Sharpshooter Gunslinger
Last Updated: 5/31/21
Table of Contents
Overview
About the Class
Sharpshooter is the burst DPS specialization for the Gunslinger. It has historically had among the lowest sustained DPS performance in the game, though in the hands of a skilled player it is more than sufficient to meet the DPS checks of any Hard Mode content in the game.
Survivability
Gunslingers have incredible survivability due to having arguably the best collection of defensive cooldowns in the game, along with their positioning as a ranged DPS allowing them to avoid many damage mechanics that endanger melee DPS. Defense Screen (should be buffed via utilities) provides moderate and frequent damage absorption, Dodge can entirely avoid melee/ranged attacks over a short duration and with a relatively short cooldown, Hightail It can be used to cheese a wide range of mechanics, Hunker Down provides incredible AoE damage reduction (with proper utilities), Scrambling Field provides the entire raid with a 20% damage reduction for 20 seconds, and Bag of Tricks can be used to immediately reset the cooldown on all these defensives save for Scrambling Field. Furthermore, skilled players can utilize Ballistic Dampers to get nearly continuous 30% damage absorption on all incoming attacks. Combined with limited self heal capabilities, Gunslingers should need much less healing than most other DPS classes.
Utility and Mobility
Gunslingers provide great utility via being arguably the best ranged DPS in the game and their Scrambling Field can be immensely helpful on certain boss encounters (e.g., final burn phase of Dread Council HM/NiM). Gunslingers all struggle with mobility due to the need to remain in cover as much as possible and most abilities unable to be cast on the move. Skilled players can mitigate this handicap through utilities and by being proactive about positioning (i.e., if you know the team will need to move East on the map, try to set up as far East as possible to minimize movement).
6.0 Impact on Discipline
Gunslinger moved into 6.0 very smoothly and maintained their position as a very strong ranged DPS and the premier “turret” DPS class. The class got two good options for set bonuses, with Precise Targeter offering mobility and situational burst while Established Foothold offers superior energy management and overall DPS at the cost of becoming an immovable turret as often as possible. With respect to tactical items, the class and all its disciplines received some great options, so great in fact that several of them have been nerfed several times and the class still sits very high in DPS rankings.
Sharpshooter in particular got some very nice buffs to overall sustained DPS. The discipline ranked very near the bottom of the DPS charts in 5.x with a very large gulf between the bottom and middle tiers. Thanks to the Agitating Energies tactical, the discipline can apply its Vital Shot DoT once and then continually refresh and tick its damage via the rotation. As a result, the discipline’s sustained DPS is higher and its energy management is easier as well.
Role in Operations
Sharpshooter suffers no drop off in DPS when swapping targets so they should take priority for any add DPS or swapping between bosses in multiple boss encounters (e.g., Zorn/Toth, Dread Council, Aivela/Esne, etc.).
Utilities
I usually take some combination of the following Utilities, though the optimal combination can change from fight to fight. As of 6.0, the tiers have been reorganized.
Skillfull Tier
You must take 3 to advanced to Masterful.
Ballistic Dampers: Entering covers grants 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers. Each charge absorbs 30% of the damage dealt by incoming attacks. Cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds, and this ability can only be granted every 6 seconds.
This utility grants sizable nearly continuous damage reduction by making sure to exit and re-enter cover every 6 seconds. I highly recommend it assuming the player can remember to take advantage of its benefits by periodically exiting and re-entering cover.
Snap Shot: Entering cover makes the next Charged Burst or Dirty Blast activate instantly, and can occur once every 6 seconds. This utility is situational to some degree but useful most of the time.
Being able to instant cast Charged Burst or Dirty Blast makes it easier to DPS on the move by entering cover, instant casting Charged Burst or Dirty Blast , then resuming moving. This can also be used to front-load the energy cost of Charged Burst or Dirty Blast if you would otherwise cap on energy.
Hot Pursuit: You gain 4 charges of Hot Pursuit by exiting cover, which allow Charged Burst or Dirty Blast to be activated while moving. The charges last for 15 seconds and can be gained every 20 seconds. Reentering cover removes the effect.
I find this utility very useful in movement heavy fights, as with this you can DPS on the move for 4 consecutive GCDs, which is otherwise nearly impossible for any Gunslinger.
Cool Under Pressure: While in cover, you heal for 2% of your total health every 3 seconds.
I always take his utility for any fight where Snap Shot and Hot Pursuit are not beneficial due to minimal movement. Most of this healing is typically wasted, but over the course of a 6 minute encounter, this utility will cumulatively heal you for up to 240% of your total health over time. Even if it is only 20-30% effective, that is still equivalent to a 50% heal which can be helpful.
Efficient Ammo: Increases the damage dealt by Sweeping Gunfire by 25%.
I typically do not recommend this utility, as spamming Sweeping Gunfire can quickly destroy a Sharpshooter’s energy level, and Dirty Fighting and Saboteur already have impressive AoE capability. As such, I find movement and survivability utilities to provide greater benefit for all fights except those requiring exceptionally high AoE DPS (e.g., Hive Queen in Hard Mode).
Masterful Tier
You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.
Hotwired Defenses: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Defense Screen by 30%.
Defense Screen has a 30s cooldown so should be used up to 10 times per fight, so a 30% boost makes this a much better defensive cooldown.
Hold Your Ground: Reduces the cooldown of Defense Screen and Pulse Detonator by 5 seconds, and Escape by 30 seconds. In addition, when you exit cover you gain a Cover Screen that increases your ranged defense by 20% for 6 seconds.
I like this utility as it provides a range of survivability benefits. The Cover Screen is fairly limited as it only applies ranged defense but the reduction in cooldown to Defense Screen is very helpful and synergizes with Hotwired Defenses.
Pandemonium: Activating Pulse Detonator makes the next Charged Burst activate instantly and increases your chance to resist Force/Tech attacks by 20% for 6 seconds.
This utility is theoretically useful as another way to make Charged Burst instant (and improve mobility) while also providing a defensive cooldown. That said, I feel like Snap Shot is a better utility given it’s much shorter cooldown on use and the defensive buff is marginal given Gunslinger’s already very powerful damage mitigation.
Reset Engagement: Purges all movement-impairing effects when activated and grants Reset Engagement, increasing your movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Also, the final shot of Penetrating Rounds knocks back the target if they are within 10 meters.
Similar to Heads Up, this can be useful in certain limited circumstances but generally is more of a PVP utility.
Heroic Tier
A maximum of 3 utilities
Holed Up: Hunker Down reduces all AoE damage by 60%.
Nearly every fight has notable AoE damage, and with this utility and the buffed Defense Screen from Hotwired Defenses, Gunslingers can ignore a wide variety of AoE damage phases in order to increase DPS. For example, this utility is hugely beneficial in the final burn phase of Dread Council fight in the Dread Palace operation.
Lay Low: Reduces the cooldown of Hunker Down by 15 seconds and Pulse Detonator knocks back targets an additional 5 meters.
For any fights where Hunker Down will be useful, this is typically a good pickup for better uptime of the AOE damage reduction provided by Holed Up.
Riot Screen: Reduces all damage taken while in cover by 5% and reduces the cooldown of Scrambling Field by 30 seconds.
This is a vanilla buff to damage reduction while in cover (and you should always be in cover unless required to move for a mechanic). Always take.
Bait and Switch: Hightail It heals you for 10% of your maximum health. Additionally, the duration of Dodge is increased by 2 seconds.
This is a situational utility but any areas where healing is challenging this utility can be helpful to ease the burden on your healers.
Perfect Scheme: Reduces the cooldown of Bag of Tricks by 45 seconds and increases your damage reduction by 15% for 15 seconds after activating Bag of Tricks.
This is also a strong utility and what I take for any fights where I don’t think Hightail It will be useful. I find this utility is helpful for fights with multiple heal-intensive burn phases, as with the CD reduction on Bag of Tricks it becomes easier to use the ability twice per fight instead of more typically once per fight.
Example Utility Build
Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.
Key Passives
Charged Aim - Charged Burst reduces the activation time of your next Aimed Shot by 0.25 seconds, and can stack up to two times.
This utility is key to maximizing the DPS of Aimed Shot. With a double stack of Charged Aim, Aimed Shot is your highest DPS ability. Thus it is critical that the rotation (1) utilize Aimed Shot on cooldown; and (2) that Charged Burst always is cast at least twice in between each Aimed Shot to guarantee the short cast time.
Foxhole - Increases energy regeneration rate by 1 per second while in cover.
This utility makes it critical that Sharpshooter remains in cover as much as possible. Notwithstanding movement phases or exiting/re-entering cover to proc Ballistic Dampers or Snap Shot, always stay in cover to maximize energy regen and thus DPS.
Recoil Control - Firing Charged Burst twice in a row, firing Quickdraw or Aimed Shot once, or completing Penetrating Rounds now finishes the cooldown on Trickshot.
This utility has the most impact to the rotation. Trickshot only costs 5 energy versus 20 for Charged Burst (15 after Trickshot itself) and does nearly the same amount of damage prior to other passives. As such, it is hugely beneficial and should be used nearly every time is is available through this passive ability.
Smoking Barrels - Trickshot reduces the energy cost of your next two Charged Burst by 5.
This passive further assists with energy regen by making Charged Burst cheaper. Given how often Trickshot should be used in the rotation (3 times per rotation, every Charged Burst should receive this buff.
Stay Low - Increases the duration of Hunker Down by 3 seconds. Also, when you enter cover after using Hightail It, you gain Hunker Down for 3 seconds.
This passive is not as critical to the Sharpshooter as the others, but is worth noting for the 3 seconds of Hunker Down after Hightail It. Combined with the Bait and Switch utility (10% heal) from the roll, it’s inherent 100% dodge attacks, and the Holed Up utility buff to Hunker Down (60% AOE damage reduction), this makes Hightail It as immensely useful defensive cooldown either through its inherent ability or through Hunker Down if that ability is not otherwise available.
Honed Shots - Charged Burst grants Honed Shots, increasing the critical hit chance and damage of Charged Burst by 3% for 20 seconds. Can stack up to 3 times.
This passive should always be active to add 9% critical hit chance and damage, further buffing Charged Burst. Given the entire rotation centers around the cooldowns of Penetrating Rounds and Aimed Shot (12 seconds), there should never be a situation where this falls off except for boss transition phases.
Sharpshooter's Touch - Charged Burst grants Sharpshooter's Touch, increasing the armor penetration and damage dealt by your next Trickshot by 10%. Can stack up to 2 times.
This passive is also helpful to make Trickshot even more powerful.
Stay Down - Dealing damage with Aimed Shot to a target with less than 30% health grants Stay Down, increasing the damage of your next Quickdraw by 20%.
This passive makes Quickdraw a mandatory filler in the execute rotation each time it is buffed. It is also important as without this buff the execute ability might not have a place in the rotation due to its energy cost.
Gearing in 6.0
Gearing Stat Allocation
Please see my Gearing Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR. Please also see my Alacrity Guide for a much more in-depth look at alacrity.
For Sharpshooter Gunslinger, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Established Foothold
Tactical: Agitating Energies (Refraction Point for AoE)
Amplifiers: Weapon Expertise
Mods: Unlettered Lethal Mods
Relics: Devastating Vengeance & Primeval Fatesealer (Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution for Dxun/PVP)
Stim: Proficient
Adrenal: Critical (Attack for Dxun only)
For Sharpshooter Gunslinger, I allocate my tertiary stats as follows:
Accuracy: 1,585 - 1,630 (anything outside this approximate range and I usually try to re-optimize by swapping around enhancements and augments)
Alacrity: around 1,600 (at least 1,895 if the Zeal guild perk applies)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None
Set Bonus
Established Foothold
Increased drop rate from conquest.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) The cooldown of Hunker Down is reduced by 10 seconds. You gain 2 energy per second while Hunker Down is active.
(6) While Hunkered Down, you build stacks of Entrenched Offense, increasing damage by 3% per stack while you remain Hunkered Down. Stacks up to 5 times. Breaking cover or Hunker Down being removed removes this.
Analysis: Hunker Down has a 20s duration and a 45s cooldown prior to any set bonus, assuming one takes Lay Low (reduces CD from 60s to 45s). Thus, the 4-piece set bonus reduces the cooldown to 35s and makes it possible to have Hunker Down active for more than half the time and have a very high uptime. Beyond the benefit to DPS via the 6-piece set bonus, the very high uptime of Hunker Down provides amazing damage mitigation against AoE damage via the Holed Up utility.
An easily overlooked feature of the 4-piece set bonus is the energy regeneration. At “fast” regeneration you normally recover 5 energy per second, so the 4-piece set bonus increases energy regeneration 40% while Hunker Down is active. That buff is so huge that energy management is trivial for all disciplines as long as Hunker Down is used on cooldown or close to it.
Lastly, the most obvious benefit is the 6-piece set bonus. You gain one stack of Entrenched Offense per second up to a maximum of five stacks and +15% additional damage. Assuming Hunker Down is used on cooldown that should provide an average damage buff of around 7% net of the downtime while the ability is on cooldown.
Impact on Rotation: No change to the ability rotation for attacking abilities. However, it becomes critical to use Hunker Down as often as possible and to avoid moving while the cooldown is active. If you simply *have* to move, reenter cover as quickly as possible. The stacks of Entrenched Offense build around one per second, so quick movement can leave sufficient time to rebuild stacks and still deal meaningful DPS.
Otherwise, the key to maximizing the buff from the set bonus is being proactive to position oneself in a way that reduces required movement. If you know a fight involves movement, cheat in that direction as often as possible. In fights with attackers coming from multiple directions (e.g., Draxus adds), try to be set up as centrally as possible.
The other point to consider is when it is okay to delay using Hunker Down. For fights with periodic movement phases like Gharj, it is okay to delay the cooldown if a movement phase is imminent until after repositioning.
When to Take: Recommended for all encounters.
Precise Targeter
Increased drop rate from conquest.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Reduces the cooldown of Illegal Mods by 15 seconds and activating Illegal Mods restores 15 energy.
(6) Smuggler’s Luck gets 3 charges and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.
Analysis: Prior to alacrity and this set bonus, Illegal Mods has a 2 minute cooldown and Smuggler’s Luck has a 1 minute cooldown. The set bonus allows around one extra use of the former and 2-3 extra uses of the latter per encounter. As such it provides a nice DPS boost.
In comparison to the Established Foothold set bonus, Precise Targeter is nice but noticeably weaker. In terms of DPS boost, it provides a slightly higher burst DPS increase but at the cost of much less uptime of the buff. It also provides a much smaller buff to energy management. Precise Targeter provides 15 energy regeneration once every 105 seconds as compared to 40 energy regeneration every 35 seconds, which means Established Foothold provides EIGHT TIMES the energy regeneration.
Impact on Rotation: No impact but the set bonus will provide additional uses of both key offensive cooldowns per encounter.
When to Take: Not recommended. Established Foothold is strictly better and provides superior buffs to damage and energy management. This set is not bad and may be preferred by players who have a difficult time using Hunker Down on cooldown and not moving for its full duration.
Ballistic Concentration
Increased drop rate from The Nature of Progress Operation on Master Mode Difficulty, and has a small chance from Unidentified items on the Spoils of War vendors.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) When you deploy Scrambling Field, each group member within it grants a stack of Ballistic Concentration, increasing your energy regeneration rate by 1 for 20 seconds. Max 8 stacks.
(6) Each stack of Ballistic Concentration also increases the damage you deal by 5%.
Analysis: An interesting and super situational set bonus. This set bonus makes your Scrambling Field a very powerful individual offensive cooldown in addition to its group AoE defensive buffs (up to +40% damage and +8 energy regen). The challenge is that the ability has such a long cooldown that it pales in comparison to Established Foothold that provides more than enough energy regen and a +15% damage buff with more than 50% uptime. See above discussion on Established Foothold and Precise Targeter for more analysis on energy regen.
This set bonus could be useful for super stressful and tight soft enrage phases (where both the damage and mitigation are desirable) but on balance I still prefer Established Foothold especially given it being far easier to acquire.
Impact on Rotation: No impact. You should already be using Scrambling Field during high damage burn phases so it will simply provide a powerful offensive boost in addition to its significant group defensive benefit.
When to Take: Not recommended. Established Foothold is strictly better and provides superior buffs to damage and energy management. This set is not bad and may be preferred by players who have a difficult time using Hunker Down on cooldown and not moving for its full duration.
Tactical Items
Agitating Energies
Increased drop rate from operations.
Vital Shot deals more damage and dealing damage with Trick Shot and Penetrating Rounds refreshes its bleed effect on its target and ticks its damage.
Analysis: Vital Shot is a huge part of dealing great DPS for Sharpshooter and keepin high uptime is the most frequently overlooked aspect of the rotation. This tactical greatly simplifies the rotation by converting Vital Shot into a “fire and forget” DoT similar to Weaken Mind for Telekinetic Sage. The DoT ticks rather hard and as internal/elemental damage it bypasses boss armor so deals comparatively more of its damage than most other abilities of the discipline. Buffing it even more are the frequent “bonus ticks” that provide even more sustained damage.
Impact on Rotation: As discussed further below regarding the rotation, the rotation should apply Vital Shot early on. With this tactical, it should no longer be necessary to reapply it as it should be frequently refreshed and ticked for damage via the normal rotation. This essentially means that the rotation becomes Penetrating Rounds, x2 Charged Burst, and Aimed Shot with a Trickshot in between each and an extra Charged Burst as an extra filler. Given the buffs to Charged Burst, the change becomes favorable from an energy perspective and provides additional damage from the “bonus ability” as well as extra ticks of damage.
When to Take: Recommend tactical for most encounters.
B-0 Differential Targeting System
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Activating Hightail It or returning to your marker with Hideout makes your next Aimed Shot activate instantly and deal 30% more damage.
Analysis: This tactical is helpful in PVP. Often players do not have time to cast multiple Charged Burst to get a low cooldown Aimed Shot, so using this tactical can be very helpful to get instant casts with buffed damage.
Impact on Rotation: Make sure to place Hideout before pulling. Use Hightail It as the first opener to get an instant initial cast of Aimed Shot, then double cast Penetrating Rounds via the Burst Volley cooldown. Mixed in with Trickshot in between each big hitting ability, this combination usually does not allow time for 2 Charged Burst to get a low cooldown Aimed Shot. As such, you can use Hideout to get a second buffed instant Aimed Shot within the opener window (i.e., buffed by adrenals, raid buffs, etc.)
When to Take: PVP, I do not recommend for any PVE encounters as the discipline already has strong burst so any sustained options will typically be much better.
Refraction Point
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Penetrating Rounds does splash damage to targets around the primary target and causes your next Trick Shot to deal splash damage as well.
Analysis: The biggest weakness of Sharpshooter in comparison to Dirty Fighting and Saboteur is the MUCH weaker AoE DPS. The discipline can use XS Freighter Flyby on cooldown and spam channeled AoE attacks but that very quickly destroys energy for Sharpshooter.
This tactical provides some notable rotational AoE. In a typical 9 GCD rotation, 5-6 GCDs should be used by 1 Penetrating Rounds and 3-4 Trick Shot. Thus this tactical provides some nice uptime and frequent AoE. Combined with periodic use of dedicated AoE abilities puts the discipline in a place where it can hold its own in AoE situations.
Impact on Rotation: No change to rotation normally. If necessary, the “extra” GCD in the rotation normally devoted to either refreshing Vital Shot or an extra Charged Burst can be devoted to casting XS Freighter Flyby for more AoE DPS.
When to Take: Any VERY heavy AoE encounters, such as Hive Queen, several encounters in Nature of Progress, etc.
Amplifiers
Weapon Expertise
Sharpshooter's abilities are primarily Weapon damage except for Tech damage resulting from Vital Shot and XS Freighter Flyby. As such, Weapon Expertise provides a significantly stronger DPS boost than other options.
If the player is wanting to build a gear set to optimize DPS across all Gunslinger disciplines, Weapon Expertise is not necessarily a great choice. Dirty Fighting and Saboteur are DoT-based disciplines and so benefit greatly from Periodic Intensity and very little from Weapon Expertise (as they deal primarily Tech-based DoT damage). I recommend gearing towards the discipline you play the most and going with either Weapon Expertise for Sharpshooter or Periodic Intensity for the other disciplines.
Key Abilities
Holo-locate (0.5s cast, free, 120s cooldown) NEW IN 6.0 - Activating this ability marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you instantly return to the marked location. Holo-locate goes on cooldown for 120 seconds when used to return to the marked location.
The Sniper received their own Phase Walk in 6.0. It should be placed as needed before the fight to a location you will need to go during the fight, or during the fight at a location you will need to return to. Either way, take advantage of it to minimize movement time.
Crouch (instant, free, no cooldown) - Crouches in place to take cover. Enables certain cover-only abilities.
The defining trait of the Sniper in all disciplines is the need to be in cover as often as possible. This makes the class very much a “turret DPS” class as there are many passive abilities that improve DPS, damage mitigation, self healing and energy regeneration when in cover. Put simply, try to be in cover anytime you do not need to move.
Aimed Shot (2s cast, 15 energy, 15s cooldown) - Fires a high powered shot that deals high weapon damage.
Your highest DPS ability assuming that it benefits from 2 stacks of Charged Aim to reduce the cast time from 2s to 1.5s (so from 1.33 GCDs to 1.0 GCD). The biggest priority from a rotation perspective is ensuring 2 Charged Burst are cast prior to each use of Aimed Shot to ensure every cast is only 1 GCD.
Penetrating Rounds (2s channel, 20 energy, 15s cooldown) - A channeled attack that deals high weapon damage and sunders the target (reduces armor rating by 20% for 45s).
Your next highest DPS ability, it should also be used on cooldown.
Charged Burst (20 energy, no cooldown) - Shoots a target for medium weapon damage.
The spammable filler of the Sharpshooter discipline, its periodic use applies buffs to itself and other abilities and is also buffed itself by other abilities. In general, it should be used twice per rotation to proc Trickshot, to maintain the Honed Shots buff (+9% critical hit chance, damage), and to ensure each cast of Aimed Shot benefits from two stacks of Charged Aim to have its cast time as low as possible. It is also the filler ability to use when nothing else takes higher priority.
Trickshot (Instant, 5 energy, 9s cooldown) - Fires a follow up shot at the target and deals moderate weapon damage. Is only usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Charged Burst, Aimed Shot, Quickdraw or a complete channel Penetrating Rounds.
The key to maximizing Sharpshooter DPS is frequent use of Trickshot due to its strong damage (comparable to Charged Burst) at a very low 5 energy cost.
Quickdraw (instant, 15 energy, 12s cooldown) - Execute ability that deals high weapon damage and can normally only be used on enemies below 30% of maximum health.
A powerful execute ability, it should generally be used in a filler spot in the rotation any time it is buffed by Aimed Shot via the Stay Down passive ability (i.e., any time it is glowing). Outside this buff, it should generally not be used in the rotation.
Vital Shot (instant, 15 energy, no cooldown) - Applies a DoT that deals moderate internal damage over 18 seconds.
Vital Shot is the only DoT for this discipline. The fact that it deals internal damage makes it considerably more damaging due to bypassing enemy armor, making it the top overall filler ability for the discipline.
Flurry of Bolts (basic attack, instant, free, no cooldown) - Your basic attack that consumes no energy and has no cooldown.
Basic attack should only be used very infrequently. As noted in the rotation guide below, there is one filler slot per rotation cycle. In my experience, a basic attack needs to be used around every 3rd or so rotation cycle whenever Illegal Mods (recovers some energy if taking Precise Targeter set bonus) or Cool Head are not available.
XS Freighter Flyby (2s cast, 20 energy, 45s cooldown) - Pre casts an AoE attack that deals high elemental damage over several seconds to up to 8 enemies within the targeted area. Can only be used from cover.
A high damage ability that should be used in the opener if possible. Outside of the opener, it has no place in the single target rotation as it deals insufficient damage due to its cast time to be worthwhile. In any sustained AoE DPS situation, it should take top priority.
Sweeping Gunfire (4.5s channel, no cooldown) - Channelled AoE attack that deals high weapon damage over its duration. Can only be used from cover.
Gunslingers have a great advantage in that their channelled AoE attack does incredibly high damage, but at the cost of being very energy expensive. Sharpshooter has by far the weakest AoE of the Gunslinger disciplines, so care should be taken in an AoE context not to over-use this ability and destroy your energy.
Thermal Grenade (instant, 20 energy, 6s cooldown) - Deals moderate kinetic damage to the target and nearby standard/weak enemies (also knocks down standard/weak enemies).
A filler ability that is not used outside rare instances where it will deal AoE damage or where DPS on the move is needed.
Smuggler’s Luck (60s cooldown) - Increases the critical chance of your next Aimed Shot, Explosive Charge or Wounding Shots by 100%.
One of three offensive cooldowns, it buffs your most powerful DPS ability by guaranteeing a critical hit. Make sure to use well in advance of the opening pull so that your opener is as high as possible and so it is off cooldown earlier in the encounter, then use on cooldown.
Illegal Mods (10s duration, 120s cooldown) - Increases ranged/tech accuracy by 30% and critical chance by 15%.
A powerful offensive cooldown that also restores energy with set bonus, it should be used in the opener and nearly on cooldown afterwards. Make sure to time its use so that Aimed Shot and Penetrating Rounds are both used within its duration. Also it can be beneficial to delay it slightly to align with use of Burst Volley to get a second Penetrating Rounds into the buff window.
Burst Volley (15s duration, 45s cooldown) - Immediately finishes the cooldown of Penetrating Rounds, increases energy regeneration by 2 per second, and increases alacrity by 10%.
A multi-purpose offensive cooldown that enables an extra use of a heavy hitting ability, buffs energy regen and increases your APM by buffing alacrity. Care should be taken to time its use right after Penetrating Rounds is used (thereby maximizing the cooldown “saved” via the ability) and within the window of an adrenal, raid buff, and/or Illegal Mods if any will be on cooldown within 5-10s of it coming off cooldown itself.
Hunker Down (20s duration, 60s cooldown that can be reduced to 35s with utilities) - Hunkers you down into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover.
An extremely powerful defensive cooldown for Gunslingers with many helpful utilities, Hunker Down also becomes a critical offensive cooldown if running the Established Foothold set due to its stacking damage buff while the ability is active. See below for more discussion.
Bag of Tricks (180s cooldown, 135s with utility) - Immediately finishes the active cooldowns on Dodge, Surrender, Defense Screen, Pulse Detonator and Hunker Down.
An incredibly powerful ability, Bag of Tricks lets Gunslingers reset the cooldown on nearly all these defensive abilities.
Rotation
Opener
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Smuggler’s Luck OFF GCD - Always want to use this early to ensure your first two Aimed Shot casts are auto-crits.
Pre-cast XS Freighter Flyby 3s before pulling boss - Using this is dependent on the tanks giving you a consistent 3, 2, 1 countdown before pulling. Just remember all you have to do is move to cancel the cast. Ideally you want the cast to finish about 1s before the tank pulls the boss (assuming you have confidence that you won’t pull aggro).
Aimed Shot (full cast) - Assuming you get a 3, 2, 1 countdown from the tank before pulling, I would start the cast at “1” so that it hits about a half-GCD after he pulls. Between that (an auto-crit due to Smuggler’s Luck) and the pre-cast XS Freighter Flyby, that provides a HUGE opening burst.
Vital Shot - Applied here before we use any offensive cooldowns to get it started ticking as we roll into the big hitters. Practically speaking, I also find that using this GCD with relatively low DPS helps even out the initial burst to avoid pulling aggro while also contributing to higher overall DPS in your complete opener.
Illegal Mods OFF GCD - Used here after we apply the DoT because we are about to start the core rotation burst.
Hunker Down OFF GCD - Used here to begin applying our damage bonus from Established Foothold as we begin to deal heavy damage in our opener. This can be applied prior to hard casting Aimed Shot in #3 if preferred so that the damage buff will apply there, but since the hard cast is so long and the application of Vital Shot does little immediate damage I feel it is more efficient to use here so more damage abilities are used within its duration.
Adrenal OFF GCD - Delayed until here due to its longer duration than Illegal Mods should enable a more optimal timing to fit more Aimed Shot and/or Penetrating Rounds casts into its buff window.
Penetrating Rounds - Using our next big hitter now that all the set up is completed and we used our procced Trickshot.
Burst Volley OFF GCD - Used here enable a 2nd channeled attack during the Illegal Mods buff window and to get as much of the alacrity boost into the adrenal / raid buff window as well.
Penetrating Rounds - Used here immediately after the cooldown so it fits into the cooldown window.
Bag of Tricks OFF GCD - I try to activate this ability as quickly as possible after Hunkder Down to reset Hunker Down's cooldown and gets its cooldown ticking.
Trickshot - High damage and very low energy cost filler
Charged Burst - Normally we would use Trickshot first since it was procced by Penetrating Rounds. However, doing so would delay use of Aimed Shot, so we skip it and go into our x2 Charged Burst combo.
Charged Burst - Used a second time to proc Trickshot and to ensure our next Aimed Shot is reduced to 1 GCD cast time.
Trickshot - High damage and very low energy cost filler
Aimed Shot - Should be off cooldown during the previous GCD so use immediately.
Trickshot - High damage and very low energy cost filler
[End of opener, continue rotation as discussed below]
Rotation (Core)
Note that you can re-arrange this rotation to start with Penetrating Rounds, the x2 Charged Burst combo, or Aimed Shot. It doesn’t really matter, the key is the approximate order and that each is used within a rotation block. We usually want Penetrating Rounds and Aimed Shot to be used back-to-back to ensure any time you use Illegal Mods or an adrenal that both fit into the cooldown window and may even get 2 uses into an adrenal window if used right before their first use.
The Filler can float around through the rotation. I have it here as ability #6 for convenience. The only major consideration is to avoid using 3 Snipes in between uses of Trickshot as the buff applied by each Charged Burst to the next Trickshot maxes out at 2 stacks.
6.0 NOTE - This rotation assumes the player has equipped the Established Foothold 6-piece set bonus and the Agitating Energies tactical and that Vital Shot has already been applied. See below for discussion of how the rotation varies without these items.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Penetrating Rounds - Used on cooldown. Main point to note is that this channel needs to finish for it to proc Trickshot, so be careful not to clip the cast by moving.
FILLER / Charged Burst - We have an extra GCD in the rotation so should generally use Charged Burst. See Filler Priority below for additional discussion.
Trickshot - It bears repeating that Trickshot does great damage and is the most critical part of the overall rotation due to how it affects energy management. It is super cheap (5 energy, so you net positive energy each GCD you use it) and it buffs Charged Burst to be 5 energy cheaper as well. If you don’t use Trickshot consistently then your energy may fall apart.
Charged Burst - Used twice here to maintain buffs on Charged Burst via the Honed Shots passive, to buff the next Trickshot via the Sharpshooter’s Touch passive, and finally to shorten the cast time on Aimed Shot via the Charged Aim passive.
Charged Burst - Used twice here as noted above to proc Trickshot.
Trickshot - Buffed by Charged Burst x2.
Aimed Shot - Used on cooldown.
Trickshot
[Repeat]
Rotation (Burst Volley)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Penetrating Rounds - Used on cooldown. Main point to note is that this channel needs to finish for it to proc Trickshot, so be careful not to clip the cast by moving.
Burst Volley (OFF GCD) + Penetrating Rounds - We want to use Burst Volley right after a use of Penetrating Rounds so we can immediately channel it a second time. This keeps the rotation really smooth and avoids having to delay its use in the next rotation.
Trickshot - It bears repeating that Trickshot does great damage and is the most critical part of the overall rotation due to how it affects energy management. It is super cheap (5 energy, so you net positive energy each GCD you use it) and it buffs Charged Burst to be 5 energy cheaper as well. If you don’t use Trickshot consistently then your energy may fall apart.
Charged Burst - Used twice here to maintain buffs on Charged Burst via the Honed Shots passive, to buff the next Trickshot via the Sharpshooter’s Touch passive, and finally to shorten the cast time on Aimed Shot via the Charged Aim passive.
Charged Burst - Used twice here as noted above to proc Trickshot.
Trickshot - Buffed by Charged Burst x2.
Aimed Shot - Used on cooldown.
Trickshot
Note that the only change here is we use Burst Volley to enable a back-to-back use of Penetrating Rounds in the filler spot instead of Charged Burst.
Rotation (sub-30%)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Penetrating Rounds - Used on cooldown. Main point to note is that this channel needs to finish for it to proc Trickshot, so be careful not to clip the cast by moving.
Quickdraw - In the execute phase we can use Quickdraw once per rotation with its buff applied from Aimed Shot.
Trickshot - It bears repeating that Trickshot does great damage and is the most critical part of the overall rotation due to how it affects energy management. It is super cheap (5 energy, so you net positive energy each GCD you use it) and it buffs Charged Burst to be 5 energy cheaper as well. If you don’t use Trickshot consistently then your energy may fall apart.
Charged Burst - Used twice here to maintain buffs on Charged Burst via the Honed Shots passive, to buff the next Trickshot via the Sharpshooter’s Touch passive, and finally to shorten the cast time on Aimed Shot via the Charged Aim passive.
Charged Burst - Used twice here as noted above to proc Trickshot.
Trickshot - Buffed by Charged Burst x2.
Aimed Shot - Used on cooldown.
Trickshot
Note the only change here from the Core Rotation is we used Quickdraw in the filler slot right after Penetrating Rounds. I feel this aligns out heavy burst nicely with Aimed Shot / Trickshot / Penetrating Rounds / Quickdraw so that during buff windows we are more likely to get all of them together.
Filler Priority
1
2
3
4
5
Vital Shot - Your top overall priority filler, your DoT does much heavier damage than the tool tip indicates due to its internal damage profile. That ignores enemy armor so typically will do around 50% more DPS than a comparable non-internal/elemental damage ability (like Snipe). Keeping 100% uptime of the DoT is a huge DPS increase for the discipline. Unfortunately, it’s cooldown does not align with the length of your rotation cycle, so to keep it up you will need to float the filler ability through the rotation. That isn’t a big deal but takes some time to get used to it.
In 6.0 and if taking the Agitating Energies tactical, this DoT only needs to be applied once then will be automatically refreshed by Penetrating Rounds and Trickshot. As such, it no longer needs to be reapplied unless there is downtime or target swapping.Penetrating Rounds (w/ Burst Volley) - Normally a core rotation ability, the Burst Volley cooldown lets us add a second use of Penetrating Rounds in the filler slot as noted above.
Quickdraw (buffed) - Your execute is buffed by the cast of Aimed Shot via the Stay Down passive. It should only be used when glowing. That works out anyway since the rotation only has one filler spot so there would not be a sustainable way to use it more often in any case.
Charged Burst - Your remaining filler any time Vital Shot is ticking and not going to expire during this rotation cycle. A word of caution to be careful with energy levels. If you don’t have Cool Head or Illegal Mods (with Precise Targeter set bonus) for energy regeneration, you should be careful with its use.
Flurry of Bolts - Should only be used very infrequently. If taking the Established Foothold set bonus, the additional energy regeneration should be sufficient to never need to use a basic attack.
Rotation w/o Established Foothold and/or Agitating Energies
As discussed above in the rotation and gearing sections, the Established Foothold (EF) set bonus and Agitating Energies tactical are mandatory for nearly all PVE encounters. The only exception to this is taking the Refraction Point tactical for fights where you need much higher AoE DPS. The Established Foothold set bonus is optimal for all encounters in my opinion.
However, players still gearing up may be stuck playing with another set bonus or an incomplete set bonus. There are a few tips to keep in mind if you are missing a complete gearing set, as it will impact your rotation in a few important ways.
Get the Agitating Energies tactical before EF gear. This makes sense since it is one item versus six items but there is more to it than that. The biggest drawback to now having the Established Foothold set is the greatly reduced energy generation. The damage boost from Hunker Down is amazing but does not really impact your rotation as significantly. Agitating Energies lets you apply Vital Shot once and then forget about it, which is in itself a HUGE energy savings.
Without the EF 4-piece, use Flurry of Bolts frequently as a filler. The rotation above depends heavily on the energy regeneration of the EF 4-piece set bonus and high uptime on Hunker Down. The rotation is energy negative using Charged Burst as a filler without these benefits. If you have Agitating Energies equipped then I would suggest using Flurry of Bolts as your filler unless you have Cool Head available or are above 85% energy. If you do not have the Agitating Energies tactical yet then the same rules apply except your filler use should prioritize applying Vital Shot over Charged Burst as discussed above.
Without the EF 6-piece, Hunker Down does not need to be used on cooldown. The EF 6-piece gives the huge damage buff and leads to the goal of using Hunker Down on cooldown. If you lack the 6-piece set then Hunker Down can be used situationally to avoid knockback mechanics and/or to mitigate predictable AoE damage, and you may be able to re-allocate utilities accordingly.
With all that said, I strongly recommend getting the full set bonus and tactical as quickly as you can since it is hugely beneficial to the discipline. EF drops from conquest so simply reaching conquest on as many Gunslinger or Sniper characters as possible will quickly reward you with a full EF set. Agitating Energies drops from operations but its chances of dropping in a group setting is fairly low. Between the lower odds of getting it free and its greater utility, I would suggest making Agitating Energies your first/only purchase from the Tech Frag vendor.
Applying DoTs to Multiple Targets
Sharpshooter is not a very strong AoE class like Saboteur and does not have a DoT spread ability like Dirty Fighting, so it can struggle compared to the other Gunslinger disciplines in multi-target fights. Fortunately, it has a big advantage in that it has a DoT in Vital Shot that can be applied to multiple targets and can become a "fire and forget" DoT on multiple targets with careful target swapping.
To briefly refresh, the Agitating Energies tactical enables Penetrating Rounds and Trickshot to tick and refresh the duration of Vital Shot on a target. Prior to alacrity, Vital Shot has an 18 second duration prior to alacrity and the core rotation takes 12.5 seconds, in which Penetrating Rounds is used at least once and Trickshot is used three times. Thus the core rotation provides at least four ability uses that can tick/refresh Vital Shot on multiple targets.
The basic concept to this strategy is to rely on Penetrating Rounds to tick/refresh Vital Shot on your main target and swap targets for one GCD only to use any of the Trickshots on the secondary target to tick/refresh on them as well. Penetrating Rounds does a lot of damage and should tick Vital Shot five times versus Trickshot ticking it once, so keeping Penetrating Rounds on your main target will keep the majority of damage on your main target.
A super helpful way to accomplish this strategy with no/minimal loss of uptime is Focus Target. The default keybind for Focus Target is Alt+F, which sets your focus target and when used a second time will swap your focus target and current primary target. Apply Vital Shot to both targets and continue with your rotation on the main target, then before a use of Trickshot hit [Alt+F] / Trickshot / [Alt+F]. This key combination will swap targets to the secondary target, use Trickshot to deal damage and refresh/tick Vital Shot, then swap back to your main target.
A player could potentially keep Vital Shot up to three additional targets at once by using multiple Trickshots for this purpose. However, I do not recommend it since the Focus Target strategy will only work for one secondary target. Manually tab targeting or click targeting is almost guaranteed to lose valuable uptime.
Downtime & Restarting the Rotation
Many fights involve downtime for transitions in boss encounters or for various reasons can cause the rotation to get a bit lost when swapping targets or DPS'ing while on the move.
Any time the boss is shielded I suggest starting with the opener to pre-cast XS Freighter Flyby and hard cast Aimed Shot as outlined in the opener, then proceed into the normal rotation.
If you are unable to precast any abilities then I suggest beginning your rotation with applying Vital Shot if it has fallen off, then begin with the regular rotation at Penetrating Rounds. Aimed Shot hits really hard but without the shortened cast it is much less of a DPS benefit and falls way behind Penetrating Rounds and its 5 ticks of Vital Shot.
Offensive Cooldowns
Smuggler’s Luck (60s cooldown prior to alacrity) - Increases the critical chance of your next Aimed Shot, Explosive Charge or Wounding Shots by 100%.
Smuggler's Luck should be used on cooldown in most instances. The buff it applies lasts for 20 seconds. The pre-alacrity cooldown of Wounding Shots is 9 seconds or about 6 GCD's, so at a minimum the duration of the buff should be enough for 2 Wounding Shots.
The cooldown can be saved for specific burn phases when necessary though given its relatively short cooldown make sure to use it as often as you can before/after any hard burn phases.
Illegal Mods (10s duration, 120s cooldown) - Increases ranged/tech accuracy by 30% and critical chance by 15%.
Illegal Mods is a stronger cooldown with double the cooldown and a defined duration, so it should be timed a bit more carefully. Apart from using it early in the opener for high early damage, it's use should be timed within the rotation when we deal the most damage.
The duration of Target Acquired is slightly less than a full rotation cycle so the main objective in timing its use is making sure it buffs at least one Aimed Shot and Penetrating Rounds, and then synergizing its use with other offensive cooldowns like Burst Volley and Hunker Down. I suggest delaying it slightly if necessary to align with the next Burst Volley cooldown, as the 5 extra ticks of Vital Shot and extra base damage from the second Penetrating Rounds will maximize the critical chance buff from the cooldown.
Burst Volley (15s duration, 45s cooldown) - Immediately finishes the cooldown of Penetrating Rounds, increases energy regeneration by 2 per second, and increases alacrity by 10%.
As discussed above, Burst Volley should be used as often as possible immediately after a channel of Penetrating Rounds.
Hunker Down (20s duration, 60s cooldown / 35s with utility + set bonus) - Hunkers you down into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover.
Hunker Down is a very powerful offensive cooldown for all Gunslingers. Its offensive buffs come from gear:
Heads Up (Masterful Utility) - When Hunker Down ends or you leave cover while Hunker Down is active, you gain Heads Up, which increases your movement speed by 50% and grants immunity to movement impairing effects for 6 seconds.
Lay Low (Heroic Utility) - Reduces cooldown of Hunker Down by 15 seconds.
Holed Up (Heroic Utility) - Reduces all area effect damage taken by 60% while Hunker Down is active.
Established Foothold (4 piece set bonus) - The cooldown of Hunker Down is reduced by 10 seconds. You gain 2 energy per second while Hunker Down is active.
Established Foothold (6 piece set bonus) - While Hunkered Down, you build stacks of Entrenched Offense, increasing damage by 3% per stack while you remain Hunkered Down. Stacks up to 5 times. Breaking cover or Hunker Down being removed removes this.
If you are running Established Foothold (and you should be), you should generally use Hunker Down on cooldown unless you are about to enter a period of downtime or movement.
Defensive Cooldowns
Crouch (no cooldown) - Crouches in place, taking cover if used behind an object that provides cover. Crouching enables the use of cover-only abilities, and so long as you remain behind a cover object, most ranged attackers strike your cover instead.
Crouch provides a LOT of benefits through passive abilities and utilities:
While in cover the player receives +20% ranged defense and is immune to ability activation pushback via the Hold Position passive ability.
Hunker Down can only be activated while in cover and with utilities and set bonus has very high uptime and provides 60% resistance to AoE damage while active.
Using Dodge while in cover adds 75% damage resistance to Force or Tech attacks via the Hold Position passive ability.
If taking the Ballistic Dampers utility, each time the player enters cover they receive 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers that absorb 30% of the next 3 damaging attacks to the player.
If taking the Cool Under Pressure utility, while in cover the player will heal 2% of total health every 3 seconds.
If taking the Snap Shot utility, each time the player enters cover they can immediately activate Dirty Blast and can trigger this utility once every 6 seconds.
If taking the Hot Pursuit utility, by entering cover the player can gain 4 charges of Hot Pursuit for 15 seconds after exiting cover, which enable the player to cast Dirty Blast on the move.
If taking the Riot Screen utility, while in cover all damage taken is reduced by 5%.
Gunslingers are a cover-based ranged damage class and gain many defensive benefits from being in cover and so should be in cover as often as possible.
Hunker Down (20s duration, 60s cooldown / 35s with utility + set bonus) - Hunkers you down into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover.
Hunker Down is a very powerful defensive cooldown for all Gunslingers. See above for the complete listing of potential benefits via gear and utilities. The key defensive benefit for Hunker Down is it's 60% AoE damage reduction. This gives Gunslingers up to 57% uptime on 60% AoE damage reduction. When combined with the Gunslinger's other defensive cooldowns, this lets players ignore most AoE damage mechanics if necessary.
Hunker Down's cooldown can be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Defense Screen (30s cooldown / 25s with utility) - Projects a defense field around yourself for up to 10 seconds, which absorbs moderate damage.
Defense Screen can benefit from the Hotwired Defenses Masterful utility that increases the damage it absorbs by 30%, and the Hold Your Ground Masterful utility that reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds. The Concussion passive ability also causes Defense Screen to grant 30% damage resistance for 6 seconds after it ends.
Defense Screen is a great low cooldown defensive ability for any predictable instances of low to moderate damage. Since it projects an absorb shield it is effective against nearly all types of damage mechanics.
Defense Screen's cooldown can be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Dodge (60s cooldown) - Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 200% for 3 seconds.
If Dodge is used while the player is in cover then it also benefits from the Hold Position passive ability, which causes Dodge to reduce damage taken by Force and Tech attacks by 75% for Dodge's duration.
Dodge is a really powerful defensive cooldown is used smartly. It can let Gunslingers entirely mitigate melee/ranged attacks regardless of whether the player is or is not in cover. If the player can anticipate heavy Force or Tech damage mechanics, the player can enter cover and use Dodge to mitigate 75% of the damage. Combining Defense Screen and Dodge while in cover is frequently enough to survive nearly any damage mechanics outside of "one shot" mechanics.
Dodge's cooldown can be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Hightail It (20s cooldown) - Roll forward 18 meters, purging movement-impairing effects and landing crouched behind cover. While rolling, your chance to dodge attacks is increased by 100%.
Hightail It can benefit from the Bait and Switch Heroic utility that causes Hightail It to heal you for 10% of your maximum health on activation.
Hightail It is a situational defensive ability that is more consistently useful as a movement cooldown. I primarily use it to quickly reposition and get back into cover. However, it can be used to completely mitigate most damage mechanics if timed correctly, but it is fairly challenging given the brief window of damage resistance. The keys to success are (1) aim yourself to make sure you don't roll into trouble or off a ledge; and (2) try to time Hightail It as close as possible to the damage tick.
Hightail It's cooldown can NOT be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Diversion (60s cooldown) - Reduces the accuracy by 45% and exposes from cover of up to 8 enemies with 8 meters for 8 seconds. Cannot be used on operation bosses.
Diversion can benefit from the Opportunity Knocks Heroic utility that applies a +10% armor penetration buff for every additional enemy affected by Diversion (so a maximum of +70% armor penetration) if Diversion affects the maximum of 8 enemies.
Diversion is not usually very useful in operations. I can occasionally be useful on fights with lots of adds to debuff them to deal less damage to the team, and has a niche use in the Thrasher encounter in the Scum and Villainy operation in Veteran or Master Mode to force the snipers on the elevated platform out of cover.
On fights with lots of adds near the boss the Opportunity Knocks utility makes Diversion an offensive cooldown. Diversion consumes a global cooldown though so it really needs to affect close to the maximum for the armor penetration buff to make it worthwhile to buff DPS, which is pretty rare in operations outside of trash pulls.
Diversion's cooldown can NOT be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Scrambling Field (180s cooldown / 150s with utility) - Deploys an acquired scrambling field that disrupts the energy signatures of conventional weapons. The field spawns 10 meters around you, reducing the damage taken by all allies that remain inside by 20%. Lasts 20 seconds.
Scrambling Field can benefit from the Riot Screen Heroic utility that reduces it cooldown by 30 seconds. I often take this utility but primarily for its other benefit that adds a permanent 5% additional damage reduction while in cover. The cooldown reduction is only useful for fights where you need to use Scrambling Field more than once and need the 30 second cooldown reduction to time it correctly.
Scrambling Field is an AMAZING ability and serves as a defensive "raid buff" for Gunslingers since they do not have an offensive team cooldown. It has a long cooldown so needs to be timed correctly, but can make a massive difference to help teams survive high group damage phases. Some examples include the burn phase in the Dread Council fight in the Dread Palace operation, the burn phase in the Master & Blaster fight in the Ravagers operation and the Red boss fight in the Dxun Nature of Progress operation.
Scrambling Field's cooldown can NOT be reset by Bag of Tricks.
Hunker Down & Bag of Tricks
As discussed above, Hunker Down provides a really strong boost to damage when you have the Established Foothold set bonus equipped. Except during downtime or when downtime is imminent, players should try to activate Hunker Down on cooldown to get the maximum benefit of the damage buff. Players can further optimize the buffs from Established Foothold via the Bag of Tricks ability.
When Hunker Down is activated, it builds stacks of Entrenched Offense that increase damage by 3% per stack. Entrenched Offense builds 1 stack every second, so it takes 5 seconds to build from 0 stacks to the maximum of 5 stacks. So instead of receiving 20 seconds of +15% damage, instead we have +3-12% damage for 5 seconds and +15% damage for 15 seconds.
Bag of Tricks resets the cooldown on various abilities including Hunker Down. This means we can squeeze in some extra uses of Hunker Down during a fight, as long as we do not expect to need Bag of Tricks to enable extra uses of other applicable abilities.
With all applicable utilities taken, Hunker Down has a 20 second duration with a 35 second cooldown, while Bag of Tricks can be used every 150 seconds with a utility. Without using Bag of Tricks for extra Hunker Down uses and ignoring downtime, we can achieve 20s / 35s = 57% uptime on Hunker Down. Over the course of a 6 minute fight we can potentially use Bag of Tricks 3 times to get 3 extra uses of Hunker Down, which would increase our overall uptime on Hunker Down to around 67%. Getting +10% more uptime on a +15% damage buff should equate to around a 1.5-2.5% increase in overall damage. (The math indicates +1.5% but we should be looking to use offensive cooldowns, burst windows in our rotation and synergizing with group raid buffs to increase the benefit of this additional uptime.)
An advanced option for Bag of Tricks is to use it to bridge together two uses of Hunker Down. This strategy involves using Bag of Tricks right after Hunker Down is used initially, the activating the second Hunker Down just before the first expires. If we execute this strategy correctly, we can carry over our 5 stacks of Entrenched Offense for the second full duration instead of building back up from 0 to 5 stacks.
Movement as a Gunslinger
Gunslingers are a cover-based class by design, so we want to avoid movement whenever we can and minimize it when it is unavoidable.
Let's first discuss relevant abilities, passives and utilities that can help Gunslingers quickly relocate from position to position, then go over some strategic considerations and how those can apply in operations encounters that involve lots of movement.
Hideout (0.5s cast, free, 120s cooldown) - Activating this ability marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you instantly return to the marked location. Hideout goes on cooldown for 120 seconds when used to return to the marked location.
Hideout is a great ability for any fight where you will have to move to a pre-determined location. Place it before the fight if possible. You can also place it mid-fight if you run past an area you will need to return to later in the fight.
Hightail It (20s cooldown) - Roll forward 18 meters, purging movement-impairing effects and landing crouched behind cover. While rolling, your chance to dodge attacks is increased by 100%.
I primarily use Hightail It for relocation, as most of the time moving 18 meters is sufficient to get into the class' 35m range on most abilities.
Hot Pursuit (Skillful Utility) - You gain 4 charges of Hot Pursuit by exiting cover, which allow Charged Burst or Dirty Blast to be activated while moving. The charges last for 15 seconds and can be gained every 20 seconds. Reentering cover removes the effect.
I always take Hot Pursuit. A bunch of other abilities and utilities are great for momentary relocation but Hot Pursuit is the only way to let you hard cast your filler while moving. For any operations that may include sustained movement phases I have found Hot Pursuit to be an amazing utility.
Reset Engagement (Masterful Utility) - Surrender purges all movement-impairing effects when activated and grants Reset Engagement, increasing your movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Also, the final shot of Penetrating Rounds knocks back the target if they are within 10 meters.
Reset Engagement is a situational utility that can be taken when you need periodic but infrequent big bursts of speed. Surrender has a 45 second cooldown so can provide quite a few on-demand speed boosts in a fight. The Master and Blaster fight is a good example for this utility, where if you are running in phase 1 this utility can help you quickly relocate.
Snap Shot (Skillful Utility): Entering cover makes the next Charged Burst or Dirty Blast activate instantly, and can occur once every 6 seconds.
I find Hot Pursuit to be more useful for mobility but Snap Shot can be helpful to "stick and move" to get an extra instant cast in while moving.
As discussed above, the key to maximizing Gunslinger DPS is to stay in cover (and Hunker Down) as often as possible. When you have to move you should try to move as quickly as possible and pre-position yourself to minimize the travel distance.
Here are some quick tips for each operation encounter to maximize your DPS uptime as a Gunslinger:
Eternity Vault
XRR-3 Annihilation Droid - Enter cover 20m from boss to avoid stun/knockback then Hightail It under the boss for AoE healing, then Hightail It back out when it comes off cooldown.
Gharj - Hot Pursuit and Reset Engagement are great to get a speed boost and mobile DPS each time an island collapses.
Ancient Pylons - Enter cover next to the consoles so you can click while in cover. No movement necessary.
Infernal Council - Enter cover next to your assigned boss. No movement necessary.
Soa - Enter cover on the west side of the room and stay there. Use Hightail it and Hot Pursuit to reposition if needed to DPS mind traps.
Karagga's Palace
Bonethrasher - Try to set up a little out of the middle but far enough from the edge to be safe, and reposition any time you get knocked back by the boss. If you avoid moving to maximize uptime on DPS, make sure to use defensives prior to boss cleaving in your direction.
Jarg & Sorno - Set up near max range from boss starting position but out of the middle to avoid damage when bosses leap to middle. The fight should not involve any movement except dodging purple circles.
Foreman Crusher - Set up in the middle of the room within range of the door. The fight should not involve any movement except dodging red circles.
G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator - Set up close to max range away from team members to avoid splash damage from grenade. No movement necessary.
Karagga the Unyielding - Set up in the middle of the room to avoid boss cleave attacks. Re-position as needed if you get pulled by the gravity mechanic.
Explosive Conflict
Zorn & Toth - Try to set up >28m from both bosses to avoid taking damage from bosses. Reposition if needed due to boss movement. Should be minimal movement unless you get targeted by boss' throw mechanic.
Firebrand & Stormcaller - Set up on the side of the tanks and only move during defensive systems. Try to avoid being the runner on the ground if possible since your DPS will suffer a lot more than other ranged DPS.
Colonel Vorgath - This fight involves a lot of periodic movement, so time your Hunker Downs as each probe droid is summoned and move with the group.
Warlord Kephess - Try to set up near but not underneath the big walker. You can often reach every enemy from this position with minimal movement. You still need to run under the pulsar droids though.
Terror From Beyond
Writhing Horror - Set up in the middle of the room near but not on top of the flowers. Only move if you need to stand in a flower to pacify adds.
Dread Guards - Set up in the middle of the room to maintain range on your targets. You are much more at risk to stand in green circles when they spawn under you while attacking Ciphas, so keep a close eye on your feet for the green swirls and move out of green circles. Apart from green circles or if you get marked for death by Kel'sara, the fight should involve minimal movement.
Operator IX - Use speed buffs and Hideout to move from side to side when attacking cores. During phase 2, time your use of Hunker Down so if is on cooldown when you need to run around standing in colored circles or for color deletion.
Kephess the Undying - Set up a bit out of the middle of the room so you can maintain range on Kephess but avoid lightning puddles. Try to be aware of when you can safely be mobile in your rotation and Hunker Down is on cooldown, and use that time to reposition to be near Kephess in case you need to stand near the pillar.
Terror from Beyond - This fight involves a lot of movement in both phases. The key thing to consider in phase 2 is whether you can safely survive tentacle slams to avoid jumping off the platform. As long as Hunker Down is active and through other defensives you usually can do so safely.
Scum and Villainy
Dash'roode - Hot Pursuit and Snap Shot are great for filler cast DPS on the move while moving the generator. The Reset Engagement utility speed boost along with the Hightail It and Pulse Detonator abilities are great for knocking back the adds if you get lost and quickly getting back to the group.
Titan 6 - Set up at max range and right next to your assigned rock. As Titan 6 relocates, use your mobility phases in your rotation and Hot Pursuit to relocate early for the next launch sequence. Setting Hideout pre-pull can help with one of the relocations.
Thrasher - I suggest setting up near a wall so if you get Firebug then you only have to move when the add gets to you instead of moving to and from the wall. If you have to relocate to DPS adds then try to avoid moving after that unless more adds spawn elsewhere or the boss is out of range. Reset Engagement and Hightail It are great for rapid relocation at these points or if you go up top to kill adds.
Operations Chief - This fight has a lot of movement but not during battles. On the boss, set up in the middle of the room so everything is in range and you should never have to leave cover.
Olok the Shadow - No movement should be necessary in phase 1 except when you get a token or to move out of fire. During phase 2, move between shield phases and once you reach the boss set up near the middle of the room so you have the boss in range no matter where he appears.
Cartel Warlords - Set up near the bosses starting position and no movement should be necessary except possibly to attack Sunder, for which Hightail It should be plenty to reposition.
Dread Master Styrak - Set up in the middle of the room where the big ghost spawns and you should only have to move if you need to get into melee range on the little ghosts.
Dread Fortress
Nefra - Set up near max range in case you need to pick up the exploding add. Use Hightail It to reposition quickly if a red circle spawns under you.
Draxus - Try to set up in the front middle of the room cheating towards which side you are assigned. From this position you should be able to reach Draxus, adds on your side and adds in the back. I also suggest setting up a Hideout in the back for teleporting there while shields are up, though otherwise Hightail It should very nearly cover the distance instantly. Make sure to stay out of the middle anytime Guardians are up to avoid their cleave, though Gunslingers can handle the cleave if Hunker Down is active plus either Defense Screen or Dodge.
Grob'thok - Set up in the middle of the room and you should have range on the boss and adds as they run in.
Corruptor Zero - Set up in melee range of where the tank will hold Corruptor Zero. If you are asked to stand out for concussion mines, try to set up right at 18-20m range so Hightail It can immediately roll you into melee range. Make sure to watch your position heading into any big laser beam phases.
Dread Master Brontes - In Phase 1, try to set up in the middle of the room where you can reach most enemies without moving. In Phase 2, set up just a bit behind Brontes where you can reach Kephess at all 3 spawn points. Heading into the clockwork lightning phase, I suggest setting up as close to max range of the first add as possible. Once it dies I use Hightail It and Hot Pursuit to quickly relocate and DPS on the move to stay ahead of the lightning beam. In the 6 finger phase you should stand near your finger. In burn phase stay near a wall and watch our for purple circles. Hunker Down is great to avoid the knockback.
Dread Palace
Dread Master Bestia - I suggest setting up near the throne since you can keep the entire room in range apart from weird LoS directly opposite the throne. Be careful though of yellow circles as they clip over/under the ground near and on the throne.
Dread Master Tyrans - Try to set up at max range so you have to move as little as possible to drop platforms or to move out of fire.
Dread Master Calphayus - Set up outside the group with Hunker Down if you are kiting the big red AoE or stand with the group depending on your strategy. Very little movement is required during any of the active damage phases in this fight.
Dread Master Raptus - Coordinate with your tanks on where they will hold Raptus but make sure you position yourself to naturally avoid all cleave damage. Tanks doing a good job keeping Raptus in place will be huge for your DPS. If Raptus gets too far to one side, use Hightail It to reposition and try to keep Hideout on the throne for quick returns once the boss gets back to a normal position.
Dread Council - Try to set up very near the holocron in the middle of the room unless you are asked to kite Raptus. If you have to grab any crystals make sure to use all mobility buffs like Hightail It and Reset Engagement to get your crystal quickly and back down to attack the bosses.
Ravagers
Sparky - Set up in the middle of the room so you can keep Sparky in range no matter how much he punts the tank around.
Quartermaster Bulo - Set up near the back of the room. This helps you drop the burst volley blue AoE near a wall in a safe location and you should still keep Bulo in range. Use Hunker Down and defensives during mass barrage to stand in 3-4 circles as they stack then move one time out of circles and then get back into cover and resume attacking.
Torque - Set up near the console to summon repair droids so you minimize downtime and reduce your chances of getting fire. This room is really small so range should not be an issue.
Master & Blaster - If you have to run then you will need to make full utilization of mobility abilities and utilities. Hideout, Hightail It and Reset Engagement are all great to quickly reposition out of orange circles, while Snap Shot and Hot Pursuit help you DPS while dodging orange circles or while chasing Master.
Pirate Captains - Set up near the middle of the room in both phases to keep the bosses in range.
Temple of Sacrifice
Malaphar the Savage - Stand inside the red circle to DPS. Try to time your use of Hunker Down so you reset stacks in between uses of Hunker Down so you do not have to interrupt it. Watch our for Malaphar's spear throw red AoE.
Sword Squadron - Set up as far back as possible while keeping Unit 1 and Unit 2 in range for easy target swapping. If possible, ask teammates to move away from you if you get the big grenade so you do not lose uptime. For the gravity pull-in mechanic, use Hightail It or Hideout to get back into position. You should avoid red circles as often as possible though with Hunker Down active and another defensive you can periodically eat one in order to maintain uptime (make sure your healers are okay with that first though!)
Underlurker - Set up at a position equidistant from the three adds and near your other ranged DPS and healers for efficient AoE healing. Quickly reposition near a rock and then resume DPS next to it until you need to hide. In Story Mode you can stay out during rage storm with Hunker Down but do not do so in Veteran Mode. Use Hightail It and Reset Engagement to quickly get to the boss during the cross mechanic.
Revanite Commanders - Set up near Sano's spawn point but cheat a little towards the middle of the room. Apart from moving out of cleaves or AoEs from adds, this should let you stay inside Sano's shield when he spawns but keep Kurse and Deron in range nearly all the time. Use Hightail It to chase a boss while Snap Shot is great to quickly move out of a cleave or AoE then resume DPS.
Revan - You should generally set up near max range to kite the lightsabers near an edge and use Pulse Detonator to knock them off. That range can also help if you need to break the tether beam, especially if the other player will let you stay in cover and do all the running. If not, Hightail It can often be enough along with your range to break the beam. During the HK-47 phase on first floor, do not mess around with uptime and get out to drop the grenade damage. On 2nd floor stay with the group and time your use of Hunker Down carefully. On 3rd floor you can use Hunker Down on cooldown in Story Mode, but in Veteran Mode you should time your use to cheese each pull-in so you can maximize uptime on the core.
Gods from the Machine
Tyth - Try to set up relatively close to Tyth for inversion, after inversion use Hightail It to get back close to Tyth for the next one.
Aivela & Esne - Set up on the side of the platform near your Countermeasure for most of the fight so minimal movement is required except to stand between the boss and the Nexus in phase 2 or to dodge wiper beams in phase 3.
Nahut - During Phase 1, try to time your use of Hunker Down when Nahut is not being moved. During Phase 3, put your back to a generator for the pull in. During Phase 4, make sure to stay ahead of Nahut and move during mobility phases to when you can Hunker Down you can stay put for its full duration.
Scyva - This fight involves very little movement until the last phase with Scyva. In that phase, try to be very quick in relocating from side to side or between inner and outer rings to dodge purple floors.
Izax - This fight involves a lot of movement at times so all your abilities will be useful, especially during "Master/Blaster" phase late in the fight.
Nature of Progress
Red - Use your mobility abilities while moving Red but hopefully your tank will move the boss in spurts rather than continuously.
Holding Pens - Use all your mobility abilities to damage adds on the move, as this fight is particularly tough for Gunslingers.
Control Center - Use mobility abilities while moving into the Control Center. Once inside the Control Center you should not have to move much at all the rest of the boss fight.
Trandoshans - Try to set up in the middle of the room to keep all bosses in range. I suggest setting Hideout near the train terminal if you need to summon a train.
Huntmaster - This fight does not involve a lot of movement except for the yellow fire grenade. I suggest running out to drop the grenade then Hightail It back into the spotlight.
Apex Vanguard - Apex moves regularly as acid blast puddles are dropped, so time your use of Hunker Down to avoid clipping it and Hightail It to relocate as needed as the boss is moved around the room. In Veteran Mode you should time your use of Hunker Down so you do not have to clip it to move into position to be cleansed.