SWTOR 5.0 Scrapper Scoundrel PvP Guide by Saya

SWTOR 5.0 Scrapper Scoundrel PvP Guide by Saya.

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Intro to Scrapper Scoundrel

For PvP the Scrapper Scoundrel is a niche spec; its damage output is too low to be competitive in mid fights where a DPS spec has to contend with either targets being healed/guarded, or the healers/tanks themselves. However, the amount of survivability Scrapper has coupled with surprising on-demand burst does allow this spec to perform well in capable hands. In this guide I shall be looking at overall warzone strategies, dueling strategies, arena strategies, utility choices for the previously mentioned, and explaining my reasoning and choices behind said strategies and utilities, as well as gearing and stat allocation.

Gearing

The following are my stats when under the effects of bolster. Bolster gives me a small amount of alacrity despite not having any slotted. Currently I am not subbed, meaning that I am incapable of updating my level 65 ranked PvP gear with the current level 70 gear. Because of this my stats are obviously going to be far lower than they should be when not in a bolstered environment. However the stat allocations still hold true. For Scrapper you want unlettered Lethal mods and Adept enhancements, as these give the optimal amount of Power and Critical Rating. Additionally you want to gear with Versatile Armorings/Barrels. For augments I would recommend full purple Overkill augments. Scrapper has a large amount of passive crit chance baked into either passives or self buffs (Rolling Punches) that adding more crit via augments is largely a waste, as you will be approaching or already in diminishing returns territory. Because of this it is a much better option to use Power augments in order to increase your base damage, which will make those crits hit harder.

Below is my UI setup. My target frame is directly to the right of my Disappearing Act, so that it is aligned with my character portrait. As for my bar setup, everything that has a cooldown that I need to watch is on the four bars directly next to my character portrait and target frame. This allows allows me to keep my eyes on the battle and only have to move them extremely slightly to look at self/enemy buffs/debuffs or to check the timers on my cooldowns.The two bars at the bottom of my screen are for either skills with no cooldown or skills that aren’t going to be used nearly often enough for their cooldown to come into play (such as Thermal Grenade).

Key Abilities

	Backblast: Fires the scattergun point-blank into the target’s backside, dealing X kinetic damage. Only usable while behind the target. If used from stealth, Backblast deals X kinetic damage and grants an Upper Hand. Backblast is one of your most important skills in Scrapper. Not only is it your second hardest hitting move, especially when used from stealth or against a target with the Hot and Ready debuff, but it also grants both your Flechette Round’s armor penetration buff and Rolling Punches’s +5% critical chance buff. Due to the 15 second duration of both of the previously mentioned buffs coupled with the 12 second cooldown on Backblast, these are buffs that you should have 100% uptime on once in combat, barring any long lasting CC that your character gets placed in.
	Blood Boiler: Summons a probe that boils the blood of the target for a few seconds, after which, damage dealt by one of your bleeds will trigger an explosion, dealing X internal damage and making the target assailable for 45 seconds. Assailable targets take 7% more damage from elemental and internal attacks. After Backblast, Blood Boiler is your second most important ability. It is also the hardest hitting skill available to Scrapper, which is justified by its long (18 second) cooldown. Once applied to a target there is a 3 second delay (2 global cooldowns) before it can be detonated. It should also be noted that the GCD during the application of Boiler counts towards this timer. In other words you can apply Boiler, spend another GCD on a different skill (usually Bludgeon or Sucker Punch), and then trigger Boiler.
	Bludgeon: Bashes the target with the scattergun’s butt for X kinetic damage, granting an Upper Hand. Replaces Blaster Whip. Bludgeon is a sort of filler for Scrapper; it deals moderate damage, however the primary reason for using this skill is grant a Upper Hand. Keep in mind that DPS Scoundrel is capped at a maximum of 2 Upper Hand stacks (unlike 3 for Sawbones) so avoid using this skill while already at 2 stacks of UH, otherwise you are wasting a proc and pointlessly putting this skill on cooldown for 6 seconds. One last point to mention is that Bludgeon also applies Scrapper’s second debuff; susceptible, which lasts for 45 seconds. Susceptible targets take 5% more damage from Tech attacks.
	Sucker Punch: Exploits Upper Hand to sucker punch the target for X kinetic damage. Requires and consumes Upper Hand. Sucker Punch is the primary filler skill that you will be using in Scrapper; it is a semi-spammable ability that does respectable damage for the amount of uses that it sees. It is buffed by the level 48 passive, Pierce and Batter, which causes Sucker Punch to deal 5% more damage to targets affected by your Flechette Round. Possibly the most important point to note about Sucker Punch is that, when it strikes a target affected by one of your bleeds (Flechette Round, Vital Shot, Blood Boiler before it is triggered) it will regrant a Upper Hand upon Flying Fists connecting with the target. This Upper Hand regrant has a rate limit of 10 seconds and is caused by the level 20 passive, Round Two.
	Flechette Round: Loads your scattergun with flechettes, causing Backblast to deal an additional X internal bleed damage over 6 seconds and increase armor penetration by 30% for 15 seconds. Flechette Round is the DoT that automatically applies upon each use of Backblast beyond level 36, it is also the primary method that you should be triggering your Blood Boiler. The damage on this DoT is decent although nothing to be amazed over. However the key factor is that it lasts for 6 seconds; because of this short duration a smart Scoundrel can avoid breaking CC or triggering certain cooldowns (such as a Guardian’s Focused Defense) by careful use of Backblast. At the same time there will be certain situations where it is unavoidable to use this DoT, as Backblast is one of the primary skills a Scrapper Scoundrel uses.
	Rolling Punches: Backblast grants Rolling Punches, which increases ranged and tech critical chance by 5% for 15 seconds. The second of two buffs triggered by Backblast; Rolling Punches is a major boon to the Scrapper Scoundrel. Because of various spec passives which increase base critical chance on various abilities combined with this self-buff, Scrapper has a rather high critical chance compared to other specs. This allows you to gear for Power rather than Critical Rating in order to increase your base damage, allowing you to be somewhat competitive in the DPS compartment with other specs.
	Shank Shot: Fires a close-up scattergun shot at the target’s shank, dealing X kinetic damage and immobilizing the target, preventing it from moving or turning for 4 seconds. Shank Shot is a move known to be anger inducing in PvP due to the unique factor that it is a root which prevents the target from even turning. Due to that aspect a smart Scoundrel can position themselves directly behind their target upon usage of this skill and prevent themselves from being targeted for the next 4 seconds. As with all roots keep in mind that they do not apply if the target has a full resolve bar (whitebar), instead it will apply a 50% slow for the same duration as the root would have lasted.
	Surrender: Puts up the front of surrender, instantly lowering your threat by a moderate amount. In PvP you should nearly always be taking the Dirty Trickster utility in the Heroic tier, which causes this skill to purge any roots and slows from your character when activated. Additionally, due to the level 32 Scrapper passive (Fight or Flight) it will also increase your movement speed by 50% for the following 6 seconds. Scrapper’s primary method of survival revolves around using its roll to resist incoming damage, however you cannot roll while rooted. Because of this Surrender is an important skill that should be saved for a situation where you are rooted and need to roll immediately.

Defensive Abilities

	Scamper: Roll forward 12 meters. Activating Scamper a second time within 10 seconds allows you to roll again, but puts the ability on cooldown for 10 seconds. While rolling, your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks is increased by 30%. Does not break stealth. Cannot be used while immobilized or hindered. This skill is buffed by the level 52 passive, Slippery Devil. Slippery Devil: Increases your effective stealth level by 2. In addition, when you activate Scamper, you dodge or resist all incoming attacks for 1.5 seconds. Scamper, commonly referred to simply as ‘roll’, is the primary method of survival as Scrapper. It triggers a 1 second GCD while providing 1.5 seconds of immunity to all damage and status effects. This is important, as if you are able to predict incoming CC you can use Scamper to avoid it. However this is also where the biggest drawback of Scrapper, and the reason its DPS is so subpar, comes in. Surviving as Scrapper (and Scoundrel DPS in general) requires active global cooldowns to be spent on abilities (mainly roll and keeping Slow Release Medpacs active). It is because of this that your DPS will generally be low in PvP, or at the least not anywhere near the top of the scoreboard. A final point to note is that you should remember that Scamper only triggers a 1 second GCD, meaning you get 0.5 seconds of immunity once the roll ends. Due to this you should avoid double rolling at all times, as it does nothing but waste precious immunity time.
	Defense Screen: Projects a defense screen around yourself, which absorbs a moderate amount of incoming damage for 10 seconds. Does not break stealth. Defense Screen is much like the Sage Force Armor; an absorb ‘bubble’ that will take a predetermined amount of damage before collapsing. Any damage resisted by Scamper or avoided by Dodge will not count against Defense Screen’s damage threshold, and as such it is generally a better idea to let Defense Screen absorb its full amount of damage before you roll or use Dodge, lest you risk letting its duration fall off before its full amount of damage can be reached. The Legendary utility, Hotwired Defenses, will increase the amount of damage absorbed by 30%. For a defensive utility loadout this utility is extremely powerful; it is not uncommon for a buffed Defense Screen to absorb most of, if not the full damage of hard hitting skills like Aimed Shot, Blood Boiler, and Shadow Strike. So try to keep this skill in mind and not underestimate it.
	Dodge: Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 200% for 3 seconds. Does not break Stealth. Dodge is additionally buffed by the Scoundrel passive, Preparedness. Preparedness: Increases energy regeneration rate by 1 per second and makes Flash Grenade blind up to 7 additional enemy targets within 5 meters. In addition, Dodge will now purge all hostile removable effects when activated. Dodge is the purge for the Scoundrel class, similar to Resilience for Shadows in a few ways. Its two primary uses are to either avoid taking damage from heavy hitting melee/ranged skills (Aimed Shot, Shadow Strike, Boltstorm, etc) or to remove any DoTs or roots from your character. One additional use for Dodge is to avoid both the damage and CC effect from a Infiltration Shadow’s Low Slash. This can also be used on the new hardstun that Gunslinger was granted in 5.0, Below the Belt, as it is counted as a ranged skill.
	Disappearing Act: Overloads your stealth generator, immediately exiting combat and entering stealth mode. For 10 seconds, you become virtually undetectable. The ‘vanish’ for Scoundrel which serves as your focus removal cooldown. Please note that, as with any stealth damage taken or moving through a Stealth Scan will break you out of stealth and render you visible once more. Keep this in mind when using Disappearing Act defensively and always try to have at least one charge of Scamper ready to use so that you can gain distance from your foe when you vanish. Another option is to use Dodge at the same time as your Disappearing Act, which will remove any DoTs from you that could potentially break your stealth
	Flash Grenade: Lobs a flash grenade that blinds the target for 8 seconds. Damage causes this effect to end prematurely. The hated AoE ‘mezz’ of the Scoundrel; Flash Grenade is mostly used to CC a healer/tank so that your team can kill a focused target or to put an enemy in a soft CC so that you can stall/cap an objective node or to gain breathing room on an enemy who is putting heavy pressure on you. Avoid using this skill while Flechette Round or Vital Shot are present, as these effects will immediately break your Flash Grenade and render it useless.
	Slow Release Medpac: Injects the target with slow-release medicine that heals for X health over 18 seconds. Stacks up to 2 times. Buffed by the Masterful utility Supplemented Medpac. Supplemented Medpac: While your Slow Release Medpac is active on yourself, your damage reduction is increased by 3% per stack. Slow Release Medpac are a long lasting HoT that ticks every 3 seconds, requiring 2 GCDs to fully apply. As with Backblast’s two buffs, Slow Release Medpacs are buffs that you should be attempting to keep up 100% of the time. Both because of the passive healing that they give and the total 6% reduction in incoming damage. While the numbers of both the damage mitigation and healing may seem low they stack up very heavily over a long drawn out battle, making this skill and utility invaluable in the survival of a Scrapper Scoundrel.
	Kolto Pack: Exploits your Upper Hand to heal the target immediately for X health, followed by X health over 9 seconds. Requires and consumes Upper Hand. A moderate heal followed by a decent HoT, making for a rather powerful heal overall. Due to the 1.5 second cast time and consuming an Upper Hand, Kolto Pack should be reserved for when you are taking heavy pressure and are forced to back away from combat momentarily to avoid death. In these situations you should find LoS and cast a Kolto Pack on yourself. Something to note is that Scrapper has competent off healing capabilities by keeping their Slow Release Medpacs on an ally along with casting Kolto Packs on them whenever they are able.
	Escape: Purges all incapacitating and movement-impairing effects. A standard ‘CC breaker’ given to every class. Escape should only be used in situations where its usage is absolutely essential to either your survival or you preventing the enemy team from capturing an objective, due to the long cooldown. Generally using this skill otherwise is considered a waste and will incentivize other people to throw a long lasting soft CC on you and move on to another target.
	Pugnacity: Psych yourself up, immediately gaining Upper Hand and boosting alacrity by 10% for 15 seconds. Does not break stealth. Buffed by the Legendary utility, Surprise Comeback. Surprise Comeback: Pugnacity now additionally grants Surprise Comeback, restoring 5% of total health every 3 seconds and reducing damage received by 20% for the duration. With Surprise Comeback Pugnacity is an extremely potent DCD. It grants a moderate healing factor accompanied by a 20% boost in damage mitigation. When combined with the damage reduction from both Slow Release Medpac stacks and your Defense Screen this makes the Scoundrel an extremely tanky class, which can be boosted even further by taking Hotwired Defenses in Legendary to buff Defense Screen and using Scamper to ignore even more damage.
	Triage: Cleanses a friendly target of up to 2 negative tech or physical effects. The Scoundrel cleanse, Triage is a move that many Scoundrel DPS seem to completely forget that they have. You can use this skill to cleanse either yourself or an ally of any tech based slow or root that may have on them, as well as tech based hard and soft CC (such as an Scoundrel Dirty Kick).
	Heartrigger Patch: Shocks and revives an incapacitated ally. This ability is usable while in combat. When used, all group members can neither use nor be the target of an in-combat revival for the next 5 minutes. Along with Triage, Heartrigger Patch is an extremely underused ability in PvP. Unfortunately, most players in PvP will revive instantly. However if you are in a group and they know you are willing to combat rez them this skill can be used to gain an advantage over an enemy team when you are outnumbered.
	Smuggle: Cloaks all group members within 10 meters of you in a temporary stealth field that lasts for 15 seconds. Cannot be used in combat. Only usable while in stealth mode. Smuggle is an AoE stealth skill that can be used to ‘stealth in’ your entire group. In PvP the primary use of this skill is to hide your allies in the opening moments of a fight, allowing your team to get the first strike and initiate combat on your terms.
	Cool Head: Keeps a cool head, recovering 50 energy over 3 seconds. As with all classes that have tiered energy regen, Scoundrel has a skill that gives them half of their energy meter back to them. Because this skill is on a lengthy (2 minute) cooldown you should take care to avoid having your energy dip below 60 whenever possible. However, due to the amount of CC in PvP the likelihood that you will be left alone long enough to have to use this skill is minimal. Its most common use will be when you are forced to heal yourself when already close to 60 energy and you want/need to get your energy back immediately.
	Diagnostic Scan: Heals a friendly target for X health over 3 seconds. Diagnostic Scan is a weak heal that can be used at no energy cost. For Scrapper in PvP this skill will see very little use. However, if you are actively off healing a teammate it should be used occasionally to prevent you from running into energy issues between your Slow Release Medpacs and Kolto Packs.

Offensive Abilities

	Dirty Kick: Stuns the target for 4 seconds and deals X kinetic damage. A standard 4 meter hardstun of a melee class. The special part of this skill is that, unlike most hard CC which is on a 1 minute cooldown, Dirty Kick is on a 45 second cooldown. Additionally, the Dirty Escape utility in Skillful reduces the cooldown by an additional 15 seconds and should be taken at all times. This gives Scoundrel a 30 second cooldown on a hardstun, something that many people are known to hate and find extremely annoying. Naturally this gives the Scoundrel a potent tool in their kit which can be used to great effect with smart play.
	Tendon Blast: Blasts the target’s legs with your scattergun, dealing X kinetic damage and slowing the target’s movement speed by 50% for 12 seconds. Buffed by the Anatomy Lessons utility in Masterful. Anatomy Lessons: Reduces the energy cost of Dirty Kick and Tendon Blast by 5 and makes Tendon Blast immobilize the target for 2 seconds. With Anatomy Lessons the Scrapper Scoundrel has access to two roots which can be used to great effect in both locking down a target for focus fire, kiting an enemy melee class, or peeling for a teammate. The peeling use of this skill is especially useful with Tendon Blast due to the 50% slow that it applies once the root ends.
	Tranquilizer: Puts the target to sleep for 60 seconds (8 against players). Damage will break the effect prematurely. Only usable from stealth and only usable on targets not in combat. Only one target can be incapacitated at a time. Does not affect droids. The ‘sap’ of the Scoundrel, Tranquilizer is a situational skill that will find the majority of its use against lone targets defending their team’s node, or attacking your team’s while you are guarding. This CC can be used offensively to set up a burst opener, or defensively to wait out a DCD or to simply stall while waiting for your team to send reinforcements.
	Distraction: Interrupts the target’s current action and prevents that ability from being used for 4 seconds. A standard 10 meter interrupt. Use of Distraction should be saved until the last 0.3 or 0.2 seconds of an enemy’s cast in order to cause the most optimal amount of downtime to the target, as well as to prevent being interrupt baited. You should also avoid using this skill on low priority abilities such as Revivification or Diagnostic Scan and instead focus on more important skills such as Healing Trance, Deliverance, and Boltstorm.
	Stack the Deck: Exploits Upper Hand to Stack the Deck for you and your Operation group members within 40 meters, increasing critical chance by 10% for 10 seconds. Does not break stealth. Stack the Deck is the Scoundrel raid buff and arguably the best due to how powerful Critical Rating is. Ideally you want to use this skill right before your Blood Boiler detonates with the autocrit from your set bonus. I know some Scoundrels prefer to use this right before they open, however I disagree with that. Because of how prevalent CC is and how many players CC an Scoundrel or Shadow as soon as they break stealth it is possible for Stack the Deck to run out before you can trigger Boiler’s autocrit when using it in that manner. Because of this I feel it is a wiser choice to trigger it just before Boiler detonates.
	Trick Move: Override your stealth generator to quickly move to a friendly or enemy target and increase movement speed by 75% for 3 seconds. Does not break stealth. Cannot be used against enemy targets in cover. A teleport-like ‘leap’ skill; Trick Move will find its most common use in regaining ground against an enemy that used a knockback or some form of CC to gain breathing room on you, thus saving Scamper and allowing you to use it for damage mitigation. The use of Trick Move on friendly targets should be kept in mind, as this can be useful in allowing you to peel or chase down enemy targets if your ally is pushed up farther than you.
	Thermal Grenade: Deals X kinetic damage to the primary target and X kinetic damage to up to 7 standard or weak enemies within 5 meters of the primary target. If the primary target is a standard or weak enemy, it is knocked to the ground. This skill has little use in PvP outside of niche situations. The most common usage you will find is to stop an enemy player or players from capping a node. Because it is a direct damage AoE Thermal Grenade will stop the cap of every player that it damages. Combine this with its 6 second cooldown and it allows for prolonged stalling at an enemy node by an Scoundrel using good LoS.
	Vital Shot: Fires a shot that causes the target to bleed, dealing X internal damage over 18 seconds. Dart is more of a standard DoT than Flechette Round, however it is a move that I see far too many Scoundrels using on a much too consistent basis. Vital Shot is a skill that you should rarely use because of its duration. Since it lasts for 18 seconds it will prevent either you or your team from soft CC’ing an enemy target, such as a healer, in order to kill one of his teammates. Additionally it can cause your own Flash Grenade or Tranquilizer to break. Both of these mezzes can be crucial to a victory in combat or capturing a node. It is because of this fact that Vital Shot should be used extremely sparingly.
	Lacerating Blast: Fire serrated slugs from your scattergun in a 10-meter cone in front of you, damaging up to 8 targets for X kinetic damage and X internal bleed damage. The 5.0 replacement for Blaster Volley, Lacerating Blast is a vastly superior move with a surprising amount of utility. Due to the fact that half of LB’s damage is considered a bleed it can be used to trigger your Blood Boiler on an enemy target. However, unlike using Vital Shot to trigger it, using this method does not have any side effect of a long lasting DoT that can potentially harm you or your team by preventing a soft CC. Due to this capability Lacerating Blast is actually an extremely useful skill and while you should not be using it all the time it is certainly worth keeping in mind as an option when you need to trigger Boiler and Backblast is on cooldown or you are simply out of melee range.
	Bushwack: Exploits Upper Hand to call in droids that fill the vicinity with spinning blades, dealing X internal bleed damage to up to 8 targets over 6 seconds. The blades stun standard and weak enemies for 6 seconds. Requires and consumes Upper Hand. A new AoE skill given to Scoundrels with 5.0, Bushwack does a paltry amount of damage and comes at the cost of a precious Upper Hand stack. That UH cost makes this skill mostly worthless and not something that you should use. However, just like Lacerating Blast it will trigger your Blood Boiler on an enemy target. Unfortunately, Lacerating Blast has this same boon without the UH cost, making Bushwack mostly an afterthought. The only time I would consider using this skill is against an enemy stealth class who has just used their vanish while in melee range, as the AoE can break their stealth.
	Quick Shot: Blasts a target for X weapon damage. A basic rifle skill that sees extremely limited use. Primarily only used when buffed by the Slippery Shooter utility in Legendary which causes each use of Scamper to give a charge that allows Quick Shot to generate a knockback from 30 meters. The only time you will likely use Quick Shot in PvP aside from that utility is when an enemy is on extremely low health and you want to ‘troll’ kill them. Otherwise it simply costs too much energy for too low of a damage output to be worth using.
	Flurry of Bolts: Fires a flurry of bolts from your blaster, dealing X weapon damage. The Scoundrel auto-attack. Flurry of Bolts has a 30 meter range, costs no energy, and deals minimal damage. The only use this skill should have in PvP is to stop a single enemy target from capping a node, otherwise you are better off using more potent skills.

Utilities

General WZ Queue

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster, K.O.
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback

Alternate General WZ Queue

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

I usually run the first of those setups, although if I feel I’m dealing with heavy focus too often I’ll drop K.O. for Surprise Comeback. I’m sure a lot of people are going to wonder why I take K.O., so I’ll explain. Up until 5.0 it was a worthless utility as you could only benefit from it once every 2 minutes. 5.0 gave the Hot and Ready passive, however, which causes Backblast to be treated as if you were in stealth. Because of this passive it allows you to make use of K.O. much more often, making you more effective at locking targets down with its 3 second root. Another point worth noting is that many people underestimate the buffed Defense Screen. It may be weaker than Sage bubble but with Hotwired Defenses it can absorb an extremely high amount of damage and should not be counted off. Finally, I don’t take Scar Tissue because I feel the 5% damage mitigation isn’t worth as much as the kiting/anti-kiting potential of Holdout Defense, however that is mostly my personal preference.

Ranked Utilities

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Med Screen
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

For ranked you want to take purely defensive utilities. Most players in ranked will be aware of the fact that if they force the Scoundrel to play defensively that he will be nearly completely unable to deal any amount of damage. This effectively turns it into a 3v4 in the enemy team’s favor. To attempt to counter this you need as much defense in your utility layout to give you as much breathing room to do damage in between your GCDs spent on staying alive.

Ranked Anti-Ranged Utilities

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

For times when a large number of ranged DPS are in queue and you feel confident in your ability to survive with a somewhat less defensive utility layout, trade Scar Tissue for Holdout Defense, and Med Screen for Anatomy Lessons. These utility swaps will give you a higher uptime on the enemy, however should you become the target of focus fire you will be somewhat more squishy due to the lack of an additional 5% damage mitigation and not having a 5% heal upon Defense Screen’s collapse.

Dueling Utilities Per Class

Defense/Vigilance/Focus Guardian

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Watchman/Concentration Sentinel

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Combat Sentinel

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Med Screen
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Kinetic Combat/Serenity Shadow

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Smuggled Defenses
• Legendary- Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Infiltration Shadow

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Med Screen
• Heroic – Scramble, Smuggled Defenses
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Telekinetics/Balance Sage

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster, K.O.
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback

Seer Sage

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Anatomy Lessons, Keep Cool
• Heroic – Get the Bulge, Smuggled Defenses, K.O.
• Legendary – Sleight of Foot

Ruffian/Scrapper Scoundrel

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster, K.O.
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback

Sawbones Scoundrel

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Anatomy Lessons, Keep Cool
• Heroic – Get the Bulge, Smuggled Defenses, K.O.
• Legendary – Sleight of Foot

Sharpshooter/Dirty Fighting/Saboteur Gunslinger

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Med Screen
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Gunnery/Assault Specialist Commando

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Combat Medic Commando

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Anatomy Lessons, Keep Cool
• Heroic – Get the Bulge, Smuggled Defenses, K.O.
• Legendary – Sleight of Foot

Tactics Vanguard

• Skillful – Scar Tissue, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Med Screen
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback, Hotwired Defenses

Shield Specialist/Plasmatech Vanguard

• Skillful – Holdout Defense, Dirty Escape
• Masterful – Supplemented Medpac, Anatomy Lessons
• Heroic – Scramble, Dirty Trickster, K.O.
• Legendary – Surprise Comeback

Rotation

Primary Burst Opener/Rotation

In your opener it’s all about maxing damage. In order to do that you need to use your raid buff and Pugnacity in order to regrant the Upper Hand that using Stack the Deck costs. Once you’ve finished with your opener it falls into a priority system that levels your UH stacks (and thus Bludgeon), Blood Boiler, and Backblast. Backblast’s Flechette Round and Rolling Punches buffs last for 3 seconds after it comes off cooldown, giving you a bit of leeway there. Blood Boiler should be used on cooldown due to the lengthy wait time (18 seconds) and the setup time (3 seconds), and Bludgeon should be used whenever it is off cooldown if you do not have 2 Upper Hand stacks. The only exception to this rule is if you are attempting to burst someone, as a Sucker Punch will hit harder than a Bludgeon. In those situations the better option is to spend your final UH stack on a Sucker Punch and then regain that stack with a Bludgeon. I know some Scoundrels use Stack the Deck right before they open, however because of how common CC is I disagree with that. More than anything you want that extra crit so that Boiler’s autocrit benefits from 10% extra super crit. Unfortunately many people are extremely CC happy and will CC an Scoundrel the moment he leaves stealth. Because of this it is a safer option to use Stack the Deck right before Boiler triggers, ensuring that you get that extra super crit even if it means losing 10% extra chance for Backblast to crit.

‘Sap’ Burst Opener/Rotation

The sap opener is a favorite of many Scrapper Scoundrels, and for good reason. In a 1v1 (such as at an off node) it provides comparable, if not superior burst to the standard opener all while your foe is incapable of fighting back. Against DPS specs this opener will take a minimum of 50% of their HP, sometimes up to 70% if you get a really good RNG crit chain. Naturally such a large health advantage right as the fight starts gives the Scoundrel a sizable advantage, however there are drawbacks. Using this opener requires using both Pugnacity and Disappearing Act offensively. Due to this you are left rather vulnerable for the following two minutes, as both Surprise Comeback and your vanish will not be available to you. Because of this risk I only recommend this method of opening on a target if you are wholly confident in your ability to survive potential focus fire without Pugnacity and Disappearing Act. Finally, this method obviously cannot be used on any target in combat due to their inability to be affected by Tranquilizer.

Bubble Pop Avoid ‘Rotation’

Please note that when triggering Boiler with Lacerating Blast you MUST be at least 6 meters away from the target to avoid being hit by the bubble flash. Seer Sages are a common sight in PvP due to how powerful that spec currently is, and with that comes the frustratingly common Kinetic Collapse utility, commonly referred to as flash bubble. Blood Boiler is the only skill Scrapper has that can do meaningful damage while the Scoundrel is outside of 4 meter range, and as such if you wish to avoid being put into a mezz by the flash bubble you can use this method of triggering it. Lacerating Blast and Bushwack can both be used, however due to Bushwack’s UH cost it is far inferior and you would be better off using Lacerating Blast. Something to keep in mind is the pitifully small cone on LB, making this skill difficult to land on a highly mobile target. If you find that you are having difficulty landing Lacerating Blast on said targets then I recommend using Sevor Tendon (with Anatomy Lessons) to root the target in place before using LB to trigger Boiler. Remember; this is a situational method to trigger your Boiler and will grant you inferior burst to a standard burst rotation, however it is the better option than sitting in a 3 second blind from the bubble breaking on top of you

Strategies

Warzone Strategies

Most of the time in WZs an Scoundrel, especially if you are the only stealth player on the team, will be asked to guard his team’s node. This is because Scrapper is easily the best spec to guard a node due to the fact that it is a stealth class and the spec’s amazing survivability. However, in situations where you have someone else willing to guard or simply another stealth class who can do so, Scrapper will find much use by going to the enemy team’s off node. In these situations you can either kill or sap cap to take the node from the defender. Or, in situations where there are multiple people at the node, hold them off for a long enough time that your team gets the advantage. Aside from these two scenarios you should be at mid picking off the squishy targets in the enemy group before the healer can realize what’s happening and react.

Ranked Strategies

In a ranked environment Scrapper has one of two roles; bursting down a squishy target or off healing the squishy on your team. This is much less of a black and white scenario than regs are, as it will rely heavily on your own ability to read the situation and act accordingly. Being able to predict when the enemy team will burst and/or swap targets will go a long way to making your setup on off heals more effective and, thus, giving your heal target a higher chance of surviving. If you yourself become the target of focus fire then damage becomes your last concern. Rather, you need to focus on surviving. If the enemy team is dead set on killing you and ignores your own team’s DPS you can give your team the advantage by utilizing everything in your kit to avoid death and stay alive. In these situations you will need to make smart use of Surrender and Escape in order to prevent being locked down and bursted in return.

Dueling Guardians

This is an endurance fight, especially against tanks. However neither Defense nor Vigilance have the damage output to push through your defense and healing. So for those two specs you simply need to Flash Grenade/Tranquilizer away the Focused Defense and then take your time killing them. Take it slow and whittle them down. Dodge the Guardian Slash on Defense and the DoTs on Vigilance. For Focus you’re going to need to roll Focused Burst and Concentrated Slice as often as possible. When you can’t, use Defense Screen on them and Dodge on Concentrated Slice. A good Focus Guardian has extremely high burst and can put a tremendous amount of pressure on you, so you’ll want to kill them as quickly as you can without putting yourself in danger.

Dueling Sentinels

Sentinels are much like Focus Guardian in how you approach dueling them; you’ll want to roll Clashing Blast and Dispatch as much as possible, as well as using Dodge on Dispatch and Lance. For those that you can’t roll or Dodge use Defense Screen on. Keep in mind that when Precision is down Combat’s damage is mostly Blade Rush spam. Concentration is almost the exact same as dueling Focus except you have to watch out for their CC immunity on Force Exhaustion. As for Watchman, this is a standard melee DoT spec approach. Wait until all of their DoTs are up and Dodge them off, Roll Merciless Slash or Defense Screen it if you can’t. Do all of that right and your damage intake will be extremely low and you can burst them down at your leisure.

Dueling Sages

I’m not going to go into dueling a healer because, frankly, a heal spec will never lose a 1v1 given equal skill. For DPS you need to keep the squishiness in mind. A Sage DPS is very easy to blow up with your burst combos. However they have a high potential for kiting and healing. Because of this you need to keep a balance between rolling for mobility and rolling for optimal mitigation, as well as using Trick Move to mitigate kiting when you either can’t roll or can’t afford to. The biggest thing to keep in mind is the resolve bar. You want to make sure that the Sage isn’t whitebarred when they use Force Barrier, that way you can Flash Grenade them the moment the barrier ends and prevent them from taking advantage of Enduring Bastion. Finally, don’t be surprised if a Sage Force Speeds out of your Shank Shot or Tendon Blast, as most will have the Egress utility.

Dueling Shadows

Shadows, especially Infiltration, is an extremely difficult fight for Scrapper. Because of their high burst combined with CC potential Infiltration is quite capable of locking a Scrapper Scoundrel down and preventing you from dragging out the fight. For this match up you need to roll Low Slash as much as possible, and if you cannot roll it use Dodge to ignore it. Keep Slow Release Medpac up at all times for the damage reduction and Defense Screen the Discharge, as rolling it will not consume their stacks and they can simply use it in the next GCD. You’re going to have to utilize the environment here; LoS the Shadow and heal when you need to. It’s simply how the match up is; Infiltration’s damage is high enough that a skilled Shadow is going to be extremely difficult to beat as Scrapper. For Serenity, however, it’s much easier. Dodge once all the DoTs are on you, roll the Serenity Strike to deny their healing, and Surrender the Sever Force root. Whereas Infiltration is a nightmarishly hard fight, Serenity is a breeze of a matchup that the Scoundrel should win with ease.

Dueling Vanguards

Both Shield Specialist and Plasmatech have extremely low damage output. While you should never go ‘easy’ just because of spec, you generally don’t have to worry too much about those specs. Simply roll the Plasma Flare and Dodge the DoTs away and you’ll be fine. Tactics is a different story. Tactics has great burst and minimal survivability. You’ll want to roll the Assault Plastique and Cell Burst as much as possible, Dodge the High Impact Bolt, and Defense Screen the Cell Burst/Assault Plastique that you can’t roll. You’re going to have a lot of pressure on you in this fight but the PT doesn’t have very good DCDs which is your advantage. Keep pressure on him and he’ll burn through his DCDs extremely quickly.

Dueling Commandos

With 5.0 Commando dueling, especially Gunnery, became a much more difficult fight. Because of recent buffs to DCDs Commandos are comparable defense wise to even an Defense Guardian, yet has extremely high burst damage and is capable of locking you out of Scamper for 9 seconds with Electro Net. Because of this you have a hard fight ahead. Absolutely do not CC break the Electro Net; you need to use Surrender to remove the slow and increase your speed, but do not break it. Instead; once you have Net on you pop Pugnacity for Surprise Comeback and try to make sure your Defense Screen is up, and activate that if it’s ready. Your goal during Electro Net is simply to survive. Stand still if you’re on high health and can afford it, otherwise Surrender and try to find LoS. Save your Breaker for the instant-cast Concussion Missile ideally to prevent the Commando from Medical Probe healing once you’ve finally burnt through his two H2F DCDs and waited out his reflect. Finally; roll Demolition Round and Defense Screen those that you can’t, roll Vortex Bolt to deny the instant Grav Round, Dodge Boltstorm. If you play your defensive game well and avoid hitting into his reflect you’ll be fine.

Dueling Scoundrels

With Infiltration Shadows, Scrapper Scoundrels are the most difficult fight you have. Much of this fight is going to be played by ear, depending on what the other player has done. Interrupt Kolto Pack right before he finishes the cast and roll Backblast as much as you can, as that will force the other player to Vital Shot you to trigger Boiler, which denies him access to Flash Grenade or Tranquilizer.Use Dodge to remove Flechette Round from you for the Backblasts that you can’t roll to deny Boiler, and Defense Screen the Backblast/Boilers that you cannot roll or Dodge out of. The only time you should use Surrender is when you’re rooted by Shank Shot. If you can’t use Surrender consider using Triage to cleanse the root manually. Finally, avoid playing overly defensively or aggressively. Scrapper is a spec that requires the player to shift back and forth between defensive and aggressive as the situation calls for, especially in Scrapper vs. Scrapper duels. To succeed here you’ll need to play better than your opponent; watch for patterns in his actions and bait him into doing what you want.

Dueling Gunslingers

Much like Commandos, Gunslingers got a heavy increase to their survivability with 5.0. The amount of healing they are capable of doing now is arguably superior to what the Scoundrel is capable of. As a general note your best bet in dealing with Scrambling Field (with the healing utility) is simply to LoS and heal. Most Gunslingers will not chase you during this as to do so would be to give up their healing, which allows you freedom to heal yourself back to full HP as well, essentially resetting the fight. For Sharpshooter spec you’ll want to roll/Dodge Aimed Shot ideally. Penetrating Rounds does good damage but the knockback utility will push you away even if you roll/Dodge the last tick, so keep that in mind. Otherwise you need to Defense Screen Aimed Shot/Penetrating Rounds. Do not attack them during Diversion, simply LoS and heal. This is true for all 3 specs. For Dirty Fighting wait until all DoTs are on you and right as the Gunslinger casts Wounding Shots, when he does this use Dodge to remove the DoTs and reduce Wounding Shots’s damage to nearly zero. If you cannot Dodge, roll part of Wounding Shots and Defense Screen the second half. For Saboteur wait until you’re sitting in Incendiary Grenade and you have Shock Charge on you to Dodge SC away. Defense Screen and/or roll the Speed Shot that will likely be used to trigger Explosive Charge, or Dodge it if you absolutely must. With all 3 Gunslinger specs the same remains true; it’s a game of endurance. You have the tools required to out last the Gunslinger and if you use them well you will win.

Acknowledgements

The biggest ‘thank you’s’ that I can give are to my friend Chase, who was the person who originally got me into PvP years ago when I started this game. To Project Mayhem on Ebon Hawk for having such great players in its day that I was able to learn from, and from Hackers of the Round Table for always having people willing to queue and try out new things in PvP.

I would also like to thank Ketara for dueling my Operative in 4.0 on his Assassin and helping me refine my skills in dealing with Deception, Emiri for dueling me on his Sorcerer in both 4.0 and 5.0 to help me test out various ideas I had for DPS Sorcerer dueling, and Taakur/Drakksis for teaching me the trick with Noxious Knives/Toxic Haze and how I could make use of them to trigger Volatile Substance. I’m sure there are others whose names I’m forgetting, so for all of them I’d like to say ‘thank you’ as well.

About Me

I’m an Assassin/Operative main originally from Ebon Hawk.I first started TOR right at 2.0 and very quickly fell in love with both Deception Assassin and Concealment Operative. During my time in this game I’ve spent a majority of my time in PvP, with some dabbling in ranked, and about a year being a raider. In the end, however, PvP remained my biggest love as it was still fun and exciting long after raiding had begun to bore me. Over the years that I’ve played this game since I’ve spent a large amount of time on Jung Ma and Ebon Hawk, with some small amounts of time on PoT5, Bastion, and Shadowlands.I have dabbled in every class and spec in the game to some extent but always found myself drawn back to Concealment and Deception as the stealth burst aspect of these two specs always had a special allure to me. Currently I reside on Begeren Colony as my friend Emiri convinced me to transfer there to play with him. My Scoundrel on BC is named Sáya (0225 on the first a) and my Scoundrel is named Mîna (140 on the i). If you have any questions or wish to talk about Scrapper/Infiltration the easiest way is either to whisper me directly in-game or comment here. Finally, my guild on BC is Misery, so if I’m not online feel free to whisper a guildmate and ask for Sáya. If I’m not around in-game I’m usually online on Discord talking to them and they can ask me to hop on.