5.0 Class Guides/ SWTOR

SWTOR 5.0 Arsenal Mercenary PvE Guide by Sabz

Dulfy 94 Comments Feb 5, 2017

SWTOR 5.0 Arsenal Mercenary PvE Guide by Sabz.

Intro to Arsenal Mercenary

Arsenal is a great spec for newer and experienced players alike. It has a great burst, decent sustained damage, good raid utility, and superior target switching compared to Innovative Ordinance. The only thing that Arsenal (and Mercenaries in general) does not accel at is AOE. It is pretty average when it comes to AOE and can easily mess up your heat if not done correctly.

Gearing

Here are the stats that I am currently running, (Keep in mind that most people are at the mercy of RNG for their drops, so just use whatever you can get and use Augments to balance out your stats)

• 6282 Mastery
• 3452 Power
• 1710 Critical
• 1383 Alacrity
• 743 Accuracy (with 242 Accuracy Implant, without that I would be at 733 which is fine aswell)

Utilities

Skillful

	Jet Escape	Reduces the cooldown of Jet Boost by 5 seconds, Rocket Out by 3 seconds and Determination by 30 seconds.	This is a nice utility to take for reduced stun break and rocket out. One of the more useful utilities in the tier
	Afterburners	Missile Blast immobilizes the target for 4 seconds. Direct Damage caused after 2 seconds ends the effect. This effect can only occur every 8 seconds. In addition, Jet Boosts knockback effect is stronger and pushes enemies 4 meters farther away.	Only fight where you are going to take this utility is Styrak in NiM as it’s nice to have a farther knockback for Chain Manifestation
	Gyroscopic Alignment Jets	You vent 10 heat when stunned, immobilized, knocked down or otherwise incapacitated. Additionally your next tech ability deals 10% extra damage or healing.	Take in every fight where applicable
	Improved Vents	Vent Heat now immediately vents an additional 15 hear and grants 10% alacrity for 6 seconds.	Must take utility. Allows you to push heat higher and definitely a must take in almost every scenario
	Boreseights	Increases the damage dealt by Sweeping Blasters by 25%.	Good for fights with adds and makes up for how weak Sweeping Blasters is in general
	Adhesive Supplements	Power Shot and Tracer Missile reduce the movement speed of targets they damage by 40% for 6 seconds. In addition, the slowing effect applied by Kolto Residue lasts an additional 3 seconds.	Never take this utility in PVE

Masterful

	Power Barrier	Power Shot, Tracer Missile, and Rapid Scan generate a Power Barrier that increased damage reduction by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.	Generally always take this utility unless the increased duration of Hydraulics is necessary
	Torque Boosters	Increases the duration of Hydraulic Overrides by 4 seconds.	The third most useful utility of a pretty weak tier. Mainly take this for Revan or fights where I am trying to avoid pulls like Draxus or Cartel Warlords
	Pyro Shield	When activated, your Energy Shield ignites in a blaze, lashing attackers for X elemental damage when it remains active. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.	Take this utility nearly 100% of the time unless there is nothing to pyro shield. Good passive buff to your DPS
	Threat Sensors	Increases stealth detection level by 3, melee and ranged defense by 2%, and reduces the cooldown of Stealth Scan by 5 seconds. Additionally, whenever you activate Cure on yourself all periodic damage taken is reduced by 30% for 12 seconds.	I never take this utility
	Heat Damping	Eliminates the heat generated by Jet Boost, Concussion Missile, Cure, and Electro Dart.	Very situational, but has its uses in fights like Cartel Warlords and Nefra
	Supercharged Reserves	Reduces the cooldowns of Cure and Disabling Shot by 3 seconds. In addition, you build up to 10 stacks of Supercharge over the course of using Recharge and Reload. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.	Great utility for parsing, although other then that not very useful

Heroic

	Kolto Surge	Kolto Overload heals you for twice as fast and heals you up to 70% of your maximum health. Additionally the duration of Kolto Overload is increased by 2 seconds.	Take this Utility instead of Trauma Regulators in certain fights where there is minimal periodic or aoe damage going out
	Power Shield	Energy Shield now further decreases ability activation pushback by 30%. Increases all healing received by 20% and makes you immune to interrupts.	Not good enough to warrant a utility point
	Energy Rebounder	When you take damage, the active cooldown of Energy Shield is reduced by 3 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. In addition, 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.	My favorite utility that the merc has, and am so glad it was moved so that we are now actually able to take it. Before you had to sacrifice AOE DR to get it, but now you can take both. This infinitely buffed Merc survivability (and fluff damage :P)
	Power Overrides	Reduces the cooldowns of Concussion Missile and Power Surge by 15 second charge, making your next two abilities with an activation time activate instantly.	In theory it is a good utility, but not very practical
	Stabilized Armor	Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30%. Additionally, while stunned, you take 30% less damage from all sources.	Arguably the best utility in the game. Must take on every fight
	Jet Rebounder	Increases the damage dealt by Jet Boost by 30% and heals you and up to 7 other allies for X – Y . In addition, taking damage reduces the active cooldown of Jet Boost by 1 second. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.	Pretty useless utility for a DPS. Wouldn’t even take this on a healer. Especially for where it falls in the tree

Legendary

	Trauma Regulators	While Energy Shield is active you generate a stack of Trauma Regulators each time you receive direct damage. Stacks up to 15 times. When Energy Shield expires each stack of Trauma Regulators instantly heals you for 5% of your Maximum Health.	Pretty much the reason why merc hate is so much this expansion. Insanely busted utility. Must take in every fight where applicable
	Smoke Screen	Rocket Out generates a Smoke Screen when used, keeping you from being leapt to or pulled and making you immune to interrupts and ability activation push backs for the the next 4 seconds.	PVP utility that you don’t even consider taking in PVP
	Supercharged Defense	Activating Supercharged Gas increases your defense chance by 15% and grants immunity to interrupts for 8 seconds. In addition your Endurance is increased by 3% and all healing received is increased by 3 %.	Good utility but suffers from where it falls in the tree. Prefer 70% kolto in every situation
	Battlefield Protocols	Stealth Scan increased the damage or healing ability by your next non-channeled direct damage or healing ability by 20%. For each target revealed from stealth, you generate an additional charge of Battlefield Protocols. This effect stacks up to 5 charges and lasts for 10 seconds.	Maybe useful in Olok, but are you really going to respec utilities for that fight?
	Thrill of the Hunt	Thrill of the Hunt – Allows Unload, Blazing Bolts and Progressive Scan to be activated while moving.	Must have utility, provides a lot of mobility with the only time you have to stand still is to cast a tracer missile. Only fight where I don’t take this is Calphayus in favor of 70% Kolto
	Tag and Bag	Hindering a target with Electro Net grants Tag and Bag, increasing your alacrity by 15% for 9 seconds. Additionally supercharged gas reduces the cooldown of Kolto Overload by 5 seconds.	Doesn’t work on Operations Bosses, and probably not even enough of a DPS gain if did work to take it over Trauma Regulators

This is a pretty standard fight setup. The only thing that really changes is the Skillful Tier and Legendary Tier if there’s a fight where Trauma Regulators would not apply.

Abilities and Rotation

Abilities

	Tracer Missile: Main filler ability. Can be replaced with Rapid Shots if overheating
	Heatseeker Missiles: Largest single target GCD, 6 piece set bonus procs autocrit every 1 minute
	Priming Shot: Does decent damage while giving you an instant cast Tracer Missile
	Rail Shot: Second largest single target GCD, only use at 5 stacks
	Electro Net: Most cost effective GCD for heat
	Supercharged Gas: Requires 10 stacks, vents 10 heat and gives 10% armor pen for 8 seconds. Also gives 1% alacrity for using your main abilities and can stack up to 3 times
	Blazing Bolts: Highest Damaging ability, procs every 8 seconds and deals 10% extra damage when proc’d
	Rapid Shots: 0 heat filler, minimal usage in boss fights
	Death From Above: By far your best AOE ability and your number one priority when using AOE
	Sweeping Blasters: Only use with the Boresights utility. Decent AOE ability paired with the 25% extra damage utility
	Explosive Dart: Used because of it’s delayed activation, see the optimal burst rotation/precast section below

Opener

Tracer Missile > Adrenal + Heatseeker > Electro Net > Priming Shot >Supercharged Gas > Blazing Bolts > Tracer Missile > Tracer Missile > Rail Shot > Blazing Bolts > Heatseeker Missiles >Tracer Missile > Blazing Bolts

After the Opener just follow the priority system. Setting up a timer in starparse can time your barrage procs for you and make it easier to learn the timings.

Rotation

Arsenal is played entirely with a priority system, rather than a static rotation. The priority system is:

1. Barrage Procs (every 8 seconds)

2. Electro Net

3. Heatseeker Missiles

4. Rail Shot (only at 5 stacks)

5. Priming shot

6. Blazing Bolts

7. Tracer Missile

8. Rapid Shots

The biggest mistake that new people make is thinking that because Blazing Bolts is your #1 damage dealer, that you should prioritize it. Using it as soon as you proc Barrage will not actually net gain you any dps because Barrage has an 8 second internal cooldown. Using Blazing Bolts immediately just delays your Heatseeker Missiles and Rail Shot which will decrease your overall DPS. You still get the same amount of Barrage Procs if you were to delay Blazing Bolts as if you were to use it the moment it was proc’d.

Some notes about the priority system, If you have to delay Heatseekers and Rail shot to proc Blazing Bolts, do so. The only time you will ever use rapid shots is replacing a Tracer Missile. If you are doing multiple Tracer Missiles, and one of them is going to put you over 35-40 heat, (important to noe that that Tracer that is going to be replaced is not going to be the one that procs Barrage) replace one of them with a rapid shots and continue with the priority system. Mercenary energy cooldowns are so good that your usage of Rapid Shots is low. (and in fights you will probably never have to Rapid Shots because generally there is not enough uptime for you to need to use Rapid Shots) If you are having to move and you can’t use one of your instant cast abilities, you can use Rapid Shots so you are at least using GCD’s on something, even if it is suboptimal.

AoE Rotation

The AOE rotation doesn’t change that much, mainly substituting in Death From Above and Sweeping Blasters in for Blazing Bolts/ Tracer Missile.Most of the AOE abilities are very expensive, so keep in mind where your heat is at, and don’t overdo it just trying to fluff numbers. It won’t help your damage in the long run and may hinder your group from getting a boss kill.

Death From Above is your highest priority AOE ability, i do not recommend using Explosive Dart or Fusion Missile because of their cost. If AOE is needed that badly that you would consider using those, and there are more than 3 targets take the Sweeping Blasters utility and replace a couple blazing bolts in your rotation with Sweeping Blasters. (But as I said don’t do it to the detriment of your heat and don’t delay your main priority abilities)

Generally I usually let the better specs for AOE in the group deal with AOE while I single target the boss. With how tight some enrages are now (especially if some people in your team are undergeared) it is more beneficial to do boss damage then to fluff numbers. The meta right now sees most teams having one of if not both Sniper and Marauder in the group, which can carry AOE situations while maintaining their single target rotation.

Optimal Burst Rotation/Precasts

This will require a bit of set up to do, as you will need to have Supercharged Gas and 5 Stacks of Rail Shot. If you are saving burst for something like Calphayus adds, Raptus challenges, or even first Brontes Burn you can save the auto crit from you 6 set piece bonus. For Optimal Burst use Heatseeker Missiles > Rail Shot > Electro Net > Priming Shot > Supercharged Gas > Blazing Bolts > Tracer Missile > Blazing Bolts > Missile Blast. Missile Blast seems a bit odd to use in Arsenal, but it takes the place previously held by Rocket Punch. (RIP Rocket Punch) It is an instant cast that does decent damage, just make sure you are in melee range because it has a ridiculously slow travel time. You can also add in a Power Surge + Tracer Missile if necessary.

In Scenarios where your target is immune, and you have time to precast, you can precast Explosive Dart/Pyro Grenade/Fusion Missile. (Fusion Missile is for when you don’t have Pyro Grenade available.) Some scenarios you can use this in is when the Dog is casting Spines in Styrak and in Brontes Burn as she is coming out of her shield. If you get really good at timing, you can get a Tracer missile and a Heatseeker Missiles into your precasts and then go on with your normal rotation.

Maintaining Uptime/Maximizing DPS

Positioning and knowledge of mechanics are the keys to maximizing your DPS. Knowing where the boss is going to move will allow you to position yourself to where you won’t be getting line of sighted or have the boss taken out of your range. Knowing mechanics can help you alter your rotation in certain ways that will allow you to get the maximum number of abilities in. You can alter your rotation around mechanics to get your auto crits in before targets are shielded or in some cases where adds need to die quickly.

Hydraulic Overrides one of the best abilities in the game, as it is so useful to cheese certain mechanics and maintain uptime. You should always look for places to use Hydraulics to avoid knockups, knockbacks, etc. Some prevalent uses of of Hydraulics would be the push and pull mechanic on Revan HM, Fire and Forget in DF Brontes, and Grenades in Master and Blaster HM.

Raid Utility

Playing an Arsenal Merc also brings a ton of raid utility with an armor debuff, raid buff (that is more optimal than using it in IO), combat rez, reflect and Chaff Flare.

Armor Debuff: The amount of armor debuffs in the game are limited so if you are deciding on playing Arsenal and your group doesnt have an armor debuff, it is definitely worth it. (Your armor debuff is located on Tracer Missile, and you can look to apply it on fights with multiple bosses, such as the Dread Council

Raid Buff: Supercharged Celerity is a very strong raid buff, giving the entire raid an extra 10 percent alacrity. With how Arsenal is played it doesnt rely on supercharged gas as much as Innovative Ordinance, so using Mercenary raid buff is less of a hassle in Arsenal compared to IO.

Combat Rez: The only DPS classes that have a combat rez are Mercenary, Operative, and Sorcerer. Seeing the state that Sorc DPS is in at the moment, and how sparingly few operatives there are out there you are definitely going to need at least one DPS in your group that can rez, and Mercenary is definitely the preferred class of those 3.

Reflect: The newest ability given to Mercenaries in 5.0, Responsive Safeguards, gave Mercs a great buff to their survivability/damage/cheese. Being able to cheese mechanics such as Doom in TFB Dread Guards or Fire and Forget in DF Brontes, while also giving an extra damage boost at the same time, gives Mercs even more utility.

Chaff Flare: In Arsenal your threat dump, Chaff Flare, gives you 5 stacks of a debuff that absorbs a Force/Tech attack. Chaff Flare lets Mercenaries cheese mechanics that other classes cannot.

Acknowledgements

I hope that my guide helped give you a better understanding of how Arsenal is played, can answer any questions you might have in the comments or you can find me on the Harbinger server where i spend most of my time.

My name is Sabz and currently i call <Failure> and <Origin> my home. I have been playing SWTOR since launch, but didn’t start seriously raiding until I joined Failure in June of last year. I cleared all NiM bosses in 4.0 and all Master Mode bosses in 5.0 playing an Arsenal Mercenary. You can watch my stream @ https://www.twitch.tv/sabunn where you can find me streaming most of my raids.

Want to give a special thanks/shoutout to:

Marisi for her 4.0 guide, never thought when i was learning from it in 4.0 would i ever be following in her shoes.

Kensia, Verudun, and Paen for bringing me into my first serious progression group.

Sevenfaced and Dongo for giving the opportunity to join <Failure> and always being open to any questions that I had.

And a shoutout to all the people I raid with, which the list it too long to name. You guys still make this game fun even after doing the same raids for the last year and a half.