Okay, wow, after starting this in March I have finally now just completed a full update of revision 3. Given how long it has taken me to finish writing this revision, some things are a little out of date already, however, this revision is far more up-to-date than revision 2. As always, I will update this revision more as I have free time to include the newest items and tips. All feedback is welcome! If you see something missing, wrong, or otherwise retarded, please don't hesitate to mention it here! My PM box fills up very quickly, so unless it's a fairly detailed or private point, please post feedback here instead of sending me a PM. Thanks!
My aim in posting version 3 of my PvP guide is two fold. (1) I want to update every aspect of the guide to take into consideration the massive mechanic changes and new items added since posting version 2. (2) I want to trim down the guide, ramble less, and structure the guide better so that it's more useful as a reference.
Here is an outline of the guide:
- The Basics
-- Breed Choices
-- Nano CC based vs. Stun Proc based vs. Damage based
-- Our Basic Toolset (Nanos/Pets)
- Nano CC Setups
-- Weapon Choices
-- Equipment
-- Perks
-- Strategies
- Stun Proc Setups
-- Weapon Choices
-- Equipment
-- Perks
-- Strategies
- Damage Setups
-- Weapon Choices
-- Equipment
-- Perks
-- Strategies
- Perks
-- "Must Haves"
- Important items
-- Defense
-- Nano
-- Healing
-- AR/Damage
-- Miscellaneous
- Symbiants & Implants
-- Symbiants
-- Implants
- Strategies
-- Mass
-- Team
-- Solo
-- Duels
- Strategies Continued: Profession Encounters
-- Adventurer
-- Agent
-- Bureaucrat
-- Doctor
-- Enforcer
-- Engineer
-- Fixer
-- Keeper
-- Martial Artists
-- Meta-Physicists
-- Nano Technicians
-- Shades
-- Soldiers
-- Traders
- Miscellaneous
-- PvP Videos
-- Past PvP Guides v1 & v2
- The Basics
In this section I will tell all about the basic things you will want to know about rolling a pvp oriented bureaucrat. This section is geared at answering the most common questions that people have about bureaucrat pvp. I will cover the biggest advantages and disadvantages of each breed, and I will introduce the three main contemporary styles of bureaucrat pvp, and lastly, I will briefly cover what I feel defines the bureaucrat toolset and makes us unique in pvp. As with v1 & v2 of my guide, this guide is aimed at TL7 pvp only, although some of it may apply to lower twink levels as well.
-- Breed Choices
- Nano Mage
-- Advantages:
NM have the easiest time putting in ql 300 symbs and implants; highest nano skills; access to a 5k absorb that can be coupled with Take the Bullet for a 9k limited absorb. *NOTE* The absorbs do NOT stack, however. You must use one timely after the other runs out, as they will overwrite each other.
-- Disadvantages:
Less evades, AR, AS than other breeds.
- Solitus
-- Advantages:
Solitus can use the Survival perk to heal more than the other breeds; have more HP than NM and Opifex, and if you're omni, you get the "best" shadowbreed (a root that is only breakable by a clan SB).
-- Disadvantages:
Less nano skills than a NM, less evades, AR, and AS than an Opifex.
- Opifex
-- Advantages:
Opifex have the highest evades, AR, and AS skills.
-- Disadvantages:
Less nano skills than a NM, less HP than a Solitus or Trox.
- Atrox
-- Advantages:
Troxes have the highest HP, and can perk Mongo Rage for interesting alternative setups.
-- Disadvantages:
Least nano skills, less natural evades, AR, and AS than other breeds.
- Nano CC based vs. Stun Proc based vs. Damage based Styles
-- Nano CC based setups
Choose this option to maximize your crowd controlling effectiveness. Using a CC geared setup, you will land roots, snares, calms, stuns, and initiative debuffs easier than other setups. NM is the most natural choice if for this style of pvp, and you will want to use items that maximize nano skills as much as possible. To really make good use of a CC geared setup, you will sacrifice most if not all of your personal damage and you will count on superior crowd control abilities and pet damage to get kills.
-- Stun Proc based setups
Choose this option to maximize your chances of landing stun procs. All breeds are good candidates for this choice, although Solitus might be the best choice for heals, and Opifex will have more AR which is useful for increasing your odds of landing a hit that procs a stun. You should not expect to do great personal [pvp] damage, but you will do more than a CC based setup (as you will likely use pistols, this is the best choice if you are concerned about retaining high pvm damage). To make good use of a stun proc based setup you will want to hit as fast and as often as possible, and you will count on a combination of pet damage, minimal personal damage, and frequent stuns to get kills.
- Damage based setups
My personal favorite--choose this option if you wish to maximize your own personal damage to supplement your pet damage and to allow some independence from your pets. All breeds can go this route, this it is worth noting that opifex will get the highest AR and AS. (Whether having the highest AS is worth losing out on heals and absorbs is probably a matter of personal playstyle). To maximize damage you want to maximize AS and nuke damage and find as many alternative sources of damage to complement those two primary sources. You will likely sacrifice some nano skills, and will have a slightly harder time landing nanos than the CC setup and the stun proc based setups, however, you will not need to rely as heavily on lucky stun procs, or pet damage to get kills. You will have the most dependable personal damage, and ideally, you will also have the highest "alpha" ability to get quick kills.
-- Our Basic Toolset (Nanos/Pets)
Above all else, the defining feature of bureaucrats both in pvm and pvp is our ability to crowd control. We have the most diverse toolset for crowd controlling, and crowd control will be the biggest component of any crat's repertoire. Crats use a combination of area roots, snares, and calms, along with single roots, snares, calms, stuns, and initiative debuffs, to control their opponents both in encounters versus many people and in solo encounters. Bureaucrats can be very resilient and can survive fairly impressive beatings, however, to achieve great survivability you will have to twink harder and practice more than most other professions. Bureaucrats are arguably one of the hardest professions to truly master in pvp, because of our diverse and complex toolset. Most players believe that bureaucrat pvp amounts to stun procs--but learning the rest is what separates the men from the boys. Bureaucrats also have very few options for mitigating damage. Lastly, regardless of your setup, pets will also be a fundamental part of your damage, so be sure to get Carlo and the CEO pet, and look forward to constantly looking after them.
- Nano CC Setups
-- Weapon Choices
The trend these days is to use either pistols or the remodulator weapon, with more people favoring the remod than anything else. For pistol based setups, one will likely want to use the Dreadloch Balanced Freedom Arms and either an upgraded Ofab Peregrine Mk 6 or a Onehander. Pistol setups allow the crat to maintain good pvm damage and usually result in a better chance of getting stun procs. Pistol crats will also do more personal damage than the remod ones. Alternatively, a crat can use a Dreadloch Remodulator which checks mechanical engineering vs. time space skills, and gives a 100% proc that does -750 to all evades, regardless of whether you hit or not. The remodulator seems to be the superior choice at the moment for CC crats that are not worried about losing pvm damage.
-- Equipment
One could arguably go many directions for armor, including bumping up HP or general defenses to go along with high nano skills, but likely you will want to use a nearly complete set of Combined Scouts armor. I would recommend also wearing a Special Edition Ofab Bureaucrat Headgear and an OFAB Bureaucrat Protective Gear regardless of which style you choose, as the HP and AAD mods are simply too good to pass up. Additionally, you might want to substitute in Enhanced Dustbrigade Notum Gloves, and Enhanced Dustbrigade Flexible Boots. You will take a hit to defense and a 5 point loss to nano skills, but you will gain a lot of neat extra mods.
You should also consider getting a Nano Controller Unit, and Alien Augmentation Device - Nano Technology, a Research Attunement Device - Nano Technology, and Infused Ancient Nano Enhancer, and a Communication's Relay. Although it's worth keeping in mind that you will sacrifice a considerable amount of AAD and evades by using all of these items together, and for that reason you might want to pick and choose which ones you like best, but you will certainly want to at least mix and match these items with AAD ones at the least. This is not an extensive list of every way to maximize your nano skills, but this should get you going as you design the best nano based setup for your crat.
-- Perks
Usually give priority to nano skill adding things over anything else, unless you are taking a huge hit to defenses by doing so. This means training up Nano Perks such as: Loophole, Starfall, Nano Doctorate, Champion of Nano Combat, Nanomorph, and any other nano lines you can afford.
-- Strategies
Other crats can probably speak better on this than I can, however, your general strategy will be to keep your opponent(s) as still and as debuffed as possible. Snares are most effective, since they do not break as easily on damage, but once you land a snare, you might want to double up and root your opponent as well. AoE roots are almost always more useful than single roots. Timely use of a stun nano will also kill a lot of people, just be prepared for a long nano bar recharge. As soon as you have someone effectively still, debuff their initiatives using Malaise, the three Red Tape debuffs (the fourth for another -30 if you're really anal), and the Workplace Depression nano. All in all, a crat can easily debuff over 2250 initiatives, which is very handy versus most professions. Once your opponent is snared, rooted, and initiative debuffed, your pets will be sure to make quick work of them, especially if you land a lucky stun proc or if you use the remod to debuff their evades. And of course, use calms as necessary. I personally cannot think of any uniquely CC crat based tricks to share, except to repeat again that the remodulator debuffs -750 100% of its hits, even on misses, so I guess you can call that a trick of sorts.
- Stun Proc Setups
-- Weapon Choices
Each stun proc has a 5% chance of going off on any hit. Because the effect of either stun proc is more or less the same, you end up with about a 9.275% chance of stunning on each shot--10% or a bit less than 1 in 10 shots for the sake of simplicity. The minimum stun proc lasts for about 10 seconds, so the most optimal setup results in firing at least 10 times in under 10 seconds, which, putting bad luck aside, could potentially lead you to keep someone chain stunned for quite a long time. *NOTE* Due to a small nerf, stun proc stuns do not overwrite and start a new stun if a previous proc is already running, this makes it harder to keep someone chain stunned, but the object of hitting as frequently as possible does not change. Undoubtedly, dual pistols of some sort is the best choice, because you gain a 33% boost to hits per minute by duel wielding. Having tested many alternatives, I would personally recommend using a Dreadloch Balanced Freedom Arms and either an upgraded Ofab Peregrine Mk 6 or a Onehander. The Onehander seems like a more obvious choice because you would get at least one sure hit every 10 seconds on any profession, because AS is unevadable. Using this more traditional pistol setup, you will have an attack and recharge time of about 2.2 seconds on both hands, meaning you'll average 7-8 shots per ten seconds, with an added AS, Burst, and Fling. An alternative route would be to ditch damage altogether solely for speed. You could, for example, use a Premium Aero Borealis Corona, and a Majestic Soft Pepper Pistol. Both pistols have a total attack and recharge time of 1 second or lower, and the Corona has AS, which means that although you won't do much actual damage with this alternative setup, you will get in several extra shots per 10 seconds as compared to a Dreadloch/Onehander/Ofab combo. However, despite the damage loss, this is the fastest possible combo in game at the moment to my knowledge, and it seems that if your goal is to maximize stun procs, then this one possible way to do so.
(Stun Proc setups continued below)