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Shadow tank question re: first phase of TFB final boss


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In the first phase it seems like every time a tenticle hits me I lose multiple stacks of kinetic ward and sometimes I find I suddenly have no stacks and I just cast it a second before. It is making this phase very tricky for the healers and this is only story mode and I am 2 mods away from full BH. Is there some sort of multi-attack happening from those tenticles or is there something else going on?
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From our Assassin tank's combat log:

 

19:23:40.297 Tunneling Tentacle's Slap glances ___ for 404 kinetic damage, causing 404 threat.

19:23:40.297 Tunneling Tentacle's Slap glances ___ for 404 kinetic damage, causing 404 threat.

19:23:40.297 ___ parries Tunneling Tentacle's Slap, causing 1 threat.

19:23:40.298 ___ parries Tunneling Tentacle's Slap, causing 1 threat.

19:23:40.298 Tunneling Tentacle's Slap hits ___ for 955 kinetic damage, causing 955 threat.

 

"Slap" looks like one hit but it is actually doing 5 attacks at once so it's possible to lose 5 charges of Dark Ward / Kinetic Ward in one second. They also use "Slap" as their basic attack so it does it every 1.5 seconds or so.

Edited by dominius
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I've noticed exactly the same thing. Can't seem to keep Kinetic Ward up at all. I agree there must be multiple attacks happening, but seems pretty crappy as it makes the fight harder on the Shadow Tanks. I've completed it hard mode, so it's not impossible, just more taxing for the healers.

 

Would be nice if the developers would take a good look at Kinetic Ward and make sure it's where they want it to be.

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It is slapping 5 hits at a time:

 

[20:27:08.324] [Tunneling Tentacle {3025271884087296}:9210001450544] [@Toxxen] [slap {3025808754999296}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Damage {836045448945501}] (0 -parry {836045448945503}) <1>

[20:27:08.324] [Tunneling Tentacle {3025271884087296}:9210001450544] [@Toxxen] [slap {3025808754999296}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Damage {836045448945501}] (354 kinetic {836045448940873} -shield {836045448945509}) <354>

[20:27:08.325] [Tunneling Tentacle {3025271884087296}:9210001450544] [@Toxxen] [slap {3025808754999296}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Damage {836045448945501}] (354 kinetic {836045448940873} -shield {836045448945509}) <354>

[20:27:08.325] [Tunneling Tentacle {3025271884087296}:9210001450544] [@Toxxen] [slap {3025808754999296}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Damage {836045448945501}] (0 -parry {836045448945503}) <1>

[20:27:08.325] [Tunneling Tentacle {3025271884087296}:9210001450544] [@Toxxen] [slap {3025808754999296}] [ApplyEffect {836045448945477}: Damage {836045448945501}] (354 kinetic {836045448940873} -shield {836045448945509}) <354>

 

In this case I parried 2, shielded 3, thus losing 3 charges of Kinetic Ward all within 1 thousandth of a second. This is a fairly stupid mechanic.

Edited by divbyzero
Bad copy/paste
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We had a PT and an Assassin to tank our hm tb progression run. I healed the PT side. It was quite obvious that the Assassin was taking a pounding while I had plenty of spare time to dps and crossheal.

 

Last week our guild ran two groups. Due to dc and availability etc, we happened to have 2 PT tanks on one group and 2 Assassins on the other for the last boss. I casually mentioned that it would be fun for the healers. Both the Assassins suggested that they would have the advantages over PT with ForceShroud/Resilience in the second phase.

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My shield chance with Kinetic Ward is 67.5%. (that's the ideal for a mitigation-stacked shadow/assassin in augmented campaign gear) This appears to be about right so that Kinetic Ward evaporates about 1-1.2s before the cooldown is up when tanking the tentacle. So, this hasn't really been a problem for me, though it is extremely disconcerting to see KW down so frequently, even if it's only for a very short period of time.
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I am an assassin tank that goes for max mitigation stats and have nearly 69% shield with DW up.

 

Was losing multiple stacks of DW on both SM and HM, however it was not a major issue. I think this is one of the fights where I might need to swap my Shield pvp relic to a Def pvp relic.

 

make sure you are maxing your self heal on this fight as it makes it slightly easier for your heals. Also, sorc bubbles every now and then will not hurt. prioritize getting DW up asap after CD instead of trying to hold aggro, use taunts for that

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It is slapping 5 hits at a time:

 

In this case I parried 2, shielded 3, thus losing 3 charges of Kinetic Ward all within 1 thousandth of a second. This is a fairly stupid mechanic.

 

Its a Mechanic. You work around it. it does not affect other tank types and hence cannot be called stupid as it might hit a jugg for all 5. Its just a matter of changing tactics as an assassin and going in with higher def+hp and lower shield.

 

When you go to the second phase, get other tank to hold aggro for 2 secs, use force cloak and change relics. Have not tried if this works but in theory it should.

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I am an assassin tank that goes for max mitigation stats and have nearly 69% shield with DW up.

 

Was losing multiple stacks of DW on both SM and HM, however it was not a major issue. I think this is one of the fights where I might need to swap my Shield pvp relic to a Def pvp relic.

 

make sure you are maxing your self heal on this fight as it makes it slightly easier for your heals. Also, sorc bubbles every now and then will not hurt. prioritize getting DW up asap after CD instead of trying to hold aggro, use taunts for that

 

We kill this boss, like I said, it's not a big issue, but it is a stupid mechanic to trivialize the value of Kinetic Ward like that. Shadow tanks start 10-13% lower on overall mitigation, Kinetic Ward is one of the ways we make up for that.

 

I understand you thought I was looking for advice. I was just confirming what OP stated and why, thanks for the response though.

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Its a Mechanic. You work around it.

 

Random boss resets are *also* a mechanic (albeit unintended), but that doesn't mean that they're not stupid/broken/etc. Whether the developers' intent was to have an attack that had a more averaged damage dealt (law of large numbers means that 5 attacks are more likely to behave in a normal manner than 1 attack) or to specifically have an attack that specifically disadvantages Shad/Sins (Shad/Sins have substantially lower mitigation outside of KW/DW; any mechanic that bypasses or diminishes the uptime or effect of it, is specifically disadvantageous towards Shad/Sins compared to the other tanks because of that reliance), we would need to get a developer response. No matter how you put it, it's a mechanic that specifically makes it harder to be one variety of tank over another (and I'm not entirely sure I see a reason why Shad/Sins should be disadvantaged since there is the heuristic balance between tanks insofar as KW is balanced against the higher passive DR of VG/PTs and Guard/Juggs and the CDs are considered to be relatively consistently balanced).

Edited by Kitru
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Random boss resets are *also* a mechanic (albeit unintended), but that doesn't mean that they're not stupid/broken/etc. Whether the developers' intent was to have an attack that had a more averaged damage dealt (law of large numbers means that 5 attacks are more likely to behave in a normal manner than 1 attack) or to specifically have an attack that specifically disadvantages Shad/Sins (Shad/Sins have substantially lower mitigation outside of KW/DW; any mechanic that bypasses or diminishes the uptime or effect of it, is specifically disadvantageous towards Shad/Sins compared to the other tanks because of that reliance), we would need to get a developer response. No matter how you put it, it's a mechanic that specifically makes it harder to be one variety of tank over another (and I'm not entirely sure I see a reason why Shad/Sins should be disadvantaged since there is the heuristic balance between tanks insofar as KW is balanced against the higher passive DR of VG/PTs and Guard/Juggs and the CDs are considered to be relatively consistently balanced).

 

When I say "its a mechanic, work around it", I meant it is an intended mechanic. If you could not get that, then maybe it is time to change your signature.

 

What you have said is akin to saying why some fights have multiple enemies and some only have 1 as both of them "favour" one kind of tank over the other.

 

I never said the said attack was not balanced between the 3 types of tanks. I just stated that I believed it to be a mechanic that required a bit more skill and a different type of gear and thinking from an assassin tank. If you want to cry over why something is what it is, be my guest.

 

Oh, and try and break up your wall of text into something called Paragraphs. makes it easier to look at.

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I haven't tried it since I posted but I saw some great ideas on how shadow/assasins can live with it.

 

Mainly I would say to use KW/DW as soon as it is off cooldown even if you have 3 stacks of HS and you are ready for TT. The healing you get from TT will probably be wasted without KW/DW. Other than that I find staggering deflection and battle readiness during the times you are taking big chucks of damage will help the healers get through it and one or both of those abilities will be cooled down and ready for the next phase. Beyond that pray to the gawds of chance.

 

Finally I would say that the mechanic is not exactly balanced. Shadows/assasins rely completely on KW/DW and this takes that away for periods of time that are too long. There is usually 2-3 basic attacks before each slam which pretty much guarantees KW/DW will not be up during a 5k+ attack. In this it almost seems intentional to challenge us a little more but goes a little too far. If I have to buy different relics, use them for half the fight, MAKE the other tank aggro the beginning of the next phase (heaven forbid they're another shadow/assasin), force cloak, and swap relics then the mechanic is not balanced (although it is a brilliant work around).

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If you want to cry over why something is what it is, be my guest.

 

I don't feel Kitru crying here, more like you attacking with no real reason.

 

Oh, and try and break up your wall of text into something called Paragraphs. makes it easier to look at.

 

Where has the worl gone to that a mere 10 lines paragraph has to be cut down into several smaller ones ???

Btw what makes something easier to look at too is when the first letter of the first word in a sentence is a capital...

 

"makes it easier to look at"

 

should be :

 

"Makes it easier to look at"

 

Hmmmmm ? "Pot, meet kettle." ?

Edited by Shoogli
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I have noticed mine is still up more than it is down. I cant honestly think of a nother boss fight where DW wasnt up nearly 100% of the time so i dont feel it is an issue at all. (makes me almost have to use a cd in this fight)

 

One thing i would like to ask the shadows and sins on here since I'm kinda new to Sin Tanking(have a full Camp. Powertech tank) You people are quoating your shield around 65-69%. What are your Hp's absorb% and D%. As of right now i am sitting a 24.7k HP(rakata stim) with 29%D 43.9/63.9% (w/o / w/ DW) shield and a 63(69 when relic procs) absorb.

Edited by wetslampigduex
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This week, I'm going with a slightly adjusted strategy here. Basically, I relic-swap between phases. I start with the War Hero defense and Campaign proc absorb relics, then I stealth at the start of phase 2 and swap in the Campaign proc heal and a Campaign proc damage relic that I had sitting around. The War Hero defense relic gives me almost 2.1% higher defense chance, which actually has a noticeable affect on my Kinetic Ward uptime.
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