Sticky: Smuggler Gunslinger (Sharpshooter PVE End Game Guideline)

***This guide is intended to be an end game PVE guideline for Flashpoints and Operations, it is not considered to be a guide for the leveling, questing, or PVP aspects of the game although it still may be useful in some ways. This guide is also intended to be an on going work in progress. All that being said please enjoy my guide to the most bad-ass class in the galaxy.

{Updated as of Feb. 6, 2012}


Table of Contents

I. Energy System
II. Cover System
III. Talents
IV. General Smuggler Abilities
a.) Non combat/Miscellaneous Abilities/Cooldowns
b.) DPS Abilties/Cooldowns
V. Smuggler AC Abilities
a.) Non combat/Miscellaneous Abilities/Cooldowns
b.) DPS Abilities/Cooldowns
VII. Consumable Buffs
VIII. Proposed Ability Priority List
a.) Single Target
b.) AoE
IX. Closing




I. Energy System

Your energy bar is a yellow bar displayed right underneath your health bar and is comprised of 100 energy points. It is broken up into 5 bars which each represent about 20 points of energy. Most of your damaging abilities will cost some amount of energy so a large portion of your dps will be how well you manage your energy.

The above point brings me to how your energy regeneration works. There are 3 levels of energy regen and they are based upon how much energy you currently have, interestingly enough the more energy you have the more regen you receive.

It works as follows:

(Base Energy)

60-100 Energy: Energy regeneration rate = 5 energy per second
20-60 Energy: Energy regeneration rate = 3 energy per second
0-20 Energy: Energy regeneration rate = 2 energy per second

Taking all of the above information we can see that the more time you spend at 60 energy or higher the more energy you will have to use for dps abilities during an encounter. Due to this you should always strive to keep your energy in this area (60-100) as you will have more overall energy over the course of a fight and thus, more dps. As an aside this isn't taking into account any energy regen cooldowns (CD) or talents that increase your max energy. For example Cool Head will allow to use some extra burst and dip around 10 energy while still maintaining a high rate of energy regen.



II. Cover System

Crouch, Take Cover: Crouches in place, or if there is an object in range crouches behind the object for cover. When an object is in range for cover a green silhouette will appear in the crouched position behind the object (much like the one in the tooltip). If crouching in place you will not gain the defensive benefits of crouching behind an object. Crouching allows the use of cover-only abilities which include most of our strongest dps abilities. Makes it harder for ranged attacks to hit you if behind an object. Has a 1 second cooldown that does not trigger the Global cooldown (GCD).

Hold Position: "A portable cover". Once you learn your Gunslinger AC this ability becomes available and basically buffs the above ability passively. This allows you to crouch in place while also gaining the benefits of added ranged defense (much like being behind an object). This will also make you immune to interrupts and ability activation knock back.

It should also be noted that portable cover from your Gunslinger AC will not replace object cover. Object cover will always provide a higher defensive bonus than portable cover, really portable cover is there in the rare cases you are not in a position to use object cover. Basically if you are in a position to use object cover do so.

When trying to dps you will almost always want to be in cover as it will allow to use your most damaging abilities, increase your survivability through increased ranged defense, protect you against knock back and interrupts, and you'll recover extra energy through Foxhole.

There are instances however where you will be forced from cover.

Examples include but are not limited to:

- Moving to avoid incoming damage mechanics
- Target moves out of range of your dps abilities
- Need to move to a set stacking point for defensive cooldowns or aoe healing
- If a cover spot ends up giving you line of sight issues
- If a boss is punching you in the face




III. Talents (Trees and Abilities)

Sharpshooter

Tier 1

Cover Screen: Adds a ranged defensive bonus upon exiting cover (lasts 6s) = Recommended/Optional 2/2, 1/2 or 0/2

Steady Shots: Increases damage output of Charged Burst, Speed Shot, and Wounding Shots = Recommended 2/2

Sharpshooter: Increases ranged and tech accuracy = Recommended 3/3

Tier 2

Percussive Shot: Adds a knock back to Aimed Shot if enemy is close enough = Not Recommended 0/1

Ballistic Dampers: Damage absorbing skill = Recommended 2/2

Sharp Aim: Adds armor piercing to Aimed Shot = Recommended 2/2

Trip Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Leg Shot = Not Recommended 0/2

Tier 3

Snap Shot: Instant Charged Burst triggered on entering cover = Recommended 2/2

Diversion: Accuracy debuff on enemy target = Recommended/Optional 1/1 or 0/1

Quick Aim: reduces the activation/channeling time of Aimed Shot when Charged Burst or Speed Shot crit = Recommended 2/2

Tier 4

Slick Shooter: Increases the critical strike chance of Charged Burst, Speed Shot, and Trick shot = Recommended 2/2

Spacer: Adds a extra knock back to Pulse Detonator, and reduces the activation time of XS Freighter Flyby = Recommended/Optional 1/1, or 0/1

Burst Volley: Adds a stacking alacrity buff through Aimed Shot which reduces ability activation times = Not Recommended/Optional 0/3, 1/3, 2/3, or 3/3

Foxhole: Extra energy regen while in cover = Highly Recommended 1/1

Tier 5

Recoil Control: Reduces energy cost and cooldown of Trick Shot = Recommended 2/2

Trick Shot: Dps Ability = Highly Recommended 1/1

Lay Low: Reduces XS Freighter Flyby and Hunker Down cooldowns substantially = ***Recommended 1/2, 2/2***

Tier 6

Deadeye: Increases crit damage of Trick Shot, Speed Shot, and Quickdraw = Highly Recommended 5/5

Tier 7

Rapid Fire: Finishes and eliminates next cooldown on Speed Shot = Recommended 1/1

Saboteur

Tier 1

Saboteur's Utility Belt: Reduces cooldowns of grenades = Not Recommended 0/2

Bravado: Increases maximum energy = Highly Recommended 2/2

Streetwise: Increases cunning = Highly Recommended 3/3

Tier 2

Independent Anarchy: Increases general AOE damage and the damage of Sabotage Charge = Recommended 2/3

Cool Under Pressure: Adds a small healing buff to your energy regen cooldown (Cool Head) = Not Recommended 0/3

Hot Pursuit: Adds the chance to gain a buff that allows you to use Charged burst while not in cover = Not Recommended 0/2

Underworld hardships: Increases Endurance = Not Recommended 0/2

Dirty Fighting

Tier 1

Black Market Mods: Increases alacrity = Not Recommended/Optional 0/2, 1/2, or 2/2 **(See Proposed Spec 2/Vital Shot Spec)**

No Holds Barred: Increases critical strike chance = Highly Recommended 3/3

Holdout Defense: Increases damage done by Blaster Whip = Not Recommended 0/2

Tier 2

Dirty Escape: Reduces cooldown of Dirty Kick and adds a speed boost after using it = Not Recommended 0/2

Flash Powder: Accuracy debuff added to enemy after Flash Grenade ends = Not Recommended 0/2

Mortal Wound: Adds a chance for Vital Shot to tick twice when inflicting damage = Not Recommended/Optional 0/2, 1/2, or 2/2 **(See Proposed Spec 2/Vital Shot Spec)**

Open Wound: Increases the duration of Vital Shot = Not Recommended/Optional 0/2, 1/2, or 2/2 **(See Proposed Spec 2/Vital Shot Spec)**



With that we come to our proposed/recommended specs

My Current PvE Spec

Proposed/Vital Shot Spec

Example PvP Spec





IV. General Smuggler Abilities

a.) Out of Combat/Miscellaneous abilities/cooldowns

Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Pistol (lvl 1): Allows the use of blasters

Light Armor Proficiency (lvl 1): Can equip light armor

Medium Armor Proficiency (lvl 1): Can equip medium armor

Lucky Shots (lvl 1): Self/party buff, increases critical strike chance, lasts 60 minutes

Recuperate (lvl 1): Regenerates health and energy, only useable out of combat

Speeder Piloting (lvl 25): Can ride speeders

b.) Combat (Dps) abilities/cooldowns

Flurry of Bolts (lvl 1): Basically a filler ability (similar to auto attack however will not activate automatically when attacking something). Costs no energy and does minimal damage. Use to regen energy whilst still doing damage.

Cover Abilities: See Cover System section.

Charged Burst (lvl 1): Only usable in cover, no cooldown. When using, use liberally (in chunks, down to 50-60 energy) as it has no cooldown. Be careful however, if spammed more than needed you will run out of energy. Use while other abilities are on cooldown

Sabotage Charge (lvl 1): Only usable from cover, activated on any damage taken by enemy. 30s CD.

Blaster Whip (lvl 2): Melee ability, 6s CD.

Thermal Grenade(lvl 3): Aoe damage, 6s CD.

Dirty Kick (lvl 4): Interrupt/Stun + some damage. 45s Cooldown. My favorite animation in game so far .

Vital Shot (lvl 5): Damage over time (DoT) ability, always keep up (unless fight will last under 15-20 seconds).

Flash Grenade (lvl 6): Aoe Stun, 90s CD.

Quick Shot (lvl 8): low energy cost , low damage ability.

Escape (lvl 9): CC breaker.

Slice Droid (lvl 12): Only useable on droids, Stuns target droid for 60s, damage will break the CC.

Cool Head (lvl 14): Mana regen CD, 120s CD.

All In (lvl 15): 1 minute God Mode, 1200s (20 min) CD, requires your companion to be out.

Distraction (lvl 18): Interrupt, 12s CD.

Dodge (lvl 24): Dodges both ranged and melee attacks for 3 seconds, 60s CD.

Cheap Shot (lvl 28): Melee ability, no cost, no cooldown. Only useable on stunned targets.

Surrender (lvl 30): Threat dump, 45s CD.

Defense Screen (lvl 32): Abosrbs incoming damage, 45s CD.

Head Shot (lvl 34): Basically a ranged Cheap Shot, shares CD with Cheap Shot, only useable on stunned targets.

XS Freighter Flyby (lvl 48) : Big Aoe damage ability, 60s CD.


V. Gunslinger Advanced Class Abilities

a.) Out of Combat/Miscellaneous abilities/cooldowns

Hold Position (lvl 10): See Cover System section.

Dual Wield (lvl 10): Allows the use of two one-handed weapons.

Crack Shot (lvl 10): Buffs the range of a number of dps abilities, including all blaster shots.

b.) Combat (Dps) abilities/cooldowns

Trickshot (Sharpshooter Skill Tree): cheap dps ability, can be used after Charged Burst or Aimed Shot, 9s CD.

Diversion (Sharpshooter Skill Tree): Enemy accuracy debuff, 60s CD.

Rapid Fire (Sharpshooter Skill Tree) : Buffs speed shot, 90s CD.

Smuggler's Luck (lvl 10): guarantees a critical strike the next time you use Charged Burst, 60s CD.

Aimed Shot (lvl 10): powerful, long cast dps ability, can only be used from cover, 15s CD.

Leg Shot (lvl 12): stuns the target and does a very small amount of damage, 15s CD.

Pulse Detonator (lvl 16): Emergency knockback and stun, can only be used while in cover, 30s CD.

Quickdraw (lvl 18): Dps ability, can only be used when target is at or below 30% health, 12s CD.

Hunker Down (lvl 20): Protects against all CC for for 20s, only useable while in cover, must remain in cover for it to remain active for the full 20s, 60s CD.

Sweeping Gunfire (lvl 22): Aoe dps ability, expensive, no CD.

Flourish Shot (lvl 28): Sunders the target's armor for 45s and does a small amount of damage, keep up, 4.5s CD.

Speed Shot (lvl 36): Dps ability, only useable while in cover, 15s CD.

Scrambling Field (lvl 42): Defensive AOE ability, no cost, must be in cover and remain in cover, 180s CD.

Illegal Mods (lvl 50): Increases alacrity for 10s, no cost, 120s CD.

Your Ship The XS Freighter


VI. Stat Weights

The current base stats are as follows:

Aim, Cunning, Endurance, Presence, Strength, and Willpower

Breakdown

Aim: A stat that increases our ranged damage and gives a small bonus to tech damage , very useful on a trooper, not so much so for a gunslinger when compared to cunning.

Cunning: Probably the most important overall stat for a smuggler/gunslinger, increases our overall damage output more than any other stat. Increases tech damage, adds a small bonus to ranged damage, as well as increases our crit chance. Prioritize cunning over other stats.

Endurance: Mainly a tanking stat, increases overall health and health regen rate (Found on all gear).

Presence: Increases output of our companion's abilities, great for leveling, useless in Operations.

Strength: Increases our melee damage output, since we are a ranged class this is not very helpful.

Willpower: Increases the damage/healing we do with our force abilities, which we have none of, stay away.

Priorities: Cunning/Endurance>ALL

Other stats:

Alacrity, Critical Strike Rating, Surge, Tech Accuracy, Tech Power

Breakdown

Alacrity: Increases the activation or channel speed of abilities. More beneficial to classes with many of these abilities. A gunslinger only has a few abilities with longer than normal activation/channel times. Add to that the fact they have a bunch of built in alacrity through talents. It seems as though alacrity won't be an all that important stat for us. That's not to say it's bad, however there are other stats that should be prioritized ahead of it.

Critical Strike Rating: increases our chances of getting a critical strike, overall a solid stat for gunslingers.

Surge: Increases the power (dmg and healing amount) of all crits. Builds based on achieving critical hits and heals. Basically the higher your critical hit chance the better Surge will be. Won't start being that great of a stat until higher levels of crit are achieved.

Accuracy: Increases our accuracy with tech and ranged abilities, more information is needed to learn things like cap values or diminshing returns. Once hit cap is reached extra accuracy will ignore some of the target's armor. You should probably look to cap this stat at the very least.

Power: Increases the damage output of our tech abilties, more info is needed to determine how it compares to a stat like cunning, however at face value it seems to be a strong stat for us slingers

*As a note you will generally want to go with either a heavy power build, or a heavy crit/surge build. Without combat logs it is difficult to say which is better as of now.

Priorities: Accuracy (to cap)>Crit/Surge=Power>Alacrity>Accuracy (above cap)


VII. Consumable Buffs

When it comes to consumable buffs there are basically 2 kinds that you always want to have, Stims and Adrenals. Stims increase a base stat for a long period of time (60 min-120 min), and Adrenals increase another stat (Non base stat) for a very short period of time (15 seconds). For a Smuggler we are looking for skill stims, which increase our cunning/tech power and attack adrenals, which increase our tech power.

*The consumables below are only useable through the biochem crafting profession, they're linked purely as an example.*

Example Skill Stim

Example Power Adrenal

Example Crit Adrenal

Example Surge Adrenal


VIII. Proposed Rotation/ Ability Priority List

Since the Smuggler runs off of a dynamic energy system our dps will focus on a priority list rather than a set rotation. At this time it is difficult to create a "set in stone" priority list as there is still more information that needs to be tested. For now I'll put together a proposed priority system with a list of important abilities.

~Some Useful Openers~

-*(All openers)* If the boss is close enough and a countdown is given you may be able to open with XS Freighter Flyby before the fight actually starts.

1. Flourish Shot (if needed), roll into cover to proc an instant charged burst, use Smuggler's luck to gain a guaranteed crit from charged burst which will then proc Quick Aim, Charged Burst, Trick Shot Aimed Shot, Trick Shot and then break down into the priority list. You should always try to have a quick aim up before using aimed shot as it will reduce its activation time significantly, just don't keep aimed shot off cooldown for an extended period of time waiting for the proc. I've usually found that during an encounter that quick aim will almost always be up when you are ready to use aimed shot specifically because of speed shot's high crit chance.

2. Flourish Shot (if needed), Roll, charged burst, trickshot, speed shot, rapid aim, speed shot, speed shot, aimed shot, and break into priorities.

3. Adding the two above together for an optimal opener; Flourish shot, roll, smuggler's luck, charged burst, trickshot, aimed shot, trick shot, speed shot, rapid aim, speed shot, speed shot, and break into priorities.

a.) Single Target

Flourish Shot - Mainly for the armor reduction to target (If a Jedi Guardian is tanking the target he/she will provide this debuff)
Quickdraw (target below 30%)
Aimed Shot
Trick Shot
Speed Shot
Sabotage Charge
Charged burst
Flurry of Bolts


b.) AoE

XS Freighter Flyby
Cybertech Grenades; Firestorm AoE (if applicable)
Thermal Grenade
Sweeping Gunfire

(Keep in mind that AoE encounters will expend your energy much faster than single target priorities)


IX. Closing

Things to Do

-add a macro section if applicable
-update as more game information becomes available
-keep updated per patches and hot fixes
-add other sections as they become applicable (ie. Professions)


Thank Yous

- To everyone who read my guide
- To anyone who added feedback or left comments/questions
- To Kataro/Solantharius for his contribution to this discussion
- ...and I guess to Marius for suggesting to use the "man with no name's" pic as the cover

**Most importantly, to my guild <Nexus> for being the coolest in da galaxy and for their support and feedback. We're still recruiting BTW, check us out @ <Nexus>

If you have any questions or comments after reading please register to the website and fire away, I'll be happy to answer as promptly as I can, thanks in advance.



Check out our other Nexus guides:

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