Scrapper Scoundrel

Last Updated: 5/31/21

Table of Contents

Overview

Utilities

Overview

About the Class

Scrapper is the Scoundrel’s burst DPS discipline. It has amongst the simplest rotations in the game and through the use of Blood Boiler can deal very high burst damage, though its overall sustained DPS has historically been lower than most other melee burst DPS (Infiltration, Focus, Tactics, Combat). In degree of difficulty, Scrapper has a very easy priority system to learn and the primary degree of skill lies in maximizing generation/utilization of Upper Hand and managing energy levels. Outside of PVE, Scrapper burst damage, Scamper roll defensive, combat stealth, and periodic root make it arguably the best solo duelist PVP discipline in the game. For PVE content, Scrapper can comfortably clear any SM or HM, but overall I would generally recommend Ruffian as a discipline since its potential DPS is much higher and can output much more AoE damage as well.

Utility and Mobility

Ruffian has solid mobility as all abilities are instant, has available utilities to boost movement speed, and roll and Trick Move abilities. Scoundrel also has a raid buff.

Role in Operations

Scrapper is a burst DPS class so it handles target swapping well and should handle those assignments when possible. A potential shortcoming for Scrapper is relatively poor AoE DPS however. As a stealth class, Scrapper is a great candidate to provide a stealth rez and is even better than Ruffian due to not having DoTs ticking on a target in most situations. Although Scrapper has access to certain basic healing abilities, it is not an ideal off-heal discipline.

6.0 Impact on Discipline

The new expansion gave Scrapper a really strong set bonus in the Tactician set (used for all class disciplines) that provides a high uptime on +10% critical chance, a third Upper Hand, and a +5% damage buff anytime the player has an Upper Hand. Combined with a good mix of tactical items to buff sustained DPS (Acid Lash), burst DPS (Volatile Strike), or AoE DPS (Explosive Cells), the discipline is in a much better position than in 5.X and finds itself in the upper tier of burst DPS disciplines.

Survivability

As a melee class, Scoundrels have various defensive cooldowns and can buff those abilities through utilities and utilize off-healing abilities. I would still rate them as lower than off-tank DPS classes Guardian, Vanguard and Shadow due to their better armor and/or broader list of strong defensives. Scrapper survivability relates directly to the type of damage in the fight and the ability to mitigate it through well timed use of Scamper - when that is possible for major mechanics, Scrapper has exceptional survivability. In other situations, Scrapper tends to have lower survivability than Ruffian and is fairly low amongst melee DPS classes.

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.

Scar Tissue: 5% damage reduction.

This utility is always a must take, as anything you can do to increase damage mitigation is incredibly helpful.

Smuggled Get-up: 30% AoE damage reduction.

This utility is nearly always useful due to most PVE encounters having some AoE damage mechanics.

Sneaky: 15% extra movement speed and +3 to stealth level.

Due to the low cooldown of Scamper as a movement ability, I do not typically find this utility to be that helpful. However, its alternatives are even less useful as they consist of PVP utilities and a buff to a weak conal AoE attack.

Masterful Tier

You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.

Med Screen: Heals you for 5% of your maximum health when defense screen collapses.

You should be using Defense Screen regularly to mitigate damage, so over the course of an operations encounter this will cumulatively grant you a sizeable amount of healing. As such, this is a boost to survivability and should be taken.

Cool: Cool Head immediately restores 15 additional energy.

This utility sounds great but depends greatly on player playstyle. The ability already restores 50 energy over 3 seconds, which is boosted to 65 by this utility. Also bear in mind that you will be using abilities (that may cost energy) as well as natural energy regeneration over those 2 GCDs. This utility is only a worthwhile choice if your use of Cool Head will not cap energy. That requires a more skilled energy management, as in most cases you need to be 20-30% energy levels to activate Cool Head without capping energy.

Flee the Scene: Reduces the cooldown of your combat stealth by 30s and using combat stealth will also increase your movement speed by 50% for 6s.

I view this utility as situational for Scrapper and only should be considered when the player knows that it is likely that several stealth rezzes will be needed in a fight (i.e., in a progression situation or when in a group with newer players).

Skedaddle: Using combat stealth grants 2 seconds of Dodge.

This can be useful to enable a second defensive/cleanse, and can be helpful when attempting a stealth rez given Dodge use as a purge of DoTs.

Heroic Tier

A maximum of 3 utilities

Scramble: Every time you get attacked, the active cooldown of Dodge is reduced by 3 seconds (can occur every 1.5 seconds).

Dodge is a great utility that makes you temporarily immune to certain types of damage and can be used as self cleanse. This should be taken nearly always.

Smuggled Defenses: Reduces the cooldown of Escape by 30 seconds, Defense Screen by 5 seconds, and Smuggle by 60 seconds.

The biggest benefit here in PVE is the Defense Screen cooldown reduction. When combined with the Med Screen utility, this benefit is even better.

Surprise Comeback: Pugnacity now also grants Surprise Comeback, reducing damage taken by 20% for its duration and restores 5% of maximum health every 3 seconds (cumulative heal of 25%).

This utility makes Pugnacity an amazing defensive cooldown and should be taken for any fights that have difficult heal checks, though for other fights it can be substituted for utilities below if they provide more utility.

Hotwired Defenses: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Defense Screen by 30%.

If taking Smuggled Defenses and Med Screen to boost Defense Screen, this utility makes a lot of sense. I take this utility over Surprise Comeback in fights where I know I am going to take steady moderate damage, as in those cases the overall mitigation from Defense Screen over a fight will outweigh Surprise Comeback’ buff to Pugnacity that can be used 1-2 times per fight.

Back at Ya: Activating Dodge grants Back at Ya, reflecting 150% of single target force or tech damage during Dodge duration.

This utility is worth taking on fights that are not exceptionally heal intensive and that present opportunities to reflect damage without dying, or in progression situations if DPS is an issue. That said, Scoundrels are fairly squishy as a melee class so I usually recommend prioritizing survivability in most of my utility selections.

Sleight of Foot: Reduces the cooldown of Trick Move by 10 seconds and allows it to be used while Immobilized, and using Trick Move now generates an Upper Hand.

This utility is great for generating Upper Hand for DPS disciplines as it enables more frequent use of your big hitting abilities.

Example Utility Build

Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.

Key Passives

Flying Fists - Sucker Punch triggers Flying Fists, dealing additional kinetic damage. Standard and weak targets are also stunned by Flying Fists.

Flying Fists is a helpful buff to Sucker Punch and is primarily mentioned for purposes of Round Two.

Round Two - Flying Fists immediately regrants Upper Hand when hitting a bleeding target. This effect cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.

This passive enables a refund of an Upper Hand by using Sucker Punch once every 10 seconds.

Turn the Tables - Increases the damage dealt by Sucker Punch and Flying Fists by 5%. Also, when Flying Fists damages a target, you recover 2 energy.

Noting this passive for its energy regen effects. Sucker Punch is highly energy efficient, as it costs 10 energy and refunds 2 for a net cost of 8 energy. Combined with energy regen rate of 6/s while above 60, it is possible to spam Sucker Punch for quite some time without unduly hurting energy levels.

Fight or Flight - Surrender increases your movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.

This passive is noteworthy as it enables your aggro drop to be a movement cooldown. 50% extra speed for 6 seconds is usually just about enough to help re-position when Scamper is on cooldown (or being saved as a defensive) and Trick Move isn’t available or useful (e.g., Rain of Pain phase in Master & Blaster encounter in Ravagers operation).

Flechette Round - Loads your shotgun with flechettes, causing Back Blast to deal additional internal bleed damage over 6 seconds and increase armor penetration by 30% for 15 seconds.

This passive makes Back Blast a critical part of the rotation to keep the Flechette Round buff as often as possible. It should therefore be used on cooldown.

Pierce and Batter - Sucker Punch deals 5% more damage to targets affected by your Flechette Round.

This passive further increases the importance of using Back Blast at least every 15 seconds to maintain uptime of the Flechette Round buff on targets, as in addition to the 30% armor penetration buff this passive also grants 5% more damage to your most frequently used ability.

Slippery Devil - Increases your effective stealth level by 2. Also, when you activate Scamper, you dodge or resist all incoming attacks for 1.5 seconds.

This passive is key for making Scamper an amazing defensive ability. Timing the roll properly can be difficult but with skill it can be used to dodge ALL ATTACKS. For large one-hit mechanics this makes Scrapper Scoundrels amazing at cheesing damage.

Rolling Punches - Back Blast grants Rolling Punches, which increases ranged and tech critical chance by 5% for 15 seconds. Also, damage dealt by Bludgeon causes the target to become Susceptible (+5% more tech damage) for 45 seconds.

This passive grants a useful Tech damage debuff and further buffs Back Blast. In addition to the 30% armor penetration from Flechette Round and the 5% buff to Sucker Punch damage, now we add a 5% ranged/tech critical chance buff.

Hot and Ready - Damage dealt by Blood Boiler marks the target with Hot and Ready, allowing your next Back Blast against the target to be useable while face-to-face with the target and treated as though you attacked from stealth.

This passive makes it desirable to use Blood Boiler prior to each use of Back Blast, as the negation of positional and stealth requirements will significantly increase its damage.

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 Scrapper Scoundrel, I gear as follows:

Set Bonus: Tactician
Tactical: Acid Lash (Explosive Cells for very heavy AoE fights)
Amplifiers: Tech Wizardry
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 Scrapper Scoundrel, 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 1,400 (at least 1,895 if the Zeal guild perk applies)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None

Set Bonus

Tactician

Increased drop rate from conquest.

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) Hot Streak additionally resets the cooldown Tendon Blast and Triage. Gaining an Upper Hand increases your Critical Chance by 10% for 10 seconds. Can only happen once every 18 seconds.

(6) Upper Hand gets an additional stack. Having an Upper Hand increases your damage and healing by 5%.

Analysis: A really great set bonus, Tactician provides a +10% Critical Chance and +5% damage buffs and an extra Upper Hand. Just awesome!

Impact on Rotation:

The discipline should already be using Bludgeon as close to on cooldown as possible to maximize generation of Upper Hand, which based on its cooldown of 6 seconds should guarantee high uptime of the 4-piece set bonus 10% critical chance increase.

Due to the third Upper Hand, the 6-piece set bonus should make it easier to use Bludgeon on cooldown. Without this set bonus, it is possible in the rotation to need to delay Bludgeon due to being capped on Upper Hand. It usually isn’t a big delay, but having more cushion to stack Upper Hand should be helpful in addition to the stat buffs.

When to Take: Always. Other Scoundrel set bonuses are very limited in their application and Tactician provides a very reliable and strong high-uptime boost to critical and base damage.

Tactical Items

Acid Lash

Increased drop rate from flashpoints.

Sucker Punch damage triggers Flechette Round damage and refreshes its duration. Flechette Round does 60% more damage.

Analysis: Flechette Round is normally triggered by Back Blast to apply a DoT with a 6 second duration. Back Blast has a 12s cooldown so the DoT normally has a 50% uptime assuming the ability is used on cooldown.

This tactical increases Flechette Round uptime to nearly 100% due to Sucker Punch also triggering it. Sucker Punch has no cooldown and except in rare cases should be used at least once every 6 seconds / 4 GCDs (pre-alacrity). In fact, this tactical increases its effective uptime above 100% due to Sucker Punch also ticking damage from Flechette Round (i.e., in addition to periodic ticks, an extra tick will occur each time it is triggered) and additional ticks from regular usage of Back Blast. On top of this, the damage dealt by this DoT is doubled.

This tactical makes Scrapper a semi-DoT class via the full uptime and buffed damage of the Flechette Round DoT, made even morso via high uptime of Vital Shot by skilled players of the discipline. This additional ticking DoT damage provides a strong boost to the discipline’s sustained damage, which otherwise would tend to dip outside of burst windows provided by Back Blast and Blood Boiler burst damage.

Impact on Rotation: No impact. Back Blast should continue to be used on cooldown for its high damage and to maximize uptime of the 30% armor penetration buff (which is not extended via the Acid Lash tactical). Similarly, Sucker Punch remains the discipline’s primary filler to consume Upper Hand, and regular usage of the priority should ensure it is being utilized often enough to maintain full or very nearly full uptime of the Flechette Round DoT.

When to Take: Most encounters. Volatile Strike should be utilized for fights with very tight burst DPS checks, or based on player preference as it provides a nice DPS boost if not as strong as Acid Lash. Explosive Cells should be utilized for fights where AoE DPS is important.

Volatile Strike

Increased drop rate from operations.

Bludgeon automatically critically hits targets affected by your unexploded Blood Boiler and triggers it immediately. Dealing damage this way causes your next Back Blast to critically hit.

Analysis: A key in balancing usage of this tactical to maximize DPS is avoiding/minimizing delay in using either Blood Boiler or Bludgeon, as generally both should be used on cooldown to maximize damage and generation of Upper Hand.

Fortunately, Bludgeon has a 6 second cooldown and Blood Boiler has an 18 second cooldown. Thus, the cooldowns line up such that they can be used on cooldown and every third Bludgeon should be used within the 2 GCDs following Blood Boiler to benefit from the auto-crit and ensure the next Back Blast is an auto-crit as well. Back Blast has a 12 second cooldown, so proper usage of this tactical should make 2 out of every 3 usages an auto-crit.

The only aspect of this tactical that is a bit “wonky” is trying to maximize the low-GCD burst potential. An initial thought would be to go Blood Boiler + Bludgeon + Back Blast. This gets a TON of DPS into the second 2 GCDs of that 3 GCD rotation. The problem is that it wastes the 30% armor penetration and DoT applied by Back Blast, which ideally you want to be applied to the Blood Boiler damage.

Aligning it the normal way through the opener below of Back Blast + Blood Boiler + Bludgeon properly applies the armor penetration buff but delays the auto-crit on Back Blast until its next usage. This would seem to be the optimal rotation to maximize sustained DPS but is odd for a burst DPS tactical to be designed in such a way that reducing burst is the best decision.

Impact on Rotation: This tactical makes it very important to use Bludgeon on cooldown even if it occasionally means capping an Upper Hand. The reason for this change is to ensure its cooldown always aligns with Blood Boiler. If both are used on cooldown, it should always be possible to use Blood Boiler + Bludgeon to guarantee this tactical item’s effects are procced as often as possible.

Back Blast remains a higher priority ability due to its greater damage and Flechette Round DoT and 30% armor penetration buff, but due to its synergy in cooldown it should never require delay in order to use Bludgeon on cooldown. Each 4 GCD cycle should alternate between

FILLER 1 + FILLER 2 + Bludgeon + FILLER 3 and

Back Blast + FILLER 2 + Bludgeon + FILLER 3,

with Blood Boiler taking the FILLER 2 spot every 3rd cycle.

When to Take: PVP or PVE encounters with multiple short duration DPS checks (e.g., Styrak Hard/Nightmare Mode). Acid Lash provides a stronger overall sustained DPS increase and should be taken in all other situations.

Explosive Cells

Increased drop rate from flashpoints.

When Blood Boiler triggers, it deals damage to all enemies around the primary target and spreads its effects.

Analysis: Blood Boiler is Scrapper highest damage ability and also applies a 7% internal/elemental damage debuff. Making its every usage an AoE effect and spreading the debuff is the just about the most powerful AoE buff the discipline could receive. Unfortunately, it represents nearly all the discipline’s AoE capability outside Bushwhack (a decent AoE DPS ability but not spammable) and Lacerating Blast (a spammable conal DPS ability that deals very lackluster AoE damage).

Impact on Rotation: No change to rotation. Blood Boiler should continue to be used on cooldown, except that now it will have an AoE effect. On some occasions it may be optimal to delay either application or triggering of Blood Boiler for adds to group up to maximize the AoE burst damage.

When to Take: Fights with very heavy AoE damage requirements, especially if the group has minimal AoE DPS capability. That said, I would recommend avoiding it if the group has sufficient AoE DPS, as many other disciplines can far exceed Scrapper even with this tactical. As such, I would prefer to take Acid Lash and focus on maximizing single target DPS as that tactical provides a better buff to the discipline’s strengths.

Amplifiers

Tech Wizardry

All of Scrapper attacks deal tech-based damage (except for your basic attack which should almost never be used). The damage abilities deal a mix of kinetic/energy, internal and DoT damage. As such, Tech Wizardry (buffs tech-based damage) is by far the best amplifier build for this discipline.

Tech Wizardry is not quite the best for Ruffian but only gives up a little bit of DPS boost in comparison to other options, so it also represents the best amplifier build for Scoundrel DPS players who frequently re-spec from fight to fight.

Key Abilities

Hot Streak (instant, free, 3 minute cooldown) NEW IN 6.0 - Resets the cooldown of Pugnacity, Kolto Cloud, Blood Boiler, Point Blank Shot, and Defense Screen and increases your Mastery by 20% for 15 seconds.

A new cooldown in 6.0, it provides both offensive and defensive boosts.

Back Blast (10 energy, 12s cooldown) - Deals high kinetic damage to the target, only usable from behind the target. Deals more damage from stealth and also grants an Upper Hand.

Very strong ability that should be used on cooldown. Back Blast also grants buffs to tech damage and armor penetration and overall damage of Sucker Punch. Should be used on cooldown, even if doing so will cap an Upper Hand, to maintain full uptime of its buffs.

Blood Boiler (15 energy, 18s cooldown, range 10m) - After a 3s priming time, the target will take huge internal damage the next time it takes damage from a poison effect. Also applies the Assailable debuff (+7% internal/elemental damage).

Scrapper’s biggest hitting ability albeit with a unique 2 GCD delay before it can be detonated. Use on CD.

Bludgeon (15 energy, 6s cooldown) - Deals moderate kinetic damage and generates an Upper Hand.

Scrapper’s primary means of generating Upper Hand, Bludgeon can be used every 4 GCDs. It should generally be used as close to on cooldown as possible as long as the player is not already at 2 Upper Hand.

Sucker Punch (10 energy, no cooldown) - Deals moderate damage and consumes an Upper Hand.

Scrapper’s most frequently used ability (by far), this should be spammed whenever Back Blast, Blood Boiler and Bludgeon are on cooldown. Due to it only costing 10 energy (and a passive that refunds 2 each time it is used) and natural energy regen >60% of 6 per second, this ability only has a net GCD energy cost of 2, making by far the most energy efficient ability.

Vital Shot (15 energy, 18s duration, no cooldown, range 30m) - Deals moderate damage over the duration.

A DoT ability that can be used by skilled players for incrementally more DPS when energy permits and at 0 Upper Hands. Vital Shot / Corrosive Dart can also be used during transition phases to trigger Blood Boiler if applied but not yet detonated.

Shank Shot (free, 15s cooldown) - Free filler ability that deals low damage.

Shank Shot deals more damage than Flurry of Bolts so should be prioritized whenever energy is too low.

Flurry of Bolts (free, no cooldown, range 30) - Free ranged filler.

The free filler has one big advantage over most other melee DPS (along with Vanguards) in that its free filler has a 30m range. Use this ability when at range or when energy drops below 60% (or even at 75% when several costly abilities are about to come off CD).

Lacerating Blast (15 energy, no cooldown) - Deals low kinetic/internal damage to up to 8 targets within 5 meters.

Scoundrel’s spammable AoE ability though it only deals damage in a frontal cone. Should be spammed in AoE situations.

Bushwhack (15 energy, 15s cooldown) - Consumes 1 Upper Hand and deals AoE damage around the player.

Bushwhack is a more expensive AoE ability that should be used on CD in AoE situations.

Thermal Grenade (20 energy, 6s cooldown, range 30m) - Ranged ability that deals AoE damage to the target and those nearby.

A more expense ranged filler option and should be used in AoE rotations.

Quick Shot (10 energy, no cooldown, range 30m) - Ranged attack that deals moderate damage.

A very low priority filler. Should only be used when you are forced to attack from range due to mechanics or gap closers being on cooldown.

Cooldowns & Other Abilities

Disappearing Act (free, no cooldown) - Removes you from combat and enter stealth.

A combat stealth ability, it should be paired with Back Blast to deal more damage and generate an Upper Hand. Depending on utility choice, it can also function as a self-cleanse.

Pugnacity (15 energy, 120s cooldown) - Grants 1 Upper Hand and increases alacrity 10% for 15s.

A key offensive cooldown that grants an Upper Hand and boosts alacrity. Should generally be used in the opener and then on-demand later on.

Trick Move (free, 45s cooldown) - Instantly teleports you to the target and increases your movement speed by 75% for 3 seconds. Can be used for either friendly players or enemies.

The Scoundrel's gap closer in addition to their roll, the ability is typically used to generate an Upper Hand via the Sleight of Foot utility.

Cool Head (free, 120s cooldown) - You recover 50 energy over 3 seconds.

The main energy cooldown for the discipline. Due to its heavy energy regeneration, it is important to not waste any regeneration due to its lengthy cooldown.

Stack the Deck (1 Upper Hand, 5 minute cooldown) - Exploits Upper Hand to increase critical chance by 10% for 10 seconds.

The class raid buff. It is expensive due to its Upper Hand requirement and thus I usually ask a Scoundrel healer to trigger their raid buff if possible. That said, it is a clear group DPS increase so use it when necessary in ops.

Defense Screen (free, 30s cooldown) - Projects a defense field around yourself for 10 seconds, which absorbs low damage.

The discipline's low cooldown defensive ability that shields against all damage, use it aggressively to mitigate predictable damage. Just do not expect it to save you from a big hit if you are already low health.

Dodge (free, 60s cooldown) - Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 200% for 3 seconds.

Dodge is a tricky cooldown as it only applies to certain damage types and has a very short duration. I primarily find it useful as a self-cleanse/purge to avoid wasting a GCD on a cleanse ability (which is why the cleanse is not even listed in this guide). Use it for mitigating heavy damage when it is useful.

Scamper (free, 8s cooldown) - Roll forward 12 meters. While rolling, your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks is increased by 30%. Scamper has 2 ability charges and recharges one charge every 8 seconds.

The great and unique strength of Scrapper Scoundrel is its roll. Having a low cooldown, the Scrapper has far higher uptime on an ability that can effectively cheese nearly all one-shot damage mechanics in the game due to the SIippery Devil passive ability. Master the timing of the "roll cheese" and your progression healers will greatly appreciate it.

Slow-release Medpac (10 energy, no cooldown) - Injects the target with slow-release medicine that heals a low amount over 18 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times.

Your HoTs deal a respectable amount of healing over time and with a utility can even provide a decent mitigation boost of up to +6% damage resistance. I use these semi-frequently during downtime or transitions to pre-apply HoTs to help out my healers a little bit.

Kolto Pack (20 energy, 9s cooldown) - Exploits your Upper Hand to heal the target immediately for a low amount.

An expensive heal ability that requires and consumes an Upper Hand. I generally avoid using this ability at all as a result, and instead rely on my HoTs, mitigation abilities (especially roll for high damage burst hits) and my healers. That said, in some instances when healing gets really tough and the boss is shielded or something this can be useful to help out.

Rotation

Basic Rotation Priority System

The Scrapper Scoundrel class has a defined priority rotation that should be followed as much as possible. The overall goals in order of priority are:

1. Back Blast on CD - Back Blast does great damage but is most important for its many buffs (+30% armor penetration and +5% damage to Sucker Punch / Laceration, +5% ranged/tech critical chance) that have a 15s cooldown and must maintain full uptime.

2. Blood Boiler on CD - Blood Boiler does enormous damage and should be used on CD.

3. Bludgeon when @ 0-1 Upper Hand (0-2 with Tactician) - Bludgeon is Scrapper’s primary means to generate Upper Hand and should be used to maximize Upper Hand generation. 2 Upper Hands is the maximum (3 with Tactician) so delay Bludgeon when @ 2 Upper Hands (3 with Tactician) to avoid wasting it.

4. Sucker Punch when > 60% energy - Sucker Punch is Scrapper’s primary filler ability and should be used very often. Due to the Scrapper tree, Sucker Punch costs net 8 energy so each GCD use of Sucker Punch will cost a net 2 energy (8 net ability cost - 6 natural regeneration while >60 energy). An exception to this rule is when Cool Head is available, in which case Sucker Punch can be spammed along with #1-3 down to around 35% energy.

5. Vital Shot when energy permits - As the lone DoT option for Scrapper, Vital Shot is nice to squeeze in on a GCD where you have 0 Upper Hands (and so Sucker Punch is unavailable) but energy levels are in good shape. Care should be taken in its use so as to avoid wrecking your energy or having to delay higher priority abilities. It can be used for sure each time Cool Head is available.

6. Shank Shot when < 75% energy and Cool Head not available - Shank Shot is a free filler ability that does more damage than Flurry of Bolts so should be the first choice. The reason the threshold is 75% even though #4 indicates to use Sucker Punch down to 60% is due to the very low cost of Sucker Punch. It will take a lot of Sucker Punch spam to go from 75% to sub-60% due to its very low cost. However, if Back Blast > Blood Boiler > Bludgeon are about to be used, using Shank Shot to provide some extra regen can provide enough buffer to use these abilities without dropping below 60% and ruining energy regeneration.

7. Flurry of Bolts when <60% energy and Cool Head not available - Managing energy and staying above 60% (“in the green” as I think of it) is super important to Scrapper due to how it impacts Sucker Punch. As discussed above, Sucker Punch has a net cost of 2 energy per GCD when >60% maximum energy regeneration. At the next tier, Sucker Punch net cost doubles to 4 energy per GCD. This will rapidly destroy your energy so it is very important to spam Flurry of Bolts to stay about 60%.

Opener

(Key Note - Depending on the fight, Trick Move and Pugnacity can be swapped in the opener. I find using Trick Move as a gap closer right after the tank initiates combat is ideal, since between the tank’s attack, the semi-GCD delay of Trick Move, and the 3 GCD delay before Scrapper’s burst hits hard is ideal to avoid pulling aggro. For parsing, using Pugnacity earlier is likely optimal to get the buff more closely aligned with the adrenal and raid buff window.)

(X) = # of Upper Hands after that ability activation

Stealth - Being in stealth buffs your first Back Blast to do significantly more damage and grant an Upper Hand
Back Blast (1) - Deals damage and gets most of the key buffs active (+5% tech damage debuff, +30% armor penetration, +5% Sucker Punch damage, +5% ranged/tech critical chance)
Pugnacity OFF GCD (2) - Used to get an extra Upper Hand so we can hit our raid buff without compromising the rotation, get the alacrity buff rolling early and using it before we reset its cooldown momentarily with Hot Streak
Blood Boiler (2) - Biggest hitting ability so next up once all buffs are active
Bludgeon (3) - At this point we are not capped on Upper Hands so Bludgeon is the priority
Adrenal OFF GCD (3) - Used here before Blood Boiler triggers and we start dealing heavy damage
Stack the Deck OFF GCD (2) - Blood Boiler actually won’t deal damage for a couple of GCDs so popping the adrenal and raid buff after Blood Boiler is optimal
Hot Streak (2) - Used for its buff and reset the cooldown on Blood Boiler.
Sucker Punch (2) - Filler and proc Round Two to regrant a Upper Hand
Sucker Punch (1) - Filler
Blood Boiler (1) - Available again due to the use of Hot Streak. Used here because we need to wait for the first Blood Boiler to trigger and deal damage.
Bludgeon (2) - Use off CD not capped on Upper Hands
Sucker Punch (1)
Back Blast (1) - We are not using Disappearing Act for this Back Blast due to the extra Upper Hands provided by Pugnacity, which otherwise would cause us to cap an Upper Hand with the next Bludgeon.
Sucker Punch (1) - Filler and proc Round Two to regrant a Upper Hand
Bludgeon (2) - Use off CD if not capped on Upper Hands
Sucker Punch (1)
Sucker Punch (0)
Blood Boiler (0) - Use on CD
Bludgeon (1) - Use on CD
Sucker Punch (1) - Filler and proc Round Two to regrant a Upper Hand
Disappearing Act (1) - Used here to buff Back Blast now that we can do so without capping an Upper Hand with Bludgeon or having to delay Bludgeon
Back Blast (2) - Use on CD, buffed here via stealth to deal more damage and generate an Upper Hand
Blood Boiler (2) - Used on CD
Bludgeon (3) - Use on CD

[End of opener, continue priority rotation as discussed above]

Summary - This opener may not be precisely ideal but should be pretty solid. The main oddities are the use of cooldowns like Pugnacity, Trick Move, Disappearing Act and Hot Streak. In order to maximize our opening burst, we end up using Pugnacity very early so that we get a second use from Hot Streak resetting its cooldown (which we are primarily doing so that we get a second early use of Blood Boiler).

This combination gives us a ton of extra Upper Hands in the opener and forces us to delay Trick Move past the first 25 ability activations and to delay Disappearing Act to skip a Back Blast just to avoid capping on Upper Hands or delaying Bludgeon. If we extended the rotation another 7-10 GCDs, we would use Trick Move shortly before Back Blast came off cooldown again, as that's the point where we would hit 0 Upper Hands and otherwise be unable to use Sucker Punch.

It's also worth noting by the end of this opener rotation, you should start to get fairly low on energy. I usually end up using Cool Head a few more GCDs after this opener ends and then it becomes all about the priority list and managing energy.

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