Hahaha its the 64000 question isn't it :-) So my approach was to think about what is the Bread and Butter of Vanguards and PowerTechs.. We have no real CC... our so-called Defensive Cool down shield only reduces damage by 25% (unlike the beloved Sorc/Sages whose Bubble is available often and reduces damage taken by a certain amount..or the beloved Juggs with their Sonic Barrier which also absorbs a specific amount of damage) and we're easily globaled in a 4 v 4... so we hang our hat on our BURST and by BURST that means we gotta CRIT and CRIT often and it better be for a LOT (on my Vanguard) --- - I got Adept Packages for Ear and Implants - I removed 4 Advanced Initiative Ehnchancements 40X from my Exemplar gear and replaced them with 39X Crit Enh..(making my accuracy 101.00%) - Then I added 3 OverKill Augments and the other 11 I went with power - My thought process to this approach is that I'm going to crit almost half the time I attack... However when I don't crit..I still need my attacks to be as hard as possible..hence the power stack. When you add Battle Focus (aka Explosive Fuel for PTs) my crit chance shoots up to a ridiculous 66% All of this brought my Crit rating to 1561 and my Tech Critical Chance to 41.27% & Critical Multiplier to 70.16% Last night running around in Quesh Huttball.. I melted a Sorc with half -health with an 8K tactical surge (magnetic blast)..followed my Assault Plastique (Thermal Detonator) and because that gives the "Susceptible" debuff, I hit him with a 12K high impact bolt (Rail shot) ..then it happened ...a 22K Cell Burst (Energy Burst) and the sorc was gone. Im not going to lie to you and say that ish didn't feel good haha

/signed I'm all about the Cross Server Queue and match up fix.

You know it! hahaha

My "rotation" and again I use the word rotation in quotes because in PVP the odds of pulling full rotation like in PVE are extremely low...however this is what I do: Corrosive Grenade -> Corrosive Dart -> (as I move in on my target) Toxic Blast -> Shiv -> Lethal Strike -> Corrosive Assault x 3 (Fatality Proc) -> Shiv -> Corrosive Assault -> [REPEAT] (please note that some would say Shiv before Toxic Blast..however if Im running up to an opponent and my holo-traverse is on cooldown I might as well hit with toxic blast once in range)

Agree with what this poster said..unlike Concealment in which you can sometime overpower your opponent from stealth, using Lethal strike from stealth wont really do much for you. The approach to lethality in boxer terminology is to stick and move with your dots (or as I like to say ducking,dodging,weaving,and dotting) You dot up your foes from 30m ... hit em with toxic blast at 10m... rush em and stick the shiv in their ribs.. this is usually when I use Lethal Strike..right after a shiv to get the Cut Down effect on my dots in conjunction with CA. Then you run right out of 4m melee range and go in on them with CA's. This "rotation" allows me to get 3 CA's in.. I usually finish my "rotation" with a sever tendon/frag grenade filler combo. Sometimes my ending "rotation" combo is another Shiv followed by a CA... when I start the "rotation" over again with CG and CD..toxic blast is off cooldown and so is Lethal Strike. (I put the word rotation in quotes because in PVP you can't really do a standard rotation as in PVE..but optimally this is what I try to do in an ideal 1 v 1 scenario..however more likely than you're going to be interrupted and have to start your "rotation" on a new target ) Attack Approach 1: Corrosive Grenade, Corrosive Dart, Toxic Blast, Shiv, Lethal Strike, 3 Corrosive Assaults, Sever Tendon, Fragmentation Grenade [Repeat] Attack Approach 2: Corrosive Grenade, Corrosive Dart, Toxic Blast, Shiv, Lethal Strike, 3 Corrosive Assaults, Shiv, Corrosive Assault [Repeat] Defensively I do my best to be aware of where I can roll too to get out of LOS ..thats KEY in Lethality. While Exfiltrating will give you Quickening (Free Kolto Infusion after roll) and following that with Kolto/shield probes will help you survive when you're focused ..nothing will infuriate your attacker more than spending all that energy only to see you slip around the corner and heal :-)

I personally *LOVE* being a Lethality Op (just leveled a Ruffian Scoundrel on the Rep side). First of all I have to give credit to Wizbasky for showing the power of the spec. However you may view his PVP approach (and I disagree with some of it) you can't deny him the kudos for spending the time to put out quality PVP videos for Lethality. That being said what attracted me to the class is the incredible survive-ability of the spec in PVP. I've had so many players rage-chase me across warzone maps because they couldn't bring me down. I feel that with the exception of maybe Juggs and Mara's.. 1 v 1 I have no fear of any class/spec being able to kill me. Not with all of the defensive cooldowns and self healing capabilities I have at my disposal. Just understand that the class doesn't do "INSANE BURST" ..that would be the trade-off for damn near sorc-like survive-ability. You're not going to global anyone in 3 cooldowns.. no 20-25K crits ..nothing like that. But play the spec the way it was meant to be played... in boxing parlance it would be "Stick and Move..Stick and Move".. or as Wizbasky put it.. ducking, dodging, weaving and bombing..and you'll fall in love with the spec as much as I did. My only caution is that in 4 v 4 setups... Lethality kinda blows, at least in my experience. That's only due to the mechanics of our DPS..it takes a while to ramp up and target swapping isn't our strong suit. YMMV

So True. When I played the game at Launch I wanted nothing to do with glowstick wielders. I wanted GUNS :-) You can imagine my delight when I saw the trooper class trailer and discovered that I could take the butt of my gun and clock someone RIGHT IN THE GRILL..then shoot em :-D.. However my biggest issue as to why my DPS was lacking was that I was playing the "NEW" tactics/AP like the "OLD" tactics/ap just out of habit/muscle memory. Had to unlearn "Tactics/AP" and play Tactics/AP like the old Assault Specialist/Pyro.. but with Gut/RB and the awesomeness that is CB/EB.

I FOUND THE BURST!!!! Thank you all so much for the help. I've been able to make the corrections in my play and not play habitually like "old" tactics..but put emphasis on doing as much damage in a small window.. my damage has doubled and by making the alterations in my "rotation" offered in the responses.. I now see that devastating burst... Thank you Now to learn how to play my class well in YOLO Ranked

No harm done :-) I was looking for a little help .. I know there may be another VG with the same questions so I would like to keep the post as informative as possible.

I would like to add that when it comes to # of "Kills" I can be in the top 3-4 when my team has healers (which is rare) but when it comes to TOTAL DAMAGE done, I doesn't seem like I'm doing much "TOTAL" damage.. I see sorcs all the time with 1 Mill in Damage..I know because I'm not a dot spec per se Im not going to do Sorc numbers..but shouldn't I be in the ..I dunno.. 500K 800K range? Again I can do it as a Plasmatech with no problems... can't seem to reproduce it in Tactics

Hey Kwerty! Thanks for responding man.. you def gave me something to think about. In analyzing my play I don't really think about the timing of the attacks...I guess habitually I'm still playing Tactics the OLD way which really wasn't about burst but about the procs...

And there it is - I knew there'd be at least one of these non-helpul, non-insightful L2P NOOB posts *smh*

First, let me say that I've been playing a Vanguard since SWTOR launched. I played both old Assault Specialist and Tactics over the years, but Tactics was my preferred play style even before they nerfed Assault's damage back in the day. I stopped playing the game and like many, came back recently for the expansion and had to learn how to play my class again as I leveled from 55 to 60 .. I tried both Plasma and Tactics to get a feel for each. I've been grinding in Warzones to get decently geared so I can make a run in ranked and see how I do. I've followed the "conventional wisdom" that Tactics > Plasmatech in PVP. So, I've been using the spec but something is really missing or more accurately, I'm missing something. I've heard all about Tactics being "THE BEST BURST SPEC EVAH!!!!!" Yet my damage output when Tactics specced is middling at best. I seem to be stuck in 250K to 350K range in damage. Even with fully Exhumed gear, I just dont seem to have the damage capability of the light-saber wielders. Many times against Warzones full of Sages, Sin's, sorcs, Juggs, I find myself wondering if its better to just run up in Warzones naked because my armor seems to be meaningless against force using classes. So, out of frustration I switched to Plasmatech for a bit (I posted about it in one of the threads) and the difference was night and day. It seems I can defeat my opponents faster..and in Warzones my damage output is 2x to 5x that of Tactics. I've been able to win 1v1 battles more so as a Plasma than I ever did as Tactics. As far as being squishy, I don't see a difference if I'm in Tactics or Plasmatech as I die just as fast either way. If I get focused..I'm toast. Reactive Shield & Adrenaline Rush notwithstanding. I'm not willing to give up on Tactics completely, I do love the mobility of the spec and the fact that I have no channeled attacks...however I'm not seeing the superior damage output that everyone swears is there. Any advice from experienced PVP'ers is welcomed.

The fact of the matter is that the majority of PVPers out there on most servers DON'T EVEN PLAY RANKED. You think i'm lying? Please check the PVP forums or individual server forums and see thread after thread of qq regarding the lack of Rank queue pops. The majority of the PVP player base runs around in Warzones, and in Warzones.. PYRO/Plasmatech IS HELLA FUN TO PLAY and very effective. My own experience once I made the switch from Tactics/AP to Plasmatech/Pyro (I play both VG and PT) is that I did 2-3x more damage and my kill #s went up significantly in Reg as well as my personal fun ratio.

Nerfed to what exactly? We can't kill anyone 1 v 1.. we have no burst as Tactics or Assault..what is there left to take?