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Powerr's Jedi Shadow Tanking Guide


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The Jedi Shadow's Guide to PvP Tanking

a tactics thread from yours truly, Powerr of <Matchless>

Last update: March 25, 2012

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Introduction

 

Jedi Shadows tanking spec has been recently upgraded by BioWare into being a full decked out beast. We now have an AOE snare that does nice damage on an 8 second cooldown and stacks an 5% damage debuff on all targets. This ability is also great because it does not put resolve on your target.

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Commentary Walkthrough

 

Video Guides w/ commentary

Video of each class talking specifics about their specs, rotations, and need to know cooldowns.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=353901

 

Pre-Requisites for Maximum Burst

 

Use Warzone Expertise pot over the Power Adrenal because it will both do more damage than the power adrenal would do, and it also benefits you with 15% more defense from the added expertise.

 

-Overcharge Consumable(15% Expertise bonus for 25 seconds.)

-Power Relic

-Power Adrenal

-Force Potency

-Battle Readiness

-if your character like mine hits Diminishing Returns on your Surge, swap your relic to Power.

 

Note that.. popping a warzone expertise pot while you have a red damage buff will WASTE your expertise pot and result in a 3 minute wasted cooldown. (It refreshes the red buff not technically waste).

 

What I did was put it on a separate q-bind than my other pre-requisites.

 

Tanking Damage rotation

 

The rotation in the tanking stance goes as follows:

 

(Pre-pop Kinetic Ward, you can use it in stealth along with any buffs)

-Open with Spinning Kick (uses 1 bar of resolve on target)

-Double strike until you get Particle Acceleration procced

-Pop Requisites listed above

-Project

-Slow Time

-Should have some stacks of Harnessed Shadows

-Telekinesis Throw (should be in time to get your last stack of potency used up)

-Repeat rotation, or if you like shadow strike, be my guest

-Execute!

 

 

**note that slow time should be used off the gcd, but! is much like force breach in the sense that you need to use it directly after project for maximum burst.

 

Abilities off the GCD

 

-Kinetic Ward

-Taunt

-AOE Taunt

-Interrupt

-Sap (Mind Maze)

 

Team Play

 

Remember that you can be doing multiple things at once in this spec. I normally peel while keeping my enemies taunted, debuffed, and snared.

 

With the new re-vamp on Guard, it makes it much easier to quickswap guard to focus fired targets. Take advantage of that, don't be the tank that is predictable. There is nothing more annoying than running around with a tank train and every target you attack is guarded as soon as you get on it. If the other team is not assisting, pick their best dps player, and detaunt him the entire game and keep slow time up. Keep snares up on the entire team if possible. Lastly, clear off your healer!!! You need him/her.

 

The most important things you need to do as a tank is peel off your healer, suppress their top dpsers, and assist burst when needed.

 

If your team is all dead and you are last alive, use it to your advantage, vanish and pop cooldowns to hold your point for as long as you can via sap, slow time, survivability.

 

Video Demonstration

[watch in HD]

 

Ideal Gear

 

I've done some digging and testing for group play and I've found it to be quite difficult to judge what the best template is for your shadow. I've been a firm believer that higher dps>more wins in warzones. Reason being, you wipe them fast enough, you get the point no questions asked. On top of that the Jedi Shadow really excels as a DPS character. We are the higher DPS of the tanks, while being a bit more squishy. We do however not have great sustainable AOE dps like say the vanguard/powertech.

 

What I have found to be best is to use mostly stalker gear with a 2 piece set bonus survivor set for the decreased cooldown on Spinning Kick.

 

This however depends on who you are playing with. If your team has lots of stuns and interrupts then you can sacrifice that survivor gear for more damage. The more stalker gear, the significant increase in damage you will receive. As most of our force attacks are not affected by tanks defense, you will truly see some nice numbers in tank spec.

 

I would however change this up if you plan to solo in WZs, as having the extra survivability without a reliable healer can truly keep you in the game and more successful.

 

My best advice (it's not absolute) would be to play your first life in what you think would work best. When you die quickly make adjustments during the match.

 

Ask yourself, could I have killed that person if I had more damage?

Ask yourself, does my team have lots of DPS?

Ask yourself, is my team heal heavy?

Ask yourself, do we need to better protect the objectives?

Ask yourself, are players getting off too many casts I could have interrupted?

 

These are things I think about as I play and adjust accordingly. People are always asking me what spec I am playing/gear using because I am CONSTANTLY changing it up situationally.

 

Glory says, "The best defense is a good offense". and it generally doesn't let me down too often.

Edited by Powerr
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Thanks for this. Would you recommend this or your other build(s) while levelling up via PvP? Solo when not with a pocket healer :) As Infiltration I struggle on class quest between queues Edited by Afran
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Thanks Powerr, basically what I'm doing anyway (and since level 10!!).

Its a lot of fun and havent been beating while roaming around Ilum yet unless I'm grossly outnumbered. 3v1 is doable, but tough.

 

Why do you specify the tanking PvP mainhand instead of the Stalker one? Seems to be just trading accuracy/absorb for power.

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Thanks Powerr, basically what I'm doing anyway (and since level 10!!).

Its a lot of fun and havent been beating while roaming around Ilum yet unless I'm grossly outnumbered. 3v1 is doable, but tough.

 

Why do you specify the tanking PvP mainhand instead of the Stalker one? Seems to be just trading accuracy/absorb for power.

 

to ensure i'm over 18000 hp

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I pay a similar yet unfinished(not 50 yet) build but I take the 6 points out of those top talents in the kinetic tree and put them in Balance. Force in Balance, +50% crit damage on double strike and instant free cast mind crush on occasion as opposed to using telekinteic throw.

 

I'm not level 50 yet on my Shadow I'm just wondering if you've experimented with slightly altered builds to the one you currently use.

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I found both of ur videos rly nice about the bursting guide thats how i m playing but i like survivability also. And i cant decide which is better for pvp i m using 2/31/8 right now (its quite good) tested the 27/14 spec which i didnt like and i have to test the 23/18 and 31/0/10.

Which one is better for pvp u think? i saw in ur video that u lost abou 1-2k of ur previous dmg. And can a kinetic shadow beat the infil shadow in 1v1?

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Looks good.

 

I'm currently playing a 23/0/18 spec, still in the process of gearing up and whilst I'm enjoying being a tank, I'm finding the build pretty underwhelming so might well try a full 31/0/10 spec. Instant mind-crush just doesn't proc very often and instant force lift, whilst sometimes nice, is more often fairly useless as most republic players have a tendancy to spam CC even if its not needed so most of the people I actually want to CC have full resolve.

 

What I'm finding in pvp though is survivability still isn't great. I'm currently running with champ stalker implants, mainhand and headpiece whilst everything else is either crafted tank gear or the daily tank gear. Have around 225 expertise but only 16.5k health, ~25% shield chance/40% absorb.

 

I still die a lot. Shield virtually never procs, only really works against juggernauts and marauders and my armour doesn't seem to count for anything. So, I'm still really squishy except when deflection and resiliance are up. When both of those are popped then yeh, virtually unkillable for 5-10 seconds, but they are short duration. Do you find the same, or is this simply because I lack gear?

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Thanks Powerr!

 

I love this spec. The utility is just awesome playing this way.

 

A couple questions though:

 

1. Why the shield as your offhand? Is it purely for the endurance? I was under the impression shields are broke for PvP (except for white damage). I find myself using a focus and ignoring KW all together for this reason.

 

2. Do you have specific key binds for this build? If so, can you please post them?

 

 

Thanks man!

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since the buff to slow time i tried a build similar to this and have to say it rocks..... i am going to change my build to the same as yours as it is better.

 

I just wanted to throw out there that my PVP gear was inf orientated and heavy on Crits and surge stats, and i just wanted to say that when slow time and FB crits you can see the health bars of a whole group disappearing in a way that gives a healer massive problems. It was spiking far more than Shadow strike ever could.

 

I would not suggest for a minute that this is a better gearing spec for a shadow tank but one for theory craft... at least until they give us battle logs.

 

Wish i could give you guys numbers for this ive noticed it more than once..... i didnt notice FiB crit to the same extent when i played balance spec using the same gear.

 

Stacking the debuffs of slow time, mass/mind control force slow and rotating the double strike/project is not only getting me more medals/valor in warzones but since playing this spec the groups i am in are winning far more warzones as opposition DPS is pretty much out of the game.

 

You do get a lot of calls for acting like an assassin etc by those that dont understand our debuffs, you will never top the damage charts and farm MVP's but in terms of teamplay our damage debuffs and snares cannot be underestimated.

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I'm curious how people think this stacks up to 23/0/18. I've tried slow time spec for a while after the patch hit and still prefer having FiB in my spec. Maybe i should try it again though.

 

 

This is what I have been milling over for awhile now. I just don't like the idea of telekinetic throw. It seems out of place for as jedi shadow talent especially a high up one. It's rooting you for 3 seconds, and I fight stuns snares roots all day all night. The plus is it does damage, heals you about half of a medpack and maybe baits them into wasting their interrupt. The bad side is it can also let someone gain distance which can hurt you more in the end and it takes 2 project procs to get the most out of it for us.

 

I like the idea of a free instant cast mind crush even if it's only a ~10% proc chance in the end. It does good damage and keeps me mobile. An instant cast Force Lift that follows up with a 2 second stun when it breaks is a powerful play as well.

 

I wish I could put it all into practice, but I've been slacking hard on my Jedi Shadow. Only level 42 ZZzzzzzz.

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Thanks Powerr!

 

I love this spec. The utility is just awesome playing this way.

 

A couple questions though:

 

1. Why the shield as your offhand? Is it purely for the endurance? I was under the impression shields are broke for PvP (except for white damage). I find myself using a focus and ignoring KW all together for this reason.

 

2. Do you have specific key binds for this build? If so, can you please post them?

 

 

Thanks man!

 

Haha, you don't want Powerr's keybinds they are filthy! His 1, 2, 3 are on the left toolbar.

 

It's like 75% of the known world writes left to right, 25% writes right to left, and then there is Powerr, who just likes to be different so he writes top to bottom! :p

Edited by Jatne
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Haha, you don't want Powerr's keybinds they are filthy! His 1, 2, 3 are on the left toolbar.

 

It's like 75% of the known world writes left to right, 25% writes right to left, and then there is Powerr, who just likes to be different so he writes top to bottom! :p

 

It's so you can watch CD's in the bottom bar.

 

You don't need to see the abilities that are GCD or so close to GCD bound that its irrelevant to watch..

 

Many of us have been doing this for years. Hell I'd love to be able to play with just one bar visible.

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It's so you can watch CD's in the bottom bar.

 

You don't need to see the abilities that are GCD or so close to GCD bound that its irrelevant to watch..

 

Many of us have been doing this for years. Hell I'd love to be able to play with just one bar visible.

 

Lol, I know why he does it. Last time I checked out one of his vids he had stances on the bottom bar too tho.

 

I was mostly teasing, however it is a serious point that copying someones keybinds may not be a good idea, as everyone is used to a different system. Albeit only slightly in most cases.

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Thanks for the write up and video power, much appreciated. I've been running with this build and although I miss the raw burst from my old infiltration build, I'm loving the utility and survivability I get from this. I have never played any kind of tank spec in any other game, so this is all new to me, but it's a lot of fun. I've not lost a single 1v1 in either warzones or open world, I've come against 31 point Sins and won quite easily, since it's so easy to predict their rotation I just pop resilience after the second Clairvoyant and totally negate their burst. I am noticing more sins speccing this way though.

 

Couple of questions though, some already have been asked in this thread.

 

Harnessed Shadows, is this worth it? Telekinetic Throw just doesn't seem to have synergy with what I'm doing, I just don't like being rooted while channelling this ability. Plus it's duration seems quite short so I sometimes miss 3 stacks of it.

 

Offhand slot, I've read some people saying that shields are useless in PvP, is this the case? Should we just be using a dps focus?

 

Kinetic Ward, again this is another ability which people have questioned using, due to the state of shields in PvP, plus I keep forgetting to turn it on lol

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I'm curious how people think this stacks up to 23/0/18. I've tried slow time spec for a while after the patch hit and still prefer having FiB in my spec. Maybe i should try it again though.

 

That spec is not great, and gets surpassed by my spec in every manner, Utility, damage, and survivability.

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Looks good.

 

I'm currently playing a 23/0/18 spec, still in the process of gearing up and whilst I'm enjoying being a tank, I'm finding the build pretty underwhelming so might well try a full 31/0/10 spec. Instant mind-crush just doesn't proc very often and instant force lift, whilst sometimes nice, is more often fairly useless as most republic players have a tendancy to spam CC even if its not needed so most of the people I actually want to CC have full resolve.

 

What I'm finding in pvp though is survivability still isn't great. I'm currently running with champ stalker implants, mainhand and headpiece whilst everything else is either crafted tank gear or the daily tank gear. Have around 225 expertise but only 16.5k health, ~25% shield chance/40% absorb.

 

I still die a lot. Shield virtually never procs, only really works against juggernauts and marauders and my armour doesn't seem to count for anything. So, I'm still really squishy except when deflection and resiliance are up. When both of those are popped then yeh, virtually unkillable for 5-10 seconds, but they are short duration. Do you find the same, or is this simply because I lack gear?

 

you lack gear, i run all stalker gear with the survivor weapon and offhand and i get 24% absorb. With kinetic ward up, I deflect attacks like I'm a jedi in the movies

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Thanks Powerr!

 

I love this spec. The utility is just awesome playing this way.

 

A couple questions though:

 

1. Why the shield as your offhand? Is it purely for the endurance? I was under the impression shields are broke for PvP (except for white damage). I find myself using a focus and ignoring KW all together for this reason.

 

2. Do you have specific key binds for this build? If so, can you please post them?

 

 

Thanks man!

 

1. I use the shield to get some form of shield absorbtion, I'm not a believer it is broken because the more I put on, the more beastlier I block, Maybe I can put together a short vid of full tank gear and you can watch me go around deflecting every single attack it seems.

 

2. I'm not allowed to talk about macros on the forums I'm sure

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It's so you can watch CD's in the bottom bar.

 

You don't need to see the abilities that are GCD or so close to GCD bound that its irrelevant to watch..

 

Many of us have been doing this for years. Hell I'd love to be able to play with just one bar visible.

 

thanks for explaining my thoughts. for optimal play, you should set it up like I have.

 

Most important cooldowns right there in front of your face, all spammable attacks/buffs/non critical to be looking at skills belong on the side.

 

I used to play DAoC with one bar, kinda like you said you would like to

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