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Jedi Guardian - Vigiliance dps guide.


SigDal

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Hello. I found myself in a good and helpfull mood today, and seeing all the complaints about a jedi guardian around I decided to write a small guide of how to dps as one.

 

Index:

1.1 Intro

1.2 You are a dps!

2.1 Dps abilities.

2.2 How to dps (rotation).

2.3 Talents

2.4 Utility

 

1.1

I have been working on my jedi guardian lately, as my second characther and find him immensly fun. I like to browse the forums, even though I don't post much but the jedi guardian forum often make me a little sad. A lot of people are complaining that our dps is weak, and the class overall is quite weak. I don't agree at all.

 

What is my reasons for saying this? I leveled a gunslinger to level 50 first, and that is a class that many agrees does alot of dps. I can say by for sure that I killed most thing as I leveled up as fast as, if not faster, then my gunslinger. I leveled both characters with a tank companion.

 

1.2

First off, even if you wear heavy armor, you are a dps. The class itself does not scale badly and "suck" at high levels, the game scales and things get harder. This applies to all classes. Some classes got a cc to compensate for this, you don't. If you level with a dps companion and tank all the damage, expect to rest afterwards. Personally while leveling I found it most effecient to level with a tank. Why? Because doc's damage is worse then a tanks, meaing things will die slower, but your downtime/time resting will be about the same.

 

Secondly, you are a dps. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The so called "hybrid tax" (which is a word from wow or some older game) is not present in this game, atleast it appears so to me. If you are specced into vigiliance(or focus) your purpose will be to dps. You do have utilities to be able to "off-tank" for a while if this is required, but you will not be as good as someone in a tank spec. Other classes have abilities to "off-heal", aoe damage reduction, field stealth, group buffs and so on...

 

 

2.1

Now how to dps as a vigiliance specced guardian? Some say this class is hard to play, I don't find it true. The class is just different from every other class in the game and maybe from every other game out there, even if there are similiar mechanics out there.

 

I'll go through your primary dps spells:

 

Sundering Strike

This is your bread and butter spell. It has a 4,5 second cooldown and regenerates 3 focus(talented properly). You should use this as your every third spell (more on that later).

 

Plasma Brand

This is your second hardest hitting instant ability, even if it doesn't apply all its damage at once. Requires one sundering strike on the target to be used. Generates Force Rush when talented properly. Costs 5 focus to use, consumes 4.

 

Overhead Slash

This is your third hardest hitting instant ability. Generates Force Rush when talented properly. Costs 4 focus to use, consumes 3.

 

Blade Storm

Abit weaker than overhead slash, but will recieve an additional 60% chance to crit through Force Rush. 10 meter range. Costs 4 focus to use, consumes 3.

 

Force Sweep

An aoe ability. When talented properly it will generate 1 focus.

 

Master's Strike

A 3 second channeling ability. This ability is your most heavy hitting ability, costs/generates no rage.

 

Force Stasis

A 3 second channeling ability. Generates 3 focus.

 

Dispatch

Very hard hitting ability. Can only be used on targets below 20% hp. Will recieve an additional 60% chance to crit through Force Rush. Costs 3 focus to use, consumes 2.

 

Combat Focus

Generates 6 focus instantly. Should be used on cooldown if you focus is at or below 6.

 

 

2.2

First I'll give you a priority list. Whenever I type X in your rotation, you should go through this priority list from the top and use the ability which is available.

 

Always be in Shien Form!

 

Dispatch (with Force Rush)

Plasma Brand*

Blade Storm (with Force Rush)*

Overhead Slash

Dispatch**

Blade Storm

Force Stasis ***

Master's Strike ***

Force Sweep

 

* With a high surge rating, Blade Storm surpases Plasma Brand on the priority. I have not calculated the exact numer, might do that later.

** The reason Dispatch is this low, is because you loose out on alot of damage if you use it without Force Rush. This way you should almost always have Force Rush up when casting it anyway.

*** Force Stasis and Master's Strike lasts for 3 seconds (2 other abilities) meaning it should optimally only be used as the first X in the rotation. However do not cancel it to use another Sundering Strike, since they deal their damage at 2-1-0 seconds.

 

Now for the Rotation, it's very simple:

Force Charge - Sundering Strike - X - X - Sundering Strike - X - X - Sundering Strike - X...

 

Notes about this:

-Whenever your focus => 6 you should use Combat Focus. It has no global cooldown.

-I have yet to find a tank and spank mob where I can just stand and test if this works out perfectly, however in my head's theory it should work fine.

-I have not added Strike or Slash to the spells you should be using, though you might want to keep them on your bars in case a situation appears where you will need them.

-Force Push and Saber Throw are not in the guide. Why not? You should, if possible always be in melee range. If, due to some boss mechanic, you find yourself outside of the 10 meter range use Saber Throw whenever you can. As for Force Push, this ability is annoying for everyone else in your group and should not be used unless it's asked for or you can save someone by using it. Think before you act!

-Force Stasis is above Master's Strike in my priority since it generates focus, however it might be that the damage of Master's Strike weights up for that and it should be move up.

-If you ever find yourself in an aoe situation where you job is to aoe mobs down fast, then simply use Force Sweep - Sundering Strike - Cyclone Slash. Otherwise it might be just as fine to singletarget them down.

 

 

2.3

As for spec:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500cMZIGMRouddhoZG.1

 

That is the best I could come up with.

Zen strike might not be worth it, and maybe it's better to swap it out with utility talents.

The one point in Gathering Strength is very situational, place it wherever you want.

Momentum is, in some cases, a once per fight proc so you could probably move this for utilities aswell.

 

I do not recommend this exact build for leveling, since it's a pure dps build with no utility.

 

2.4

Utility as a guardian:

 

-If needed you can help the tank taunt mobs off the healer. It is better that you take damage, then the healer.

-If someone is taking heavy damage, us guardian leap on them!

-Force Push is an excelent dps/lifesaver, us it wisely and not in a way that might annoy people.

-Most bosses are immune to Force Stacis, however this is an excelent short cc for adds.

-If several adds are spawning at a point, use Awe at them to give your tank time to pick them up!

-Force Kick. Use this when you can, it might save someones (or yours) life!

-Have Resolute keybinded to an easy accessable key, then you will be able to activate it fast if you get cc'd.

 

3.1

End notes:

- I wrote this before, and I'll write it again. You are NOT a tank, don't act as one, don't complain soloing is hard because you take to much damage. All dps do, therefore I would recommend using a tanking/healing companion for minimum down time. However it is all doable with a dps companion, just expect to rest after every pull once you close in on level 50.

 

-The dps rotation I've posted here is probably not optimal while leveling, take it as a guideline and figure out what works best for you.

 

-The dps rotation here is ment for a "tank'n spank" fight, you will have to improvise on each boss due to their different mechanics.

 

-Since there is no combat logs, I have only used my own experience and tooltips to generate this guide. Therefore I might be totally wrong, but according to the players in this forum, I had a far better time leveling then the posters here.

 

-English is not my main language so there might be alot of typos/grammar faults here, don't hate me for it!

 

I hope this helps someone, who's having a hard time out. Feel free to ask any questions below and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Edited by SigDal
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Cool post. I was thinking of trying a Guardian at some point and came up with this build:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500cZIhrorhdzGoZGM.1

 

I don't take Burning Blade or Burning Purpose because the DOTs are very low IMO (22 DPS / 33 DPS)

 

Do you really feel like its necessary?

 

I also put 2 points in Defiance instead of Victory Rush for leveling and PvP since I'll probably be seeing more CC (Stun/Knockdown/etc).

 

All in all I think we're on the same page.

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The dot's on those abilities are better than any alternative. Also the talent tooltips on torhead are lower than level 50 values. (Probably shows base, before the increase damaged from strength and power).

 

Some points on your spec:

Narrowed focus will grand you alot of focus in raids/flashpoints because of aoe mechanics and is a dps increase.

Unremitting is kind of useless for pve in most cases since you won't use Force Leap that often. Same for Stagger. Victory Rush in the defense tree is also a MUST HAVE. Once you get it you will see why. However the spec I suggested was a pure dps spec, where you take every little dps increase you can and sacrifice possible utility.

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That's what I thought and then in directive 7 we wiped because we had not enough dps which ultimately led to the one and only conclusion. I left the group for a real dps. I play vigilance btw.

 

I think that the dps is lacking because plasma brand is broken it should do about double what it is currently doing dot wise. The upfront is fine but te dot is doing around 1000 when the skill says it should do over 2k. So the dot should hit for around 600 instead of 250.

 

iPhone edit

Edited by Fierystrike
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That's what I thought and then in directive 7 we wiped because we had not enough dps which ultimately led to the one and only conclusion. I left the group for a real dps. I play vigilance btw.

 

And why did you heartily assume it was you? How could you even know it was you?

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The dot's on those abilities are better than any alternative. Also the talent tooltips on torhead are lower than level 50 values. (Probably shows base, before the increase damaged from strength and power).

 

Some points on your spec:

Narrowed focus will grand you alot of focus in raids/flashpoints because of aoe mechanics and is a dps increase.

Unremitting is kind of useless for pve in most cases since you won't use Force Leap that often. Same for Stagger. Victory Rush in the defense tree is also a MUST HAVE. Once you get it you will see why. However the spec I suggested was a pure dps spec, where you take every little dps increase you can and sacrifice possible utility.

 

Good to know. I was looking at those DOTs thinking, why would I take those for that little damage lol. Glad to hear its actually more. I'll probably end up moving stuff around for Victory Rush for sure. I didn't realize Sundering Strike was so critical. Thanks for the tips.

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I did this video some time ago to show the game to a friend:

 

 

 

Although I was 37, the 'rotation' won't change, just add Dispatch and that's it (I don't grab Plasma Brand). Also, I leveled using Shii-Cho, Shien is kinda different but still. Hope it helps.

Edited by sac-
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Ok so here's my spec:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMZIMrRMhddMRZh.1

 

I think that having 2+ bleeds constantly on any target is a great way to bring em down and generate some threat (offtanking is underated), and after playing Sentinel to about the same level as my guardian (32), I felt that the extra survival traits and skills that you have as a Guardian make you for one hell of a useful dpser.

 

As you can see, my build is more of a solo utility build rather than pure dps. I want to try see how viable it is in PvP knowing that the main drawback is the lack of "nuking" power for more bleeds, but I'll post any useful findings.

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Ok so here's my spec:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMZIMrRMhddMRZh.1

 

I think that having 2+ bleeds constantly on any target is a great way to bring em down and generate some threat (offtanking is underated), and after playing Sentinel to about the same level as my guardian (32), I felt that the extra survival traits and skills that you have as a Guardian make you for one hell of a useful dpser.

 

As you can see, my build is more of a solo utility build rather than pure dps. I want to try see how viable it is in PvP knowing that the main drawback is the lack of "nuking" power for more bleeds, but I'll post any useful findings.

 

Your build looks fine, however the talent Narrowed Focus is a must have. This talent makes you generate 2 focus whenever you take aoe damage (alot of time in flashpoints/pvp) and is quite a dps boost. I would also pick up Accuracy unless your gear brings it to 100%.

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Although I was 37, the 'rotation' won't change, just add Dispatch and that's it (I don't grab Plasma Brand). Also, I leveled using Shii-Cho, Shien is kinda different but still. Hope it helps.

 

Why don't you grab Plasma Brand? The spell does nice damage and gives you the Force Rush proc.

 

Also as vigilance there is no reason to not level as Shien, as it effectivly makes all of your focus costing spells to cost one less focus. I think it is pretty clear from the talent trees that the forms are like this:

Soresu - Defense tree / off tanking

Shien - Vigilance

Shii-Chi - Focus

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So if I'm going vigi and in shien form I want a focus in my offhand? And a shield for when I need to go soresu?

 

Thanks for the patience with a noob. :D

 

Yes for dps you should use focus. However when I leveld I always used a shield in the offhand, the stat difference wasn't that big vs 5% chance to shield 20% damage. It might even be worth it for pvp, I don't know. If you want to dps flashpoints/operation you should use a focus.

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Why don't you grab Plasma Brand? The spell does nice damage and gives you the Force Rush proc.

 

Also as vigilance there is no reason to not level as Shien, as it effectivly makes all of your focus costing spells to cost one less focus. I think it is pretty clear from the talent trees that the forms are like this:

Soresu - Defense tree / off tanking

Shien - Vigilance

Shii-Chi - Focus

 

Plasma Brand is not worth the focus nor the GCD, imo. Force Rush proc from it makes no difference, Blade Storm would be on CD anyway since Overhead Slash procs it too. By the time it's up, so is Overhead Slash.

Edited by sac-
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"Push is an annoying ability and must not be used till anyone asks for it" ?

 

Really?

 

Aside from shadows, we are the single class that requires an express melee range and frankly, they don't care if you use it.

 

You can throw mobs off ledges, get them away from your healers if your tank fails to aggro, in certain situations, you can get off an extra Saber Throw + Force Leap on the poor sucker.

 

You are what we call fundamentalist. No creativity at all.

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"Push is an annoying ability and must not be used till anyone asks for it" ?

 

Really?

 

Aside from shadows, we are the single class that requires an express melee range and frankly, they don't care if you use it.

 

You can throw mobs off ledges, get them away from your healers if your tank fails to aggro, in certain situations, you can get off an extra Saber Throw + Force Leap on the poor sucker.

 

You are what we call fundamentalist. No creativity at all.

 

This was ment from a flash point point of view, where your tank is tanking some mobs. If you then force push the mob away from the tank just to get in a force leap that might annoy the rest of the group. This guide is not intended for solo play. Also I wrote further down that you can use force push to save the healer or the other dps if needed.

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Plasma Brand is not worth the focus nor the GCD, imo. Force Rush proc from it makes no difference, Blade Storm would be on CD anyway since Overhead Slash procs it too. By the time it's up, so is Overhead Slash.

 

Plasma Brand has the highest dps of all your spells. Let me give you some simple math:

 

Plasma Brand: 1,5 sec cast time (global cooldown)

3077 damage.

2051,33 dps.

 

Dot is PROBABLY not effected by armor.

 

Plasma Brand in it's current condition: 1,5 sec cast time

Plasma Brand seems bugged, and ticks for around 273 damage every 2 sec for 12 seconds. Making the actual damage:

 

2511 damage.

1674 dps.

 

Overhead Slash: 1,5 sec cast time

1640,5 damage.

1093,67 dps.

I did not account for the extra dot here, but that dot does not do 650 dps

 

Master's Strike: 3 sec cast time

2796 damage.

932 dps.

 

 

All damage has been taken from the games tooltips, except for the current Plasma Brand dot which seems to tick for less than it is supposed to. The initial damage seems about right. If the spell is working correctly, the dot should not be effected by armor and only by elemental damage reduction. If you want to do maximum amount of dps, there is not excuse to not pick up Plasma Brand.

 

All this is taken from my own guardian, who dose not have very good gear atm. I do however asume they all scale equally. I have also not accounted for crit/surge ratings here, but that isn't needed since all this spells have an equal chance to crit.

Edited by SigDal
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Sadly torhead seems to be down for me, so I can't look over the build. However you said this is not a good leveling build. I am currently lvl 42 and while I started as Def, I have now moved to a Focus/Vig hybrid build. What would you recommend for leveling? The AOE route I am currently using (with singularity, force sweep, and the talent that makes force sweep a crit) or going more vig and single target?
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Sadly torhead seems to be down for me, so I can't look over the build. However you said this is not a good leveling build. I am currently lvl 42 and while I started as Def, I have now moved to a Focus/Vig hybrid build. What would you recommend for leveling? The AOE route I am currently using (with singularity, force sweep, and the talent that makes force sweep a crit) or going more vig and single target?

 

I was probably abit unclear there. What I ment was that this build was a build where you put in all the dps talents, and skipped most survival/utility talents in favor of dps. Therefor it would be better to just pick a talent build according to your own playstyle. Vigilance is absolutley viable as a leveling build, and I had no problems doing it.

 

Vigilance feels more single target, as force sweep is not that powerfull. For leveling I would recommend using whatever build works for you, for me that was vigiliance.

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So many Vig builds/rotations I see include Master Strike. I'm not using it at all, because it's so low on the priority list and I never seem to have a free GCD for it (2 of them actually, since it's channeled) and by skipping it you free up 5 talent points that I've used for raid-friendly talents.

 

So I've skipped Master Focus and Zen Strike, I also only have 1 point in Momentum. Those 7 points went into Commanding Awe and Protector (making life easier for my healers), Dust Storm (hit debuff makes life easier for everyone), and the second point in Gather Strength.

Edited by Crowingzero
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I was probably abit unclear there. What I ment was that this build was a build where you put in all the dps talents, and skipped most survival/utility talents in favor of dps. Therefor it would be better to just pick a talent build according to your own playstyle. Vigilance is absolutley viable as a leveling build, and I had no problems doing it.

 

Vigilance feels more single target, as force sweep is not that powerfull. For leveling I would recommend using whatever build works for you, for me that was vigiliance.

 

I find that leveling with Kira the single target DPS skills (Vigiliance) can help you mow down mobs\adds faster while Kira buys you that time on the elite\gold\whatever...I am talking leveling here....

 

I find this to be a very useful tactic, if you are a guardian DPS you need to utilize\maximize Kira's health bar as much as you possibly can...doing that can allow you to sucessfully take out elite\gold mobs or solo heroic\heroic 2+ encounters.

 

I just don't see the value in Narrowed Focus, I have yet to have any substantial focus issues while in Shien form....

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I do not understand a DPS build not using Master Strike. I don't do raids or the like (solo PvEr here), so maybe the play style of raids is different. However it is a healthy chunk of damage and I can't see myself dropping it.

 

The general rotation for Vig is:

 

Sundering Strike - Ability - Ability - repeat

 

For each of those abilities, you choose the highest priority ability you have available which is off cooldown.

 

On the priority list, Master Strike falls below Plasma Brand, Blade Storm, Dispatch, and Overhead Slash, as well as Force Sweep and Cyclone Slash if there are multiple targets. Mostly because Master Strike uses BOTH of the ability slots in that rotation, due it being channeled. So by using it you're essentially skipping two other abilities that would result in more damage. Not to mention that because it's channeled, any kind of knockback, stun, or target movement will probably cause you to miss at least the last tick.

 

So I don't understand why so many people include it. The guy over on sithwarrior.com is the worst culprit, he flat out says "Don't use Master Strike" but then in his suggested build he includes Zen Strike and Master Focus?!?

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