5.0 Class Guides/ SWTOR

SWTOR 5.0 Marksmanship Sniper PvP Guide by Kitchen Sink

Kitchen Sink 56 Comments Dec 29, 2016

SWTOR 5.0 Marksmanship Sniper PvP Guide written by Kitchen Sink.

Intro to 5.0 Marksmanship Sniper

The sniper class has received incredible new buffs for both offensive and defensive play since 5.0’s release which I will get into with this guide. Now, first things first, Marksmanship is considerably easier than the other two sniper specs which makes it a good starting point for players who are new to the class. The rotation is fairly simple and working your offensive cooldowns right isn’t really a big challenge. This guide will be focusing on all aspects of how to play the class, which includes builds, defensive play, rotation etc.

Utilities

Utilities for Marksmanship Sniper PvP

Skillful

	Ballistic Dampers: Entering cover grants 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers. Each charge absorbs 30% of the damage dealt by an incoming attack. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. Ballistic Dampers can only be gained once every 6 seconds. This utility is a huge help for your defense, it has the same cooldown as Snap Shot which means that every time you re-enter cover to get an instant snipe you will gain increased defenses, a MUST have utility.
	Snap Shot: Entering cover makes the next Snipe or Lethal Shot activate instantly. This effect cannot occur more than once every 6 seconds. An absolute MUST for the Marksmanship spec, it is essential to achieving maximum dps, and as stated above, it has the same cooldown as ballistic dampers.
	Imperial Efficiency: Increases the damage dealt by Suppressive Fire by 25%.

This utility is purely for AoE spam purposes.

Masterful

	Seek Cover: When Entrench ends or you leave cover while Entrench is active, you gain Seek Cover, which increases your movement speed by 50% and grants immunity to movement impairing effects. Lasts 6 seconds. A nice utility mostly helpful for dealing with other snipers. Using this will cause other snipers to be unable to slow or immobilize you within his/her Diversion if you are entrenched, this means that if they take the utility which slows targets affected by diversion they will essentially have wasted a utility point since it has no effect on you (I will dedicate an entire paragraph to Diversion later in the guide).
	Reestablish Range: Countermeasures purges all movement impairing effects when activated and grants Reestablish Range, increasing your movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Additionally, the final shot of Series of Shots or Penetrating Blasts knocks back the target if they are within 10 meters. This is extremely helpful when it comes to dealing with melee. The movement speed makes kiting a lot easier and the extra knockback makes a melee’s life a living hell.
	Evacuate: Reduces the cooldown of Maim and Flashbang by 15 seconds.

Heroic

Pillbox Sniper: Reduces the cooldown of Entrench by 15 seconds and Cover Pulse knocks targets back an additional 5 meters. The reasoning behind investing a point in this utility is pretty self explanatory, you get even more time of stun immunity and your knockback gets buffed.

Legendary

Defensive Safeguards: When Ballistic Shield is activated you gain a charge of Defensive Safeguards for each enemy inside your Ballistic Shield, up to 4. This effect lasts 20 seconds (the full duration of Ballistic Shield) and each charge increases your damage reduction by 5%. In addition, while inside your Ballistic Shield, you heal for 3% of your maximum health every second and you are immune to being pulled or knocked back. This is probably the most overpowered utility a Sniper has, it makes you almost unkillable while inside your Ballistic Shield. If you are fighting a melee, that player needs to be inside your Ballistic Shield to attack you which just increases your damage reduction even more. The heal you receive from taking this utility adds up to a 60% heal over the duration of 20 seconds which is incredible. This utility is an absolute MUST.

Tactical Retreat: Covered Escape (your roll) heals you for 10% of your maximum health. Additionally, the duration of Evasion is increased by 2 seconds. Again, this is a MUST HAVE utility. Covered Escape has a 20 second cooldown which which means that you get a 10% heal every 20 seconds, and you get an extra 2 seconds of immunity to melee and ranged damage with Evasion.

Gearing

IGNORE THIS SECTION FOR NOW SINCE THEY CHANGED BOLSTER

Before I start talking about gearing it is important you know that everything I state here is in a with bolster scenario. This means that when I say you need X amount of Critical Rating, I am saying that you need the given amount with bolster.

Critical Rating: Patch 4.0 removed Surge Rating from the game and merged Critical Chance and Critical Multiplier into one stat called Critical Rating. This means that stacking Critical Rating both increases your chance to land a crit and how much it will hit the target for. I recommend having about 45% Critical Chance.

Alacrity Rating: Alacrity is of extreme importance for Snipers. The ability to be able to press a button before your opponent is essential. For example, Ambush has a 1.5 second activation time if you have the buff given from using two Snipes, the GCD (Global Cooldown) is 1.5 seconds as well, Alacrity decreases the Global Cooldown which means that you have an X second window to roll the Ambush if you use Alacrity, that’s 20-30k damage you can mitigate. Alacrity can be the difference between life and death, it is an absolute MUST. Alacrity also helps your energy regen which is important when you are spamming AoE. I recommend having about 10% Alacrity.

Accuracy Rating: As a Sniper, tanks usually focus their taunts and other debuffs on you since they know how much Snipers can hit for. On top of that, tanks have a tendency to apply a debuff on you which reduces your Accuracy by 5%. To counter this, you need to have 105% Accuracy to make sure that you always hit your target no matter what the enemy tank has done to you. And most classes have a base of 5% defense chance so having 105% Accuracy is ideal, of course other classes like Sins/Shadows have more but I would not recommend getting even more Accuracy to counter that since you will start losing other stats you need. Imagine missing your autocrit Ambush because of having too little Accuracy in your gear, that is a huge chunk of your burst gone, and because of this, there is no question regarding the importance of having Accuracy in your gear as a Marksmanship Sniper.

Relics: Relic of Focused Retribution and Relic of Serendipitous Assault (Mastery buff and Power buff).

How you can achieve these stats: To get to the numbers you need I recommend buying/crafting your augments based on what you get in command crates. Most likely either a Critical enhancement or an Alacrity enhancement will be in the gear dropped from the crates; therefore I suggest that you mainly use Power augments in your gear, but if you are getting little to no Alacrity enhancements in drops then don’t be afraid to buy/craft Alacrity augments in order to compensate for what you are losing with your enhancements. The same thing applies to Critical Rating and Accuracy Rating. Mainhand/Offhand crystals should be +41 Critical Rating (Eviscerating Crystal).

Abilities and Rotation

Core Abilities

	Ambush: 1.5 second cast time if buffed. Fires a high-powered shot that deals X weapon damage.This is your hardest hitting ability in the Marksmanship spec, using it right will result in insane burst. It crits for around 20-30k on a regular basis.
	Penetrating Blasts: Fires 5 shots over the duration of 2 seconds that deal X weapon damage and sunder the target for 45 seconds. Sundered targets have their armor rating reduced by 20%. This is a critical ability for the Marksmanship spec, it applies constant pressure to your target as well as a key debuff. This should be used BEFORE Ambush for maximum damage.
	Snipe: 1.5 second cast time. Shoots a target for X weapon damage. This should ALWAYS be used TWICE BEFORE casting Ambush. Using it twice reduces the activation time of Ambush by .5 seconds as well as other things I will get into later.
	Followthrough: Fires a well-controlled follow-up shot at the target that deals X weapon damage. Only usable within the 5 seconds immediately following Ambush, 2x Snipe, Takedown, or a complete Penetrating Blasts. This ability should be be used almost every time you cast one of the abilities listed above, and should always have been used at least once before using Snipe because Followthrough decreases the energy cost of your next two Snipes by 5.NOTE: I said Followthrough is only usable after two Snipes which technically is incorrect.You can technically use only one Snipe but doing so would be a huge mistake. Snipe Grants Marksman’s Finesse, increasing the armor penetration and damage dealt by your next Followthrough by 10%. Stacks up to TWO times. Because of this passive, you must use two Snipes before Followthrough, using only one Snipe will result in less armor penetration and less damage.
	Takedown: Attempts to take the target down with a single powerful shot that deals X weapon damage. Only usable on targets at or below 30% max health. This is your execute ability, it should used be AFTER Ambush hits a target below 30% hp for a 20% damage increase.NOTE: Ambush doesn’t necessarily have hit a target already below 30% hp. It just needs to hit a target so that it goes below 30% hp with the damage from Ambush in order to trigger the damage increase on Takedown.
	Corrosive Dart: Fires a dart at the target that deals X internal poison damage over 18 seconds. Additionally, Corrosive Dart marks its target for 45 seconds. Marked targets take 5% increased damage from ranged weapon attacks. Be careful with overusing Corrosive Dart, it’s nice because of the debuff it applies but if you use it too often you will deplete your energy very fast. It’s up to you to be able to judge the situation and find out whether or not it’s worth using Corrosive Dart on your target.
	Suppressive Fire: Sprays a wave of bolts over the target area, dealing X damage to up to 8 enemies over the duration of 4.5 seconds. This ability is your AoE spam ability, use this if you see a group containing 3 or more enemies.

Key passives

	Zeroing Shots: Snipe zeroes in your sights, reducing the activation time of your next Ambush by 0.25 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times. This is why I stated earlier that you should always use Snipe twice before casting Ambush.
	Heavy Diversion: Targets affected by your Diversion continue to be affected for 3 seconds after leaving the area of effect. This is insanely helpful when it comes to fighting other Snipers.
	Recoil Control: Firing Snipe twice in a row, firing Takedown or Ambush once, or completing a cast of Penetrating Blasts finishes the cooldown on Followthrough. This passive essentially means that you can ignore the cooldown on Followthrough, it is usable after every ability stated above.
	Muzzle Fluting: Followthrough decreases the energy cost of your next two Snipes by 5. Because of this passive, it is of high importance that you use Followthrough before casting two Snipes. If you fail to do this it will result in your energy depleting rapidly since Snipe has the highest energy cost of all the abilities you use in the Marksmanship spec.
	Honed Shots: Snipe grants Honed Shots, increasing the critical hit chance and damage done by Snipe by 5% for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times. Be sure to keep 3 stacks of this on you at all times.
	Marksman’s Finesse: Snipe Grants Marksman’s Finesse, increasing the armor penetration and damage dealt by your next Followthrough by 10%. Stacks up to 2 times. I have already explained the importance of knowing what this passive does above in the Followthrough note and I don’t see any point in repeating it here.
	Finish the Job: Dealing damage with Ambush to a target with less than 30% health grants Finish the Job, increasing the damage of your next Takedown by 20%. Again, I have already explained what needs explaining above in the Takedown column, and I don’t see any point in repeating it.
	Hold Position: While in cover, ranged defense is increased by 20%, you cannot be leapt to or pulled, and you are immune to interrupts and ability activation pushback. In addition, Evasion reduces the damage you take from force and tech attacks by 75% while it is active. This is probably the most important passive a Sniper has, it explains why being in cover is extremely beneficial and it provides a buff for Evasion. While I strongly think that it is always better to roll force and tech heavy burst attacks you don’t always have it available, Evasion is the next best thing to use, of course considering you haven’t already put it on cooldown to stop melee or ranged burst. Remember that you only get the buffed Evasion if you are in cover.

Offensive Cooldowns

	Laze Target: Increases the critical hit chance of your next Ambush, Explosive Probe, or Cull by 100%. Lasts 20 seconds. Should be used ON COOLDOWNNOTE: With the 6 piece set bonus Laze Target receives 2 stacks and its duration is doubled.
	Target Acquired: Increases ranged and tech accuracy by 30% and armor penetration by 15% for 10 seconds. Use this ability with Ambush and Penetrating Blasts.NOTE: With the 4 piece set bonus this ability restores 15 energy and receives a cooldown reduction by 15 seconds.
	Sniper Volley: Immediately finishes the cooldown of Penetrating Blasts, increases base energy regeneration rate by 2 per second, and increases alacrity by 10%. Lasts 15 seconds. This ability should be used either immediately after Penetrating Blasts so you can cast it again, or when you’re AoE spamming to decrease energy consumption.
	Adrenaline Probe: Summons a droid that helps you recover 50 energy over 3 seconds. This is pretty self explanatory.

Rotation

Now, we all know that having a set rotation in PvP isn’t really possible because of how situational it is. So I will tell you what I do at the start of a match and hopefully you can work from there.

Laze Target + Corrosive Dart (while you are running at your target) > Cover + Penetrating Blasts > Sniper Volley > Penetrating Blasts > Followthrough > Snipe > Re-enter cover + Snipe > Followthrough > Target Acquired + Ambush > Takedown or Followthrough (depending on the health level of my target, they are usually below 30% at this point, if not already dead).

Things to take note of:

• I pre-cast Laze Target, I recommend doing this to get it back off cooldown as fast as possible, and you needn’t worry about your stacks actually running out before you get to use them since Laze Target has such a long duration.
• Cover is able to be used at the same time as you start casting Penetrating Blasts because cover does NOT have a GCD.
• I re-enter cover in order to reset my stacks of Ballistic Dampers and to gain Snap Shot again, causing me to be able to use two Snipes in a row with insta-cast. You need to re-entering cover constantly to regain the offensive and defensive buffs provided by it.

Defensive Cooldowns

	Ballistic Shield: Deploys a ballistic shield that spans 10 meters around you, reducing the damage taken by all allies that remain inside by 20%. Lasts 20 seconds. With Defensive Safeguards, which made it’s way to SWTOR with the release of 5.0, Ballistic Shield has now become an oh sh*t moment ability. It provides greater defense than Enraged Defense on Juggernauts which honestly is completely stupid. If you feel like your health is dropping fast then use Ballistic Shield to keep it under control.
	Imperial Preparation: Immediately finishes the active cooldowns on Evasion, Countermeasures, Shield Probe, Cover Pulse, Entrench, and Covered Escape. Use this ability ONLY if you are certain that you are going to die and you have no DCDs available.
	Evasion: Increases chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 200% for 3 seconds (5 seconds with correct utilities). This ability needs to be timed correctly if you want as much out of it as possible. This means that if you see a burst window coming up from your opponent which involves either melee or ranged attacks then use Evasion to stop the damage from hitting you. A good example of this is when you see a Sniper casting either Cull or Ambush, if you time Evasion correctly you will dodge ALL damage coming from those abilities which means that a good chunk of their burst is gone.
	Entrench: Entrenches you into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover. Lasts 23 seconds. This ability should be used ON COOLDOWN UNLESS you are white barred.
	Countermeasures: Instantly lowers threat by a moderate amount. Additionally, because of the utility, Countermeasures purges movement impairing effects and increases movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Of course in PvP we don’t really care about lowering our threat, so this ability is good if you need to kite, LoS a ranged class attacking you, or get out of an annoying AoE ability like Diversion.
	Shield Probe: Summons a probe droid that projects a shield around the Agent, absorbing a moderate amount of incoming damage for 10 seconds. Use this on cooldown whenever someone is attacking you.
	Covered Escape: Roll forward 18 meters, purging movement impairing effects and landing crouched behind cover. While rolling, your chance to dodge attacks is increased by 100%. Notice that this ability causes you to dodge ALL damage, it is perfect for stopping incoming tech or force burst, or even melee and ranged if Evasion is on cooldown. The idea of how to use Evasion correctly applies here too, try to anticipate incoming burst and roll to mitigate all the damage. Covered Escape is also helpful for countering melee, roll and root can be devastating for them.
	Ballistic Dampers: Grants 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers. Each charge absorbs 30% of the damage dealt by an incoming attack. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. Ballistic Dampers can only be gained once every 6 seconds. Re-enter cover as much as possible to keep Ballistic Dampers on you.NOTE: While I am fully aware that this is a utility, I do consider it a DCD because of how important it is to staying alive as a Sniper.

Crowd Control

	Diversion: Reduces the accuracy by 45% and exposes from cover up to 8 enemies within 8 meters for 8 seconds. I will not be talking about this ability here since I am dedicating a whole paragraph to it later in the guide.
	Flash Bang: Detonates a flash bang that blinds the target 8 seconds. Damage causes this effect to end prematurely. This is your mez (a stun that breaks on damage).
	Maim: Deals X amount of damage and stuns the target for 4 seconds. This is your hard stun ability (a stun that does NOT break on damage).
	Cover Pulse: Detonates an emergency charge that knocks all nearby targets back several meters and immobilizes them for 5 seconds. Damage dealt after two seconds ends the effect prematurely. This should be used if you need to get 1 or more melee away from you, or if you need to interrupt someone who’s casting. I mostly use it to interrupt healers and knock them away from the people they are healing or out of guard range.
	Leg Shot: Fires a shot that deals X weapon damage and immobilizes the target for 5 seconds. Direct damage dealt after two seconds ends the effect prematurely. Use this after you roll away from a melee class attacking you, or use it as you are running away from a melee class, ONLY if you have a speed boost (Usually Countermeasures or Seek Cover).

Diversion

Diversion can be both helpful and a nuisance to snipers. I will cover both aspects of it here. Using Diversion properly is key when it comes to fighting other Snipers, it will most likely be the most annoying thing you experience when playing the Sniper class, but because of the utilities I have told you to use, hopefully Diversion won’t be as annoying as it has the potential to be. The best and worst thing about Diversion (depending on whether you’re on the giving or receiving end of it) is that it instantly puts you out of cover, and cover makes you IMMUNE to interrupts. This means that if Diversion is thrown at you, you CAN be interrupted and on top of that, your accuracy is reduced by 45% which is why you need to get away from it ASAP. I recommend that if there is a Sniper on the enemy team, always save one of your speed boosts for Diversion. If you have Entrench up (which you most likely will) and are using the correct utilities, you CANNOT be immobilized or slowed (because of Seek Cover) which means that you can get out of Diversion considerably faster than most. Another way to counter Diversion is rolling at the right time, if you know what the animation looks like you can usually roll before it lands on you. The animation looks like the character is using his/her LEFT arm to throw a grenade with green smoke coming out of it. Since Diversion has a short travel time you do have a small window of opportunity to roll resist it.

About the Author

Most people call me Sink, I play on The Red Eclipse where I am a member of Take a Seat (a pvp guild) and I play on The Harbinger where I am a member of The Scare Bears and Omega Knights. I’ve mained the Sniper class since 2.0 and have loved it ever since. All of my character names contain the word “Sink” within them so if you ever need to get in touch with me in-game you can just type Sink in the Who tab. I have played the game since launch and have had a few long breaks, most consisting of 6-12 months. With the release of the last chapter of KOTFE I started playing again and am having so much fun with the thrill of the hunt (command crates). Thank you for taking the time to read this guide, I do hope it was helpful!