Rifleman Archive

Can anyone briefly summarize the pros and cons of choosing CH vs Swordsman for PvE? To my limited understanding getting a CH and using it as a tank would let me use my rifle more and be able to run off quickly if the tank dies. If I go Swordsman I'll be able to shoot from a distance and then as it closes switch to a sword and tank it myself. It just feels a bit cheesy to be a rifleman with a sword though, so that's why I'm considering getting CH instead. Are pet tanks working good in PvE?

If you went CH, then you could have pets tank while you shoot at a safe distance, but if the mob you are attacking concentrates its fire on you, then it'll be hard to get them to go back to your pets. Because lets face it, if something gets within melee range of a rifleman they are dead since you will have no melee profession to help.

If you went Swordsman, you could be your on tank while others help. Still not good for defensive parts, but better since Swordsman does offer some if a mob was to get within melee range. I've heard of Swordsman who've been able to take out Krayt's and Elders, but I'm sure they had medics with them. Swordsman is great in PvE, so I would suggest Swordsman. Another great thing about this, Swordsman's weapons have medium armor piercing, which helps a lot on harder mobs, plus it can also target the mind like rifleman, so there is a mutual benefit from Swordsman.

Blankgrum is half right. The swordsman will not help you when you have rifle equipped because of the to-hit penalty. However, the rifle will help you when you have swordsman equipped. I've been Rifle/TKA since beta for the switching reason (go prone and plinkit from far away, then when it gets close switch to melee and go to town on a creature with much less ham). Rifle gives you arespectable amount of melee defense for stacking purposes, and I'm not sure how the defenses are in swordsman but I notice I don't get hit very much by melee things unless I still have my rifle in hand and am suffering the hit penalty.

I don't recommend CH because I don't like feeling that "all is lost" when the pet dies, and believe me that's what it'll feel like when some monster starts coming at you and all you have to fight it with is a rifle. It's really nice to be able to drop the gun and go toe to toe like a warrior. And with a little medic, you can pretty much go toe to toe with most mobs in the game without much fear of death. If you don't like the idea of fighting with a sword, gobarehanded which seemed like a great idea at beta time so I could still be proficient when all of my weapon itemsdisappeared to bugs or corpse runs.

Deski Grunder-Force Ghost Entertainer
Iksed Plunder-Commando (Elder Rifleman/Combat Medic)
Lumped Flounder- Master Shipwright/Architect/Merchant

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Eco Dool
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -V-alorian Jedi Knight
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Marselus Wallace
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Orbital Striker
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Member of -V-'s PWN squad.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Get back! I'm gonna orbital strike!"-Mars
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Wait Eco.... don't!"-JD and Red in unison
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Ermm.. um.. Beker,can you rezz me?"-Mars

One benefit I see from having a melee profession even while playing as mostly a rifleman is the stacking effects of melee and ranged defence, and the fact that I get both Ranged and Melee Damage Mitigation 3. That sure would help a lot, even if I do close combat with aspraystick instead of bare hands or a sword.

I've been playing around with the online character generator and how about: Master TKA, Master Rifleman, Pistoleer 0040, Medic 0020, Marksman 4403and prerequisites. That gives me 3 points left over, and some solid defence even against status attacks. Pistoleer might be unnecessary for PvE though, I heard most monsters don't do much status attacks.

Getting less than master CH seemed a waste since that would mean I wouldn't be able to use the best pets, and if I do Master Rifleman/CH I can't afford a melee profession. Going for Swordsman feels like too much powergaming (*cough* as if I wasn't already powergaming with a Rifleman/TKA), or maybe just that Rifleman would almost be superflous if I went for that.

Intrepid- Mapai FS Bounty Hunter
Intrepid- Catio Swordsman/Doctor
Eclipse- Mapai Master Smuggler/Pistoleer/TKA
Eclipse- Eihou Master Swordsman/Fencer/Brawler
Intrepid- Ataut Dark Jedi Knight
Loot Vendor 453, -4812 Tal Valor, Naboo
SYNISTER YET NOBLE

Swordsman is one of those skills that it seems requires defensive stacking in order to really shine at. I've seen a Swordsman/Fencer dual master tank a Canyon Krayt with no difficulty whatsoever, no heals, just standing her ground and taking the krayts worse. However, I would like to say that she had nearly maxed melee and ranged defense, something you don't see with a vanilla Master Swordsman.

Personally its your call, my point would be that rifle won't help you much when you have a sword equipped and vice versa, CH seems more synergistic and less alternative when compared to Swordsman.