Smuggler Archive

Two simple facts...
1) If you go TK you *will* look swank
2) If you go pistols you *will* be mechanically stronger

Up to you

You can't use CoB and such when you're holding a gun, which really cuts down on their usefulness. Having to unequip your gun to use it sucks. But improved CoB is just... nuts. I played around as both tk/smug and pistol/smug and enjoyed both. The pure style of your duster flying in the wind with blaster in hand is hard to beat. Myself, I'd go for m.smuggler/m.pistol/n.commando, and if you can throw some points at tka to get improved CoB and some meditation skills.

I gave up Master Pistoleer for MBH for the simple reason that pistoleer and smuggler have too much overlap in combat related specials. They are both 'crowd control' professions and way too similar IMO.

my opinion is that packin a pistol looks more swank than throwin elbows.
but that's just my opinion.

really with the CU changing things, what you make your template like is really up to you.

- if you want the protection of armor while wearing clothes, the ability to tank and take lots of damage, but deal very little damage out, then take TK.

- if you want to be able to carry a sweet pistol, control your enemy's position, damage output, defense levels, ect., then take Pistoleer.

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SwenLaransa wrote:
Two simple facts...
1) If you go TK you *will* look swank
2) If you go pistols you *will* be mechanically stronger

Up to you

You can't use CoB and such when you're holding a gun, which really cuts down on their usefulness. Having to unequip your gun to use it sucks. But improved CoB is just... nuts. I played around as both tk/smug and pistol/smug and enjoyed both. The pure style of your duster flying in the wind with blaster in hand is hard to beat. Myself, I'd go for m.smuggler/m.pistol/n.commando, and if you can throw some points at tka to get improved CoB and some meditation skills.

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what exactly does Improved CoB do? i know it raises your melee and ranged defense by 500 right? but for how long?
and does that really make a difference?

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GanymedePharuu wrote:

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SwenLaransa wrote:
Two simple facts...
1) If you go TK you *will* look swank
2) If you go pistols you *will* be mechanically stronger

Up to you

You can't use CoB and such when you're holding a gun, which really cuts down on their usefulness. Having to unequip your gun to use it sucks. But improved CoB is just... nuts. I played around as both tk/smug and pistol/smug and enjoyed both. The pure style of your duster flying in the wind with blaster in hand is hard to beat. Myself, I'd go for m.smuggler/m.pistol/n.commando, and if you can throw some points at tka to get improved CoB and some meditation skills.

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what exactly does Improved CoB do? i know it raises your melee and ranged defense by 500 right? but for how long?
and does that really make a difference?

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PvE, you take 30%-40%ish less damage every hit before armor and such is even considered. You will also be missed a significant part of the time. PvP, I find the damage reduction means less but still has an impact, but I'm missed a lot more than PvE. I believe it lasts for 45 or so seconds, twice as long as the normal CoB all smugglers have. I use Improved Force Aura, which does the exact same thing but takes force, can be used while holding a pistol, and has no warmup. The effects are just simply amazing and is more useful to me than healing.

This simply put is the skill that makes TKA's tanks. The warm up is only like a second, so is easy to pull off. It's having to unequip your pistol to do it that irks me. Can throw the pistol back on once it's up and still works fine. If you want to see if it's worth while for yourself, use the normal CoB and imagine something that lasts twice as long, works twice as well, and is twice as effective.

although smuggler now has unarmed mods and pistol mods, the pistol mods add up more than the unarmed ones

even though at TKM any extra mods are pretty much uselss (diminished returns) a little more can go a long way.