Plan B & C tends to be overrated. It's not a terrible choice if you're getting good use out of it but we have a lot of CC. If you rotate wisely, you'll usually have something on hand to use when the time comes and leg shot's cooldown is really short, making it a good first choice for getting noobs to burn their cc-breakers. Mitigation and dodge defenses for slingers however aren't very long-lasting for the most-part so cooldown reduction for other defense can be helpful.

 

Holed Up is also overrated IMO. 60% AoE defense is great if there's actually a great reason to just sit inside a bunch of AoE. I'd rather roll out of the AoE. Ideally right up to nard-kicking range of the AoE spammer responsible. But mostly anything that relies on crouch isn't that great because you shouldn't be playing a slinger like a gun turret. By all means be in cover when under attack but use dodge/hunker to move around occasionally. It's too easy to get focused and we have too many nice procs from leaving/reentering cover typically to not move around a lot.

[Zoidrinali]

Sounds like your mind is already made up over engineering/saboteur so probably moot, however check out the playlist for the guide I put together. The spec is not all about aoe there's more to it than that, my entire channel is dedicated to engineering/saboteur.

 

Snap shot and pando...if that's the utility I'm thinking of...i don't rate. I get the theory but they simply aren't for me. Typing from mobile so not able to expand on why at the moment sorry.

[Technohic]

I've been playing with all of them, and mostly sab or DF really until recently when deciding to just focus on SS/MM. They all have some weaknesses and I chose MM because I can rely on a target swap and a huge hit although I am a lot more stationary and cannot run down someone nearly as well as the other 2 specs.

 

Sab/Eng to me really depends on people to stay in the red circles; which can happen in some areas, and I put up my biggest numbers with it, probably because of the little bit of AOE. One thing I did notice however; is I have seen sabotage charge get evaded, and if that happens, all the bomblets are void as well.

 

Virulence, I find almost in between sab and MM. I get the fluff and AOE with snares and mobility, as well as a decent "burst" when cull hits and crits, but you really have to watch out for operatives and sins as they have purges that remove and if they use evasion or shroud it is for 3 seconds and your weaker DOTs last for only 5 after that so you have a small window to get the cull in there when that happens but you might be better off re-applying the DOTs. With a concealment operative, I'm not 100% sure if it purges but they get that evasion on a roll as well.

 

MM/SS is simple point and shoot. High burst, with not much of a downtime in between really. Less fluff but you will feel yourself hurting a target. You can almost hear crap fill the shorts of your target when you crit an ambusth and follow through.. Like I said; little can be done on the run though and you have to watch out for guardians and sentinels with reflect for 3 seconds. Along with it also comes extra entrench on the roll, and that is a very, very good thing. the other 2 specs roll extras leave a lot to be desired as they are weak hitting anymore, and just eng/sab has at least a root when you use it, so that is a little usefull. And a little improved diversion for MM/SS as well.

[Pherdnut]

Sounds like your mind is already made up over engineering/saboteur so probably moot, however check out the playlist for the guide I put together. The spec is not all about aoe there's more to it than that, my entire channel is dedicated to engineering/saboteur.

 

Snap shot and pando...if that's the utility I'm thinking of...i don't rate. I get the theory but they simply aren't for me. Typing from mobile so not able to expand on why at the moment sorry.

 

I don't cop to a potential L2P issue if my mind isn't still open. I really haven't given it a fair shake yet.

 

I'm now uncertain again as to whether DF is PVP-viable though. It varies wildly from match. In some I'm getting kills as fast as I would with a Marksman, possibly faster and very frequently with more damage output from the DoT spam but the second I'm up against a lot of tougher classes or decent heals I'll inflict heavy amounts of damage but it just never seems to add up fast enough. Almost like there's a flat damage amount soak mechanic gobbling up all the nickling and diming rather than the percentages I though the game used for DR-related stuff.

[Culhaven]

Even though Sab/Eng has the best aoe, I don't think of is as, or at least play it as such. It is very mobile.

 

Most if the aoe fame comes from Incendiary Grenade. I feel its damage component is relatively small and I view it more as a utility. The obvious being stopping node caps, but it is a great kiting tool. Learn to use it and keep most melee at bay. You can also use the combo with sabotage for a 2 sec ranged stun on healers.

 

But I also feel that Sab/Eng has good burst. With your target pre-loaded with shock charge, at the best time for a burst, throw your sabotage charge, and quickly hit Sabotage, speed shot and a thermal grenade follow up.

[Plicitous]

. queing on a sniper is going to have your teammates call you stupid just before you get stunlock killed in the first 8 seconds.

 

If you're getting stunlocked in the first 8s you're doing something wrong. The real problem is getting global'ed while Entrench is up.