Rifleman Archive

Against my better judgement I have decided to post my template, in the hope that it might help some people out.

Master Rifleman 63 points

Marksman, Rifleman IV, Pistol IV, Ranged support II 48 points

Pistol Tech IV 20 points

Novice Medic 15 points

Brawler, Unarmed IV, One Hand IV 43 points

TKA Master Balance, Master Precission 34 points

Fencer Advanced Stances and Grips and Footwork 24

247 points used.

I will end up droping Master Balance, and Ranged Support for Fencer Manster stances and grips and Footwork, but right now I am saving the xp to see what they might do with melee, might change my decission.

Basicly what my template gives me right now is:

Unarmed Toughness +58. It is great for sucking up damage when running away. I use it alot when fighting CH's, kill the CH go UA and run from the pet while healing, or just tank the pet.

+66 Melee D/ +66 Ranged D, if I finish the fencing it will be +71 for each. Sence the patch this has alowed me to stay alive while PvP'n against multiple targets at the same time. If the person isnt a Master or very close they most of the time can not hit me, even with specials. Very very nice against faction pets, and player pets also.

+70 Vs Knockdown. (+90 when I finish fencing) I can most of the time get someone to wastealot of their HAM trying to knock me down, and seeing that I can KD I will KD a melee player before he does me.

This is very similar to the template I was considering if I ever dropped SL, although I would drop pistoleer and fencer footwork for master marksmanand master fencer grips line, for better defense and better rifle DPS. I'd actually probably sacrificenovice medic too, although that's because I almost never solo.I'm curious if you find KD defense still aworthwhile investmenteven after the nerf.

Master Grips actually gives you +14 melee/ranged D, why I went up that line. Master Marksman gives you +11 ranged +4 melee, the extra accuracy and +5 speed is nice, but it is not to hard to get +speed tape and throw it on a shirt.

As for the KD defense it is not all that special, but it still can come in handy. Just goofing around with a Master Pistoleer/ BH IV pistol guildy of mine where he was trying to pistol whip me down, he couldnt. Where as I could probably drop him in one or two hits with Knockdown 2 in the TKA line. But overall KD is not that big of a deal anymore, but I like having it so I wont drop it completely. What I might do and I am waiting to see how the changes in PvP turn out in the next few months is the Pistoleer line. If I ended up doing that I would also drop Novice Medic giving me 33 points back. I would go ahead and pick up Master TKA or go up the Polearm defense tactics for the extra +10 ranged D +14 melee D, and +10 to block, which would give me +30 to block, if they ever fix it, it might be worth it.

What I love about this game so many diffrent ways to build your character and not one is perfect.

Well, grips is definitely worth it - it's the second best defensive line in the game, next to TKA precision - but I was saying to drop footwork, which only provides the KD defense. Currently tapes don't work, so you can't make up master marksman with them, but I can certainly understand the appeal of going with a more defensive rather than offensive build, especially if you solo more than you group. The flexibility really is quite nice; I just hope they balance things a bit so (for example) TKA precision isn't a no-brainer line.

This is a bit like the template I've been working towards, except mine replaces the fencing with master marksman, I'm still working on the combat XP for precision striking. Is the defence now working well in PvP? After reading logs (yours?) of a fight with a BH it seemed that ranged defence was not working too great.

Nice template, kinda makes me wish I didn't go the rifleman ranger route, but then again I do have the traps to save my rear most of the time and heres to hoping the new ranger ones come out soon.

Anyway a couple questions about it.

#1Didn't see any scout, so has lackingterrain negotiation ever gotten annoying?

#2 Was looking at left over skill points, and noticed that if I dropped ranged support I'd have enough for master ranger, master rifleman, then just enough to take novice CH and enough blocks to get I think it was a CL25 pet max (taming and training I) Think it's worth it given the changes to suppression? Or keep warning and at the very least Aim?

bloody no edit button....

#3 Ever seen a rifleman 2h sword user?

ranger riflewoman here too. got 15 points tied up with novice medic, and which leaves me a whopping 4 points. think i'll do pistol 1 for the nifty dl44, and so i have something to shoot with when i'm running for my life from an evil crazed durni

I posted my Master Rifleman template in my own post.I am along similer lines with TKA defences, but I am almost master two handed swords instead of dabbling with pistols and one handed weopons. Once I master 2handedsword (I need a mere 400k combat xp) I could have 74 melee 71 ranged defence with 20 block and 25 counterattack (when they work).

While Two handed swordsman are also complaining about the problems with their class, the addition of melee head attacks and some of the best area effect attacks in the game are very helpful to a rifleman.

My template is somewhat similar, rifleman/swordsman. I switch to my sword when running away for the melee defense and I can tank stuff. Also very handy for harvesting meat for the local doctor, because swordsman AE attacks rock.

Kinda sucks that you have no Scout, though I was probably going to drop it too. You need it if you do most of your PvP in theurban areaslike I do (I never fight in cities anymore, waste of time -- I hunt outside Anchorhead and Coronet for rebels doing missions).

I've been thinking of just dropping my brawler lines totally and picking up Creature Handling. I got my hands on a friend's account to play with his BH/CH and let me tell you, that stuff is no joke. Eyeshot aside, having a rancor with 18000 hit points that can hit people for 600 no problem, that's worth a little something. As a rifleman, you MUST warning shot a pet like that or it will kill you in one hit, and warning shot against a high level pet like that usually takes 3 or 4 tries before it will stick.

I hate to lose the millions of brawler XP I've already invested, but Rifleman + CH is a no brainer. Not only will the pet let you sit back and blast away with your rifle, but TKA+Rifleman means you're either a TKA or a rifleman at any given time. CH+Rifleman, you can be both at the same time for double the killing power.

Well, TKA precision line is somewhat special in that it provides +30 ranged/melee defense. These are always active (whether you are holding a weapon or not) and no other line provides anywhere near that amount of defense. As an added bonus it provides unarmed melee toughness and a mind damaging attack, and +80(!) unarmed accuracy. It's hard to argue with those bonuses if you already have brawler anyway.

And ranged defenses DO work, I've done experimentation on this:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=14370

Agreed Pecos, but let me throw in what I've found to be the best defense vs. a CH.

Start him with mind bleed 2 at your maximum range, and get as many head shots in as you can, then get your butt moving.Ideally the CH has realized he has a problem. He's lost a bunch of mind already, and he's bleeding it too. He knows healing his bleed is going to take some mind, so he's going to try and move away from you. You're depending on this panic response because him running away at the same time you're running away is increasing the distance between the two of you at a high rate. Pets have a "leash" distance where they will give up their pursuit once their master has moved X number of meters away from their target. Now you've got a bleeding, running opponent who wants nothing to do with you anymore. He can't target you again while he's running away, so he can't order his pet to attack. Run him down and he's a sucker for headshots.

The key is that bleed shot. Hopefully it causes him to panic rather than have him realize that he holds the upperhand so long as his pet can catch you.

Yeah, that's how I beat Commandos and Bounty Hunters when possible. Mind bleed + run like hell. I remember one fight I won against a BH in Coronet playing ring-around-the-rosy with this 20'x20' enclosure. I was just trying to avoid him until the bleed got him down.

You're toast if they feel like burning their Burstrun on you. You can burstrun too, but it won't take you out of range if they were burstrunning first.

But that's where having a CH of your own comes in. Without doctor buffs, a Rancor can potentially put anyone on the ground in 2-3 hits. He incaps you, Rancorchu incaps him, you get up first and do the deathblow (and that's assuming the Rancor didn't flat out kill him, which happens often enough).

CH+anything is really just a nice all around combo, PvP and PvE. You're really putting yourself at a disadvantage if you have to contend with a pet and he doesn't have to contend with yours.

And even a Wrix can mess up a rifleman. L15, anyone can have one. They'll cross 64 meters in literally 2 seconds, they only hit for about 150, but that translates to 375 vs riflemen. Enough to make a nasty sting if you're caught unawares or you miss your warning shot.