Commando Archive

FROM NOVICE TO MASTER - HOW TO BECOME A MASTER COMMANDO

by

Ivoni the Bunny Slayer
Master Commando

INTRODUCTION

Let’s just say that after making Master Commando I’ve had a little free time. I also like to be helpful and felt that the Commando’s were missing their guide. Well, here it is. I hope that the tips, tricks and hints that I've provided here help you as much as they helped me.

As I write this guide, the Commando profession is, for the most part, working finally. The developers changes to our weapons have finally made us a viable functioning class. However, please note there are still several outstanding issues that need to be addressed.

Also, if you are reading this because you want to create a commando and wondering what the best class is, there really isn’t one best. There are those that have disadvantages.

Wookies have great stats, but can not wear any armor except a shield generator which gets eaten faster than candy on Halloween. This hurts later on.

Trandoshan do get bonuses for TKA but cannot wear gloves or boots. The regeneration skill can only be used once an hour and really does little to save you when needed. However nice the Melee Defense +10 is, the other bonuses are not used by Commando (at this time) although they do help slightly in earning the unarmed xp compared to others.

Then there’s the ones with the advantages.

Zabrak. Their stats are good and Equalize is an amazing skill used in PvP and when needed. Also Commando gets few defenses. Defense Vs. Dizzy +10, Defense Vs. Stun +10, and Defense Vs. Intimidate +10 and Anti-shock +5 are very welcome.

Human. No faction penalties playing Imp.

Rodian. Lots of action to spam specials with the Launcher Pistol. The Defense Vs. Blind +15 is nice as well.

In the end, play what makes you happy. It is a game after all.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let's get to it.

THE BASICS - GETTING NOVICE COMMANDO

Commando is a hybrid profession. It's going to take more time to master than any other combat class, and lots of hard work to become useful. Know this going in - while you may have made Master Marksman and Master Unarmed in two weeks, unless you have no job, no life or never sleep, it will take you much longer to hit Master Commando.

Now that you've decided to take the plunge and become a commando, the first thing that you need to do is to visit a Commando trainer. Like any "novice" profession, you cannot be trained as a novice Ranger by another player. You will need to visit a Ranger trainer and pay the 5000 credit fee.

The unfortunate thing is that Commando trainers are rare. I have located trainers in the following locations:

Corellia - Kor Vella (-3344, 3292)
Rori - Narmle (-5180, -2350)
Rori - Rebel Military Outpost (3695, -6485)
Tatooine - Mos Entha (1553, 3338)
Tatooine – Imperial Oasis West of Mos Espa (-5292, 2718)
Tatooine - Wayfar (-5038, -6609)

Once you are trained in novice, you can be trained by other players for all other levels, including Master Commando.

…END PART 1

BEGIN PART 2…

ASSUMPTIONS

First, I'm going to assume that you've made Master Marksman and Master Unarmed and are working on that 40k combat xp. If not, you're in the wrong spot. Go to those forums if you want a guide on how to obtain those, best place to hunt, etc.

There is a useful tip though to earning the unarmed xp. Get Master Marksman first. Go find a slow running mob. Punch it once and run. Then shoot it once with one of the bleeds. Make a macro
/healthshot1;
/peace;

This will result in you receiving full unarmed xp when the mob dies.

Anyway, as our only means of gaining XP, we needed to kill everything that moves.

How much? A LOT. 3.6 million heavy weapons xp to be exact.

With which weapon? The launcher pistol. Why not the flamethrower? Until you achieve at least flame3 you are going to be incredibly inaccurate. The Launcher Pistol is still faster until then.

But before we can do that we have to earn 40k combat xp or 400,000 weapons xp to get Novice Commando. Which weapon to earn it with?

I’m recommending Pistol. Why? Well let’s see where that 400,000 pistol xp would get you in gaining useful specials for the LP. 125k = Novice Pistoleer. 175k= Intermediate Pistol Stances and Grips. 250k=Advanced Pistol Stances and Grips. Mind you this is 15k more combat xp than you need, but in return you gain Healthshot 2, Double Tap, and Disarming Shot 1. Not to mention +5 Pistol Speed/Accuracy and Defense Vs. Blind +20 and Defense Vs. Stun +20.

Healthshot2 is a bleed DOT that stacks with Healthshot1. Condsider it a free 1k damage over a minute.

Doubletap is a special that has a 2.8X multiplier to the gun. It turns a 45-176 damage 2.9 speed Launcher Pistol into 176-493 damage 3.9 speed.

Disarming shot 1 is a random HAM damage special that does double damage to lairs. In most cases, this will do the most damage over time of any pistoleer special to lairs. Otherwise, it’s not advisable to use this on opponents/mobs since it does less damage then the default attack mode.

Also, if you want to give up precious combat xp you can get PistolMeleeDefense1 or pistol whip as it’s called. This has a knockdown component to it. However, with the possible upcoming changes of only one knockdown every 30 seconds I’m not sure how much I recommend this as a prequisite. It all depends on your playstyle. I’m a shoot and run versus stand and be beaten on person.

You can also choose Smuggler if you like. Feign Death is useful against NPCs when you don’t want to die. Panic Shot is very useful when grouped to save melee’s a beating. Low Blow and Last Ditch do good damage. However, considering how much more xp it takes to get these and the comparison to the pistoleer, I don’t recommend getting them unless you want to.

Some recommend going with Rifleman to get Mindshot2. Be aware, though, that none of the accuracy/speed mods for rifle and none of the rifle specials work with any Commando weapon. Thanks to macros it’s easy to switch to rifle, do mindshot1 then mindshot2 then switch back. It only takes 300k xp xp to do this leaving you with 100k more weapons xp to do as you please.

Carbineer is also an option. For only 125k Novice Carbineer adds actionshot2. No Commando weapons uses Carbine accuracy/speed nor any carbine specials.

If you have not trained in one of the alt professions to gain the two stack bleeds then expect your path to Master Commando to be much slower. As of this date we have no unique specials with the Launcher Pistol so it is recommended at some point to get Pistoleer under the assumption that it uses pistol speed/accuracy.

Choose which you want. It is up to you.

I'm also going to assume that you have a good weapon. If you don't, get out and make some money and get one. Read the galaxy forums and learn who the best weaponsmiths are and get out to their shops. Once you get that good weapon, find a trustworthy Master Smuggler and get it sliced. The harder you hit, the faster you can kill and harvest your prey, and the faster you'll go through the trees.

As of this writing an average Launcher Pistol is 45-176 damage 2.9 speed.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE COMMANDO TREES

There are four trees in the Commando profession. Sadly, two of them are carbon copies. I will outline them here to make it easier:

NOVICE COMMANDO
Field Tactics (Artilleryman)
Heavy Weapons Support (Expert Commando)
Flamethrower Specialization (Grenadeer)
Acid Rifle Specialization (Ordnance Manufacturer)

All but the Field Tactics require heavy weapons xp. Field tactics is combat xp.

Please note – yes the titles are off. This class had abilities in beta that have since been removed. The Devs are aware of it and we have no word on what and when the changes will occur.

END PART 2 ...

... BEGIN PART 3

TACTICS - WHAT SHOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY FROM MARKSMAN?

This will be the absolute hardest part to accept. You get to start all over.

Other than the Launcher Pistol which uses the 60 accuracy/30 speed you have earned as a Master Marksman (this is assumed mind you), your accuracy with all heavy weapons is worse than a Novice Marksman.

Don’t go with the flamethrower initially for getting xp. With a Flamethrower at Novice Commando you will miss 9 times out of 10. Seriously. Your accuracy is only +10. It isn’t until you master the tree that you will actually be able to hit commonly with the weapon. At flame3 is when your skill is greater with the flamethrower than the launcher pistol.

Fortunately it isn’t all bad. There are tactics and tips to be used to make life easier.

1. When Soloing, ALWAYS have a bot (any bot) grouped with you and parked in town for safety. Why? They give an xp bonus. Which sounds better 1497 xp or 1871 xp? Same mob, just grouped or ungrouped.

2. Bleed shots stack. For example, Healthshot 1 and Healthshot 2 stack. Put both on a target and run away. They will help greatly.

3. Have Novice Scout Exploration 1 at a minimum. Be sure to harvest your solo kills and sell them for cash.

4. If you are soloing a lot, get novice medic and buy good stims. Stop buy and buy buffs from Doctors. They last up to two hours.

5. Buy crates of powerups. They really help. They only work on launcher pistol.

6. Make friends with a master weaponsmith and get crates of grenades. Use them exclusively on lairs as you can get full combat xp off a lair. 2k of combat xp is very nice. Or just kill lower level things with just grenades. Makes killing newbie mobs much more productive.

7. Find a Master Smuggler you trust. All commando weapons, including the grenades and consumables, can be sliced. Told 35% is the best possible for weapons.

WHAT PLANETS SHOULD I HUNT ON?

The starting planets remain good choices for soloing since we are weak. Search out the "elite" level creatures that give good XP, like Leviasqualls on Rori. These will be your fallbacks when you can't find a group to go off planet.

If you like a more challenging solo experience there are Snorbals on Lok and the Baz Nitches on Dathomir. You will also find the higher level missions on these planets, and the payouts are outstanding - generally 10k - 20k credits per destroy mission.

I have grown fond of the Torturs on Talus, Leviasqualls on Rori, and the Snorbals on Lok. Both are large creatures that give good XP, are slow enough that you can generally outrun them. If you trained in the scouting trapping skill then using Adhesive Mesh or Phen Dart will slow them down and makes them solo capable. With a mix of traps, warning shot, stopping shot, or surprise shot (if you have them), you'll be able to solo these critters if need be. Always keep in mind the XP over time rule, but if you want a challenge with a good reward (and some good harvests) these are the way to go.

END PART 3 ...

…BEGIN PART 6

WEAPONS AND SPECIALS – WHAT SHOULD I GET AND WHAT DO THEY DO?

We have several different weapons and their specials.

Launcher pistol: Our bread and butter. Sadly we never get any better with it nor do we receive any unique specials. It is assumed to use pistol accuracy/speed skills and it uses all pistol specials. Unfortunately it only has AP0 but it does blast damage to which At-St’s and Turrets are being made vulnerable.

Be forewarned, it puts out an amazingly large video graphic explosion. Melee will hate you for using it. Being prone only makes it worse.

As of this writing an average Launcher Pistol is 45-176 damage 2.9 speed.

Flamethrower: This is a weapon to which an entire tree is dedicated to. As a Novice Commando be forewarned you will be incredibly inaccurate until Flame 3. This is due to the +10 accuracy/+0 speed you receive as a novice. You can honestly expect to miss 7 out of 10 times. It does Heat damage of course but sadly only AP0.

It has two specials (flamesingle & flamecone) which both get upgraded but can only be used 16m or closer. All four specials have dots which all stack. The downside is the massive delay. It is a 15 second delay when you get it speeding up to 9 seconds at mastery .

The only difference between the two attacks is single target vs AOE.

Be forewarned, if you thought the Launcher Pistol graphic explosions were bad, go prone with this and Melee will curse you even louder.

As of this writing an average Flamethrower is Flamethrower 423-814 damage 5.0 speed.

Heavy Acid Rifle: The other weapon to which an entire tree is dedicated to. This has the same warning about accuracy as with Flamethrower. It does acid damage and sadly AP0 as well.

Its specials are a carbon copy of Flamethrower (acidsingle & acidcone) but it is missing the dot effect. Same delays as well.

As of this writing an average Heavy Acid Rifle is 318-704 damage 5.4 speed.

The following are the consumable weapons gained from the Heavy Weapons Support tree. They all have charges vary from 28 to 50 depending on what the weaponsmith did.. Again, you must commit to the tree to not miss with these. They all hit incredibly hard and using them cues up like any other special.

Acid Stream Launcher : Consumable. Acid Damage. AP2
Lightning Beam Cannon: Consumable. Electricity damage. At least this is AP1
Heavy Particle Beam Cannon: Consumable. Energy damage. Even better, this is AP3
Rocket Launcher: Consumable. The most time consuming, most resources needed to make weapon in game. It’s Blast Damage and best of all AP3. Soon to be made At-St’s worst nightmare.

Grenades. These result from the Field Tactics Tree. They come in stacks of 5.

Fragmentation Grenade:
Cryoban Grenade: Cold Damage. AP1
Glop Grenade: Acid Damage. AP0
Imperial Detonator: Blast Damage. AP1
Thermal Detonator: Blast Damage. AP2
Proton Grenade: Heat Damage, Ap1

END PART 6

…BEGIN PART 8

ARMOR – WHAT SHOULD I GET?

For armor, this depends upon your combat tactics. Do you avoid being in melee range or snipe? If you plan on being in range to use our specials, you can count on being in melee range.

Generally stick with Mabari (for kinetic damage) or go to a higher end set like Composite, but only if it has good encumbrances (the lower the better) and can protect well against kinetic damage - animals don't shoot at you.

Always keep in mind that just because it's "Composite" or "Ubese" doesn't mean that it's better than a lesser armor. Always look at the attributes. A very well made set of Mabari is significantly more useful than a poorly made set of Composite.

There also exists shield generators which anyone can wear, including Wookies. Only use these for PvP though as they get eaten up pretty quickly. They can be repaired though making their lifespan somewhat longer.

I’ll throw in here the stat modifications. Currently they are broken. Yes you can wear them, but they don’t affect anything. When it works I will be able to use Stim D’s as a novice medic. Also, there is no way in game to use the ones for armor. That said,

Get some decent clothing. Did you know each piece of clothing can have 4 sockets? Look on the bazaar under misc > general items and notice the tape looking stat enhancing tape (not the disks). Also, Master tailors can imbue certain cloths with buffs on top of that. For example, I have a jacket, pants, hat, and shirt. Each give +12 medicine use, injury treatment, and wound treatment. Thats +48 in medical skills.

Of note, just how many clothes can you wear? Well boots, pants, shirt, jacket, belt, hat, gloves, and either a backpack (broke at the moment) or a sash. That's EIGHT pieces coming out to 32 skill modification slots.

Unless Trandoshan, then 6 because no boots or gloves. That’s 24 skill modification slots.

Or Wookie and It’s wookie specific clothing. They can wear Head Gear, Shirts (Torso Gear), Smocks, Wraps (Kilts), Gloves, Belts, and BackPacks. That’s seven pieces or 28 skill modification slots.

So do some decent shopping. Get Heavy Weapons Accuracy / Speed, and Thrown Weapons Accuracy / Speed. That fills your 4 sockets with skills for Commandos. I've found +1 to +5 stat items, so bide your time and you'll have +40 to all skills commando when it gets fixed. Or hold out for the +15 and +25. I’ve seen them.

Also you can get terrain navigation skill mods which will eventually allow you to unlearn Exploration freeing up even more slots.

END PART 8…

Cheers!

Always good reading when Ivoni posts. That guide helped me flesh out a few more boxes before the big patch, with the levisqualls and all. Thanks Ivoni!

Ivoni for President!

whoah... *stunned*.

That's the best freakin' guide I've read for _any_ class.

Excellent, excellent job.

(I have an alt that's a commando. Pre-patch even!)

Yes... that is an EXCELLENT guide. I have recently givin up my Weaponsmithing profession on Shadowfire because of the mass ammounts of weaponsmiths on the server. I decided to become a Commando. I am at Pistol Specialist, Carbine Specialist, Ranged Specialist, Expert Rifle, and working on Master Unarmed. I also have Novice Pistoleer with the Health Shot 2 special. Health Shot 1 and 2 are definitely helpful. I am also a resource trader, so i have mass ammounts of money to buy my weaponry. So when the time comes to be pickin up Commando weapons, I know that I can afford them, or at least trade the weaponsmith all of the materials needed to make the gun.

Thanks again for the great post.

Great Guide.

Some great advice for those us still working out, or any new Commandos who aim to go all the way.

Excellent, just hit novice and i got a couple nice tips uot of your guide, Thanks

Wish I would have known that I could hit a mob once, make it bleed and run for full unarmed xp when I was working on unarmed tree.

Excellent Thread. One question. Why would you use Health Shot 1, and then 2? And not just two health shot 2's? I never use Health Shot, and I am a pistoleer. Should I be useing it?

Jeck Chopalla Novice Commando, Novice Pistoleer, Field Stabilizer

Wow good job Ivoni like one other said that was the best description of anyone proffession I have ever read. I though at first arghhh another long winded post that really is nothing I need to know. I was wrong I started reading it and couldn't stop you did an excellent job.

I'm working to make Commando but I'm still considering Bounty Hunter. Like you said every class has their advantages and disadvantages but as far as the weapons go I think Commando tops out over BH.

anyone else thought of just making a character on intrepid so that you can track down Ivoni and worship him as the commando god?

Gairon

Novice Commando

Sunrunner