Post by Kieran on Feb 4, 2011 1:01:38 GMT -5
Introduction:
From my experience, the Specialist isn't for everybody. Unlike the Soldier, the Specialist truly is... well... a specialist. It doesn't have the outright energy management of a Soldier, and it doesn't do as much blatant damage as a Soldier. However, there is a lot of potential synergy hidden in the Specialist's powers, which means that in the right hands, it can be downright deadly. When used by an experienced player, this Archetype can be an absolute powerhouse in PVE and a terrifying sight in PVP. But again, it requires you to become intimate with the ins and outs of this powerset, so if you're more the kind who prefers to go in with guns blazing (pun intended!), then check out the Soldier Archetype instead (not that blazing guns are a bad thing - it all just depends on playstyle).
Generic Preface:
All of my builds are meant to be equally playable in both PVE and PVP. Because of this, if you're a PVE-only kind of guy, feel free to remove the PVP advantages (mainly Nailed to the Ground and Crippling Challenge) and replace with the next Rank up - or allocate the advantage points somewhere completely different, as it's ultimately up to you. I would like to say though that even though my builds can do PVP, they also built to perform great in PVE, so it isn't like you're losing anything by having that PVP aspect to the build.
Powers:
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Blade Tempest (R2, Crashing Crescendo)
Level 6: Teleport (R2)
Level 6: Two-Gun Mojo (Nailed to the Ground, Crippling Challenge)
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (R2, R3)
Level 11: Bullet Beatdown (R2, Not Without Incident)
Level 14: Parry (R2)
Level 17: Eye of the Storm (R2, Blade Beyond the Veil)
Level 22: Form of the Tempest
Level 27: Holdout Shot (R2, Stim Pack)
Level 32: Lock N Load (R2, Two Smoking Barrels)
Level 35: Whatever travel power finds your nemo.
Level 40: Lead Tempest (R2, Tread Softly)
Talents:
Dexterity/Ego
Dexterity/Strength
Ego/Strength
Dexterity/Endurance
Ego/Endurance
Strength/Endurance
Power Explanations:
Gunslinger: This is your energy builder and nothing more - I wouldn't recommend any of the advantages because the energy gain from Accelerated Metabolism isn't that much, and the damage is too low to warrant upgrading.
Blade Tempest: While the damage is somewhat limited, Bullet Beatdown's (yuck) self-root makes it difficult to completely rely on Bullet Beatdown (bleh) in PVP. Thus, it is wise to upgrade Blade Tempest to Rank 2 and grab Crashing Crescendo (which increases your chance to crit) in order to close in on retreating foes so that you can use your Bullet Beatdown (mleh) when they finally stop moving.
Teleport: Teleport works great with a Specialist because you can teleport in right besides your target(s), and start unleashing Bullet Beatdown (I hate that name... Bullet Ballet was a much better name for it... kinda artsy...) on them. Also, I would highly recommend this power over any other travel power because it allows you to get out of dangerous situations very quickly and painlessly. Say you’re surrounded and being pummeled to death by a number of baddies – all you gotta do is pop into teleport, launch straight up, and keep going until you lose aggro. If you’re in a building, just use teleport to retreat the way you came until you’re in the clear. Since Archetypes mostly don't have good energy management and self heals, Teleport allows you to survive encounters where you would normally die. Additionally, teleport allows you to skip the hordes of hallway baddies that are a pain in the rear. Level up to Rank 2 to obtain a massive speed boost.
Two-Gun Mojo: This power is fantastic. After maintaining it for its full duration, you gain a stack of Enraged, which increases the damage you do and helps power the rest of the build. Nailed to the Ground is a fantastic skill that cancels out travel powers and thus shuts down those annoying Teleport spammers, while Crippling Challenge applies a powerful debuff to your target at the cost of increased threat. This is a great opening skill and a phenomenal PVP skill.
Lightning Reflexes: This power increases your superstat bonus to dodge and avoidance, which makes you harder to hit and consequently more survivable. Rank up to level 3 for best results.
Bullet Beatdown (name = lame): This is going to be one of your primary spam skills. The reason I advocate Bullet Beatdown (UGH!) over Storm's Harvest is because Bullet Beatdown (ick) is basically a combo move, doing damage at each stage in the combo. Because of this, it allows you to pull off multitudes of criticals, making it a terrific power. Also, Storm's Harvest's DPS is average at best. For Bullet Beatdown (yetch), Not Without Incident transforms it from a great single-target skill to an awesome AOE skill, while you'd also be best taking this up to Rank 2 for increased damage.
Parry: As this is your only purely defensive skill, R2 is recommended for best results.
Eye of the Storm: While the damage dealt by Eye of the Storm isn't all that remarkable, it's true allure comes from the damage you absorb - up to 4031 at Rank 2. Additionally, Blade Beyond the Vale transforms this power to do pretty good DPS to any baddies foolish enough to attack you.
Form of the Tempest: While a fantastic power, Rank 3 merely speeds up the time that it takes for you to max out at 8 stacks of Focus. Because of this, it is best to forgo ranking this power up.
Holdout Shot: Because the Specialist suffers from energy issues, this power is awesome to have. Not only does it do 100% more damage when you score a critical hit, but the damage also doubles when you have 20% energy or less. Moreover, Stim Pack heals you and applies a heal over time on yourself, and this HOT can stack up to five times. Rank 2 is recommended for maximum damage.
Lock N Load: The reason I recommend Lock N Load over Masterful Dodge is because the Specialist already has enough dodge-increasing and defensive abilities by this point. As it is, Lock N Load is already a great damage-enhancing power, but when you throw Two Smoking Barrels in the mix, it becomes sustainable to the point of potentially being stackable. This allows you to keep yourself consistently buffed, thus significantly increasing the amount of damage you dish out. Rank 2 is recommend to capitalize on the death and destruction.
Lead Tempest: This power is similar to Eye of the Storm, except that this one actually does deal decent AOE damage. Additionally, Tread Softly increases your chance to dodge and gives you a 50% avoidance bonus, turning this power into not only a fair source of AOE damage, but also into a nice defensive power. Take up through Rank 2 for best results.
Talent Explanations:
As for the Talents: Dexterity increases your chance of scoring criticals while also increasing your dodge, Ego increases your critical severity, Strength increases the damage you deal, and Endurance increases the amount of energy you have as well as how much you gain from using your Energy Builder.
I recommend getting the Talents listed because by choosing +5s for +8s essentially gives you two extra Talent points than you would get by sticking with +8s (10 compared to 8). Additionally, there is a complex system of Diminishing Returns for most Characteristics once you get beyond 200-220, so over-leveling your stats can have marginal results later on while balancing them out guarantees that you have good, high level stats in multiple Characteristics.
Extra Note:
Zoomaholics rejoice - I have leveled up Teleport to Rank 2 so that your speed can now be a Force Unleashed - PUN INTENDED!!!
Extra Note #2:
I would like to quote GammaBreaker on the subject of Crippling Challenge's side effect: "Crippling Challenge, while an essential block-breaker in PVP, is also a *taunt* in PVE. It will make whatever you're shooting come over and sock you in the chops. Even if it's a cosmic boss being tanked by a Behemoth."
So please be aware of this when you use a power with Crippling Challenge. And again, ultimately, if you don't like this or don't want to do PVP, feel free to remove it and spend the advantage points elsewhere. But do know that Crippling Challenge is almost required to play PVP, as it is a powerful debuff and it breaks through blocks.
It's really your call, though.
Conclusion:
Well, that’s all for now – if you have any input or advice for improving this guide, please feel free to let me know! Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me either by PM or in-game! And if I have errors anywhere in my guide, please let me know and I’ll fix them as soon as possible!
UPDATE:
Thanks to Ashen, I was informed that while Rank 3 Form of the Tempest has its uses, Blade Tempest Rank 2 with the Crashing Crescendo advantage is a better investment due to increased damage in PVP. So if you're a PVE-only guy, feel free to keep Rank 3 Form of the Tempest, but if you want to be able to do both effectively, go with Rank 2 Blade Tempest with Crashing Crescendo.
From my experience, the Specialist isn't for everybody. Unlike the Soldier, the Specialist truly is... well... a specialist. It doesn't have the outright energy management of a Soldier, and it doesn't do as much blatant damage as a Soldier. However, there is a lot of potential synergy hidden in the Specialist's powers, which means that in the right hands, it can be downright deadly. When used by an experienced player, this Archetype can be an absolute powerhouse in PVE and a terrifying sight in PVP. But again, it requires you to become intimate with the ins and outs of this powerset, so if you're more the kind who prefers to go in with guns blazing (pun intended!), then check out the Soldier Archetype instead (not that blazing guns are a bad thing - it all just depends on playstyle).
Generic Preface:
All of my builds are meant to be equally playable in both PVE and PVP. Because of this, if you're a PVE-only kind of guy, feel free to remove the PVP advantages (mainly Nailed to the Ground and Crippling Challenge) and replace with the next Rank up - or allocate the advantage points somewhere completely different, as it's ultimately up to you. I would like to say though that even though my builds can do PVP, they also built to perform great in PVE, so it isn't like you're losing anything by having that PVP aspect to the build.
Powers:
Level 1: Gunslinger
Level 1: Blade Tempest (R2, Crashing Crescendo)
Level 6: Teleport (R2)
Level 6: Two-Gun Mojo (Nailed to the Ground, Crippling Challenge)
Level 8: Lightning Reflexes (R2, R3)
Level 11: Bullet Beatdown (R2, Not Without Incident)
Level 14: Parry (R2)
Level 17: Eye of the Storm (R2, Blade Beyond the Veil)
Level 22: Form of the Tempest
Level 27: Holdout Shot (R2, Stim Pack)
Level 32: Lock N Load (R2, Two Smoking Barrels)
Level 35: Whatever travel power finds your nemo.
Level 40: Lead Tempest (R2, Tread Softly)
Talents:
Dexterity/Ego
Dexterity/Strength
Ego/Strength
Dexterity/Endurance
Ego/Endurance
Strength/Endurance
Power Explanations:
Gunslinger: This is your energy builder and nothing more - I wouldn't recommend any of the advantages because the energy gain from Accelerated Metabolism isn't that much, and the damage is too low to warrant upgrading.
Blade Tempest: While the damage is somewhat limited, Bullet Beatdown's (yuck) self-root makes it difficult to completely rely on Bullet Beatdown (bleh) in PVP. Thus, it is wise to upgrade Blade Tempest to Rank 2 and grab Crashing Crescendo (which increases your chance to crit) in order to close in on retreating foes so that you can use your Bullet Beatdown (mleh) when they finally stop moving.
Teleport: Teleport works great with a Specialist because you can teleport in right besides your target(s), and start unleashing Bullet Beatdown (I hate that name... Bullet Ballet was a much better name for it... kinda artsy...) on them. Also, I would highly recommend this power over any other travel power because it allows you to get out of dangerous situations very quickly and painlessly. Say you’re surrounded and being pummeled to death by a number of baddies – all you gotta do is pop into teleport, launch straight up, and keep going until you lose aggro. If you’re in a building, just use teleport to retreat the way you came until you’re in the clear. Since Archetypes mostly don't have good energy management and self heals, Teleport allows you to survive encounters where you would normally die. Additionally, teleport allows you to skip the hordes of hallway baddies that are a pain in the rear. Level up to Rank 2 to obtain a massive speed boost.
Two-Gun Mojo: This power is fantastic. After maintaining it for its full duration, you gain a stack of Enraged, which increases the damage you do and helps power the rest of the build. Nailed to the Ground is a fantastic skill that cancels out travel powers and thus shuts down those annoying Teleport spammers, while Crippling Challenge applies a powerful debuff to your target at the cost of increased threat. This is a great opening skill and a phenomenal PVP skill.
Lightning Reflexes: This power increases your superstat bonus to dodge and avoidance, which makes you harder to hit and consequently more survivable. Rank up to level 3 for best results.
Bullet Beatdown (name = lame): This is going to be one of your primary spam skills. The reason I advocate Bullet Beatdown (UGH!) over Storm's Harvest is because Bullet Beatdown (ick) is basically a combo move, doing damage at each stage in the combo. Because of this, it allows you to pull off multitudes of criticals, making it a terrific power. Also, Storm's Harvest's DPS is average at best. For Bullet Beatdown (yetch), Not Without Incident transforms it from a great single-target skill to an awesome AOE skill, while you'd also be best taking this up to Rank 2 for increased damage.
Parry: As this is your only purely defensive skill, R2 is recommended for best results.
Eye of the Storm: While the damage dealt by Eye of the Storm isn't all that remarkable, it's true allure comes from the damage you absorb - up to 4031 at Rank 2. Additionally, Blade Beyond the Vale transforms this power to do pretty good DPS to any baddies foolish enough to attack you.
Form of the Tempest: While a fantastic power, Rank 3 merely speeds up the time that it takes for you to max out at 8 stacks of Focus. Because of this, it is best to forgo ranking this power up.
Holdout Shot: Because the Specialist suffers from energy issues, this power is awesome to have. Not only does it do 100% more damage when you score a critical hit, but the damage also doubles when you have 20% energy or less. Moreover, Stim Pack heals you and applies a heal over time on yourself, and this HOT can stack up to five times. Rank 2 is recommended for maximum damage.
Lock N Load: The reason I recommend Lock N Load over Masterful Dodge is because the Specialist already has enough dodge-increasing and defensive abilities by this point. As it is, Lock N Load is already a great damage-enhancing power, but when you throw Two Smoking Barrels in the mix, it becomes sustainable to the point of potentially being stackable. This allows you to keep yourself consistently buffed, thus significantly increasing the amount of damage you dish out. Rank 2 is recommend to capitalize on the death and destruction.
Lead Tempest: This power is similar to Eye of the Storm, except that this one actually does deal decent AOE damage. Additionally, Tread Softly increases your chance to dodge and gives you a 50% avoidance bonus, turning this power into not only a fair source of AOE damage, but also into a nice defensive power. Take up through Rank 2 for best results.
Talent Explanations:
As for the Talents: Dexterity increases your chance of scoring criticals while also increasing your dodge, Ego increases your critical severity, Strength increases the damage you deal, and Endurance increases the amount of energy you have as well as how much you gain from using your Energy Builder.
I recommend getting the Talents listed because by choosing +5s for +8s essentially gives you two extra Talent points than you would get by sticking with +8s (10 compared to 8). Additionally, there is a complex system of Diminishing Returns for most Characteristics once you get beyond 200-220, so over-leveling your stats can have marginal results later on while balancing them out guarantees that you have good, high level stats in multiple Characteristics.
Extra Note:
Zoomaholics rejoice - I have leveled up Teleport to Rank 2 so that your speed can now be a Force Unleashed - PUN INTENDED!!!
Extra Note #2:
I would like to quote GammaBreaker on the subject of Crippling Challenge's side effect: "Crippling Challenge, while an essential block-breaker in PVP, is also a *taunt* in PVE. It will make whatever you're shooting come over and sock you in the chops. Even if it's a cosmic boss being tanked by a Behemoth."
So please be aware of this when you use a power with Crippling Challenge. And again, ultimately, if you don't like this or don't want to do PVP, feel free to remove it and spend the advantage points elsewhere. But do know that Crippling Challenge is almost required to play PVP, as it is a powerful debuff and it breaks through blocks.
It's really your call, though.
Conclusion:
Well, that’s all for now – if you have any input or advice for improving this guide, please feel free to let me know! Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me either by PM or in-game! And if I have errors anywhere in my guide, please let me know and I’ll fix them as soon as possible!
UPDATE:
Thanks to Ashen, I was informed that while Rank 3 Form of the Tempest has its uses, Blade Tempest Rank 2 with the Crashing Crescendo advantage is a better investment due to increased damage in PVP. So if you're a PVE-only guy, feel free to keep Rank 3 Form of the Tempest, but if you want to be able to do both effectively, go with Rank 2 Blade Tempest with Crashing Crescendo.
*
