This paper investigates the laser piercing process preceding nearly all laser cutting operations. An important aspect of laser piercing is the pierce time and reliability of the process since industrial laser cutting machines are programmed for the minimum reliable pierce time. Another important aspect is the width of the pierced hole. If the hole width is less than the cut line, piercing can be made directly on the cut path, possibly saving time and material. In this paper, stainless steel is pierced using CW stationary mode in 10 mm and 15 mm thick sheets, compared with pulse modulation and circular trepanning movement of the laser beam for a selected wide range of parameters. High speed imaging was applied to observe spatter formation and measure pierce times. The results show that appropriate settings can halve piercing times for either laser power modulation or trepanning motion, compared to stationary continuous laser piercing.