PISTOLEER FAQ
Version 2.1 (Jan 3rd 2004)

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Change List

2.0 Pre-Novice Questions ("So you're thinking about becoming a Pistoleer?")
2.1 Is Pistoleer comparable to Carbineer, Rifleman? How about Commando or Bounty Hunter?
2.2 Can I take out "tough" NPCs like Dark Troopers and Field Marshalls by myself as a Master Pistoleer?
2.3 Do I need to be a Pistoleer to use a Republic Blaster?

3.0 Pistoleer Questions ("I'm a Pistoleer, now what?")
3.1 What branch of the Pistoleer tree should I go down?
3.2 Which special is the best?
3.3 What is HealthShot or "bleeding"? How can it help me?
3.4 Are HealthShot 1 and HealthShot 2 stackable?
3.5 Which pistol is the best?
3.6 What's the best HAM settings to have for Pistoleer?
3.7 Where are the Pistoleer trainers located?
3.8 What is Damage Mitigation?
3.9 What's the quickest way to Master Pistoleer?
3.10 What other Professions compliment Pistoleer?
3.11 How effective are Pistoleer's Defense Mods?

4.0 The Bad Stuff ("What's wrong with Pistoleer?")
4.1 What's not working?
      SPECIALS / WEAPONS / SKILLS

5.0 The Future

6.0 Further Reading...

1.0 Introduction

The "official" pistoleer FAQ was last updated August 2003 (not long after the game was released!) and is now unfortunately horribly out of date:

Quote: "The DX2 looks to be the best overall pistol in the pistoleer certifications."

The DX2 is now considered to be so inaccurate as to be worthless!

Quote: "Q. Which pistol tree should I go up first?
 A. Stances and Grips "

Which would be cool if "Stances and Grips" actually existed!

Clearly SOMEONE needed to update it and unfortunately our corresspondent (Philospher1976) had too much on his plate. This is where you (and I) come in:

This FAQ us a Work In Progress!

I've put together as much information as possible, but I expect people will want to add/change things. Please politely make your additions/changes in a post below and I will update the FAQ sporadically.

Thanks!

~ Neutral

1.1 Change List

The old 1.0 FAQ from August 2003 was completely scrapped.

Version 2.0 - Released Jan 2nd.
Version 2.1 - Released Jan 3rd. Added many important changes based on suggestions ny Tullius and Gold00. This should be the version for some time to come.

2.1 Is Pistoleer comparable to Carbineer or Rifleman? How about Commando or Bounty Hunter?

In theory Pistoleer, Carbineer and Rifleman should have roughly the same amount of firepower, with different advantages and disadvantages for each. In practice it's arguable, Rifleman seems to stand out right now, but, at the time of writing (Jan 2nd) the Devs have promised a whole new combat system to make the pros and cons of each combat profession more pronounced, obvious and balanced. With this update coming in the next month or so, there's not much point in further speculation on the current states of the Elite Ranged Combat Professions.

As for Commando and Bounty Hunter, these Hybrid professions take a LOT more XP to master and as you'd expect, offer significantly more damage and skills for your efforts.

2.2 Can I take out "tough" NPCs like Dark Troopers and Field Marshalls by myself as a Master Pistoleer?

In a sentence: A Master Pistoleer with the right weapon, HAM stats, buffs and armor should have no trouble taking on tougher PCs. (It should be noted that some PCs like Krayt Dragons and Maul Graulers are designed to be taken out in GROUPS and will likely kick your butt!)

2.3 Do I need to be a Pistoleer to use a Republic Blaster?

Nope. At the moment there is no certification for this pistol, so anyone can use it (even an Artisan)! It MUST however, have been crafted AFTER the November publish as ones crafted before are bugged for most poeple.

3.1 What branch of the Pistoleer tree should I go down?

A very commonly asked question!

If you are a Smuggler or have the BH pistol line: Marksmanship branch seems to be the best, as you already have good Pistol specials.

If you're a Fencer: Grips branch.

Everyone else: Techniques is your best bet (Fan Shot is very useful).

3.2 Which special is the best (and what are my choices)?

This is a difficult question to answer, because despite the stats, different people seem to have different results. (Most claim that BodyShot3 is worse than BodyShot2, but some have claimed that BodyShot3 has offered them a significant boost. Right now no-one has knows why this is, but it is likely to become clearer when the Devs revamp the Combat system.)

Also your specific situation will likely alter your most appropriate special (is the enemy 2 feet away for 30?).

Regardless, standard advice is the same: Use BodyShot2 until you get FanShot, then use that instead (sometimes interspersed with StoppingShot, depending on who you talk to).

You will also want to "bleed" your opponent with HealthShot1 AND HealthShot2 before you spam them with other specials. (See below for a detailed explanation on "bleeding".)

And for close encounters /pistolMeleeDefense1 is good for knockdowns.

Whatever you prefer, at the time of writing (Jan 2nd), only the following specials are working:

/fanShot

This is widely considered to be our best special. It actually attacks multiple targets and is known to be very effective. It is a tad unusual, however: When you first use it it will aggrovate (make red) all the enemies you can visibly see on your screen (but NOT attack them). From then on it will attack all aggrovated enemies in your "cone".

/stoppingShot may not doing anything close to its ingame description, but some claim to have success with the amount of damage it does.

/pistolMeleeDefense1 is a melee knockdown.

/disarm1 and /disarm2 both do double damage to lairs (but are worthless against anything else).

/healthShot1 and /healthShot2 for "bleeding" your opponent.

/overChargeShot2 is similar to /bodyShot2, but it does a lot more damage to your weapon so you should move on to /bodyShot2 when you get it.

For the rest of the Specials (the ones that are not working) see Section 4.1.

FYI: A common opening attack is:

/aim, /healthShot1, /healthShot2, /stoppingShot, /fanShot

3.3 What is HealthShot or "bleeding"? How can it help me?

HealthShot1 is actually given when the player reached x/4/x/x in the Marksman Tree ("Pistol Specialist"). When fired, the damage number you see on the combat window is NOT damage you just did, it is the value of the "bleed". Now every 20 seconds your opponent will have this damage removed from their Health Bar (the red one) until they're cured or the bleeding stops by itself.

You get HealthShot2 when you become a Novice Pistoleer, and this does the same thing as HealthShot1, but with more damage.

If you or a team-mate start to bleed, it can be cured with multiple applications of the /firstaid skill.

Notes:
Nothing can be incapacitated or killed by bleeding, health will always stop at 1, including your own.

If you try to do healthShot1 twice (for example) then it will overwrite the previous healthShot1 (rather than stack) and reset the timer.

In the combat window, HealthShot1 is referred to as "Sap Shot" and HealthShot2 is referred to as "Sap Blast". It is my fond hope that the devs will change this one day.

3.4 So, are HealthShot1 and HealthShot2 stackable?

In a word: "Yup!". The really great thing about HealthShot1 and 2 is that they work independently of each other! Use both on an opponent for twice the damage!

It is basic tactics to use HealthShot1 and HealthShot2 on an opponent before commencing a "real" attack. (Note: You cannot incapacitate/be incapacitated with bleeding, health always stops at 1.)

It's perhaps also worth noting that the two "bleed" attacks from Fencer are stackable too (giving you a total of four bleed shots if you have the skills!).

3.5 Which pistol is the best?

Another highly debatable point. At the time of writing a Republic Blaster, FWG5 or Scout Blaster are the most frequently recommended weapons of choice.

The CDEF, DH17, Power5 and SRCombat are basic pistols and very poor.
The DL44 and DL44 Metal are slightly better (depending on how well they're crafted).

The Tangle and Striker are notable for their special attacks (Stun and Kinetic, respectively). Using these pistols can prove useful against Stun and Kinetic vulnerable enemies (like Nightsisters, Kimos and PCs wearing composite armor), but they're not usually recommended for general use.

The Scout Blaster, FWG5 and Republic Blaster are all considered to be the best all-around pistols. The Scout Blaster has better speed and lower HAM costs than the FWG5, but the FWG5 does more damage.

The Republic Blaster is generally considered the best of the "all-rounders".

The DX2 (the only pistol you get a Certification in when you become a Pistoleer) is, at the time of writing, hopelessly inaccurate to the point of being bugged.

It is worth noting that some people claim to have good accuracy with their DX2s, so see if it works for you. Some of the best things about a DX2 is that it is an Acid weapon (which most armor is vulnerable to) and it also has a high minimum damage with is potentially useful against an enemy with high damage mitigation (see below for a detailed explanation of how damage mitigation works).

Despite these bonuses the DX2 is still a slow and inaccurate weapon for the majority of people (Jan 2nd).

3.6 What's the best HAM settings to have for Pistoleer?

I go for:

Health = Medium
 Usage (Strength) = Low
 Regen (Constitution) = Fairly High

Action = Medium
 Usage (Quickness) = Medium
 Regen (Stamina) = Fairly High

Mind = High
 Usage (Focus) = Low
 Regen (Willpower) = High

The logic is this: Health and Action can be healed quickly and easily (at the cost of Mind). I hardly lose any Health doing Specials so I keep the Health: Usage (Strength) at a minimum. I keep both Action and Health: Regen (Constitution and Stamina) fairly high. I DO lose Action doing specials so I keep Action: Usage (Quickness) reasonable.

Mind is a pain. I make sure I have high Mind and high Mind: Regen (Willpower) (because you use Mind to heal Health and Action and also you need it to regenerate quickly if Mind is attacked). I don't bother spending much on Mind: Usage (Focus) because I find it more important for Mind to be able to regenerate itself faster.

If my Mind bar gets bad I take off my helmet and run away for a bit, trying to let my Mind bar regenerate (doesn't always work as planned though ). I then heal Health and Action again and return to the fight.

Some have said that with decent enough Medic skills that the secondary Action skills could be better spent on Mind or its secondaries.

Notes:
The secondary stat "Usage" (eg. Strength) changes how much primary stat (eg. Health) you use when doing a Special.

The secondardy stat "Regen" (eg. Constitution) changes how quickly the primary stat (eg. Health) regenerates itself.

Also, taking off any armor will allow your HAM stats to regenerate themselves MUCH quicker.

3.7 Where are the Pistoleer trainers located?

Tyrena, CORELLIA (-5220, -2488)
Keren, NABOO (1258, 2688)
Narmle, RORI (-5240, -2455)
Dearic, TALUS (583, -2871)
Mos Eisley, TATOOINE (3356, -4837)

Note: You can create waypoints to specific locations by typing /wapoint x y

eg.
/waypoint 3356 -4837

(Just make sure you're on the right planet )

3.8 What is "Damage Mitigation"?

Damage Mitigation is a defence against attacks that you get at various points on an Elite Combat Profession tree (eg. Pistoleer ). With Pistoleer you get Ranged Damage Mitigation (as opposed to Melee).

Damage mitigation doesn't reduce the TOTAL damage done to you -- it reduces the RANGE of damage that can be done to you. What does that mean? Well let's take an example:

Someone shoots you with a weapon that has 50-300 damage (50 is the minimum damage that can be done and 300 is the maximum). With no damage mitigation the damage done to you can be anywhere between 50 and 300 points.

With damage mitigation it reduces the RANGE of damage.

Here's the breakdown:

mitigation1 (Techniques I) limits damage to 80% of the range (20% reduction)
mitigation2 (Techniques II) limits damage to 60% of the range (40% reduction)
mitigation3 (Master Pistoleer) limits damage to 40% of the range (60% reduction)

So let's take that example:

Instead of 50 to 300 damage,

With mitigation1 the damage done to you is reduced to between 50 and 250.
With mitigation2 the damage done to you is reduced to between 50 and 200.
With mitigation3 the damage done to you is reduced to between 50 and 150.

The flipside to this means that Minimum Damage is now much more important than before, so your favorite weapon (your 60-500 Krayt modified pistol) might not be so good anymore.

Damage Mitigation in detail:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=29071

Damage Mitigation Dev Q&A:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=29202

3.9 What's the quickest way to Master Pistoleer?

This is commonly asked question when someone has just been told to Master Pistoleer by a Holocron.

The basic answer is to go up the Techniques branch using a pet of some sort until you get Fan Shot. Fan Shot will allow you to get Pistoleer XP a lot quicker. Simply move up the branches using /healthShot1, /healthShot2 and /fanShot.

Smuggler and Bounty Hunter spring immediately to mind because both of them have Pistol Specials that are not in the Pistoleer tree.

Smuggler
Dirty Fighting (x/x/4/x)

/panicShot is a ranged 10 second delay shot

/lowBlow is a ranged knockdown

/lastDitch is the the highest damage pistol shot in the game although if you add up all the damage you can do with fanshot it might beat it depending on how many mobs your damaging each shot

Also /feignDeath is not useless. What they have done is made mobs remember you when you get up so its alot harder to kill uber mobs like Krayt Dragons solo but you can still use it to get out of being incapacitated and also heal while you're down.

The thing about Smuggler specials is that they aren't all that great without Pistoleer skills because even the best shot isnt any good if it misses

Bounty Hunter
Pistol Specialization (x/x/4/x)

Boosts Pistol Accuracy and Speed. Also gives the following Pistol Specials:

/bleedingShot
/eyeShot
/torsoShot

Fencer
Footwork (x/4/x/x)

Recommended for its additional two bleeding attacks:

/melee1hHealthHit1
and
/melee1hHealthHit2

and also its "Defence vs. ____" skills:

Defense Vs. Knockdown
and
Defense Vs. Posture Change (Down)

Note: Dodge is no longer stackable!

Master Creature Handler and Teras Kasi Master are always excellent compliments to any Elite Combat Profession.

3.11 How effective are Pistoleer's Defense Mods?

Philosopher1976 (Pistoleer Correspondent) wrote his excellent article explaining our Defense Mods:

As promised, I spent several hours this weekend testing our new Defensive Mods. While there is still a lot of stuff that I'd like to test, the results of the tests that I ran this weekend were really interesting.  Here's a quick summary of what I found:

1) Your opponent's accuracy greatly affects your ability to dodge his attacks.  This is something we already knew, but it was confirmed by these tests.  If your opponent is very accurate, you dodge far less than you would against an inaccurate opponent.  You'll dodge the most against inaccurate mobs and you'll dodge the least in PvP, because human players are generally far more accurate than PvE mobs.

2) Dodge is weapon-specific.  If you do not have a Pistol equipped, your Dodge modifiers will not work.  I ran over 200 tests, both with a pistol equipped and with nothing equipped, and the results are conclusive.  This probably means that the Dodge skill from Fencer does not stack with the Dodge skill from Pistoleer, although I have not tested that and thus cannot be certain.

3) Against an accurate opponent in PvP (Master Bounty Hunter), dodge is effective -- as a Master Pistoleer (+105 Dodge), I dodged around 20% of his attacks.

4) Against an inaccurate PvE mob (Cowardly Gurreck), I dodged FAR more (as a Master Pistoleer) than I did against the PvP opponent.

5) Defense v. Knockdown probably requires you to have a pistol equipped as well, and thus probably does not stack with the Defense v. Knockdown from other professions.  I'll need more data to be completely certain of this conclusion, but the data I do have strongly suggest that Defense v. Knockdown works like Dodge -- you need a pistol equipped.

6) Defense v. Knockdown (50%, Master Pistoleer) was effective against an opponent who was using a CDEF Carbine to knock me down.  The knockdown only works 50% as much as it does when a pistol is not equipped.  More data is needed to get a precise answer here.

7) Defense v. Knockdown (50%, Master Pistoleer) was NOT effective against an opponent who was using a Laser Carbine to knock me down.  More data is needed to be sure of this conclusion, but based on the tests I ran it doesn't look like Defense v. Knockdown does anything if the other guy is using a good Laser Carbine.

8) Based on the above, it appears that your ability to knockdown your opponent is affected by the amount of damage that your weapon is spitting out.  The Laser Carbine was far more likely to knock me down than the CDEF when I had a pistol equipped.  A lot more testing is needed to be sure of this ... it's something I can work on in upcoming weeks.

As you can tell by my conclusions, I focused on Dodge and Defense v. Knockdown because my impression was that people were the most anxious to get those tested.  I'll keep on testing other things, so feel free to give me suggestions of other stuff that you would like me to take a look at.  I'm going to test Defense v. Blind and get more data on Defense v. Knockdown as soon as I can get a chance.  (As a side note, the Dodge animation is still a major problem -- it stops you dead in your tracks when you're moving, which is often a bad thing when you're trying to get away from a mob.)

Read more here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=26354

4.1 What's not working?

SPECIALS - Nearly all our specials are broken or bugged (Jan 2nd)

/disarmingShot2 and /multiTargetPistolShot (our *Master* specials) do nothing.
/pistolMeleeDefence2 doesn't knock our opponents down (or it does *very* rarely).
/bodyShot3 is worse than /bodyShot2
/stoppingShot does not stop or incapacitate an opponent (despite the description saying it does)
/pointBlankArea2 only hits one target. Also damage is lower than it should be (for a point blank attack)
/doubleTap is worse than /kipUpShot and /rollShot even though they are *Marksman* specials
/pointBlankSingle1 offers no boost in damage (despite being point blank)

All the rest of our specials are random HAM attacks that have a lower damage-per-second output than Marksman specials, don't have any state effects, and do not target a specific HAM pool (and thus, as "random HAM" attacks, hit health 55% of the time).

WEAPONS - We have one weapon; it doesn't work properly

The DX2 Pistol (the only "Pistoleer" pistol in the game) is inferior to the pistols we can use as Marksman, which is why the vast majority of Pistoleers use FWG5 Pistols or Scout Blasters.  The DX2 is by FAR the least accurate pistol in the game, the resources it requires are far too rare, and the armor piercing is bugged.

Old versions of the Republic Blaster (the new pistol in the game) are completely bugged. Some people have a certification for it, while others don't, and there doesn't seem to be a reason for it. (Note: Republic Blasters crafted after the November Publish are working correctly.)

SKILLS

SPEED - At higher levels Pistoleer is slower than other professions, even though it should be the fastest.

DEFENSE - The "Dodge" skill doesn't work. "Defense vs. ____" skills aren't very useful either.

All pistoleer faults in detail:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=24714

The Devs have responded to the above problems here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=30542

ThunderHeart has explained what the "big picture" is for combat professions in the future, too:

Philosopher1976 has written several excellent articles on being a Pistoleer. If you wish to know more, I suggest you read them:

All pistoleer faults in detail:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=24714

The Devs have responded to the above problems here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=30542

Damage Mitigation in detail:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=29071

Damage Mitigation Dev Q&A:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=29202

Defense Mod Tests (Includes Dodge and Defense vs. _____ skills)
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=pistoleer&message.id=26354

3.1 What branch of the Pistoleer tree should I go down?

as a smuggler levelling pistoleer, I can assure you getting fanshot is a lot more important!! I did marksmanship first, but after the added AOE cone, fanshot is a lot more important. so what, you miss some hits. you still hit the 3 other mobs this special can give you a 3x to 4x xp bonus, if you just know what to fight.

ps: my sig is outdated...

just to continue the ham discussion; the most popular ham (when you got enough money), seems to be:

H medium

s low

c low

A medium

q low-med

s low-med

M very high

f high

w very high

if you feel you have enough mind, then add some to constitution.

also, strenght and stamina can be low as you can always food buff it for +1700 (tat sunburn) for a very small cost. you could say you can also buff your mind, but those buffs are a lot more expensive.

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realvorda wrote:

3.1 What branch of the Pistoleer tree should I go down?

 

as a smuggler levelling pistoleer, I can assure you getting fanshot is a lot more important!! I did marksmanship first, but after the added AOE cone, fanshot is a lot more important. so what, you miss some hits. you still hit the 3 other mobs this special can give you a 3x to 4x xp bonus, if you just know what to fight.

 

ps: my sig is outdated...

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Hmmm. Well all that stuff came from our very own correspondent, so although I believe you, I'll see what he says in response what you've said (if you know what I mean ) ... plus I don't want to update it three times in three days

The HAM stats are very similar to those in the FAQ and I think the FAQ explains roughly the direction you should be going in with your stats. Saying that, I'll probably change it anyway

Thanks!

The FAQ definitely needed an update, nice job with this.

One thing that I couldn't find in here that I -really- appreciated in the old FAQ was the dmg/dly info for all of the specials, along with the speed equation. The math is incredibly useful, and the info is not readily available anywhere else, indeed there are a few professions that do not have this info for their own specials. People come around with all of their stories about how stopping shot rules all (leaving out that they are also a BH), and it really is nice to have the info to be able to calculate your damage using your pistol and your pistol speed on all of our specials.

Its in the old FAQ, but I couldn't find the stats for Kip-up Shot in there (marksman special). I know someone has the stats for Kip-Up somewhere. Also, I think the stopping shot dmg listed in FAQ v 1.0 is wrong, and its now considered to have a dmg modifier of 5.0. Check out Philosopher's posts for the latest word.

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Dinian wrote:
Maul Grauler?

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Pamoya wrote:

The FAQ definitely needed an update, nice job with this.

One thing that I couldn't find in here that I -really- appreciated in the old FAQ was the dmg/dly info for all of the specials, along with the speed equation. The math is incredibly useful, and the info is not readily available anywhere else, indeed there are a few professions that do not have this info for their own specials. People come around with all of their stories about how stopping shot rules all (leaving out that they are also a BH), and it really is nice to have the info to be able to calculate your damage using your pistol and your pistol speed on all of our specials.

Its in the old FAQ, but I couldn't find the stats for Kip-up Shot in there (marksman special). I know someone has the stats for Kip-Up somewhere. Also, I think the stopping shot dmg listed in FAQ v 1.0 is wrong, and its now considered to have a dmg modifier of 5.0. Check out Philosopher's posts for the latest word.

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Pamoya wrote:

Its in the old FAQ, but I couldn't find the stats for Kip-up Shot in there (marksman special). I know someone has the stats for Kip-Up somewhere. Also, I think the stopping shot dmg listed in FAQ v 1.0 is wrong, and its now considered to have a dmg modifier of 5.0. Check out Philosopher's posts for the latest word.

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Kip-up shot is 2.5/1.5.  Yes, Kip-up shot has an uncapped DPS equal to Fanshot and higher than anything else in the Pistoleer tree.  But you should use BS2 over Kip-up Shot in PvE anyway.

You are correct on Stopping Shot -- it is 5.0/4.0.

Fan Shot is better dps/ham than any shot we have (even on one target). Same cost as BodyShot2.

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Dinian wrote:

Fan Shot is better dps/ham than any shot we have (even on one target). Same cost as BodyShot2.

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Wow, that's good know! Should silence all the people who say we don't have a single "best" special!

Would anyone like to update the old list of speed/dmg specials from the 1.0 FAQ? It would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!