Commando Archive

Ive been playing around with the character editor in alakazam trying to figure out what would give a commando the best abilities for the buck.

So far, the templates im looking at:

1. MTKA, MCommando, Smuggler 0/0/3/0.0 pnts left over. (doing this now)

-excellent close range damage via flamer and tka, great survivability, good ranged abilities with pistol.

2. MTKA, Commando 1/4/4/0, smuggler 0/0/4/0, Rifleman 4/1/0/0. 2 pnts left over.

-same as above (losing the 2 broken commando trees), but good ability from long range added to the mix.

3. TKA 4/1/0/4, brawler 4/4/0/0, Fencer 4/4/1/0, Smuggler 0/0/3/0, Commando 0/4/4/0.

-ive been looking at this with great interest. The benefits for the commando are enormous. Consider:

We still have the tkasi meditate (most important for me). This allows us to operate in the field almost indefinetaly.We have unarmed knockdown..and fencer has a dizzy attack.. so we can still kd and dizzy (and still kdfrom range with smuggler skill). We have the 2 working trees in commando, our firepower is intact.Fencer gives us +40 defense vs knockdown and vs posture change (priceless!).. it also gives us +15ranged and melee defense on top of the +30 tkasigives us...Fencer also gives us 2 health bleeds and 2 health-ham bar attacking styles.. and we STILL have Tkasi's ability to attack the other 2 ham bars at will.

I wonder.. see rancor, use LP or heavy weapon to 'bring it in', KD it,switch to pistol, panic shot (10 second it stays down), thenswitch to vibroknife (fastest1h sword i think), stack those 2 health bleeds in less than 4 seconds, then flame single2it.. it gets up, keep hitting it with the blade until it falls over.Mmmmm

My original template involved:

Master Commando/ TKA 4|0|0|4 / Pistoleer 0|0|4|3 / Novice Medic(no points left)

I was considering this combo for very high defenses and nice pistol specials for ranged + Meditation.

I was also considering Master Commando / TKA 0|0|0|4 / Pistoleer 0|0|4|4 / Smuggler 0|0|1|0 / Novice Medic (1 pt left)

This was to add lose Meditate and gain Feign Death...both templates keeps Novice Medic so I can heal during a fight (Meditate doesn't allow that) using good Stim B's.

I have finally decided to go with:

Master Commando / Master TKA / Medic 1|0|0|0 (1 pt left)

My reasons a lot strategy and a little faith....first it makes one heck of a tank character which I'm sure you are already aware of...Gives me good in battle healing...and works well for PvE (I rarely play PvP). The Faith part comes in because I'm still holding out hope that we will eventually get some of our own LP or HAR ranged specials...that's the one thingt his template is missing...ranged specials. If we get those specials, I will feel complete with this template.

Last night I did a test....I went and got my health stats buff'd (all except the mind stats) up over 1500....then I traveled to Lok to see how much punishment my character could dish out and take (remeber I'm not yet a TKA Master)...While there I took out 2 Ancient Rancors (one at a time)...5 (at the same time) Singing Clan...4 Nightsister Initiates (at the same time)...I was finally brought down when I ran into 6 Nightsister Initiates all at the same time...and it was my mind that betrayed me...my health and action were great...if I had a mind buff I would have taken them out since I had but a flame dot on 3 of them, but died before it killed them.

To me, that was the type of results I was looking to see...

For anyone looking for a great way to Tank yourself PvE...try the TKA/Commando combo...if you are looking for a great PvP style character go Commando/Pistoleer/Smuggler & any of the TKA Defense Column (Melee and Ranged) you can fit in)....

I think i shouldve asked this in the first post:

what do you think are the 'skills' that would complement the commando's abilities and skills better?

since commando is albeit the front-loaded damage and the damage-multiplier class for a group, i believe that master tka is a bit.... constraining. for the TKA is a single-target combat class.. a **edit** powerful one, but those 12 seconds avg. it takes the tka to take ONE 10k'ish ham creature down (without using vk's or the ham cost kills you)means the group has been deprived of the commando massive frontload aoe damage for those 10 to 12secs.

thats why i took smuggler for the KD+warcry from range ... excellent to buy time for yourself and for the group.

But now, seeing fencer... i can see myself running up to the multiple attackers, putting the 2 health bleeds in, then flame coning. technically speaking this should speed up the taking down of multiple targets by half no?

ill be looking for a fencer in my server to have him double bleed a rancor and then i flame single it and see how long it takes to die compared to just the flame dot. If its significantly faster i may drop mtka for it (as show in the template i have above with fencer and tka skills).

(plus the fencer does the same damage with normal sword swing that a tka does without vk's using UH2 i believe.. ill test it out too).

pistoleer mods i dont consider very useful for the commando.. i mean, the stopping shot seems to be 'it' to take with the LP.. but unless you take the accuracy trees you'd be better off using overcharge2.

or do you know if healthshot1, healthshot2 and the fencer health bleeds stack? that'd be awesome.

Well the first question is...do you want to be PvE or PvP God? or Both?

My template is to give me good PvE skills...first I shot a quick shot to draw the crowd towards me...as they come running, as soon as the first one hits that 16m range, I flamecone2 them...this usually hits 2 or more of them nicely...then I go unarmed and take out the rest, occasionally quickly equiping the FT to put a dot on the one's I missed, the unequipping just as fast...For me, this works, I don't need any other ranged skills specifically and thanks to high Ranged Defenses and ranged opponent misses me often (and with Ranged Mitigation coming this will be even better for when they actually do connect)...I haven't found anything major lacking yet in this combination regarding PvE...but then again, I have hunted holo's with this combo.

To compliment Commando you have to look at our main weakness...and surprisingly, it's not the 2.5x Melee Damage Multiplier (although it's way up there...but thankfully going bye bye if promises are true)....Our main weakness is a lack of a ranged offense...so to compliment Commando and fill the void, a good secondary ranged profession is needed. Smuggler is a great choice for the Dirty Tactics tree alone...and the Pistoleer has great ranged specials, plus a tree that grants +40 Melee Defenses (I believe)....This is the best combo to make a good PvP template. It's currently the best way to deal with kiters.

I haven't tried Rifleman, but I think that would help to make a good PvE & PvP template...not the best of each, since close ranged (16m - 30m) is not the best for Rifleman (I could be totally wrong on this), but great for those long ranged sniper shots to put a hurting on your opponent before they can even get close to you...The idea of there being "No Safe Range" when fighting me is quite intriging...

Never tired fencer either..so I'm not sure about the bleed...but since all our Flame Dot's stack and they stack with healthshot1 & 2...I would guess that YES, they would also stack with the Fencer bleed...each professions DOT seems to be programmed unique, and therefore acts as a seperate stack...

Truthfully, in a perfect in game world, the strongest professions are those that can target the mind...since that's the only thing that can't be healed by most during battle (although I've found a way around that sort of)...Commandos don't have a straight mind attack...I believe Rifleman does and so does BH....TKM also has one as well at the Master Level if I remember things correctly....

It tend not to think of which professions will compliment my template the most, but the style of attack I want to do...for me it starts with a quick FT or FWG5 shot to get the opponents attention...followed by FlameCone2 when they get close...finished with Unarmed KD and UnarmedHit. So maybe, instead of looking at the professions, think of your plan of attack..what type of attack do you want to do and what type of specials would compliment each other....

PS...The way I replenish my mind during batte (not heal damage) is to wait until it get's low, hit one last stim to full heal my action and health, then as a Zabrack, use equilibrium, which averages out all my bars...it gives me back half my mind and I can immediately heal again and be left with more mind then before...unfortunately equalibrium only works once per hour...Last night though, with some nice health and action buff's when I used this trick it fully replenished my mind bar (because me health and action were near 2000)...A nice way to surprise those people who focus mainly on mind attacks.

oh you zabrak! no wonder

I asked the bleed stacking Q in the fencer and pistoleer forums, one person said that they do stack. joy joy.

You are correct in that one of our biggest issues is our ranged combat ability. I hope that if we do get the beam rifle that will be solved. if not then the LP with the smuggler low blow is more than sufficient. in most duels that lil' LP booms and confuses the heck out of the other guy, then the lowblow sticks, and thats more than enough time for me to close into 16m (and that is, in my view, the name of the game for the commando.. getting in close).

in pve i already am quite effective with mtka... but again, im more into the multiple-target at-once capability for pve (smuggler low blow and panic shots take care the ranged issue in pvp quite nicely for me).

So, if my group gets jumped by 6 pissed off rancors, instead of flameconing and punching out 1 by one with mtka, i would instead try to stack the bleeds first (mm.. and healthshot 2 is in novice pistoleer...) and then go around the rancors stacking flame dot. it should take down all 6 rancors at the same time, instead of, as I said, going 1 by one which would take longer.. and longer = more time for them beasties to chew on my team.

Good plan...I fight mainly solo, so attacks that target a group work well for me (i.e. flamecone)...

I was a Novice Pistoleer for along time...hated to give it up...Healthshot2 stacked with Healthshot 1 is great...but I found I rarely used it over our Flame Dots...ALTHOUGH, if I was coming upon a really tough target, I would use my FWG5 to pull the critter my way form 64m...and aslong as I'm popping off one shot, what better shot then a healthshot, that way they are already being damaged as they head towards me...and if it's an especially tough critter, I would fire off a healthshot or 2 and head in the opposite direction...that way by the time they finally caught up, they were about half drained....

oooooh O.o >

tka 4/0/0/4; smuggler 0/0/4/0; pistoleer 0/0/4/0, commando 0/4/4/0, fencer 0/4/0/0 ...

power boost, force of will, cure poison/disease, heal wounds, feign death, panic shot, low blow, last ditch, heavy weapons, flamethrower, fencer bleed1 and 2 and fencer dizzy, health shot 1 and 2, fan shot, stopping shot, disarming shot, double tap...

and a grand total of:

Vs ranged: +40

vs melee +35

vs KD +70

vs posture +60

vs dizzy,blind,stun +20

dodge +10 (works only with pistol or 1h sword equipped).

mmm.. sounds like **edit** good at range and close in dontcha say? one can easily macro the smuggler low blow with the fencer dizzy. for those close-in encounters

Not sure if you grand total is correct...if you get tka 4|0|0|4 that equals a Melee Defense of +60 right there...also that last column has some nice Range Defenses as well...

It's a good template, but I wonder what accuracies and spd you give up in those Non-Commando professions...It give you a ton of great specials, but against a master of the same type it could be questionable...i.e. if you go up against a Master Pistoleer/Smuggler, would they out gun you thanks to spd and accuracy and keeping you at range...it's one of the reasons I decided to go all the way to TKM...so I get the full range of profession stats...

You might consider a similar template, but less of smuggler and fencer, and more of Pistoleer...plus pistoleer will give you more defenses to boot...or just the opposite...less pistoleer (down to novice or 0|0|1|0) and more smuggler/fencer....to make a stronger player using those abilities...just a thought...

It definitely is an interesting combination...and I'd love to hear how it works out...

true, accuracy and speed are not in there.. but most pistols sliced go to 1.3 or 1.5 spd.. and the hard cap is 1.0. so they can squeeze in 1 more shot every 3 shots more than i can. im 2/3rds as good as they are as far as speed goes. that aint so bad.

accuracy is another matter, thats true. in pve that aint a big of a deal, in pvp though.. well i dont know, ive dueled plenty of dead-eye pistoleers and i hit them rather regularly..and 1 panic shot or low blow is all i need to nail them on the ground and torch them. the other damaging specials are for pve mostly.

Personally I'd find any template without at least novice medic flawed in "staying power".....

Maybe iv'e just been on the stim-b crutch too long

A template that involves doctor, enough for you to buff yourself well would be very good. You could migrate all your stats to be mind heavy and still wear full composite with the buffs. Get a very good mind regen with low mind ham cost without mind buffs, even better after popping muon. There is a reason why you see alot of TKM/master doctors now. The staying power of a well buffed character is not to be under esitmated.

OK...now this is bad...you're making me second guess myself...lol

I have Novice Medic mainly for grinding...I tend to take on big packs with no buffs, and the trick to grinding fast it to go from one fight straight into the next with no down time...so I use stim b's during battles to heal myself...when I get a buff from a doctor I never need to use a stim....Last night I had 2 Fambaa nests spawn right next to each other...that means I could take on 6 of them at a time and keep spawning them over and over (that's how I finally Mastered TKA)...I did need the stims to keep it going...

But the question becomes...do I need Medic now that the Grinding is Complete? If I'm going around just getting into fights with various NPC's or PvP, TKA Meditation can heal all my wounds inbetween fights (but it does have that nasty habit of dropping the stats it heals to 1 for anything but mind, health & action). If I am just fighting opponents in small batches, I heal just fine during the fight the natural way, or after the fight...

So giving up medic would free up 15 pts for me, leaving me with 18....where to put it...now thats the question...think I'm going to look at Smugglers or Pistoleer...something to give me range...