Smuggler Archive
Thread: The PvP Smuggler
- Improved Concussion shot is amazing against Melee Professions. Last night in Coronet I was able to root a Swordsman and nullify his ability to do attack. The only problem I ran into is I cannot keep up with damage other ranged professions are able to deal. When using attacks out of MBH I was only able to deal 250 - 400 damage (Advanced Critical Shot and Torso Shot).
- When being attacked by anything but Melee my ability to deal damage is hindered due to the fact that I am outranged by Carbineers, Pistoleers, and Commando's unless I use a weapon like Carbine or Rifle that I do not receive as many bonuses for. They also seem to out damage me by a pretty wide margin.
- TKM innate armor seems superiour to a decent set of recon armor. I was hitting a Swordsman/TKM combo for less than 200 damage while using the most powerful ranged attacks available to me. This means that even while the Swordsman is rooted I am unable to incap him by the time the root breaks, or sometimes unable to incap at all. The Swordsman, once he was free of his root, was able to hit for nearly 1000 damage, leaving me incapped in 4 hits. Thats a pretty narrow margin of error, meaning that unless I'm able to stop him from coming at me after my root breaks I'm going to get hit hard.
- Pistols do not seem to be any faster firing than carbines or rifles, therefore base damage on a Laser Rifle of 1100 max is far superior to a pistol with base damage of 800 max and superior in range. I then am forced to augment my template with non smuggler abilities that would allow me to use a better ranged weapon.
I did some testing against some melee mobs...
With TKA 0440 (+40 to innate armor, Master TK gets 60) I was taking far less damage from mobs without wearing armor. My set of recon armor isn't uber by any means, but I expected it to hold up a little bit better. Mob level was equal to my level.
The problem I ran into with using TKA 0440 was that it lowered my combat level and number of hit-points. If I were to go Master TKA I would be level 80 with 3100 hp, but I would have half of the ranged abilities that I had with Master Smuggler / TKA 0440 / Scout 4000 / Rifleman 2344.
I did some more testing today with other professions. Since your special abilities determine the damage multiplier applied to your attack, mixing the Riflemens improved headshot with a weapon like a Plasma Flamethrower was doing great damage (base of 1550 on equal level mobs with an average PFT). Mixing the same weapon with a smuggler ability of course yields the same damage as a pistol with an equal DPS.
Instead of defense stacking professions I think we're going to see ability stacking. So, skills like exploration 4 are going to be important for melee professions, but ranged professions may want to save those points to enhance their damage instead of their movement speed while on foot. When it comes to fighting melee root, snare and distance are extremely important. Once that Swordsman/Jedi gets within range your are going be chewed up and spit out, especially if you're only certed for recon armor and not battle/assault.
Nicolas_Frost wrote:
Keep in mind, Concussion Shot is currently broken, its ment to be a "Root and Run" escape skill, and break when the target recieves more damage, but it doesn't break, currently.
Keep in mind that its suppose to be a mez not a root and run escape skill.
Muraazi wrote:
Nicolas_Frost wrote:
Keep in mind, Concussion Shot is currently broken, its ment to be a "Root and Run" escape skill, and break when the target recieves more damage, but it doesn't break, currently.
Keep in mind that its suppose to be a mez not a root and run escape skill.
I can't believe I didn't notice this untill now.
Its a form of mesmerization, not pure mesmerization. The Smuggler's way of mesmerization would be to "root and run". Victory in a Smuggler's eyes doesn't neccesarily mean killing your advesary, it means surviving. Whether that brings you to kill or simply get outta dodge, depends on the situation.
Even looking over the description(read: intended effect) of the skill shows its ment to be a root and run. "This ranged attack ability dazes an opponent completely stopping thier ability to move or attack for a short period of time. Any damage during that time will bring them back to thier sence and allow them to react again." This doesn't say it'll make your opponent stand in one spot while you unleash hell. It specifically says that it will make your opponent stay in place unless more damage is recieved. What good would it be to make your opponent stay there for only long enough to make your next attack, unless you have an attack with a long wind-up to it?
Lets take a look at the other pistol-gained rooting skill. Stopping Shot. "This ranged attack to an opponent's legs and feet has the ability to stop thier forward movement for a very short time, however, very little damage is usually done." This is the closest to the skill you're describing. It keeps an opponent in one place for the full durration, nothing breaks it but death and incapacitation.
Simply put, if we all decide to ignore the intent behind the skill, and say its working as it should, then its way to overpowered and should be nerfed. If we don't ignore the intent, then we realize that its broken and overpowered by accident, and we should lobby to get it fixed.
Seeing as how combat medic's paralyze was fixed already, I'm not sure what the devs are doing with concussion shot. It wouldn't have been hard at all to make concussion shot's state match that of paralyze in the process of fixing paralyze.
Only problem I have with rootand mesmerize is that they need to be subject to diminishing returns, especially if they last 40 seconds!
noahTHEpurdy wrote:
Best Smuggler PVP template is Master Smuggler, Master Pistoleer, 0310 BH and have the cybernetic arm from bestine
Can you please offer any evidence to this statement? why do you think it's the best??
Back to the main topic though..
I currently have Master Bounty Hunter and Commando 0400 in my template with Master Smuggler. I've tested it out on PvP quite a bit. While it has a lot of potential(it will take a while to learn what all I can and can't do, trial and error) I have figured some stuff out. And I do like it. I have 0% encumberance on my assault armor because of the mitigation I have with commando.
With concussion shot the way it is right now if i'm fighting a melee I use concussion shot right off the bat, then move out to near max range. I try to stay about 30m out with pistols and 40-45 if i'm using a carbine. I then try to stack whatever states I can by using Overwhelming shot to lower there defenses then I hit them with a shot that sticks both dizzy and stun(sorry, can't remember what the attack is called, grr). Then I hit them with torso shot, which has a bleed dot btw. Then I use a Knockdown attack from the BH line that put's them on their back. I get in a Critical shot and then hit them with a snare shot(think it is reckless shot...?) as the root shot begins to wind down. Then I try to hit them with a concussion shot again while they are moving slow and try to repeat again throwing in a Critical shot and torso shot whenever I think I can. Also don't forget about Eye shot.
I've done this with a few times with a Master Swordsman/Master Doc. And while this tactic allows me to not get hit, I cannot do enough damage fast enough to incap him before he heals himself. So in a sense this is perfect to allow you to run away from any opposing Master Swordsman/Master Doc templates.
This same thing works on Jedi also. But you have to very aware of how far away you are. You must be outside of 32m when you start trying to stack things on them. If you're not then you can get hit with all kinds of things, not to mention their saber throw knockdown ability. I haven't been able to keep the process going smoothly where I can do the above tactic over and over again like I can with melee. I think this iis because they get in some blocks on the concussion shot when the time comes, or other shots. Also one thing I do recommend is if you are fighting a Jedi make sure you have a rifle or carbine equipped. This will give you a little extra cushion for when the root breaks and they start coming after you. 40-50-60m is a whole lot better then being at 33-35m with a pistol.
If/when the root shot gets fixed/nerfed/balanced or a counter attack comes up for it then I'll have to learn a new tactic. But for now this works pretty well.
As for ranged, I haven't tested many tactics out against ranged yet. Have a lot of melee in my guild with a few jedi hehe. So when I finally get around to fighting some ranged and learning what I can and can't do with those then i'll edit this. But one thing to keep in mind is root and snare will work against ranged, they can still shoot back at you while under it. So best thing to do is KD them some how, blind them to lower their accuracy and be prepared for a LD possibility if you can't incap them fast enough.