Both in PvP and PvE it is inevitable that I will face a situation where I have 0 ammo if I want to be doing any damage at all. And when the ammo reaches 0 and you have used both of your ammo-regen abilities, it is a ***** to get back up - unless you're willing to keep smashing Hammer Shot for a minute. I'm specced for Energy Blast (http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801rMGrdoroGRZMcbZb.2 - I use this in both PvP and PvE for practicality's sake, can't be respeccing all the time after all ) but that doesn't help much in the long run.

One reason for this is Stockstrike. It is a great attack in many ways: it maintains aggro, it deals nice damage, it triggers your Ion Cell -damage (so it can be paired with High Impact Bolt) and you have a chance to have it's cooldown dropped. However, it costs 2 ammo, a sixth of the whole amount available. Not only does it make little sense for Stockstrike to use ammo at all, but its cost in contrast to its importance in unsustainable.

I propose either one of these:

1) Drop the cost to 1 ammo.

2) Make an adjustment to the Static Shield -talent, so that when you happen to get the cooldown of Stockstrike removed, make the next Stockstrike free for an arbitrary amount of time, kinda like with Storm->Static Surge.

Comments, advise on my spec/rotation, your own ideas on changes to ammo preservation?

Both in PvP and PvE it is inevitable that I will face a situation where I have 0 ammo if I want to be doing any damage at all.

Not really. Instead of spamming Ion Pulse when Stockstrike and HiB are on CD, use Hammer Shot instead. You should only be using Ion Pulse when you have so much ammo that it would be wasted otherwise. If you're playing properly, this should happen plenty often (i.e. use Ion Pulse whenever you have 11-12 ammo and no other ammo consumers). If you're having problems with your resource management, it's your own fault rather than it being the fault of the class's design.

As a Vanguard tank, I can confidently say that ammo management is really easy once you understand the mechanics. I can't speak for PvP, but in PvE You should always be keeping yourself in the fastest "tier" of ammo regen, which means you should have at least 8 ammo at all times. You're going to accomplish this by utilizing Energy Blast and weaving in Hammer Shots as filler. Burning through your ammo quickly results in lower DPS in the long run because you can't use your abilities. Understanding your priority of abilities is important for this. As a tank, you'll likely want your 4 stacks of Power Screen up as quickly as possible in boss fights to make the healer's job easier, so you'll want to start off with Ion Pulses and Energy Blast, possibly using Reserve Powercell for your last one. Then your priority for single-target threat will be:

Ion Pulse/Energy Blast (if Power Screen is about to drop off)

Stock Strike (on CD)

High Impact Bolt

Sticky Grenade

Hammer Shots will be filler and Energy Blast will pretty much be used on CD as long as it won't max out your ammo. Ion Pulse will be your filler if you have ammo to spare and all your other abilities are on CD.Once the fight has started you'll always want to have more than 7 ammo (for max regen) and less than 12 ammo (maxed ammo represents wasted resources).

Thanks for the tips.

So you reckon I shouldn't be using Full Auto? I usually use Pulse Cannon if I can get guaranteed multiple hits, but should I drop that altogether (or always pair it with Reserve Powercell)?

So you reckon I shouldn't be using Full Auto?

You shouldn't use using Full Auto whatsoever. You should just take it off of your bar. The only attacks you should have on there are Stockstrike, Hammershot, HiB, Energy Blast, Ion Pulse, Explosive Surge, Mortar Volley, and Pulse Cannon. With the possible exception of Sticky Grenade (which is either useful or useless depending on your personal preference), every other attack you've got has no place on your bar.

As a tank, you get hit in the face with regularity. Getting hit in the face while channeling costs you ticks of damage. Lost ticks of damage make Full Auto even worse for ammo maintenance, not to mention that the damage isn't even all that good on it in the first place. The specs that do use it only use it when there is a buff proc or it procs a buff.

I usually use Pulse Cannon if I can get guaranteed multiple hits, but should I drop that altogether (or always pair it with Reserve Powercell)?

You still want to use Pulse Cannon if you can guarantee multiple hits. It doesn't suffer from pushback like most channels do, so you're safe in that sense, and it provides excellent damage for the cost and time.

Thanks for the tips.

 

So you reckon I shouldn't be using Full Auto? I usually use Pulse Cannon if I can get guaranteed multiple hits, but should I drop that altogether (or always pair it with Reserve Powercell)?

I've never found Full Auto to be useful as a tank; there's always something better. Pulse Cannon can be useful for AoE threat. I wouldn't use Reserve Powercell with it unless your casting at 8 ammo. Since it's channeled, you'll have regenerated ammo while it was channeling. If you use it from full, for example, you'll likely have full or nearly full ammo when it finishes, which means wasted ammo. As far as AoE threat is concerned, Mortar Volley is a good opener followed by a Storm in. Sticky Grenade is your next best AoE threat ability, so get one in the middle of the pack. With Static Surge talented, Storm will give you two free uses of Explosive Surge. Use these as filler in between ammo abilities (it serves the same purpose as Hammer Shot filler).

Full Auto is for those really rare moments when you are stuck at 20-30 meters out and aren't being pelted by ten different enemies.

Or as the others said already, you can probably take it off your bar and not miss it 98% of the time.