What's your Trooper like?

A forum to discuss topics and issues relevant to the Republic Trooper class in Star Wars The Old Republic.
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Durai
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What's your Trooper like?

Post by Durai » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:28 pm

I've noticed there's quite a few Troopers in the Church.

I'm a Vanguard myself, and I'm always looking for ways to improve my game. Any advice I can get from another player is something I cherish and contemplate very carefully as a way to get better.

Also, this can serve as a way for those to are interested in the class to get a wealth of information from those that have walked the path.

So what's your Advanced Class?
Spec?
What companion do you use most of the time and why?
What's your rotation?
What's your current level? (Because that factors into skills, which factor rotation)
Any advice or questions for other players?
Etc.

Vanguard

Shield Specialist (Tank)

Elara, as a Tank she means that I'm always ready to go. Zero downtime.
Generally Storm, Stockstrike, High Impact, Cryo Grenade, Blitz for single enemies. Use Hammer Shot as padding in between cooldowns. Groups vary depending on enemy type.

Lv34 right now

General advice: As soon as you can, stop using Explosive Shot. The high ammo cost doesn't make it worth it. Also, do everything you can to keep your Ammo Regeneration at 100 percent. There's nothing worse than blowing through all your ammo, it seems like it can take forever to get back up to a respectable amount to keep yourself going.

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Cuspar » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:30 pm

Vanguard, about to ding 39
Shield specialist, with 3 points in Soldier's Endurance
Elara is the only companion I use. Godmode for anything below 25000 HP (maybe more, haven't soloed anything higher)

Rotation is currently something like this:

Single target: Storm, Stockstrike, Cryo grenade, High impact bolt, Pulse Cannon and then alternate between Hammer shot, Ion pulse and stock strike.

Mob: Mortar volley (target highest HP target), Storm, Stockstrike, Pulse cannon (once the mob closes in on me), Smoke grenade, then the alternation from above. Once the big man goes down, I like to use Explosive round and high impact bolts on the trash guys to kill them quickly.

I've been playing a lot more with Riot Strike. I got sick of imperials healing themselves and sith force lightning/choking me and it's pretty handy.

I also reflex stim up before I go out. I find that my shielding is so good, it's nice to boost up my aim - it seems like I take stuff down much more quickly with a +60 to aim stim.
Cuspar

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Furiel » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:33 pm

Commando - gunnery spec - level 44 currently
Elara all day every day and twice on Sunday

I don't have a true rotation, I have a priority system because of all of the different interactions my abilities have with each other thanks to my talents so I'm going to explain the mechanics before I give the priority.
So Grav Round builds 2 different stacks - it builds 2 grav vortexes on the enemy per hit, caps at 5, and also builds charged barrel on me, which also caps at 5.
Grav vortexes reduce the opponents armor by 5% for each stack.
Charged Barrel adds 5% per stack to the damage of high impact bolt.
Demolition Round - does an additional 5% damage for each stack of grav vortex the target has on it

So with those in mind my ST priority is:
Demo round (with 5 stacks of GV on the target)
High Impact Bolt (with 5 stacks of CB)
Full Auto (with 5 stacks of GV on the target)
Grav Round (to build or refresh stacks)
Hammer Shot (use as filler to keep ammo up)

AoE is kinda different and depends on how strong the mobs are and how tightly packed they are
loosely packed
Mortar Volley
Hail of Bolts
Hail of Bolts again if more than 1 is still alive
Once down to 1 or they are all low health mop up with hammer shot and grav round

tightly packed
Plasma grenade
hail of bolts
hail of bolts
mop up with grav round and hammer shot

Also Cuspar I'm curious why you kill the hard mob first and the easy ones last? I do it the opposite and I'm pretty sure Joun does too. He and I were talking about it the other day, and if you eliminate the weak mobs first there is less damage incoming over the encounter thereby making it easier to heal. It's good to get into that practice now because when you start getting into tanking flashpoints and stuff the general rule of thumb is to kill easiest to hardest.
They say when you go on a quest for vengence to dig two graves. They underestimate me.

The Plush Family:
DPS - Furiel: Commando, T'ony: Slinger, Kessilee: VG, Ziraava: Sent
Tank - Montae: Shadow, Gaen: Guardian
Heals - Kam'ryn: Sage, Sabran: Soundrel

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Durai
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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Durai » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:18 pm

I agree with Furiel on his point about killing hard mobs.

Killing the weak mobs first means that the hardest, let's say a gold Elite, is easier to handle. The damage from the weak ones can add up very quickly. Individually, one-on-one, we get to sit there and laugh at them. But 3 or 4 together plus an Elite is nothing to laugh at. That's how repair bills rack up.

I usually lead in with a Mortar Shot, Storm to close the gap, and Pulse Cannon. That eliminates all the trash and leaves the Elite and myself, which shouldn't be any trouble at all. I'll then follow my standard rotation beginning with Cryo Grenade + Blitz.

The Elite is always something to watch, but with all the options at our disposal, it shouldn't take more than 3 or maybe 4 attacks to eliminate a group of trash mobs. Thin the herd to focus on the shepard, I suppose. Some sort of old addage that I'm likely pulling out of my ass.

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Bulwark » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:22 pm

Furiel, do you not have the talent that randomly gives full auto the +33% damage?

I usually lead with grav shot until either
a) full auto bonus pops
b) have the full 5 shot bonus on charged barrel

if my ammo drops below 50% I'll throw the freeze grenade and pop the reload (the more ammo you have, the faster it regenerates) I try to always keep it at max.

if there is a group, I'll use the concussion or plasma grenade (if concussion is recharging). I'll also pop the 0-ammo on this shot to keep my ammo level high.

I'll usually start with the weekend enemy and work my way up. If I pull any adds, I make sure I hit them once or twice so they don't agro on Elara from her healing.

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Furiel » Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:52 pm

No I have that talent. Full auto is just a little tricky to use at times and I hope they change it to be like unload for the merc. Right now full auto channels for a full 3 seconds, but is subject to pushback (unload is not btw). So if you take any damage during the channel you lose some channel time and hence lose 1/3 of the damage potential. Same if you move early you lose damage. So for me I always use full auto right after cryo and generally only then due to the pushback issue.

It's due to those limitations that I put demo round and HIB above full auto for damage, because unless you have cryo up, use it, and are only facing 1 target, the pushback will get ya.

But again, all 3 of those only get used when there are 5 vortexes on the target, meaning I've popped grav round at least 3 times prior.

A typical strong mob for me goes GR, GR, GR, DR, GR, GR, Cryo, FA, HIB, HS - loot corpse.
They say when you go on a quest for vengence to dig two graves. They underestimate me.

The Plush Family:
DPS - Furiel: Commando, T'ony: Slinger, Kessilee: VG, Ziraava: Sent
Tank - Montae: Shadow, Gaen: Guardian
Heals - Kam'ryn: Sage, Sabran: Soundrel

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Bulwark
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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Bulwark » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:06 pm

Furiel wrote: A typical strong mob for me goes GR, GR, GR, DR, GR, GR, Cryo, FA, HIB, HS - loot corpse - go to IHOP.
FTFY

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Blackferne » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:29 pm

So what's your Advanced Class? Vanguard
Spec? Shield
What companion do you use most of the time and why? Elara. Even though I run with my wife a healer it allows her to be DPS since Elara is a heal bot.
What's your rotation? Varies. AoE is different than single target and the fact I'm always in a group means stuff is probably dying much faster. AoE it is Mortar Volley>Pulse cannon/explosive surge. My goal is to keep them on me so the others can do their shit. Single target champion it is storm->stockstrike->ion pulse (for the debuff to their damage->High impact bolt->hammer shot/riot strike if needed to interrupt. My goal is generally to hold aggro and I keey the DoT from stocktrike up, and debuff from ionpulse up and High Impact Bolt as often as I can. Otherwise I tread water with hammer shot to keep my ammo high incase I need it.

What's your current level? (Because that factors into skills, which factor rotation): 38

Any advice or questions for other players? always kill weaker mobs first.
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Reese
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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Reese » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:33 pm

Vanguard, not because I meant to be.

Shield.

Elara majority. Aric if its a big mob that killed me before.

I use all the one off items with refresh first. Esp pulse cannon. Starting with Mortar Volley. Moving beyond the one offs I suggest just using the gun (im not good at names).

tips: Dont die. Its not good for tanks to die.
This... I Command!

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Durai » Fri Jan 20, 2012 2:25 am

Reese wrote:Vanguard, not because I meant to be.

Shield.

Elara majority. Aric if its a big mob that killed me before.

I use all the one off items with refresh first. Esp pulse cannon. Starting with Mortar Volley. Moving beyond the one offs I suggest just using the gun (im not good at names).

tips: Dont die. Its not good for tanks to die.
The tip of the day.

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Cuspar » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:11 pm

I realized that I solo, I do take the easy guys first, but in groups I go at the baddie first. Should the tank not occupy the worst enemy? Easy strategy to change - so I appreciate the advice.

PS - hit 40 last night. Speeder training two is teh suck.
Cuspar

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Bulwark » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:27 pm

Cuspar wrote: PS - hit 40 last night. Speeder training two is teh suck.
I skipped the 2nd speeder. the 10% speed boost doesn't seem worth it.

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Durai
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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Durai » Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:46 pm

Cuspar wrote:I realized that I solo, I do take the easy guys first, but in groups I go at the baddie first. Should the tank not occupy the worst enemy? Easy strategy to change - so I appreciate the advice.

PS - hit 40 last night. Speeder training two is teh suck.
Oh, ok then.

Yes, for groups you should be on the toughest. While tanking the toughest, let's say a Gold Elite or Champion, a mob might get away off your aggro. Any DPS should be able to handle a single Silver enemy no problem, so if your aggro slips you shouldn't worry about that too problem. Try to get it back if you can, of course.

But for solo-ing, definitely kill the weak ones first while keeping all the aggro on yourself so nobody messes with our beautiful medic Elara.

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Blackferne » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:04 pm

Cuspar wrote:I realized that I solo, I do take the easy guys first, but in groups I go at the baddie first. Should the tank not occupy the worst enemy? Easy strategy to change - so I appreciate the advice.

PS - hit 40 last night. Speeder training two is teh suck.
DPS Priority(also solo priority) weak before strong before elite before champion
Tank Priority (spalsh damage like mortar volley to "touch everything") then work on keeping the champion>elite>strong>weak. Your incoming damage will be front loaded but your healer (companion or person) should have cooldowns and full resource bars. And as DPS mops up you'll be easier to heal.
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What's your Trooper like?

Post by Cuspar » Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:01 pm

Bulwark wrote:
Cuspar wrote: PS - hit 40 last night. Speeder training two is teh suck.
I skipped the 2nd speeder. the 10% speed boost doesn't seem worth it.
Dashl said that he and Dodd noticed that you could sneak past mobs easier with speeder 2 than speeder 1. I thought that would be worth it - guess we'll see.

It stung to go from nearly 500k to 200k in 30 seconds.
Cuspar

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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by Dashl » Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:30 pm

Speeder 3 is also a big difference to skip past mobs. The only place I have noticed it doesn't work, is on the PVE part of Ilum. The mobs see you pretty far back, and a lot of the classes with invis have complained that the mobs see right through it. Also, with 2 and 3, you can take more hits if they do spot you and shoot at you.
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Re: What's your Trooper like?

Post by njessi » Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:22 pm

The devs confirmed that the better mounts that come with the next level of speeder training make it less likely you'll get knocked off your bike.
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