Power Tech Strategy

[Ren_Ahern]

There is a lot to love about playing as a Powertech. The class is an excellent choice as a tank class, a very solid dps choice, and there may be no more entertaining way to kill another player in PvP than using Grapple in Huttball to yank someone into an acid bath. The Heat mechanic used by Powertechs as an energy resource can be a little more complicated than the more traditional MMO rage/mana/energy styles that other classes tend to follow but it is manageable and adds a nice flavor to playing the class.

One thing that caught me a little off guard when first playing as a Powertech is how close to the enemy I generally operated at. Powertech Shieldtechs are very strong tanks, but from what I've seen they will probably spend about as much time in melee and short range as the other tanks. Not that this is a bad thing, it just might not be what may be expected out of a class holding a gun. The two dps trees will vary depending on spec and play style but they also have reasons to try to not exclusively stay at long range.

Builds:

A Shield Tech Tanking Build:
31/7/3 (mostly ignores crowd control in favor of increased damage but keep similar mitigation abilities to other tank builds)
http://www.torhead.com/calculator/skill#301G0GrdorogzZMsbZb.1

An Advanced Prototype Build:
8/31/2
http://www.torhead.com/calculator/skill#301hMhZMsrMRrfkzsZb.1

A Pyrotech Build:
5/5/31
http://www.torhead.com/calculator/skill#301hMZMcZfhbrzGhrs.1

[Maximilian Shtraufenberg]

The powertech Impression and strategy:

Probably THE BEST SOLO class/spec so far:
Pros:
1) great armor with 45% damage reduction atm for lvl 33
2)good shielding capabilities and talents allowing to reduce heat upon taking damage thus keeping you in business for longer ( heat is what blocks you from performing anything other then primery weak attack).
3) Has verity of closing on target ablates including gripple (pulls target to you 30m range) and power jet charge (charges an opponent dealing moderate damage), both moves interrupt spell casting.
4) healer companion works great on tank
5) several damage mittigation tricks suck as oil slick ( reduces acuracy in aoe range by 20%) 18secs and active shield ( all damage decreased by 25% for 12 secs)

Con: Most high damage tricks such as flamethrower related are more close combat, or even mele such as rocket punch which is probably my strongest attack that crits for 900 on heavily armored mob ( up to 10m)

there are 3 aoes unlocked for me explosive dart, flame sweep, and death from above.
Explosive dart incapasitates weak and standard oponents and when exploed knoks them back for 2 secs, strong + oponents are not knocked back they just take damage, flame weep is a handy no CD but high heat generating ability: you engage the jet pack and do 360 rotation with BOTH flamethrowers balazing. death from above is 5-30Mm range periodic AOE dealer that does about 400 dmg per tic for 4 tics, standard and weak oponets are knoked to the ground, geat if you want to clean out a 5+ mob of npcs.

The usual rotation will depend on weather you are engaging mele opponent or ranged one, in case of mele strong-s its better to keep distance and use unload/explosive dart/ rail shot/ and flame thrower when its not on CD, though the powertech tank has enough stamina and durability just to stay in place and FACE STAB till target stops kicking. for ranged it depends if npc has nasty abilities, for examples some snipers might hit you for up to 3k which is about 40% of year health I ve seen this only on my assassin on BH they never had time to snipe me but I can assume that damage would be 1200 easy. for that kind of ranged you can start with unload/explosive dart/gripple/or jet charge/rail shot/rocket punch/combust/flamethrower/ rocket punch target should be dead by now strongly consider interrupting when the ability is not on cd (8 sec CD and it overrides any qued ability).

As playing the BH full tank with full tanking gear i find it much, much easier then assassin which was a pain because it neither had enough assassinness nor survivability, after each pull I had to regen for 15 secs. though it is fun to play in a group.
BH PT also pwn-s in world pvp, some how I got flagged and got jumped by a 30lvl gunslinger smuggler i was 27 then I pwn-ed him 3 times easy, or he was a n0.0b-let


For any further questions contact Reinort on Leviathan PVE beta server do discuss more of details or I will be on TS this evening,

see ya

[schmunkel98]

I think the big question is how Powertechs compare to the other tanking classes? I haven't seen much on this, or a lot of talk on tanking in general. Hopefully with the NDA drop we can get some more information.

[Maximilian Shtraufenberg]

schmunkel98 wrote:

I think the big question is how Powertechs compare to the other tanking classes? I haven't seen much on this, or a lot of talk on tanking in general. Hopefully with the NDA drop we can get some more information.

Simple comparison is:
PT has a good ability to soak damage and is perfect single target tank with relatively high dps as compared to jagger for example, as a standard Package PT offers single target taunt, and AOE taunt, PT also has a no CD AOE flame sweep as well as some other AOE stacks which makes group ago management easier, also PT offers to close up abilities such as talant (jet charge) and available for all gripple ( pull target to you)
Bottom line" probably best single and multi target tank in game ATM
The superior defense allows either focus yourself to DPS tank and not stack defense as much and get some crit rating or power rating on your gear.

Jagger: currently very limited use single target tank with low dmg and good soaking properties, though absence of aoe attacks except of Force Smash renders him useless on group pulls. Survivability is probably somewhat lower then PT because PT gets boost to stun durations as well as second damage mitigation ability, and slightly better armor rating. jagger will try to compensate by stacking more defence that grants avoidance.

Assassin: a light armor using tank with various ranged abilities, in tanking mode not nearly as damaging as PT, has lower defenses, and lower survivability, will try to compensate by providing BUFFER HP, and stacking defense. the tank can be used in single fights very successfully if opponent is mele, you can kite him around using force slow and various other dazing abilities. not good at all in group tanking usually 2-3 silvers can burn down assassin within 20 seconds without heavy heals on him, simply put if a tank is really needed and you cannot find jagger or PT you can ask assassin. assassin is not very good at group agro managment as well because of only 1 AOE that he has,

[schmunkel98]

The only other item that has me a bit concerned is the operations. I'm hearing that only 1 tank is needed for the fights. It will be interesting to see which class that one tank will be. If the Powertech's can do decent DPS, then we can be a good offtank as well. I am also curious to see what kind of dps can be done by respecing within the Powertech advanced class. I'm thinking my Powertech will be similar to my Deathknight from WoW where I will either be tanking, off-tanking, or dpsing in a raid situation.

[Buttniks]

These are my builds I have tested out and I think work okay.

This is my Pyrotech 3/7/31 build:

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::fef17ef2ef12ef3efde8fe2fefe

My PVP Shieldtech 31/7/3 Build:
http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::e5fedfe4fe6f2ef12ef9ef11

[schmunkel98]

I wanted to come back to this one since I have played my BH PT a little more now that I am in the regular beta. I have been having a lot of issues with heat when facing tougher enemies or when in a group situation where the pulls are chained with little to no downtime. Is heat still an issue for those of you at the upper levels? I am worried about it being an issue in operations and heroic flashpoints with long fights.

On a side note, I have also started up a Juggernaut and Assassin to see how they compare. The rage mechanic on the Jugg encourages chain pulls and continuous fighting, which I am liking more and more. I am a lot more squishy on the Assassin, but it has a more diverse array of skills. I'm very impressed with the fun of the Jugg so far, even to the point of considering switching my main. I will continue to do some more testing during this final weekend to see where I am going to go at launch.

[Buttniks]

schmunkel98 wrote:

I wanted to come back to this one since I have played my BH PT a little more now that I am in the regular beta. I have been having a lot of issues with heat when facing tougher enemies or when in a group situation where the pulls are chained with little to no downtime. Is heat still an issue for those of you at the upper levels? I am worried about it being an issue in operations and heroic flashpoints with long fights.

Heat is always an issue. A rule of thumb for me is.. If you get past the 50% heat built up, start shooting your Rapid Shot or/and Heat Blast (if you're tank spec) until it gets near 25%. If you go past 75%-100% Use Vent Heat + Heat Blast (if you have it) + Rapid shots until you're below 25%.

[Maximilian Shtraufenberg]

schmunkel98 wrote:

I wanted to come back to this one since I have played my BH PT a little more now that I am in the regular beta. I have been having a lot of issues with heat when facing tougher enemies or when in a group situation where the pulls are chained with little to no downtime. Is heat still an issue for those of you at the upper levels? I am worried about it being an issue in operations and heroic flashpoints with long fights. On a side note, I have also started up a Juggernaut and Assassin to see how they compare. The rage mechanic on the Jugg encourages chain pulls and continuous fighting, which I am liking more and more. I am a lot more squishy on the Assassin, but it has a more diverse array of skills. I'm very impressed with the fun of the Jugg so far, even to the point of considering switching my main. I will continue to do some more testing during this final weekend to see where I am going to go at launch.

Yes the heat usually builds up and needs purging after each pull, but purging takes only 3-4 secs so no big deal, you must watch the heat closely and not exeed 50% as stated above, better to keep it around 25-30% as the auto purge speed is maximal at this range, remeber the more overheated you are the slower will heat lvls drop, so make sure that heat lvls are as low as possible and burst spam abilities only if you have to

[Maximilian Shtraufenberg]

Buttniks wrote:

These are my builds I have tested out and I think work okay. This is my Pyrotech 3/7/31 build: http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::fef17ef2ef12ef3efde8fe2fefe My Shieldtech 31/7/3 Build: http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::e5fedfe4fe6f2ef12ef9ef11

I can only comment on Tanking tree as I always play tank:
The no escape, jet speed are more of pvp talants better to invest into
flame shield and flame surge if you are PVe-ing, also no reason of not getting steely resolve 3/3 instead of 2/3 ( again ifyou plan to pve more then pvp)
in advanced prototype I prefer to take extra point into prototype cylinder, and remaining one goes into integrated cardio package, I found the +2% hp not to play that much of the role