Hello,

I wanted to ask if anyone has any good Vanguard Trooper builds out there. I have had a look at the skill trees however I am having a hard time seeing how the shield tree is the dedicated tanking tree.

 

Thank you.

I haven't come up with any builds for tanking, but I didn't think the tree made any sense at all until I got the Ion Cell ability. It all made sense then.

100% cookie-cutter.

Obvious, yes?

Pick any talent that doesn't give you a snare, root, run speed buff, pvpish ability, etc., until you have no more points. Win!

 

Honestly, there are maybe two decent tanking specs for Vanguard, not a lot of wiggle room really, I'm sure you can figure it out

Than you all for the information.

I'll bee keeping my eye out for some different builds posted here as well. Let's get some ideas rolling Troopers. Edited December 14, 2011 by Devilinbp

100% cookie-cutter.

Obvious, yes?

 

Granted, I haven't started playing my vanguard yet (one of my first alts, though, to be sure!), but I feel like the synergy between Focused Impact and Brutal Impact makes skipping Brutal Impact, as you have, somewhat detrimental. Additionally, and this may be moot, since I haven't seen much of group play in the 30-50 range, but skipping a skill that gives +3% Endurance seems like a poor choice for higher levels.

 

Again, perhaps this makes a ton more sense for people who are already playing this class and getting into the higher level content, but would you mind going into some of the reasons for those choices? Many thanks!

The cookie cutter sans stockstrike. put those talents and blaster augs in soldier's endurance. Gives you a nice health boost.

Have any tanks tried skipping Energy Blast and going for Gut instead?

Have any tanks tried skipping Energy Blast and going for Gut instead?

 

I am not lvl 50 yet but I have been thinking about doing that... Also I have to wait and see but I am wondering if the skill "Nueral Overload" may be viable for some tanking situations. For instance if end game mobs/bosses are kitable.

 

Just have to wait and see but if you go gut you need to put extra points into inc dmg for aggro purposes

Not sure if people are viewing this post anymore but here is a couple thoughts anyway. I just started my trooper alt and he is 16 at the moment, so take it all with a grain of salt. The post about taking neural overload may have some merit to provide greater survivability to your tank.

 

So far I haven't found any mobs that I couldn't use my cryo grenade on yet, boss mobs included. So it may be possible that slows will affect them as well. Another note is the fact that most of your abilities as trooper don't require you to stand still. So keeping just a short gap between you and your foe while maintaining aggro could be very useful.

 

As an example, all be it early level, the final boss on the esseles mission is a Sith. I just kept running him in circles while my companion, friend, and his companion just lit him up. With no healers in the group I think I finished that fight around 70% health and never losing aggro. That being said I would recommend someone, who doesn't have to use a talent point (Jedi Knight), to try and place a slow on a boss mob or two and see if it actually applies.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Mandarblade

100% cookie-cutter.

Obvious, yes?

 

Not obvious...losing 3% endurance sounds silly...but what to trade out...hmmmmm

100% cookie-cutter.

Obvious, yes?

 

I would drop Ion Shield for Brutal Impact. Yea your a tank, and anything that says: "reduces incoming damage" sounds amazing, but 2 points for 2% reduction is not worth it.

 

That means that if you do a Raid and the boss does 100,000 damage to you, then you dodged 2000 damage - basically 1 heal at 50...

 

Same goes for Power Armor just not worth it the 2 points your putting into them.

 

Put the 2 points from Ion Shield into Brutal Impact and gain some dps/threat (which can be a problem at higher levels with so many mobs running around) and drop Power Armor for Frontline Defense (If you go Gut route, which seems to be the better way, as I find Energy blast to be rather weak - Has a long Induction time and does low damage and frankly 1 ammo isn't a lot for every 15 secs...you could have gained that by just white damaging - and my white damage atm only does about 100 less damage on normal and maybe 200 less on crits than Energy Blast and it has a lower induction time).

 

Soldier's Endurance is a toss up, because we really don't know how much Endurance we will have at the end-game.

 

Right now at 40 I have right at 1000 endurance meaning a 3/3 SE will give me an extra 30 Endurance or 300 Hps. From looking at 50 gear I suspect that the endurance will sit around 1700 or so for a tank so your looking at around 500 or so extra HPs. This isn't terrible but again I dont know if its worth spending 3 points in it when you could get Gut for the extra DPS/threat.

 

The % talents for tanking are really rather lackluster and should really be improved in the future. As it is, I dont see myself taking Ion Shield, Power Armor, or Soldier's Endurance and instead opting to go the route of Gut for added damage/threat.

 

The combined defense from those 7 points is extremely low and could probably be better spent elsewhere until Bioware makes the defense talents better.

 

Also I would go Gut instead of Advanced Stockstrike. As it is Stockstrike hits for around 1000 at 40 so probably in 2000 range at 50 - Meaning your gonna get an extra 160 damage vs a skill that only costs 2 ammo and does 1400+ damage.

Edited December 23, 2011 by Trevalon

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GMGrdobogZMsr0o.1

 

This is what I am going with at 50 - You still get Power Armor which is the same thing as Ion Shield and you get gut too.

 

Gut > Energy Blast IMO.

 

So really all you miss out is Soldier's Endurance - only time will tell if that skill is really worth those 3 points or not but I suspect it wont be...

^^^I enjoy how well thought out ur reasoning seemed to be, but you really dont think 2% reduction and 3% endurance combined will be worth it? You may be right, but I am usually a "every little bit counts" kinda guy. I would prob stick with the 3% endurance and 2% damage reduction HOWEVER, I am intrigued about using gut instead of energy blast =) Edited December 23, 2011 by Xezkaiel

^^^I enjoy how well thought out ur reasoning seemed to be, but you really dont think 2% reduction and 3% endurance combined will be worth it? You may be right, but I am usually a "every little bit counts" kinda guy. I would prob stick with the 3% endurance and 2% damage reduction HOWEVER, I am intrigued about using gut instead of energy blast =)

 

No i don't

 

Let's say that Champion boss took 10 mins to kill and you took 150,000 damage that means for 5 points you gained:

 

Ion Shield = 3000 Damage saved = 1-2 Heals over a 10 minute fight...

 

Endurance = Extra 500ish HPs at 50 (Less than 1 hit from a boss at 50)

 

No I don't think that is worth 5 points when stacked against:

 

Gut which does 700ish Damage initial and then a dot for another 800 damage over 15 secs = 1500 secs (Which makes this better than any ability you have except Stockstrike for the ammo cost).

 

Which means every 15 secs you did a MINIMUM of 1500 damage = 10 mins * 4 casts a minute = 40 Casts * 15000 = 60,000 damage * 6% (Frontline Offense - which you have to get regardless if you go gut which also adds to Ion Pulse) = 63,360 damage total. This is a lot of extra damage over a fight for 1 skill.

 

And lets not even talk about how great an INTERNAL damage ability is (negates armor) in PvP...

 

So your looking at this tradeoff for a 10 minute boss fight that hypothetically did 150k damage:

 

63,360 Damage done vs. 3000 Damage reduction + 500 hp cap ...

 

Yea Ill take the 63,360 damage any day...

Edited December 24, 2011 by Trevalon

No i don't

 

Let's say that Champion boss took 10 mins to kill and you took 150,000 damage that means for 5 points you gained:

 

Ion Shield = 3000 Damage saved = 1-2 Heals over a 10 minute fight...

 

Endurance = Extra 500ish HPs at 50 (Less than 1 hit from a boss at 50)

 

No I don't think that is worth 5 points when stacked against:

 

Gut which does 700ish Damage initial and then a dot for another 800 damage over 15 secs = 1500 secs (Which makes this better than any ability you have except Stockstrike for the ammo cost).

 

Yes Gut is better in every way shape and form imo.

 

Hey hey no need to be hostile XD I agree with ur math and reasoning but I am just skiddish about following ur logic in the game =P I looked over the energy blast/gut thing and I believe ur right. The only thing u lose is range, but tanks are never meant to be ranged soooo...yea.

Hey hey no need to be hostile XD I agree with ur math and reasoning but I am just skiddish about following ur logic in the game =P I looked over the energy blast/gut thing and I believe ur right. The only thing u lose is range, but tanks are never meant to be ranged soooo...yea.

 

Oh sorry didnt mean to come off rude haha, I was just saying.

 

 

No Gut is definitely the better choice - as I said, if you go read the Bounty Hunter Forums...their "cookie cutter" builds (at least in beta) also go the Gut route (called something different) ...

 

I really don't know why Vanguard's haven't figured this out yet... + 1 for Bounty Hunters.

Oh sorry didnt mean to come off rude haha, I was just saying.

 

 

No Gut is definitely the better choice - as I said, if you go read the Bounty Hunter Forums...their "cookie cutter" builds (at least in beta) also go the Gut route (called something different) ...

 

I really don't know why Vanguard's haven't figured this out yet... + 1 for Bounty Hunters.

 

Lol its all good man. At any rate, ty for your input on this topic. It def prevented me from putting that final point in energy blast. Besides, gutting someone is far more awesome than just another fancy laser shot XD

But the kicker is really Energy Blast.

 

If it were some great skill then I would say go the Energy Blast and Reduction route anyday, but the simple truth is that Energy Blast really kind of sucks.

 

At 40 I rarely have issues with Ammo consumption except if I purposefully frontload damage to get agro (Then I use Recharge Cells) so the extra 1 ammo really is not THAT big a deal.

 

But not just that, Energy Blast is on a 15 sec cool down, which means that it only builds 1 energy every 15 secs which makes it even worse...

 

Then you couple all that with the fact taht Energy Blast APPEARS to be Instant Cast but frankly, its not. It has a 1-2 second Induction time where your character bends down to 1 knee and aims before he shoots it.

 

I can get off ALMOST 2 white damages before I can do 1 Energy Blast and 2 White Damages = 1 Energy Gain and they do MORE damage than the Energy Blast shot.

 

So even with Energy Blast I find myself not using it all that often because my White damage can do just/almost as much and the energy really isn't a problem at all.

 

Now some people argue that if you use Energy Blast to its maximum efficiency You can gain 1 skill every 30 seconds ... but frankly gaining 1 skill (lets even say you use Stockstrike as that 1 skill everytime) doesn't make up for being able to put Gut into your rotation as the DOT alone for gut will do as much as that 1 skill did in 30 secs...

But the kicker is really Energy Blast.

 

If it were some great skill then I would say go the Energy Blast and Reduction route anyday, but the simple truth is that Energy Blast really kind of sucks.

 

At 40 I rarely have issues with Ammo consumption except if I purposefully frontload damage to get agro (Then I use Recharge Cells) so the extra 1 ammo really is not THAT big a deal.

 

But not just that, Energy Blast is on a 15 sec cool down, which means that it only builds 1 energy every 15 secs which makes it even worse...

 

Then you couple all that with the fact taht Energy Blast APPEARS to be Instant Cast but frankly, its not. It has a 1-2 second Induction time where your character bends down to 1 knee and aims before he shoots it.

 

I can get off ALMOST 2 white damages before I can do 1 Energy Blast and 2 White Damages = 1 Energy Gain and they do MORE damage than the Energy Blast shot.

 

So even with Energy Blast I find myself not using it all that often because my White damage can do just/almost as much and the energy really isn't a problem at all.

 

Now some people argue that if you use Energy Blast to its maximum efficiency You can gain 1 skill every 30 seconds ... but frankly gaining 1 skill (lets even say you use Stockstrike as that 1 skill everytime) doesn't make up for being able to put Gut into your rotation as the DOT alone for gut will do as much as that 1 skill did in 30 secs...

 

Lol I do hope this catches on to other vanguards....or maybe I hope it doesnt so ppl like us who go that route will remain fairly unique =) and prove in game how superior it is.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GMGrdobogZMsr0o.1

 

This is what I am going with at 50 - You still get Power Armor which is the same thing as Ion Shield and you get gut too.

 

Gut > Energy Blast IMO.

 

So really all you miss out is Soldier's Endurance - only time will tell if that skill is really worth those 3 points or not but I suspect it wont be...

 

Someone else mentioned in this thread that Neural Overload may be a viable ability to spend a point in to be able to kite mobs and even bosses. Was wondering what your thoughts would be of switching out a point in this build from maybe Storm and putting it into Neural Overload.

 

Didn't know how often you would use Storm outside of PvP, Neural Overload definetly has a PvP aspect to it as well but could be useful in kiting situations. Just wanted your thoughts on the matter on Storm vs. Neural Overload.

 

Was thinking about this some more and I can see Storm being more useful if it generates a lot of aggro, making it a good opener maybe. So if you could shed some of your knowledge on me I'd be very appreciative

Edited December 26, 2011 by Timbaru

The thing about the kiting for Neural Overload is that most bosses are mostly immune to movement iparing effects making this practically useless. To face it this way both storm and Neural Overload are both PvP options and more or less should be scraped for more useful move in the future.

The thing about the kiting for Neural Overload is that most bosses are mostly immune to movement iparing effects making this practically useless. To face it this way both storm and Neural Overload are both PvP options and more or less should be scraped for more useful move in the future.

 

I don't know that I agree that Storm is PvP-centric. Being able to close quickly and use Gut and Stock Strike rapidly is, while situational, pretty useful.

I'm 50 and have been tanking endgame a few weeks now. I have the cookiecutter Gut focused build. I've seen the math and the logic behind why in the long run EB may give you slightly higher dps than Gut but what nobody ever says are the assumptions you have to make about this actually being the case. Its only the case in fights where you stand in one spot the whole time and you are near flawless in your timing. This is a fairly rare occurrence. You will move enough that your ammo regen will keep you high during the times you will have to move and are unable to use your short ranged melee abilities on CD. Also I really love gut for when I have a group of mobs including the boss and the boss jumps away. Many times you're going to have to pursue it with Storm but you may be leaving behind a ranged add that's just not going to move with you. Basically before you start moving and fire off Storm you can just gut that mobs as a parting gift to keep its threat up on you while you reassemble your mob positioning.