So I've been trying to read up on what spec is best for raiding as a Sniper, and thought I would put up some preliminary thoughts that I've collected through various peoples math and get some opinions.

Obviously Marksmanship is what most people choose, but the more I look at the tree the less it really seems to do. Followthrough and Sniper's Nest are great talents but the rest of the tree seems a little all over the place.

That being said, I've heard Marksmanship is:

  • The most energy efficient
  • The most cover dependant
  • Potentially the most maximum damage assuming nothing goes wrong

However, what I'm hearing from out of EV is that movement is a massive issue, especially for fights like hardmode SOA.

For movement apparently Lethality is best, with only SOS as a in-cover ability. But the problem here is that Cull has a 30 energy cost and only a 9 second cooldown, which is basically asking for trouble.

So Lethality is:

  • The best movement
  • Potentially the best DoT spec
  • Probably the least energy efficient

Which leaves Engineering. A lot of people say they don't like the look of this spec, but I think the energy regen from a shorter Adrenaline Probe cooldown and Imperial Methodology looks really attractive. Also not quite as cover focused as Marksmanship.

So Engineering is:

  • A more energy efficient DoT spec
  • The best AOE spec
  • Supposedly the worst damage spec (I need numbers for this)

So with that in mind, what do people raid as and how do they find it? Have you done any rough numbers for yourself? Have you got any issues with the generalities I've posted up there (it's mostly other peoples research)?