Critical and Surge caps!

After parsing as much as I could and while I was trying to adjust my stats to optimal. I decide to post the results of my research and the things that I find in the internet.


First of all, I'll have to determine what cap is. One rating is caped when it has reached the maximum number/percentage. For example reach 100% critical chance, when all of your attacks are critical. As you already know most of the rating have a diminishing scaling when you stack them. What I'm going talk now is soft cap. Soft cap is the point where a stat suddenly becomes less useful and another stat becomes more valuable.


Here is the graph that I found on mmo-mechanics:

As you can see, from a point and further, stats like surge and critical etc have a breakpoint, when if it reached, it stops to be optimal. Here:


SOFT CAP


Surge: 300 rating
Critical: 450 rating




An example to what soft cap, is surge rating. At 200 rating, you have 72% critical multiplier whereas 250 rating rise it to 76%. That means that the 50 rating that is spend to surge could be another stat that would benefit you more.




A general small guide to gear up is:


Accuracy, up until 100% cap
Surge, up until 300
Crit, up until 450
Power




Power on the other hand has no cap. In general you should know that power boost your baseline attack/heal and is a stat that increase your performance directly. I would just healer to focus more to power than surge/critical as they should be depended on RNG critical heals.




Finally, a small tip. You can get critical not only from your critical rating and your main stat but also from some of the base stats of other classes.


WARRIOR/KNIGHT: Strength AND Willpower
BOUNTY HUNTER/TROOPER: Aim AND Cunning
INQUISITOR/CONSULAR: Willpower AND Strength
IMPERIAL AGENT/SMUGGLER: Cunning AND Aim


So, if you are a min-maxer, don't forget to add some more datacrons to your hunting!

Juggernaut Vengeance Spec, Abilities Breakdown

After spending my time playing Rage PvP, I decided to try WZ as Vengeance. My spec is 3/31/7, I don’t really know if it’s the best but as I was in a rush to kill some reps I decided to go with this anyway.

My server is quite dead and I had a long queue so I decided to try the PvP dummy. My PvP gear is quite lame, mostly of Champion parts and not customized, with low critical and surge rating. That means that my dps was quite low but when I used my parser to analyze my damage, I got some really interesting results.

FORCE SCREAM, IMPALE, SHATTER. WHICH IS THE STRONGEST?

As you can see, the order is Force Scream>Impale>Ravage>Shatter from higher to lower. Bad thing with the parsers right now, is that all 3 bleeding dots that are results of Force Scream, Impale and Shatter have the same name but different ability ID. That means that they are measured differently but cannot say which one is which. Looking through the talents I know that all three abilities have a 9sec CD and that Shatter has the strongest dot. So I would say that Bleeding #3 is Shatter, Bleeding #1 is Impale and Bleeding #2 is Force Scream.

That means that the order changes to Shatter>Ravage>Impale>Force Scream.  I already use Shatter and Impale first, to get a standard critical Force Scream and I use Ravage on CD. Ravage is 3 sec casting ability but the 2/3 of its damage is done at the first 1.5sec of its duration with the final blow landed at the end.

I’ll play my Juggernaut more this week, I’ll try new builds and I would try to gear up a little. So expect more details and more abilities breakdowns in near future.

Sith Juggernaut Rage Spec Burst DPS Guide/Tutorial

After spending some time with my family and friends, I'm back in game and I'm pushing myself through the 1.2 content. With the introduction of dummies, I decided to make a video guide about jugg's rage spec burst damage. Through the next days, my old guides would be updated and new ones would be posted. Also expect more and more videos on youtube so, I recommend you to subscribe in my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/kingofkalamos/

Hope you'll like the guide and I'm looking forward for your thoughts and comments

1.2 Changes, Buffs and Nerfs and my Verdict

1.2 Brings a lot of changes in most of the classes. Overall, the style of the game is going to change, PvP mostly. First of all, healing is getting reduced. Damage would now mean more in PvP. Also, that way, PvE content is going to be harder if the damage dealt by bosses is unchanged. Secondly, players will live longer due to high expertise and more endurance; they will do less damage and less healing. In general, most damage dealing specs have their rotation changed.

I would also want to add those are MY OPINION. You are free to disagree and comment. My reason for posting this is to summarize the incoming changes. This post summarizes the patch notes up to the 03/30.

SITH WARRIOR/JEDI KNIGHT

Buff: Termination phase. Can now use their execute ability at or below 30% up from 20%.
Buff: Ravage/Master Strike damage is increased by 10%.

JUGGERNAUT/GUARDIAN

Buff: Interrupt don't cost rage/focus anymore.
Buff: Termination phase. Can now use their execute ability at or below 30% up from 20%.

Buff: Single Saber Master now applies for all Forms.

Buff: Ravage/Master Strike has its damage increased by 15%.

Buff: Self healing has been added.


VERDICT:

RAGE/FOCUS: BUFFED

VENGEANCE/VIGILANCE: EVEN~BUFFED

IMMORTAL/DEFENSE: EVEN~NERFED

PvP PERFORMANCE: INCREASED

PvE PERFORMANCE: INCREASED

TANKING PERFORMANCE: EVEN

To be honest, Juggernauts/Guardians needed those changes. They got self healing, an ability that would turn the tables in PvP and an increase to AoE damage for all trees. Rage/Focus has now more mobility and control and an extra burst, perfect for PvP. Vengeance/Vigilance were slightly buffed, they already got what was needed for PvE. Finally, Immortal/Defense would now build threat easier with their abilities and would now depend less to their AoE taunt ability. Some people consider this a nerf but overall, the spec has now more appropriate and class, dps rotation.

MARAUDER/SENTINEL

Buff: Ravage/Master Strike has its damage increased by 15%.

Buff: Trauma cannot be dispelled.

Even: Ataru Form's proc'ed attacks changed to physical damage from force damage and increased the damage dealt by 10%. Overall, no change for PvE, for PvP the attacks can now be blocked/parried.

Buff: Decimate/Swelling Winds has been moved to the Shared tree, that means a potential increase to AoE damage if it's spec'ed.

VERDICT:

RAGE/FOCUS: BUFFED

CARNAGE/COMBAT: EVEN

ANNIHILATION/WATCHMAN: EVEN~BUFFED

PvP PERFORMANCE: INCREASED

PvE PERFORMANCE: EVEN

Annihilation/Watchmen, the PvE tree changed only a little as it was balanced anyway. It’s PvP ability were nerfed and would be avoided from PvPers. The other two trees are dealing a little less damage with more survivability and mobility. Rage would finally be viable for PvP Marauders/Sentinels.

SITH INQUISITOR/JEDI CONSULAR

ASSASSIN/SHADOW

Not touched at all, nothing to comment.

SORCERER/SAGE

Even~Nerf: Redesign of the Force Bending/Conveyance buff. It now applies to fewer abilities but has increased the performance of the remaining ones.

Nerf: Force Surge/Resplendence no longer removes the health cost from Consumption/Noble Sacrifice.

Nerf: Reduced the critical chance of Force Lightning, Lightning Strike/Project, Weakened Mind.

Nerf: Wrath/Presence of Mind now affects Lightning Strike, Crushing Darkness/Disturbance, Mind Crush only.
Buff: Dark Resilience/Valiance now reduces the health spent by Consumption/Noble Sacrifice by 2% per point (up from 1% per point).

VERDICT:

MADNESS/BALANCE: GREATLY NERFED

CORRUPTION/ SEER: NERFED

LIGHTNING/TELEKINETICS: EVEN

PvP PERFORMANCE: EVEN~NERFED

PvE PERFORMANCE: NERFED

TANKING PERFORMANCE: EVEN

HEALING PERFORMANCE: GREATLY NERFED

Bioware decided to nerf the most overpower spec’ed of the game. Most Madness/Balance would expect those changes even though the nerf-bat hit them hard. A bitter taste is left for Sorcerer/Sage healers though, as they see their burst healing to shrink. Lightning/Telekinetics was almost left the same and now is on par with Madness/Balance.

IMPERIAL AGENT/SMUGGLER

Buff: Cover Mechanic. When immobilized, can now crouch and cannot be pushed out of cover via the "cover integrity" mechanic.

OPERATIVE/SCOUNREL

Nerf: Backstab/Backblast has it's CD increased by 3sec and its damage done increased by 5%.

Nerf: Hidden Strike/Shoot First now has a CD (7.5 sec).

Even~Buff: Changes in Culling/Turn the Tables produces almost the same dps.

Nerf: The introduction of Flanking and the change of Waylay/Sawed Off will make Backstab/blast more energy expensive.

Buff: Laceration/Sucker Punch will now be more used in our rotation. It would really show its potential at prolonged fights.
Buff: Lingering Toxins/Nice Try is a new Tier 6 skill that reduces damage taken from periodic effects and gives Corrosive Dart/Vital Shot and Corrosive Grenade/Shrap Bomb a chance to apply a weaker version of the same effect when they end (even if they are cleansed).

Nerf: Decrease by 2% the critical chance that was obtained via ability.

Nerf: Shiv/Blaster Whip has its damage done decreased by 1%. This ability was obtained via ability.

Buff: Tactical Advantage/Upper Hand that is obtained by healers is getting buffed a lot. Abilities now increases the TA/UP stack limit if you heal an ally with your basic healing ability and he has 30% of his life or less. Also, if spec'ed, TA/UP has its duration increased by 2sec.

Buff: Recuperative Nanotech/Kolto Cloud has its CD increased by 3sec, healing done increased by 10% and its duration decreased by 9sec.

Buff: Weaking Blast/Haemorrhaging Blast no longer costs energy.

VERDICT:

MEDIC/SAWBONES: GREATLY BUFFED

CONCEALMENT/SCRAPPER: GREATLY NERFED

LETHALITY/DIRTY FIGHTING: EVEN~NERFED

PvP PERFORMANCE: NERFED

PvE PERFORMANCE: NERFED

HEALING PERFORMANCE: GREATLY BUFFED

Long story, short: Operatives/Scoundrels got FUCKED! Concealment/Scrapper is now unplayable for PvP. Their essential burst is gone; their dps is now more sustained but still lower than what it was. No more, killing an enemy in a lockdown. Only the new combat logs will show us if it’s now viable for PvE. Lethality/Dirty Fighting got some utility and is now viable for PvP. Overall, this class is not the same anymore. The only bright light at the end of the tunnel comes for Operatives/Scoundrels healers. They now have the best healing burst in the game. Their allies cannot die, as they have increased performance when they heal targets that have very low health and finally, their AoE healing has got much, much better.

SNIPER/GUNSLINGER

Buff: Snipers/Gunslingers can now inflict Trauma, a decrease to healing received debuff.

Buff: A new ability decrease the damage received when they use Entrench/Hunker Down. Now they can stay longer still when others have to move.

Buff: Sniper Volley/Burst Volley has been redesigned. Can now be triggered by doing damage; additionally, it increases Alacrity and energy regeneration by 10% for 10sec.

Nerf: Calculated Pursuit/Hot Pursuit now makes the next Overload Shot/Quick Shot cost no energy instead of having 50% change to use Snipe/Charge Burst in any situation.

Buff: EMP Discharge/Sabotage has it's ranged increased by 30m.

Buff: Plasma Probe/Incendiary Grenade has been greatly improved. Can now snares anyone that is inflicted, deals more of its damage in the first seconds and stuns anyone that also suffers from your Interrogation Probe/Shock Charge.

Nerf: Cull/Wounding Shots costs 5 less energy and deals 15% less damage.

Buff: Points can be spent to make Cull, Series of Shots/Wounding Shots, Speed Shots to deal 4% per point. (It was 2% per point).
Buff: Interrogation Probe's/Shock Charge's cooldown now resets if a target is defeated while under its effects.

VERDICT:

MARKMANSHIP/SHARPSHOOTER: BUFFED

ENGINEERING/SABOTEUR: EVEN~BUFFED

LETHALITY/DIRTY FIGHTING: EVEN

PvP PERFORMANCE: BUFFED

PvE PERFORMANCE: BUFFED

Markmanship/Sharpshooter is now what they were intended to be: a living turret, with high defense and little movement requirements. Additionally, the addition of Trauma would help them in their fight and would also make PvP in general more balanced, as Trauma was a debuff provided from Marauder/Sentinel only. The tree is based on RNG as it can do fairly good contained damage in general but can also be quite bursty, if buffs are stacked. Engineering/Saboteur has some few changes, mostly towards a control and utility direction. Lethality/Dirty Fighting stays almost the same. Overall it seems that Bioware plans to make Markmanship/Sharpshooter the PvE spec, Engineering/Saboteur the PvP spec. Both are viable for both activities, it seems though that Markmanship/Sharpshooter leans more to high damage and high defense, mostly for solo PvP whereas Engineering/Saboteur has more area denial abilities and more control over the battlefield, a more preferable playstyle for group PvP. Lethality on the other hand is still good, but benefits more Operatives/Scoundrels that want to play PvP.

BOUNTY HUNTER/TROOPER

MERCENARY/COMMANDO

Buff: Cure now costs 8 heat/ammo less.

Buff: Jet Boost/Concussion Charge now also snares the inflicted enemies.

Nerf: Power Shot, Tracer Missiles/Charged Bolts, Grav Round cost less but needs 1 more second to be activated and also deals 10% less damage. Also, the ability Muzzle Fluting has redesigned and no longer decrease the cost for Power Shot, Tracer Missiles/Charged Bolts, Grav Round and it decreases their activation time.

Buff: Barrage/Full Auto now has a greater chance to occur.

Buff: Heatseekers Missiles/Demolition Rounds has its damage done increased by 10%.

Nerf: Power Barrier/Charged Barrier now provides 1% less damage reduction per stack.

Nerf: Critical Efficiency/Field Triage now reduces the cost of Rapid Scan/Medical Probe by 8 (down from 16)/1 Ammo (down from 2).

Buff: Cure Mind/Psych Aid no longer reduces the cost of Cure/Field Aid. It now causes Cure/Field Aid to heal the target for a small amount.

Nerf: Hired Muscle/Field Training now increases critical chance by 1% per point (down from 2%).

Buff: Kolto Missile/Kolto Bomb now affects up to 4 targets (up from 3).

Nerf: Kolto Residue now increases all healing received by 3% (down from 5%).

Nerf: Kolto Shell/Trauma Probe now has a cost when it's activated.

Nerf: Supercharged Gas/Supercharged Shell now vents 8 Heat (down from 16)/1 Ammo (down from 2) when used and increases all damage and healing dealt by 5% (down from 10%). The shield applied by Kolto Missile/Kolto Bomb now reduces damage taken by 5% (down from 10%).

Buff: NEW ABILITY Onboard AED/Emergency Medical Probe is a new level 50 ability that allows the Mercenary to revive an incapacitated ally. It is usable in combat.

VERDICT:

ARSENAL/GUNNERY: EVEN~NERFED

BODYGUARD/COMBAT MEDIC: GREATLY NERFED

PYROTECH/ASSAULT SPECIALST: EVEN

PvP PERFORMANCE: NERFED

PvE PERFORMANCE: NERFED

Arsemal/Gunnery has its rotation changed a lot. To be honest, that spec was in need of a change as its playstyle was a one-button-spam. As it seems right now, the main abilities have their damage done reduced and their overall rotation would now be more engaging. We don’t know how much more often Barrage/ would now occur so it’s hard to say if the spec would be nerfed and how much its performance would affect it. 1.2 is bad news for Bodyguards/Combat Medic as they are straightly nerfed. Finally, they got a combat resurrection but most of their healing abilities are now weaker and more expensive. The only good change is that their AoE healing now affects one more target. Pyrotech/Assault Specialist has no change.

POWERTECH/VANGUARD

Buff: Interrupt don't cost heat/ammo any more.

Nerf: Self healing has been removed and the skill has been replaced by one that gives slowing effect to one of your abilities.
Buff: Heat Screen/Power Screen is a new 2-point skill that causes Flame Burst and Heat Blast/Ion Pulse and Energy Blast to build a stacking buff that increases shield absorption.
Even~Nerf: Energy Blast/Heat Blast is no longer limited by the global cooldown. Its damage has been reduced by 15%.
Buff: Smoke Grenade/Oil Slick is no longer limited by the global cooldown.
Buff: Prototype Particle Accelerator/Ionic Accelerator now requires Combustible Gas Cylinder/Plasma Shell to trigger. The chance to trigger this effect has been increased significantly but cannot trigger more than once every 6 seconds.

VERDICT:

SHIELD TECH/SHIELD SPECIALIST : BUFFED

ADVANCED PROTOTYPE/TACTICS: EVEN~NERFED

PYROTECH/ ASSAULT SPECIALST: EVEN

PvP PERFORMANCE: EVEN

PvE PERFORMANCE: EVEN

PT/Vanguard tanks will be buffed at 1.2. New mitigation system and some of their abilities are now out of the GCD. Advanced Prototype/Tactics would see their self healing gone and would lose some considerable power in PvP. Finally, the Share Tree doesn't see many changes. Overall, 1.2 would not be a bad patch for PT/Vanguard.

Changes in Juggernauts/Guardians that makes me happy

I believe that people that have been to this blog and my youtube before, know that my first character is a Sith Juggernaut. It was my first character at SWTOR and I've spent a lot of time doing end game PvP and playing some PvE. As I've experienced most of the end game, I really wanted to try some other classes and after a while, I changed server and faction. I haven't played my Juggernaut since then and the thing is, I'm not really looking forward to do it. Focusing mostly in PvP, I was a little disappointed from the class. Juggs are a melee class that is missing a healing ability and even though they have great mobility, people could kite them easily. AoE tanking was a challenge, Vengeance has ok dps but more fitting for PvE and Rage's dps output relies on one strong hit. I'm not saying that the class is underpowered, I'm just feeling that it has a moderate performance in all fields.

Hopefully, 1.2 will make me play my Juggernaut again. Lots of changes for Juggernauts; they change and increase the dps rotations of all dps specs, better AoE for all three trees and finally, some self healing. So, let's analyse the new additions:

CRASH: You get this passive ability at level 10 and will cause Force Charge to stun your opponent for 2sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 12sec. That will help a lot, as it can be combined with a Force Choke or Chilling Scream to pin your opponent after closing the gap. Don't know if and how much resolve it cause but definitely, a great tool for a melee class.

ENRAGE DEFENCE: The Juggernaut spend rage to lower threat and while active, one point of rage is spent each time damage is taken, heals the Juggernaut for a small amount. This ability is usable while stunned and is doesn't respect the global cooldown. AWESOME! Much needed, Juggernauts of all tree specs can use it and combined with Soresu Form and Saber Ward would make them un-killable. Enrage is mandatory for this skill as lot's of rage is needed and Vengeance specced would be more benefited, as they generate almost unlimited rage from Shien Form.

On top of those changes, some talents are relocated in different tier of their tree and some other have their effect change. The most important are:

VENGEANCE TREE

Single Saber Mastery: Now benefits all the three Forms.
Stagger: Now in the Tier 1 of the Vengeance tree. Good filler choice for all PvPers.
Rampage: Also generates 2 rage when is triggered.

Not a lot of changes on Vengeance, after all it was a decent spec, with a proper rotation. Still not the best for PvP but more viable now, very reliable in PvE.

RAGE TREE

Decimate: Is now relocated in Tier 1 of the Rage tree, a great filler choice for all speccs that need more AoE damage.

Force Alacrity is now gone. Good riddance I say as it's replaced by OVERPOWER, a new ability that would make Vicious Slash to generate to rage when it criticals hits. Much needed.

Force Crush: It's CD is reduced to 18sec from 21sec. COOL!

Obliterate also immobilizes the target for 1 sec that means it makes it a mini Force Charge.

Relentless Fury is now gone and it's replaced by EMPOWERING RAGE. Empowering Rages requires 2 points in Shockwave skill to be unlocked causes Enrage to immediately grant 2 stacks of Shockwave for each point spent on the talent. Another Smash is good.

Shockwave: now last 20 secs, up from 15.

As you can see, Rage is getting buffed in next patch. More stuns and control and more burst for this spec that were much needed as Rage still is the best PvP spec.

IMMORTAL TREE

There's only one big change for the Juggernaut tank, Thrown Gauntlet no longer reduces the CD of Threatening Scream. It would change their playstyle but with the Decimate in the first tier of Rage tree, level 50 tanks won't have a problem with AoE tanking anymore.

Overall, 1.2 finally buffs the Juggernauts and makes them stronger and more durable. Having access to parsers and combat log will help us evaluate our DPS and compare it to other classes but most of us knew that this class was kind of weak. Especially the nerfing of the Surge rating reduced the base of Rage juggs dps, effecting them more than almost all classes. I can predict from now that Juggernauts would dominate in rated Warzones. They would finally have enough survivability and damage to do what they were designed to do. Taunting off, controlling the battles with their charges and peel their opponents.

PvP Juggernaut Rage built!

PvP Juggernaut Rage

Yo, fellow SWTORians!


For the past few day I have focused my play time to Jugg PvP. I used to be specced up to Vengeance tree for PvE. After checking the two DPS tree I decided to go Rage.

SPEC

This is the spec that I use now: 0/10/31


Now, let's break it down. I didn't take Strangulate as the pushback for a channelling ability that stuns for a melee class is not a priority for me. I didn't take Unbreakable Rage as Ravage in general is not mandatory to your dps rotation. I would come to this later. I put to Interceptor just one point just for filler. My other option was Brutality but I rarely use Vicious Slash and I think of it as a waste of rage in most situations. Interceptor is not to mandatory to juggs as the class is very mobile.


For my final 2 points at Vengeance tree I was in a dilemma. Playing Rage you'll find yourselves with less rage than playing Vengeance (pun intended). Unyielding would be my original choice but as to right now, geared half centurion, half champion I don't have enough accuracy to reach 100%. For that reason I decided to put my last 2 points to Accurecy. If you have enough accuracy choose Unyielding.

ABILITIES

DPS ABILITIES




Retaliation. hit it as soon as it procs.


Assault. Builds 2 rage, weak but mandatory


Sundering Assault. Use it to build 2 rage and stack 4% armor reduction up to 5 times


Vicious Throw. Our finisher move. Only usable on target's at or below 20% max health. Deadly indeed.


Smash. Main AoE ability hits up to 5 enemies STRONGEST ABILITY for Rage Juggs 


Force Scream. Hitting like a truck and has 10m range.


Force Crush. Our point 31 talent, slows our enemies, puts a DoT that last  seconds and at the end, deals more damage.


Ravage. 3 secs channel ability. Interrupted when moving or pressing another attack.


Vicious Slash. Use it as filler when you got rage to dumb and all of your main abilities are on cd.


Obliterate. Small charge (only 10m) costs 3 rage. Mostly a dps ability, use it with a snare to catch up ranged opponents that try to get away.


Saber Throw. You generate 3 rage, use it before you charge.


Sweeping Slash. AoE damage in a front cone a la Chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Still, pretty weak.


Enrage. Generates 6 rage. Use it after your burst and when you are under 6 rage.




STUNS AND SLOWING ABILITIES




Chilling Scream. Slow AoE ability.


Disruption. Use it to interrupt your target and lock their interrupted ability for 4 secs. In comparison to WoW, SWTOR's interrupts don't lock school abilities. That means, only the ability that you interrupt is locked.


Unleash. Removes all of your incapacitating and movement-impairing effects.


Force Choke. 3 sec channel ability. To stun and generate rage.


Intimidating Roar. 6 secs AoE fear




MOBILITY ABILITIES




Force Push and then use charge.


Force Charge. No description.


Intercede. Use it on friendly player to jump to him.




FORMS AND DEFENSIVE ABILITIES




Shii-Cho Form Dps form,


Soresu Form Tanking form. Use it only when you know that a lot of damage is incoming and you can't be on target to dps. Also, soresu form is needed to use Guard. Switching forms resets your rage to zero!


Threatening Scream. Use it to reduce the damage all enemies around you do to every other except you.


Taunt. Don't use it on PvE! Only in PvP to reduce the targeted enemy damage on every other except you.


Saber Ward. Main defensive cooldown. Increase your defence by 50% for 12sec. The passive ability Blade Turning makes the 2 first secs a 100% defence


Endure Pain. Main defensive cooldown. Increase your healthpool by 30% for 10sec.


Guard. Only usable when Soresu Form is active. I only use it on pvp. 




SECONDARY ABILITIES




Channel Hatred. Your off battle recovery ability.


Sprint. Keep it always on.


Unnatural Might. BUFF UP!

PvP SET BONUSES

• Bonus for 2: Intercede heals you for 8% of your total health.
• Bonus for 4: Increases all damage dealt by 10% for 5 seconds after using Force Charge.

DPS ROTATION AND PRIORITY LIST

To begin with, Rage's dps is based on Smash crits. So, let's analyse Smash.

-Smash is a Force ability

-Smash with the Shockwave skill stacks up it's damage up to 100%

-Smash with the Decimate skill increase it's damage by 30% and decrease it's CD by 3secs

-Smash with the Dominate skill makes your next Smash used within 15 seconds an automatic critical hit.

-Smash with the Dark Resonance increase the critical multiplier for or Force abilities by 30%

-Smash has a 9sec CD if you're specced

That means that with no surge considered your smash will have 100% critical chance (after a charge), 130% stronger (if you have 4 stacks of Decimate) plus 30% increase to the critical multiplayer to the total of 80% (base critical multiplier is 50%). In my warrior, the tooltip says that Smash hits for 1410-1501 kinetic damage. Let's say that my attack is 1450, we will add the 130% of it. That's 3335. Plus we will calculate the critical multiplier of 80% and we have 6003 kinetic damage. Now, add more surge, a relic usage, an adrenal, the expertise buff. Smash can do up to 9k damage easily and it can hit up to 5 people in a 9sec CD. (For each opponent it strikes, different base damage is calculated).

Our rotation must be build around Smash to maximise it's huge crit hits. So our basic rotation goes like this,

Saber Throw ---> Charge ---> Force Crush  ---> Sunder ---> as soon as 4 stacks of shockwave are up Smash ---> Enrage ---> Force Scream ---> Sunder

To be more exact my priority list is:

1. Enrage on CD if you have less than 4 rage

2. Saber Throw

3. Charge

4. Smash if you have 4 stacks of shockwave

5. Vicious Throw

6. Force Crush

7. Sunder Assault

8. Force Choke

9. Force Scream

10. Obliterate

11. Vicious Slash

12. Assault

13. Ravage

So, to sum it up, you goal is build your Smash hit. Get 4 stacks of shockwave by either Force Choke or Force Crush and try to Smash as soon as possible after you Charge or Obliterate. I would suggest to use it after you Charge as Charge will make the next Smash used in the next 15sec a crit, plus your 4 set bonus from your PvP gear give you an extra 10% bonus to your damage. After that, keep your rage high enough to be able to burst.

STATS

You don't have to be a genius to know that Strength and Stamina is your main stats. After that you should check for your secondary stats. Expertise is the strongest stat for PvP. It will increase the damage you deal and decrease the damage you take. Expertise should always be on your gear. After that, go for Surge and Critcal ratings. That way your abilities and especially your Smash will hit harder. My experience tells me not to get more than 40% of either of those two stats as you'll need much more to achieve bigger percentages. After that, go for power. Power is a straight increase to your base damage of your attacks. That includes the base damage that your criticals are calculated.

TIPS

As we talk about PvP, your opponent will try to react to you. That's why you have to be use the correct abilities in the right moment. Here some tips for you:

-Apply your Chilling Scream to slow them for starters. Keep them slowed all the time.

-As you built up your Smash hit, they will hit you as hard as they can. I suggest you pop Saber Ward as soon as the opponent starts to fight back.

-Don't use Unleash (trinket for WoWers) if it's not a really need. More people will increase your Resolve with their knockbacks than their stuns. If your Resolve bar is filled you will be immune in every CC. Unleash will reset your Resolve bar so be careful!

-Have with you relics and adrenals with crit/surge and power. Use them in pairs, pop power relic and crit/surge adrenal and then pop crit/surge relic with power adrenal. That way you more burst damage.

-If your opponent pops his defensive or CDs from the beginning of your battle, try to sabotage his advantage as much as you can. Choke him, Push him, Charge him, Fear him. That way, his burst or his defences would have expired with no benefits for him. Remember, in most cases the one that uses his CDs first, is the one that loses.

-Your set 2 bonus from your PvP gear will make you heal after you use Intercede. To maximise the profit, first use Endure Pain and then Intercede. That way, you'll heal for more.

-Don't interrupt all the time. Your interrupt will lock for the interrupted ability only. For 4secs. Interrupts should only be used on spammed ability like Tracer Missiles and Force Strike or to interrupt the healer from healing himself.

-Beware of your surroundings. Most people will try to knock you back as soon as you charge them. Don't put yourself between your opponent and the edge of the ledge, or the acid pit or the fire.

That's all for now. I will update my guide with more informations and more tips in future. Stay tuned!

Power VS Critical Rating!

One of the most common arguments it's the debate between power vs critical rating. I've tried to break down the pros and cons and make a small guide about them.

First of all, Power increase the base damage of all abilities that you use. That also means that critical rating will be calculated to damage that's been increased from the power rating. For pragmatic players as of myself, I much more rather prefer a solid damage increase against the RNG that is the critical rating. Playing Juggernaut Vengeance, I have 3 DoTs that I apply to my target and increasing my power rating will have a HUGE damage increase.

On the other hand crit will make you hit like a truck. For real. Your crits will make Force Scream and Vicious Throw hit for 4-6k damage. It should be noted here that your force abilities get ~5-7% more critical than your normal (white) damage dealing abilities.By speccing to Savagery you get 60% chance to those two skills to be a critical after you use Impale or Shatter. That means that if you get to have a proper rotation this buff will be almost 100% up. That's the reason you should aim for 40% soft cap to make sure that Scream and Vicious Throw will be a critical hit. The cos of critical rating is that by default, it only increase your damage by 50%. You'll need more of the surge rating to increase that percentage, forcing you to go after two rating.

In the endgame you will find an almost balanced combination between Accuracy/Power and Critical/Surge at Operations gear. Plus relics are on use and you can get a temporary rating increase that should be used on cooldown.

Concluding this post I want to say that always choose your gear depending of how much strength you will get. Strength is our main stat and I will always be our No 1 priority. As for the power/crit debate, IMHO I would suggest Power, as our base damage is by our bleeds/DoTs, though making power a more desirable stat. Still, as there are no parsers yet and none can know something for sure, try to balance your stats.

I haven't yet the time to look more to the armor penetration stat that is provided when you achieve more than 100% accuracy. Please, this is not a statement, but I have the feeling that ArPen is a very strong rating but it should be tested before reaching to a conclusion.

See you on Ilum guys!

PvP: Sith Juggernauts vs Operatives!

During the past days I've noticed threads and posts about operatives being overpowered on pvp situations. As I've pvped a lot and I have encountered myself being overunned and overkilled by operatives dps, I decided to write down some tips to how to counter them.


First of all, operatives are NOT overpowered. I don't claim that the classes are balanced on 1v1 as they are intended to be. For me, pvp in general, is not 100% balanced but it's close to that. If you don't want to be dead all the time, try to use your abilities wisely, stuck up with people because  those 3 warzones we are 
playing are all about focusing on goals and not deathmatches. 

Stealthy bastards!

Now, let's see the abilities of an operative. For now on, I'm referring to operatives speccing on the Lethality tree.


They obviously have stealth. In SWTOR, stealth does not provide you with complete invisibility. To be trully undetectable you have to use Sneak, that lasts for 8secs and it's on a minute long cooldown. When operatives are in battle, they can get in stealth again with Cloaking Screen. Those two abilities provide a 100% stealth rating.

Operatives uses acid by using the Acid Blade ability. As the tooltips says: "Coats your instruments in acid, causing your next Hidden Strike or Backstab to deal an additional 1247 internal damage over 6 seconds and increase armor penetration by 50% for 15 seconds. This ability does not respect the global cooldown and does not break stealth."

That puts a powerful dot on their targets and many of their abilities tend to do extra damage to people that are suffering from the acid effect.

The main game mechanic of operatives, both to healers and dps alike is Tactical Advantage. I'll use again the tooltip: "Defeating an opponent or activating Shiv or Hidden Strike puts you in a position of Tactical Advantage, increasing all damage dealt by 2% and enabling the use of executions for 10 seconds. Up to 2 charges of Tactical Advantage can exist at once.". The tactical advantage not only provides 2-4% damage bonus but also the ability to enact skills that are otherwise unavailable, such as: Kolto Infusion (a 1.5 sec healing ability), Laceration (a beastly attack that does a ton of damage, has a chance to add a dot and when the dot is applied, you get a Tactcal Advantage) and Stim Boost (gives 3 energy every 3 secs for 45 secs). These skills are versatile, and when used properly will allow the operative to handle numerous situations with ease.

On top of that, operatives have two CCs (8secs is enough for pvp) Flash Bang that's an AoE stun (up to 5 players) and Debilitate at 45sec and 60 sec CD.

Now, what good operatives do. They open you with Debilitate, their 4 secs stun and it will give you a full resolve bar. They will re-stealth and will now open you with Hidden Strike that will throw you down for 3 secs. After that, Eviscerate, Backstab, Shiv and you are dead.

How to counter it. They will expect you to break their first CC and YOU MUST NOT DO SO! You should keep your CC breaker for the throwdown ONLY! Due to animation you still need to stand up, that means one more second before you'll be able to use your abilities. When you are back on your feet, use your defensive CDs. All of them and use a medpack. It's a shame that you must waste them on only in a 1v1 encounter but it's the only way to counter them. Even tanks cannot absorb or mitigate their burst so it's a necessity. If you are quick enough, you'll have enough health to fight back. In the case that you have all of your CDs proceed on CC them. Force Choke them, slow them and bring them on their knees by putting pressure on them. What's out for their Evasion ability that will give them 100% dodge to all attacks for 3 secs, so what's out and don't waste 2 GCDs during that. Now, remember, Juggernauts have the ability to withstand a lot of damage where as Operatives have tools to avoid getting hit. In a straight 1 on 1 situation they won't be a match for they heavy armor user so they'll try to run to health themselves. They have Sever Tendon that will slow you for 50% for 12 secs. Don't let them get away. Charge them, interrupt their heals and burst them.

Remember, this is an ideal 1v1 fight and during your game you'll encounter different playstyles and situations, so try to react accordingly. The best way to improve yourself is by practice, so find an operative and duel with him a lot. That way, you'll learn their tricks and abilities and you'll make your own tactics to counter them.

Hope this guide was helpful and I want to conclude it with some thoughts. Operative's burst is a beast but it's also true that they are a glass canon. Same goes for marauders and snipers for example. Juggernauts and assassins on the other hand have more sustained dps but they both have enough armor and defensive cooldowns to balance their gameplay plus a lot of pushs, stuns and CCs. They have the tools to withstand the burst and then fight backs. As the operatives have their long cds and can't burst ever 5secs the same goes to juggernauts, that can't shield wall every half a minute. I play a Juggernaut and I have to say, I CHOOSE MY BATTLES!

If I don't have cds, I don't run towards the mayhem. If I don't have cds and I see both imperial agent's advanced classes I run away. If my saber ward is on cd and I'm opened by an operative I'm dead. But that's once in a while.


Remember that if your opponent outgears you or/and outlevels you, you are dead. In the end, there's a point of no gear=no fun.


Thanks a lot, see you around and remember.


DON'T HATE THE GAMER, HATE THE GAME (epic meal time reference)