06 Marksmanship

I consider Marksmanship to be a strong candidate for leveling and the most straightforward spec to play. It is viable in both PvP and PvE.

Edit: I just finished tooltip-linking this section to make reading a bit less tedious (and hopefully easier for players new to the class). Enjoy.

Marksmanship Basics

Damage:  High single-target burst and sustained damage (arguably some of the highest single-target burst in the game). Critical hits (both energy and kinetic) are vital to realizing damage potential.

Energy Usage: High to moderate at low levels. Moderate and predictable at high levels.

Mobility: Low with a high dependency on cover.

Survivability: Moderate to low. Marksmanship is better in group play. Kiting is possible but can be difficult.

Utility: Moderate, lots of short-term control abilities and some zone denial tools.

Rotation and Cooldown Management: There are a lot of situational cooldowns, but your basic ability priorities become intuitive and easy to use over time. You’ll always have something to do.

Conclusion: Marksmanship has high damage and moderate control potential but can suffer in the survivability and mobility department. I prefer it for “sustained” DPS in all situations because the ability priority is intuitive over time and you are more often punished for being poorly positioned than for misusing cooldowns. 

In PvP, you may suffer without a team. In PvE, you may suffer in “new” fights when you don’t yet know how to position yourself to avoid taking damage. 

The rewards are consistent damage and more predictable pacing during otherwise unpredictable fights.

Leveling Builds (tested)

I use Marksmanship to get myself to 35 in solo PvE. Level 35 is where most Sniper talent trees get their build-defining tools and where you can respec to other trees if you choose. Click on the "numbers" to open the builds in a new window (courtesy of torhead's talent calculator).

Marksmanship Leveling Build (to 35)

26/0/0

Rationale: I prioritize pure damage and defense talents over utility talents (i.e. Imperial Demarcation and Pillbox Sniper).

Suggested Build Order 

Steady Shots (2), Cover Screen (2), Marksmanship (1)

Precision Ambush (2), Ballistic Dampers (2), Heavy Shot (1)

Diversion (1), Snap Shot (2), Reactive Shot (2)

Sniper’s Nest (1), Between the Eyes (2), Sniper Volley (2)

Followthrough (1), Recoil Control (2), Sniper Volley (1), Marksmanship (1)

Imperial Assassin (1)

Marksmanship Leveling Build (to 50, no respec)

31/7/3

Rationale: This build has a mixture of offensive and defensive talents acquired as you level. It follows the build order above and then continues in a fairly logical fashion as you approach 50.

Suggested Build Order

Imperial Assassin (5)

Rapid Fire (1)

Engineering Tree: Gearhead (3), Energy Tanks (2)

Lethality Tree: Lethality (3)

Engineering Tree: Vitality Serum (2)

Max Level Build Options (tested)

Basic Marksmanship Damage Spec (suitable for PvE and PvP)

31/7/3

Rationale: I take two points out of Cover Screen and put them into damage/offense talents, instead. This build is the baseline for most others. You always want the extra Cunning (Gearhead) in Engineering. The extra crit from Lethality in the Lethality tree is up to you, but I like to get that in pretty much every build I run.

Variations on other control and defensive abilities in the Marksmanship tree will be up to you, but at least 31 points total in Marksmanship are necessary. You can trade the points in Cover Screen and put them into Imperial Demarcation for the reduced Leg Shot CD, etc. You can also choose not to go for Heavy Shot (though I prefer it for PvP) and pick up something like Sector Ranger or part of the Pillbox Sniper talent. A pure PvE build based on this one might drop Heavy Shot and put a point into Cover Screen or Vital Regulators, instead.

Eventually it gets to be a matter of playstyle preference. I tend to prefer consistent alacrity procs (i.e. from full talents in Reactive Shot and Sniper Volley) to Vital Regulators (linked to the use of Adrenaline Probe) because Marksmanship does not have the ability to reset Adrenaline Probe the way that the Engineering tree can (using EMP Discharge).

Pros: Higher and more consistent damage, interrupt potential from Heavy Shot (mostly a PvP talent, though it has solo PvE applications), overall good damage and extra health/energy from the Engineering tree

Cons: Squishy, with longer CD on Entrench and few escape options

Marksmanship “Slip Away” Mobility Spec (PvP only)

31/3/7

Rationale: An example of an alternative spec that prioritizes the Slip Away Talent in Lethality to give Marksmanship a movement/escape buff that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to access. This sacrifices the extra energy and endurance in the Engineering tree in order to get the extra mobility from the Lethality tree. I tend to take the same 31 points in Marksmanship because I like being able to count on the instant snipe from Snap Shot when rolling into cover, consistent stacks of Sniper Volley, and consistent access to Sniper Volley via Reactive Shot. Some people don’t mind if the “speed” talents don’t activate all the time.

Imperial Demarcation and Pillbox Sniper are both highly useful talents in their own right. The only thing I don’t take as often in PvP is the Cover Screen defensive talent. Once you get to a high enough level, you can elect to be a little more squishy in favor of doing more damage or increasing your control potential. Again, I tend to prioritize the talents higher in the Marksmanship tree when electing which to take overall (so, for Marksmanship, Sector Ranger and Pillbox Sniper over Imperial Demarcation). The talents that are lower in the Marksmanship tree tend to mesh better with other primary specs (i.e. Engineering and Lethality).

Pros: Higher mobility and escape potential.

Cons: Misses out on a larger health pool and energy pool. If you go for Imperial Demarcation and Cover Screen in Marksmanship rather than consistent alacrity procs from Reactive Shot and Sniper Volley, you’ll have more control that complements the Slip Away talent in Lethality but potentially sacrifice Marksmanship’s characteristic and consistent damage. This may be worthwhile if you’re planning to be solo in PvP and/or you don’t have a dependable healer. Preferences vary according to playstyle.

Marksmanship PvE Damage (Sustained or Burst; PvP viable)

33/5/3

Rationale: This spec assumes you have decent gear and can hedge not having the extra HP from the Engineering tree in favor of getting Pillbox Sniper and Sector Ranger. These talents complement each other well and can be useful in a group PvE setting when you need to be interrupted less (i.e. use Entrench a lot) and use Orbital Strike more as well. Because Orbital Strike can be set and then “forgotten,” you can set it up (huzzah, lower cast time from Sector Ranger!) and then move to another cover point to reset your cover buffs. Predictable procs give you the opportunity to get into cover and apply your damage, then move and reset if necessary.

Pros: More frequent Orbital Strike and Entrench, excels at sustained and predictable damage in a PvE setting

Note: The use of Sniper Volley in PvP is situational and takes practice. I happen to like it better than the alternatives. This spec or a variation of this spec can also work for people who want to experiment with both Sniper Volley and the reduced Entrench cooldown. I've been successful using either spec (though I tend to favor the extra Endurance from Vitality Serum, particularly as a "fresh" or "undergeared" 50!).

Cons: Sacrifices the higher health pool from Engineering and does not take Heavy Shot (one point in Cover Screen gives it slightly more survivability, but the point of the build is to make every “proc” talent predictable in both “Sustained” and “Burst” situations; a PvP build based on this spec will take Heavy Shot and ditch Cover Screen).

Key Marksmanship-Specific Abilities

Diversion: 40% accuracy debuff on your target. You can actually use it on an entrenched Sniper / Gunslinger to knock them out of cover (this worked in previous builds, I am not sure if this is going to be true for launch). The 40% debuff also applies to “caster” accuracy as well and can be good to use against Sages and other bosses that are trying to eat your face.

Followthrough: Highly efficient, unlocked after using Snipe and Ambush. Although it has inconsistent damage, it is very good when it crits and is most of the reason you covet crit/surge rating on your gear.

Rapid Fire: For anyone who likes to burst. Use this after you’ve fired Series of Shots, and it’ll reset the cooldown on that ability and allow you to use it again (the second Series of Shots will also not trigger a cooldown). Basically this gives you the opportunity to use Series of Shots three times in a row. Combine this with Target Acquired (20% alacrity self buff, obtained at level 50) and you are killing your target pretty darn fast.

Basic Ability Priority Breakdowns

IMPORTANT: Shatter Shot (20% armor reduction over 45 seconds) is most useful against Strong, Elite, and Boss targets. You may or may not need it on Strong targets (silver star), but I consider it required on Elites (gold star) and Bosses (complex silver/gold star).

Note: I won't be giving full explanations or providing a rationale for each step in my ability priorities. I am not claiming that my way is the best way (or that these represent "max damage"). My examples are for demonstration purposes only. You'll get an idea of what burst DPS looks like, what sustained DPS looks like, and the kind of combinations or effects that a max-level Sniper uses (or considers using) as a matter of routine. You may also start to see the places where "priority" breaks down and the situational uses of defensive and offensive cooldowns begin to occur.

It is my belief that examples of actual, organic ability usage will be more valuable to both new and experienced Snipers, alike.

At least until we have a combat log. Heh.

Solo PvE Priorities

Short fights and “Standard-Only” mob groups:

One hard-hitting ability per standard target (i.e. Explosive Probe one, Snipe/Followthrough, Ambush/Takedown); alternatively use several Fragmentation Grenades to clear out the whole pack (energy intensive) or one channel of Suppressive Fire (any group) / Orbital Strike (stationary or ranged groups) (this is all a matter of personal preference).

Strong-Standard (2 targets, before access to Followthrough):

Flash Bang the strong, kill the standard with anything convenient; On the strong: Laze Target / Explosive Probe / Snipe / Ambush / Snipe / Snipe / Takedown at 30%.

Strong-Standardx2 (3 targets, usually after access to Followthrough and Series of Shots):

Flash Bang on the Strong, kill the two standards (Explosive Probe/Snipe on one, Ambush/Takedown as applicable on the other).

The below assumes you have access to fully talented Sniper Volley and Reactive Shot. Otherwise, just use your burst priority of choice:

On the strong: Laze Target / Shatter Shot / Snipe, Followthrough / Ambush / Snipe / Snipe / Followthrough / Snipe / Series of Shots / Takedown (as CDs are available).

Strongx2 (access to all abilities, use of control and defensive CDs necessary, difficult fight):

Set your companion on one strong, Flash Bang the other.

Prepare to burn down the first:

Laze Target / Explosive Probe / Shatter Shot / Snipe / Followthrough / Ambush / Snipe (Followthrough when the CD is finished) / on the third stack of Sniper Volley hit Series of Shots; whenever the second strong wakes up hit it with Debilitate (getting you out of cover) then dive back into cover for another charge of Ballistic Dampers and finish off the first strong with Takedown and other abilities as needed (use of defensive CDs is situational, based on the type of strong and the amount of damage you’re taking).

At this point in the fight you should gauge your health and remaining energy to finish off the second strong.

IMPORTANT: Do not forget to apply Shatter Shot to the second strong target!

Use Rapid Fire if necessary and if your energy level permits (can be combined with Target Acquired and Adrenaline Probe if you need the energy for the second and third Series of Shots channels). 

If you decide to use your defensive CDs, I recommend stacking or applying them as a group (Entrench is only necessary if the mob can knock you out of cover), otherwise Evasion / Shield Probe / Ballistic Shield can combine well to give you the time you need to finish off whatever-it-is you’re fighting.

Be prepared to keep track of Debilitate, Distraction, and Flash Bang CDs. Those three are very good at preventing damage and buying you more time in a fight or giving you the opportunity to use full channels of Series of Shots in succession (via Rapid Fire).

Elite (access to all/most abilities, use of control and defensive CDs necessary, moderate to difficult fight):

These can be hard targets. Do not forget to use Shatter Shot. Using the "burst" priority that I recommend for killing strongs is advisable if you plan to burst / Adrenaline Probe / burst again.

Otherwise you can default to a more sustained priority that drains less energy and uses more defensive cooldowns (i.e. something like: Laze Target / Explosive Probe / Shatter Shot / Snipe / Followthrough / Ambush / Default / Default / Snipe / Followthrough / Shield Probe / Evasion / Snipe / Followthrough / Ambush / Default / Default / (Takedown and transition to burst at 30%).

Your "default" attack is Rifle Shot and is bound to the "1" key on your hotbar automatically. It is most commonly used as a way to pace energy usage or a fallback way to do damage if you've drained your bar and have no way to quickly regenerate your resources (i.e. while waiting to do something more useful).

Note: Make use of Series of Shots and 3-stack Sniper Volley as available. Knowing when to use burst and when to bide your time with sustained damage takes practice (especially when encountering elites with abilities you have not previously seen).

Flash Bang can be used to help line-of-sight kite something (you have eight seconds to find a pillar or crate to use as temporary cover) or give your healer companion time to top off your health bar. It can also buy you eight seconds of time in which to regenerate energy without taking damage. On long fights when you are solo, using Flash Bang and your other interrupts can be vital.

Fighting an elite at higher levels is a bit like fighting a more damaging strong with two or three times as many hitpoints that’s more likely to knock you out of cover. You can start to gauge your enemy’s cast bars and decide whether or not you need to interrupt something. You may also need to dodge out of AoE abilities or use some form of “natural” cover in order to counter ranged elites (which are the easiest type for you to defeat).

Melee and caster elites will provide the most challenge. If you’re using my leveling build, don’t forget that your Ambush also has a talented knockback effect from Heavy Shot that can be useful for interrupts and gaining distance on your enemy. Cover Pulse can be used in the same way.

Interrupts are covered in more specific detail a little later.

Group / Raid PvE Example Priorities

IMPORTANT: Your job is to keep your energy high until your target reaches 30% health and then begin using Takedown and burst damage as necessary. Keep an eye on the health of your tank and your group members. Do your best not to overkill targets and to relieve pressure on your tank when necessary. You may be called on to control enemies as well. Pay attention to your positioning and the timing of any special abilities that your boss or elite targets may be using. You have a 60second droid CC (Slice Droid) that can be useful in some Flashpoints and Operations (notably Directive 7).

Sustained Damage:

Shatter Shot / Explosive Probe / Ambush / Followthrough / Snipe / Snipe / Series of Shots / Followthrough.

May pause half a second before ability usage or mix with default attacks. 

Use Explosive Probe, Followthrough, and Series of Shots as their cooldowns permit (and in roughly that order of priority).

Takedown becomes highest priority when your target reaches 30% health. Note that this is true no matter what ability priority you're using and no matter the situation! It hits hard, it crits hard, and it's brutally efficient damage.

Ambush has highest priority if Reactive Shot is active.

Snipe has highest priority on first and second stacks of Sniper Volley.

Series of Shots has highest priority on the third stack of Sniper Volley (though using Ambush is also acceptable, and if Followthrough is available and unlocked you can use that before sneaking in a charged/channeled ability on the third Sniper Volley stack, situational usage based on energy and available cooldowns).

Note: Corrosive Dart is useful on Elites and Bosses that live longer, as is Orbital Strike (put these on high-health targets, along with Shatter Shot, at the beginning of a fight).

Burst Damage (focus on procs and alacrity):

The below assumes you are at or near level 50, have 110 available energy from Energy Tanks, one point in Sniper’s Nest (+1 energy to all recovery levels), and full talents in Reactive Shot and Sniper Volley.

GCD = 1.5 seconds.

All numbers are rough estimates and should be taken as guidelines rather than gospel. A rotation more or less similar to this takes advantage of all Marksman’s primary damage buffs and cooldowns.


*Positive numbers represent the approximate amount of energy gained from regeneration during channels or GCDs, negative numbers represent energy usage. The "time" estimates at the end of each line represent semi-ideal cooldown usage.

Take Cover (Snap Shot Proc) / Laze Target (ensure Reactive Shot proc) / Shatter Shot (10 energy) (110-10+6 = 106) (1.5-2 seconds)

Explosive Probe (20 energy) (106-20+12=98) / Snipe (Reactive Shot Proc) (20 energy) (98-20+6=84) / Followthrough (6 energy) (84-6+12=90) (4.5-5 seconds)

Ambush (Sniper Volley Proc) (15 energy) (90-15+12=87) / Snipe (1 volley stack) (20 energy) (87-20+12=79) / Snipe (2 volley stacks) (20 energy) (79-20+12=71) (8-8.5 seconds)

Followthrough (6 energy) (71-6+6=71) / Snipe (3 volley stacks) (20 energy) (71-20+12=63) (4 seconds)

Series of Shots (20 energy, 2.5-3second channel) (63-20=43, 43+5=48, 48+5=53) / Rapid Fire (reset Series of Shots CD) / Target Acquired (20% alacrity buff) (53+5=58) / Series of Shots (20 energy) (53-20+3=36, 36+3=39) / Series of Shots (39-20+2=21, 21+2=24) (9-9.5 seconds)

Adrenaline Probe when/if needed (likely Reactive Shot proc from Series of Shots crits)

Ambush (can use before or after third Series of Shots, depending on energy and Adrenaline Probe availability) (15 energy) (24+2+2-15=13) (1.5 seconds)

Followthrough (6 energy) (13-6+2=9) (1.5 seconds)

Use Takedown as applicable or when your target hits 30% health.

When you're drained: Adrenaline Probe restores 50 energy over 3 seconds. During this time you can use Distraction, Diversion, and your default attack while your energy refills to full. 

The above is a “full burst” rotation from 110 damage to about as close to zero as you can comfortably get before using Adrenaline Probe. It takes approximately 33-35 seconds or so depending on how good you are at using cooldowns and represents quite a bit of damage. Explosive Probe will be off cooldown by the time your energy has finished regenerating and you can choose to go back to “sustained” damage mode.

Interrupts

If you’ve been following along so far, you have five potential interrupts or abilities that can act as interrupts: 

Distraction - adds a 5second CD to the ability interrupted

Flash Bang - 8 second stun that breaks on damage

Debilitate - 2 second stun and doesn’t break on damage, good to use Shiv in combination

Ambush - talented knockback via Heavy Shot to enemies within 10m range, can be used to interrupt and starts Sniper Volley procs

Cover Pulse - cover-only knockback, good to use after a Debilitate-Shiv combo if you need to interrupt again soon after returning to cover next to your target (particularly effective against melee and casters)

Creative use of these in solo and group PvE and PvP is essential to survival as a Sniper. They have many uses. Some more specific examples will be covered in the PvE and PvP tactics sections.

Using Adrenaline Probe

You can choose to front load your damage by blowing your cooldowns (Rapid Fire, Target Acquired, etc.) in order to get a jump on an enemy in fights where you may be outleveled or you risk getting hit with a high amount of damage (shorter fights and burst will be to your advantage in this situation).

In this case, burning your energy as fast as possible and using as many cooldowns as possible may keep you from getting damaged or interrupted later in the fight and give you more breathing room with your limited health pool. This involves draining your energy and then using Adrenaline Probe (and often Flash Bang) in order to get the full bar back and and let your cooldowns come back up.

This allows you to open up with a second round of burst damage (but it can take experience to know when to do this, it’s most effective on enemies with high damage but few interruptable abilities – melee elites, mostly).

Adrenaline Probe can also be useful if you’ve gotten surprised by enemy damage, have already blown your defensive cooldowns in the course of the fight, and then need an extra boost at the end to finish off your opponent (especially if you’ve been patiently interrupting an enemy and then missed one … or it’s a long fight and you’ve already used a medpack). This tends to happen more often on caster elites.

This more “reactive” use of Adrenaline Probe is also useful when you’ve been surprised by an additional “patrolling” enemy.

Keep in mind that Adrenaline Probe is on a 2min cooldown and use it accordingly. Your best energy management tool is the Sniper’s Nest talent. That, combined with the extra 10 energy from the Energy Tanks talent in the Engineering tree, will give you significant breathing room in both PvE and PvP.

Using Defensive Cooldowns

Defensive cooldowns are usually strongest when combined with each other. Because Marksmanship’s strength is in both predictable burst and sustained single-target damage, you have the option of either pacing yourself and being cautious (keeping your cooldowns in reserve) or strategically using your cooldowns for protection while you try to end a fight as quickly as possible.

You are less likely to need defensive cooldowns during normal questing and more likely to need defensive cooldowns when fighting high-level strong enemies and any level of elite enemy.

Defensive cooldowns are most useful in groups when there’s a large amount of unexpected aggro. If you get a bad pull, plop yourself down next to your tank and activate Ballistic Shield (I suggest combining Entrench with this particular ability).

If you’re alone, it’s advisable to use Shield Probe and Evasion in conjunction (Ballistic Shield is optional but recommended). Adding Diversion to your target on top of that is situational. Use it if you’re low on health, save it if you have more health to go and you’re roughly at the midpoint of a fight.

Note: Advanced Recon is a health regeneration ability (and it resets the CD on Adrenaline Probe!) that’s linked to you having your companion present. It has a 20min cooldown, but can be quite useful if fighting a tough class quest elite or an annoyingly strong elite in the open world. Usually I like to wipe to a fight once before deciding whether or not to use it. By all means use this ability if you think it’ll be enough to help you win the first time (death is one of the biggest time wasters). It takes judgment and practice to know when to use it.

I find that Advanced Recon is best used a short time after you've decided you need to use Adrenaline Probe again. The health regeneration effect lasts a full minute, though, so you'll get more health regeneration out of the full duration. It also makes challenging fights a bit less stressful. Keep it in mind as an option. It makes a great "I win" button in solo PvE.

Companions

Kaliyo is your tank for early and late game (useful in single-target elite fights). Keep her geared. Evaluate her use in fights with multiple targets, but lean toward Vector.

Vector is your melee DPS and has reasonable survivability. Keep him geared, use him in “normal” questing and sometimes against multiple targets.

Ensign Temple is your ranged DPS companion and tends to be squishy like you. She’s useful in “normal” questing if you focus her targets. She’s sometimes useful if you’re planning to burst down a single target as well (risky strategy, but effective against enemies that can heal themselves).

Doctor Lokin is your healer companion. He’s good all the way around, but at his best when your gear is up to par and you can take some hits (i.e. you’re good at using your defensive cooldowns to give him time to heal you). I consider him the “safe” choice for most lategame fights and an excellent companion for reducing questing downtime.

Conclusion

I realize this is a lot to take in at once. Some of it will only make sense once you’ve had a chance to play the class, but I hope you’ll consider the “ability priorities” as suggestions and evaluate each of your abilities on its individual merits as you level in TOR. That means experimenting on your own and learning how to operate or revise your priorities over time.

Although I have not yet published a specific example of keybinds or how to set up ability bars, I plan to cover that in a future post after I’ve finished the rest of the initial guide. I’m aware that individual preferences on keybinds and setup will vary.

Keep in mind that I am also primarily a PvE player!

Although I enjoy PvP play and will be playing on a PvP server with my guild, it is not my first priority and not what I consider my specialty or primary gameplay focus. With that in mind, I welcome keybinding suggestions and other submissions (including tested builds and tips/advice) to the blog from readers  who are exclusively dedicated to PvP in TOR.

What can I say? I like the PvE loot.

Permissions: This guide may be reproduced in whole or in part. If you do, please give me credit and link back to the original content either here on my blog (imperialsniper.com) or to my stream: http://twitch.tv./fentanyl213 Thanks!

Comments/Corrections: You're welcome to comment on the blog directly or email me at Fentanyl213@gmail.com. I answer email as time permits. (12.5) Erroneously reported Flash Bang as six seconds, it has an eight-second duration.