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[SW:TOR] Tanks like spanking.

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Posts

  • BobbleBobble Registered User regular
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    Equipment, really, is a huge deal. For her, I'd suggest ditching all crew skills and using the cash to keep equipment up to date. I didn't update my equip for a few levels, then went through and updated every single thing with mostly orange gear. My heals jumped 40%, and I was already healing fine in FPs.

    Same for tanks, keep those stats up. My sage can always tell when a tank isn't running with up to date equipment.

    Ditching crew skills is completely unnecessary. You can keep your gear up to date while still leveling crew skills. Run quests, get commendations, buy mods/gear. Or, if you happened to pick cybertech, just make the armoring/mods yourself.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    eMoander wrote:
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Arryn wrote:
    eMoander wrote:
    6% to all flame damage vs 6% to rail shot: I keep going back and forth on this; there's a lot more flame effects so it seems like more bang for the buck for the first, but with pretty much having to take the 60% armor pen on rail shot, it seems like that could synergize well.

    I may be misremembering this, but aren't a lot of the BH Threat builders tied to flame effects? So in this case you'd be trading threat for more dps?

    I played a BH awhile back in beta, but my release one hasn't made it off Nal Hutta, so I could be wrong.

    DPS is threat in this game. There are very few direct "adds additional threat" attacks. I think as a Juggernaut, I have two. The rest of my threat is through being in my tank stance and doing DPS.
    Yeah, I don't think there are any increase threat talents for a BH (unless I'm blind), so maximizing dps seems like the way to go. Most of the aoe abilities are flame-based though, which seems like it will be very important for FPs.

    A related question: does anyone know if missile attacks count as flame damage? I would guess no, but explosions might be considered flame...

    There is no flame damage type. It's kinetic, energy (lowered by armor) and internal, elemental (<-- fire) which is lowered by resistances. If I had to guess, flames are elemental damage and missiles are kinetic/energy.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    This was in the main thread, but it should be in the Op here:

    Shadow Variant: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=458
    Assassin Variant: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=778

  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    I know this has been beaten to death by now, but DPS should be able to drop the Hammer Station boss adds in a few seconds at worst.

    But then as a Sniper I lay down some sicknasty burst deeps, and we had a Mercenary also (whose AoE can basically skip a round of adds by itself)

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    I didn't find Hammer Station's last boss that hard. The only reason we even died the first time we did it was because he knocked me over the railing and out of the instance.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • eMoandereMoander Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    GnomeTank wrote:
    eMoander wrote:
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Arryn wrote:
    eMoander wrote:
    6% to all flame damage vs 6% to rail shot: I keep going back and forth on this; there's a lot more flame effects so it seems like more bang for the buck for the first, but with pretty much having to take the 60% armor pen on rail shot, it seems like that could synergize well.

    I may be misremembering this, but aren't a lot of the BH Threat builders tied to flame effects? So in this case you'd be trading threat for more dps?

    I played a BH awhile back in beta, but my release one hasn't made it off Nal Hutta, so I could be wrong.

    DPS is threat in this game. There are very few direct "adds additional threat" attacks. I think as a Juggernaut, I have two. The rest of my threat is through being in my tank stance and doing DPS.
    Yeah, I don't think there are any increase threat talents for a BH (unless I'm blind), so maximizing dps seems like the way to go. Most of the aoe abilities are flame-based though, which seems like it will be very important for FPs.

    A related question: does anyone know if missile attacks count as flame damage? I would guess no, but explosions might be considered flame...

    There is no flame damage type. It's kinetic, energy (lowered by armor) and internal, elemental (<-- fire) which is lowered by resistances. If I had to guess, flames are elemental damage and missiles are kinetic/energy.

    Sorry, I'm miswording it. The skill says "Increase damage by all fire effects by 6%", so the question was meant to be: is a missile a fire effect?
    I do agree with you though, it seems much more likely that missile would be tech/kinetic.

    On a side note, I find it disappointing that dropping an oil slick and then hitting flamethrower does nothing special. :(

    eMoander on
    Xbox: Travesty 0214 Switch: 3304-2356-9421 Honkai Star Rail: 600322115 Battlenet: Travesty #1822
  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    I actually thought the mining droid was the most difficult boss, because tab targeting doesn't work for shit on the adds he spawns and they dart around really fast.

  • CubemonkeyCubemonkey Registered User regular
    Maddoc wrote:
    I actually thought the mining droid was the most difficult boss, because tab targeting doesn't work for shit on the adds he spawns and they dart around really fast.

    I agree with this. That guy is a dick. Seems like his burst dps laser randomly targets, too.

    The room with four champs and the main boss were a cakewalk, I thought. Granted, the final boss did toss one of our DPS in to the asteroid cannon, but I had no problem healing the rest.

    Stahl - 50 Sage - The Old Republic
    Rigorous Scholarship
  • HounHoun Registered User regular
    Now see, we had no issues with the mining droid boss, it was nearly dead by the first round of adds.

  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Yeah, it sounds like your DPS just got tunnel vision on the final boss and you were probably getting caught in the motion mine AoE to me. (It extends a little bit outside the initial red marker, and it stays there for quite awhile even after the red marker is gone)

    Strong+ adds? Those require CC or the tank to grab their attention.
    Standard adds are purely the domain of the DPS to take care of.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    The mining droids laser also can't be interrupted. You can interrupt it, but it continues to tick. This annoyed me.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    It also pierces through cover and has really long range, so running and hiding behind the big, metal minecart-things is just a good way to die far away.

    Apparently, you can pass the beam off to other people by running up behind them.
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    The room with four champs

    Three champs, right? Droid, Sawbones, and Hulk?

    I love that fight, because I always start it out by slicing the droid (and reapplying if necessary). So he gets to stand there and do nothing while we beat up on his friends.

    EDIT:

    In case anyone's interested, here are my thoughts on the final Hammer Station fight from the healer thread:
    http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/21625582#Comment_21625582
    http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/21634234#Comment_21634234

    Elvenshae on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    I agree with this. That guy is a dick. Seems like his burst dps laser randomly targets, too.

    ...and the laser keeps firing even after you interrupt it.

  • cuellarcuellar Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Elvenshae wrote:
    Houn wrote:
    I'm 17 atm. This frustration is entirely due to the Hammerhead Station boss.

    In talking to my party today, evidently the healer was having trouble keeping me alive, and the adds he spawn kept going straight for her. I'm going to file this under "need better gear/levels", but I haven't seen anything better than what I've got yet.

    I addressed this in the main chat thread and the healing thread, but I'll talk about it here, as well.

    First, this is the first boss that really requires the party to do stuff together. So, from that perspective, it's difficult, but it is in no way a "gear check" encounter. The first time I made it through with friends from the Rigorous Scholars, we were all around 17th level, and we sailed through this fight. The second time, we were in our 20s, and had a harder time than the first (because we didn't work the strategy ... initially).

    Second, in this particular fight, you'll notice that when the boss summons his friends, he summons 2 normal enemies. You have 2 DPS members who have been killing normal enemies for ~17 levels now. This is not a coincidence. This fight is trying to teach you something (see my post in the healing thread about how I think it could be taught better, if you want). It's trying to teach you: 1) stay out of the grenades' AoE markers, 2) DPSers need to pick up and burn down the adds, 3) even if they don't immediately burn them down, that's okay, 4) watch out for the boss's knockback ability (because being pushed into the asteroid cannon will ruin anyone's day), and 5) make sure the boss's cone-of-fire attack isn't aimed at the rest of the party.

    Succinctly, compared to other games, your DPSers and even your healer are way, way, way less squishy. It's okay for a DPS player, and even the healer, to pick up a standard enemy at practically any time, and for them to pick up even Strong enemies for short periods. As the tank in this fight, it's your job to keep the boss focused on you, keep yourself where you won't get knocked into the cannon when he does his AoE pushback, and keep his blaster barrage aimed away from everyone else. Let the adds go hang; you don't need to deal with them.

    Instead, when the adds show up, they are going to make a beeline for the healer (because healing is, essentially, an AoE threat producer). It is the job of the two DPS members of your party to each pick an add and destroy it, while simultaneously staying out of the grenades. As a Scoundrel healer, I could do a decent job putting down one of the adds if the two DPSers focused on the same one. The main danger here is that, because of the way mouse-over healing works (i.e., it doesn't), switching targets back and forth between the normal enemy eating my face and the tank / DPS who needs healing is tricky and introduces more opportunity for error or slowdown. C'est la vie.



    I agree completely. I had major problems healing this encounter initially, until we changed tactics. I think it goes without saying that as the tank, you have to tell people which targets to attack. In wow, I'd mark targets as they pop for DPS, and that's especially true in this game. As for heal tactics on this, a sorc should have no problem aoe-knocking the trash while the DPS burn them down, they just need to be told to do it. The stun-dmg ability of the healer wipes half the life off a guy and stuns them for 3 seconds. As a sorc, I also pre-healed the tank before trash comes out since I know I'm going to expend some effort on trash (and probably at least 1 GCD). It was better for me to DPS trash than DPS the boss, since I didn't have to go balls to the wall healing.

    Only defence thing I'd say is that know that when people take AOE damage, healers are going to try to keep multiple people alive, so blow cooldowns then. Also, make sure to use a stim then as well if things are going really rough.

    Finally, people need to drag mobs nearer to you for you to be able to pick them up easily (mostly a wow thing). They also should stack for AOE heals later in the game, but since I'm not there, I'm not sure how usefull that tactic is.


    A piece of advice on camera positioning. You can set your camera max trail distance. I usually stand in front of the boss, with the boss facing away from the group, then move my camera angle to be facing my left side and the boss' left side. That pretty much lets me see myself, the boss, my team, and makes targeting much easier. You also should have your mouse cursor near where spawns occur, not hovering over the boss. You can also set up a focus target, making targeting easier. It's always when you get into tanking a boss fight and focus ont he boss that you forget to watch for adds (at least for me). I constantly have to keep mentally preparing for adds and actually watch other players' HP as well, in case I simply miss a mob attacking a DPS.

    cuellar on
    "Fuck newbies. They deserve it for not being high enough level to fight back." - TDL
  • BadwrongBadwrong TokyoRegistered User regular
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Well, if it works for you, that's what matters...for my play style, you've given up way too much to get Unstoppable. No Revenge, no Heavy Handed, no Sweeping Fury, no Crushing Blow. You gave up all that to get 4s of reduced damage after a Force Charge. Crushing Blow is probably enough for me personally not to do it, because CB is an important part of my rotation.

    It is nice that the system seems to support quite a few different viable specs though.

    So you are rage starved?

    I care more about holding aggro as much as possible, so I guess my style is much different.

    Steam: Badwrong || Xbox: Duncan Dohnuts || PSN: Buc_wild

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    Bobble wrote:
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    Equipment, really, is a huge deal. For her, I'd suggest ditching all crew skills and using the cash to keep equipment up to date. I didn't update my equip for a few levels, then went through and updated every single thing with mostly orange gear. My heals jumped 40%, and I was already healing fine in FPs.

    Same for tanks, keep those stats up. My sage can always tell when a tank isn't running with up to date equipment.

    Ditching crew skills is completely unnecessary. You can keep your gear up to date while still leveling crew skills. Run quests, get commendations, buy mods/gear. Or, if you happened to pick cybertech, just make the armoring/mods yourself.

    +1

    I'm running Synthweaving on my Assassin and I've been able to keep up-to-date using that and Oranges. Since mods are cheap with commendations, you can stay on top super easy.

    So far as tanking goes...I feel like without target of target especially, you have to be way more aware of the situation than you might have had to be in WoW (easy point of comparison). With the last boss in Hammer, running out, quick shock, back in, has been enough to pick up one, the dps can totally handle the second one, as its just a standard enemy. I'm getting the feeling that come end game, there is going to be a lot of offtank/dps offtank action. I don't think its a bad thing, I just think people are still thinking of this in terms of the "pull it all and let the gods sort them out" mentality that tanking started going in WoW. In a lot of ways I feel like we're back in vanilla WoW (which I adored) in terms of thinking about the pulls and not just spam swipe, cleave, consecrate while the mage goes crazy.

    Mandalorian and the boarding party though...there you need some good opening CC and a dps that can take a few hits if necessary.

    tl;dr: Brave new world, everyone is still learning the ins and outs of the new classes.

    steam_sig.png
  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    Badwrong wrote:
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Well, if it works for you, that's what matters...for my play style, you've given up way too much to get Unstoppable. No Revenge, no Heavy Handed, no Sweeping Fury, no Crushing Blow. You gave up all that to get 4s of reduced damage after a Force Charge. Crushing Blow is probably enough for me personally not to do it, because CB is an important part of my rotation.

    It is nice that the system seems to support quite a few different viable specs though.

    So you are rage starved?

    I care more about holding aggro as much as possible, so I guess my style is much different.

    You care about holding agro, yet you gave up one of our best agro skills (Crushing Blow) to get Unstoppable.

    I'm not sitting here nit picking at your spec, it isn't a competition. You play your way, I play mine.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • DacDac Registered User regular
    Whoo just beat Maelstrom Prison.

    Fuck yeah, STORY.

    Steam: catseye543
    PSN: ShogunGunshow
    Origin: ShogunGunshow
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Well, if it works for you, that's what matters...for my play style, you've given up way too much to get Unstoppable. No Revenge, no Heavy Handed, no Sweeping Fury, no Crushing Blow. You gave up all that to get 4s of reduced damage after a Force Charge. Crushing Blow is probably enough for me personally not to do it, because CB is an important part of my rotation.

    It is nice that the system seems to support quite a few different viable specs though.

    A note but he didn't really give up (if we work on 'give up' as meaning 'things which cannot be taken due to lack of points after taking our other goal') anything to get Unstoppable, it was more a personal build choice of his. If you look in the Defense/Immortal tree he's got all of the lower level talents as well as 2 points in Thrown Gauntlet and the 1 point in turning Leap into a Stun. It's perfectly possible to get all of what you mentioned except for Crushing Blow/Guardian Slash and 1 point in Dark Blood while having 12 points to get the Force Leap 20% damage reduction.

    For instance, this is my build (Guardian) that I'm considering: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMGzubrouzZhGM0M.1

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Peff wrote:
    So far as tanking goes...I feel like without target of target especially, you have to be way more aware of the situation than you might have had to be in WoW (easy point of comparison). With the last boss in Hammer, running out, quick shock, back in, has been enough to pick up one, the dps can totally handle the second one, as its just a standard enemy. I'm getting the feeling that come end game, there is going to be a lot of offtank/dps offtank action. I don't think its a bad thing, I just think people are still thinking of this in terms of the "pull it all and let the gods sort them out" mentality that tanking started going in WoW. In a lot of ways I feel like we're back in vanilla WoW (which I adored) in terms of thinking about the pulls and not just spam swipe, cleave, consecrate while the mage goes crazy.

    Mandalorian and the boarding party though...there you need some good opening CC and a dps that can take a few hits if necessary.

    tl;dr: Brave new world, everyone is still learning the ins and outs of the new classes.

    My personal experience so far with tanking and general rule of thumb: I will tank the Strongs, Elites, and Champions. I will do everything I can to keep them on me and honestly, Saber Throwing one, Leaping to another, popping challenging Call, Force Sweeping, and then chaining Cyclone Slash 3x with Combat Focus popped usually gets and keep everything on me even with the DPS AOEing like mad.

    But standards? The DPS can deal with those. At even level no class should be having trouble with standards even in sufficient quantity and with the flashpoints in this game there tend to be a fair number of standards filling in groups. A single DPS can AOE down a group of them, I've seen. I pretty much ignore them in favour of tanking anything else that actually does damage, of which there might be 3-4 of per pull.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Yeah, absolutely. Tanks should basically be ignoring any Standard adds, it's just a waste of time and resources to try and tag them when decent DPS will burn them down near instantly.

  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    Standards are pretty much in the flashpoints to make DPSing trash more "heroic" feeling, since DPSers are leaping around slinging rocks and shit to kill them. They put out considerable damage, so any group who isn't having their DPS explode them first is doing it wrong. I just tell dps to prioritize based just like you would solo. Standard, strong, elite, then champ. It's worked quite well so far, though I'm with RL friends and guildmates so it's not like I'm having to rely on pugs or anything.

  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    Aegis wrote:
    GnomeTank wrote:
    Well, if it works for you, that's what matters...for my play style, you've given up way too much to get Unstoppable. No Revenge, no Heavy Handed, no Sweeping Fury, no Crushing Blow. You gave up all that to get 4s of reduced damage after a Force Charge. Crushing Blow is probably enough for me personally not to do it, because CB is an important part of my rotation.

    It is nice that the system seems to support quite a few different viable specs though.

    A note but he didn't really give up (if we work on 'give up' as meaning 'things which cannot be taken due to lack of points after taking our other goal') anything to get Unstoppable, it was more a personal build choice of his. If you look in the Defense/Immortal tree he's got all of the lower level talents as well as 2 points in Thrown Gauntlet and the 1 point in turning Leap into a Stun. It's perfectly possible to get all of what you mentioned except for Crushing Blow/Guardian Slash and 1 point in Dark Blood while having 12 points to get the Force Leap 20% damage reduction.

    For instance, this is my build (Guardian) that I'm considering: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMGzubrouzZhGM0M.1

    This is fine, but even if you're going to skip Guardian Slash(I never would), why go 3/3 in free blade storm rather than 3/3 in pacification, to make hilt strike and force sweep, two of our highest damage abilities(even on single targets for sweep) hit 10% harder?

  • FoefallerFoefaller Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    A little late, but in most of my successful (everyone at the 16-20 range) attempts at the final boss in Hammer Station, someone was interrupting the Sweeping Gunfire ability he does to keep his dps down, especially if the tank is dumb enough to not have the guy facing away from everyone else. In fact, IMO, protecting the party from that abilty is more important than grabing the adds he spawns, especially if your dps is quick to pull them off the healer themselves.

    Thing is, noone gets interrupts untill level 18 (and Commandos and Mercanarys don't get one at all) so if you're still 17, and the other members are too busy healing/dpsing down adds to do it, that might be where you were struggling at.

    Also, companions fail in that fight, as they do in almost any fight that requires them to move constantly (grenades will always off them before you get anywhere in that fight.)

    Foefaller on
    steam_sig.png
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    Joshmvii wrote:
    This is fine, but even if you're going to skip Guardian Slash(I never would), why go 3/3 in free blade storm rather than 3/3 in pacification, to make hilt strike and force sweep, two of our highest damage abilities(even on single targets for sweep) hit 10% harder?

    I don't like a non-100% proc and I like the proc itself (ie- I wouldn't drop it to 0) given the cost of Blade Storm. And it's already boosted +35% from Swelling Winds so I don't see the burgeoning need for it to do just that little bit more, though I've gone back and forth as to whether that single point in Inner Peace couldn't be moved to Pacification instead (the endure duration is forgettable and while I like damage reduction, 2% more for a damage type that seems to be the domain of dots seems like it would only be reducing at most 10s of points of damage).

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    I have 1 point in that first tier talent so it's a 33% chance on leap for a free blade storm. It's just a nice free bonus when it procs, but I really only put the point there because you have to in order to get to tier 2, and 10% more damage on both hilt strike and force sweep is definitely not non-negligible. Either way, the numbers in this game are still small enough that none of these talents are really a massive difference one way or another, which I kind of like. I hope the game sticks to that.

  • AstaleAstale Registered User regular
    Foefaller wrote:
    A little late, but in most of my successful (everyone at the 16-20 range) attempts at the final boss in Hammer Station, someone was interrupting the Sweeping Gunfire ability he does to keep his dps down, especially if the tank is dumb enough to not have the guy facing away from everyone else. In fact, IMO, protecting the party from that abilty is more important than grabing the adds he spawns, especially if your dps is quick to pull them off the healer themselves.

    Thing is, noone gets interrupts untill level 18 (and Commandos and Mercanarys don't get one at all) so if you're still 17, and the other members are too busy healing/dpsing down adds to do it, that might be where you were struggling at.

    Also, companions fail in that fight, as they do in almost any fight that requires them to move constantly (grenades will always off them before you get anywhere in that fight.)

    I'd actually say trying to have him face away from *everyone* else is a pretty bad idea, since the only direction that usually is with the deeps running all over........is towards the asteroid gun. And he loves to use that punt! So yeah, it could go much better, or he could punt your tank into an oncoming rock that's four screens high. I'd just tell my group to stop being geese, he's easily doable just tanking him towards one side and hoping the dps know better than to run behind the tank if they're turning him.

    Really the only issue with him is when there are a dozen of those, well I don't know what you call them, ballons? Well, enough of those out and people just start running around like they're mentally handicapped. Even then, I did it with two people and companions at barely over level (it was just kinda slow) so if the boss fight is giving you serious issues someone really doesn't know what to do.

  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    Astale wrote:
    I'd actually say trying to have him face away from *everyone* else is a pretty bad idea, since the only direction that usually is with the deeps running all over........is towards the asteroid gun.

    Ass to the computer console.

  • BadwrongBadwrong TokyoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2012
    We took a shot at the first guy in Hard Mode EV again, got him down in three tries.

    Its really just the need for extra dps, and timing taunts at the start so dps can unload sooner. So I use single target taunt, then aoe taunt, then backhand... all staggered.

    We also found, that when we go to line of sight the rockets, ranged DPS can still sit there next to the tower and attack while they are healed and shielded.

    He does have some bad RNG luck, we ran in once, I grabbed aggro, then before anything could happen he fired a rocket at a healer that one shotted her. This is a random rocket he fires at everyone and its the only time we've seen it one shot someone. But it did it twice to her, again after the battle rez. Just seemed odd.

    Replaced the tier 2 gloves I got off him in normal mode with tier 3.

    Badwrong on
    Steam: Badwrong || Xbox: Duncan Dohnuts || PSN: Buc_wild

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • CubemonkeyCubemonkey Registered User regular
    How hard is it to level a Vanguard? Do they do ok versus elites and the like? I hear that Commandos blow through just about everything.

    Stahl - 50 Sage - The Old Republic
    Rigorous Scholarship
  • CowSharkCowShark Registered User regular
    I ain't know about Vanguards, but Commandos get giant guns, and playing one (up to 20 so far) has been a laugh riot for me.

  • BobbleBobble Registered User regular
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    How hard is it to level a Vanguard? Do they do ok versus elites and the like? I hear that Commandos blow through just about everything.

    As a powertech (BH mirror to Vanguard), I love fighting elites. However, Bounty Hunters get their healing companion first, which helps with elites. That said, I could probably kill 'em with a dps companion too, as it shortens the fights.

  • skippymchaggisskippymchaggis Registered User regular
    50 Vanguard here. Vanguard was easy to level. elites are not really a problem. you get a healer pet 2nd, and that's who I use most of the time. as a commando, you can sorta pick and choose. but with the healer pet, I never had any real down time. put her in "blaster" stance, and she still heals plenty. it also will get you used to using your abilities to stay alive rather than depending on healers. you'll get healed, but it's not quite like dedicated player healing.

  • eMoandereMoander Registered User regular
    Bobble wrote:
    Cubemonkey wrote:
    How hard is it to level a Vanguard? Do they do ok versus elites and the like? I hear that Commandos blow through just about everything.

    As a powertech (BH mirror to Vanguard), I love fighting elites. However, Bounty Hunters get their healing companion first, which helps with elites. That said, I could probably kill 'em with a dps companion too, as it shortens the fights.
    I'm also leveling a Powertech in tank spec, so I'll second this. I can pretty much tear through anything at even or +1 levels with basically no downtime as long as I have Mako out. However, I've tried a couple times to switch to a dps companion and it has not been pretty. Granted, I haven't been keeping the dps guys geared up as well, but I'm hesitant to claim I'd be anywhere near as effective without a pocket healer.

    Which kind of sucks, since while I love Mako, I would much rather be using Blizz or Skadge. :(

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  • JepheryJephery Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    I leveled a Mercenary to 50, dps spec'd, and my tank spec'd Vanguard is about to hit 50. The /played is pretty much the same between the two. Mercenary was a lot easier in some respects because having a full CC makes solo'ing heroic 2s a breeze, while on my Vanguard I had to kite a ton.

    At lower levels, a dps companion is nice to make things faster, but when you get higher the mobs start hitting harder and the healer reduces your downtime significantly. This applies to every class and spec.

    Jephery on
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  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    I used my healer companion from the time I got him until 50. Now that my gear is starting to flat out-stat the mobs for the dailies and such, I've started switching to a DPS companion more. Some people swear by their DPS companion, and that's fine, but I find the leveling process as an Immortal specced Juggernaut infinitely more smooth when using my healer pet. Each fight may take a bit longer, but you make up for it with little to no downtime. I was using Channel Hatred maybe once every six or seventh fight, and usually only if I fought an elite.

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    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
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  • Foolish ChaosFoolish Chaos Registered User regular
    Powertech here.

    I've never played a tanking class in an mmo before, so maybe this is just the norm, but I'm finding that shield tech is just the tree to be in. Not just in terms of tanking, but also damage. Even just looking at Ion Gas Cylinder (the tanking stance) as opposed to Combustible Gas Cylinder (a "dps" stance), they are comparible in terms of damage. Ion deals burst, while Combustible deals more in a dot. But with Ion, Im also getting far more survivability, and I get to tank.

    Can someone who has expirimented reassure me that the other trees will lead to you doing a good amount more damage? I'm just not seeing it.

  • JoshmviiJoshmvii Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    I haven't played BH/Trooper enough to speak specifically, but I can 100% guarantee the dps specs will crush you in damage output if played/geared/specced properly. The tank specs do respectable damage, but it's just a different world.

    Joshmvii on
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    It also depends on level. DPS specs will start to pull away as they start grabbing more skills from their tree.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    Powertech here.

    I've never played a tanking class in an mmo before, so maybe this is just the norm, but I'm finding that shield tech is just the tree to be in. Not just in terms of tanking, but also damage. Even just looking at Ion Gas Cylinder (the tanking stance) as opposed to Combustible Gas Cylinder (a "dps" stance), they are comparible in terms of damage. Ion deals burst, while Combustible deals more in a dot. But with Ion, Im also getting far more survivability, and I get to tank.

    Can someone who has expirimented reassure me that the other trees will lead to you doing a good amount more damage? I'm just not seeing it.

    There is a difference, but even when you get near the capstones, it's not that huge. Not nearly as much as say a Prot Warrior v. a Fury Warrior in WoW.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
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