Hello!

Welcome to our final round of the Disciplines blogs. Like the previous blogs, we’ve put together this write up to inform Smugglers of the major changes that are coming in Game Update 3.0, however, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list of every single Smuggler change. As always, please note that the content described in this blog is still under development, so anything mentioned throughout this blog is still subject to change (especially any exact numbers or percentages that may be mentioned).

The Smuggler base class will see quite a few changes with the 3.0 update. Thermal Grenade is now a single target ability, which allows it to deal more damage. But it still deals area damage to any weak or standard enemies near the primary target, which makes it quite effective against crowds that include weak and standard enemies. XS Freighter Flyby and Sabotage Charge are no longer part of the base class, but all Gunslingers still have access to XS Freighter Flyby – and Saboteur Gunslingers still have Sabotage Charge. To counter this loss of area damage output for Scoundrels, one of their existing passive abilities now also makes Thermal Grenade deal area damage to any nearby enemy targets, even if those targets are stronger than weak or standard enemies.

Dodge can be trained at level 10 now, but it only increases melee and ranged defense by 200% for 3 seconds. Scoundrels get a passive ability at level 10 that causes Dodge to purge all hostile removable effects (effectively leaving Dodge unchanged for them). Gunslingers get a passive ability at level 10 that causes Dodge to reduce the damage taken from tech and Force attacks by 75% while it is active, so it no longer removes hostile effects for them – but it now provides them with protection against almost every type of damage (only certain rare types of boss damage will ignore these protections).

Gunslinger

Like its base class, the Gunslinger advanced class has also seen quite a few changes. All Gunslingers can now train Diversion at level 22, and Diversion now affects up to 8 targets in an area, rather than one specific target. Aimed Shot is now restricted to Sharpshooter Gunslingers. Instead of improving your next Charged Burst, Smuggler’s Luck now causes your next Aimed Shot, Sabotage Charge, or Wounding Shots to critically strike its target. Flourish Shot no longer has a cooldown and no longer reduces the target’s armor, but it still reduces the target’s healing received. And all Gunslingers gain the following two passive abilities:

Bravado: Increases maximum energy by 10.

Steady Shots: Increases the damage dealt by Charged Burst, Dirty Blast, Speed Shot, and Penetrating Rounds by 5%.

Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter Gunslingers gain two new passive abilities with the 3.0 update. One of these passives increases the damage dealt by and critical chance of Charged Burst each time the ability is used. This effect can stack up to 3 times and its 15 second duration is refreshed with each use of Charged Burst. The other new passive increases the critical chance and critical damage bonus of Sweeping Gunfire. Along with Aimed Shot, the Sharpshooter discipline gains the following new active ability:

Penetrating Rounds: Unleashes a number of rounds that deal weapon damage and sunder the target for 45 seconds. Sundered targets have their armor rating reduced by 20%. Consumes 20 energy over the duration of the channel. Shares a cooldown with Speed Shot.

All things considered, the Sharpshooter discipline should be quite familiar to what players of the skill tree currently experience in the live version of the game, except that Penetrating Rounds will replace Speed Shot in their normal rotation.

Saboteur

Saboteur Gunslingers will see a fair bit of change with the 3.0 update. The discipline does not get any new passive or active abilities, but many of the existing passives and actives have been somewhat modified to produce a smoother damage rotation. For example, Sabotage has been redesigned:

Sabotage: Deals energy damage to the enemy affected by your Shock Charge and stuns the enemy for 2 seconds if it is also affected by your Incendiary Grenade.

In addition, Seize the Moment has been redesigned to make the next Thermal Grenade used after an Sabotage consume no energy. Overall, the Sabotage discipline’s sustained damage rotation should feel smoother than it did in the past, no longer feeling starved for energy while Cool Head and Sabotage are both on cooldown.

Dirty Fighting

Dirty Fighting Gunslingers gain one new passive and one new active ability with the 3.0 update. The new passive ability causes Shrap Bomb to spread your Vital Shot to the targets it initially damages, as long as it damages at least one target already affected by your Vital Shot. And this is their new active ability:

Dirty Blast: Shoots a target for weapon damage and internal bleed damage.

Dirty Blast has no cooldown and effectively replaces Charged Burst for Dirty Fighting Gunslingers. Overall, the Dirty Fighting discipline should feel rather familiar to current Dirty Fighting Gunslingers.

Utilities

The majority of utilities available to Gunslingers will be familiar to players of the class, but there are a few new utilities as well. The following is an example of a couple of these new utilities:

Compounding Impact: Each shot of Speed Shot and Penetrating Rounds slows the target by 20% for 3 seconds. The effect can stack up to 4 times.

Crippling Diversion: Diversion slows all targets by 50% for as long as they remain in the area.

Hello!

Welcome to our final round of the Disciplines blogs. Like the previous blogs, we’ve put together this write up to inform Imperial Agents of the major changes that are coming in Game Update 3.0, however, this is not meant to be a comprehensive list of every single Imperial Agent change. As always, please note that the content described in this blog is still under development, so anything mentioned throughout this blog is still subject to change (especially any exact numbers or percentages that may be mentioned).

The Imperial Agent base class will see quite a few changes with the 3.0 update. Fragmentation Grenade is now a single target ability, which allows it to deal more damage. But it still deals area damage to any weak or standard enemies near the primary target, which makes it quite effective against crowds that include weak and standard enemies. Orbital Strike and Explosive Probe are no longer part of the base class, but all Snipers still have access to Orbital Strike– and Engineering Snipers still have Explosive Probe. To counter this loss of area damage output for Operatives, one of their existing passive abilities now also makes Fragmentation Grenade deal area damage to any nearby enemy targets, even if those targets are stronger than weak or standard enemies.

Evasion can be trained at level 10 now, but it only increases melee and ranged defense by 200% for 3 seconds. Operatives get a passive ability at level 10 that causes Evasion to purge all hostile removable effects (effectively leaving Evasion unchanged for them). Snipers get a passive ability at level 10 that causes Evasion to reduce the damage taken from tech and Force attacks by 75% while it is active, so it no longer removes hostile effects for them – but it now provides them with protection against almost every type of damage (only certain rare types of boss damage will ignore these protections).

Sniper

Like its base class, the Sniper advanced class has also seen quite a few changes. All Snipers can now train Diversion at level 22, and Diversion now affects up to 8 targets in an area, rather than one specific target. Ambush is now restricted to Marksmanship Snipers. Instead of improving your next Snipe, Laze Target now causes your next Ambush, Explosive Probe, or Cull to critically strike its target. Shatter Shot no longer has a cooldown and no longer reduces the target’s armor, but it still reduces the target’s healing received. And all Snipers gain the following two passive abilities:

Energy Tanks: Increases maximum energy by 10.

Steady Shots: Increases the damage dealt by Snipe, Lethal Shot, Series of Shots, and Penetrating Blasts by 5%.

Marksmanship

Marksmanship Snipers gain two new passive abilities with the 3.0 update. One of these passives increases the damage dealt by and critical chance of Snipe each time the ability is used. This effect can stack up to 3 times and its 15 second duration is refreshed with each use of Snipe. The other new passive increases the critical chance and critical damage bonus of Suppressive Fire. Along with Ambush, the Marksmanship discipline gains the following new active ability:

Penetrating Blasts: Fires a number of blasts that deal weapon damage and sunder the target for 45 seconds. Sundered targets have their armor rating reduced by 20%. Consumes 20 energy over the duration of the channel. Shares a cooldown with Series of Shots.

All things considered, the Marksmanship discipline should be quite familiar to what players of the skill tree currently experience in the live version of the game, except that Penetrating Blasts will replace Series of Shots in their normal rotation.

Engineering

Engineering Snipers will see a fair bit of change with the 3.0 update. The discipline does not get any new passive or active abilities, but many of the existing passives and actives have been somewhat modified to produce a smoother damage rotation. For example, EMP Discharge has been redesigned:

EMP Discharge: Deals energy damage to the enemy affected by your Interrogation Probe and stuns the enemy for 2 seconds if it is also affected by your Plasma Probe.

In addition, Energy Overrides has been redesigned to make the next Fragmentation Grenade used after an EMP Discharge consume no energy. Overall, the Engineering discipline’s sustained damage rotation should feel smoother than it did in the past, no longer feeling starved for energy while Adrenaline Probe and EMP Discharge are both on cooldown.

Virulence

Virulence (formerly known as Lethality) Snipers gain one new passive and one new active ability with the 3.0 update. The new passive ability causes Corrosive Grenade to spread your Corrosive Dart to the targets it initially damages, as long as it damages at least one target already affected by your Corrosive Dart. And this is their new active ability:

Lethal Shot: Shoots a target for weapon damage and internal poison damage.

Lethal Shot has no cooldown and effectively replaces Snipe for Virulence Snipers. Overall, the Virulence discipline should feel rather familiar to current Lethality Snipers.

Utilities

The majority of utilities available to Snipers will be familiar to players of the class, but there are a few new utilities as well. The following is an example of a couple of these new utilities:

Series of Snares: Each shot of Series of Shots and Penetrating Blasts slows the target by 20% for 3 seconds. The effect can stack up to 4 times.

Crippling Diversion: Diversion slows all targets by 50% for as long as they remain in the area.