Hello, I have always been a PvPer, but I've been starting to get a little bored with it lately. I want to start PvE'ing, and I'm not afraid to grind through flashpoints to get the appropriate pve gear, but I have no idea what class I want to play. I have everything at 55 for imperials except a merc and op.

 

I think I would like to play a tank, but I wasn't sure what class to gear, my PT, Sin or Jug. I was kind of leaning toward trying the sin, but i was curious if he would be able to possibly tank an operation or not. I would imagine the PT/Jug are better primary tanks, but I would like some input from experienced players as to the pros/cons to each tanking class.

 

Thank you!

PT/Vanguard is the faceroll tank.

Guardians/Juggs have the best defensive cooldowns in the game.

Sins/Shadows are the toughest tank to play, but they can easily tank some content that the others will have trouble with. They just take a lot of skill to play.

 

All of these classes can tank ops. Some are more ideal for different bosses. Others will have to provide further details.

In order of difficulty, my personal verdict are Shadow -> Guardian -> VG

 

The shadow has the strictest rotation and not following it results in lots of damage. The shadow also is lacking in choice for defensive cooldowns but also lacks the passive mitigation of vanguards.

 

The guardians have the best cooldowns, by far, and are currently the fotm tank.

 

Vanguards are the most newbie friendly, from my perspective, their only mitigation skill in-rotation is off the global cooldown. They're also in the vein of shadows for the lack of defensive cooldowns, however.

The shadow has the strictest rotation and not following it results in lots of damage. The shadow also is lacking in choice for defensive cooldowns but also lacks the passive mitigation of vanguards.

 

Guardian vs Shadow

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Saber Ward vs Deflection (Saber Ward is the same, but with 25% F/T DR)

Saber Reflect vs Resilience (Resilience is more broadly applicable, and has nearly half the CD)

Warding Call vs Battle Readiness (nearly equivalent, except BR also gives an up-front heal and a HoT)

Enure vs Medpacks (shadows get multiple medpacks per fight)

 

On this list, only Saber Ward is categorically superior (and remember, its defense component is the same). Saber Reflect works on fewer attacks than Resilience. Battle Readiness only says 25%, but because it is additive while Warding Call is multiplicative, they come out to almost identical on the mitigation side of things, while BR's HoT and heal are unmatched. Enure is situationally a heck of a lot better than a single medpack, but medpacks have the advantage of allowing you to *keep* the health you just gained.

 

Given that guardian cooldowns are across the board on 30 second longer timers than shadows, I think I would give the cooldown edge to shadows on the whole. Of course, in 2.7, guardians are getting a new cooldown which is unmatched by anything in the shadow arsenal, so it's a short-lived dominance. :-)

 

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Otherwise, I think Favier's comparison is pretty good. Mathematically, all three of the tanks are extremely well balanced. For example, while shadows do lack the passive mitigation of vanguards, they more than make up the deficit in active mitigation. With the exception of double-Guardian, every tank combo is essentially equally viable. Most high-end raid groups will choose tank classes based on utility (e.g. armor debuff from Guardian, Phase Walk from Shadow, etc).

Edited February 19, 2014 by KeyboardNinja

Gunslinger Tanks 2.7.

Is the change to enraged defense that amazing? I could see how if it had like 10 stacks for those 4% heals it would be pretty good, but like for a stack of 5 I have to wonder how useful it would be.

Is the change to enraged defense that amazing? I could see how if it had like 10 stacks for those 4% heals it would be pretty good, but like for a stack of 5 I have to wonder how useful it would be.

 

It's definitely not something that had me dancing in the streets on its own, but they're basically just straight-up adding another cooldown to an already formidable arsenal. It allows much the same use of Enraged Defense as we have now (highly situational), but without the contortions that are currently required.

Vanguards are the most newbie friendly, from my perspective, their only mitigation skill in-rotation is off the global cooldown. They're also in the vein of shadows for the lack of defensive cooldowns, however.

 

And what PT/Vanguard lacks in difficulty they replace it with awesomeness (Jet Charge/Storm + "get over here!").

Edited February 19, 2014 by Halinalle

thanks for the input!

Juggs get a lot of tools. Good defensive cooldowns, and also a bit of movement additives like intercede, which lets you jump out of bad places sometimes.

+ for VG - some ranged abilities (even when they could eat your resources very fast) / some semi ranged abilities (10m). / only 1 4m in core rotation (4m interrupt too)... if they replace it with 10m one AC may become so much nice.

+ for Shadow - some semi ranged (10m) ones/stealth.

- JG - only 1 ability above 5m ...

 

VG just need 1 more def CD placed on Storm place and Storm as general AC ability... it is utterly annoying if you swap for DPS tree/gear and have to run pressing base attack key with no gap closer to next mob (hook is nice but not good idea to hook mob from tank for example).

Shadow need some time on procs / force speed to proc so they could keep their DR even in fights with moving.

Guardian ... lost cause to me even my 1st char was Guardian, I just hate the need to step over mob to be able to hit it, when VG/JS can do it even on move/at 10m at least.