Assault Specialist Commando
Last Updated: 5/31/21
Table of Contents
Overview
About the Class
Assault Specialist is a DoT-based DPS class that provides excellent ranged sustained DPS. The specialization is very challenging from a resource management perspective, and as such target swapping can be very difficult due to the need to reapply DoTs. The specialization has some mobility as several abilities are instant-cast or can be made so through procs, abilities or utilities, but again due to resource management difficulties maintaining high DPS in a high movement fight is more challenging than many specs. As a Commando, the class has superior defensive cooldowns and survivability. When played well, the skilled Assault Specialist Commando player can take pride in being among the very best ranged DPS and running arguably the most difficult spec in the game currently.
Additionally, I would strongly recommend that Assault Specialist players become proficient with the Gunnery specialization as well. It is far easier to learn and run effectively so in my view is a nominal investment of time. Due to the difficulty with target swapping and energy management, there are a handful of fights in HM/NiM Operations where Assault Specialist is terrible (e.g., TFB Operator IX, S&V Styrak, DF Draxus) because there is so much target swapping that DPS is much lower due to crashing your energy or having to substitute so many basic attacks when reapplying DoTs. Assault Specialist is optimal on most fights and by a considerable degree so it is viable and preferred in a HM/NiM progression environment, but an optimal player should know both specs.
Utility and Mobility
With proper utilities, most Assault Specialist abilities are instant or can be used on the move except for Serrated Bolt and optional filler abilities. Use of Tech Override (w/ Utility) can aid mobility by enabling instant casts of all abilities for a rotation bloc.
Survivability
Commandos have great survivability. Except for classes that include a tank discipline, they are the only DPS class that wears heavy armor. As a class with a healing discipline, they possess good off healing capability for emergencies. They also possess a wide range of useful defensive abilities that include a straight buff to DR, an emergency sustained self heal and a powerful reflect.
Role in Operations
As a DoT-based class with challenging energy management, Assault Specialist does poorly when target swapping. As such, an Assault Specialist player should ideally be left to focus on the main Boss in an operation. Combining heavy armor, good defensive CD’s, off-heals, and skills-utilities buffing mitigation and healing received, every Commando DPS should also provide a very durable DPS player.
6.1.2 Impact on Discipline
Assault Specialist was affected by patch 6.1.2, which nerfed the Concentrated Fire set bonus to remove the +10% critical chance four piece set bonus. This was offset by a buff to the Blazing Celerity passive ability that provides essentially the same bonus. As such, Assault Specialist players that run Concentrated Fire have the same net buffs and benefits as before only the biggest one is a passive ability. The question then becomes whether it is preferable to continue running Concentrated Fire or switch to Apex Predator.
For players running the traditional rotation using Full Auto, I expect that there will not be a huge difference between the sets due to the minimal use of Charged Bolts in the rotation. For players willing to pursue a rotation that prioritizes extra Charged Bolts instead of Full Auto, Apex Predator may well be best.
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.
Cell Capacitor - Recharge Cells now immediately recharges 15 additional cells and grants 10% alacrity for 6 seconds.
Must take, more energy = more DPS.
Parallactic Combat Stim - You recharge 20 cells when stunned, immobilized, knocked down or otherwise incapacitated. Also, when incapacitated, your next Tech ability deals 10% damage or healing. This effect lasts for 15 seconds.
Situational, used for fights with lots of stuns or knockbacks as it will significantly increase DPS by using more high-energy high damage fillers. Given the lack of good choices in Skillful, I would nearly always take this utility.
Chain Gunnery - Increases the damage dealt by Hail of Bolts by 25%.
Situational, great for boosting AoE DPS but skillful DoT spread should handle AoE damage to a sufficient degree.
Suit FOE - Increases stealth detection, melee and ranged defense by 3% and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan by 5 seconds. Also, when you activate Field Aid on yourself, all periodic damage taken is reduced by 30% for 12 seconds.
A DPS player should generally not be cleansing themselves (leave that to the healers and spend the GCD on more DPS), but in some limited instances this could be useful.
Tenacious Defense - Reduces the cooldown of Concussion Charge by 5 Seconds, Propulsion Round by 3 seconds and Tenacity by 30 seconds.
Can be situationally useful to provide more uptime of Concussion Charge as a free rotation filler.
Efficient Conversions - Eliminates the energy cell cost by Concussion Charge, Concussion Round, Field Aid, and Cryo Grenade.
If using Concussion Charge as a filler, this helps energy management by making the filler free.
Masterful Tier
You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.
Overclock - Reduces the cooldowns of Concussive Round and Tech Override by 15 seconds each. Also, Tech Override grants a second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly.
A very useful utility for Commando DPS players. Both DPS disciplines feature an instant proc of their filler attack used in the rotation. When/if that proc does not line up, this utility can help prop up the rotation. It can also be very helpful when DPSing on the move.
Advance the Line - Increase the duration of Hold the Line by 4 seconds.
I usually take it as a longer duration for Hold the Line grants significant extra movement speed in fights and can be very helpful on many fights.
Reflexive Shield - When you take damage, the active cooldown of Reactive Shield is reduced by 3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1. Seconds. Also, when taking damage, you have a 20% chance to emit an Energy Redoubt which absorbs a low amount of damage and lasts 6 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.
Frequently take, this can drastically reduce the cooldown on a key defensive.
Charged Barrier - Charged Bolts , Grav Round, and Medical Probe build a Charged Barrier that reduces damage taken by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.
I usually take, a good utility that will grant you 5% extra DR for the majority of most boss fights, helping survivability. I always take for any fights where Advance the Line is not needed.
Electro Shield - When activated, your Reactive Shield charges with electricity, zapping attackers for elemental damage when they deal direct damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.
Situational, there are some fights where this utility would be useful and preferred over Charged Barrier.
Reflexive Battery - Activating Concussion Charge generates 2 stacks of Supercharge and heals you and up to 7 other allies within 8 meters. In addition, Concussion Charge deals 30% more damage and reduces its active cooldown by 1 second when you take damage. This effect cannot occur more than once per second.
Reflexive Battery is useful to provide a free filler. See the rotation discussion below for more details.
Heroic Tier
A maximum of 3 utilities
Forced March - Allows Full Auto, Boltstorm, and Successive Treatment to be activated while moving.
Always take, being able to channel on the move is a massive boost to your mobility and is the most essential utility for this class.
Shock Absorbers - Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30%. Also, while stunned, you take 30% less damage from all sources.
Must take, 30% AOE and stun damage reduction is massive.
Adrenal Surge - Adrenal Rush triggers at, and can heal you up to, 60% of your maximum health. Also, Adrenal Rush lasts 2 seconds longer and heals for twice as much each time it restores health.
I usually take, I love this utility for any operation with lots of raid-wide damage. If you get low on health but the healers are swamped and trying to burst-heal a tank to keep them alive, then as long as you don’t eat any big damage spikes you don’t need any heals for 12 seconds (and generally will still be in decent 50-60% health after 12s). When used with skill, this makes Adrenal Rush a HUGE survivability boost over its existing capabilities. Absent an enrage or other high damage AoE or mechanic, I never die when I hit Adrenal Rush with this utility.
Trauma Stabilizers - While Reactive Shield is active, you generate a stack of Trauma Stabilizers each time you receive direct damage. Stacks up to 10 times. When Reactive Shield expires, each stack of Trauma Stabilizers instantly heals you for 4% of your maximum health.
Don’t usually take as while a 40% potential heal sounds nice, you need Reflexive Shield for this to be meaningful and Shock Absorbers will usually reduce your damage taken by more than this utility will heal you.
One Man Army - Hindering a target with Electro Net grants One Man Army, increasing your alacrity by 15% for 9 seconds. Additionally, Supercharged Cell reduces the cooldown of Adrenaline Rush by 5 seconds.
A situational utility that provides extra offensive benefits by extra alacrity and extra defensive benefits by higher uptime on a key defensive ability.
Example Utility Build
Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.
Key Passives
Explosive Dissemination - Increases the damage dealt by Plasma Grenade and Sticky Grenade by 25%. Also, Plasma Grenade and Sticky Grenade spread your Incendiary Round burn and Serrated Bolt bleed effects to targets they hit, if they hit a target already affected by your Incendiary Round and Serrated Bolt.
This passive enables DoT spreading. Due to the tight energy demands of the specialization (i.e., even the base rotation is slightly energy negative), it is important to be very careful when DoT spreading to not wreck your energy.
Scorching Bolts - High Impact Bolt and Mag Bolt ignores 30% of the target’s armor, and dealing damage with either ability will always trigger your Plasma Cell Cylinder. Also, if a High Impact Bolt or Mag Bolt is used against a burning target, you regenerate 5 energy cells.
Buffs Mag Bolt but more importantly Mag Bolt will refund 5 energy cells if used on a target with a DoT. When combined with Ionic Accelerator to make Mag Bolt free every 5 GCDs, and the natural energy regeneration of 5 per second, these combine to make Mag Bolt the very center of energy management for Assault Specialist.
Sweltering Heat- Incendiary Round reduces the movement speed of the target by 30% while it burns them. Also, Incendiary Round makes the target Assailable (take 7% more internal/elemental damage) for 45 seconds.
Key passive to apply an important debuff, as most of the damage of this specialization is internal/elemental.
Ionic Accelerator - Charged Bolts, Full Auto, and Hail of Bolts finish the cooldown on High Impact Bolt and Mag Bolt and make the next High Impact Bolt or Mag Bolt cost no energy cells. This effect cannot occur more than once every 7.5 seconds.
Most important passive ability to Assault Specialist, when combined with Scorching Bolts (using Mag Bolt on a target with a burn DoT will refund 5 energy) and natural energy regeneration will make Mag Bolt very energy positive.
Hyper Assaults Rounds - Dealing periodic damage to a target with less than 30% max health grants Hyper Assaults Rounds, which reduces the cost of your next Explosive Round by 10 and increases the damage it deals by 75%. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds.
This passive makes Explosive Round the preferred filler in the execute range, as it costs 10 energy (down from 20) and is very strong damage with the buff. The base rotation should take up 15 seconds (10 GCDs) so once within the Execute Range then Explosive Round can be utilized in the same filler spot within the rotation.
Assault Trooper - Increases the critical damage bonus for Full Auto, Charged Bolts, Assault Plastique, and Mag Bolt by 15%. Also, Serrated Bolt marks its target (take 5% more damage from ranged attacks) for 45 seconds.
Increases crit damage for most non-DoT rotation abilities by 15% and applies Marked debuff to targets, increasing ranged weapon damage taken by 5%.
Blazing Celerity - Damage dealt by Mag Bolt makes your next Charged Bolts, Serrated Bolt, or Medical Probe activate instantly. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds. In addition, once every 10 seconds, gaining a stack of Supercharge grants Incisive Critical, increasing your critical chance by 10% for 10 seconds.
This passive is very helpful to Assault Specialist from a mobility perspective and for its high uptime on a +10% critical chance buff (added in patch 6.1.2). You should be using Full Auto and Charged Bolts to proc your first and second Mag Bolt, respectively. With the Forced March Utility, Full Auto can be cast on the move, while Blazing Celerity ensures Charged Bolts can be used while on the move as well. As a result, the only ability that cannot be cast on the move is Serrated Bolt, making the Assault Specialist rotation highly mobile!
Pre-Emptive Strike - Mag Bolt and Charged Bolts cause targets with a primed Assault Plastique to combust early, dealing additional damage as burn over 6 seconds.
This passive offers bonus damage to Assault Plastique when you use Mag Bolt or Charged Bolts within 4 GCDs of Assault Plastique. As such, the ideal rotation will utilize Assault Plastique on a regular basis.
Gearing in 6.0
Gearing Stat Allocation
Please see my Gearing Guide and Alacrity Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR.
For Assault Specialist Commando, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Concentrated Fire (Apex Predator is okay if you primarily run Gunnery)
Tactical: Energized Charges (Continuous Fire for AoE)
Amplifiers: Periodic Intensity
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 Assault Specialist Commando, 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 1,800, a secondary option is around 2,150 for better energy regeneration (at least 2,000 if the Zeal guild perk applies)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None
Set Bonus
Concentrated Fire
Increased drop rate from PVP.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Damaging an enemy or healing an ally has a 10% chance to generate a stack of Supercharge. This effect cannot occur more than once every 5 seconds.
(6) Activating Supercharged Cell makes your next High Impact Bolt, Mag Bolt, or Bacta Infusion critically hit or heal.
Analysis:
Concentrated Fire was nerfed in patch 6.1.2 to remove the four piece bonus that provided very high uptime on a +10% critical chance buff. The old six piece bonus was split into the new four and six piece bonuses. The set is far weaker as a result and unlikely to be best in slot for Mercenary DPS.
For Assault Specialist, the new Concentrated Fire set is definitely weaker but has some strengths working for it. Firstly, the increased uptime on Supercharged Cell is important since the ability applies a DoT for the Assault Specialist discipline that is further buffed by the Energized Charges tactical. As such, a few extra Supercharged Cell per fight is a bigger DPS increase for Assault Specialist than it is for Gunnery. At current gear levels, each extra Supercharged Cell is an extra 100k damage or so in addition to the extra damage made possible via the energy regeneration.
On the flip side, the six piece is less powerful for Assault Specialist than Gunnery. Assault Specialist uses Mag Bolt twice per rotation so getting an extra guaranteed critical hit on one use out of 8-10 total uses in between Supercharge windows is not as powerful. Gunnery benefits from the Charged Barrel passive that makes each High Impact Bolt more powerful, so the auto-crit is comparably stronger as well in terms of its incremental DPS added.
Apex Predator is interesting in that it provides a variety of buffs to Charged Bolts. Most rotations currently use Charged Bolts less often in favor of higher damage fillers like Plasma Grenade. It is used once every rotation to proc Ionic Accelerator but often that is its only use. Is the increased critical chance for each use and its occasional buffed and free use enough to offset the several extra Supercharged Cells and the auto-crit from Concentrated Fire? If you are only using Charged Bolts once per rotation cycle, almost certainly not.
But...what happens if you prioritize Charged Bolts in the rotation and replace Unload with extra Charged Bolts use? The base rotation can use Charged Bolts three times during the heat ramping cycle, which means during a burst window you will dramatically increase its frequency in the rotation. At that level of use, the extra damage provided by the critical chance bonus and the 6th stack buff (free +50% damage) delivers a lot of extra damage. So it might be better in that case though doing so dramatically changes your rotation and sacrifices a ton of mobility.
Impact on Rotation:
No change to rotation.
When to Take:
More testing is needed but I think Concentrated Fire is a better DPS set choice for Assault Specialist Commandos. The DoT applied from Supercharged Cell is so powerful for Assault Specialist with the Energized Charges tactical. Apex Predator is still a decent choice especially if you run Gunnery more often, though.
Apex Predator
Increased drop rate from Dxun operation Nature of Progress. Not available to purchase at Tech Frag vendor.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Activating Charged Bolts, Grav Round or Medical Probe increases the critical chance of your next Charged Bolts, Grav Round or Medical Probe by 10%. Stacks up to 5 times but is removed on 6th stack.
(6) Dealing damage with Charged Bolts or Grav Round or healing with Medical Probe grants a stack of Power Step, stacking up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, your next Charged Bolts, Grav Round or Medical Probe is more effective and costs no energy.
Analysis:
See the discussion above regarding Concentrated Fire for the discussion of that set bonus versus Apex Predator. In general I feel Concentrated Fire will be better for Assault Specialist than Apex Predator unless the player is revising their rotation to push a lot more Charged Bolts use. That provides better damage but since Charged Bolts does less damage than other fillers like Plasma Grenade the incremental damage gain is relatively low.
Impact on Rotation:
Apex Predator will deliver a better damage boost if you prioritize Charged Bolts as a filler as often as possible given energy levels. I also suggest considering a revised rotation to replace Full Auto with Charged Bolts, which can provide more frequent use/benefit from Apex Predator as well as more Supercharge.
This alternative rotation would replace the [Filler] // Full Auto // [Filler] block that comes after applying DoTs with Charged Bolts // [Filler] // [Filler] // [Filler], with Charged Bolts making up as many of the filler spots as possible and Mag Bolt being an option for a filler spot if it helps from an energy management perspective (though that will open a filler spot later on). This rotation will provide much greater utility and significantly more uptime on Supercharged Cell though at the cost of significantly less mobility. Fortunately, the "no Full Auto" rotation can be swapped out for the "traditional" rotation each block as needed for mobility.
When to Take:
Apex Predator is much closer to Concentrated Fire after 6.1.2 but I do not initially believe it will be the best option for "traditional" Assault Specialist rotation, primarily because of the very high damage dealt by the Supercharged Cell DoT.
Tactical Items
Energized Charges
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
The duration of Assault Specialist's Supercharged Cell and Supercharged Burn are doubled, and their effectiveness is improved.
Analysis:
By far the best in slot tactical for sustained single target damage, Energized Charges significantly boosts the damage of the “third DoT” for the discipline via Supercharged Cell.
Impact on Rotation:
No change.
When to Take:
Take in all situations except very heavy sustained AoE encounters.
Continuous Fire
Increased drop rate from operations.
Hail of Bolts and Mortar Volley refresh and tick your Incendiary Round burn and Serrated Bolt bleed. This effect can only occur once every 2.5 seconds.
Analysis:
Continuous Fire provides a powerful boost to AoE DPS. Assault Specialist has very powerful DoTs but its overall AoE potential is a bit lower than most DoT classes due to less effective DoT spreading. This tactical powers that up a bit by letting the channelled AoE attacks refresh and tick DoTs, making powerful AoE DPS far easier. Just apply and spread both DoTs and use Hail of Bolts once per rotation block and your DoTs will never fall off.
Impact on Rotation:
In AoE DPs situations, make sure to spread your DoTs then add substitute one use of Mortar Volley or Hail of Bolts (if the former is on cooldown) for Full Auto. If energy allows, you can also use another AoE channel during the one fixed use of Charged Bolts at the end of the rotation. You can also use another channel during the two GCDs at the beginning of each rotation block when you would normally reapply DoTs.
When to Take:
Encounters with sustained and very heavy AoE damage capability.
Magnetized Shrapnel
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Sticky Grenade now remains dormant on the target for 12 seconds. Mag Bolt detonates it, dealing double its standard damage to the primary target.
Analysis:
Magnetized Shrapnel is intended to be a burst DPS tactical. The challenge with its use is that it can not usually be utilized on cooldown due to energy management issues outside of heat ramping phases. Also, Energized Charges provides significantly more DPS so it isn’t recommended.
Impact on Rotation:
Sticky Grenade should be used whenever energy allows, including pre-applying it for fights with shield phases (e.g., Soa burn phase, Operator IX while shield is up, etc.)
When to Take:
Not recommended.
Amplifiers
Periodic Intensity (or Armor Penetration as secondary options)
Nearly half the damage inflicted is periodic-based damage, so Periodic Intensity and its higher base buff should provide by far the best increase to DPS for the discipline.
If you are looking to synergize the best amplifier build to run both Gunnery and Assault Specialist, I recommend Armor Penetration or Periodic Intensity. Armor Penetration is the best for Gunnery by a large margin, while Periodic Intensity is the best for Assault Specialist. If you run one discipline significantly more often than the other then balance your amplifier towards that discipline. If you run them equally, you should receive the best DPS boost from Armor Penetration by a small amount.
Key Abilities
Incendiary Round - DoT #1, instant
The first DoT of the discipline, it should have complete uptime on the main boss and be refreshed on cooldown via the rotation.
Serrated Bolt - DoT #2, cast (only mandatory rotation ability that can’t be activated on the move)
The second DoT of the discipline, it should have complete uptime on the main boss and be refreshed on cooldown via the rotation.
Mag Bolt - Instant (should be instant, free, and refund energy on each use)
The key ability to the discipline via its high damage and its proc making it free and energy positive. The ability can be procced twice per rotation cycle and doing it consistently is a key goal to maximize damage.
Full Auto - Channeled filler, can be used on the move with Forced March utility
A core ability that deals heavy damage and can proc Mag Bolt. It should be used on cooldown once per rotation cycle.
Charged Bolts - Filler cast ability (should be used at least once per rotation and be an instant cast, also is high priority filler above 30% boss health)
Your spammable filler ability. It should be used once per rotation cycle to proc Mag Bolt and can be used additionally when energy permits to deal increased damage.
Assault Plastique - Filler instant (used in base rotation)
A high damage ability that should be used on cooldown, which works out to be once per rotation cycle.
Electro Net - Filler instant (long cooldown, top priority filler in rotation)
A high damage DoT ability that has a long cooldown but should be used on cooldown due to its high damage and low energy cost.
Explosive Round - Sub-30% filler instant (has boosted damage and decreased cost sub-30% boss health due to Hyper Assaults Rounds passive ability every 15s)
A low damage filler that gets a sizable buff to its damage and energy cost in the execute range and should be used once per rotation cycle at that point.
Plasma Grenade - Hard cast single target / AoE filler, spreads DoTs via Explosive Dissemination passive ability
A high damage filler ability that deals AoE damage and spreads your primary DoTs.
Sticky Grenade - Instant cast single target / AoE filler, spreads DoTs via Explosive Dissemination passive ability
A filler ability that deals decent damage and spreads DoTs. It deals strictly less damage than Plasma Grenade and should only be used when on the move and unable to stop and cast.
Concussion Charge - Blasts 8 nearby enemies back and away. Targets hit by this take low elemental damage and have their movement slowed by 50% for 4 seconds.
Concussion Charge normally has no use in the rotation as it costs 5 energy, does very low damage and does not generate any Supercharge. With several utilities, Concussion Charge becomes a free filler that deals slightly less damage than Hammer Shot but generating twice the Supercharge. Given the power of the Supercharged Cell DoT when buffed by Energized Charges, this can be a helpful DPS increase when utilized properly.
Supercharged Cell - Converts 10 stacks of Supercharge to regenerate 10 units of energy and provides a buff unique to each discipline. For Assault Specialist, Supercharged Cell increases periodic damage by 10% for 8 seconds and causes the next successful ranged attack on a target affected by Incendiary Round to leave Supercharged Burn and deal damage over 4 seconds.
Your class-specific unique ability that for this discipline grants an extra DoT and buffs all DoT damage.
Hammer Shot - Free instant filler
Your basic attack should be used regularly in the discipline due to its very tight energy management.
Cooldowns & Other Abilities
Field Aid - Cleansing ability, use when necessary
Advanced Medical Probe - Cheap and powerful instant cast heal
Medical Probe - Spammable moderate heal. Builds 2 Supercharge.
Diversion - Reduces threat towards all current enemies. 45s cooldown.
Recharge Cells - Rapidly restores 50 energy over 3 seconds. Most powerful energy cooldown. 1:30 cooldown.
Reserve Powercell - Your next ability costs no energy. Lasts 15 seconds. 1:30 cooldown.
Tech Override - Your next ability used within 15 seconds with an activation time will activate instantly and then grant immunity to pushback and interrupts for 6 seconds. 1:00 cooldown.
Hold the Line - Grants 6 seconds of immunity from movement-impairing effects, knockdowns and physics and increases movement speed by 30%. 45s cooldown.
Reactive Shield - Increases damage reduction by 25% for 12 seconds. 2:00 cooldown.
Echoing Deterrence - Absorbs all incoming single target direct damage for the next 6 seconds and reflects 50% of the absorbed damage back at the attacker and healing you for 5% of your maximum health each time an attack is absorbed. Can be used while stunned. 2:00 cooldown.
Adrenal Rush - Applies a Health Monitor that lasts 60 seconds, which triggers Kolto Overload when your health is reduced to 35% or less. If your health is already 35% or less, it triggers immediately. Once triggered, it goes on cooldown for 3 minutes and rapidly heals you up to 35% of your max health for 10 seconds but will not exceed 35% of your max health.
Rotation
Opener
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2
3
4
5
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11
Serrated Bolt - Hard cast to open the rotation, this also ensures the next several GCDs are instant to give you freedom to position as the group engages the boss. If unable to hard cast, cast in the normal order with Incendiary Round > Serrated Bolt.
Incendiary Round - As noted above, use Incendiary Round first if unable to hard cast Serrated Bolt.
Supercharged Cell OFF GCD - Used here to apply its DoT so we can begin building extra Supercharge
Adrenal OFF GCD - We start dealing very heavy burst damage immediately so hitting all cooldowns up front.
Mag Bolt - Should be the only use of Mag Bolt when it is not free. It will still refund 5 energy.
Full Auto - Used midway through the rotation to proc Mag Bolt.
Electro Net - Top priority filler user here, should be used on cooldown in a [Filler] spot.
Assault Plastique - Top damage filler buffed through passives, used in base rotation here
Mag Bolt - free, procs instant Charged Bolts
Charged Bolts - instant cast, procs free Mag Bolt
Mag Bolt - free
(continue rotation)
Low Energy Rotation
The Low Energy Rotation is your base rotation whenever any energy cooldowns are not available and will not be off cooldown for at least 10 GCDs (15s without alacrity). The rotation should be slightly net energy positive and can be repeated infinitely. You can occasionally substitute a non-free filler ability when energy permits or when either Supercharged Cell or Reserve Powercell come off cooldown. When Recharge Cells will be coming off cooldown soon, you can swap to the High Energy Rotation.
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Incendiary Round - Refreshing DoT on cooldown
Serrated Bolt - Refreshing DoT on cooldown
[FILLER] Hammer Shot - The first filler spot in the rotation, we use a basic attack to stay net neutral for energy purposes. Use Concussion Charge if taking appropriate utilities, as a free preferred filler to generate additional Supercharge.
Full Auto - Used on cooldown to proc Mag Bolt
[FILLER] Hammer Shot - The second filler spot in the rotation, we use a basic attack to stay net neutral for energy purposes. If I am at 85-90 energy or above, I may use a higher cost filler here like Charged Bolts or Plasma Grenade. You can also use Concussion Charge if taking appropriate utilities, as a free preferred filler to generate additional Supercharge.
Assault Plastique - Used on cooldown
Mag Bolt - free, instant, procs instant Charged Bolts
Charged Bolts - instant cast, procs free Mag Bolt
Mag Bolt - free, instant
(resume rotation at #1)
High Energy Rotation
The High Energy Rotation is very net negative for energy purposes but deals very high damage. Only use this rotation when Recharge Cells is off cooldown or coming off cooldown within 15s. I usually find I can go through this rotation twice, using Reserve Powercell in the middle of the first rotation and then hitting Rechage Cells in approximately the same spot the second rotation. After that, return to the Low Energy Rotation.
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Incendiary Round - Refreshing DoT on cooldown
Serrated Bolt - Refreshing DoT on cooldown
FILLER - See below
Reserve Powercell OFF GCD - Always use this energy cooldown before Full Auto to maximize the net energy gain
Full Auto - Used on cooldown to proc Mag Bolt
FILLER - See below
Assault Plastique
Mag Bolt - free, instant, procs instant Charged Bolts
Charged Bolts - instant cast, procs free Mag Bolt
Mag Bolt - free, instant
(continue priority rotation)
Rotation Priorities
Don’t go below 60% cells for ANY reason unless you have energy regeneration abilities available.
These include Supercharged Cell (recharges 10 cells), Recharge Cells (recharges 50 cells over 3s), and Reserve Powercell (next ability costs no cells). Supercharged Cells usually means you can substitute ONE higher energy filler (usually Charged Bolts or Plasma Grenade) for a basic attack. Reserve Powercell should always be used on Full Auto and can enable substitution of 1-2 high energy fillers for basic attacks.
Recharge Cells should enable max energy DPS rotations until reaching around 30-35% energy, at which point Recharge Cells should be triggered. Usually the cooldown will get you fairly close to max energy, such that 1-2 high energy fillers may be still be usable (with caution).
2. Maintain 100% uptime on both DoTs (Incendiary Round and Serrated Bolt) and refresh on cooldown.
Both abilities apply a DoT that lasts 15s prior to alacrity, thus the core rotation becomes 10 GCDs (9 abilities given that Full Auto lasts 2 GCDs and has a similar 15s cooldown prior to alacrity).
3. Proc Mag Bolt via the Ionic Accelerator passive ability as often as possible.
Mag Bolt is the key to energy management for this specialization. With the Scorching Bolts and Ionic Accelerator passive abilities, when Mag Bolt is procced it refunds 5 cells in addition to the cells you regenerate during the GCD. Given that it is the only free ability other than Hammer Shot, this is huge to your rotation. Ionic Accelerator can be procced every 7.5s prior to alacrity, thus we should proc Mag Bolt twice each rotation (defined per #1 as the period beginning with refreshing DoTs).
4. When in any doubt regarding your energy state, substitute Hammer Shot in both filler slots in the rotation.
You can do the energy-neutral “low energy” rotation indefinitely, and new players should stick to this rotation exclusively in Ops until they get the hang of how to push energy using cooldowns.
5. Use energy cooldowns aggressively and intelligently.
Skilled players will be aware of when energy cooldowns are (or are about to be) available and use high energy fillers proactively such that Reserve Powercell (only should be used with Full Auto) and Recharge Cells are used very nearly on cooldown.
6. Be aware of when you can use Charged Bolts safely.
Charged Bolts only has to be used ONCE in the rotation to proc Mag Bolt via Ionic Accelerator. Any extra uses should only take place when you have extra energy, primarily as a result of energy cooldowns.
7. Substitute Explosive Round for any other fillers once below 30% boss health.
Explosive Round receives a huge buff to both its damage and energy cost making it a highly effective filler in the execute range.
8. If taking related utilities, use Concussion Charge as a filler in low heat rotation.
Concussion Charge can be a preferred filler if taking utilities Efficient Conversions (makes Concussion Charge free) and Reflexive Battery (Concussion Charge generates 2 Supercharge, deals +30% damage and gets its cooldown reduced on taking damage). This is true primarily if equipping the Energized Charges tactical, which makes your Supercharged Cell DoT extremely powerful. Concussion Charge dealing slightly less damage than Hammer Shot but generating 2 Supercharge instead of 1 Supercharge is a DPS increase by providing higher uptime on Supercharged Cell. With all that said, be careful not to use it when knockbacks are not appropriate.
9. Use Plasma Grenade to DoT spread.
Both Plasma Grenade and Sticky Grenade can be used to DoT spread. However, Plasma Grenade has the same energy cost and always deals more damage. Sticky Grenade is only preferred if you need to DoT spread while on the move since Plasma Grenade is a cast ability.
Filler Priority
1. Mag Bolt (unprocced) - Mag Bolt should not generally be available during the rotation except via its proc of Ionic Accelerator. If you have downtime and begin the opener again, you can add an unprocced Mag Bolt before proccing Ionic Accelerator to deal extra damage.
2. Electro Net - Electro Net deals high periodic damage and is cheap to use. If possible try to align its use with Supercharged Cell.
3. Explosive Round (sub-30%) - Explosive Round benefits from a passive skill that increases its damage and reduces its energy cost below 30% enemy health, which makes it a better ability than Charged Bolts and can be used once per rotation block.
4. Charged Bolts (w/ energy cooldown or >85 energy) - Charged Bolts is your spammable filler and should be used in the high energy rotation per above so long as an energy cooldown is available. During the low energy rotation it should be used once per rotation to proc Mag Bolt. Supercharged Cell should allow one extra use of Charged Bolts as a filler ability.
5. Concussion Charge (w/ utilities) - See priority rotation #8 above for details. If you take the proper utilities, Concussion Charge is better than Hammer Shot as it deals comparable damage (if you are in range of the enemy) and generates twice the Supercharge.
6. Hammer Shot - Free filler ability that generates 1 Supercharge and should be used when no other fillers are available or appropriate to use.
Energy Management
Always use Reserve Powercell on Full Auto. Reserve Powercell makes your next ability consume no energy and Full Auto is the only ability that takes more than one GCD, so this maximizes the net energy gain. It should never be used on any ability other than Full Auto.
Supercharged Cell should allow one high energy filler - Supercharged Cell regenerates 10 energy when used. Most high energy abilities have a net cost after natural energy regeneration of around 10 energy, so each time you use Supercharged Cell you can typically use one high energy filler. This filler will most commonly be Charged Bolts.
Use Concussion Charge as a filler as often as possible - If you take all the applicable utilities then Concussion Charge can be used at least twice per minute to generate extra Supercharge. The ability is a DPS increase solely based on enabling more frequent use of Supercharged Cell and its DoT but also helps energy regeneration to use more high energy fillers.
Use Recharge Cells aggressively for high energy fillers - With the Cell Capacitor skillful utility, Recharge Cells will regenerate 65 energy over 3 seconds and grants 10% alacrity for 6 seconds. Over those 3 seconds the class should naturally regenerate between 8 and 11 energy as well, for a combined energy recovery over 3 seconds of 73 - 76 energy.
You will continue activating abilities during this time so timing Recharge Cells is important to take full advantage of its energy recovery without capping/wasting energy, but also being careful not to go so low that you have compromised energy even after Recharge Cells.
I find the sweet spot to use Recharge Cells is typically 20-30 energy. 20 energy is a good target during the back half of the rotation where you get free uses of Mag Shot in close proximity and 30 energy is a good target anywhere else. If you hit Recharge Cells and realize you may be a bit too high on energy, you may be able to safely use one more high energy filler after Recharge Cells.
For newer players, I would encourage you to be cautious with Recharge Cells and err on the side of slightly capping energy until you get the hang of being really aggressive. Tanking your energy without a cooldown can ruin your DPS for this discipline moreso than any other discipline in the game.
AOE DPS
Use Plasma Grenade to DoT spread - Honestly that is about it for AoE DPS in most circumstances. Plasma Grenade deals decent damage on your main target, applies a DoT to nearby targets and spreads your Serrated Bolt and Incendiary Round DoTs. Plasma Grenade can be used once per rotation cycle to keep nearly full uptime on those DoTs on nearby targets, which collectively does a LOT of AoE damage.
There are no real AoE DPS checks in the game outside maybe the Dxun Control Center encounter in master mode. Every other encounter with lots of adds, such as the Ossus Hive Queen, is ultimately a single target DPS check that has a lot of adds. Assault Specialist can deal plenty of AoE DPS by using Plasma Grenade as a filler without sacrificing any noticeable single target DPS. In fact, once you get below 30% and DoTs are buffed Plasma Grenade can deal more single target damage than Charged Bolts anyway!
Use Mortar Volley for burst AoE DPS - Mortar Volley does high AoE DPS over its channel but it is quite expensive and likely will require using an energy cooldown. Reserve Powercell is great for Mortar Volley due its long channel. I find DoT spread via Plasma Grenade and a channel of Mortar Volley is enough to kill most adds.
I do not recommend Hail of Bolts - Hail of Bolts is your spammable AoE ability. Even with the Chain Gunnery utility to buff its damage, it deals less damage and costs more than Mortar Volley. Its cost also makes using Hail of Bolts after Mortar Volley impossible without Recharge Cells.
Given that AoE DPS is not really a check in SWTOR, I never use Hail of Bolts unless I am fluffing and do not recommend anyone else use it outside of trash pulls.
Only use Sticky Grenade when you need to be mobile - Sticky Grenade is strictly worse than Plasma Grenade. I only suggest using it when you need to deal AoE damage or DoT spread on the move and Tech Override is not available to make Plasma Grenade an instant cast. The only exception to this rule is if I am running the Continuous Fire tactical, and please see below for how to do that effectively.
Continuous Fire is really fun for AoE but unnecessary - The Continuous Fire tactical is really cool for dealing crazy high AoE DPS. However, the rotation's energy management does not allow you to use Mortar Volley on cooldown and spam Hail of Bolts. As mentioned elsewhere, using Plasma Grenade for AoE DPS and DoT spreading is sufficient to meet every AoE DPS check so Continuous Fire is not required.
However, if you want to take Continuous Fire then the rotation changes significantly. You apply your DoTs normally then afterwards you should not need to refresh your DoTs and can settle into the following cycle:
Hail of Bolts (ticks/refreshes DoTs, procs Mag Bolt)
Mag Bolt (procced/free)
Filler
Filler
Full Auto (procs Mag Bolt)
Mag Bolt (procced/free)
Filler (can substitute Mortar Volley for both Filler slots if available)
Filler (can substitute Mortar Volley for both Filler slots if available)
(repeat at top with Hail of Bolts)
We also add Plasma Grenade as our top filler and Assault Plastique as our secondary filler. For pure AoE DPS, you can add a second Hail of Bolts to replace 2 Filler spots though that is very expensive on energy. For practical purposes, I would tend to try and prioritize Plasma Grenade and then use mostly basic attacks to save up energy to use Mortar Volley on cooldown.
The biggest saving grace to Continuous Fire is that it does increase your single target DPS as compared to no tactical at all due to the extra DoT ticks and making your DoTs "fire and forget" due to their continued refresh via Hail of Bolts. As such, it is perfectly viable if you want to shift towards AoE DPS but I feel that it is unnecessary in nearly all content given the normal rotation plus Plasma Grenade will be preferable to clear the fight as easily and quickly as possible.