Shot rotations for beginner

[smilodon]

For those of us familiar with MMO's the idea of having a dozen or more different abilities we can fire off at the enemy is very familiar. But for those of us coming from FPS games we're more used to a main weapon and a side arm both of which fire bullets using the left mouse button. Maybe we get a grenade or a rocket launcher but the idea of ten ways to shoot an enemy can seem very confusing to begin with.

Fortunately SWTOR like most MMO's eases us into the game by only giving us one or two attacks to start and then slowly adding more as we level. Still by Lv 20 we will have quite an array of abilities to choose from. There are also technically eight classes so everyone's mileage will be different. Add in various talent tree spec's and the fact we might be in a tank, healer or DPS role (an old term for Damage Per Second but basically DPS means we are a damage dealer) and the concept of which shot to fire when becomes a daunting one. For simplicities sake I'll refer to these abilities we use to attack enemies, heal and buff people etc as shots, even though clearly many are not actually fired with a gun. Also for simplicities sake I'll refer to our energy/heat/rage and force bars as power bars. And of course Bounty Hunters don't use heat up and run out they add heat and overheat. So onward.

Most of the time in SWTOR as we're learning the game and levelling our character we will be questing, and questing requires us to kill NPC's (non playing characters .... the computer controlled enemies). We may meet them on their own, in small packs or as a single powerful 'elite'. Each situation will require a different approach regarding what shot we shoot at which NPC. First we should look at the types of shots we have. Obviously some players will be healing or tanking in groups but the theory still stands. In any given situation there will be good shots to use and not so good shots. Understanding a little of what each type does and having a plan of attack even if it's  basic one will significantly up your game.

We have three basic types of shot those being instant, charged and channelled shots. Instant shots are exactly that, they fire immediately and damage the NPC instantly. They also use up some power (add heat for BH's) the moment they are fired. Then we have charged shots. These shots typically take a few seconds to fire and then use up some power and add damage at the end of the charge. We also get a cool animation on our character as they build up the power ready to fire. The third type is a channelled shot. This usually fires instantly and uses power instantly but does the damage over a short period of time. While the shot is being fired our character cannot do anything else. If they move the shot will stop early and we'll loose some of the damage done. A sort of sub set of channelled shots are DOT's. DOT's are 'damage over time'. They also do their damage over a few seconds but unlike channelled shots as soon as they are fired we can do something else. For example the BH has a channelled shot called 'Death from Above'. The BH jet packs up into the air and fires multiple rockets into an area damaging anything caught in the fire. While the rockets are firing the BH is unable to anything else but just hovers in the air shooting away. The Agent however has a 'corrosive dart' shot. This fires instantly and damages the target over the next few seconds. While the corrosive dart burns the enemy (DOT) the Agent can get one with firing more shots.  

So shots work in different ways and do their damage differently as well. However they also use up our power in different ways too . And some shots will cost more power than others and some shots will do more damage than others. One shot might be quite efficient in its power to damage ratio and another might not. Also some shots might damage more than one target. So while the damage done to each NPC might not be a lot if the shot damages five NPC's at the same time the collective damage will be much more.

So we can see there are all kinds of classes with all kinds of shots for use against all kinds of NPC's. And yes it's as daunting as it sounds. Players have coined a term for this complexity and it's called Theory Craft! There are whole web sites dedicated to crunching the raw data and mathematics that underpin MMO's. However for mortals like me I just try to discover what shots I need to do and not what complex mathematical equations are grinding away in the background. I use a fairly straight forward process when fighting in SWTOR. It might well not be for you but it might help you develop your own style.

1. What am I fighting. IN SWTOR some NPC's are linked, in fact I think most are. So when I attack one I will draw the attention of several. So I work out/guess which are part of the group (they usually stand together) and how powerful each one is i.e. are there gold elite NPC's.

2. Can I CC any of them. CC means crown control and basically it's the ability to stun an NPC for a period of time so that they don't fight. Damage to the NPC will usually break the stun and put them back in the fight.

3. Can I debuff anything. A debuff is a shot that reduces the NPC's ability to fight or take damage. As a Sniper I can throw a grenade at an NPC which will 'confuse it' and reduce it's damage. I also have a shot that removes armour for 45 seconds on any NPC I fire it at. Other classes have different shots that have similar effects.

4. What order am I going to attack the NPC's in. I have zero proof but it seems to me that NPC's that don't have a lot of armour still do a reasonable amount of damage. I seem to do better when I kill these weaker characters quickly before turning onto the main elite. If I fight the Elite first I'll be taking damage from the weaker NPC's as well. But if I quickly kill the normal NPC's I can remove their damage from the fight and then am only taking damage from the Elite for most of the encounter. As I get to start the fight I can make sure I hit one of the normal NPC's with a very powerful opening shot. Often this big opener will kill that NPC and I'll be ahead before the battle has even started. Also many mobs are melee fighters i.e. they have to run to me to start attacking. I can use this delay to get some shots onto another normal NPC. In  theory I could kill one NPC before the fights even started and a second as it runs to my position. Often I will then only have the Elite left. By picking my targets in order we can completely change the balance of a fight. And I'm sure the Game Developers are aware of this as well, so they may well build the need to target enemies in order into an encounter with multiple NPC's.

5. Some shots will only work in certain situations so I have a shot that will only fire on stunned NPC's and one that only works on NPC's with less than 30% health. I make sure I am aware of when they become active.

6. What shots are effective and which are wasteful on power. This will be unique to each Advanced Class and the best place to find out what's best for you is to check out a web site SWTOR forum post specifically for your own class. But at least look at the damage each shot does and the amount of power it uses and get a feel for what's expensive and what is cheap. If you need to kill one NPC fast the it's fine to use the powerful expensive shots, but if you will be fighting for a while i.e. multiple targets then pace yourself and mix in some low per shots and even use your basic attack which doesn't use any power at all to conserve your resources. Also if you have shots that have a long cool down (A cool down is the time delay before we can use an ability again. My Sniper has cool downs that range from a few seconds to 20 minutes.) consider using them at the beginning of a fight. They may well become active again before the battle is over and you will be able to use them a second time. If you wait till the middle of the battle to use them in all likelihood they won't be ready again until the fight is over.

7. Do I have shots that improve my own ability to fight. We all have a class buff that we can apply permanently and it should be active all the time. We will have an ability that gets us back some of our rage, energy, force power or reduces our heat. And some classes will have heals that can be applied to ourselves and our companions. Finally we will have some 'Oh Crap' abilities that may shield us from all attacks for a few seconds or allow us to run away. These will usually be on long cool downs so use wisely.

8. Does it matter. Many fight will be fairly easy. The NPC's are not strong and we can kill them fast whatever tactic we use. So it's not important what shots we use. Just blast away and kill the NPC. That being said it's an idea to use our Theory Craft on all fights regardless of how simple they are. This will get into the habit of being efficient and using our shots properly.

So sadly there is no right way to fight in SWTOR. Some guides might list a 'rotation' for a specific class and that would be a good starting point but unless you know why your shooting a specific shot you will never really be effective. if anything changes you'll be completely unable to adapt and win the fight.

[Azunai]

I don't play SWTOR, but from what I've seen, the combat is very much like WoW. I just wanted to say it's fun to read this, makes me aware of how alien these things can be to 'outsiders', things that have become like breathing for me in the almost 7.5 years of WoW under the belt ^.^ You got it right by the balls here: Do selfbuffs, attack the mob, apply debuffs -> then start your other skills. Kill weaker adds first, then focus on the big baddy. Very basic and important principles of these kind of games and sadly they still go wrong even at the highest character level, judging by the Looking For Raid system in WoW xD

[Slush]

I had fun reading this aswell. Great guide on how damage works in MMOs. <3

[Penfold]

Superb !

[OldBloke]

My head hurts :blink:

[smilodon]

I ran this past my 10 year old Godson before I posted it. He confirmed that only a complete buffoon of the first order could fail to understand my beginners guide for the hard of thinking :narnar: