I was on vacation for the release of 1.3 and seem to have missed several changes for troopers.

Pre 1.3 I was in IronFist and was collecting Combat Tech BM gear. After 1.3 I respeccd to Shield on whim, figured it would be about the same and kept getting Combat Tech gear.

It seems now for Shield Spec I should now use Supercommando gear.

Is this because without the damage bonus on critting with shockstrike, the extra chance to crit is not as worthwhile as the general +5% damage from the supercommando set?

Sometimes I feel like I wear tissue paper. Even with four pieces of BM gear, BM eliminator rifle, BM relic, I still can get torn apart pretty quickly. Will super commando help mitigate this?

Not looking forward to re-gearing, but if I have to, 'better if twas best done quickly'.

Do I still take Brutal Impact and Focused Impact or is High Impact Bolt less important?

How helpful is Smoke Grenade now?

I too "lost" my Iron fist build to 1.3. Ive since gone to a tactics build and am enjoying it. I shut down sorcerors easily, and can usually kill any other class 1v1 with a combo of dps, cc, and debuffs. Its a fast run and fun setup - I very rarely run low on ammo (the tactics cell regens way more ammo than I can use).

Btw it sounds like I am geared about the same as you - 4 combat tech set, minor pieces are eliminator, and a generator, not shield. I'm currently replacing my relics as those got changed in 1.3, then I'll buy a 4 set of the eliminator to see if it enhances the tactics build at all.

Hi all,

Tactics looks interesting, and I'm jealous of some of the damge numbers I see vanguards putiting up. But I still want to run a tanking spec.

I decided to upgrade my gauntlets and belt from Recruit Combat Tech to BM Supercommando. And I bought the WH shield relic. I haven't tried it yet but looking forward to see if I'm a bit more sturdy in WZs.

I did find some other posts for shield spec builds so I'll study those a bit and maybe respec. I just have to play to see what I like best.

I have switched to a 31/8/2 Shield build mentioned by another player somewhere here. With a more than half complete SuperCom set (3/5 - last 2 pieces are Eliminator). The complete SuperCom set will give me a 5% bonus to damage while guard is up.

PvP - 'm having a hard time on my server but numbers are terrible even when we win, which are few and far between. The other side has about 4-5 guys all with Force Lightning which is annoying to say the least but I'm sure in time they will find themselves being nerfed as the numbers will push BW in that direction.

My stats and medals can be ok if I am switched on but I am dying way to often for my liking with my healer if I have one shortly after.

The rate my server is going the Imp's will be in full WH for quite some time until the Pubs either catch up or quit in disgust.

31/8/2 is how I run. Four piece C.Tech, Supercommando chest, with all else Supercommando and augmented for Surge/Aim w/a few minor defense augs to balance out my survivability.

Works out well as a tank spec and can deal fair situational damage. Easily adjustable to suit your needs, particularly whatever options you want in the second tier of Tactics, although Tactical Tools really plays to our strengths.

Im in the same situation.

I play full sheild spec and use combat tech gear atm.

If i had optimal gear for the way i play, id use Supercommando set bonus's with combat tech mods/enhancements.

Defense is low for vanguards because we start out with basically none. If you can aquire campaign mainhand and off hand, optimally, id use them and a PVE earpeice with PVP gear in the rest of my slots.

With this setup you get gobs of defense from your mainhand/offhand earpeice (enough to make the diffrence) and alot of the straight dmg reduction from your skill tree and expertise.

With this optimal setup, you are dumping sheild rateing/absorbtion (keep some sheilding if possible). While takeing defense (not too much) and maxing out your above average offensive capability as far as tanks go.

This set up really counters melee classes well (since maruders and sentinels are so popular atm) and has gap closers and interupts to put pressure on healers. I lose 1vs1 to mercenaries, ,(because of self healing), agents (because of burst and cc abilities), and sometimes well played assassins (obvious reasons).

Aside from the stuff above, i use a Endurance stim instead of Aim.