Pistoleer Archive

I can solo pretty well with PIstoleer. I have Master Pistoleer, 4/4/0/3 CM, 1/0/0/4 Doc, and FS skills.

Also, lots of fights tend to get very close very fast.

Because I can solo CL 80's if they're melee (MSmug/MPistol)...riflemen can't solo a darn thing without another full profession mastered.

If they're ranged...I know I solo 78's, but I don't like to test my luck with 80's. But if they're melee? Bring it...and bring some nails with you for your coffin.

i used to be Master Rifleman / Master CH before the CU. i tried it after and found it unplayable. this was mainly because my pets couldnt hold the agro anymore and i ended up being attacked and with the poor melee defenses went down pretty fast. my pre-cu concealshot, which had let me solo kill high level mobs unbuffed and unarmoured because they didnt noticed me, got badly nerfed. it works now only under cover (which was badly bugged after the cu) and only for a limited time - usualy after the 3rd shot the cover blows with high level mobs, leaving me in a vulnerable position (as the target starts looking for u and coming nearer after the first concealshot its usualy in melee range when cover breaks).

i respecced to Master Pistoleer (with BH0044) and found Pistoleer is the ideal complementary prof for CH. with my state shots i can still let my pets tank (i reduce the damage the target makes and increase the damage my pets do and spare my damage shots til late).stopping shot and BH underhand shot buying me enough time to finish the target if the agro breaks. i now can take out a CL82 lair solo without getting a scratch.

if u want to solo things u need some good second professions for rifleman (especially something with good defenses). when u do group hunts u are the main damage dealer (and main hate target of the mobs). so u need a good tanker (to keep the agro) or some crowd controller (pistoleer, smuggler) to keep the target rooted. u still can try to do both MR/MP to get the best of both worlds.

Any ranged special can be used with any ranged weapon. So what does this mean then that the weapons is not as important as the special used, so what does rileman have over pistoleer?

1. Snipershot
2. cover
3. concel shot
4. head shot
5. startle shot

Now they are all good specials but pistoleer has working specials that can currently be used with a rifle;

1. stopping shot
2. warning shot
3. disarm shot
4. intimidate shot
5. quick draw

So what makes pistoleer better than rifleman, the specials above work very well for pistoleer compared to rifleman’s broken specials, which work most of the time but per special per percentage, pistoleers work more of the time than not in rifleman’s case it's very iffy if they work.

Sniper shot does about 2800k dam but the wind up is long and slow for my liking but it is still a very good opening move/special but just try it during a hunting session to see how effective it is?
Cover; conceal; head shot; startle shot, don’t come near in effectiveness to adv stopping shot, period.

Stopping shot; warning shot and disarm shot are not used near ther potential by most pistoleers, warning shot give a -80 to def and it also improves you chance to apply a state. Disarming shot is the real beauty, spam this babe over and over during a dueal and you be very, very surprised.

I loved the old rifleman template, pre cu now it’s not as effective sorry but it’s not. Pistoleer gives you more workable specials, which if used properly take down Jedi and uber npc, ask anyone doing the paddy trials what comes in handy for the tough npc’s, its not sniper shot or conceal, which would be good specials no doubt but remember it the specials, not the weapon that make the toon now.

Currently MBH, MP and CARBS 1430 can’t be beat. Try them and play them against any npc’s or in pvp and you’ll see.

This is not to say that there are no very skilful riflemen and woman out there as there Are tones of them but there specials ultimately let them down.

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Orthnac_Optimus wrote:

What, if any, advantages would one have going pistoleer over a rifleman? It seems to me that if you plan on doing a lot of group stuff, pistoleer would be good. But if you want to do a lot of solo rifleman would be better. Anyone disagree?

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I would say that the diffrence between rifleman and pistoleer aren't which is good solo and which is good in groups.As anyone would tell you dps and crowd control are bothgood in groups and I hearpistoleer can solo anything while rifleman are also quite potent solo:ers (not perhaps as much though ).

As a ranger I get to pick one combat profession. During the respec time I have been respeccing back and forth between pistoleer and rifleman. What I found is that I generally can't kill mobs fast enough with pistoleer, however stopping shot and disarming shot makes each kill pretty safe. This while rifles kill fast but when the mob gets within melee range I'm dead. In the end I got stuck with rifles, I like the damage output and felt that I identified better with rifleman. I can generally kill level 80 without them getting close, level 81,82 requires thatI kneecap shot and kite abit.

I had been a pistoleer since the day I started playing SWG, and loved it in spite of all the broken pre-CU specials. Post-CU, I learned how to play the new pistoleer prof very well, and grew to love it again. One thing was always a big annoyance to me though (post-CU)--the short range of pistols. I just couldn't get used to having to be so close to my targets. If I wanted to fight that close-up, I would have been a melee prof in the first place. So I played around with Rifleman and other profs in several respecs, and I found Rifleman to be just as viable as pistoleer in solo PvE (my preferred mode of play), and more so in many situations.

At first I didn't think I could live without Stopping Shot, but I quickly discovered that I didn't need this as a Rifleman. I can take out most CL 82 mobs before they ever reach me (and before I run out of Action, in spite of the higher action costs of rifles), and even if they do reach me, they don't hurt me much before they're dead.Figuring inmy medic skills, the only time I ever get incapped is if I get sloppy trying to fight 3 or more CL 80+ mobs at once (a situation I try to never get into, but it happens). With Rifleman's Startle Shot coupled with BH's Underhand Shot, I can keep most creatures knocked down until they're dead--they usually never have a chance to hit me even once. Ranged attackers are trickier, but I still have little trouble with them.

Now that Rifleman's specials have been fixed, I am having huge fun using Cover, Conceal Shot, and Sniper Shot. I can get off three high-damage shots before my target ever sees me, and once my cover is blown, I just knock him down and then pummel him with my highest-damage specials, kiting him if I need to (though usually don't need to bother). Huge fun.

The other reason whyI gave up on Master Pistoleer was that after the analyses that people posted here (most notably Nifty's), I realized that pistoleer's state-attack specials stuck too infrequently, lasted for too short a time, andhad too little of an effectfor me to justify wasting attack rounds with them in place of higher-damage specials. So I stopped using them altogether, and never missed them. Basically, I was down to acting like a rifleman but being hampered by a short-range weapon... so I just switched over to what I was really playing.

As for whether pistoleer is more or less effective in combat than rifleman in general, I will stop short of taking a position on that. A really good pistoleer can take outperform mostriflemen, and vice versa, and it very much depends on what else you have in your template. It's just a matter of which playing style you have the most fun with. In my heart I am still a pistoleer, and when I am walking around cities filled with hostile faction forces, I am usually still wielding my now-mediocre DE-10 (and still making hamburger of every one that attacks me).

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BadgerSmaker wrote:

I think the sticking point is when you have someone with Master Rifles and Master Pistoleer... you then have all the pistoleer moves with a high damage 64m rifle.

As far as I understand it there is no reason for that toon to use a pistol... rifles are not that much slower than a pistol and have no penalty that I know of at short range, SAC costs are frighteningly similar. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Using a pistol would mean he would avoid attracting mobhate in a group situation and he could run a bit faster.

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You can just get an advanced laser rifle and not need any rifleman at all. My max damage on that is 1200 unpupped and 2.3 speed
I am a MBH/Master Pistoleer, and novice smugger for concussion shot. Very effective with that rifle and my still Uber DE-10

Message Edited by RoundWallKing on 06-01-2005 07:07 PM

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RoundWallKing wrote:

You can just get an advanced laser rifle and not need any rifleman at all. My max damage on that is 1200 unpupped and 2.3 speed
I am a MBH/Master Pistoleer, and novice smugger for concussion shot. Very effective with that rifle and my still Uber DE-10

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BadgerSmaker wrote:
I still don't know how riflemen got away without a min range cap, at least on the higher certed rifles....

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I actually agree with that, in spite of my new chosen profession. If it weren't for that factor, I might have stuck with pistoleer. I'm not complaining though. As it stands now, the only advantage a pistol has over a rifle (I'm not referring to the profession, but to the weapon) is the action cost, but with food and good tactics that has not been much of an issue for me.

Theres not enough difference in SAC costsbetween Pistols and Rifles to make any impact.

You can use the lower action cost specials from Pistoleer or BH with a rifle that has a Reinforced Stock on it, chuck in some doc, chef and smuggler buffs and off you go spamming damage as youlike.

The same with weapon speed, there is not enough difference, or none in some cases.

At the moment certain Riflemen templates are firing as fast as Pistoleers and using the same amount of action but with more damage and 64m range.