Pistoleer
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." ~ Han Solo
Profession Overview
Pistoleer is a profession that focuses on rapid offense, dictating the terms of the fight with your opponent, and specializing in the use of pistols. The profession grants access to a balanced set of abilities that enable greater pistol damage and unlock new debuff / crowd control options for your template. Pistols have one of the fastest speed caps of any weapon type in the game (0.9), enabling the Pistoleer to chain abilities together faster than most combat professions.
Prerequisites
To learn Novice Pistoleer in SWG Restoration, you must work through the Pistols and Ranged Support trees of the
Sharpshooter Profession as a prerequisite:
- Sharpshooter: Pistols IV (x4xx)
- Sharpshooter: Ranged Support IV (xxx4)
Abilities and Skill Mods
Abilities
See
Pistoleer Abilities for up-to-date details on abilities.
Utility / Crowd Control:
- Disarming Shot - Deals moderate damage and disarms an opponent for 10 seconds, blocking their use damaging abilities that require a weapon. One of the Pistoleer's most useful abilities, and while carrying a short cooldown, it will also apply a buff to your opponent that makes them immune from further disarms for 20 seconds. Best used in situations where the Pistoleer needs to buy themselves time; either to heal or to line up cooldowns for a burst DPS window. Additionally, do not discount sneaky application of this ability in PVP to frustrate a player opponent and interrupt their timing.
- Intimidate Shot - Deals low damage and applies Intimidate to your opponent, significantly reducing their damage and accuracy for 20 seconds. As one of the Pistoleer's most powerful debuffs it should be applied early in a fight, and one should work to keep it applied until their opponent is downed.
- Stopping Shot - Deals low damage but inflicts a root on an opponent, stopping them in their tracks for up to 10 seconds. Another highly useful debuff for the Pistoleer but has a moderate cooldown. A savvy Pistoleer regularly employs this ability to either keep their opponent at a distance or keep them from escaping; generally, to dictate the terms of the fight. When used in combination with Firearm Strike, Stopping Shot can render melee focused opponents completely ineffective.
Offensive Abilities:
- Body Shot - Deals decent damage and has slightly reduced accuracy. This ability can serve as a decent DPS "filler" ability in the Pistoleer's combat rotation, and carries a minimal cooldown. That said, it may be replaced by better skills and abilities that a character may have access to from the other professions in a complete template.
- Fan Shot - A cone AoE ability that deals moderate damage to opponents in front of the Pistoleer. This is the profession's lone area of effect ability and enables the Pistoleer to more efficiently spread damage when the situation calls for it.
- Firearm Strike - A pistol whip attack that deals decent damage and has a high chance to apply Knockdown to an opponent. This is a key ability that true pistoleros utilize with wicked efficiency to set up DPS / Debuff burst windows on an opponent. When used in combination with Mobility Shot, Pistoleers can close the gap with an opponent faster than they expect for a quick smackdown.
- Mobility Shot - Deals decent damage, increases movement speed, increases pistol accuracy while moving, and applies a debuff that greatly reduces the defense of an opponent - all for 10 seconds*. This is another core ability that a Pistoleer will want to apply early and often in their combat rotation, and it carries a short cooldown. This ability also points toward something that is unique to the Pistoleer; they prefer to shoot on the move and counterintuitively are more accurate while doing so!
- *An October 2025 patch merged Mobility Shot and the Warning Shot ability that is traditionally found within the Pistoleer Profession Tree. This change only increases the importance of regularly mixing in Mobility Shot within one's combat rotation.
- Quickdraw - Deals solid damage and uniquely enables the Pistoleer to use any next ability in their combat rotation faster than normally allowed (fractions of a second faster than the GCD). Additionally, Quickdraw enables the Pistoleer to proc an effect (also called "Quickdraw") that will clear the cooldown for the next use of the Quickdraw ability. Thus, a Pistoleer who procs "Quickdraw" can instantly fire their next use of Quickdraw as fast as they recognize the opportunity. If luck is on the Pistoleer's side, they can sometimes chain two, three - or more - instant Quickdraws in a row.
- More so than any other ability, Quickdraw is one that mastery of the profession revolves around. This is both because the Master Pistoleer box is required to gain it, and because using it effectively requires a practice along with high situational awareness. Quickdraw is fundamentally a reactive ability, and high-level usage requires the Pistoleer to interrupt their typical combat rotation - at the right times - to really ramp damage on an opponent.
- Additionally, do not forget that another feature of quickdraw is how it enables faster usage of the any next ability (regardless of whether the special "Quickdraw" proc occurs). This encourages the Pistoleer to regularly return to this ability in their combat rotation - at the right times - to speed their offense or defense.
Skill Mods
- Defense vs Knockdown - Increases defense against the Knockdown status effect.
- Defense vs Intimidate - Increases defense against the Intimidate status effect.
- General Ranged Accuracy - Increases accuracy with ranged weapons.
- General Ranged Speed - Increases speed with ranged weapons.
- Melee Defense - Increases defense against melee attacks.
- Pistol Accuracy - Increases accuracy with pistol weapons.
- Pistol Accuracy while Moving - Increases accuracy with pistol weapons while moving.
- Pistol Defense - Increases defenses against attacks while using pistol weapons.
- Pistol Speed - Increases speed with pistol weapons.
- Ranged Defense - Increases defense against ranged attacks.
Pistoleer Builds
Below is a list of viable builds that take
Master Pistoleer:
- Master Pistoleer | Master Smuggler | 4xxx Combat Medic
- Master Pistoleer | Master Smuggler | Master Sharpshooter | Novice Doctor
- Master Pistoleer | Master Bounty Hunter | 4xxx Combat Medic
- Master Pistoleer | Master Commando | Novice Doctor
Of course, more combinations than these are possible than these with the profession!
Utilize the
Skill Calculator to come up with your own builds.
Equipment
Armor
Pistoleers can wear Recon Armor. Recon Armor provides greater energy protection but has less kinetic resistance. It can be enhanced with Peko-Peko feathers and Interwoven Segments for additional health bonus.
Check out
Armorsmith page to learn more about Armor.
Heroic Jewelry
Gunslinger set - grants Fumble: an attack which causes your opponent to lose all their action for a few seconds
--MacMan
--Stex Cith