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Gunslinger/Sniper Advanced Class Guide
Welcome to the Gunslinger/Sniper Advanced Class Guide! This is the go-to compendium of knowledge for The Fanatical Swordsman on the Gunslinger and Sniper advanced classes.
LAST UPDATE: Updating to 3.0.1, please pardon our dust
Note from Geldarion: The Gunslinger is my main, and I find it an extremely fun playstyle, especially if you like ranged DPS. While difficult to play well in PvP, the Gunslinger/Sniper can be a potent force if played correctly. For readability sake, since it is my main, I will use the term Gunslinger as the overall descriptor of this class-type, especially for things that are true of both classes, such as discussions of general tactics. However, I will refer to the specializations by both their names, and I will show builds for both the Smuggler and the Agent, and I will refer to skills in a manner as such: Smuggler skill name/Agent skill name.
PvP Talent Build: DoTs and Bleeds Gunslinger 0/6/35
LAST UPDATE: Update 1.2
This is a PvP build for the Gunslinger. This will mainly utilize the Dirty Fighting specialization.
Note: This build was created with the Darth Hater Talent Calculator. The link to view this build is here. The parallel Sniper build is here.
Class: Gunslinger
Primary Focus: Dirty Fighting
Secondary Focus: Saboteur
Purpose: PvP
Goal: The answer to the question “How do I get more DoTs?” is right here. Vital Shot gets better, we unlock Shrap Bomb, which is a AoE DoT bomb that slows targets for a while, we make our DoTs hurt more, and we gain an attack that injures our target the more DoTs that are on him.
General Strategies
Attacking: Start with Shrap Bomb, then Vital Shot. Look for clusters of enemies for Shrap Bomb, to put its AoE nature to good use. After you have the two bleeds on a target, use Hemorrhaging Shot to amplify the effects of the bleeds. Follow up with Wounding Shots, and with a light or medium armor target with no heals or shields, hit Quick Draw and watch your enemy fall to the last few ticks of your DoTs. Also, Thermal Grenade is a very powerful, short cooldown skill in this build. Great for throwing at large groups of enemies. Make sure that you manage your energy carefully, as all of these skills are pretty high in energy cost. A high crit chance will help immensely, as crits on DoTs will return energy in this build.
Defending: Run, use line-of-sight after DoTing up your target. You really don’t have any special defensive abilities, so use the fact that your DoTs do damage even while you are out of line-of-sight.
PvP Talent Build: DPS Commando- 8/31/2
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. Read more…
PvE Talent Build: Sustained Gunslinger
LAST UPDATE: Update 1.3.2
This is a PvE build for the Gunslinger. This will mainly utilize the Sharpshooter specialization, but also has some balance involved.
Note: This build was created with the Darth Hater Talent Calculator. The link to view this build is here, and the associated Sniper build is here.
Class: Gunslinger
Primary Focus: Sharpshooter
Secondary Focus: Balanced between Dirty Fighting and Saboteur
Purpose: PvE
Goal: This build is about maximizing DPS while keeping energy regeneration up. The keys to this are having a large energy pool and the Foxhole talent to get the extra regen while in cover.
The Infernal One, last boss in Eternity Vault
All points allocated are the maximum allowed for each ability, unless otherwise noted. Read more…
PvP Talent Build: Survival Gunslinger
LAST UPDATE: Update 1.3.2
This is a PvP build for the Gunslinger. This will mainly utilize the Saboteur specialization, with enough points in Sharpshooter to gain the Ballistic Dampers talent, which allows use of the strategy Dampers Defense.
Note: This build was created with the Darth Hater Talent Calculator. The link to view this build is here. The parallel Sniper build is here.
Class: Gunslinger
Primary Focus: Saboteur
Secondary Focus: Sharpshooter for Dampers Defense strategy
Purpose: PvP
Goal: This build is about survival. While your numbers in Warzones might be lower than in a Sharpshooter spec when it comes to pure damage, in 1v1 combat on Ilum or in a Warzone, Saboteur has the longest staying power. Cool Head (which now heals you in this spec) and Defense Screen become usable every minute, damage taken in Cover is reduced, Scrambling Field has a lower cooldown, and the Gunslinger is still able to take advantage of Ballistic Dampers from the Sharpshooter tree.
General Strategies
Attacking: Shock Charge then Vital Shot to get the bleeds ticking, then Sabotage Charge followed with Speed Shot provides some nice burst damage. Remember that some Contingency Charges are usually left on the target after Speed Shot, so hit them with Flurry of Bolts or if you jump out of cover use the free Quick Shots to regain some energy and make that downtime count. Follow with a usual rotation of Charged Burst and CC, etc.
Defending: Cover is a 6% damage shield in this spec essentially and Hunker Down gains 20 seconds of anti-CC. Use Defense Screen and Cool Head as soon as damage starts rolling in. Use Sabotage to blow up your Shock Charge and recover Cool Head and Defense Screen. Against Snipers and lightsabers, Dodge gives 3 seconds of immunity to ranged and melee attacks. Use it on their hard hitting stuff if you can (i.e. early, since they will try to hit you hard first).
Rhekk
Geldarion
Torvox
The Fanatical Swordsman 