Lizzy's Imperial Agent Sniper DPS Guide

[Lizzy]

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Main Stats
3. Cover and Energy
4. Talent Specs
- 4.1. Engineering
- 4.2. Marksmanship
- 4.3. Lethality
5. Gear
6. Relics
7. Consumables

1. Introduction

Sniper is Imperial Agent’s long-range DPS Advanced Class. An IA Sniper can choose to specialize in one of the three available skill trees as follows:Marksmanship – heavily relies on cover mechanics and improves long range damage attacks; Engineering – focuses on damage dealing using probes and droids; Lethality – improves DoT abilities (toxins) and AoE damage.

2. Main Stats

The Sniper’s main stats are Cunning and Endurance (the primary stat that every class needs), just like for Operatives. Cunning is also the main stat for Smugglers (both Gunslingers and Scoundrels). What Cunning does is it basically increases both ranged/tech damage and critical chance. Endurance is needed by all classes because it increases health and health regeneration.

Besides the primary stats there are a few secondary ones important for the Sniper AC:

- Accuracy – Increases hit rate and armor penetration
- Alacrity – Reduces activation/channeling time for abilities
- Power – Increases damage
- Critical rating – The chance to deal 150% of the used ability’s damage
- Surge – Increases critical strike power (in other words increases the 150% damage that you deal when you crit) and it obviously becomes more significant once you have an acceptable Critical rating

As far as we know until now the stats ecuation looks like this:

Cunning > Power > Critical rating/Surge > Accuracy > Alacrity

3. Energy and Cover

Energy is the main resource of Imperial Agents, Snipers included. The maximum level of Energy is 100 and its regeneration rate increases/decreases depending on how high/low your current energy level is as follows:

Current Energy Level	Regeneration per second
100% - 60%	5
60% - 20%	3
20% - 0%	2

Ideally you should try to remain within the 60%-100% range but even if you go below there are a few tricks to help you regain a decent energy level. First of all, there is the Energy Tanks skill in the Engineering skill tree which remains a viable option no matter which of the three skill trees you choose to specialize in as well as the Sniper’s Nest skill for those who choose to go on Marksmanship. Secondly there is Adrenaline Probe, the perfect ability to restore energy in emergency situations.

4. Talent Specs

As we all know a good leveling talent build for the Sniper might not suit your play style anymore once you get to level 50 but until then there are a couple of skills worth investing in, no matter which skill tree you choose.

These are Marksmanship from the Marksmanship skill tree (although sometimes giving up on one or two points to invest in other talents is a viable option), Gearhead from the Engineering skill tree and Lethality from the shared skill tree with the same name. These skills are all stat boosters and will improve both PvE and PvP DPS as you’ll get increased ranged/tech accuracy, cunning and ranged/ tech critical chance.

4.1. Engineering

PvP/PvE leveling build (7/31/3)

Engineering focuses on single target burst damage and provides defensive abilities which will make a Sniper “durable” especially towards level 50. In the build presented above there are four Engineering skills that don’t have points invested in: Engineer’s Tool Belt - reduced cooldowns on Flash Bang and Fragmentation Grenade are not worth spending 2 skill points, at least not for leveling -, Vital Regulators - also not worth spending the points for an unreliable 6% health regeneration that comes only when you need to recover energy through Adrenaline Probe - and Calculated Pursuit/Stroke of Genius, the two skills that make Snipe usable out of cover.

These skills are also not a good investment as the Sniper natively relies on cover and it would mean giving up Steady Shots (which boosts Series of Shots and makes it even deadlier since we already have Electrified Railgun that adds a stackable DoT to it) and Ballistic Dampers that grants damage absorption which remains viable even after you exit cover. Still, this build ….as all the others is in need of thorough testing so for example, if you feel that Cover Screen is important you can sacrifice two points used in Marksmanship for it.

PvE build (7/31/3)

This is a build that sacrifices the Ballistic Dampers defensive talent and the slow effect of Interrogation Probe added by the Inventive Interrogation Techniques talent to gain increased damage through Precision Ambush and the passive heal of Adrenaline Probe provided by the Vital Regulators talent.

PvP build (3/31/7)

Compared to the PvP/PvE leveling build in this one we have only one point invested in Marksmanship, no points in Ballistic Dampers and Inventive Interrogation Techniques to gain increased alacrity through Deadly Directive and an improved Flash Bang through the Engineer’s Tool Belt/Flash Powder talents combo.

This build will give you a more powerful CC but some might dislike the decreased survivability that comes from dropping Ballistic Dampers and go for the PvP/PvE leveling build or at least add some mobility by giving up on Flash Powder and invest in Slip Away to reduce the cooldown of Debilitate and get increased movement speed after using it.

[Lizzy]

Engineering Rotation

The basic rotation for consistent burst damage looks something like:
Interrogation Probe – Explosive Probe – Snipe – Series of Shots (will also detonate two of Explosive Probe’s Cluster Bombs) – Rifle Shot (blow up the third bomb) – Ambush (only if needed) – Takedown (when target is below 30% health).

When fighting an Elite you’ll need to alter the basic rotation a bit as the fight takes longer and more HoTs and armor reduction will be mandatory (with italic are abilities used on top of the basic rotation to notice the difference easier):
Interrogation Probe – Corrosive Dart – Shatter Shot – Explosive Probe – Snipe – Series of Shots – Rifle Shot – Ambush, then you’ll probably need energy regeneration and damage absorption so you should continue with Adrenaline Probe – Shield Probe – Snipe – Snipe – Ambush (and other damage abilities as soon as their cooldowns end) – EMP Discharge (when you need to make Adrenaline Probe and Shield Probe available again) – Adrenaline Probe and/or Shield Probe , then the rotation practically repeats itself (with abilities that are not on cooldown of course) and finish with Takedown when the target is below 30% health.

4.2. Marksmanship

Pure Marksmanship build (31/7/3)

This build's main focus is on damage talents from the Marksmanship skill tree. From the Engineering tree we get improved AoE and Explosive Probe while from the Lethality tree only the Lethality talent is used. This spec is very suitable for PvE as it provides consistent damage.

Marksmanship PvP build (31/3/7)

This build has the same setup on the Marksmanship skill tree as the basic leveling build except is adds extra mobility and CC. The Energy Tanks and Explosive Engineering talents from the Engineering skill tree have been sacrificed for Deadly Directive and Slip Away from the Lethality tree not necessarily for the increased alacrity but definitely for the reduced CD of Debilitate and the increased movement speed you get after using it.

[Lizzy]

Marksmanship Rotation

When you fight multiple standard mobs there isn’t a fixed rotation but you can hit each mob with a strong damage ability or combos such as Explosive Probe, Ambush/Takedown (if target’s health is already low) or Snipe/Followthrough and then use an AoE ability to clear the whole group, such as Fragmentation Grenade, Suppresive Fire or Orbital Strike.

If the mob group has strong targets it is recommended you Flash Bang them and kill the standard enemies first using any of the damage abilities stated above (depending which ones are not on cooldown) and then take down the strong mobs using:

Laze Target – Shatter Shot – Snipe & Followthrough – Ambush – Snipe – Snipe – Followthrough – Snipe – Series of Shots – Takedown

When you stack Sniper Volley three times you can also use Series of Shots. Also if you have more than one strong target you’ll need to keep the others CCd with Flash Bang, Debilitate or Distraction.

During long fights against Elites the rotation below should provide a solid guideline:

Laze Target – Explosive Probe – Shatter Shot – Snipe – Followthrough – Ambush – Rifle Shot – Rifle Shot – Snipe – Followthrough – Shield Probe – Evasion – Snipe – Followthrough – Ambush – Rifle Shot – Rifle Shot – Takedown

Between bursts you’ll have to use Adrenaline Probe to regain acceptable energy levels and also you shouldn’t hesitate to use your defensive (Evasion, Shield Probe, Ballistic Shield) and CC (Flash Bang, Debilitate, Distraction) abilities when needed.

4.3 Lethality

Traxex's Lethality PvP build (2/8/31)

The spec focuses on internal damage, which will BYPASS all physical armor as well. The setup I use is this:

1. Corrosive Grenade
2. Corrosive Dart
3. Shatter Shot (situational)
4. Weakening Blast
5. Cull
6. 1x Series of Shots + 1x Rifle Shot or 3x Rifle Shot (if you are low on energy)
7. Cull (no need to reapply dots for the second Cull thanks to Lingering Toxins)

At the point where Cull starts to hit, it benefits from Weakening Blast. This gives Cull’s secondary effect +30% damage, also boosted from Lethal Dose, giving it an extra 12% critical chance. This makes Cull do very impressive damage. Meanwhile two dots are also ticking, one which has 25% chance to dual tick.

Shatter Shot gained a new purpose starting with Game Update 1.2: besides the 20% armor reduction (useful for all white dmg, namely Shatter Shot, Weakening Blast, Series of Shots and white dmg component of Cull) now it also gives -20% healing received on the target for 9 seconds. This makes it rather tricky, because you can use it all the time in your rotation or as a support ability it for certain situations (such as killing a healer or the ball carrier faster in Hutball).

In Warzones at level 45 my dart ticks for 600, grenade 500, without the +30%.

Cull usually does 3x 750-1200 damage, depending on armor rating and crit. 6x 500-700 practically always crits. This is all in 3 seconds, while 2 other dots also tick. making another 4x 500ish damage. Total of an avg 3 second channel damage: 7250-9100 damage. It’s ridicules how fast people fall when you do this. Well not as insane as operative making single strikes critical for 7000+ (Disclaimer; the damage is a sum-up, it varies too much to say a average damage, but this is not far fetch)

You have much better energy regain in this spec too, more CC, more mobility. What is even more perfect, none of these abilities require cover. You get 30% run speed after you stun. You slow anyone you attack by 30%. You get an additional “break free” ability in Countermeasures (through the Counterstrike talent).

The 3 points in Explosive Engineering is not really to make Explosive Probe do more damage, in PVP you won’t even use it. The 15% also adds to Corrosive Grenade, giving this ability +23% damage (15+8) and it also gives you better AoE damage in total.

For PVE it’s also very viable. With Lethal Purpose your energy is really easy to maintain. Consider the dots you have you are able to regain several energy every second. Cull is on a rather annoying CD, 15 sec. But look at the build, it also adds 12% damage to Series of Shots + 4% extra critical to it. Making this channel, also very useful in PVE purpose. So basically you keep dots up, which maintain a solid sustained DPS while Cull is on CD. Use Weakening Blast alongside Cull, making a very good burst every 15 seconds. While they are on CD you can use Rifle Shot, Series of Shots, Snipe and Explosive probe.

This build focuses on giving you burst DPS and good CC capabilities without depending so much on cover but it lacks improved defensive. You won't have improved Shield Probe (or improved CD for it), no Cover Screen, no Ballistic Dampers and other defensive talents such as Deployed Shields or Hold your Ground. This doesn't have to be necessarily a bad thing because with the burst DPS provided you will be able to kill opponents a lot faster and receive less damage of course.

All in all, this spec is by far my favorite. Both due to the cover bug, but also been a huge fan of DOT’s, in this build you also have a huge burst attack. Most of all, dots BYPASS armor. In this build I would suggest getting Power and Surge, since your dps is from dots and it already has 12+3 = 15% crit just from the tree. Surge to make the crit harder, Power to make them tick harder. Your dots, with acceptable gear, will easily reach 40-45% critical chance.

5. Gear

Reserved for future editing.

6. Relics

Since the Sniper’s main stat is Cunning, at level 50 you would need relics that have it such as:

Red, Red, Red = 48 Endurance, 72 Cunning, 7 Crit

For lower level relic combinations check our related guide.

7. Consumables

The most important consumables are Stims (medium term stat boosters) and Adrenals (short term stat boosters). For the Sniper the best Stims are the Exotech Skill Stim and Prototype Hyper-Battle Skill Stim (usually cheaper and easier to find; also slightly inferior) that will give you Cunning and Power, your most important DPS stats.

You’ll also need to boost your Power even further, Accuracy or Crit/Surge, depending on your current stats using Adrenals like Hyper-Battle Attack Adrenal, Hyper-Battle Force Adrenal or their Exotech mirrors.

[Lizzy]

Reserved for future edits.

[rareyrare]

Nice read! I'm curios which spec build you personally prefer, Marksmanship or Engineering? I've been going down the Marksmanship route, and hadn't really considered the engineering, except, of course, the added energy and endurance. After looking at you build, I have to say that the added AOE's, dots and defense look quite good, especially for pvp.

[Lizzy]

Yes, I'm favoring Engineering for PvP since I like it more than PvE and it adds a little extra mobility. Anyway, if some other players experiment before me, I'm looking forward to updating the guide with new (hopefully better) talent builds and other info.

[cynique]

Hey, playing Gunslinger myself, I've been wondering about few things:

1) Where is your stat priority coming from? Marksman tree seems to be HEAVILY focused to increased crit damage and another bonuses coming from it.
2) Your energy regen table is wrong. (First tier is going from 100 to 60, not 80)
3) I might disagree with your rotation for Marksman, but as there are no parses yet, I cannot tell who's right. (I'd suggest usage of 1) activate relics 2) Illegal Mods 3) Speed Shot 4) Rapid Fire 5) Speed Shot 6) Speed Shot 7) Aimed Shot 8) Trickshot opener, with possible Flourish Shot on the beggining)
4) Again, nobody knows if it is dps gain, but many Snipers/Gunslingers are thinking about going for 28/11/2 spec, replacing Rapid Fire with Shock Charge, as it seems to give more sustainable dps and mobility in exchange for some burst. So I just thought you might add it as an option.
5) Red relic doesn't give stats you are listing, instead it gives: 48 Endurance, 72 Cunning, 7 Critical. (You are probably basing your info on leaks from older builds.)
6) I suggest adding DPE table, as it's main concern for sustainable dps.

Other then that, good read

[vexx]

the first tier is 100 to 80 to about every class, unless I'm wrong..same for BH..Trooper..I'll run some tests but I'm pretty sure it's accurate

[cynique]

the first tier is 100 to 80 to about every class, unless I'm wrong..same for BH..Trooper..I'll run some tests but I'm pretty sure it's accurate

It is for BH and Trooper, not for Smuggler. Used to be in beta, got changed cause it limited diversity in rotation a lot. (Also, "to about every class" is kind of strange, if you mean ONE class by it. )

[Lizzy]

Hello cynique, first of all I would like to thank you for the feedback. Secondly, you are right about the stat priority and the relic, I've updated them. The energy regen table, I wasn't able to find any official (or unofficial) sources to confirm what you said. If you have reliable sources please let me know, otherwise I will test it myself.

Concerning the Marksmanship rotation I didn't include relics since they can't be considered class specific abilities and it's pretty obvious that they are to be used just before starting the DPS burst. Sadly, I don't speak "Smuggler" so your rotation looks pretty foreign to me, maybe if you could translate it to "Sniper". Also I would appreciate it if you could post a Torhead link to the 28/11/2 Sniper spec, if it's so popular I would love to update the guide with it.

[cynique]

Hey. Energy regeneration thing wasn't taken from any resource, but basically, when you play in-game, there are 4 small arrows next to you energy bar. When you have all 4 up lit up, it means you are regenerating maximum energy possible - and they are always lit up while you have 60+ energy. It's also stated when you mouse over the energy bar itself - while over 60, it states you regenerate 5/s etc. (EDIT: This assumes you dont have 2/2 Energy Tanks, if you do, just add "%" behind every 60 here

Translation to Sniper-ish: 1) activate relics 2) Target Acquired 3) Series of Shots 4) Rapid Fire 5) Series of Shots 6) Series of Shots 7) Ambush 8) Followthrough

It's not exactly set spec, there are movable points, but what I usually have in mind is torhead.com/skill-calc#400dcrbdRkRrZrI00oZh.1 (Still cannot post links, sorry.)

I also see you changed the stat prio - I actually don't this that crit/surge > accuracy, I was more asking whether you are sure that power > crit/surge and if so, what's your source. :X

[Lizzy]

My source is my logic....power gives you damage, crit and surge are both based on that damage....without it both of them don't mean much. And in my opinion you can never have too much damage. But don't get me wrong, at some point one's priorities may change a bit...depending on his current gear. Will look into the talent build and the energy regen issue

[cynique]

Well honestly, that's not how it works, you can base this off pure logic (while crit will obviously scale better with higher power, it's possible that crit will be stronger even without any power on gear, and will scale off cunning itself well enough etc.), you need mathematics.
I personally don't know what is better, was hoping you got some calculations because I'd love to see those (and I'm probably too dumb to make good ones myself :/). Either way, I guess this will have to wait until Bioware gives us parses and/or dmg meters.

[alexe]

I think power > crit, and not just for this class. And even mathematically speaking, power will still be better then crit. Of course, without dmg meters will be hard to prove, but we'll see in time. On thing you should think about is Surge - if you stack crit, you'll also need to stack Surge - 2 stats, not just one.
Imo there's no doubt about Power wining over crit, and I honestly think ppl should focus more over crit vs alacrity - these 2 are much closer to each other.

[cynique]

Crit vs. alacrity is no way question for Marksman Sniper to say at least (Ala is pratically worthless outside of Series of Shots). Other then that, claiming that "mathematically speaking, power will still be better then crit" doesn't mathematically make any sense. I do not claim to know if it's true or not, I'm just saying that I don't see any proof if it's true or not.
It will certainly be true that at SOME amount of crit/surge, power will be better, but again until some sort of soft cap, where crit/surge will overtake for some time again.

Being reader of Sithwarrior.com, their compendium reads:

Our calculated stat priority list is:

Accuracy, up until ~216
Surge, up until ~275
Crit, up until ~300
Cunning
Surge, up until ~350
Crit, up until ~450
Power
Alacrity
Crit, beyond 450
Surge, beyond 350
Accuracy, beyond 216

I do not know if it's outdated, but according to last update being 3 days ago, I don't believe so. I've been trying to calculate it myself with their spreadsheet, tho I believe I'm doing something wrong with it. Either way, my point is that stating stat priority without knowing what it really is can be misleading for many forum users, especially in longer run, because obtaining armoring/mods/enhancements isn't matter of day's work, but more like week's.

Cynique out.