The Fanatical Swordsman

LAST UPDATE: Update 1.1.5

This is a PvP build for the Commando. This will mainly utilize the Gunnery specialization, but it adds some bare-bones healing abilities from Combat Medic.

Note: This build was created with the Darth Hater Talent Calculator. The link to view this build is here, and the associated Mercenary build is here.

Class: Commando
Primary Focus: Gunnery
Secondary Focus: Combat Medic
Purpose: PvP
Goal: This build is about maximizing DPS while able to shoot some heals, should a situation demand it.

General Strategies

Attacking: Generally, on a fresh target, you will want to use Grav Round at least twice before doing anything else. This will stack 4 Gravity Vortices on the target, effectively reducing their armor by 16%. The two uses of Grav Round will also give you two charges of Charged Barrel (which will grant 12% extra damage on High Impact Bolt at this time) and two charges of Charged Barrier (for a total of 4% incoming damage reduction). At this point, if you have triggered a Curtain of Fire (Full Auto buff, little red icon), I would use Full Auto. Otherwise, hit another Grav Round, producing a full 5 stacks of Gravity Vortices, for 20% armor reduction on the target. Keep spamming Grav Round until you hit 5 stacks of both Charged Barrier and Charged Barrel. If at any point you get the Curtain of Fire buff, use Full Auto, otherwise keep spamming Grav Round. Once you have a full 5 stacks of Charged Barrel, fire off High Impact Bolt, as it will have a 30% damage bonus now. This will consume the Charged Barrel stacks. Eventually, once High Impact Bolt is on cooldown, you will want to swap in Charged Bolts for Grav Round, as it does more damage. Also, this will all be draining on your ammo, so make sure that you use Hammer Shot occasionally to help the regeneration. Keep above 60% ammo for good maintenance.

Defending: Defense comes down to killing the other guy quickly. Reactive Shield is useful, but not necessarily going to be up all the time. Knockbacks (Stockstrike, and more importantly, Concussion Charge) are very useful for keeping people at range which is where we like them. You also have a stun and a mez, Cryo Grenade and Concussive Round, respectively. These are on a relatively short cooldown.

Grav Round - The Gunnery Commando's number one ability

All points allocated are the maximum allowed for each ability, unless otherwise noted.

Combat Medic (8)

Quick Thinking (2/2) – This talent decreases the activation time of our main heal, Medical Probe, by 0.5 seconds. It also decreases the cooldown of Advanced Medical Probe to 9 seconds from 12.

Field Training (3/3) – One of those talents that should always be included in a build, this adds a straight 6% critical chance to everything.

Steady Hands (1/2) – Decreases pushback of healing abilities by 35% and does some PvE thing too (reduces threat by 10%). Fully spent, this decreases pushback by 70%, which may be more useful with a more healing-centric build, but as this is more for DPS, I put that point into Weapon Calibrations for 2% more alacrity across the board.

First Responder (2/2) – Grants a short 5% alacrity buff on critical hits from DPS and healing abilities.

Gunnery (31)

Havoc Rounds (2/2) – Increases damage done by all rounds by 6% and healing done by Kolto Bomb by 20%. Crucial to any build focusing on Combat Medic or Gunnery.

Ironsights (3/3) – Increases our main stat by 9%, which is never a bad thing.

Steadied Aim (3/3) – Reduces pushback on Charged Bolts, Concussive Round, Grav Round, and Full Auto by 75%. This is crucial for getting off shots in PvP.

Muzzle Fluting (1/1) – Decreases cost of Charged Bolts and Grav Round by 1. This is very important for any Gunnery build.

Special Munitions (1/1) – Another talent I would recommend regardless of build, as it makes all of your Cells better. In particular, with Armor Piercing Cell, the main Cell for a Gunnery Commando, it reduces the cost of High Impact Bolt (a main attack for this spec) by 1.

Charged Barrier (2/2) – Charged Bolts and Grav Round build a 2% barrier to all damage. Stacks 5 times for a total of 10% damage reduction. This is huge in PvP, and can save your life.

Concussive Force (2/2) – Stockstrike becomes a knockback and Concussive Charge is much stronger, knocking back enemies 4 meters farther. This is great for PvP, as it gives you room for your inductions from those pesky Marauders and Juggernauts, as well as being able to knock people into the Pit in Huttball way more easily.

Grav Round (1/1) – This is the main attack for this spec, and should always be considered to spam. This attack builds Gravity Vortices, just one at a time without the talent Gravity Surge (below). These Vortices lower the target’s armor by 4%, and they stack up to 5 times, for a total of 20%. Everything in this tree builds on Grav Round, and particularly, on the Gravity Vortices that it builds on targets and the buffs that it builds on you. People know this, however, and will try to interrupt you (which prevents usage of the skill for 4 seconds). If this happens, hit Full Auto or something, don’t just stand there doing nothing. The Mercenary equivalent is Tracer Missile, and I cannot tell you how many times I have interrupted a Merc while they were doing Tracer Missile and they just stood there like an idiot until 4 seconds was up.

Deadly Cannon (2/2) – Increases crit damage of Full Auto and Demolition Round by 30%. Considering that you will be using these a lot, this is a good talent to have.

Tenacious Defense (2/2) – Reduces cooldown on Concussion Charge (our AoE knockback) and Tenacity (our CC-breaker) by 10 seconds and 30 seconds, respectively. Both of these are extremely useful in PvP, so reduced cooldowns are a great thing.

Gravity Surge (1/1) – Grav Round now puts two Gravity Vortices on a target. You can easily distribute 16% armor debuffs with two shots per target now.

Cell Charger (2/2) – With Armor-Piercing Cell active, which it always is in this spec, critical hits with rounds and Full Auto return 1 energy cell. This effect can only happen once per 3 seconds.

Cover Fire (2/2) – Full Auto now slows a target by 50% for 2 seconds.

Rotary Cannon (1/1) – Damage on Full Auto is increased by 33%.

Charged Barrel (1/1) – Grav Round now adds the Charged Barrel buff to the Commando that stacks up to 5 times. Each stack increases the damage done by High Impact Bolt by 6%, up to a total of 30%.

Kolto Recharge (1/1) – Recharge Cells returns 7% of your maximum health over 10 seconds. This is really good to pop midway through a point to keep a solid health bar after emptying your clip.

Curtain of Fire (3/3) – Grav Round and Charged Bolts now have a 30% chance to reset the cooldown on Full Auto and grant a 25% damage boost to the next use of Full Auto. This cannot occur more than every 6 seconds. The only problem with this is noticing the buff.

Demolition Round (1/1) – Deals damage to a target, which scales by 5% for every stack of Gravity Vortices that is on the target.

Assault Specialist (2)

Weapon Calibrations (2/2) – Increases alacrity by 4%. Considering how many of the Commando’s skills, both damage and healing, are induction-based, this is a great talent to have, just to get those shots off faster.

Last Updated: 3/12/12 for Update 1.1.5