Post by trilok on Jul 4, 2010 0:05:48 GMT
I must have experimented many times with different BH Expertise setups to fight gold elite marks and this setup has worked very well against all gold elite marks. This guide goes into detail of how a BH can be solo against a gold elite mark, which means all buffs come from the BH, there is no need to obtain buffs from any other profession except for pups for shirt, armour and weapon. I would consider dropping the Bounty if the the mark has more than 150k Health as these marks will require a Medic buff to defeat. I'll list everything that I use and you can tweak this for your setup, I'll update this when the BH expertise changes are introduced:
Expertise:
I use a premier Carbine setup, I have tried a Rifles setup and liked it alot, however as I play slightly more pve than pvp nowadays I prefer to have a premier Carbines setup as it far out performs Rifles over a 30+ second fight. When I test Rifles I used equivalent power items as I use for Carbine, in other words if I use a shirt with Carbine Damage, Carbine Critical Chance and Carbine Action Cost for testing Carbines I would use the equivalent shirt with Rifle mods at the same value for a fair test;
Bounty Specialisation;
Marksmanship 4/4
Small Arms Efficiency 4/4 > Small Arms Accuracy 2/2 > Deadly Strikes 1/1 > Relentless Onslaught 1/1
Energy Armour 3/4
Survival Instinct 2/2
Power Sprint 1/1
Bounty Hunting;
Absorption 4/4 > Deflection 4/4 > Shields 1/1
Intense Assault 3/3 > Return Fire 1/1
Rapid Assault 2/2 > Enduring Assault 1/1
Fumble 1/1 > Prescience 1/1
Swift Ambush 2/2 > Advanced Ambush 1/1 > Advanced Armour Break 1/1
Cruelty 3/3 > Intimidating Strike 1/1 > Dread Strike 1/1
Critique regarding new expertise skills to follow.
Equipment:
BH Armour;
Food;
Buff Items;
Weapons;
1. EE3 Carbine
Skill Mods: 21 Ranged Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 4 Carbine Critical Chance, 2 Carbine Damage
Attribute Mods: 208 Action
Damage: Base Type Energy, Speed 0.6, Damage 314-839 Elemental Type Heat, Elemental Damage 54, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-60m
2. Czerka Dart Carbine
Skill Mods: 22 Ranged Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 3 Carbine Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Damage
Attribute Mods: 208 Action
Damage: Base Type Kinetic, Speed 0.6, Damage 314-838, Elemental Type Acid, Elemental Damage 54, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-60m
3. Guardian Lightening Rifle
Skill Mods: N/A
Attribute Mods: N/A
Damage: Base Type Energy, Speed 0.8, Damage 510-1045, Elemental Type Electricity, Elemental Damage 155, Weapon DPS 1358, Range 0-65m
4. Tusken Rifle
Skill Mods: 24 Ranged Critical Chance, 4 Rifle Action Cost, 3 Rifle Critical Chance, 2 Rifle Damage
Attribute Mods: 222 Health
Damage: Base Type Kinetic, Speed 0.8, Damage 420-1117, Elemental Type Acid, Elemental Damage 72, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-65m
Preparation and Combat:
My attitude towards BH hunting is that it should be a solo event however, if a medic bot is available by all means get a buff as it will certainly help, but you shouldn't need to rely on this.
First, place the Imperial Battle Standard first in an area you predict most of the fighting to take place, flat open areas are very good up to a gradient of about 30 degrees, avoid steep (>30 degrees) mountain sides for fighting as you are at a distadvantage because you won't be able to see your mark clearly during the whole fight. Activate the Mustafarian Injector, GCW Last Chance Heal Stim and Nourishing Vita Caps buffs, equip the EE3 / Czerka Dart Carbine and activate the pups and the Shard of Retaliation and Wild Force Shard Defensive Burst. Place both traps about 30m and 40m from the mark and run to about 60m away and start the fight using Cripple.
At this stage use Restless Onslaught because using traps and Cripple will have reduced your Action, now use Return Fire, Ambush and spam Assault a few times with Ambush and activate Prescience and Razor Net. After the Prescience effect has gone use Fumble, Dread Strike and Heal when you can. Try to keep 60m away at all times (kite using Power Sprint if needed), only get close to the mark when you are prepared to activate traps and use Restless Onslaught / Take Cover now spam Assualt, Ambush and Burn.
If Action is getting low check if Restless Onslaught is ready and if it is activate it and Heal, then spam Assault and Ambush, Fumble, Dread Strike and make sure Razor Net has been activated to keep the mark bleeding. When your Health gets low (20% or less) activate Shields (the later you leave activating Shields the better!) and continue to spam Ambush and Assault with the debuffs when they are available. While Shields are up take this opportunity to Heal and recover your action for a final burst of attacks and debuffs. If you play with Carbines make sure you don't fire all your debuffs and attacks at the same time because you want to allow your skills to complete the cooldown in time to use them again as wells as reserving some Action for later on in the fight. This isn't as much of a problem with a Rifles setup because with Sniper Shot you maybe able to kill the mark quickly, however Rifles uses alot of Action which would be another consideration.
During the fight occasionally switch to the Czerka Dart Carbine just for a couple of seconds (also bear in mind a pup hasn't been used for this weapon because it's not used for long) for the Acid effect to activate then switch back to the EE3 Carbine or vice versa depending on whichever Carbine you prefer. Attitudes differ as to which Carbine is better or more effective in combat, I like to use both although the Acid attack is good for long fights and therefore I prefer the Czerka Dart Carbine for gold elites.
Hopefully by this time the marks Health is low and yours will be too so keep spamming your debuffs, Prescience and Assault. If you need to use the GCW Heal Stim now is the perfect time to use it. Now keep spamming Assault and Ambush until the marks is defeated or you are, whichever comes first.
Conclusion:
It is possible to successfully solo gold elite marks regularly although it can be tough as a BH and depends on the Health of the mark. This guide works against gold elite marks with approx 135k Health. The biggest BH strength in this template is traps, debuffs, Prescience and the ability to spam Assault and Ambush but this is all academic if the mark has Health much beyond 150k.
I can however confirm, that Carbines is a more rounded combat path than Rifles for pve Gold Elite marks, based on the new expertise with one exception, if you can increase Strikethrough significantly above 20% by adding a mod into a weapon, shirt and armour Chestplate and use pups for strikethrough for all three then Rifles will be very good. I am currently working on Rifle expertise setups and I will run some more tests and let you know what I find out.
Expertise:
I use a premier Carbine setup, I have tried a Rifles setup and liked it alot, however as I play slightly more pve than pvp nowadays I prefer to have a premier Carbines setup as it far out performs Rifles over a 30+ second fight. When I test Rifles I used equivalent power items as I use for Carbine, in other words if I use a shirt with Carbine Damage, Carbine Critical Chance and Carbine Action Cost for testing Carbines I would use the equivalent shirt with Rifle mods at the same value for a fair test;
Bounty Specialisation;
Marksmanship 4/4
Small Arms Efficiency 4/4 > Small Arms Accuracy 2/2 > Deadly Strikes 1/1 > Relentless Onslaught 1/1
Energy Armour 3/4
Survival Instinct 2/2
Power Sprint 1/1
Bounty Hunting;
Absorption 4/4 > Deflection 4/4 > Shields 1/1
Intense Assault 3/3 > Return Fire 1/1
Rapid Assault 2/2 > Enduring Assault 1/1
Fumble 1/1 > Prescience 1/1
Swift Ambush 2/2 > Advanced Ambush 1/1 > Advanced Armour Break 1/1
Cruelty 3/3 > Intimidating Strike 1/1 > Dread Strike 1/1
Critique regarding new expertise skills to follow.
Equipment:
BH Armour;
- 8 pieces - 35 Agility, 35 Luck and 35 Precision, Kin 7600, En 5600, Special Protection 5400 to all (important, hybrid suit can be stronger than this more details to follow)
- Armour Chestplate, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 3 Carbine Critical Chance, 2 Carbine Damage, Kin 7600, En 5600, Special Protection 5400 to all (important)
- Shirt, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 3 Carbine Critical Chance, 2 Carbine Damage (important)
- PSG - 35 Agility, 35 Luck and 35 Precision, En 2499, Recharge Rate 77.2 (important)
- Rucksack of the Tusken King, 25 Agility, 30 Constitution, 25 Luck, 35 Precision, 30 Stamina and 35 Strength
- Blastech Wristek - Wrist Assault Booster Zulu (Right), 4 Assault Action cost, 4 Assault Critical Chance, 4 Assault Damage and 4 Assault Freeshot Chance
- Champion's Golden Symbol (Left), 25 Agility, 25 Strength and 2 Carbine Action Cost
- Fine Combatant's Ring, 25 Stamina, 25 Strength and 2 Carbine Action Cost
- Colonel Signet Ring of the Empire, 40 Agility, 60 Constitution, 24 Precision and 24 Strength
- Nova Star Medal of the Empire, 30 Constitution, 30 Luck, 24 Precision, 24 Strength
Food;
- Fizz Pudding 150 to 200 Luck
Buff Items;
- Shard of Retaliation (important)
- Wild Force Shard Defensive Burst (important)
- Mustafarian Injector (important)
- Nourishing Vita Caps
- Imperial Battle Standard
- GCW Last Chance Heal Stim
- GCW Heal Stim (not essential but will help)
- GCW Call Support #to be updated with detail# (not essential but will help)
- Shard of the Serpent
Weapons;
1. EE3 Carbine
Skill Mods: 21 Ranged Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 4 Carbine Critical Chance, 2 Carbine Damage
Attribute Mods: 208 Action
Damage: Base Type Energy, Speed 0.6, Damage 314-839 Elemental Type Heat, Elemental Damage 54, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-60m
2. Czerka Dart Carbine
Skill Mods: 22 Ranged Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Action Cost, 3 Carbine Critical Chance, 3 Carbine Damage
Attribute Mods: 208 Action
Damage: Base Type Kinetic, Speed 0.6, Damage 314-838, Elemental Type Acid, Elemental Damage 54, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-60m
3. Guardian Lightening Rifle
Skill Mods: N/A
Attribute Mods: N/A
Damage: Base Type Energy, Speed 0.8, Damage 510-1045, Elemental Type Electricity, Elemental Damage 155, Weapon DPS 1358, Range 0-65m
4. Tusken Rifle
Skill Mods: 24 Ranged Critical Chance, 4 Rifle Action Cost, 3 Rifle Critical Chance, 2 Rifle Damage
Attribute Mods: 222 Health
Damage: Base Type Kinetic, Speed 0.8, Damage 420-1117, Elemental Type Acid, Elemental Damage 72, Weapon DPS 1140, Range 0-65m
Preparation and Combat:
My attitude towards BH hunting is that it should be a solo event however, if a medic bot is available by all means get a buff as it will certainly help, but you shouldn't need to rely on this.
First, place the Imperial Battle Standard first in an area you predict most of the fighting to take place, flat open areas are very good up to a gradient of about 30 degrees, avoid steep (>30 degrees) mountain sides for fighting as you are at a distadvantage because you won't be able to see your mark clearly during the whole fight. Activate the Mustafarian Injector, GCW Last Chance Heal Stim and Nourishing Vita Caps buffs, equip the EE3 / Czerka Dart Carbine and activate the pups and the Shard of Retaliation and Wild Force Shard Defensive Burst. Place both traps about 30m and 40m from the mark and run to about 60m away and start the fight using Cripple.
At this stage use Restless Onslaught because using traps and Cripple will have reduced your Action, now use Return Fire, Ambush and spam Assault a few times with Ambush and activate Prescience and Razor Net. After the Prescience effect has gone use Fumble, Dread Strike and Heal when you can. Try to keep 60m away at all times (kite using Power Sprint if needed), only get close to the mark when you are prepared to activate traps and use Restless Onslaught / Take Cover now spam Assualt, Ambush and Burn.
If Action is getting low check if Restless Onslaught is ready and if it is activate it and Heal, then spam Assault and Ambush, Fumble, Dread Strike and make sure Razor Net has been activated to keep the mark bleeding. When your Health gets low (20% or less) activate Shields (the later you leave activating Shields the better!) and continue to spam Ambush and Assault with the debuffs when they are available. While Shields are up take this opportunity to Heal and recover your action for a final burst of attacks and debuffs. If you play with Carbines make sure you don't fire all your debuffs and attacks at the same time because you want to allow your skills to complete the cooldown in time to use them again as wells as reserving some Action for later on in the fight. This isn't as much of a problem with a Rifles setup because with Sniper Shot you maybe able to kill the mark quickly, however Rifles uses alot of Action which would be another consideration.
During the fight occasionally switch to the Czerka Dart Carbine just for a couple of seconds (also bear in mind a pup hasn't been used for this weapon because it's not used for long) for the Acid effect to activate then switch back to the EE3 Carbine or vice versa depending on whichever Carbine you prefer. Attitudes differ as to which Carbine is better or more effective in combat, I like to use both although the Acid attack is good for long fights and therefore I prefer the Czerka Dart Carbine for gold elites.
Hopefully by this time the marks Health is low and yours will be too so keep spamming your debuffs, Prescience and Assault. If you need to use the GCW Heal Stim now is the perfect time to use it. Now keep spamming Assault and Ambush until the marks is defeated or you are, whichever comes first.
Conclusion:
It is possible to successfully solo gold elite marks regularly although it can be tough as a BH and depends on the Health of the mark. This guide works against gold elite marks with approx 135k Health. The biggest BH strength in this template is traps, debuffs, Prescience and the ability to spam Assault and Ambush but this is all academic if the mark has Health much beyond 150k.
I can however confirm, that Carbines is a more rounded combat path than Rifles for pve Gold Elite marks, based on the new expertise with one exception, if you can increase Strikethrough significantly above 20% by adding a mod into a weapon, shirt and armour Chestplate and use pups for strikethrough for all three then Rifles will be very good. I am currently working on Rifle expertise setups and I will run some more tests and let you know what I find out.
