Squad Leader Archive

Today I begin my quest to be an SL, I have avoided it because I keep hearing how phooked it is, but it's a profession I always wanted to do. I hate having to do survival xp again but c'est la vie.

The reason I am going for it is because PVP is all that is left in the game for me, I have no interest in Jedi and duelling isn't PVP, so I am doing what I can to help my team, I hop I enjoy it.

Any obvious pitfalls I should avoid early on...and what are the better skills?

Basically I am just popping in to say hello to my fellow Squad Leaders.

Another quick question, is there an SL trainer in Theed and if so whereabouts?

Thankyou please.

Poor misguided fool. I like you took this path but I stayed on it for a whole year. That is right I was a master Squad leader for a year. I was not a great benifit to the group nor was it very fun. The commands are every weak and many of them are just plain usless. If you just have to be a SL do this

Get 4 0 1 0 and that will do for all the good skills. Then get Doc so you can be a real benifit to the group. and add in a little combat most likely some melee crap and you will have a good group toon

the trainers are in Dearic on Talus, Bestine, and Rebel Outpost on Rori

of course some idiot player cities still have them up from the old hologrinding days.

yes I am jaded sorry

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And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Trainer also in Moenia.

As an SL, you're going to be a grouper, not a soloer. Design your temp to provide support to what is out there en masse (ie. TKMs, Riflemen, Fencers.) A Ranged prof is best for numerous reasons. It gives you greater mobility, and the ability to stay out of the fray and coordinate the fight while watching and firing from a distance. Melee will get you Dizzied too fast for you to be able to use FormUp and clear everyone else's Dizzy (you can't use Form Up if you're Dizzy).

I recommend Carbineer or Rifleman as your combat prof (I'm going against my own advice, as I'm a Pistoleer, but these two are really the two most effective support ranged profs.) Carbineers are state-attack gods, and Riflemen are great from a longer distance, and both can keep out of the fray of battle and be effective as well. Only a really experienced SL should take a close-ranged profession (melee or Pistoleer), and while I'm by no means a Squad Leader god, I know my prof, and the enemies I face, and know how to stay out of harm's way when I need to. Short and long, I'd recommend Carbineer or Rifleman (though my personal preferences is with Carbineer, in spite of the high ham costs and low defenses).

As far as SL skills, I'd recommend 3044. Burstrun efficiency isn't all that effective, especially since it doesn't affect the Retreat speed bonuses you're going to be giving, so you don't need it, imo. Terrain Negotiation up to +40 increases running speed uphill. Anything over +40 only increases crawl speed, not run speed.

Form Up is the Squad Leader's best friend (followed closely by /sysmessage.) Create a macro that spams it every 5-10 seconds or so. Also createa Retreat macro that loops every 31 seconds. Gives your group a nice speed increase that they'll appreciate when they need to move fast. With Tactics 4 and Leadership 4, you're going to give your group a +25 Melee and Ranged Defense bonus, which stacks over and above the +125 cap that is currently in place. So, if anyone HAS capped their Melee or Ranged Defense mods, you can boost them from +125 to +150. People have griped that this is useless, but I wonder if these people have ever watched their combat log when this is in effect. To a Defense-capped player, it's a +20% bonus! That's amazing, if you think about it! And it's a passive ability, which doesn't need a macro.

Rally is one of those skills that we're not sure of. Supposedly, it increases your defenses, but I've never read anything that describes its specifics. I'd ignore it.

Boost Morale is great if you've got a couple of TKMs in the group. Redistribute the wounds, and have the TKMs meditate theirs off, and then redistribute again, meditate, redistribute, meditate, repeat as desired.

Steady Aim and Volley Fire are useful only for Ranged profs, and Volley Fire only retargets for one attack, and it's always a normal attack, not a special. I suppose it could have its place, but no SLs I've talked to find it useful at all.

You're not going to have enough SPs to be a defense-stacker or a uber damage-dealer with SL, but in group PvP, your squad will certainly appreciate the edge you will give them against another team. I've seen it and loved it!

So, consider this template:

SL 3044

Master Carbineer (or Rifleman)

Medic 4040

This temp will leave you with 12 SPs to spend on whatever you want. I recommend Diagnostics or Hunting. I include the Medic skills because as a Squad Leader who's generally going to try to stay out of the fray and support, being able to heal your group will be a huge benefit to everyone. Those extra 12SPs in Diagnostics will increase the speed at which you can heal, and will allow you to Drag an incapacitated character out of the fight to heal. Hunting is also a decent option if you want to harvest critters for some extra side cash.

Another option for those twelve skill points would be to drop FirstAid 4, and take Rifles or PistolsIV (if you've chosen Carbineer as your main combat profession). RiflesIV gives you HeadShot2 which, when combined with a decent Laser Rifle, can actually be a big help in a group that revolves around Mind attacks (like most PvP groups). So a temp like that would look like:

Master Carbineer

Marksman 4044

Squad Leader 3044

Medic 3140

You'd lose QuickHeal as well as Drag Incapacitated Player, but you might find the ability to wreak Stun havoc a la Jawa Ion Rifle w/ HeadShot2 to be worth it.

What do you think?

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"I've got black magic, a hair trigger, and a short fuse. Bring it!"
-Black Mage