Rifleman Archive
Thread: What to mix with rifleman?
Wow guys, thanks a lot 
Youve given me alot to think about. Ive was tka for ages (loved it), have a master commando on another server (love it -despite being a one-trick pony), been a doc, etc etc etc.
Im guessing I have to get a way from the "must be master a AND master b" etc and work with the mix and match facility thats available. One things for certain though, Ill be staying a master rifleman. (now I just have to unlock this bloody FS slot beforeI lose my marbles and have to drop my favorite prof)
Cheers chasps! 
Zëënk R¤düxŠThere are at least a threeways to approach this, added defenses, added offenses or a combination of the two.
From a defensive standpoint,as a rifleman, you have very few state change defenses. So picking up a profession that has additional defense vs. state change mods can help. As a rifleman, we are supposed to be more vulnerable to melee than other ranged professions (this is broken and is being fixed soon). Thus, picking up a melee profession will help balance this. I would include adding Doctor to the mix in this category as well, since Doctors can remove state changes and can self-buff.
From an offensive standpoint, we specialize in mind, so Swordsman, TKA, and Combat Medic are professions which allow you to attack mind as well.
For Defense, Pikeman is a natural choice as a melee profession since Pikeman uses Block like Rifleman. However, Pikeman is pretty universally recognized as still needing a lot of Dev love, so you may want consider that before going there. Also, with the defense stacking nerfs coming down, Block, like Dodge and Counterattack, will be capped. So stacked Block will not be as beneficial "down the Pike,"as it were (sorry), but I suspect that a Rifleman/Pikeman will still block more often than either profession by itself. Also, Pikeman specializes in the Action Pool. This gives you flexibility, but if you are starting on mind and have to switch to polearms because of melee, you are moving to a different pool, so it is not as offensively compatible.
For Offense, Combat Medic has some ranged poisons and can do ranged heals. As a Rifleman, you are supposed to be in the rear at range. Thus, you can sit back and selectively pick people off, toss in ranged heals to help your group, or throw in rangedmind poisons to help degrade the enemy's ability to stay and fight while attacking the same targeted pool your rifle uses. The downside is that they will eventually have to nerf the poisons in PvP because they far outdamage everything and are not reduced by PvP like everything else, and CM uses mind just like Rifle specials do, meaning you are going to be draining your own mind even faster.
TKAor Swordsman give you a mix of both Offense and Defense complementary skills. Both are melee and, therefore, give you the ability to counter Rifle's weakness to melee. Both allow you to attack mind. TK has a good KD/Dizzy combo, and it has Force of Will for a once an hour quick incap recovery, Meditate to self-heal without Medical skills, and PowerBoost to give yourself mini-buffs. TK's downside is that it only has Kinetic damage, the best you can do is light armor piercing with the vibroknucklers, and can use alot of its own mind for specials. Swordsman had medium AP weapons, and can do rifle-like damage to the mind at melee range.ThePowerHammer adds blast damage to your arsenal.Swordsman weaponsalso use primarily health and/or action for its specials rather than mind. The downside is that, like Rifleman,Swordsman is oriented towards offense, so while you pickup some defenses to state changes, they are not as high as some of the other professions.
Other professions could be considered, but they will not be as tight of a fit as the above. BH, for instance, has Eyeshot, but it takes a lot of points to get BH, and they are probably going to move Eyeshot eventually higher in the tree, possibly making it impossible to get and stay a Master Rifleman. Pistol, Carbine (though also needing some Dev love), and Fencer have good skills, but they concentrate on different pools and use different defensive mods, so they are not as good a fit.
I personally went with Master Rifleman/Master Swordsman/Master Brawler/Medic 0 1 0 0. Using 2H Swords is a lot like using rifles. Same strategies, just closer up. It is also nice to have the ablility to reduce damage done to me with Intimidate2, delay them (though this is being nerfed some) with Warcry2, and do a KD up to 20 meters away, all from Master Brawler. In PvE, Swordsman rocks, and in PvP, it is a good complement to Rifles. I love the combo so much that I have yet to even consider opening a holo because I have no intention of changing it at this point.
Message Edited by Sotaudi on 03-01-2004 02:08 PM
Message Edited by Blankgrun on 03-02-2004 03:42 AM
As stated, for offense go Combat Medic
Why? Simple. Nowadays with the blessed Chef Salvation coming into play, everyone and their Hutt mother is buying Brandy (and all the other little mental health drinks). Stack those with Entertainer buffs, and voila....headshot3 (or 2)becomes useless. With CM skills you can at least enhance your attack by causing a nice damage tick followed up by your headshots.
With defense stacking soon to leave the picture (so we assume) it's hard to say what the new profession mixes will bring. Doctor is always a good fallback since you can buff yourself and save your stats for your mind.
Here's to the odd little mix and match games we play on SWG!
CM is not a bad mix, but prepare to be sincerely hated by your enemies.
Message Edited by AcidRaineV on 03-02-2004 12:20 PM
Barkingbantha wrote:
Any thoughts please?
Architect?
But that is just me