I'm sorry, but any tank that can't hold aggro in this game is making 1 mistake and only 1 mistake: NOT USING TAUNTS PROPERLY It's that simple. Every single fight in this game, including those that require tank swaps, you can get of a minumum of 2 taunts before the tank swap occurs. Opening rotation > single target taunt > basic rotation > aoe taunt. By this point the single target taunt is back up, you have enough threat to hold aggro. My guild has several DPS that puts out 1900+ DPS on dummies (and can maintain their DPS on boss fights) and I can hold off of them with either my Powertech tank OR my Jugg tank, with no guard, no DPS gear and no DPS stim. Even on fights with 2 targets and no cross-taunting for extra threat, 16-man hard and nightmare, with Marauders hitting Bloodthirst at the start. I say this only to establish that I'm not theorycrafting, but talking from experience. PT opening rotation: [Grapple >] Jet Charge [+explosive fuel] > Rocket Punch > Rail Shot > [single Target Taunt +][Heat Blast+] Flame Burst x 3 > Flame Sweep [free] > [AoE Taunt +] [Thermal Sensor Override] + Flamethrower/DFA I open with Grapple whenever possible for the extra threat. I generally have only 1 point in Flame Surge for 1 free Flame Sweep. Personal preference there. Keep Rocket Punch off cooldown, burn your heat til you hit 60, Vent Heat and keep going, using taunts on cooldown (remember you only need to save ONE of them for a tank swap!). The longer you delay your first taunt, the better - just don't wait TOO long! On my Jugg I do run 2x Accuracy Enhancements (in place of Shield) because his gear is much lower and I haven't had a chance to min/max him yet (hit 50 fairly recently). Jugg (hybrid) opening rotation: [saber Throw >] Charge > Impale > [Enrage +] Sunder > Force Scream > Smash > [single Target Taunt +] Force Choke > Ravage > Impale [AoE Taunt] This one will vary a lot depending on which Jugg tank spec you run. I run Hybrid (http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#101hMGzuzMZcGrMMhzzM.2) with Impale and Force Grip because I like the extra threat from Impale and the rage from not channeling Force Choke. I've tried many variations of Hybrid, and all of them can hold threat off of the best DPS out there. I prefer Hybrid for the single target tanking + extra damage reduction. These are just 2 sample opening rotations mixing in both taunts. You always use your SIngle Target taunt first and early (but not TOO early). If you know your DPS is going hard from the start, use your first taunt earlier and delay your second taunt longer. If you have the luxury of waiting a few seconds before your DPS starts, you don't even need to taunt at all (but you still should at some point). If you want, my AMR profiles for both tanks are here: PT: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/bf5e11a9-664f-4c7e-afb0-d1947be1801a Jugg: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/70dfed7e-5cfa-45c5-a282-407b5707fdb3

Hey cool! I'e been using a different spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avs0hCh27RmidG5mYWZSN2lhSlJNQmVjclFmVHluMkE#gid=0 When I plug my numbers into yours for best in slot gear in 1.6 (8994 armor, 460 defense [exotech stim], 840 shield [2x elite war hero shield relics], 612 absorb) both sheets agree that its the best in slot setup for mean mitigation! Here's the AMR profile I am building towards: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/81a384fb-ba70-4321-9e54-155caba65c67

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He wasn't using a parser, he uploaded his log to TorParse which is as close as possible to 100% accurate and very very consistent.

Perhaps I could ask you a different question, sans all the bs floating around. I am the GM of a guild with a few marauders whom I want to spur into trying carnage. I do not have a level 50 marauder to jump on and begin experimenting with. I would GREATLY appreciate it if you could explain in a nutshell your priority/rotation. The rest I can extrapolate from your parse and AMR profile. Is this your profile on AMR and the gear you used to achieve those numbers? http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/7bd063cc-4026-44e8-9740-95d6363d18c3 Thanks in advance, hopefully you are willing to respond.

Really? I missed this, that's great news! Is it automatic?

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I'm still parsing ahead on Pyro, but that's possibly due to a lack of experience with AP. Wish I had time to actually try it out, but I'm 1 of 2 tanks currently in my guild so I am never allowed to DPS

For DPS post-1.4 I'm thinking of running the same AP build for max PVE dps. Maybe drop the point in Hitman for 1 point of Powered Armor, depends on new Operation mechanics. The increased movement speed (flat 15% with 30% more on CD) and the reduction in AoE damage taken just make AP too appealing. Additionally the 60% damage on FT (which will always be up when FT is off CD) should go a LOOONG way towards bridging the gap between AP and Pyro dps. Honestly, even on existing fights in EC, the 30m IM and TD provided a lot of DPS when out of melee range (which happens on every single fight bar none) and allowed a lot of pre-loaded damage on bosses ... even on bosses such as the walker/kephess who have phases of immunity or bombers out of range ... think of all the times you are out of melee! While Pyro might still outdo AP on a dummy, I'm convinced AP will match Pyro on real fights due to additional time on target, and take less damage, due to both having damage reduction and being able to move faster to avoid damage. I too am a little worried about how my current gear will fare as AP though. I think the PvE Combat Tech set will actually be pretty good, as 8% extra RS damage on guaranteed crits will be niice. And I'm running the 285 surge/accuracy split with 235 crit. It should still be a good stat spread. I hope.

Wait, I don't understand. If you have it on Mox then you were running logs and can therefore upload it to torparse or askmrrobot. A Mox screenshot doesn't really tell us much, and in a 3 minute parse it is easy to spike your damage. Generally, it is best to do a 5-6 minute parse to get an accurate DPS number.

READ: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=503108

The argument that Pyros should have to wait to do DPS when every other class can go in hot is a silly one IMO. It makes us less viable as a DPS class, as you can stack a raid full of multiple sorcs, marauders etc who can match our DPS and yet have significantly less threat. AFAIK Pyro is the ONLY class in the game with no way to drop threat. That alone should indicate something is wrong. Now, if you are overgeared for content then yes, holding back DPS is a smart and viable thing to do. But if you are trying to do progression content (going into HM EC in Rakata gear or doing the new Nightmare EC) then holding back DPS is a good way to hit enrage. Simply said, I agree 100% with Bbare and Pyros need a threat drop. I'd settle for a 1 minute cooldown 25% reduction on a single target ... which is a crappy threat drop compared to other classes but at least it'd be SOMETHING.

Yeah, I really don't think in the current tanking environment it makes ANY difference which spec you use as far as holding aggro goes. If you can't hold aggro after 1.3 you are doing something very very wrong lol. It is interesting to see how much damage that aoe on rail shot does. I might have to give it another shot, but i'd be curious to know how much rocket punch + rail shot vs an extra flame sweep + rapid shots does on AoE. My guess is flame sweep wins. Well that's not really useful. How would you feel if someone said "Why do you keep using English, go back to your native language"? Think about it. If you don't get it, well ... I tried.

Personally I think the best spec is this: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GzGrd0roGRZMcdZb.2 So talents up for debate: Hot Iron vs Prototype Cylinders - You will do WAY more damage with Flame Burst than that piddling DoT. This is easy to see with a simple parse. Supercharged Ion Gas vs 1/2 Rail Loaders - Personally, I HATE the AoE on Rail Shot. It has the potential to cause trouble while adding an insignificant amount of damage. Trenchcutters under shield, shield generator on Firebrand/Stormcaller, aggroing adds in placing like Lost Island (stupid probe droids). This is 100% personal preference and won't make a significant impact either way. Flame Surge vs 2/2 Rail Loaders - As said above, there are many many many many ways to get those free Flame Surges in. If you use it right it's a major boost, but it takes some retraining. I am still trying to retrain myself to use it. I forget a LOT. When I do it's ridiculous though.

WHOA .. I just read this a little closer. It is all kinds of wrong. Defense AND shield both work vs the same types of attacks. You are totally confusing ATTACK TYPE with DAMAGE TYPE. There are 4 ATTACK TYPES: Ranged, Melee, Tech and Force. Combined with 4 DAMAGE TYPES: Internal, Elemental, Kinetic and Energy. Defense and Shield/Absorb all work vs ANY Melee or Ranged attack, regardless of whether the damage is internal, elemental, kinetic or energy. They are BOTH worthless vs Force or Tech attacks. Armor protects vs all Kinetic and Energy damage, regardless of the attack type. It is worthless vs internal and elemental damage. This is well documented and can be empirically proven - just look at your combat logs after a duel or something. Or here: http://taugrim.com/2012/01/19/understanding-swtors-avoidance-and-mitigation-mechanics-for-tanks-in-pvp/ Now, defense for a powertech is actually NOT the best stat. It is in fact the worst mitigation stat, in that you want more shield and absorb than defense. Using your stats: 758 Def, 500 Shield, 350 Absorb we are at a stat budget of 1608. This is faaaaar from the best in slot for tanking, even IF defense were the stat we wanted to prioritize. I consider myself to be at close to best in slot and my stat budget is 1839 with 485 Defense, 796 Shield and 558 Absorb (this is with a exotech fortitude stim). Again, taking your stats and plugging them into the tanking spreadsheet we reach a Squishiness value of 0.245427703548281 ... effectively you are taking 24.5% of incoming damage. Using my stats we achieve a value of 0.225958319224751 ... effectively 22.5%, so I am taking 2% less damage than you. Lets assume you actually itemize better while still stressing Defense, and boost yourself up to my values. If I swap out the War Hero shield relics for Defense (113x2) and my 2 Absorb 41 mods for Defense 45 ... I could achieve 801 Defense, 570 Shield and 476 Absorb. This would be a budget of 1847 (MORE overall stats than I currently have) but would still only achieve a Squishiness of 0.22924682530949. That's 22.9% ... so 0.4% more damage taken when I emphasize Defense. In addition to taking more overall damage when emphasizing Defense, I am more Spikey and am going to be Crit more often (although Hit less often). What this means is that the damage coming in to me is less smooth and harder to heal through. No brainer you want to be less squishey. And finally, when you emphasize Defense over Shield, you reduce the chances of your talents based around shield procs going off. This means you are less likely to vent heat through shielding and cooldown rocket punch through shielding. This means less DPS and less Aggro. Again, no brainer. Here is the link to my tanking spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avs0hCh27RmidElOMVJxcU1FSDM1VDdoSXBuLWF3SUE#gid=0 Here is my AMR profile: http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/bf5e11a9-664f-4c7e-afb0-d1947be1801a