Pistoleer Archive
Thread: GUIDE: How to get pistol xp.
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farmersckn
Sun Mar 21, 2004 7:07 pm
#1
Why?
I see a new post everyday on this forum about how to obtain Pistol experience as fast as possible so I figured I'd write a guide. I mastered Pistoleer in less than a week using these methods, so I figure they are pretty good. They may not be the best, but they WILL get you there, and faster than just hunting anywhere in the galaxy.
Novice Pistoleer
Novice Pistoleer can be obtained first by hunting your local thug group (Meatlumps / Mummers / Etcetera) until you hit pistols 2. Get a scout blaster then, and see about getting into a Sharnaff group in Coronet. At any rate, work at it until you hit Pistols 4 then get your training in Novice Pistoleer. For more help with that, see the Marksman Forums.
Techniques and Fanshot
The first tree you want to go up in Pistoleer is Techniques. Techniques 4 gives you the Fanshot ability. This is pretty much the be-all-end-all of the Pistoleer profession, until our other specials are repaired. The Fanshot is an AOE (Area Of Effect) attack. It will attack and damage any mobs that are currently engaged in combat with you or your group. It is also a cone-attack, meaning that the area it affects is a cone-shaped area, widening out as it moves away from you. So if you have 3-4 mobs that are mobbing you, very close, your Fanshot will at best hit 2 of them, usually only the one you are targeting. If you kite the mobs, or move away from them while they are engaged with someone/something else, your Fanshot will tear into all of them at once. I have literally walked about 20m from a group of 12-15 Stormtroopers and Fanshotted them all in less than 30 seconds. The reason being that at the right range, your fanshot will hit all of those targets at once. The effect is that as you get the health down to almost zero on your current target, you will start killing the other mobs/npcs in the area at the same time. Very effective.
Bleeds
I have pretty much given up on the use of bleeds since I got Fanshot. Once you get fanshot, you are able to deal damage fast enough that the bleeds we have will only get to tick once or maybe twice by the time you kill your standard mob. Unless you are fighting some really high-end mobs, that will take at least a minute or two to kill, the bleed won't really help that much in the end. That is just my opinion, andyou should experiment both ways to see which style you prefer. Since the recent patch, I haven't really tried bleeding anything but the notes say that the bleed should hit on the first attack. If that is so, they may have gained more importance to the Pistoleer.
Where to Go
Most pistoleers would recommend a buffed/armored trip to Dantooine with an FWG5 (DX2 would work too). I always go buffed, even though it may cost 10k. As far as armor goes, I use some high kinetic resist Ubese but Composite should do fine as well, or any other armor with a decent resist to kinetic. If you are at least a Novice Medic with some decent StimBs (mine are 400 power), you could probably skip the buff if you have some lightweight/strong Ubese with some Muon Gold or Vasarian Brandy. At any rate, once you get to Dantooine, get some missions for Savage Quenker Lairs. They are always in the 6800-6900 range as far as mission rewards go. If you see a 6900 credit mission you can pretty much count on it being a Savage Quenker Lair. I don't even look at the mission details, I just accept any 6900 mission in my favorite direction. Once you get your missions, hop on your Swoop bike and head out.
What to Do
The Savage Quenker Lairs will have 2 mobs waiting for you when you get there. They will aggro you so be prepared for that. They are not too viscious though so its not that bad. Until you get Fanshot, I recommend attacking them one at a time. Unless the other is far away, it will probably start attacking you about halfway through the first one. You might even consider tossing a bleed on the second one to wear him down while you attack the first quenker. At any rate, my bread-and-butter until I hit Techniques 4 was RollShot. Its fast and it does decent damage for the speed. I also accompanied this with Body Shot 2 once the health bar got down low. Healthshot2 at the beginning to start the bleed can help as well. At any rate...
Once You Get Fanshot...
You might consider changing your strategy. Instead of taking on the Quenkers one at a time, I have found the most expeditious way of taking out the lairs and generating the precious XP is to focus on the lair. Fanshot the lair. Keep at it until about 6-8 Savage Quenkers have come out. Mind you, they will all start attacking you and some may go back to heal the lair. That's OK. As long as you are buffed/armored you should be able to handle the damage. The goal is to get all of the Savage Quenkers out of the lair. This is where the true beauty of the Fanshot lies... Groups. Once you have a group of Quenkers out, run around in wide circles around the lair, keeping them some distance away from you as much as possible. Fanshot them. You will actually be doing damage to most if not all of hte quenkers but also the lair, all at the same time. This is invaluable. Once you have killed all the quenkers, the lair will only need some finishing work to blow it up. Then you can move on to the next one. In this fashion, you can easily take out a whole lair and all the quenkers it contains in less than 2 minutes (maybe even faster). Again, don't take my word for it, experiment and see which way you like best.
Where Should Pistol XP Be Applied?
After techniques, I would suggest going up the Grips line. This is my personal opinion as its so nice to simply avoid any damage at all with the fantastic Dodge mods in this tree. Also, this tree contains BodyShot3, which you may find useful since the patch. Then work on the Markmanship tree. To be honest, I find that the pistols are pretty much accurate enough that it doesn't benefit you to have the accuracy mods as much as the dodge mods. All the while, you should be filling in the Stances tree as you get the Combat XP. You will most likely need some more Combat XP after you get 4443 Pistoleer to finish filling in the Stances tree. This is a blessing in disguise, if you ask me... You can apply the Pistol XP you earn working on the last box of Stances to get Novice Smuggler or help with the BH Pistol tree if you are going to do that.
I've Mastered Pistoleer, What Now?
There are some nifty combos out there that go with Pistoleer... Of note is Smuggler, Commando, and Bounty Hunter.
Smuggler has some nice Pistol specials in the Dirty Fighting tree. You get Feign Death, which can save you in countless battles... Low Blow which is a ranged knockdown attack (although I find it rarely works on higher end mobs)... Panic Shot which is a very effective 10 second delay attack if you need healing or a quick get away... And finally LastDitch which I have never used. So figure that one out on your own 
.
.At Novice Commando you gain the cert for the Launcher Pistol which does blast damage. These are also fairly decent weapons as far as stats go. No Pistol Specials or related mods, so don't go to commando for that, really only the Novice box for the Launcher.
Then there is Bounty Hunter. Why? Because with the BH Pistol Tree you get a ton of speed mods. Also with only the BH Pistol Tree 3 and Master Pistoleer, you can also get Novice Medic to patch yourself up mid-battle.
The Short Answer to the Question "How Do I Get Pistol XP"
Fight Savage Quenkers on Dantooine. You should also try your hand at Giant Baz-nitch missions on Dathomir. Get buffed and use armor. Check your mobs specific weakness and use the appropriate weapon for the job. Also, it will help to get the best doggone guns you can, hopefully Krayt Enhanced if you can afford it.
That's All Folks...
I certainly hope that helps all of you aspiring Pistoleers or Holo-chasers out there.
Please continue to add to this guide by adding any of your thoughts/suggestions/ideas to this thread!
WillburWright
Mon Mar 22, 2004 5:22 pm
#3
Fort Tusken is nice, I got Tech II and stances I in two days. Have a good group, but not too big.
Note: I had no armor, sometimes I used pixie. Stim B are useful.
MousePad
Mon Mar 22, 2004 8:18 pm
#4
Very good guilde.
But before you get fanshot, you should use the same technique on regular quenker lairs, but with point blank area 1.
If you group up with a high level pet, like an at-st =), you get around15 quenkers? or more?
the answer is to deal as much damage as possible. shooting at 10 quenkers, is dealing 10 times the more damage than just shooting at one.
It also means that you are leveling 10 times as fast.
Inimol
Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:47 am
#6
Yah, I've been working on pistoleer rather slowly over the last couple of weeks and this is gonna help me out a tonne.... thanks for the info. It's much appreciated!!!
OryxHoth
Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:29 am
#8
Good place to go with fan shot is the geo cave. Stand a good distance back from the brawlers and fire away.
farmersckn
Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:52 am
#9
OryxHoth wrote:
Good place to go with fan shot is the geo cave. Stand a good distance back from the brawlers and fire away.
I just went there yesterday. It was pretty sweet. Just at the entrance with a decent DX2 (1.8 220max), shooting the Crazed Geonosians I was able to take in about 3-5k xp on each one (this is with Master Pistoleer though!) Be careful of any creatures that come up from below!!! I accidentally ventured down below the entrance past the poison gas area and got two nasty KWI things to chase me... I had no prayer (both had like 30k ham and 40% resists to all of my weapons, not to mention each one hitting for about 1.5k each hit or more!). Keep in mind that the Crazed Geonosians are only vulnerable to Acid and Blast damage (Novice Commando, anyone?).
SilentJay1284
Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:56 am
#10
I found it easier to grab buffs, some ubese armor. Do missions like Gurks and spam pointblankarea1 for 650 damage to all mobs in a 360 degree radius of 7m(weak to acid, so DX2)
Meh-C
Tue Mar 23, 2004 10:55 pm
#11
This is what I do.I find it pretty effective. 500k xp (give or take 50k) per 3 hours....
Get buffs (mind buffs help).
Get an FWG5, DX2, Reb Blaster. Different types of Damage for different mobs.(Speed power-ups help aswell)
Go to the Labor Outpost on Yavin4.
And from there, you can get missions, but will slow down XP, but willget you money. Time is money though right? 
Anglers (Good for higher levels) I found it better to Spam HealthShot2 for these take them out one at a time.
Tybis andGackle Bats Spam Pointblankarea1 for these guys they dont hit hard and they circle ya real fast.(Good for the lower levels in Pistoleer).
Like I said I get about 500k in xp (and 500 BF ) before my buffs run out.
) before my buffs run out.Happy Hunting.
scaesar3
Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:25 am
#12
I just got fanshot and am unsure as to how it works. If you are clicked on one opponent then is the tech working on others near or around it or is it just hitting the opponent that you targeted? It was my understanding that the fanshot merely hit your target several more times than another technique like bleed or bodyshot.
Thanks
farmersckn
Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:23 am
#13
You know how a flashlight sends out a cone of light? Imagine that your char has a flashlight and is shining it on the current target. Your fanshot will hit that target and any other creatures/npcs/nmes that are aggroed against you that are also in the cone of light. Does that make sense? So if you shoot a fanshot and there is another nme nearby your target, it will hit that nme too.
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