When it comes to the warfront no class defines the struggle against the Empire the way the Trooper does. Guts and Gunnery is the place that Troopers come to learn all of the tactics they will need to thrive on the PvP battlefront.

Written By: Erich Hein & Brian Hein

Warzones are a team effort and the Commando, with their giant autocannons and healing probes, can be the ultimate team player. Often times, playing a Commando in PvP requires you to step back from the defined role of healer or DPS and find that niche which helps make your team more than a group of individuals. Some situations require you to heal, others to deal damage, and even some will arise when you must hold back enemies or hold a ball. A Commando is equipped to handle all of these situations and with the right tools and skills, you can become a standout on any team.

Gear Up!

Before you head to the front lines, you’ll want to maximize your potential with the right buffs. Having 2 crit/surge relics, and a constant supply of Warzone Expertise Adrenals will decide an encounter, and close to gap between geared PvPers and fresh level 50′s faster than anything else. Find them at any Warzone vendor before the start of the game.

Abbreviation Key

Sticky Grenade=SG
Stock Strike=SS
High Impact Bolt=HIB
Ion Pulse=IP
Fire Pulse=FP
Energy Blast=EB
Incendiary Round=IR
Full Auto=FA
Charged Bolts=CB
Grav Round=GR
Assault Plastique=AP
Hammer Shot=HS
Demolition Round=DR
Combat Support Cell=CSC

Commando Builds

Bacta Marine

Bacta Marine – Root Spec: 31/10/0
This spec is goes fully Combat Medic for your instant heal, then dips into gunnery to buff your heals and grabs muzzle fluting to make your DPS bursts less costly.

Cell: Support
Healing Rotation: Kolto-Bomb anything getting hit every time it’s off cooldown, unless you need to do an immediate large heal. Follow with Advanced Medical Probe – Medical Probe pairings. Bacta-Infusion should be used on cooldown, and is very useful when paired with Kolto-Bomb for healing while running for line of sight cover. It is important not to over-heal. If someone has over 10k health, and is not being attacked by more than one person, they should be safe for at least the next 6-10 seconds. Be aware of who is taking damage, how fast, and how close to death the enemy is. A dead enemy means your team is no longer taking damage.
Opening Rotation: Cool downs > CSC+CB > HIB > FA > SG > HS
Sustained Rotation: FA > HIB > SS > SG > HS
Kill Zone: 20% > SG – HIB – SS

Mobility: 4/10
Damage: 6/10
Healing: 10/10
Survivability: 7/10
Utility: 7/10
Overall: 34/50

Run Away!!!

Run Away!!! – Varation Spec: 31/0/10
If you drop the healing and damage buffs from early gunnery (netting a little less than 10% effectiveness loss) you can pick up the snare for plasma cell in Assault.

Cell: Support/Plasma

Mobility: 5/10
Damage: 5/10
Healing: 9/10
Survivability: 7/10
Utility: 8/10
Overall: 34/50

Grav-Medic

Grav-Medic – Variation Spec: 30/11/0
This is a balanced spec allowing the Commando to switch between sustained DPS and effective healing as the situation demands. It relies on spamming GR for sustained DPS and often has the benefit of making others believe you are a poorly played gunnery spec. This can lead to some surprising situations for your enemies! It is best played while switching between roles often in a Warzone. You operate well while healing friends when they fall below 50% health or are carrying a ball, and then turning to DPS as the danger passes. If you can manage your Ammo effectively, you can expect to out-damage many DPS classes, and heal for about the same amount.

Cell: Support for healing, Armor Piercing for DPS
Healing Rotation: As ‘Bacta-Marine” without Bacta Infusion
DPS Rotation: Cooldowns > HIB+SS if in kill zone > SG if in group > GR while regen is at 3 > HS
Kill Zone: 25% > SG – HIB – SS

Mobility: 4/10
Damage: 8/10
Healing: 9/10
Survivability: 7/10
Utility: 7/10
Overall: 35/50

Grav-Probe

Grav-Probe – Variation Spec: 25/16/0
This variation goes further into Gunnery to pick up Charged Barrier and Gravity Surge, buffing Grav Round, which you will be activating most frequently with this build. Additionally, Concussive Force is very useful for knocking people into a hazard or out of line of sight. The trade off is you have less effective critical heals.

Cell: Support for healing, Armor Piercing for DPS
Healing Rotation: As ‘Bacta-Marine” without Bacta Infusion
DPS Rotation: Cooldowns > HIB+SS if in kill zone > SG if in group > GR while regen is at 3 > Hammer Shot
Kill Zone: 25% > SG – HIB – SS

Mobility: 4/10
Damage: 8/10
Healing: 8/10
Survivability: 9/10
Utility: 7/10
Overall: 36/50

Full Metal Medic

Full Metal Medic – Variation Spec: 23/18/0
The objective for this spec is to pass the ball and stay alive. It operates with less healing done, less damage taken, and more knock-backs. The primary differences between this spec and Grav-Probe are the selection of skills increasing Endurance and healing received as a priority over damage done.

Cell: Support for healing, Armor Piercing for DPS
Healing Rotation: As ‘Bacta-Marine” without Bacta Infusion
DPS Rotation: Cooldowns > HIB+SS if in kill zone > SG if in group > GR while regen is at 3 > Hammer Shot
Kill Zone: 25% > SG – HIB – SS

Mobility: 4/10
Damage: 7/10
Healing: 8/10
Survivability: 9/10
Utility: 7/10
Overall: 35/50

Long Rifle

Long Rifle – Root Spec: 8/31/2
This spec has strong sustained DPS and a few instants to control your enemies at range. It has low mobility when laying down heavy fire and less survivability than many of the other builds. The great strength of a full gunnery spec is the enormous stopping power of Demolition Round. While it can be effectively used in a rotation, the 15 second cooldown is best used in conjunction with HIB and SS. Both cooldowns are used to generate a great amount of damage an opposing healer will be unable to counter.

Cell: Armor Piercing
Opening Rotation: Cooldowns > GRx3 > FA if Curtain of Fire is up > SG > DR > HIB > SS
Sustained Rotation: GR – GR – HS
Kill Zone: 35% > SG – DR – HIB – SS

Mobility: 5/10
Damage: 10/10
Healing: 5/10
Survivability: 8/10
Utility: 6/10
Overall: 34/50

Flaming Molly

Flaming Molly – Variation Spec: 0/28/13
This spec gives up the burst damage of Gunnery to pick up the additional plasma cell snare of Assault.

Cell: Plasma
DPS Rotation: Cooldowns > IG > FA > GR till full vortex > HIB > HS
Kill Zone: 20% > SG – HIB – SS

Mobility: 5/10
Damage: 8/10
Healing: 5/10
Survivability: 8/10
Utility: 6/10
Overall: 32/50

Full Assault

Full Assault – Root Spec: 2/8/31
Assault Spec is about getting your two DOTs up while whittling them down with channeled attacks, and timing a burst to finish them off. Timing your Kill Zone burst is critical with this build in order to bring enemies down in a timely, efficient manner.

Cell: Plasma
DPS Rotation: Cooldowns > AP > IG > HIB > FA > CB regen at 3
Kill Zone: 30% > AP – HIB – SS

Mobility: 7/10
Damage: 9/10
Healing: 5/10
Survivability: 8/10
Utility: 6/10
Overall: 35/50

While these Specs have vastly different styles of play, the end goals and strengths of the Commando remain the same: support your team and kill your enemies. Some Specs are better for support while others deal massive amounts of damage. The trick is to find your niche and own it.

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Tags: Advanced Class, Advanced Medical Probe, Ammo, Assault Plastique, Assault Specialist, Bacta-Infusion, Bioware, Brian Hein, Charged Barrier, Charged Bolts, Combat Medic, Combat Support Cell, Commando, Concussive Force, Demolition Round, DPS, EA, Electronic Arts, Energy Blast, Erich Hein, Fire Pulse, Full Auto, Grav Round, Gravity Surge, Gunnery, Hammer Shot, High Impact Bolt, Incendiary Round, Ion Pulse, Kolto-Bomb, LucasArts, Medical Probe, PvP, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Sticky Grenade, Stock Strike, SWTOR, TOR, Trooper, Warzone Expertise Adrenal, Warzones