Here is my free in-depth Guide to Vanguard Mechanics and PVP:

http://taugrim.com/2012/01/04/guide-to-bounty-hunter-powertech-trooper-vanguard-mechanics-and-pvp/

 

Table of Contents

 

1. Advanced Class Overview and Playstyle
   
2. Talent Tree and Stance Overview
   
3. Talent Tree and Stance Pairings
   
4. Talent Tree Analysis
   
5. Heat (Ammo) Mechanics
   
6. Damage Mechanics
   
7. Defense Mechanics
   
8. Crowd Control and Debuff Mechanics
   
9. Mobility and CC Counter Mechanics
   
10. Global Cooldown Management and Rotation
    
11. Recommended Specs
    
12. Stats and Gear
    
13. Narrated Gameplay Videos
    
14. About the Author
    

 

 

Let me know your feedback / questions, either here or on my blog.

 

I'll be updating it multiple times a week on my blog, and I'll be posting significant content changes here.

 

Look forward to dialoguing with you!

 

P.S. if you want to see Vanguard PVP live, check out my stream with commentary, the schedule is posted there, and I tweet whenever my stream is starting.

Edited February 4, 2012 by taugrimtaugrim

Reserved

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Great blog post man, been following you since I chose to become a Vanguard. Watched your stream last night too, looks pretty cool and I'd love to play with you some day - I saw you on Ajunta Pall the other day. I'm currently a level 25 Vanguard, just went Assault and I'm digging it a lot. Incendiary round is super cool and the constant HIB is awesome. One thing I'm not too certain about is Parallactic Combat Stims (a talent that gives you 1 energy when stunned or otherwise incapacitated) do you think it's worth putting two talents into that?

I'm currently a level 25 Vanguard, just went Assault and I'm digging it a lot. Incendiary round is super cool and the constant HIB is awesome. One thing I'm not too certain about is Parallactic Combat Stims (a talent that gives you 1 energy when stunned or otherwise incapacitated) do you think it's worth putting two talents into that?

 

The main issue with a heavy Assault Spec build is the ammo consumption. You need something to offset it.

 

So you should consider PCS or at a higher level Rapid Recharge.

 

Make sure to interleave a lot of Hammer Shot to buy time for your Ammo to regen.

Sweet Sauce, thanks for the post taugrim.

In general you should avoid spamming (Explosive Round) due to the high “mana” cost, but it

 

the suspense is killing me.

It shouldn’t be possible to get your passive crit chance high enough to start pushing off the target’s shield chance, but there are short-duration buffs that push these chances high enough to come into conflict.

 

Powertechs/Vanguards can push the passive crit chance on Rocket Punch/Stockstrike over their opponent's shield chance, between 30% from the talent and another 15% from Combat Tech set bonus plus your base crit from Aim and your other equipment bonuses. That makes this an excellent ability to use against enemy tanks.

Powertechs/Vanguards can push the passive crit chance on Rocket Punch/Stockstrike over their opponent's shield chance, between 30% from the talent and another 15% from Combat Tech set bonus plus your base crit from Aim and your other equipment bonuses. That makes this an excellent ability to use against enemy tanks.

 

Understood.

 

The section you quoted was straight from BioWare's Georg Zoeller.

 

I updated the Guide to reflect that it's his quote, not mine.

Edited January 9, 2012 by taugrimtaugrim

PVP

•Shutdown Tank: 26/13/2 Powertech (Vanguard)

•Mobile Shutdown DPS: 8/31/2 Powertech (Vanguard)

•Bursty Run-and-Gun: 1/22/18 Powertech (Vanguard)

•Insta-Nuker with CC: 0/12/29 Powertech (Vanguard)

 

No mention of 21/2/18?

No mention of 21/2/18?

 

More specs will be added over time.

The main issue with a heavy Assault Spec build is the ammo consumption. You need something to offset it.

 

Truth. I tend to use the run away and regen tactic a lot.

I wanted to share a post from the PT forum by someone who initially didn't believe what I wrote about Shield not working against Kinetic and Elemental attacks, but after testing he understands what I meant by Shield mechanic being weak in PVP:

 

Been through a bunch of Kinetic attacks, I'll be damned Shield is even more useless than I thought it was. Not a single Kinetic or Internal attack has been shielded. I don't need to try Elemental, I'm convinced. Disappointed, but convinced.

 

To make an analogy: Shielding in TOR is like having a Shield in WoW, except it only blocks Auto Attacks and not Mortal Strike.

 

 

 

The reprocussions of this are pretty huge.

 

1. The extra survivability you get from ST is almost entirely based off of the damage reduction and the extra armor granted by Ion Cylinder (Armor of course does nothing at all against Sorcs).

 

2. Classes with a reliance on weapon based attacks are hampered much more than normal in PvP with the current state of the game. There really aren't any that I could see, maybe Snipers? The amount of attacks that it blocks is REALLY pathetic.

 

3. Half of the ST tree doesn't even apply to a large portion of classes in PvP. Armor only applies to Kinetic and Energy, and shielding only applies to a very small handful of attacks.

 

4. Shielding is even worse than I first appraised it, even in PvE. If there were combat logs I'm sure we'd know how bad exactly, but all of the grenades/explosions and other sources of Kinetic or Energy damage entirely bypass your shield.

 

5. If you are still going full ST in PvP, you are gaining approximately nothing from it.

 

6. ST is even stupider than I had first appraised it, we should really demand some changes/fixes.

 

 

 

Other interesting finds:

 

1. The ONLY attacks that Operatives/Smugglers do which are mitigated by shielding are their free attacks and their Overload Shot and Carbine Burst (and smuggler equivalents). A Smug/Op can go through their entire opening rotation without using any of those abilities. This is probably causing a LOT of QQ from "tanks" who aren't tanks and are getting dismantled all the same by Smugs/Ops in PvP.

 

2. Backstab and other positional attacks are not based on the positioning of your body, but rather where your head is looking. This isn't too big of a deal, but was an interesting find none-the-less.

 

3. Shielding does work while Stunned/Incapacitated. Again, it wont stop much, but whatever.

 

4. Watching Mako and Dr Loken punch each other for a half hour is just as hilarious as you'd expect.

y u no commando bro ?

y u no commando bro ?

 

Love Commando, but it can't tank.

 

I rolled a class that I can PVP with and PVE tank with.

I wanted to share a post from the PT forum by someone who initially didn't believe what I wrote about Shield not working against Kinetic and Elemental attacks, but after testing he understands what I meant by Shield mechanic being weak in PVP:

 

/jawdrop

 

Wahahahahaaaaat? This. Changes. Everything.

 

I'm assuming you're the same dude from Rift, so before I even read your guide (which I'm about to) I'm taking every one of your posts as gospel.

 

Glad to see you in ToR. Even happier to see we're playing the same class again (cleric from Rift here).

I'm assuming you're the same dude from Rift, so before I even read your guide (which I'm about to) I'm taking every one of your posts as gospel.

 

Yes, I'm the same dude.

 

If I make any significant corrections, I'll post saying so.

I have yet to hit 50 (45 now) and gearing for PvP, but I'm thankful that I found your guide first...really tossed a lot of things out the window for me.

 

I'll definitely be watching your thread.

Likewise, I was a big fan of your MASH build in Rift and ran that... really a lot of fun.

 

Edit: Forgot to specify which spec. This one:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GRGozRrRMZMsMrZb.1

 

Question I have is how does your PvP spec fair with PvE tanking in standard FPs/groups? I'm sure its fine with soloing/questing, but as you get into the higher FPs, would this hold it perform just as well?

 

Thanks and look forward to watching any updates you provide.

Edited January 10, 2012 by slwight

Likewise, I was a big fan of your MASH build in Rift and ran that... really a lot of fun.

 

Edit: Forgot to specify which spec. This one:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GRGozRrRMZMsMrZb.1

 

Great minds. I actually revised the spec to be 27/12/2, and I took the exact same talents as you.

Great minds. I actually revised the spec to be 27/12/2, and I took the exact same talents as you.

 

I actually copied this from your guide How does this do for PvE tanking or do you respec to pick up some of the mitigation talents for that?

I actually copied this from your guide How does this do for PvE tanking or do you respec to pick up some of the mitigation talents for that?

 

Oh OK.

 

The spec would look very different for PVE tanking, which is why I created 2 sub-sections for Specs, 1 for PVP and 1 for PVE.

Great minds. I actually revised the spec to be 27/12/2, and I took the exact same talents as you.

 

You specced to tier 3 of Tactics but couldn't find one point for Gut? o.O