Sharpshooter/Marksman need some attention

[SentinalMasterWW]

Okay, This spec right now is on the verge of being a solid spec IF bioware would give it some needed buffs. I've been running the Differential tacitcal (the one that makes ambush activate and do 20% more DMG on roll) and its really fun, however it's bogged down by the fact that this spec doesn't really do any good Sustained DMG. Don't get me wrong  during that match the biggest hit I got was 90K, compare that to when I tested with Ionic and I got around a 100K Hit. So it can hit those big #'s but too many times in PVP I see ABSORBED When I go for my big Hit Window, I'm not sure is this is because of Poor Scaling Bioware did with this spec, or poor Bolstering, or both. 

The other thing this spec is poor at as with its sister specs is no recovery, The amount of times I could've won a 1v1 if I had roll heal is numerous. Again I get that bioware wanted this spec to be in the back supporting the team but surprise 98% of the time you are on your own.

All Bioware would have to do is

-Buff DMG Straight across the board

-Add 10% roll heal and 1% heal in cover back. 

If we want to talk PVE, Than the Agitating Energies tactical should receive a buff as well

[Jarbarian]

Bioware doesn't care about our class....thats why they took our minor hots away.

[MrGoodStone]

Bioware's treatment of our class feels like a painful disregard. It's evident that their primary focus centers around the iconic Sith and Jedi classes within the Star Wars universe, relegating the rest of us to a secondary status. The mere thought of one of these secondary classes surpassing the prominence of the Sith and Jedi seems to be a distant dream.
One of the most significant aspects of this is the complete lack of survivability and DPS. In other MMO games like this, snipers/hunters have bog potential, consistently delivering huge DPS while ensuring their own survival. They also possess traps, stuns, and other cool sh*t.
Here, our favorite specialization feels dismal, as if we're armed with a water pistol rather than a powerful sniper rifle. We struggle not only with our DPS but also with a lack of survival. Other classes have become quite tanky, easily overpowering snipers, and we stand no chance against the sorcerers and juggernauts, who in other MMOs would cower in the face of a sniper/Hunter.
The stark contrast between snipers in this game and roles they play in other MMOs is disheartening and very frustrating.
Thank you, Bioware!

[JakRoanin]

I agree that the dual pistol classes and snipers need more punch! I mean I want to be like Nico Ocarr in the trailers! But what's weirding me out right now is that Rage hits so much harder than Focus, and that makes no sense.

[SentinalMasterWW]

So this is kind of a late one year later post. I didn't feel the need to make a new post, but rather just resurrect this one. 

 

Marksman/Sharpshooter still sadly remain to this day one of the weakest classes in the game. Even gunnery is beating it if we take a look at the parsing here. The class has actually had no real buffs to it which makes it sadly kind of inferior to its other ranged direct DMG specs. 

Gunnery/Arsenal while needing buffs of its own still feels that it just hits harder and is somewhat more consistent with its burst. Not to mention having Merc/Commando defensives on top. 

Lightning/Telekinetic feels nice, its strong and mobile but not completely broken burst DMG. 

I think the biggest problem is the lack of crit stacking. Virulence/Dirty Fighting and Engi/Saboteur especially have a good amount of crit stacking. Sharpshooter/Marksman doesn't have that, it seems like from my guestimate that the dev's want you to run the cooldown passives on Smugglers luck/laze target to try and get as much cooldown on them as possible.

If Marksman just straight up had a passive that you could invest into that increased critical hit damage by 20-25% akin to one of Engi's passive I think we would be solid DMG wise.

 

The other thing I want to bring up is B-0 differential targeting tactical. The tactical theoretically sounds nice for PVP burst but the problem is that you have to use roll to proc it and roll is one of our few key defensives we have. Additionally there is no guarantee you will get this big crit DMG off and instead your ambush will be absorbed or miss wasting your roll. I think B-0 should be reworked to act more like Arsenal/Gunnery burning bright tactical with the idea being that using penetrating rounds builds a buff that increases the DMG of our Ambush depending on how many stacks you built.

The last thing is that, I think Marksman/Sharpshooter should get below the belt/Debilitate by default. The spec should be considered the 1v1 spec so to say so having that hard stun by default makes it stand out more as the single target focused spec. Much like how Engi gets oribital strike by default, I think getting their single target stun would help the spec a bit.

[Vaynr]

I would really love if Marksman's cooldowns would be properly aligned. It's so annoying that I roll around like Adele in the deep, Ambush is highlighted but is on cooldown. Also it should have more debuff capabilities to really maximize damage output on a target.

[saravall]

Marksman has always been the solo build for open world PVE. I know been playing sniper main since launch. Now if you learn to play the class, you will find that in the environment, no other class can compete with you for speed of group kills and for the most part I almost always get aggro off the supposed class that should outperform me.

[ZUHFB]

Marksman is not only good in open world content, its actually pretty strong in pvp too, the roots are just too much, the evasion movementspeed is great against assassins cuz they cannot reengage or low slash like in the past. Its also strong in PvE right now, can do like 23k brontes burns easily. Most people just underrate this spec because they lose uptime, movement is easier on viru and engi

[Didy_Kush]

14 hours ago, saravall said:

Marksman has always been the solo build for open world PVE. I know been playing sniper main since launch. Now if you learn to play the class, you will find that in the environment, no other class can compete with you for speed of group kills and for the most part I almost always get aggro off the supposed class that should outperform me.

tbh engi is better in multiple regards even in world pve also balancing isn't about this kind of content. It's like saying that's mm preform well in storymode FPs and that's only because this spec as a decent burst and have access to suppressive fire like all sniper spec but this as nothing to do with marksman being a strong spec.

 

 

5 hours ago, ZUHFB said:

Marksman is not only good in open world content, its actually pretty strong in pvp too, the roots are just too much, the evasion movementspeed is great against assassins cuz they cannot reengage or low slash like in the past. Its also strong in PvE right now, can do like 23k brontes burns easily. Most people just underrate this spec because they lose uptime, movement is easier on viru and engi

First of all Marksman isn't strong in PvP at all. It's not the worst spec either but defenitely in the low tier. Marksmen lacks a lot of single target pressure (in aoe you just spam suppressive wich is strong enough by itself).
Ambush hit like a wet noodle you actually need to take 20% critical dmg talent + instant ambush tactical (+30% dmg) for it to actually make decent hits (~120k). Also if you take ambush tactical you just don't have sustain dmg, outside of your instant autocrit ambush your dmg are irrelevent and you have to rely on your teamates dmg to make a kill.

Even with the pve tactical bringing up you sustain dmg to a almost decent lvl you're still have less pressure than a lot of spec and ambush become so irrelevent that you'll pretty much spend most of your time using either penetrating blasts or suppressive.

Also last point MM is 100% white dmg outside of corrosive dart wich is already a pvp nerf by itself.

In comparaison Viru and Engi have a better burst than mm wich is kinda funny and even better sustain and pressure. So there's no real incentive to play MM unless you want the buffed diversion or root lock someone.


"Most ppl just underrate this spec because they lose uptime" yeah but even with 100% uptime this spec still does ~5k less dps than the two others. Outside of Sniper Volley window mm dmg are way too low.

[ZUHFB]

On 4/1/2025 at 2:25 PM, Didy_Kush said:

First of all Marksman isn't strong in PvP at all. It's not the worst spec either but defenitely in the low tier. Marksmen lacks a lot of single target pressure (in aoe you just spam suppressive wich is strong enough by itself).
Ambush hit like a wet noodle you actually need to take 20% critical dmg talent + instant ambush tactical (+30% dmg) for it to actually make decent hits (~120k). Also if you take ambush tactical you just don't have sustain dmg, outside of your instant autocrit ambush your dmg are irrelevent and you have to rely on your teamates dmg to make a kill.

idk i think the ambush tactical just makes you go bad place you don't want to be, i personally play the pve tactical. I don't really die? Like if you position correctly (which is thrown out of the windows by going ambush tactical) you can be pretty save, your cooldowns are also AMAZING against any sort of meele that isn't rage, against most ranges its also fine, just sorcs are a problem tbh, especially dot or burst with insta TB. It's hard to average out damage taken per death because usually i don't die, but without a healer and proper caution it can for sure be up to 2mil (provided all cds are up / death), My dps is somewhere between 11-14k, which yes, isn't great, but it's fun to melt enemies. 

i don't agree with your use of suppressive fire, sure you can do it if you want to zerg damage but i don't enjoy that, i want to kill the enemies - also increases your own chances of living! Which is fun, i just try not to die and the rest just happens tbh, not like the spec is very complicated.

On 4/1/2025 at 2:25 PM, Didy_Kush said:

Also last point MM is 100% white dmg outside of corrosive dart wich is already a pvp nerf by itself.

again, sure it can be if you want to play it that way, but why snipe or followthrough a (example) vengeance with 2% hp and saber ward running? Just use the frag grenade

On 4/1/2025 at 2:25 PM, Didy_Kush said:

In comparaison Viru and Engi have a better burst than mm wich is kinda funny and even better sustain and pressure. So there's no real incentive to play MM unless you want the buffed diversion or root lock someone.

Viru has setup to its burst so i don't think it can really considered to be burst? like just don't let it get off the burst? also its vulnerable because cull is just kinda bad to reapply dot's with? it's predicatable and slow, also not fun

engi has the most predicatable burst in the entire game "oh let me just put 17 dots on you and don't you walk out of my aoe please!", like its just dots and explosive probe and emp, even series of shots leaves a dot, the class is too complicated to work effectively in a pvp setting - also i don't like it relying on interrogation probe, i really really hate that

also imagine thinking about what you is better to press now, series of shots or plasma probe? no thanks, its just too much to worry about

On 4/1/2025 at 2:25 PM, Didy_Kush said:

"Most ppl just underrate this spec because they lose uptime" yeah but even with 100% uptime this spec still does ~5k less dps than the two others. Outside of Sniper Volley window mm dmg are way too low.

i don't play around those at all, are you having energy issues? sounds awful to have no energy! i just play the energy stuff so i don't have to care, i can just go around shooting people without a worry in the world, its just great

i think a class that should complain is merc atm, merc is just... its just depressing, like i feel bad shooting at them! they are literally just 3m hp punching bags and then they see dirt  

Edited April 2 by ZUHFB

[Didy_Kush]

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

idk i think the ambush tactical just makes you go bad place you don't want to be, i personally play the pve tactical. I don't really die? Like if you position correctly (which is thrown out of the windows by going ambush tactical)

With all due respect, if you're not controlling where you are rolling, you are not playing sniper correctly.

 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

you can be pretty save, your cooldowns are also AMAZING against any sort of meele that isn't rage

Every sniper spec has the same defensives so idk how it supposed to be an argument in favor of marksman over the other specs. Marksman has a better div while engi has a better roll and viru a better shield probe.
 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

i don't agree with your use of suppressive fire, sure you can do it if you want to zerg damage but i don't enjoy that, i want to kill the enemies - also increases your own chances of living! Which is fun, i just try not to die and the rest just happens tbh, not like the spec is very complicated.

the only things marksman does better than the two others spec is sustain AOE so it would be kinda stupid to ignore the only real strength of the spec. Spamming suppressive on two targets will always be better than hardcasting 2 snipes. Also aoe isn't fluff dmg you can put a lot of pressure on the enemy healer just by spamming suppressive.
 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

again, sure it can be if you want to play it that way, but why snipe or followthrough a (example) vengeance with 2% hp and saber ward running? Just use the frag grenade

you're now at 99.9% white dmg. Doesn't change the fact white dmg spec is a disadvantage in pvp.
 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

Viru has setup to its burst so i don't think it can really considered to be burst? like just don't let it get off the burst? also its vulnerable because cull is just kinda bad to reapply dot's with? it's predicatable and slow, also not fun

Viru only need 2 gcd to set up (applying dots) and then the dot explosion will do about 120k-140k dmg by itself and the following cull would be around 200k so taht would be about 300k-350k dmg in 3 gcd (with laze target) so yes viru have more burst than mm. There's no way to put 300k dmg with mm as fast or faster than viru. You right on one part viru is very predictable but its the same for mm with Agitating Energies. I mean what is more obvious than hardcasting Ambush ? (of course you could always fakecast it but it's very situationnal)

 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

engi has the most predicatable burst in the entire game "oh let me just put 17 dots on you and don't you walk out of my aoe please!", like its just dots and explosive probe and emp, even series of shots leaves a dot, the class is too complicated to work effectively in a pvp setting - also i don't like it relying on interrogation probe, i really really hate that

If engi burst is predictable for you, you propably don't know a lot of engi player. Engi burst only require 2 gcd to set up (interrogation probe and explosive probe) you don't need plasma probe or EMP proc. Most good engi players will delay they burst because explosive proge can stay on the target for a long time (longer than it's own gcd) and that's why engi is anything but predictable and you can't even LOS that burst.

Engi isn't that complicated tbh you didn't put enough effort into it. Most of the time you just burst on cd and use series of shots on cd. Ofc it's not as straightforward as mm or viru but in the other hand both of them have some of the easiest rotation in the game.

 

 

On 4/2/2025 at 10:58 PM, ZUHFB said:

i don't play around those at all, are you having energy issues? sounds awful to have no energy! i just play the energy stuff so i don't have to care, i can just go around shooting people without a worry in the world, its just great

idk where you saw that I was talking about energy issue I'm well aware how to play mm and what I was saying is that, even when being freecast, this spec does significantly less dmg than viru or engi.

Also I'm not saying that ppl shouldn't play mm and go viru or engi. Marskman is definitively a fun spec and probably my favorite sniper spec but currently it's defenitely not strong and needs to be buffed quite a lot to be competitive in PvP. And most of it comes from the fact that mm as neither a good burst or a good sustain while viru and engi have both and more (viru is tankier and engi as better crowd control) and even if MM has the better sustain aoe viru and engi aren't far behind and it's just a question of energy management.
 

[ZUHFB]

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

With all due respect, if you're not controlling where you are rolling, you are not playing sniper correctly

you still make it go on cd, which then makes any position you could be in worse, because getting away is now harder

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

Every sniper spec has the same defensives so idk how it supposed to be an argument in favor of marksman over the other specs. Marksman has a better div while engi has a better roll and viru a better shield probe.

the reason is the roots, if they cannot move how can they hit you? (specific to meele so mm cds are amazong agsinst meele)

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

Spamming suppressive on two targets will always be better than hardcasting 2 snipes.

Nope, in PvP the answer is always it depends, is it better during pred? what if one target is a full tank? your statement is thus just wrong - and not taking that into account, its also just not fun - destroys my rp if being a „sniper“ cuz i don‘t aim with sup fire

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

you're now at 99.9% white dmg. Doesn't change the fact white dmg spec is a disadvantage in pvp.

its more like 90% but you are very correct, white damage is just worse

also this is true for viru as well, both weakening blast and cull are white and can thus be countered the same, MM just has a lot lower cd on ambush and viru and on weakening

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

Viru only need 2 gcd to set up (applying dots) and then the dot explosion will do about 120k-140k dmg by itself and the following cull would be around 200k so taht would be about 300k-350k dmg in 3 gcd (with laze target) so yes viru have more burst than mm. There's no way to put 300k dmg with mm as fast or faster than viru. You right on one part viru is very predictable but its the same for mm with Agitating Energies. I mean what is more obvious than hardcasting Ambush ? (of course you could always fakecast it but it's very situationnal)

well no, first of all its 4 GCDs and moreover hardcasting ambush from 30m+ isn‘t obvious because the target doesn‘t have to have you in target, if you apply debuffs its more obvious what is about to happen - at least for me its a lot easier to roll a weakening blast than it is to roll a TB or Ambush, of course there are examples where this is untrue, 1v1s, 1v2s but in a 3v6 who really knows where this ambush is going? probably only really good tanks who look for taunts

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

If engi burst is predictable for you, you propably don't know a lot of engi player

best engi i‘ve ever played against is figlak, but its so long ago i doubt a lot of people remember him still - engi is just outragously impractical, the point you make with LoS like sure yeah, but who does that? nobody but figlak has done this to me, every engi (tbh every sniper) i face is just bad and it looks to me like they aren‘t trying

2 hours ago, Didy_Kush said:

idk where you saw that I was talking about energy issue

what else could be the „sniper volley window“ you talked about? just using an ability isn‘t a window, a window can close, you just use it and then its over - and no point does it close, so the only window that sniper volley creates is an energy window

 i play marksman because in my head marksman is the most sniper like spec in sniper, and it is for sure stronger than engi and viru in pvp, it stands to argue it isn‘t in pve, but pve is easy enough, it don‘t matter there. In PvP it is stronger, because it is the only spec that doesn‘t cripple its own hp by just pressing buttons, and yes, with pve tactical its just like viru but viru is just kinda boring, and as we all know fun is the biggest dps increase in the game

 

also, i feel the need to add this - i‘m being completely serious

Edited April 5 by ZUHFB

[Didy_Kush]

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

you still make it go on cd, which then makes any position you could be in worse, because getting away is now harder

not really, but anyway you can roll against any wall, pylone if you want to stay in the same position so idk how is it an issue anyway also remember that rolling to get an instant ambush is actually a dps loss. If you use roll on cd and don't have it to save you from being global later that's a gameplay issue but it's not the tactical fault. At least that's my opinion about how you should play with B0.

 

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

the reason is the roots, if they cannot move how can they hit you? (specific to meele so mm cds are amazong against melee)

First of all Marksman is definitly better than viru against melee. With that out of the way.

Marksman only shine in one-on-one duels against melee, but Engi offers better control in group situations thanks to its aoe root and plas:a probe. MM requires targeting the melee specifically to be effective, so if . In contrast, the Engineer can handle multiple enemies easily with a roll. Outside of duels, MM is more useful for immobilizing a kiting target, while the Engineer is better suited for dealing with situations where multiple enemies are attacking.

And even in duel situation engi would be better because of the raw dmg diff between the two spec and engi dmg and toolkit won't be affected as much by dcd's like saberward or evasion (maybe mm is better against pt because of the armor pen ??? I'm not even convinced)

For sure MM roots on pen blast are good and is propably the only thing that make mm playable but it's not enough to compensate for its other weaknesses.

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

well no, first of all its 4 GCDs

I think you must be confusing it with the PvE tactical for viru. In PvP you're playing UV tactical so you just need to apply your dots and to burst with weakening blast and cull.
 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

moreover hardcasting ambush from 30m+ isn‘t obvious because the target doesn‘t have to have you in target, if you apply debuffs its more obvious what is about to happen - at least for me its a lot easier to roll a weakening blast than it is to roll a TB or Ambush, of course there are examples where this is untrue, 1v1s, 1v2s but in a 3v6 who really knows where this ambush is going? probably only really good tanks who look for taunts

you kinda have a point here but personnaly i'm used to keep an eye on mm snipers and lightning sorcs for ambush or TB so unless I'm stun or I have no roll or evasion I usually don't take them I don't think tracking ambush and tb cast is more difficult than tracking your debuffs. Ambush have a kind of reticle on you when it's casted so, it's pretty obvious whether you're the target or not.

 

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

best engi i‘ve ever played against is figlak, but its so long ago i doubt a lot of people remember him still - engi is just outragously impractical, the point you make with LoS like sure yeah, but who does that? nobody but figlak has done this to me, every engi (tbh every sniper) i face is just bad and it looks to me like they aren‘t trying

Fig is a good player but he hasn't played much in 7.0 from what I know and in 6.0 engi burst wasn't as scary as nowadays and it doesn't had all the crits passives.
The issue with engi is that explosive probe last for 20s on the target (minus alacrity I think) and can be detonated without LOS, so any good engi snipers will delay they burst or try to bait you by placing plasma probe. 20s is way too much (interrogation probe will fall off before explosive probe debuff)an engi sniper can literally wait for entire defensives to fall of  before bursting and you can't even temporized it with LOS that's why engi is busted rn and impossible to predict in good hands.

 

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

what else could be the „sniper volley window“ you talked about? just using an ability isn‘t a window, a window can close, you just use it and then its over - and no point does it close, so the only window that sniper volley creates is an energy window

Sniper Volley is actually a 10% alacrity buff so basically you have the 1.3 gcd during this window. So that's why I'm saying that mm doesn't do much dmg outside of Burst Volley window wich is the main reason why this spec is trash atm (ofc as all the spec in goods hands you can always do decent things with it because most players are clueless in PvP but in comparison to the two other specs it really falls behind except for the fun factor ofc).

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

 i play marksman because in my head marksman is the most sniper like spec in sniper, and it is for sure stronger than engi and viru in pvp, it stands to argue it isn‘t in pve, but pve is easy enough, it don‘t matter there. 

The fact that you love marksman over the other 2 specs and you think its more "sniper rp" and "fun"spec as nothing to do with it being stronger or not. Both viru and engi are far ahead to the point where I'm wondering if it's possible to play sniper in 7.0 and still question it.

 

On 4/5/2025 at 6:59 PM, ZUHFB said:

In PvP it is stronger, because it is the only spec that doesn‘t cripple its own hp by just pressing buttons, and yes, with pve tactical its just like viru but viru is just kinda boring, and as we all know fun is the biggest dps increase in the game

 

Not sure what you are trying to say in the first part because none of the specs behave like that so feel free to elaborate. Viru might be more boring but still does way more dmg (sustain and burst) and a good part of its dmg is internal wich is another advantage. But at least you cant los viru's cull i'll give you that.

"fun is the biggest dps increase in the game" thats beautiful but doesn't translate that well when we're discussing meta, because like I said meta isn't about how you feel about a spec, it's how the spec is performing compare to others in overall situations.

Edited April 6 by Didy_Kush