Squad Leader Archive

Hi all,

I'm considering taking 3 of 4 branches of the Squad Leader tree as part of my Rifle/CH/SL combo... right now I am thinking that I will drop Mobility and take the others... my focus is primarily PvP.

Any thoughts or suggestions? And I am hoping for too much out of Volley Fire?

Cheers,

A.

I would go for just leadership and tactics. Group with your Pet and get the bonus and snipe at a distance while the pets rush into the fray Good strategy.

From a pure PvP Squad Leader:
Any PvPer worth his/her salt will be closeto having +50/+50Terrain Negotiation/Burst Run Effenciency from getting level 4 or master scout, so the passive effects of the Squad Leader Mobility tree, while nice, do not bring much to the table in PvP. Withtwo to fourshot kills, a 20 on 20 fire fight is typically over in 60 to 90 seconds, and typically happens within a city boundry, thus all but negating the need for either bonus. Additionally, there is a semi-exploitable ability I will describe later on that negates the use of the burst run effenciency in PvP. Out on battlefields, where you are mostly factionally PvE, this can play a big part though.
PvE GetList score: 1st on the list
PvP GetList score: 4th on the list

Volleyfire, while very nice at times, is purely situational. I will typically have very specific roles for people to fulfill, and the last thing I want is that medic healing my downed TKA to stop, turn and fire his/her pistol at my target. When you have a numeric advantage (which you should always strive for), then volleyfire makes for a very quick ending to the encounter.
PvE GetList score: 4th on the list
PvP GetList score: 3rd on the list

Leadership provides one of the single most effective tools of a PvPer - boostmorale. While I agree there is little reason for a squad leader to be able to be a better doctor then a master doctor, they gave us the ability, use it. In a multi-squad encounter, I envision (note the word envision, I have yet to bring out two+ squads) a very mean tactic of having a squad leader back at a rally point grouped with 5-10 medics/doctors; as the wounded from the main battle group limp back, they join the squad leaders group, a single /boostmorale later, they get a quick few stims from the healers and they leave. Meanwhile the healers self heal back up to full, and get ready for the next massive distrabution of wounds. In every significant encounter I've had where the outcome of the battle was at stake, /boostmorale was the deciding factor. There are just so few of us Squad Leaders around, and even fewer that have any rank into the skill set, that when one squad meets another, the squad with a squad leader will typically win every time. For PvEers though, this line offers a mix. The melee defense is very nice, but the boost morale just should never be used in PvE, not when you have rangers and scouts willing to throw up a camp, and you can heal up that much faster (High Tech Field Kit camp is just amazing with a 0.85 healing boost, and crafting stations at the camp!).
PvE GetList score: 2nd on the list
PvP GetList score: 2nd on the list

Tactics brings us the shining star of PvP Squad Leader abilities - Group Ranged defense. It is only +25, but for all intents and purposes, that is 25% less of the hits actually hurting your squad (trust me, I know the math behind the hit formulas is significantly more complex then this, but it is a good guideline measure). I will share one comment, and this was during this weekends slaughter at Endor, when my group of 8 surprised a squad of 12 rebels. We tore thru them quickly, and after the last /deathblow was given, one of them sent me this tell, "r all u imp guyscheaters or somethin? it was like my shots were bouncing off of your entire group." *Kisses his Group Ranged Defense*. There is another jewel in this tree called /retreat. It effectively causes you to suffer massive action and mind damage (Squad Leaders with low mind pools will in fact incap from using this...but shame on you for not having a big mind pool and still wanting to PvP). The effect it gives is burst run to all your group members. The reason this is a jewel is in a lighting strike raid, you can sit 500m out, issue the command and flop down. While your incap timer is running out, your squad is running at turbo speed. The secret bug that happens often is, if your teammates already are burst running, issuing this command ineffect causes a doubling of the speed. I cannot believe this was by design. Your teamates are now litterally flying around at Mach2, and at a cap of 30 frames per second, the visual effect is something like a Monty Python movie... you see my team 500m out, you blink and see them 100m out, you blink and you see them 10m away and raising weapons, you blink and you are in the cloning center. Very buggy to say the least, and while its fun, I want this bug fixed asap.
PvE GetList score: 3rd on the list
PvP GetList score: 1st on the list

These are just my opinions. I play in a strongly imperial aligned faction PA, and we conduct battlefield and opposing faction raids many times each week. On week nights we do missions, usually faction aligned again, so my PvE knowledge is no where near as great as others on this list. Since these are my opinons, they may not mesh with your findings, so as always, try them out yourself and form your own opinons of the various skill boxes.

Good Luck, and stick with it, we are not the PvP gods, but we sure do make a significant difference.
Xarche

I echo Xarche, I lead the rebels on our sunday night entha battlefield event on wanderhome. Even just getting novice SL is useful. You'd be suprised at how many people actually listen to /sys over regular /groupchat