Engineering Sniper
Last Updated: 5/31/21
Table of Contents
Overview
About the Class
Engineering is a unique specialization in SWTOR as it represents a hybrid class that combines single target burst damage with several DOT abilities and rotational AoE damage. As such, it is a fairly flexible DPS class as compared to Marksman or Virulence. It typically will not surpass Marksman in a high target swapping environment (due to wasted DOT/AOE damage) and usually will lag a little behind Virulence in sustained single target damage. That said, it is one of the more enjoyable specs to play due to its unique nature and when played skillfully it is very powerful. It is also fun to play in unranked PVP, as most players despise the AOE damage and slow from Plasma Probe.
Role in Operations
Engineering should usually strive to maintain damage on the boss and use their rotational AOE from Plasma Probe and EMP Discharge to drive heavy AOE damage on nearby adds. That said, they can swap targets more efficiently than many sustained damage specializations so provide helpful flexibility without sacrificing as much top-end DPS as many burst ranged DPS specs (e.g., Lightning Sorcerer, Arsenal Mercenary, Marksman Sniper).
Survivability
Snipers have incredible survivability due to having arguably the best collection of defensive cooldowns in the game, along with their positioning as a ranged DPS allowing them to avoid many damage mechanics that endanger melee DPS. Shield Probe (should be buffed via utilities) provides moderate and frequent damage absorption, Evasion can entirely avoid melee/ranged attacks over a short duration and with a relatively short cooldown, Covered Escape can be used to cheese a wide range of mechanics, Entrench provides incredible AoE damage reduction (with proper utilities), Ballistic Shield provides the entire raid with a 20% damage reduction for 20 seconds, and Imperial Preparation can be used to immediately reset the cooldown on all these defensives save for Ballistic Shield. Furthermore, skilled players can utilize Ballistic Dampers to get nearly continuous 30% damage absorption on all incoming attacks. Combined with limited self heal capabilities, Snipers should need much less healing than most other DPS classes.
6.0 Impact on Discipline
Sniper moved into 6.0 very smoothly and maintained their position as a very strong ranged DPS and the premier “turret” DPS class. The class got two good options for set bonuses, with Precise Targeter offering mobility and situational burst while Established Foothold offers superior energy management and overall DPS at the cost of becoming an immovable turret as often as possible. With respect to tactical items, the class and all its disciplines received some great options, so great in fact that several of them have been nerfed several times and the class still sits very high in DPS rankings.
Engineering got a very nice sustained DPS tactical in Ruthless Interrogation that boosts sustained DPS via buffing Electrified Railgun DoT damage and making Interrogation Probe a “fire and forget” DoT that is refreshed and ticked by the rotation to deal extra damage while freeing up an additional filler slot in the rotation. The discipline also got an option to further increase its already very powerful rotational AoE damage via MG-2 Polygrade Dispersal Caps, and another burst DPS option in T0-R0 Ionic Discharge. Overall the discipline is well poised to maintain a strong position on the DPS charts for the 6.x cycle. While overall it is unlikely that Engineering will outperform Virulence on most encounters, the discipline is very viable and one of the more interesting disciplines to play given its unique mix of DoTs, rotational AoE and best-in-class mobility among the class disciplines.
Utility and Mobility
Snipers provide great utility via being arguably the best ranged DPS in the game and their Ballistic Shield can be immensely helpful on certain boss encounters (e.g., final burn phase of Dread Council HM/NiM). Snipers all struggle with mobility due to the need to remain in cover as much as possible and most abilities unable to be cast on the move. Skilled player can mitigate this handicap through utilities (Snap Shot, Calculated Pursuit) and by being pro-active about positioning (i.e., if you know the team will need to move East on the map, try to set up as far East as possible to minimize movement).
Utilities
I usually take some combination of the following Utilities, though the optimal combination can change from fight to fight. As of 6.0, the tiers have been reorganized.
Skillfull Tier
You must take 3 to advanced to Masterful.
Ballistic Dampers: Entering covers grants 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers. Each charge absorbs 30% of the damage dealt by incoming attacks. Cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds, and this ability can only be granted every 6 seconds.
This utility grants sizable nearly continuous damage reduction by making sure to exit and re-enter cover every 6 seconds. I highly recommend it assuming the player can remember to take advantage of its benefits by periodically exiting and re-entering cover.
Snap Shot: Entering cover makes the next Snipe or Lethal Shot activate instantly, and can occur once every 6 seconds. This utility is situational to some degree but useful most of the time.
Being able to instant cast Snipe or Lethal Shot makes it easier to DPS on the move by entering cover, instant casting Snipe or Lethal Shot , then resuming moving. This can also be used to front-load the energy cost of Snipe or Lethal Shot if you would otherwise cap on energy.
Calculated Pursuit: You gain 4 charges of Calculated Pursuit by exiting cover, which allow Snipe or Lethal Shot to be activated while moving. The charges last for 15 seconds and can be gained every 20 seconds. Reentering cover removes the effect.
I find this utility very useful in movement heavy fights, as with this you can DPS on the move for 4 consecutive GCDs, which is otherwise nearly impossible for any Gunslinger.
Vital Regulators: While in cover, you heal for 2% of your total health every 3 seconds.
I always take his utility for any fight where Snap Shot and Calculated Pursuit are not beneficial due to minimal movement. Most of this healing is typically wasted, but over the course of a 6 minute encounter, this utility will cumulatively heal you for up to 240% of your total health over time. Even if it is only 20-30% effective, that is still equivalent to a 50% heal which can be helpful.
Imperial Efficiency: Increases the damage dealt by Suppressive Fire by 25%.
I typically do not recommend this utility, as spamming Suppressive Fire can quickly destroy a Marksman’s energy level, and Virulence and Engineering already have impressive AoE capability. As such, I find movement and survivability utilities to provide greater benefit for all fights except those requiring exceptionally high AoE DPS (e.g., Hive Queen in Hard Mode).
Masterful Tier
You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.
Augmented Shields: Increases the amount of damage absorbed by Shield Probe by 30%.
Shield Probe has a 30s cooldown so should be used up to 10 times per fight, so a 30% boost makes this a much better defensive cooldown.
Hold Your Ground: Reduces the cooldown of Shield Probe and Cover Pulse by 5 seconds, and Escape by 30 seconds. In addition, when you exit cover you gain a Cover Screen that increases your ranged defense by 20% for 6 seconds.
I like this utility as it provides a range of survivability benefits. The Cover Screen is fairly limited as it only applies ranged defense but the reduction in cooldown to Shield Probe is very helpful and synergizes with Augmented Shields.
Stroke of Genius: Activating Cover Pulse makes the next Snipe activate instantly and increases your chance to resist Force/Tech attacks by 20% for 6 seconds.
This utility is theoretically useful as another way to make Snipe instant (and improve mobility) while also providing a defensive cooldown. That said, I feel like Snap Shot is a better utility given it’s much shorter cooldown on use and the defensive buff is marginal given Sniper’s already very powerful damage mitigation.
Reestablish Range: Purges all movement-impairing effects when activated and grants Reestablish Range, increasing your movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Also, the final shot of Penetrating Blasts knocks back the target if they are within 10 meters.
Similar to Heads Up, this can be useful in certain limited circumstances but generally is more of a PVP utility.
Heroic Tier
A maximum of 3 utilities
Siege Bunker: Entrench reduces all AoE damage by 60%.
Nearly every fight has notable AoE damage, and with this utility and the buffed Shield Probe from Augmented Shields, Snipers can ignore a wide variety of AoE damage phases in order to increase DPS. For example, this utility is hugely beneficial in the final burn phase of Dread Council fight in the Dread Palace operation.
Pillbox Sniper: Reduces the cooldown of Entrench by 15 seconds and Cover Pulse knocks back targets an additional 5 meters.
For any fights where Entrench will be useful, this is typically a good pickup for better uptime of the AOE damage reduction provided by Holed Up / Siege Bunker.
Deployed Shields: Reduces all damage taken while in cover by 5% and reduces the cooldown of Ballistic Shield by 30 seconds.
This is a vanilla buff to damage reduction while in cover (and you should always be in cover unless required to move for a mechanic). Always take.
Tactical Retreat: Covered Escape heals you for 10% of your maximum health. Additionally, the duration of Evasion is increased by 2 seconds.
This is a situational utility but any areas where healing is challenging this utility can be helpful to ease the burden on your healers.
Over-prepared: Reduces the cooldown of Imperial Preparation by 45 seconds and increases your damage reduction by 15% for 15 seconds after activating Imperial Preparation.
This is also a strong utility and what I take for any fights where I don’t think Covered Escape will be useful. I find this utility is helpful for fights with multiple heal-intensive burn phases, as with the CD reduction on Imperial Preparation it becomes easier to use the ability twice per fight instead of more typically once per fight.
Example Utility Build
Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.
Key Passives
Engineer's Tool Belt - Increases critical hit chance of Fragmentation Grenade by 10% and when Fragmentation Grenade deals damage to its primary target to its primary target, it restores 5 energy.
In addition to the passive boost to crit chance, this passive makes Fragmentation Grenade a part of your rotation due to its benefit to energy management.
Cluster Bombs - After Explosive Probe detonates, it drops 2 Cluster Bombs on the target. These charges explode when damaged by blaster fire, though they cannot be damaged more than once per second.
This passive is part of what makes Explosive Probe powerful but not obviously so, since it will deal initial damage that detonates the next GCD on Series of Shots and then deal additional damage over subsequent GCDs as the Cluster Bombs detonate.
Imperial Methodology - Increases the number of Cluster Bombs dropped by Explosive Probe by 1. Also, when you Cluster Bombs detonate you recover 6 energy.
This passive is critical to Engineer’s energy management. You should always use Series of Shots after Explosive Probe, as it’s channel time will detonate all 3 Cluster Bombs (2 base + 1 from this passive). Series of Shots costs 17 energy (normally 20 but see Imperial Auto Loader below) and its base channel time (before alacrity) is 3 seconds and thus just long enough to detonate all 3 charges. Recall also that the “fast” energy regen rate for energy above 60 is 5 energy per second. Putting this all together, Engineer’s net energy change during Series of Shots after Explosive Probe should be 18 (contingency charge regen 6 x 3) + 15 (base regen 5/s x 3s) - 20 (energy cost) = 16 net energy gain. Thus, you want to ensure your energy level isn’t too high or Series of Shots will cap energy. I find I usually want my energy level to be between 60-75 going into Series of Shots.
Imperial Auto Loader - Reduces the cooldown of Series of Shots by 6 seconds, reduces the energy cost of Series of Shots by 1 per second, and reduces the energy cost of Snipe by 5.
This passive further buffs Series of Shots from an energy management perspective and aligns its cooldown so that it can be used twice per rotation (defining each rotation as beginning with each use of Explosive Probe). It also reduces the cost of Snipe to make it a useful filler.
Electrified Railgun - Series of Shots burns the target, dealing elemental damage over 6 seconds, and can stack up to 3 times.
Since adding stacks to an effect also refreshes its duration, this means the duration is almost identical to the cooldown of Series of Shots. As such, this reinforces that it is optimal to use Series of Shots on cooldown Combined with the changes in other passives to reduce Series of Shots’s cost, buff its energy generation, and this boost via a lingering DoT, as well as its use to detonate Explosive Probe, Series of Shots is arguably the most critical ability to Engineering.
Electrified Blast - Snipe, Takedown, and Fragmentation Grenade apply 1 stack of Electrified Railgun’s effects to the primary target.
This passive can be useful when switching targets to accelerate getting a full stack of Electrified Railgun, or when needing to clip Series of Shots for some reason. That said, an optimal rotation will use Series of Shots on cooldown to refresh a full 3 stack as it expires anyway, so this passive I don’t think is useful in most situations.
Sector Ranger - Reduces the activation time of Orbital Strike by 1 second and its cooldown by 15 seconds. In addition, Plasma Probe overwhelms the targets it damages for 45 seconds (targets take 10% more damage from area attacks).
This passive changes Orbital Strike from an ability with a long (too long) cast time to being less than 1 GCD to activate. As such, its strong damage makes it a priority filler in any situation where it will hit more than 1 target. This passive also applies Engineer’s AoE damage debuff.
Scatter Bombs - Reduces the energy cost of Fragmentation Grenade by 5. Also, using Covered Escape will drop 5 Scatter Bombs in a trail behind you. These bombs explode soon after, dealing kinetic damage and immobilizing any nearby targets.
This passive further services to align the energy cost of abilities with the energy management profile of the specialization. Similar to Virulence, Engineering also can use Covered Escape to deal damage. That said, use this ability with care as in most situations it will not be useful.
Energy Overrides - After activating EMP Discharge, the next Fragmentation Grenade costs no energy.
This passive buffs Fragmentation Grenade by making it free after EMP Discharge, thus it should be a rotational ability. However, it should be noted that EMP Discharge can only be used on a target affected by Interrogation Probe. Thus, this passive requires that the rotation include the combo Interrogation Probe > EMP Discharge > Fragmentation Grenade.
Electrified Conduit - When EMP Discharge damages a target, Electrified Conduit deals additional energy damage per stack of Electrified Railgun on the target. Also, EMP Discharge harms up to 7 other enemy targets within 5 meters if the primary target is affected by your Electrified Railgun.
This passive significantly buffs EMP Discharge’s single target damage and adds an AoE damage component based on the application of Electrified Railgun stacks. Bearing in mind that Interrogation Probe should be used first to enable EMP Discharge, the Interrogation Probe > EMP Discharge > Fragmentation Grenade (free with Energy Overrides) should be used rotationally and as soon after Series of Shots as possible.
Gearing in 6.0
Gearing Stat Allocation
Please see my Gearing Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR. Please also see my Alacrity Guide for a much more in-depth look at alacrity.
For Engineering Sniper, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Established Foothold
Tactical: Ruthless Interrogation (I usually do not swap for AoE since Engineering has amazing sustained AoE DPS)
Amplifiers: Periodic Intensity
Mods: Unlettered Lethal Mods
Relics: Devastating Vengeance & Primeval Fatesealer (Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution for Dxun/PVP)
Stim: Proficient
Adrenal: Critical (Attack for Dxun only)
For Engineering Sniper, I allocate my tertiary stats as follows:
Accuracy: 1,585 - 1,630 (anything outside this approximate range and I usually try to re-optimize by swapping around enhancements and augments)
Alacrity: around 1,600 (at least 1,895 if the Zeal guild perk applies)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None
Set Bonus
Established Foothold
Increased drop rate from conquest.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) The cooldown of Entrench is reduced by 10 seconds. You gain 2 energy per second while Entrench is active.
(6) While Entrenched, you build stacks of Entrenched Offense, increasing damage by 3% per stack while you remain Entrenched. Stacks up to 5 times. Breaking cover or Entrench being removed removes this.
Analysis: Entrench has a 20s duration and a 45s cooldown prior to any set bonus, assuming one takes Pillbox Sniper (reduces CD from 60s to 45s). Thus, the 4-piece set bonus reduces the cooldown to 35s and makes it possible to have Entrench active for more than half the time and have a very high uptime. Beyond the benefit to DPS via the 6-piece set bonus, the very high uptime of Entrench provides amazing damage mitigation against AoE damage via the Siege Bunker utility.
An easily overlooked feature of the 4-piece set bonus is the energy regeneration. At “fast” regeneration you normally recover 5 energy per second, so the 4-piece set bonus increases energy regeneration 40% while Entrench is active. That buff is so huge that energy management is trivial for all disciplines as long as Entrench is used on cooldown or close to it.
Lastly, the most obvious benefit is the 6-piece set bonus. You gain one stack of Entrenched Offense per second up to a maximum of five stacks and +15% additional damage. Assuming Entrench is used on cooldown that should provide an average damage buff of around 7% net of the downtime while the ability is on cooldown.
Impact on Rotation: No change to the ability rotation for attacking abilities. However, it becomes critical to use Entrench as often as possible and to avoid moving while the cooldown is active. If you simply *have* to move, reenter cover as quickly as possible. The stacks of Entrenched Offense build around one per second, so quick movement can leave sufficient time to rebuild stacks and still deal meaningful DPS.
Otherwise, the key to maximizing the buff from the set bonus is being proactive to position oneself in a way that reduces required movement. If you know a fight involves movement, cheat in that direction as often as possible. In fights with attackers coming from multiple directions (e.g., Draxus adds), try to be set up as centrally as possible.
The other point to consider is when it is okay to delay using Entrench. For fights with periodic movement phases like Gharj, it is okay to delay the cooldown if a movement phase is imminent until after repositioning.
When to Take: Recommended for all encounters.
Precise Targeter
Increased drop rate from conquest.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Reduces the cooldown of Targeted Acquired by 15 seconds and activating Target Acquired restores 15 energy.
(6) Laze Target gets 3 charges and its cooldown is reduced by 15 seconds.
Analysis: Prior to alacrity and this set bonus, Target Acquired has a 2 minute cooldown and Laze Target has a 1 minute cooldown. The set bonus allows around one extra use of the former and 2-3 extra uses of the latter per encounter. As such it provides a nice DPS boost.
In comparison to the Established Foothold set bonus, Precise Targeter is nice but noticeably weaker. In terms of DPS boost, it provides a slightly higher burst DPS increase but at the cost of much less uptime of the buff. It also provides a much smaller buff to energy management. Precise Targeter provides 15 energy regeneration once every 105 seconds as compared to 40 energy regeneration every 35 seconds, which means Established Foothold provides EIGHT TIMES the energy regeneration.
Impact on Rotation: No impact but the set bonus will provide additional uses of both key offensive cooldowns per encounter.
When to Take: Not recommended. Established Foothold is strictly better and provides superior buffs to damage and energy management. This set is not bad and may be preferred by players who have a difficult time using Entrench on cooldown and not moving for its full duration.
Ballistic Concentration
Increased drop rate from The Nature of Progress Operation on Master Mode Difficulty, and has a small chance from Unidentified items on the Spoils of War vendors.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) When you deploy Ballistic Shield, each group member within it grants a stack of Ballistic Concentration, increasing your energy regeneration rate by 1 for 20 seconds. Max 8 stacks.
(6) Each stack of Ballistic Concentration also increases the damage you deal by 5%.
Analysis: An interesting and super situational set bonus. This set bonus makes your Ballistic Shield a very powerful individual offensive cooldown in addition to its group AoE defensive buffs (up to +40% damage and +8 energy regen). The challenge is that the ability has such a long cooldown that it pales in comparison to Established Foothold that provides more than enough energy regen and a +15% damage buff with more than 50% uptime. See above discussion on Established Foothold and Precise Targeter for more analysis on energy regen.
This set bonus could be useful for super stressful and tight soft enrage phases (where both the damage and mitigation are desirable) but on balance I still prefer Established Foothold especially given it being far easier to acquire.
Impact on Rotation: No impact. You should already be using Ballistic Shield during high damage burn phases so it will simply provide a powerful offensive boost in addition to its significant group defensive benefit.
When to Take: Not recommended. Established Foothold is strictly better and provides superior buffs to damage and energy management. This set is not bad and may be preferred by players who have a difficult time using Entrench on cooldown and not moving for its full duration.
Tactical Items
Ruthless Interrogation
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Series of Shots refreshes Interrogation Probe and ticks its damage every time it hits. Electrified Railgun does 75% more damage.
Analysis: This tactical provides a really nice buff to the discipline on several levels. Making Series of Shot refresh Interrogation Probe and tick damage makes that it a “fire and forget” DoT similar to Affliction for Lightning Sorcerer except even more powerful in that it can be ticked additional times. Since it only needs to be applied once on a boss (assuming no downtime), that also makes energy management easier by providing an extra filler to use a high energy filler (Snipe, Corrosive Dart, Orbital Strike) or low energy basic attack or throw a grenade with its reduced cost. Either way, the extra filler further increases damage while making energy better.
The second great benefit to this tactical is the buff to damage on Electrified Railgun. This DoT is applied by ticks of damage from Series of Shots and can stack up to 3 times. As discussed in the rotation area below, Series of Shots should be used every 6 GCDs / 9 seconds (without alacrity) to maintain full uptime of these DoTs. As such, a 75% damage increase makes the overall DoT damage noticeably stronger for sustained DPS.
Impact on Rotation: After Interrogation Probe is applied to the target in the opener, it should not be used again. See below for the rotation with Ruthless Interrogation.
This makes the rotation flow a bit easier as far as energy management. If you use two high energy fillers at the end of the rotation and are a bit low, you can use the energy regen from the Explosive Probe bombs and then throw in a basic attack in the filler spot left open from Interrogation Probe being a “fire and forget” DoT.
When to Take: Recommend for most encounters due to its superior sustained DPS increase.
MG-2 Polygrade Dispersal Caps
Increased drop rate from operations.
When Explosive Probe's Cluster Bombs detonate, they deal damage to all enemies around their target.
Analysis: This tactical provides some extra burst AoE DPS via the bombs from Explosive Probe. The ability is already the highest damaging ability per activation and the top overall priority for damage (and super important for energy management as well) so now it becomes a priority AoE ability as well.
The downside to this tactical is largely that the discipline already has quite a bit of AoE damage anyway. Plasma Probe is an AoE DoT that should have full uptime absent any downtime or movement mechanics. Fragmentation Grenade should be used once every rotation and provides AoE damage. Orbital Strike is a priority filler in AoE situations without sacrificing much from a single target perspective (primarily due to its low cooldown for this discipline). Lastly, EMP Discharge is an AoE ability anytime it damages a target with stacks of Electrified Railgun (applied from Series of Shots), which should always be the case. That provides one steady source of AoE damage and 3 rotational sources of burst AoE damage without even relying on the very powerful channeled AoE attack.
Given the powerful rotational AoE damage, I would normally hesitate to recommend this tactical except for (1) Veteran Mode Hive Queen or Veteran Mode Dxun on the 2nd and 3rd bosses, where AoE DPS requirements are very high and key to success; or (2) if the group composition featured very little sustained AoE DPS or DoT spread disciplines.
Impact on Rotation: No change to rotation.
When to Take: Recommend for fights with very high AoE DPS requirements such as Hive Queen or the 2nd-3rd encounters in the Dxun Nature of Progress operation. The discipline already has strong rotational AoE DPS so in the vast majority of encounters Ruthless Interrogation will be preferred to boost sustained DPS.
T0-R0 Ionic Discharge
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
Explosive Probe now only triggers from EMP Discharge and deals 50% more damage.
Analysis: This tactical is interesting since it buffs the discipline’s most powerful ability by 50%. For sustained single target damage it competes against Ruthless Interrogation, which provides buffs to more frequent ticks of DoT damage via Interrogation Probe and Electrified Railgun. I believe the intention is for this tactical to be the “burst tactical” option, as it consolidates its DPS increase earlier in the rotation.
With that said, I do not recommend this tactical as it provides a much weaker DPS buff than Ruthless Interrogation. The feature to make Explosive Probe trigger from EMP Discharge is not meaningful in comparison to being detonated by Series of Shots, so primarily we are only talking about the 50% damage increase versus the DoT buffs from Ruthless Interrogation.
If one maintains the normal rotation, the bombs actually explode later via EMP Discharge (i.e., 5th GCD in the rotation instead of 2nd-3rd GCDs normally) so the burst is already delayed long enough to not make as much of a difference compared to the buffs to DoTs via Ruthless Interrogation that are already ticking by this point.
The rotation could be reordered to go Explosive Probe -> Interrogation Probe (necessary to make EMP Discharge usable on the target) -> EMP Discharge -> Series of Shots -> Plasma Probe. This gets the extra damage moved up to the 2nd GCD but is still only slightly earlier, so again is entirely relying on the 50% damage buff. However, this is mitigated by the loss of DoT ticks from Electrified Railgun and Plasma Probe.
So to summarize, I don’t think this tactical is bad but it’s difficult to recommend because it does not synergize that well with the rotation in my opinion and very few burn phases are long enough for the 50% buff to Explosive Probe to outweigh the throughput DPS buff by Ruthless Interrogation.
Impact on Rotation: No change to rotation.
When to Take: Not recommended for most encounters. Ruthless Interrogation should provide better sustained DPS in nearly all encounters. There may be some situational benefits to taking T0-R0 Ionic Discharge for any fights with LOTS of target swapping, where the frequency of target swapping makes DoT damage less effective and energy efficient.
Amplifiers
Periodic Intensity (or secondarily, Weapon Expertise)
Engineering is primarily a DoT-based discipline so it is not surprising that Periodic Intensity provides the biggest DPS boost by buffing DoT damage. For players looking to leverage the same gear while swapping disciplines, Periodic Intensity is also the ideal amplifier build for Virulence but is quite poor for Marksman (for which Weapon Expertise is the best amplifier setup). I suggest following the optimal amplifier build for whichever discipline is played most often.
Key Abilities
Holo-locate (0.5s cast, free, 120s cooldown) NEW IN 6.0 - Activating this ability marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you instantly return to the marked location. Holo-locate goes on cooldown for 120 seconds when used to return to the marked location.
The Sniper received their own Phase Walk in 6.0. It should be placed as needed before the fight to a location you will need to go during the fight, or during the fight at a location you will need to return to. Either way, take advantage of it to minimize movement time.
Crouch (instant, free, no cooldown) - Crouches in place to take cover. Enables certain cover-only abilities.
The defining trait of the Sniper in all disciplines is the need to be in cover as often as possible. This makes the class very much a “turret DPS” class as there are many passive abilities that improve DPS, damage mitigation, self healing and energy regeneration when in cover. Put simply, try to be in cover anytime you do not need to move.
Explosive Probe (instant, 20 energy, 18s cooldown) - Attaches an explosive charge to the target that detonates when the target takes damage, dealing high kinetic damage.
The biggest hitting ability for Engineering, it should be used on cooldown. In addition, due to the Imperial Methodology passive, when each charge detonates you recover energy.
Plasma Probe (instant, 15 energy, no cooldown) - Throws an incendiary device that sets the target area on fire, dealing moderate elemental damage over 9 seconds to up to 8 targets within 5 meters and slowing all affected targets by 70% while they remain in the target area. Only one Plasma Probe can be active at a time.
The signature ability for Engineering and the bane of PvP players everywhere due to its slow effect, Plasma Probe should have 100% uptime on the boss and it functions as another DoT. In operations, skilled play most highly depends on good placement of this ability.
Series of Shots (3s channel, 20 energy, 9s cooldown) - A channelled attack that deals high weapon damage.
A strong offensive ability for Engineering, Series of Shots also detonates charges applied via Explosive Probe, and applies a DoT via the Electrified Railgun passive. These DoTs also buff EMP Discharge via the Electrified Conduit to deal additional damage and deal AoE damage. The DoTs last for 6 seconds and Series of Shots has a 3s channel and a 9s cooldown. Thus, using it on cooldown will maintain nearly full uptime of these DoTs.
Interrogation Probe (Instant, 15 energy, no cooldown) - Applies a DoT dealing moderate energy damage over 18 seconds. Only one EMP Discharge can be active at a time.
A DoT ability applied by Engineering and also important in that only a target affected by Interrogation Probe is vulnerable to EMP Discharge.
EMP Discharge (Instant, 15 energy, 18s cooldown) - Deals high 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.
A high damage ability that can only be used on a target affected by your Interrogation Probe, this naturally leads to a combo where they are used one after another to ensure the target doesn’t die before it can be used. It should be used on cooldown. The ability is also buffed and becomes an AoE ability when used on a target with DoTs applied by Series of Shots by the Electrified Railgun passive ability.
Fragmentation Grenade (instant, 20 energy, 6s cooldown) - Deals moderate kinetic damage to the target and nearby standard/weak enemies (also knocks down standard/weak enemies).
A rotational ability for Engineering due to the Energy Overrides passive ability. It doesn’t deal amazing damage but being free makes it a preferable filler and it also applies 1 stack of Electrified Railgun DoT.
Orbital Strike (20 energy, 30s cooldown) - Pre casts an AoE attack that deals high elemental damage over several seconds to up to 8 enemies within the targeted area. Can only be used from cover.
A high damage ability that is usually only used in the opener for Marksman and Virulence, Engineering benefits from the Sector Ranger passive that reduces its activation time to 1 GCD. This reduced cast time and strong damage makes it a viable filler ability even in a single target rotation and the top priority filler in any AoE situation.
Corrosive Dart (instant, 15 energy, no cooldown) - Applies a DoT that deals moderate internal damage over 18 seconds.
Corrosive Dart is the only traditional DoT ability for this discipline, along with Interrogation Probe that can only be applied to one target, the AoE DoT of Plasma Probe and the additional DoT damage applied by Series of Shots. The fact that it deals internal damage makes it considerably more damaging due to bypassing enemy armor, making it the top overall filler ability for the discipline.
Takedown (instant, 15 energy, 12s cooldown) - Execute ability that deals high weapon damage and can normally only be used on enemies below 30% of maximum health.
A useful execute filler ability.
Snipe (20 energy, no cooldown) - Shoots a target for medium weapon damage.
A filler ability for Engineering.
Rifle Shot (basic attack, instant, free, no cooldown) - Your basic attack that consumes no energy and has no cooldown.
Basic attack should only be used very infrequently. As noted in the rotation guide below, there is one filler slot per rotation cycle. In my experience, a basic attack needs to be used around every 3rd or so rotation cycle whenever Target Acquired (recovers some energy via set bonus if taking Precise Targeter) or Adrenaline Probe are not available.
Suppressive FIre (4.5s channel, no cooldown) - Channelled AoE attack that deals high weapon damage over its duration. Can only be used from cover.
Snipers have a great advantage in that their channelled AoE attack does incredibly high damage, but at the cost of being very energy expensive. The ability is very expensive so should be used with care. It is used very infrequently by Engineering due to the discipline already having rotational AoE damage.
Laze Target (60s cooldown) - Increases the critical chance of your next Ambush, Explosive Probe or Cull by 100%. The Sniper set bonus increases the number of charges from 1 to 2.
One of three offensive cooldowns, it buffs your most powerful DPS ability by guaranteeing a critical hit. Make sure to use well in advance of the opening pull so that your opener is as high as possible and so it is off cooldown earlier in the encounter, then use on cooldown.
Target Acquired (10s duration, 120s cooldown) - Increases ranged/tech accuracy by 30% and critical chance by 15%.
A powerful offensive cooldown that also restores energy with set bonus, it should be used in the opener and nearly on cooldown afterwards. It should be used regularly as both an offensive cooldown and for energy regeneration via the set bonus if taking Precise Targeter.
Rotation
Opener (without Ruthless Interrogation)
1
4
7
10
13
2
5
8
11
14
3
6
9
12
Laze Target OFF GCD - Activated here before pulling.
Pre-cast Orbital Strike 3s before pulling boss
Explosive Probe
Target Acquired OFF GCD
Adrenal OFF GCD - We delay its use until right before we really start hitting for big damage.
Series of Shots
Plasma Probe
Interrogation Probe
EMP Discharge
Fragmentation Grenade
Series of Shots
Plasma Probe
Corrosive Dart
Snipe
[End of opener, continue rotation as discussed below]
Opener (with Ruthless Interrogation)
Note that this opener can be further refined by moving Plasma Probe before Explosive Probe, thereby getting more ticks of all DoTs counting in the adrenal/Target Acquired duration. I usually pass on that opportunity since I like the simpler, if slightly sub-optimal, rotation of always applying Plasma Probe after Series of Shots. In a live operation environment, I find this far more reliable to maintain full uptime on Plasma Probe even if it loses a little DPS in the opener.
1
4
7
10
13
16
19
2
5
8
11
14
17
20
3
6
9
12
15
18
Laze Target OFF GCD - Activated here before pulling.
Pre-cast Orbital Strike 3s before pulling boss
Snipe - Pre-cast about 1 second after Orbital Strike so that hopefully it deals damage just as Orbital begins ticking damage.
Interrogation Probe - Apply DoT
Explosive Probe - Highest damage ability but on a delay, use right before hitting cooldowns
Target Acquired OFF GCD - We delay its use until right before we really start hitting for big damage
Adrenal OFF GCD - We delay its use until right before we really start hitting for big damage.
Entrench OFF GCD - We want to activate Established Foothold's set bonus to get a stacking damage buff as we begin dealing burst damage
Imperial Preparation OFF GCD - Imperial Preparation resets the cooldown of Entrench so we use it immediately to get its cooldown ticking and it lets us overlap Entrench to maintain the +10% damage buff through our opener
Series of Shots - High damage and detonates our bombs from Explosive Probe
Plasma Probe - Activating another DoT that we will refresh after Series of Shots
EMP Discharge - Big burst damage we should be using on cooldown
Corrosive Dart - - Adding our last DoT that we will usually refresh on cooldown
Fragmentation Grenade - Free due to EMP Discharge, very energy efficient damage and no better option available since Orbital is on cooldown and we just applied Corrosive Dart
Series of Shots - Use on cooldown
Plasma Probe - Refresh as it expires, which in this rotation is easy to track since it falls right after Series of Shots
Fragmentation Grenade - Orbital Strike is not off cooldown quite yet and Vital Shot is still ticking, so we can use again here
Snipe - Our only filler option here apart from a basic attack and we have plenty of energy right now
Explosive Probe - Starting another core rotation but mentioned for the next GCD
Entrench OFF GCD - Around here is when you need to hit Entrench before the first one expires, this lets you bridge them back to back and maintain the full stacks of the Established Foothold set bonus rather than needing to build up again
[End of opener, continue rotation as discussed below]
Rotation Theory
Engineering has a very specific rotation per the outline above. That said, some additional discussion as to why the rotation works how it does may be helpful.
1. Explosive Probe is the highest damaging ability and should open the rotation.
Explosive Probe is your maximum damage ability and should be used to open the encounter and each rotation. In the example parse I linked above, Explosive Probe (and the damage from the Cluster Bombs it dropped that were detonated by Series of Shots) combined was the third highest DPS. However, the two abilities above it (Series of Shots was #1 and Plasma Probe was #2) are utilized twice per rotation instead once, leaving Explosive Probe as top damage per activation. Also, Explosive Probe will proc your set bonus, so using it first will maximize the set bonus impact. Lastly, using Explosive Probe as the beginning to each rotation makes it easier to remember.
2. Series of Shots should always follow Explosive Probe and be used on cooldown for its second activation in the rotation.
Series of Shots is guaranteed to detonate the 3 Cluster Bombs dropped by Explosive Probe, so Explosive Probe > Series of Shots ensures you are getting maximum damage from your top damaging ability and capturing the energy regeneration provided as well. Also, the various passives above to Series of Shots make it very energy efficient (net positive when detonating Cluster Bombs), deals high single target damage, deals DoT damage via the Electrified Railgun DoT, and significantly buffs EMP Discharge as well (Electrified Conduit passive). As such, it is your top overall damage ability and probably your most important ability so make sure to use it on cooldown.
3. Plasma Probe should be used after every Series of Shots.
Plasma Probe is the signature ability for Engineering (and the most recognized - and despised - ability in PvP warzones). It’s position in the opener is to apply the 10% AOE damage debuff. Otherwise, it does not deal as much damage as Interrogation Probe or EMP Discharge but deals more damage than any fillers thus its place in the rotation. In any AOE situations, Plasma Probe will frequently be the top damaging ability. Engineering players should use after every Series of Shots, as this aligns the duration of the Plasma Probe lingering AoE field so that is has 100% uptime.
4. Interrogation Probe should be used in each rotation, ideally right after Plasma Probe.
Plasma Probe follows Series of Shots as an easy way to ensure 100% uptime on its AOE effect. That said, Interrogation Probe is a very high damaging ability so takes next priority. Most of the time, it deals the second most damage per activation (i.e., does less damage than Series of Shots but over 1 activation and 1 GCD instead of 2 and 2 for Series of Shots, respectively).
5. EMP Discharge should be used after Interrogation Probe, every time.
EMP Discharge is only usable on a target affected by Interrogation Probe, so it should always follow. EMP Discharge benefits from a lot of buffs in the skill tree, so it usually is #3 in damage per activation.
6.0 NOTE - If using the BiS tactical Ruthless Interrogation, this rule only applies during the initial opener to apply Interrogation Probe or when swapping targets, as the DoT is automatically refreshed via the rotation.
6. Fragmentation Grenade should be used after EMP Discharge, when it is free to use.
Fragmentation Grenade does less damage per activation than any ability other than your basic attack. However, the Energy Overrides passive makes it free. Any rotation not using Fragmentation Grenade with the proc would have to substitute a basic attack to maintain a stable energy level, thus Fragmentation Grenade is a strict increase in DPS and should always be used after EMP Discharge.
Rotation (without Ruthless Interrogation, or when swapping targets with Ruthless Interrogation)
1
4
7
10
2
5
8
3
6
9
Explosive Probe - Higher damage ability so used first. Also used right before Series of Shots to ensure its explosives are immediately detonated.
Series of Shots - Detonated Explosive Probe charges and applies 3 stacks of Electrified Railgun DoT.
Plasma Probe - Next priority ability used to refresh as it expires.
Interrogation Probe - Used to refresh Interrogation Probe as it would otherwise expire, as this is its spot in the opener.
EMP Discharge - Used on cooldown.
Fragmentation Grenade - A very energy efficient attack, the ability also applies a stack of Electrified Railgun DoT, which can be helpful to ensure the DoTs do not fall off prior to Series of Shots the next GCD.
Series of Shots - Used on cooldown for damage and to maintain full uptime of the Electrified Railgun DoTs.
Plasma Probe - Used to refresh as it expires.
FILLER - See Filler Priority
FILLER - See Filler Priority
[Repeat]
Rotation (with Ruthless Interrogation)
1
4
7
10
2
5
8
3
6
9
Explosive Probe
Series of Shots
Plasma Probe
EMP Discharge - Used one GCD earlier since Interrogation Probe should always be active on the target outside swapping targets.
FILLER - See Filler Priority
FILLER - See Filler Priority, this bonus GCD as well as the extra ticks of Interrogation Probe are what make the Ruthless Interrogation tactical such a great choice.
Series of Shots
Plasma Probe
FILLER - See Filler Priority
FILLER - See Filler Priority
[Repeat]
Filler Priority
1
2
3
4
5
6
Orbital Strike - Deals huge damage due to the many buffs to AoE damage in the Engineering skill tree. This ability should be used as the top priority filler as close to on cooldown as possible.
Corrosive Dart - Corrosive Dart deals significantly more damage than Snipe at an identical cost, thus it should take priority over Snipe unless the target will die before Corrosive Dart finishes ticking. Corrosive Dart should have a stable spot in the rotation as its duration is the same as the rotation length, so I usually refresh it in the same filler spot.
Takedown (If below 30% boss health) - Deals significantly more single target damage than Orbital Strike, or Snipe and has an identical energy cost. It deals less damage than Corrosive Dart due to the DoT dealing internal damage and bypassing enemy armor, but is otherwise the preferred filler.
Fragmentation Grenade - Fragmentation Grenade does less base damage than Snipe but it has a lot going for it that make it a preferred filler most of the time. Once per rotation cycle you can use Fragmentation Grenade free after EMP Discharge due to the Energy Overrides passive ability. Also, Fragmentation Grenade only costs 10 energy due to the Scatter Bombs and Engineer's Tool Belt passive abilities versus 15 energy for Snipe . So it is either slightly cheaper or way cheaper than Snipe . The Engineer's Tool Belt passive also gives Fragmentation Grenade a +10% critical buff. All of this makes Fragmentation Grenade preferable to use most of the time.
Snipe - Generally the lowest priority filler. Snipe’s advantages are that (1) via Calculated Pursuit utility you can cast this up to 4 times on the move (though note Corrosive Dart and Takedown are mobile abilities as well); and (2) Snipe applies its damage and energy cost at the end of the GCD. As such, in some situations Snipe may be preferred to Corrosive Dart (which frontloads the energy cost) as using Corrosive Dart would drop you below 60 energy.
Rifle Shot - Basic free attack that deals around 50% of the damage of Snipe. I usually find that in any rotation where no energy abilities are available (or about to be available), I usually use Rifle Shot in one of the filler spots to keep energy levels stable.
Offensive Cooldowns
Laze Target (60s cooldown prior to alacrity) - Increases the critical chance of your next Ambush, Explosive Probe or Cull by 100%.
Laze Target should be used on cooldown in most instances. The buff it applies lasts for 20 seconds, should be enough for for the next Explosive Probe to simply activate on cooldown.
The cooldown can be saved for specific burn phases when necessary though given its relatively short cooldown make sure to use it as often as you can before/after any hard burn phases.
Target Acquired (10s duration, 120s cooldown) - Increases ranged/tech accuracy by 30% and critical chance by 15%.
Target Acquired is a stronger cooldown with double the cooldown and a defined duration, so it should be timed a bit more carefully. Apart from using it early in the opener for high early damage, it's use should be timed within the rotation when we deal the most damage. The best time to apply will generally be right after Explosive Probe while buffed by Laze Target and during Entrench.
Entrench (20s duration, 60s cooldown / 35s with utility + set bonus) - Entrenches you into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover.
Entrench is a very powerful offensive cooldown for all Snipers. Its offensive buffs come from gear:
Seek Cover (Masterful Utility) - When Entrench ends or you leave cover while Entrench is active, you gain Seek Cover, which increases your movement speed by 50% and grants immunity to movement impairing effects for 6 seconds.
Pillbox Sniper (Heroic Utility) - Reduces cooldown of Entrench by 15 seconds.
Siege Bunker (Heroic Utility) - Reduces all area effect damage taken by 60% while Entrench is active.
Established Foothold (4 piece set bonus) - The cooldown of Entrench is reduced by 10 seconds. You gain 2 energy per second while Entrench is active.
Established Foothold (6 piece set bonus) - While Entrenched, you build stacks of Entrenched Offense, increasing damage by 3% per stack while you remain Entrenched. Stacks up to 5 times. Breaking cover or Entrench being removed removes this.
If you are running Established Foothold (and you should be), you should generally use Entrench on cooldown unless you are about to enter a period of downtime or movement.
Defensive Cooldowns
Crouch (no cooldown) - Crouches in place, taking cover if used behind an object that provides cover. Crouching enables the use of cover-only abilities, and so long as you remain behind a cover object, most ranged attackers strike your cover instead.
Crouch provides a LOT of benefits through passive abilities and utilities:
While in cover the player receives +20% ranged defense and is immune to ability activation pushback via the Hold Position passive ability.
Entrench can only be activated while in cover and with utilities and set bonus has very high uptime and provides 60% resistance to AoE damage while active.
Using Evasion while in cover adds 75% damage resistance to Force or Tech attacks via the Hold Position passive ability.
If taking the Ballistic Dampers utility, each time the player enters cover they receive 3 charges of Ballistic Dampers that absorb 30% of the next 3 damaging attacks to the player.
If taking the Vital Regulators utility, while in cover the player will heal 2% of total health every 3 seconds.
If taking the Snap Shot utility, each time the player enters cover they can immediately activate Lethal Shot and can trigger this utility once every 6 seconds.
If taking the Calculated Pursuit utility, by entering cover the player can gain 4 charges of Calculated Pursuit for 15 seconds after exiting cover, which enable the player to cast Lethal Shot on the move.
If taking the Deployed Shields utility, while in cover all damage taken is reduced by 5%.
Snipers are a cover-based ranged damage class and gain many defensive benefits from being in cover and so should be in cover as often as possible.
Entrench (20s duration, 60s cooldown / 35s with utility + set bonus) - Entrenches you into cover, becoming immune to all controlling effects. Only grants protection while in cover.
Entrench is a very powerful defensive cooldown for all Snipers. See above for the complete listing of potential benefits via gear and utilities. The key defensive benefit for Entrench is it's 60% AoE damage reduction. This gives Snipers up to 57% uptime on 60% AoE damage reduction. When combined with the Sniper's other defensive cooldowns, this lets players ignore most AoE damage mechanics if necessary.
Entrench's cooldown can be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Shield Probe (30s cooldown / 25s with utility) - Projects a defense field around yourself for up to 10 seconds, which absorbs moderate damage.
Shield Probe can benefit from the Augmented Shields Masterful utility that increases the damage it absorbs by 30%, and the Hold Your Ground Masterful utility that reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds. The Toxic Regulators passive ability also causes Shield Probe to grant 30% damage resistance for 6 seconds after it ends.
Shield Probe is a great low cooldown defensive ability for any predictable instances of low to moderate damage. Since it projects an absorb shield it is effective against nearly all types of damage mechanics.
Shield Probe's cooldown can be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Evasion (60s cooldown) - Increases your chance to dodge melee and ranged attacks by 200% for 3 seconds.
If Evasion is used while the player is in cover then it also benefits from the Hold Position passive ability, which causes Evasion to reduce damage taken by Force and Tech attacks by 75% for Dodge's duration.
Evasion is a really powerful defensive cooldown is used smartly. It can let Snipers entirely mitigate melee/ranged attacks regardless of whether the player is or is not in cover. If the player can anticipate heavy Force or Tech damage mechanics, the player can enter cover and use Evasion to mitigate 75% of the damage. Combining Shield Probe and Evasion while in cover is frequently enough to survive nearly any damage mechanics outside of "one shot" mechanics.
Evasion's cooldown can be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Covered Escape (20s cooldown) - Roll forward 18 meters, purging movement-impairing effects and landing crouched behind cover. While rolling, your chance to dodge attacks is increased by 100%.
Covered Escape can benefit from the Tactical Retreat Heroic utility that causes Covered Escape to heal you for 10% of your maximum health on activation.
Covered Escape is a situational defensive ability that is more consistently useful as a movement cooldown. I primarily use it to quickly reposition and get back into cover. However, it can be used to completely mitigate most damage mechanics if timed correctly, but it is fairly challenging given the brief window of damage resistance. The keys to success are (1) aim yourself to make sure you don't roll into trouble or off a ledge; and (2) try to time Covered Escape as close as possible to the damage tick.
Covered Escape's cooldown can NOT be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Diversion (60s cooldown) - Reduces the accuracy by 45% and exposes from cover of up to 8 enemies with 8 meters for 8 seconds. Cannot be used on operation bosses.
Diversion can benefit from the Controlled Chaos Heroic utility that applies a +10% armor penetration buff for every additional enemy affected by Diversion (so a maximum of +70% armor penetration) if Diversion affects the maximum of 8 enemies.
Diversion is not usually very useful in operations. I can occasionally be useful on fights with lots of adds to debuff them to deal less damage to the team, and has a niche use in the Thrasher encounter in the Scum and Villainy operation in Veteran or Master Mode to force the snipers on the elevated platform out of cover.
On fights with lots of adds near the boss the Controlled Chaos utility makes Diversion an offensive cooldown. Diversion consumes a global cooldown though so it really needs to affect close to the maximum for the armor penetration buff to make it worthwhile to buff DPS, which is pretty rare in operations outside of trash pulls.
Diversion's cooldown can NOT be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Ballistic Shield (180s cooldown / 150s with utility) - Deploys an acquired scrambling field that disrupts the energy signatures of conventional weapons. The field spawns 10 meters around you, reducing the damage taken by all allies that remain inside by 20%. Lasts 20 seconds.
Ballistic Shield can benefit from the Riot Screen Heroic utility that reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds. I often take this utility but primarily for its other benefit that adds a permanent 5% additional damage reduction while in cover. The cooldown reduction is only useful for fights where you need to use Ballistic Shield more than once and need the 30 second cooldown reduction to time it correctly.
Ballistic Shield is an AMAZING ability and serves as a defensive "raid buff" for Snipers since they do not have an offensive team cooldown. It has a long cooldown so needs to be timed correctly, but can make a massive difference to help teams survive high group damage phases. Some examples include the burn phase in the Dread Council fight in the Dread Palace operation, the burn phase in the Master & Blaster fight in the Ravagers operation and the Red boss fight in the Dxun Nature of Progress operation.
Ballistic Shield's cooldown can NOT be reset by Imperial Preparation.
Entrench & Imperial Preparation
As discussed above, Entrench provides a really strong boost to damage when you have the Established Foothold set bonus equipped. Except during downtime or when downtime is imminent, players should try to activate Entrench on cooldown to get the maximum benefit of the damage buff. Players can further optimize the buffs from Established Foothold via the Imperial Preparation ability.
When Entrench is activated, it builds stacks of Entrenched Offense that increase damage by 3% per stack. Entrenched Offense builds 1 stack every second, so it takes 5 seconds to build from 0 stacks to the maximum of 5 stacks. So instead of receiving 20 seconds of +15% damage, instead we have +3-12% damage for 5 seconds and +15% damage for 15 seconds.
Imperial Preparation resets the cooldown on various abilities including Entrench. This means we can squeeze in some extra uses of Entrench during a fight, as long as we do not expect to need Imperial Preparation to enable extra uses of other applicable abilities.
With all applicable utilities taken, Entrench has a 20 second duration with a 35 second cooldown, while Bag of Tricks can be used every 150 seconds with a utility. Without using Imperial Preparation for extra Entrench uses and ignoring downtime, we can achieve 20s / 35s = 57% uptime on Entrench. Over the course of a 6 minute fight we can potentially use Imperial Preparation 3 times to get 3 extra uses of Entrench, which would increase our overall uptime on Entrench to around 67%. Getting +10% more uptime on a +15% damage buff should equate to around a 1.5-2.5% increase in overall damage. (The math indicates +1.5% but we should be looking to use offensive cooldowns, burst windows in our rotation and synergizing with group raid buffs to increase the benefit of this additional uptime.)
An advanced option for Imperial Preparation is to use it to bridge together two uses of Entrench. This strategy involves using Imperial Preparation right after Entrench is used initially, the activating the second Entrench just before the first expires. If we execute this strategy correctly, we can carry over our 5 stacks of Entrenched Offense for the second full duration instead of building back up from 0 to 5 stacks.
Movement as a Sniper
Snipers are a cover-based class by design, so we want to avoid movement whenever we can and minimize it when it is unavoidable.
Let's first discuss relevant abilities, passives and utilities that can help Snipers quickly relocate from position to position, then go over some strategic considerations and how those can apply in operations encounters that involve lots of movement.
Hololocate (0.5s cast, free, 120s cooldown) - Activating this ability marks your current location for 10 minutes. When this ability is activated again, if you are within 60 meters of the marked location, you instantly return to the marked location. Hololocate goes on cooldown for 120 seconds when used to return to the marked location.
Hololocate is a great ability for any fight where you will have to move to a pre-determined location. Place it before the fight if possible. You can also place it mid-fight if you run past an area you will need to return to later in the fight.
Covered Escape (20s cooldown) - Roll forward 18 meters, purging movement-impairing effects and landing crouched behind cover. While rolling, your chance to dodge attacks is increased by 100%.
I primarily use Covered Escape for relocation, as most of the time moving 18 meters is sufficient to get into the class' 35m range on most abilities.
Calculated Pursuit (Skillful Utility) - You gain 4 charges of Calculated Pursuit by exiting cover, which allow Snipe or Lethal Shot to be activated while moving. The charges last for 15 seconds and can be gained every 20 seconds. Reentering cover removes the effect.
I always take Calculated Pursuit. A bunch of other abilities and utilities are great for momentary relocation but Calculated Pursuit is the only way to let you hard cast your filler while moving. For any operations that may include sustained movement phases I have found Calculated Pursuit to be an amazing utility.
Reestablish Range (Masterful Utility) - Surrender purges all movement-impairing effects when activated and grants Reestablish Range, increasing your movement speed by 75% for 6 seconds. Also, the final shot of Series of Shots knocks back the target if they are within 10 meters.
Reestablish Range is a situational utility that can be taken when you need periodic but infrequent big bursts of speed. Diversion has a 45 second cooldown so can provide quite a few on-demand speed boosts in a fight. The Master and Blaster fight is a good example for this utility, where if you are running in phase 1 this utility can help you quickly relocate.
Snap Shot (Skillful Utility): Entering cover makes the next Snipe or Lethal Shot activate instantly, and can occur once every 6 seconds.
I find Calculated Pursuit to be more useful for mobility but Snap Shot can be helpful to "stick and move" to get an extra instant cast in while moving.
As discussed above, the key to maximizing Sniper DPS is to stay in cover (and Entrench) as often as possible. When you have to move you should try to move as quickly as possible and pre-position yourself to minimize the travel distance.
Here are some quick tips for each operation encounter to maximize your DPS uptime as a Sniper:
Eternity Vault
XRR-3 Annihilation Droid - Enter cover 20m from boss to avoid stun/knockback then Covered Escape under the boss for AoE healing, then Covered Escape back out when it comes off cooldown.
Gharj - Calculated Pursuit and Reestablish Range are great to get a speed boost and mobile DPS each time an island collapses.
Ancient Pylons - Enter cover next to the consoles so you can click while in cover. No movement necessary.
Infernal Council - Enter cover next to your assigned boss. No movement necessary.
Soa - Enter cover on the west side of the room and stay there. Use Covered Escape and Calculated Pursuit to reposition if needed to DPS mind traps.
Karagga's Palace
Bonethrasher - Try to set up a little out of the middle but far enough from the edge to be safe, and reposition any time you get knocked back by the boss. If you avoid moving to maximize uptime on DPS, make sure to use defensives prior to boss cleaving in your direction.
Jarg & Sorno - Set up near max range from boss starting position but out of the middle to avoid damage when bosses leap to middle. The fight should not involve any movement except dodging purple circles.
Foreman Crusher - Set up in the middle of the room within range of the door. The fight should not involve any movement except dodging red circles.
G4-B3 Heavy Fabricator - Set up close to max range away from team members to avoid splash damage from grenade. No movement necessary.
Karagga the Unyielding - Set up in the middle of the room to avoid boss cleave attacks. Re-position as needed if you get pulled by the gravity mechanic.
Explosive Conflict
Zorn & Toth - Try to set up >28m from both bosses to avoid taking damage from bosses. Reposition if needed due to boss movement. Should be minimal movement unless you get targeted by boss' throw mechanic.
Firebrand & Stormcaller - Set up on the side of the tanks and only move during defensive systems. Try to avoid being the runner on the ground if possible since your DPS will suffer a lot more than other ranged DPS.
Colonel Vorgath - This fight involves a lot of periodic movement, so time your Entrenches as each probe droid is summoned and move with the group.
Warlord Kephess - Try to set up near but not underneath the big walker. You can often reach every enemy from this position with minimal movement. You still need to run under the pulsar droids though.
Terror From Beyond
Writhing Horror - Set up in the middle of the room near but not on top of the flowers. Only move if you need to stand in a flower to pacify adds.
Dread Guards - Set up in the middle of the room to maintain range on your targets. You are much more at risk to stand in green circles when they spawn under you while attacking Ciphas, so keep a close eye on your feet for the green swirls and move out of green circles. Apart from green circles or if you get marked for death by Kel'sara, the fight should involve minimal movement.
Operator IX - Use speed buffs and Hololocate to move from side to side when attacking cores. During phase 2, time your use of Entrench so if is on cooldown when you need to run around standing in colored circles or for color deletion.
Kephess the Undying - Set up a bit out of the middle of the room so you can maintain range on Kephess but avoid lightning puddles. Try to be aware of when you can safely be mobile in your rotation and Entrench is on cooldown, and use that time to reposition to be near Kephess in case you need to stand near the pillar.
Terror from Beyond - This fight involves a lot of movement in both phases. The key thing to consider in phase 2 is whether you can safely survive tentacle slams to avoid jumping off the platform. As long as Entrench is active and through other defensives you usually can do so safely.
Scum and Villainy
Dash'roode - Calculated Pursuit and Snap Shot are great for filler cast DPS on the move while moving the generator. The Restablish Range utility speed boost along with the Covered Escape and Cover Pulse abilities are great for knocking back the adds if you get lost and quickly getting back to the group.
Titan 6 - Set up at max range and right next to your assigned rock. As Titan 6 relocates, use your mobility phases in your rotation and Calculated Pursuit to relocate early for the next launch sequence. Setting Hololocate pre-pull can help with one of the relocations.
Thrasher - I suggest setting up near a wall so if you get Firebug then you only have to move when the add gets to you instead of moving to and from the wall. If you have to relocate to DPS adds then try to avoid moving after that unless more adds spawn elsewhere or the boss is out of range. Reestablish Range and Covered Escape are great for rapid relocation at these points or if you go up top to kill adds.
Operations Chief - This fight has a lot of movement but not during battles. On the boss, set up in the middle of the room so everything is in range and you should never have to leave cover.
Olok the Shadow - No movement should be necessary in phase 1 except when you get a token or to move out of fire. During phase 2, move between shield phases and once you reach the boss set up near the middle of the room so you have the boss in range no matter where he appears.
Cartel Warlords - Set up near the bosses starting position and no movement should be necessary except possibly to attack Sunder, for which Covered Escape should be plenty to reposition.
Dread Master Styrak - Set up in the middle of the room where the big ghost spawns and you should only have to move if you need to get into melee range on the little ghosts.
Dread Fortress
Nefra - Set up near max range in case you need to pick up the exploding add. Use Covered Escape to reposition quickly if a red circle spawns under you.
Draxus - Try to set up in the front middle of the room cheating towards which side you are assigned. From this position you should be able to reach Draxus, adds on your side and adds in the back. I also suggest setting up a Hololocate in the back for teleporting there while shields are up, though otherwise Covered Escape should very nearly cover the distance instantly. Make sure to stay out of the middle anytime Guardians are up to avoid their cleave, though Snipers can handle the cleave if Entrench is active plus either Shield Probe or Evasion.
Grob'thok - Set up in the middle of the room and you should have range on the boss and adds as they run in.
Corruptor Zero - Set up in melee range of where the tank will hold Corruptor Zero. If you are asked to stand out for concussion mines, try to set up right at 18-20m range so Hightail It can immediately roll you into melee range. Make sure to watch your position heading into any big laser beam phases.
Dread Master Brontes - In Phase 1, try to set up in the middle of the room where you can reach most enemies without moving. In Phase 2, set up just a bit behind Brontes where you can reach Kephess at all 3 spawn points. Heading into the clockwork lightning phase, I suggest setting up as close to max range of the first add as possible. Once it dies I use Covered Escape and Calculated Pursuit to quickly relocate and DPS on the move to stay ahead of the lightning beam. In the 6 finger phase you should stand near your finger. In burn phase stay near a wall and watch our for purple circles. Entrench is great to avoid the knockback.
Dread Palace
Dread Master Bestia - I suggest setting up near the throne since you can keep the entire room in range apart from weird LoS directly opposite the throne. Be careful though of yellow circles as they clip over/under the ground near and on the throne.
Dread Master Tyrans - Try to set up at max range so you have to move as little as possible to drop platforms or to move out of fire.
Dread Master Calphayus - Set up outside the group with Entrench if you are kiting the big red AoE or stand with the group depending on your strategy. Very little movement is required during any of the active damage phases in this fight.
Dread Master Raptus - Coordinate with your tanks on where they will hold Raptus but make sure you position yourself to naturally avoid all cleave damage. Tanks doing a good job keeping Raptus in place will be huge for your DPS. If Raptus gets too far to one side, use Hightail It to reposition and try to keep Hololcate on the throne for quick returns once the boss gets back to a normal position.
Dread Council - Try to set up very near the holocron in the middle of the room unless you are asked to kite Raptus. If you have to grab any crystals make sure to use all mobility buffs like Covered Escape and Reestablish Range to get your crystal quickly and back down to attack the bosses.
Ravagers
Sparky - Set up in the middle of the room so you can keep Sparky in range no matter how much he punts the tank around.
Quartermaster Bulo - Set up near the back of the room. This helps you drop the burst volley blue AoE near a wall in a safe location and you should still keep Bulo in range. Use Entrench and defensives during mass barrage to stand in 3-4 circles as they stack then move one time out of circles and then get back into cover and resume attacking.
Torque - Set up near the console to summon repair droids so you minimize downtime and reduce your chances of getting fire. This room is really small so range should not be an issue.
Master & Blaster - If you have to run then you will need to make full utilization of mobility abilities and utilities. Hololocate, Covered Escape and Reestablish Range are all great to quickly reposition out of orange circles, while Snap Shot and Calculated Pursuit help you DPS while dodging orange circles or while chasing Master.
Pirate Captains - Set up near the middle of the room in both phases to keep the bosses in range.
Temple of Sacrifice
Malaphar the Savage - Stand inside the red circle to DPS. Try to time your use of Entrench so you reset stacks in between uses of Entrench so you do not have to interrupt it. Watch our for Malaphar's spear throw red AoE.
Sword Squadron - Set up as far back as possible while keeping Unit 1 and Unit 2 in range for easy target swapping. If possible, ask teammates to move away from you if you get the big grenade so you do not lose uptime. For the gravity pull-in mechanic, use Covered Escape or Hololocate to get back into position. You should avoid red circles as often as possible though with Entrench active and another defensive you can periodically eat one in order to maintain uptime (make sure your healers are okay with that first though!)
Underlurker - Set up at a position equidistant from the three adds and near your other ranged DPS and healers for efficient AoE healing. Quickly reposition near a rock and then resume DPS next to it until you need to hide. In Story Mode you can stay out during rage storm with Entrench but do not do so in Veteran Mode. Use Covered Escape and Reestablish Range to quickly get to the boss during the cross mechanic.
Revanite Commanders - Set up near Sano's spawn point but cheat a little towards the middle of the room. Apart from moving out of cleaves or AoEs from adds, this should let you stay inside Sano's shield when he spawns but keep Kurse and Deron in range nearly all the time. Use Covered Escape to chase a boss while Snap Shot is great to quickly move out of a cleave or AoE then resume DPS.
Revan - You should generally set up near max range to kite the lightsabers near an edge and use Cover Pulse to knock them off. That range can also help if you need to break the tether beam, especially if the other player will let you stay in cover and do all the running. If not, Covered Escape can often be enough along with your range to break the beam. During the HK-47 phase on first floor, do not mess around with uptime and get out to drop the grenade damage. On 2nd floor stay with the group and time your use of Entrench carefully. On 3rd floor you can use Entrench on cooldown in Story Mode, but in Veteran Mode you should time your use to cheese each pull-in so you can maximize uptime on the core.
Gods from the Machine
Tyth - Try to set up relatively close to Tyth for inversion, after inversion use Covered Escape to get back close to Tyth for the next one.
Aivela & Esne - Set up on the side of the platform near your Countermeasure for most of the fight so minimal movement is required except to stand between the boss and the Nexus in phase 2 or to dodge wiper beams in phase 3.
Nahut - During Phase 1, try to time your use of Entrench when Nahut is not being moved. During Phase 3, put your back to a generator for the pull in. During Phase 4, make sure to stay ahead of Nahut and move during mobility phases to when you can Entrench you can stay put for its full duration.
Scyva - This fight involves very little movement until the last phase with Scyva. In that phase, try to be very quick in relocating from side to side or between inner and outer rings to dodge purple floors.
Izax - This fight involves a lot of movement at times so all your abilities will be useful, especially during "Master/Blaster" phase late in the fight.
Nature of Progress
Red - Use your mobility abilities while moving Red but hopefully your tank will move the boss in spurts rather than continuously.
Holding Pens - Use all your mobility abilities to damage adds on the move, as this fight is particularly tough for Snipers.
Control Center - Use mobility abilities while moving into the Control Center. Once inside the Control Center you should not have to move much at all the rest of the boss fight.
Trandoshans - Try to set up in the middle of the room to keep all bosses in range. I suggest setting Hololocate near the train terminal if you need to summon a train.
Huntmaster - This fight does not involve a lot of movement except for the yellow fire grenade. I suggest running out to drop the grenade then Covered Escape back into the spotlight.
Apex Vanguard - Apex moves regularly as acid blast puddles are dropped, so time your use of Entrench to avoid clipping it and Covered Escape to relocate as needed as the boss is moved around the room. In Veteran Mode you should time your use of Entrench so you do not have to clip it to move into position to be cleansed.
Other Tips & Tricks
Given how strict the rotation is for Engineering to maintain a stable energy level, and how punishing it can be to wreck your energy without Target Acquired (15 energy regen with Precise Targeter set bonus if taking that one) or Adrenaline Probe (50 energy over 3 seconds), the key to success in this specialization is optimizing your selection of fillers. See the discussion above regarding fillers.
A common misperception of players is that running the Established Foothold set means that energy management can be ignored. The set definitely makes energy management very easy most of the time. However, it IS possible to run into energy issues if you are regularly prioritizing Snipe over Fragmentation Grenade. Using Corrosive Dart once per rotation and Orbital Strike on cooldown takes up a lot of energy, which is why Fragmentation Grenade (free once per rotation and 5 energy cheaper on a second use) has great synergy with those abilities.
I usually avoid using Snipe entirely unless (1) I am DPSing on the move and using the Calculated Pursuit utility; or (2) I have Adrenaline Probe available so can afford to burn some energy in exchange for slightly more DPS.
Movement is the bane of Snipers. It is really critical to be proactive about thinking through positioning. If you know the group will need to move in a certain direction, cheat that way as far as possible to minimize your movement. Take utilities to use Snipe on the move as well.