Which gear set is generally considered the one to go with for Assault Vanguards? The tossup is between Eliminator and Combat tech, and it's the 2 and 4 piece bonuses that baffle me.

Eliminator's 2piece reduces the CD of Concussive Charge, a Commando-only skill. Ew. The 4piece, however, increases High-Impact Bolt's crit chance by 15%. Glorious.

Combat tech's 2piece increases Neural Surge (AoE 2.5sec stun) duration by .5sec and reduces Tenacity CD by 15sec (PvP CC breaker). 4piece increases Stockstrike crit chance by 15%.

Now, Combat tech gives two bonuses good for Vanguards, but Eliminator gives a fantastic bonus to Assault Vanguards at the cost of a wasted 2piece. 15sec lower CD on Tenacity is nice, but 15% crit chance boost to HIB is infinitely more useful than 15% crit chance boost to Stockstrike for Assault Vanguards.

Thoughts? Advice?

Many people think like this and go for the 15% HIB crit.

I dont however. I need tenacity. I need it more than I can use it. The .5 sec added to nueral surge is just a bonus. SS is still used every CD and is still one of my hardest hitting abilities as full assault.

Neural Surge is not a taunt, it's an AoE stun. Do your research before formulating opinions.

Apologies, I mistook it for the single target stun (Neural Jolt). Honest mistake. Seems to make a bit more sense now with the set bonuses. I'd still ask for more opinions, as it seems I'd get a much higher damage increase with the 4set of the Eliminator gear.

You want full Combat Tech gear as an Assault Vanguard. The only other set bonus I would consider is 2-piece Combat Medic for increased duration on Reactive Shield. However, all Champion Combat Medic pieces have alacrity, which is worthless for Vanguards.

P.S. I would suggest running with full Combat Tech gear even as Shield Spec. Most attacks in PvP can't be shielded/defended, so that's just a waste of stats. Extra stamina is nice, but you'll still have 16k+ in full Champion Combat Tech, with the bonus of hitting super hard, and having Stockstrike crit nearly every time.

You want full Combat Tech gear as an Assault Vanguard. The only other set bonus I would consider is 2-piece Combat Medic for increased duration on Reactive Shield. However, all Champion Combat Medic pieces have alacrity, which is worthless for Vanguards.

 

P.S. I would suggest running with full Combat Tech gear even as Shield Spec. Most attacks in PvP can't be shielded/defended, so that's just a waste of stats. Extra stamina is nice, but you'll still have 16k+ in full Champion Combat Tech, with the bonus of hitting super hard, and having Stockstrike crit nearly every time.

also, the tech gear looks better than the other two

You want full Combat Tech gear as an Assault Vanguard. The only other set bonus I would consider is 2-piece Combat Medic for increased duration on Reactive Shield. However, all Champion Combat Medic pieces have alacrity, which is worthless for Vanguards.

 

P.S. I would suggest running with full Combat Tech gear even as Shield Spec. Most attacks in PvP can't be shielded/defended, so that's just a waste of stats. Extra stamina is nice, but you'll still have 16k+ in full Champion Combat Tech, with the bonus of hitting super hard, and having Stockstrike crit nearly every time.

Or go all out and replace all mods in Supercommando armor pieces with Combat Tec/Eliminator mods.

Offensive stats + 5% flat damage bonus to everything, when guarding someone. Win.

I happen to have various Champ gear pieces thanks to doubles and triples.

Initially, I took Eliminator's gear for the HIB crits. I don't regret that at all. The 4 set bonus is great.

However, the extra 0.5s on Neural and a lower cooldown on Tenacity are fairly appealing for PVP. Clearly you use HIB all the time. However, I find myself using Neural a lot... and the times your PVP experience is the most frustrating is when Tenacity is down and you need a break to get the killing blow or interrupt the guy planting the bomb etc.

I think it comes down to a fairly equal choice.

To the comment made by someone else, yes you can change to the mods. The problem is that the Battlemaster gear mods aren't as varied as the Champ mods. The stat itemisation approach changes between tiers. For example, you don't get a Battlemaster endo/crit/surge mod as crit tends to be on fixed items like the gun.