I'm tired of dieing so much on my squishy dps...No matter what I do I get wrecked. Going to be playing a tank class(guild needs one anyway). Need input on which one I should go with.

As much as you may think this is trolling (It's not), try all three and find what works for you.

 

For me I am a Guardian.

 

One thing though, if you're just rolling tank to be less "squishy", don't. In fact be a tank spec with DPS gear and call yourself DPS.

 

Tanks are not about survival, your job is to protect, and control. As a Guardian I'm often darting around the battlefield like a playmaker, CC'ing to protect healer, switching target quick to stop a door take, focusing on guarding those dying, and taunting key players at key times.

 

I always think in basketball terms, when I play tank, I'm a Point Guard, I don't score all the goals, I may get a few, but really my job is to control the tempo while everyone gets the glory.

 

Thing is though, just like Basketball, tanks are heavily needed, and if you get a good one, it will be a massive part to your team.

 

TH

play a shadow/assasain tank they get just as much dps as me

dont go tank unless you actually intend to do the role that tanks should be doing in pvp. dont need another kinetic shadow who never gaurds anyone.

I will be guarding and taunting, but I hate dieing so much. I love the damage of my gunslinger, but as soon I get focused...I drop like a rock. If there is a dps class that can take big hits repeatedly by all means post them.

I always think in basketball terms, when I play tank, I'm a Point Guard, I don't score all the goals, I may get a few,

Try Huttball instead of basketball and you'll score all the goals.

I will be guarding and taunting, but I hate dieing so much. I love the damage of my gunslinger, but as soon I get focused...I drop like a rock. If there is a dps class that can take big hits repeatedly by all means post them.

 

single target DPS( and or healers ) will always get targeted and FFed by good groups/premades. unless they are being gaurded, then the tank gets FFed first. is why hardly any tanks actually play the role of a tank.

single target DPS( and or healers ) will always get targeted and FFed by good groups/premades. unless they are being gaurded, then the tank gets FFed first. is why hardly any tanks actually play the role of a tank.

 

Dom't care if I get FFed as long as I can take hits. That the only issue I'm having currently. Soon as I'm focused I die in an instant. All I'm wanting is good survivability

Guardian or Vanguard, imo, though I lean more toward Guardian.

 

Shadow is more.. uh, well, if you want to solo people. I'm not saying it's not a good 'tank', but I feel if you're a Guardian, you have added taunts, Guardian Leap, can take a ton of hits, as well as alot of defensive cooldowns to help you and others.

dont go tank unless you actually intend to do the role that tanks should be doing in pvp. dont need another kinetic shadow who never gaurds anyone.

 

The sad thing is most of them are playing that spec because the other 2 options since the "stance" dancing nerf have absolutely no survivability. If they fixed that a large portion of them would vanish overnight.

 

So basically you got people who don't want to tank being forced to run as a tank. Personally I still play deception but I am also a masochist I think.

Dom't care if I get FFed as long as I can take hits. That the only issue I'm having currently. Soon as I'm focused I die in an instant. All I'm wanting is good survivability

 

You could try Marauder/Sent. They have alot more Defensive CDs then Sniper/GS.

 

I'm lvling a sent right now. I must say it's better then my GS in every way.

 

If you still want a tank I'd say go Guardian/Jugg.

Edited March 9, 2012 by HeavensTerror

ide say assassin, best ball carrier!

Guardian or Vanguard, imo, though I lean more toward Guardian.

 

Shadow is more.. uh, well, if you want to solo people. I'm not saying it's not a good 'tank', but I feel if you're a Guardian, you have added taunts, Guardian Leap, can take a ton of hits, as well as alot of defensive cooldowns to help you and others.

 

Why do you say this? All of the tanks can take quite a beating. I'd say their survival without cooldowns is probably about the same, perhaps favoring Vanguard a little. I would also argue that Guardian and Shadow both have good cooldowns. Vanguard is sorely lacking in that department. What added taunts are you talking about? All tanks get the same taunts however guardian does have a cooldown reduction on their AoE taunt. All of the tanks have their pros and cons. This is how I would compare them:

 

Vangard: Good damage. Weak Cooldowns. Very good at ranged for a melee. Has both harpoon and charge. AoE mez.

Guardian: Moderate damage. Strong Cooldowns. Very mobile with multiple leaps. No harpoon. Ton of stuns (makes them incredibly annoying). AoE Mez.

Shadow: Good damage. Strong Cooldowns. Very mobile despite no leap. Harpoon. AoE Knockback (instead of AoE mez). Self heals. Stealth. Typically seen as the best 1v1 class.

 

 

Vanguard Personal Defensive Cooldowns

Adrenaline Rush (2 min cooldown): +15% hp hot heal over 10 seconds.

Reactive Shield (2 min cooldown): 25% damage reduction for 12 seconds.

Smoke Grenade (60 seconds cooldown): Reduce Accuracy of nearby ranged\melee by 20% for 18 seconds

Hold the Line (30 seconds cooldown): Immune to movement impairing effects\knockbacks\knockdowns for 8 seconds. +30% speed.

Tenacity (2 min cooldown): Standard CC breaker.

 

Guardian Personal Defensive Cooldowns

Enure (1 min 30 seconds cooldown): +30% temp hp for 15 seconds.

Saber Ward (3 min cooldown): +50% defenses and force\tech damage reduced by 25% for 12 seconds. First 2 seconds +100% defenses instead.

Warding Call (3 min cooldown): +40% damage resistance for 10 seconds.

Resolute (1 min 30 sec cooldown): Standard CC breaker. 30 sec shorter cooldown than normal. Can spec to restore 10% instant hp in 2nd tier of focus tree.

 

Shadow Personal Defensive Cooldowns

Force Cloak (3 min cooldown): Drop combat and stealth.

Deflection (2 min cooldown): +50% defenses for 12 seconds.

Battle Readiness (2 min cooldown) +10% hp instant heal. Increases chance and damage of technique.

Resilience (45 sec cooldown): Removes all dots/negative effects and makes you immune to force/tech for 5 seconds.

Force Speed (20 sec cooldown): Drop all movement impairing effects. +++speed.

Kinetic Ward (12 sec cooldown): 8 stack of +15% shield absorb for 20 seconds.

Force of Will (2 min cooldown): Standard CC Breaker.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Xallionn

As much as you may think this is trolling (It's not), try all three and find what works for you.

 

For me I am a Guardian.

 

One thing though, if you're just rolling tank to be less "squishy", don't. In fact be a tank spec with DPS gear and call yourself DPS.

 

Tanks are not about survival, your job is to protect, and control. As a Guardian I'm often darting around the battlefield like a playmaker, CC'ing to protect healer, switching target quick to stop a door take, focusing on guarding those dying, and taunting key players at key times.

 

I always think in basketball terms, when I play tank, I'm a Point Guard, I don't score all the goals, I may get a few, but really my job is to control the tempo while everyone gets the glory.

 

Thing is though, just like Basketball, tanks are heavily needed, and if you get a good one, it will be a massive part to your team.

 

TH

 

/sigh, hes right. my only problem with the game. in other games i liked playing tanks in pvp, because even if pvp wasnt really designed for it, i could still be really annoying and harass nodes and such, and with a healer be extremely annoying and hard to kill. in swtor the tanks feel...like...dps...except with worse damage......being a tank in swtor feels like im just the guy that was randomly chosen to take all the damage. my job is not to mitigate the damage, its to take it and let the healer worry about that, just make sure mobs are attacking me, whereas in other games a tank feels like its a tank because it can take the damage better and so is chosen to take the damage for everyone else.

 

anyone else have 2 cents to add? id like some more input as well, why im bumping an old thread. im trying to hold on with hope that my only choices are not just healer and dps, and that i can be a proper meat shield with an ability to not lose too much meat if that makes sense...

Edited September 6, 2012 by Jedikillar

Are you talking full tank or is hybrids acceptable? 27/12/2 Juggernaut. The sheer amount of stuns you have makes taking a node almost impossible as long as your team isn't a complete bunch of idiot and don't ignore your yells of inc. You get the added bonus for being the best ball carrier in huttball and you can really lock out healers for quite a while with your stuns, slows and pushes.

Sorry to tell you but tanking is not an effective style to play because shielding/absorb works for naught in PVP, you will get melted by any yellow/red damage like everybody else. My Vanguard uses dps gear and guards healers when he can. If I had to do it again I would choose any force user as they have so many mobility advantages that are game-breakers in hutt ball.

Reactive Shield (2 min cooldown): 25% damage reduction for 12 seconds.

 

Reactive shield adds 25% damage reduction to your existing damage reduction effectively reducing incoming damage by more than 50% for tank spec'd vanguards.

My play experiences have me feeling that shadow as the most useful tank, followed by jedi guardian then vangaurd.

 

Not close margins either. I feel way more useful on my shadow than my vanguard. Guardian obviously falls in the middle there.

My play experiences have me feeling that shadow as the most useful tank, followed by jedi guardian then vangaurd.

 

Not close margins either. I feel way more useful on my shadow than my vanguard. Guardian obviously falls in the middle there.

 

All the tanks are fairly even in usefulness, but the tech tanks have more ranged options for interrupting caps. This is my impression of the tanking style of each in pvp:

 

 

• Assassin/Shadow - Stealth, speedboost, pull, scouting, solo capper/defender, mostly short range with few longer range skills. Can protect a healer but more useful as solo defender. Mindset: Harass and defend.
   
   
  
• Guardian/Jugg - Leap, push, slow, healer protector, mostly short range. Mindset: Delay and protect.
   
   
  
• PT/Van - Leap, pull, stealth scan, healer protector, useful at all ranges but mostly midrange, with more ranged skills than the others. Mindset: Defend and protect.
  

 

Each AC can fulfil the role required, but does it in different ways.

 

Jugg is better off protecting the action than solo guarding a node (despite that they can with their survivability cds), where a PT has stealth scan to try to warn of incoming sooner, and a Tankasin can be stealthed at the node to confuse other stealthers.

 

Tankasin shines in Civil War and Novare, can stealth speed ahead in Voidstar, and can speed the ball in Huttball.

 

Jugg makes it easier for their team to wreck in the melee rumble, and is best for delay in Voidstar.

 

PT isn't best at any one thing but can take on a variety of guarding tasks in wzs and do well. Ranged taunt can help their team without putting them in as much danger as the melee taunting ACs - which is good because they have less survivability cds.