Rifleman Archive

Rifleman Revised Strength & Weakness by: Jeisyn

This article is a matter of opinion (mine) and refers to a toon that is onlyMASTER Rifleman and nothing else unless otherwise stated. It is intended as a view of how our strengths and weaknesses play out in the class as a whole. (NOTE: My last post on this subject was a hasty post in an attempt to get people to stop whining about the shortcomings of rifleman, and to provoke some thought before crying nerf or begging for changes. This one is meant to replace the original, and is hopefully less ambiguous). This article is also geared more towards the PVP aspect of the game, rather than PVE - the but points are valid for both.

Weaknesses inherent to the rifleman class:
- Dependency on a limited, non-healable usage pool (mind).
- Migrating stats to support the mind pool leaves the other pools relatively weak
- Melee hits for 2.5x dmg, equating to one or two hit incaps most of the time. (at the time of writing)
- dependency on mind secondaries greatly limits the ability to wear anything but the lightest armors without drugs/food/buffs.
- No dependable KD to slow down blitzing targets. You have flurryshot + suppression but it is extremely unreliable at best. Warning shot, threaten, and suppression fire are 'chancey'.

Essentially - your rifleman toon, without other support professions, is a fragile character. You want to keep 25m minimum distance between you and a melee target. You cannot spam specials all day without musician/dancer buffs, food, or drugs. You cannot reasonably heal your mind pool (if you're a combat medic, you take massive wounds to secondary stats if you try). You cannot wear a lot of heavy armor (layered composite) without extreme stat migrations, food, entertainer buffs, or drugs. The only thing to keep pets away is the ability to swiftly deal mass amounts of damage, and warningshot/suppression fire.
If you are not Human, Zabrak, or Mon Cal, you're even worse off. (sorry guys..)

Strengths:

- Diverse Damage types, most notably Energy, Cold, or Stun. (hopefully we get kinetic + acid back as well) very few mobs/npcs/players in SWG are invulnerable to all three of these (Nightsister SpellWeavers are the only one I'm aware of). Stun goes right through 99% of the composite armor out there.

- None, Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor Piercing. no other ranged class has Heavy Armor Piercing, and our mediumpiercing rifles are very decent (some say the laser is better than the T21, I say both have their place).

- Ability to shoot the heavest rifles at the 1 second speed cap on autofire. and shoot the heaviest rifles/slowest shots at 2.5-2.8 seconds with the Master Rifleman +90 rifle speed. If you add master marksman or a +5 second Rifle speed tape, you will fire the heaviest rifles/slowest shots at no slower than 1.3 seconds per shot.

- Area of effect attacks with 4x and 5x dmg multipliers can devestate multiple targets. Just be sure you have something to tank, or you will have to kite and hope your high dmg takes them down before they reach you.

- You have the ability to "sniper" different pools. You can bleed the mind pool with the two bleeds, Mindshot1 and Mindshot2, resulting in an average of 1500 DoT (death over time) with decent rifles. You can further take advantage of this with Headshot2 and Headshot3 (costly- make sure your mind can support this shot before spamming it)
If you see that the mind pool of your target is fairly strong, but the Health and Action is weaker, then you canchoose to use the random pool attacks with very high dmg multipliers (Flushing2 or Strafe2, most notably, or surprise shot if an AE would be unwise). While not as good as a specific pool-targeting shots, these do very well and usually target health/action. The ability to target an unhealable pool is very useful, and to have high dmg 'random pool' shots gives you excellent options.

- Status effects, such as stun and dizzy are marginally useful to rifleman, as we don't have much else in our trees to take advantage of these status. Stun is useful for slowing down an enemies attacks. Dizzy + flushing can posture up NPC's and cause them to be Knocked down. However, Area Dizzy from flurry2 is useful when grouped with players who have better KD + posture change abilities. In short, status effects aren't our specialty but they can be useful in certain situations.

- Concealshot - useless in PvP, very useful in solo PvE. Because we have absolutely no tanking ability with only master rifleman, and Kiting only gets you so far - Concealshot is a great thing to have when solo'ing higher level mobs + npc's. You do not have to /takecover to fire concealshot. so you are free to roam around and keep outside of 45m.

- Snipershot: If you've done any amount of PvP as a non-rifleman, you know how frustrating it is when you incap someone but don't have time to Deathblow them because you are too far away or too busy with other enemies. As a master rifleman, you will no longer have this problem! you can perform a ranged deathblow at 64m away before your enemy's body hits the ground. Watch your faction points skyrocket in pvp! Your friends will certainly appreciate this ability in massive battles, as your group will deathblow far more players than a group without a rifleman. This ability also allows you to Solo PVP with a very strong advantage over non-rifleman players.

- Our lack of armor wearing ability has resulted in the Dev's granting us higher Ranged Defense, and even some melee defense and status defenses. (though they aren't extremely high, they do scale well with other combat professions). As just master rifleman with a couple boxes up the marksman support line, you will have +78 ranged defense. that's more than any other ranged combat class. Yes, it is useful and yes it stacks with other classes with bonuses to ranged defense. it's "always on" no matter what weapon you're holding. Block is also useful as well, and stacks with Pikeman block (if you want to make the most of block, pickup the block bonuses in pikeman)...
With damage Mitigation coming, things could get very interesting, defense-wise.

- Along with Rifle Speed, you have very high Rifle Accuracy - You will hit the most defensive templates more often than any other ranged class, with your accuracy mods. And, although your rifle's close range rating is terrible, you will find that you still do well even inside of 20m.

In summary, a "pure" Master Rifleman has to rely on light armors/foods/buffs/drugs (heavy armor when buffs permit) - and relatively high Ranged Defense. You are fragile against melee and you MUST kite. What offsets these weaknesses is your extreme damage dealing capability. 4x and 5x damage multipliers on AE shots can take down multiple opponents with amazing quickness, often with them missing their shots against you due to your high ranged defense (tip: don't stand still). HAM sniping (headshots/random pool shots) allows you to take your damage dealing ability to the next level, by exploiting the weakest pool of an enemy. You have some KD and Posture change defenses, and it's fairly uncommon for a ranged character to be able to put you on the ground. Often, the best they can do is force you to kneeling. To supplement your dmg, your accuracy is excellent, allowing you to deal damage effectively even against highly defensive classes!

That is the essence of a Rifleman. Extreme Damage + HAM sniping to offset limited sustainability. Extreme Fragility against melee to offset the quickness with which you can dispose of an enemy. Limited armor-wearing ability to offset your Armor Piercing advantage (read: powerful stun dmg+ heavy piercing weapons).

You are left over with a LOT of skill points to buff up your defenses. Some examples of the possibilities:
You can go doctor, migrate all stats to mind, and buff yourself to have enough mind to support higher end armor. You can go Melee, TKM for Powerboost + KD's, Fencer for massive defenses, Pikeman for stacking Block (working?), or 2handsword for doing Mind dmg with a melee weapon.
You can go Pistoleer/Smuggler for a ranged Knockdown and AE Ranged Offensive Delay (panic shot).
You can go combat medic to throw poisons at ppl or AE stim your buddies from a distance (where you should be) in combat.
You can go CH for the best PvE tanking ability in the game - massively resistant pets.
You can go ranger and be a true assassin/sniper/hunter - choosing the time and place to fight by always knowing where your enemies are. Mix and match, be creative, figure out your goals and adjust your template accordingly! Try and Minimize your inherent Rifleman weaknesses if you plan to PvP.

closing tip: Try marauder armor, a composite chest plate, and a hotkeyed composite helmet that you can take on/off. any rifleman can wear this set of armor to great effectiveness in pve/pvp at any time. use food or drugs when you need more sustainability.

here are some numbers so you can compare some aspects of the combat classes yourself, paying most attention to defense mods. They may help you in coming up with your own strategies to defeat other classes in combat, or give you ideas for a character template to supplement your rifle skills. There are many more things to take into consideration, aside from defensive mods (like specials, weapons, dmg types, ham costs, etc), but it's interesting to see how some things compare from profession to profession.

(*note*: My understanding of block/counterattack/dodge is that they work exactly the same as Ranged Defense/Melee defense, but they are rolled after the ranged D/Melee D rolls as a second line of defense - example: +100 dodge is just as good as +100 ranged defense. of course, having a hundred of each is even better. I'm not positive if that's how it really is, maybe someone can shed some light on it. Dodge/block/counterattack can work against both Melee and ranged attacks, afaik.
I hope I recorded everything correctly. I did it by hand and it's possible i missed a box or two here and there - these numbers SHOULD be accurate. Also> except for professions with Master Marksman, i didn't include the ranged Defense mods from the marksman support tree (0004) when calculationg the rifle/pistol/carbine ranged defense.

Master Rifleman

Ranged Defense: +72
Melee Defense: +40
Block: +80
Defense vs Blind: +10
Defense vs Stun: +10
Defense vs Posture Change (up): +30
Defense vs Dizzy: +10
Rifle Speed: +90 (+95 with master marksman)
Rifle Accuracy: +160
Rifle Accuracy while Moving: +10
Rifle Aiming: +100

notice: high accuracy, relatively high ranged/melee/block defenses.

Master Pistoleer

Ranged Defense: +7
Melee Defense: +45
Dodge: +105
Defense vs Blind: +40
Defense vs Stun: +40
Defense vs Knockdown: +50
Defense vs Posture Change (DOWN): +20
Defense vs Dizzy: +40
Pistol Speed: +74
Pistol Accuracy: +95
Pistol Accuracy while Moving: +30
Pistol Accuracy while Standing: +15
Pistol Aiming: +16

notice: ranged defense is very low, but dodge is very high. Defense vs status are the best in any ranged class. Accuracy while moving + pistol accuracy are fairly high.

Master Carbineer

Ranged Defense: +27
Melee Defense: (none)
Counterattack: +105
Defense vs Blind: (none)
Defense vs Stun: (none)
Defense vs Knockdown: +15
Defense vs Posture Change: (none)
Defense vs Dizzy: (none)
Defense vs Intimidate: +25
Carbine Speed: +60
Carbine Accuracy: +130
Carbine Accuracy while Moving: +30
Carbine Aiming: +25

notice: Like pistol, we see low(er) ranged D, NO melee defense, but high counterattack and accuracy. Resist to knockdown, accuracy/accuracy while moving - and knockdown specials of their own seem to be the staple of carbines.

Master Bounty Hunter (includes Master Marksman)

Ranged Defense: +26 (from marksman)
Melee Defense: 0
Dodge: 0
Defense vs Blind: 0
Defense vs Stun: 0
Defense vs Knockdown: 0
Defense vs Posture Change: 0
Defense vs Dizzy: 0
Pistol Speed: +80
Pistol Accuracy: +120
Pistol Accuracy while Moving: 0
Pistol Accuracy while Standing: 0
LLC Accuracy: +70
LLC Speed: +60
Carbine Accuracy: +60
Carbine Speed: +50

Notice: NO DEFENSES. Bounty hunter seems to take "the best defense is a good offense" theme.

Master Commando

Ranged Defense: +49
Melee Defense: +32
Defense vs Knockdown: +5
Flame Accuracy: +110
Flame Speed: +45

Notice: I was surprised at the flame accuracy. They get +30 accuracy at the master box. Armor, movement, some melee toughness, and extreme dmg output seems to be the thought process. (I realize there are other weapons, but the flame is what most people encounter i think).

for quick reference and comparison to ranged classes, here are the numbers for three melee classes:

Teras Kasi Master

CenterOfBeing Efficacy: +105
Combat Equilibrium: +55
Melee Defense: +62
Ranged Defense: +45
Defense vs Blind: +10
Defense vs Posture Change (Down): +30
Defense vs Stun: +15
Defense vs Knockdown: +20
Defense Acuity: 81

Master Fencer (BladeMaster)

CenterOfBeing Efficacy: +115
Combat Equilibrium: +30
Melee Defense: +74
Ranged Defense: +69
Dodge: +105 (this stacks with pistoleers dodge as long as you're holding either a pistol or 1hand weapon)
Defense vs Blind: +40
Defense vs Dizzy: +40
Defense vs Intimidate: +20
Defense vs Posture (Down): +50
Defense vs Knockdown: +50

Pikeman

CenterOfBeing Efficacy: +105
Ranged Defense: +25
Melee Defense: +30
Block: +115 (supposed to stack with Rifleman Block as long as you're holding a rifle or pike.)
Defense vs Blind: +20
Defense vs Dizzy: +40
Defense vs Knockdown: +20
Defense vs Posture (down): +30
Defense vs Stun: +50

ADDED 2-17-04