The purpose of this guide is to help develop tactics for people who are new to PvP Tanking in SW:TOR. The content of all guides is open to discussion and refinement, as mentioned by TheOpf. The benefit of writing up a description of an advanced class and play style is that we can all share our knowledge and improve our game. We should also have fun in the process.

This guide will cover some in-depth topics of the Powertech/Vanguard class and PvP tanking. If the discussion becomes slated and boring, please stop and do not concern yourself with the details. It is easy to lose perspective, make sure you are having fun! **Note: I play a Powertech and may not have listed all the equivalent Vanguard abilities. Star Wars: The Old Republic Version 1.2.4. To be updated with the release of 1.3.

The number one goal is to win warzones. We can make steps to this goal by fulfilling our role as a tank. I'm going to go over some basic rules for PvP tanking that we should keep in mind while we are playing and planning our advanced class and role. These are rules, not laws, and can be deviated from, however they serve as a very important reference for how we will make our decisions.

Rule 1 - Keep our teammates alive.

Rule 2 - Survive as long as possible.

Rule 3 - Do not fight alone, if possible.

The 3 rules are (purposefully) very simple, however their implications can be expansive.

Expanding on Rule 1:

When people say "tank" they are often thinking about the following: wanting to be the first one in, the toughest in the fight, last man or woman standing, taking all the damage, or the one that everyone is focused on. All of these traits aren't bad by themselves, however, let's think about Rule 1. We should be the first ones to die. Often times if we die over and over again we can win matches as long as our deaths allow our teammates to complete their roles. Keeping our teammates alive can mean a variety of things, and in the DPS heavy TOR, that may seem like killing our enemies quickly will keep out teammates alive. This is true, if our enemies are all dead, then our teammates our safe. But that is the role of the DPS, so in a Tanking guide, our role is to prevent our teammates from dying while all the DPS is being delivered. "Getting people's attention" doesn't necessarily mean only taunts. Attempting to cap a node or place a bomb when there is no chance of actually completing the 8 second cast can be a great way of taking the focus away from teammates.

Expanding on Rule 2:

Surviving as long as possible helps us achieve Rule 1. The longer we can stay alive, in theory, the longer we can be help our teammates survive. We therefore want to be as difficult to kill as possible through a combination of playing intelligently, using our abilities defensively, and gearing for durability, in that order.

Expanding on Rule 3:

As a tank, we cannot keep our teammates alive if we are by ourselves. This is not a guide about fighting 1 on 1. While tanks are perfectly capable of winning 1 on 1 fights (depending on the match up) the view of this guide is centered around doing our part to help our team achieve its specific goals that help achieve our overall goal of winning Warzones (and rest in peace, Ilum). Tanks can often make the best single defender of a node or point, which is why I say "if possible". But we are often much more effective when paired with at least 1 other person.

The main tank build after 1.2 is a 31/10/0 build. The 31/10/0 build has a lot of options because there are not that many tank abilities that are must haves. My twist is a Philosophic build that is 31/7/3.

All builds will of course be using Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell). The important part of the tooltip says "Giving ranged attacks a 15% chance to deal 253 additional energy damage. While this cylinder is active, threat generated is increased by 50%. Increases armor by 60%, decreases all damage taken by 5%, and increases shield chance by 15%. Only one cylinder (cell) can be active at a time". We must have Ion Gas Cylinder (Ion Cell) active in order to use the guard ability on our teammates.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GorbdRroGRZrMbM.1

Shield Tech

Combust (Static Field) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Lowers the damage of enemies, Rule 1.

Intimidation 3/3 - Damage in this build is focused on elemental effects and Rocket Punch (Stockstrike).

Neural Overload 1/1 - Nice to have - Applying a constant slow to enemies can help you keep teammates alive, and is generally useful in a mobile PvP environment.

Ion Overload 2/2 - Nice to have - Allows the Jet Charge (Storm) to Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) combo that closes the gap and keeps your enemies under 10m by slowing them.

Steely Resolve or Rebraced Armor - Directly comparing these two: increasing Aim by 9% is better than the paltry benefit you get from 16% armor, take which ever you like better.

Shield Vents (Shield Cycler) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Increases Shield chance and vent heat (gain ammo) when you shield? Absolutely need this.

Oil Slick (Smoke Grenade) 1/1 - MUST HAVE - This is an under-estimated ability, Warzones skirmishes are usually located in specific locations, so using an ability that takes no resource and doesn't respect the global cooldown is an obvious choice for 1 talent point.

Ablative Upgrades (Ceramic Plating) 1/2 or 2/2 - Very nice to have - Absorption is the least valuable defense stat which is why this is not a must have. I am personally a fan of this talent because 15% health regen every 2 minutes makes you that much more tanky. This skill would be better on the tier below it.

No Escape (Defensive Measures) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Gives two of our abilities roots. Roots are the meta of CC because they are not affected by resolve. This makes Grappling (Harpooning) people into Huttball fire traps instant kills and incredibly easy. Enemies will often vanish right before they are killed, Stealth Scan will now not only conveniently reveal them, but keep them right next to you to Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) that killing blow.

Supercharged Ion Gas (Supercharged Ion Cell) 1/1 - Nice to have - Take it for the extended slow

Ion Screen (Ion Shield) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Increases damage reduction by a flat 2%. Rule 2.

Flame Shield (Static Shield) 2/2 - Nice to have - Increases Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) critical chance and lets us Rocket Punch (Stockstrike) frequently due to the fact we will be shielding a lot.

Jet Speed (Charge!) - AVOID - Some abilities are not as good as others. Few are as silly as Jet Speed (Charge). Factor in the fact that you are essentially stunned in an animation for the first second of a four second ability but you also only gain an extra 4m of distance in the buff duration versus running without the speed buff. For those visually inclined, it is 2 steps for someone with body size 1. I won't lie, I had this ability for a very long time because it can help you slip past enemies who AoE knockback. But you are better off just counting on server lag to get past enemies. How come Powertechs don't get a skill with an exclamation mark!

Jet Charge (Storm) 1/1 - MUST HAVE - Well technically a tank may not require this, but come on, you are going to go all the way up the Shield Tech tree and not pick Jet Charge (Storm)? This ability wins Huttball games, do it for that, not just for tanking implications.

Flame Surge (Static Surge) 2/2 - Nice to have - As previously stated, building for elemental damage.

Empowered Tech (Counterattack) 3/3 - MUST HAVE - Single largest skill that increases Shield Chance. Rule 2.

Heat Screen (Power Screen) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - We use Flame Burst and Heat Blast constantly so you should be able to maintain the 4 stacks at all times, when enemies are around. Another 8% absorption helps with Rule 2.

Heat Blast (Energy Blast) 1/1 - MUST HAVE - As a tank we are by definition not going to be doing as much damage as DPS. Heat Blast (Energy Blast) lowers our heat (increases ammo), does elemental damage, does not respect the global cooldown, and builds absorption: simply amazing.

Advanced Prototype

Prototype Burn Enhancers (Demolition) 2/2 - Nice to have - Keeps our elemental attacks critical hitting.

Prototype Electro Surge (Containment Tactics) 2/2 - Nice to have - This skill lets you stun more per Warzones. I personally always have this skill because when I tested a build that did not have this we lost a game because my stun had 5 seconds remaining on cooldown.

Puncture (Focused Impact) 2/3 - Nice to have - Self explanatory that Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) ignores armor. That just sounds cool.

Power Armor 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Reduces all damage. Rule 2.

Advanced Tools (Tactical Tools) 2/2 - Nice to have - Lower cooldown on our nice cone elemental attack and more Grapples (Harpoons) per Warzone is good to have.

Summary

The 1.2 Tank build focuses on survivability at the cost of damage, but still has some nice features. While the damage of this build is lacking, it can be well placed with a timely Heat Blast (Energy Blast) and Rocket Punch (Stockstrike). In this version I choose to go with elemental damage and for good reason, most of our abilities benefit from elemental and we have to pick up elemental skills on our way through the Shield Tech tree, however, picking up Rail Shot (High Impact Bolt) buffs is viable as well. The fashion of late is of course the NORS build.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301GoMrdRroGRZrzbZ0c.1

This build does not weigh the comparative options between the usefulness of different skills but rather stringently sticks to The Rules. Rather than copy and paste the previous build, I will just describe deviations from the 1.2 Tank build.

Shield Tech

Rebraced Armor 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Do anything and everything to make yourself tougher. Rule 2.

Ablative Upgrades (Ceramic Plating) 2/2 - MUST HAVE - Pick up some more absorption and most importantly heal yourself to allow your healers to focus someone else. When you become the target of focus fire, popping all your defensive abilities Energy Shield (Reactive Shield), Defensive relic, and Kolto Overload (Adrenaline Rush) will keep you alive. Rule 2.

Advanced Prototype

Puncture (Focused Impact) 1/3 - Putting one point in this skill instead of 2 just to get to the next tier.

Advanced Tools (Tactical Tools) 0/2 - Removing points from this ability to relocate them because this ability does not directly affect tanking.

Integrated Cardio Package (Soldier's Endurance) 3/3 - MUST HAVE - As stated later on in this guide, we get less Endurance from War Hero gear than our Battlemaster gear, making this an absolute necessity. This is where those moved points ended up. Rule 2.

Summary

As you can see this build is just a tweak based on some tanking philosophy. There is no one right build, make the 31 Shield Tech spec work for you and your play style.

The next two subsections are devoted to the tank specific abilities. I will continue to write about how important these abilities are, because repetition is the only way I can convey how essential Guard and Taunting is to a PvP tank.

Guarding seems pretty self explanatory and is our most basic way of achieving Rule 1. Guarding is therefore the most important thing. EVER. You should always attempt to guard another player. We cannot guard if we break Rule 3.

Guard at level 14 tooltip: "Guard; Instant; Range:30m; While active, the guarded player takes 5% less damage and generates 25% less threat. In addition, so long as you remain within 15 meters of the guarded player, 50% of all incoming damage from enemy players is transferred back to you. Requires Ion Gas Cylinder/Ion Cell."

The implications:

It is beneficial to guard a teammate under attack even if we are not yet in the 15 meter range to start taking 50% of the damage for them.

Being a (semi) ranged tank allows us to hang back with the healers (or those that we are guarding) and stay within the 15 meter range of our teammates.

Guard is instant which means we can change our guard target at will. Change guard to whoever is taking the most damage and always be alert for when the DPS focus switches. You do not always have to guard healers! Often guarding a DPS, such as a Marauder or Sentinel will be most beneficial to your team, allowing your DPS to tear through the enemies' ranks.

When not to Guard

There are rare occasions when you should not be guarding another person. When you are by yourself guarding a location, make sure your guard is off. Too often tanks guarding a single node keep their guard on a teammate they are not in guard range of which means that other tanks cannot guard that teammate.

We get two taunts that help us with Rule 1. Once again, it is very, very important to use taunts. Using taunts effectively is key to playing a good Powertech/Vanguard regardless of role.

Powertechs get Sonic Missile (Vanguards: Sonic Round) at Level 30 tooltip: "Sonic Missile; Instant; Cooldown: 45s; Range: 30m; Fires a sonic missile that taunts your target and all nearby enemies, forcing them to attack for 6 seconds. Enemy players have their damage reduced for 6 second unless they attack you."

Powertechs get Neural Dart (Vanguards: Neural Jolt) at Level 16. The tooltip reads: "Neural Dart; Instant; Cooldown: 15s; Range: 30m; Fires a neural dart that taunts the target to attack for 6 seconds. Player targets deal 30% less damage when attacking anyone other than you. Effect lasts 6 seconds."

Implications:

As you can read from these 2 taunt tooltips, we get to drastically reduce the damage directed at our teammates. With DPS being the current gibfest that it is, guarding teammates and then taunting those enemies that are attacking our teammates is the essential combination to being a good tank.

Our 2 taunts can be applied to the same target at the same time. I have not been able to test how the effects stack, whether it is a full 60% debuff (doubtful) or 30% then another 30% damage debuff, or capped at 30% regardless if they are double taunted or taunted by other players (I believe this is correct, although I cannot find a source).

When to Taunt

Taunts should be on cooldown at all times because they are not on the global cooldown. I cannot think of a time when you need to save a taunt. If a taunt will be useful later to save a teammate, then just apply that taunt right now so they don't get low later. If you find yourself struggling to keep your taunts on cooldown consider remapping them to keys that are easier to reach or that you will remember to hit more often (so take that Sonic Round off of F8).

Let us say that there is only one enemy and they are attacking you. You should still taunt them. Why? Two reasons: First of all, there are a lot of AoE's in the game and if you taunt enemies attacking you, you will lower their AoE damage to your teammates, secondly, and almost just as important, you need to develop taunting habits. Taunting should become an instinct. For those reading my guide who are drivers, think of it like a turn signal. You may be the only one on the road, but I imagine a lot of you use your turn signal because you have developed that good habit.

Gear

As PvP tanks we obviously want to work towards War Hero Supercommando pieces and Defense and Shield/Absorb Relics.

Applying the Rules to gear choices we find that the stats of Supercommando are what we want with plenty of +Shield Rating, +Absorption, and +Defense. Because of the mechanics of SW:TOR we ideally want as much Defense as we can get to stop that initial role versus accuracy. However, do not think that Shield and Absorption are useless. For those of you who play Agents/Smugglers think of the ability Evasion/Dodge. That ability is an awesome 100% avoidance of range and melee abilities, and while our shield triggering doesn't equal absorption, we get that defense all the time without any thought or use of an ability. With War Hero gear we can get our shield chance to about 50%.

Unfortunately War Hero Supercommando gear has less Endurance than Battlemaster Supercommando gear. Having the most Expertise in slot is still ideal. Though experimentation may indicate that replacing specific items for some Endurance, that is just my idle speculation at this point.

Personally I plan on getting all War Hero Supercommando gear for the stats, then switch out two Armoring pieces to get the Combat Tech 2 piece set bonus. Although 5% damage increase is nice when guarding a teammate, I think it is evident by now I would rather stun a group of enemies longer than do increased damage.

Grapple (Harpoon) can be used defensively. If you find yourself on a node and unable to get to your healer who just had an enemy leap or come out of stealth on top of your healer, pull that enemy off your healer! The enemy is not only rooted, but now has to run back to your healer without their opener.

Make the fire traps in Huttball right before the goal line especially deadly. Frequently the enemy kills a teammate with the ball, jumps down off the ramp, and starts to run away leaving me standing there all alone on the ramp. Pick up that enemy ball carrier from the midst of his or her teammates to a fiery death and solo score that Huttball.

Avoid the urge to Jet Charge (Storm) from a higher elevation to a lower elevation. I see people do this all the time and fail to understand it. You can charge them with gravity!

This game may be digital but you can still physically defend someone. You can screen for someone, to use a basketball term. Stand almost directly on top of the person you are guarding but slightly towards the direction of the enemies, such that if they attempt to target your teammate by clicking on them they target you instead. This is great for capping doors and nodes because it forces them to use AoE. Deity help them if they try to tab target.

The infamous gap at the bridge section in Voidstar may have been increased, but you can still Jet Charge (Storm) across. If an enemy passes in between the two capture points that extend the bridge and they are not on the raised section directly below the spawn point you can leap to them by jumping off even without the speed boost.

Roots affect those immune to crowd control because of resolve. Abuse this. If you have competent teammates you should be able to keep an enemy from moving.

At the beginning of a Warzone it is better to use your defensive abilities before you get stunned. I like to use my relics first because there is no giant bubble that appears around me saying "Don't attack me, I've popped my defensive abilities". It is better to waste your defensive cooldowns rather than use your CC breaker at less than 50% health in a panic to get your defense up.

At the beginning of a Warzone use your Stealth Scan to knock stealthers out of stealth such that they can be targeted in that initial confrontation. This helps keep your healers from being opened on by Operatives/Scoundrels and prevents all important stealth knockbacks by Assassins/Shadows in Novare Coast.

The control console in Novare Coast is the smallest and lowest to the ground node in any Warzone. You can "tank" the node by standing directly in front of it to make it difficult to capture. Do not do this when attempting to take a node because you will only hamper your teammate's attempt to cap.

((Reserved for edits, opinions, suggestions, feedback and for 1.3 updates.))

In this section I hope to compile suggestions and thoughts about what we would like to see in 1.3 specifically relating to Powertechs and/or PvP Tanking.

Since the release of 1.2 the meta of the game has drastically shifted. Taugrim and others were quite accurate in describing the Legacy patch 1.2 as a shotgun approach to PvP. It is well documented that time to kill has plummeted and DPS (with changes to expertise) is now ridiculous. I believe that these changes have made tanks far more important than they have ever been before. Pre-1.2 two to three unguarded healers could hold their own, especially in The Civil War or Voidstar and guarded healers were unkillable. Unguarded healers are easily countered in post-1.2 and guarded healers can now fight to survive.

Powertechs and Vanguards are not the best tanks in the game, in my opinion, however we do offer some unique utility that can make us invaluable in a group. Juggernaughts/Guardians have superior defense due to the mechanics of the game and can be much tougher that Powertech/Vanguard. The utility skills that have been discussed in this guide demonstrate that we can contribute in a very meaningful way. We are able to effectively tank while being at the greatest distance from our enemies. We are far more effective being <10m to our target, however, we have more than saberthrow if we are greater than 10m away from our target.

The other Powertech guides on these forums quite accurately state that to run efficient DPS you either have to have High Energy Gas Cylinder or Combustible Gas Cylinder. Any spec that goes deep into Pyro or Advanced Prototype with the intention of DPSing and use Ion Gas Cylinder you are severely handicapping yourself. Which leaves Iron Fist (which I love and have used until the DoT changes) as the DPS spec which allows you to Guard teammates.

Awesome!

Please sticky this...

What are people's thoughts on using dps gear with the tank spec?(pvp only) I love tanking ops and FPs, and do have fun in WZ's with it. But I don't really enjoy it unless I'm with friends. So I have purchased an eliminator BM set. I find it still holds up fairly well if I have a good healer ! I tend to respec to pyro if friends are not on, just for the Rambo burn factor.

Basically should I save up for a BM supercommando set or continue using a eliminator set w/shield and some tanking accessories?

Awesome!

 

Please sticky this...

 

What are people's thoughts on using dps gear with the tank spec?(pvp only) I love tanking ops and FPs, and do have fun in WZ's with it. But I don't really enjoy it unless I'm with friends. So I have purchased an eliminator BM set. I find it still holds up fairly well if I have a good healer ! I tend to respec to pyro if friends are not on, just for the Rambo burn factor.

 

Basically should I save up for a BM supercommando set or continue using a eliminator set w/shield and some tanking accessories?

IMO PTs of all the tanks are worst with DPS gear because it does not give any benefits. Our survivability suffers due to lack of stealth and defensive cooldowns and with dps gear we don't fulfill either role adequately - DPS trees are far superior for DPS and tank gear better for tanking.

Some people use DPS gear with a tank spec with great success. Most people pick up the Combat Tech DPS gear because the set piece bonus improves all of our abilities, whilst the Eliminator set only improves Rail Shot (though it improves it by quite a bit). Eliminator core pieces (Helmet, Chest, Gloves, Greaves, and Boots) have more Endurance than Combat Tech though. There are more thorough discussions about gear choices in the other threads for DPS specific gear choices. I personally am going to get WH Combat Tech next because I spec to do more damage with Rocket punch.

However if you go up the Shield Tech tree you are going up the tree with the weakest DPS, by far.

Integrated Cardio Package (Soldier's Endurance) 3/3 - MUST HAVE

Thats probably one of the worst talents to take, everyone avoids it so I really dont know why would you mark it as a must have. Those 3 points are really better spent anywhere other than here, 600hp in the best case scenario is just not worth it. In my BM tanking gear and endurance stim Im around 22k HP anyways.

Integrated Cardio Package (Soldier's Endurance) 3/3 - MUST HAVE .

That's probably the worst talent to take for ANY spec. Out of principle I would rather not spend my 3 points at all, than to put it in Integrated Cardio. lol

I also do not agree with being in tank gear. However, since I never PvPed in tank gear and didnt experiment with the difference in damage output between tank and dps gear, I wont argue that point. I would like to see a parse of the same spec (31/8/2 is my preference) and see how much of a dps difference, and mainly "burst" damage, is there between the two. If the difference is marginal, then you would be right.

Aside from that, thanks for taking the time to write this. I would have held off to 1.3 because it seems that they will look at the all 3 tank classes and bring them more in line with each other. Currently I feel that PT tanks is the worst of the 3 tanks. It would be interesting to see if PT tanks get something to make them perform similar to Tanksins.

That's probably the worst talent to take for ANY spec. Out of principle I would rather not spend my 3 points at all, than to put it in Integrated Cardio. lol

 

I also do not agree with being in tank gear. However, since I never PvPed in tank gear and didnt experiment with the difference in damage output between tank and dps gear, I wont argue that point. I would like to see a parse of the same spec (31/8/2 is my preference) and see how much of a dps difference, and mainly "burst" damage, is there between the two. If the difference is marginal, then you would be right.

 

Aside from that, thanks for taking the time to write this. I would have held off to 1.3 because it seems that they will look at the all 3 tank classes and bring them more in line with each other. Currently I feel that PT tanks is the worst of the 3 tanks. It would be interesting to see if PT tanks get something to make them perform similar to Tanksins.

Agree with Agooz. I did pvp in tank gear and dps gear back in Dec/January. Since shielding doesn't work against a ton of attacks in PvP, it was generally considered worthless to be in tank spec and tank gear.

However, PT tanks are so weak compared to tankasins and to a lesser extent Jugg tanks, that it's pretty much worthless to pvp as PT Tank right now. We can hope they will buff PT tanks but they may nerf tankasins, who knows.

Thats probably one of the worst talents to take, everyone avoids it so I really dont know why would you mark it as a must have. Those 3 points are really better spent anywhere other than here, 600hp in the best case scenario is just not worth it. In my BM tanking gear and endurance stim Im around 22k HP anyways.

It's always seemed strange to me that swtor noobs get hard about 3% mitigation but not 3% health boost

I dont' mean to single you out. It seems like a common thoughtless mistake.

It's always seemed strange to me that swtor noobs get hard about 3% mitigation but not 3% health boost

 

I dont' mean to single you out. It seems like a common thoughtless mistake.

Lets see:

3% Health = roughly 600-800hp on a tank PT. (less on other specs)

That's it, the entire benefit is 600-800hp, unless are being topped off by a healer everytime you get hit, which will hardly every happen.

3% mitigation however is working for you the ENTIRE time. Anytime you heal up, no matter if it is 100health or 10,000health, any damage you take again is mitigated by 3%. So it is EXPONENTIALLY better than a mere 3% to health.

Something to think about, since you just accused someone of being thoughtless, would you raither have a 25% health bonus to your Bounty Hunter, or have Energy Shield (which is 25% mitigation) be permanent? lol

For a PT though, and for the purpose of this Guide, it is not about 3%health vs 3% mitigation. Those 3 points are better used to increase dps.

Lets see:

 

3% Health = roughly 600-800hp on a tank PT. (less on other specs)

That's it, the entire benefit is 600-800hp, unless are being topped off by a healer everytime you get hit, which will hardly every happen.

 

3% mitigation however is working for you the ENTIRE time. Anytime you heal up, no matter if it is 100health or 10,000health, any damage you take again is mitigated by 3%. So it is EXPONENTIALLY better than a mere 3% to health.

 

Something to think about, since you just accused someone of being thoughtless, would you raither have a 25% health bonus to your Bounty Hunter, or have Energy Shield (which is 25% mitigation) be permanent? lol

 

For a PT though, and for the purpose of this Guide, it is not about 3%health vs 3% mitigation. Those 3 points are better used to increase dps.

*eye roll*

That's extremely marginal. Let's say a player receives 6000 healing

20000*1.03+6000 - (20000+6000)/.97 ~= 200

a player is about 1% better off with 3% mitigation vs 3% more base health here. (a pvp medpack will heal 200 more to the integrated cardio player making the integrated cardio player exactly equal btw)

While a player is better off with mitigation it's a very minor amount better off. I just thought you should know that as a swtor player you look ridiculous and stupid thinking mitigation is great and integrated cardio isn't for pvp.

I agree on all most every issue.

The reason I present two specs is to describe the difference between the standard tank spec (which I am currently using) and creating a max durability spec. To quote myself:

"This build does not weigh the comparative options between the usefulness of different skills but rather stringently sticks to The Rules"

I felt the need to say "Integrated Cardio Package (Soldier's Endurance) 3/3 - MUST HAVE" to refer to the philosophy of a tank, that is attempting to survive as long as possible.

Mitigation is usually better than stacking HP under the current system. I have personal anecdotes of surviving fights with less than 800hp, however, the overall value of surviving with that little health remaining is marginal.

I appreciate your thoughtful responses and if the community feels like I should remove those points and put them somewhere else, even though it is in the theorycrafting (philosophy) tanking section, I will gladly do it.

I had written this guide a while ago and did not want to hold off on posting it for much longer. Guessing when 1.3 will come out is beyond me, so I thought I would post the guide and edit the information when the changes to 1.3 come out. Hopefully keeping this up to date will be relatively easy.

In my original copy I had a whole section entitled "The State of the Game" in which I described my server's meta game and how we PvP in Warzones. Within that section I described how we are not the best tanks in the game, in my opinion, but that we have a unique skill set that can add utility to a fight. I removed that section for space as well as the fact that I did not want to be an apologist. Ending an entire guide with "and we aren't the best so you are better off not going tank" seemed wrong and is counter to what I believe. Because we aren't the best doesn't mean we are bad. If you choose to tank as a way to enjoy the game, this guide will hopefully provide ways in which you can succeed. I certainly am not encouraging everyone to go tank while simultaneously not encouraging everyone to go DPS.

Thank you all for the discussion thus far.

For pvp, the shield (and absorb) doesn't do very much, a shield won't stop critical hits and most attacks are either tech/force and criticals- only a poorly geared sniper and immortal juggernaut will be hitting your shield, everyone else will basically rip through the shield.

Between a full 31pt and a hybrid such as the Iron Fist, I go a little further with Iron Fist however I like staying full 31pt shieldtech, heat blast doesn't do much in pvp and nor does the absorption buff. Switching between tank and dps gear, I get more mileage out of dps gear and still viable enough to taunt and protect my teammate, averaging 350K damage, 200K protection, and very often the most medals in a match (between 13-15).

Also, I agree that the 3 points into endurance is a waste, I pick up the 8% rocket punch damage increase.

*eye roll*

 

That's extremely marginal. Let's say a player receives 6000 healing

 

20000*1.03+6000 - (20000+6000)/.97 ~= 200

 

a player is about 1% better off with 3% mitigation vs 3% more base health here. (a pvp medpack will heal 200 more to the integrated cardio player making the integrated cardio player exactly equal btw)

 

While a player is better off with mitigation it's a very minor amount better off. I just thought you should know that as a swtor player you look ridiculous and stupid thinking mitigation is great and integrated cardio isn't for pvp.

Very convenient way to prove a point. First of all you are assuming that you are being topped off to your entire Health pool, which almost never happens in PvP. Second maybe people think you are an extremely low priority player in a WZ to only receive 6000heals. I easily receive 50k heals and as much as 200k+ heals, so 3% mitigation would be 2000-6500hp. In PvE a tank will be healed for alot more than that in a 5-6min fight.

Insulting and calling people names, doesnt make your point anymore valid. It only shows how childish you are. And for the last time, we were discussing taking out the 3 points in Cardio, which would OBVIOUSLY go to dps or utility talents. No ONE was contemplating 3% mitigation vs 3% health. A tank takes all the mitigation he can get, but dumping 3 talent points for 600hp might sound amazing to you, but not to the rest of us.

 

In my original copy I had a whole section entitled "The State of the Game" in which I described my server's meta game and how we PvP in Warzones. Within that section I described how we are not the best tanks in the game, in my opinion, but that we have a unique skill set that can add utility to a fight. I removed that section for space as well as the fact that I did not want to be an apologist. Ending an entire guide with "and we aren't the best so you are better off not going tank" seemed wrong and is counter to what I believe. Because we aren't the best doesn't mean we are bad. If you choose to tank as a way to enjoy the game, this guide will hopefully provide ways in which you can succeed. I certainly am not encouraging everyone to go tank while simultaneously not encouraging everyone to go DPS.

 

Thank you all for the discussion thus far.

Again, thank you for posting the guide. I am sure it will be helpful for many fresh PTs wanting to Tank in PvP. But maybe it would have been a good idea to include that "The State of the Game" section with regards to a PT tank. It would definitely add more to the conversation, and if the moderator would make this a sticky, then there is a good chance someone in BW would read it with the "slim" chance of actually considering some of the its arguments. It's probably is a good time too for that discussion since they did mention tweaking tank classes for 1.3

For pvp, the shield (and absorb) doesn't do very much, a shield won't stop critical hits and most attacks are either tech/force and criticals- only a poorly geared sniper and immortal juggernaut will be hitting your shield, everyone else will basically rip through the shield.

Stacking shield and absorb doesn't work like it does in PvE, but it does work in PvP.

Luckily, most of the shielding and absorb you want comes from the ST tree, so you only need a few mods from some supercommando to get the most out of your shield with only a minor loss in surge/crit.

With IGC, a shield generator, and just a few mods from some supercommando gear and you can get ~38% shield while maintaining ~30% crit and ~74% surge. If you have WH relic of the shrouded crusader, you can push shield up close to 50% and really surprise some people. Pop your energy shield at the same time for even better results. Higher shield rating means you'll get those rocket punch refreshes more often too. If you are running a tank spec, you aren't going for max dps anyway, reducing the damage you take from 25% of the incoming attacks is still something you want to do.

I wouldn't recommend wearing a full set of tank gear, but to say only someone poorly geared is going to hit your shield is hardly accurate.

There is no doubt that the shield and absorb is a weak mechanic. All my augment slots contain defense augments because I would rather push my enemies accuracy below 100% when possible. However this debate centers around playing to our strengths or shoring up our weaknesses. When compared to other tanks we have the lowest initial defense but the consistently highest shield rating. I believe this is why we suffer, due to the damage mitigation mechanics of SW:TOR. Because we can't shield everything doesn't make it useless. Should we even be able to shield everything? Could you imagine shielding stuns? Wow I would love that. Shield is definitely weak, no argument there.

"heat blast doesn't do much in pvp" can I inquire what you mean by that?

Agooz, I will put the "State of the Game" section in the lower post, partly because I want to keep the guide focused for new tanks and to not let it divulge into speculation about the entire game. Any additions you would like to add would be appreciated. (The same goes for everyone of course)

We have numerous abilities that proc when we shield which isn't surprising since our class is built around having a higher shield chance than any other. Unfortunately as previously stated this makes us the weaker tank class.

I'm obviously biased towards tanking, but just recently I pushed a fellow Powertech guildie to full Pyro and he noticed a huge increase in damage, because it fit his playstyle.

State of the Game

Powertechs and Vanguards are not the best tanks in the game, in my opinion, however we do offer some unique utility that can make us invaluable in a group....

They are not the best tank in PvP, but certainly beastly in PvE. For starters, I would like to see this simple fix...Allow the use of "Shield Generator" in IGC to "SHIELD" any type of attack, not just Weapon and Range. Tech and Force should also be "shielded". Now lets move to the "Absorb", that would stay the same, only able to absorb Weapon and Range attacks. That way from a mitigation perspective, nothing has changed. But getting the chance to "shield" any attack would help the PT trigger Shield Vents and Flame Shield.

For starters, I would like to see this simple fix...Allow the use of "Shield Generator" in IGC to "SHIELD" any type of attack, not just Weapon and Range. Tech and Force should also be "shielded". Now lets move to the "Absorb", that would stay the same, only able to absorb Weapon and Range attacks. That way from a mitigation perspective, nothing has changed. But getting the chance to "shield" any attack would help the PT trigger Shield Vents and Flame Shield.

I agree that would be one possible solution. The problem is that it would not really help our survivability, as far as I understand it. Having our procs would help us with delivering more rocket punches, but still doesn't make us tanky.

Another option that could be tested would be to not let crit push our shields off the hit table.

I would of course love to see our shield/absorb have the possibility of blocking all incoming attack types.