So now there are quite a few people at 55 who have had some time to investigate various builds i was hoping that a few questions i have may be answered without just guessing ....

1/ Given that the shields have been changed in 2.0, is a full tank build with full tank gear a viable option in PVP now?

2/ I have read how much better infiltration is in 2.0, is there any point in balance builds any more

3/ what is your preferred build and gearing for 2.0 and why

Full Infiltration. Force Potency, CV Strike x 2, Force Project, Breach, Backstab, Spinning Strike = Dead = Right to the next target because Force Potency is off CD and can just keep doing this over and over again.

/thread

Balance is cool if you just want to DoT people and not actually kill people. It's not near as good as it used to be. Which is sad this was the most fun spec I've ever played in SWTOR but just watching what Infiltration can do is stupid for me to stay Balance.

Can't say much about Tank spec besides go tank for a healer?

Balance is cool if you just want to DoT people and not actually kill people. It's not near as good as it used to be. Which is sad this was the most fun spec I've ever played in SWTOR but just watching what Infiltration can do is stupid for me to stay Balance.

That seem to be the general consensus. So many posts during the PTS and balance goes live as crap as it was on the PTS. It is outright depressing. I'm on the verge of removing my Balance Shadow altogether. I've never really liked the rogue archetype. Balance, to me, was a proper mid-range fighter. A squishy melee class that relied on kiting, and had lots of utility in form of a 30m 8s mez+2s stun and 30m 2s root. It was a wonderful class to play for pvp. Now it's just broken. Have fun killing stuff with double strike.

1/ Given that the shields have been changed in 2.0, is a full tank build with full tank gear a viable option in PVP now?

Full tank build with full tank gear was a was option even before.

I scrapped my Balance build and am currently running an 35/15 Infil/blanace hybrid and am having a ball at lvl 53

You can put enough points into balance to get FiB, which was the best power in that tree anyway. DoTs never were a great option for PvP and are now redundant.

This way you get infil tactics and FiB, as well a low slash - which, along with force stun, gives you 2 stuns on instant cast, 1 mez and one 1.5 second stun (force lift).

By 55 I should also have enough points to get Clairvoyant strike too.

It's a utility moster. Plus it's a lot more melee-focussed and fun to play.

The infiltration/Balance build sounds interesting, specially for levelling to 55 as FiB is amazing for dealing with weak groups!

Any thought on the change of shield mechanics??

I scrapped my Balance build and am currently running an 35/15 Infil/blanace hybrid and am having a ball at lvl 53

 

You can put enough points into balance to get FiB, which was the best power in that tree anyway. DoTs never were a great option for PvP and are now redundant.

 

This way you get infil tactics and FiB, as well a low slash - which, along with force stun, gives you 2 stuns on instant cast, 1 mez and one 1.5 second stun (force lift).

 

By 55 I should also have enough points to get Clairvoyant strike too.

 

It's a utility moster. Plus it's a lot more melee-focussed and fun to play.

You can't have clairvoyant strike with 15 points in balance.

I scrapped my Balance build and am currently running an 35/15 Infil/blanace hybrid and am having a ball at lvl 53

 

You can put enough points into balance to get FiB, which was the best power in that tree anyway. DoTs never were a great option for PvP and are now redundant.

 

This way you get infil tactics and FiB, as well a low slash - which, along with force stun, gives you 2 stuns on instant cast, 1 mez and one 1.5 second stun (force lift).

 

By 55 I should also have enough points to get Clairvoyant strike too.

 

It's a utility moster. Plus it's a lot more melee-focussed and fun to play.

Meh. Nothing special. Just another modified Wakajinn build. Also you only get 46 points. Your build has 50.

Heres my level 55 Inf build Im am currently PvPing with: Level 55 PvP Inf Build

Thanks FrogSkin

Can any one tell me why no one ever uses nerve wrecking it seems that its an easy 6% increase to shadow strike ...

Thanks FrogSkin

Can any one tell me why no one ever uses nerve wrecking it seems that its an easy 6% increase to shadow strike ...

Simply put, that talent is way too situational to be worth the 2 talent points. Generally, with current GCDs and the stun times of force stun/kick you only get one attack off during that stun duration (2 if you're lucky). So you're spending 2 talent points on a 6% damage increase on a SINGLE attack.

I feel the same about Judgement as well, but it has better benefits that occur more often than 1 or 2 times a minute. Nerve Wracking, however, is a waste of talent points.

Simply put, that talent is way too situational to be worth the 2 talent points. Generally, with current GCDs and the stun times of force stun/kick you only get one attack off during that stun duration (2 if you're lucky). So you're spending 2 talent points on a 6% damage increase on a SINGLE attack.

 

I feel the same about Judgement as well, but it has better benefits that occur more often than 1 or 2 times a minute. Nerve Wracking, however, is a waste of talent points.

but in order to progress to the next tree level you will need to put points in either a defence talent or this surely if you are pure dps a 6% increase on 1-2 moves is better than an increase in the duration of force slow for example. can you link your build for discussion please

At least for me this is the cleanest, most optimal use of skill points for my PVP Shadow infiltration build. I use Spinning strike often as a finisher so Judgment is a no brainer. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the "goto" build for shadow PVP in 2.0.

5/36/5

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601bcZfrfRzGbRrbzzZcM.3

but in order to progress to the next tree level you will need to put points in either a defence talent or this surely if you are pure dps a 6% increase on 1-2 moves is better than an increase in the duration of force slow for example. can you link your build for discussion please

If I'm running infiltration, I generally go with this build. I understand your 'pure dps' point of view, but being able to have force slow more readily available and 70% movement reduction after kick lowers the chance of being kited. You can't do damage if you can't reach them.

This works pretty well for me, but honestly I like using my kinetic combat build which focuses on project / shadow wrap procs for damage dealing. So far it works well for me with project only costing 29 force, but that may change when everyone starts min/maxing at level 55.

If I'm running infiltration, I generally go with this build. I understand your 'pure dps' point of view, but being able to have force slow more readily available and 70% movement reduction after kick lowers the chance of being kited. You can't do damage if you can't reach them.

 

This works pretty well for me, but honestly I like using my kinetic combat build which focuses on project / shadow wrap procs for damage dealing. So far it works well for me with project only costing 29 force, but that may change when everyone starts min/maxing at level 55.

I would be really interested in a real life pvp dps comparison between your kinetic and infiltration builds, i think with the kinetic build it may be easier to deal damage continuously rather than relying on single targets and stuns ..

My Shadow isn't level 55 yet, but I'll be using Wakajinn 2.0 that was mentioned earlier. The reasons being:

1. 3 charges of Force Potency with the set bonus, 3 hard-hitting, instant Force attacks to burst people down (and available whenever you open from stealth).

2. Burst damage requires no setup (no super obvious Clairvoyant Strike YoYo animation screaming at the enemy team to taunt you/Guard your target/CC you/pop defensives).

2. A 30m range AoE is very valuable for interrupting node caps against multiple opponents, without requiring direct line of sight. Also good for putting pressure on healers now that Force in Balance hits 5 targets.

Basically the same reasons that made the original Wakajinn better in 1.7 (in my opinion anyway). Clairvoyant Strike is just too predictable, and Force in Balance is too damn awesome (even more so now with 2 extra targets and Force Potency becoming available every time you go into stealth).

I have been looking for a decent hyrbid since 2.0 came out. This one does seem to combine, damage with annoyance factor. The thing is, usually if you are looking at node guarding and interupting you want to have more survivability: hence why the 23/1/18 hyrbid was so popular prior to 2.0.

I am currently looking into a viable KC balance hybrid, (would love to find a viable infiltration/KC hybrid, but I doubt that will ever happen give the trees)

I have been looking for a decent hyrbid since 2.0 came out. This one does seem to combine, damage with annoyance factor. The thing is, usually if you are looking at node guarding and interupting you want to have more survivability: hence why the 23/1/18 hyrbid was so popular prior to 2.0.

 

I am currently looking into a viable KC balance hybrid, (would love to find a viable infiltration/KC hybrid, but I doubt that will ever happen give the trees)

24/7/15 would seem like a viable Kinetic/Balance hybrid (could optionally take 2 points from Mental Fortitude and put them in Applied Force for a little more DPS).

I've been having a lot of fun and topping DPS charts with 0/23/23.

I'm assuming you run Force Technique since Force Strike requires that. In which case, sure, you can get high numbers by spreading Breach DoTs around... but I still feel 0/31/15 would be more useful to your team, since we all know that burst damage is king in PvP.

24/7/15 would seem like a viable Kinetic/Balance hybrid (could optionally take 2 points from Mental Fortitude and put them in Applied Force for a little more DPS).

Yup, there is such a good synergy around PA right now between kinetic and balance, that is it really tempting to hybridize like this.

However, I do feel that Harnessed Shadows is better than Force in Balance. More damage, more survivability.

Si if I had to make an hybrid build that raise to 24 in kinetic tree, I'll push it to 27 anytime without a doubt, like this: 27/7/12

An alternative would be to remove 2 points in misdirection and 1 from celerity to have FIB too.

Another interesting point is: There is now mods for sale that bring mix of defense/offense as stats.

So you can get shield and power on the same mod, which bring both better force regen with DBSD, and damage.

I think this is a really interesting way to explore.

Force in Balance still has the advantages of being instant cast, 30m range, 5-target AoE, and internal damage. Harnessed Shadows is nice, but loses a lot of its value against a smart opponent who watches your buffs and has a stun/sleep/knockback ready to interrupt it (or runs out of your line of sight). FiB is great for interrupting node caps, too.

It's entirely possible that my love for Force in Balance on my Sage is influencing my opinion, though.

Even if someone watch you buffs, it still easy to use HS.

Resolution, Resilience, or cc yourself.

When you are careful, this is not that hard to almost never get interrupted when using it.

My Shadow isn't level 55 yet, but I'll be using Wakajinn 2.0 that was mentioned earlier.

I'm using the same.

I'm curious, what is your opener?

Something like, Force Potency (in stealth) => Spinning Kick => Shadow Strike => Force Breach => FiB => Project ?

Even if someone watch you buffs, it still easy to use HS.

Resolution, Resilience, or cc yourself.

When you are careful, this is not that hard to almost never get interrupted when using it.

Resilience is only about once a minute, same for Force Stun (and that's only on one target). HS is really great 1v1, but I'd rather have FiB for larger battles. They are both valid choices though, mostly a matter of preference.

I'm using the same.

 

I'm curious, what is your opener?

 

Something like, Force Potency (in stealth) => Spinning Kick => Shadow Strike => Force Breach => FiB => Project ?

1v1, usually this:

1. Spinning Kick

1a. Force Potency

2. Force Breach

3. Shadow Strike

4. Force in Balance

5. Project

6. Double Strike*

7. Double Strike*

8. Low Slash

9. Mind Crush

10. Shadow Strike

* One of these will likely be replaced with Shadow Strike (unless I'm really unlucky with Infiltration Tactics).

Resilience, Force Slow, Force Stun are often used of course, but whether or not I use those depends on too many variables, so I left them out. If it's not a 1v1, I try not to waste Low Slash on the main target either, but will attempt to use it on a nearby healer or similar.