Jump to content

Playing a Guardian is literally giving me a headache


Kurugi

Recommended Posts

Ok, just respecced to Vigilance. Have a question though...

 

I don't have Lunge or Stasis Mastery any more so should I not be using those abilities while tanking until I can get those talents again?

 

I think I am going to like this set up better since now I can tank OR dps, and sometimes you run across that heroic group that already has a tank, so more options are good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, just respecced to Vigilance. Have a question though...

 

I don't have Lunge or Stasis Mastery any more so should I not be using those abilities while tanking until I can get those talents again?

 

I think I am going to like this set up better since now I can tank OR dps, and sometimes you run across that heroic group that already has a tank, so more options are good.

 

I actually have skill points in Defense, Vigilence, and Focus, but primarily vigilence.

 

The only thing from the defense tree you'll want is the +1 focus generation for sundering strike. Other than that, stay out of the Defense tree.

 

You'll want the shien stance as well.

 

Skills you should not get: Gather Strength and Stagger. Stagger is fairly useless in PvE due to the AIs generally not fleeing. Gather Strength is semi-handicapped by our own default guardian skills. Depending on how much of a tank you want to be, I would suggest Defiance as a possibility, but it isn't needed.

 

You'll still be using stasis, but you will find some reduced effectiveness. You'll want to be able to use force sweep for free as well. As far as lunge don't worry about it.

 

Attacks you'll want to focus on using while tanking:

 

saber throw, force leap, sunder, plasmabrand (this is when you'll generally get hit with a knockback), then if you can, use blade storm, close distance, sunder, masterstrike... If there are no cc's present you will force sweep, if you have enough focus, then you hit with overhead strike, if overhead reset master strike use it, sunder, force stasis, etc. Generally all you are worrying about is simply generating threat, throwing in your heavy hitting attacks whenever you have the focus to do so.

 

You will generally generate enough threat from those attacks to keep a boss's attention on you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confused. Isn't the hybrid spec 18/23? If you're full Vig (which I assume you are since you mentioned Plasma Brand) then I don't consider that a hybrid spec. Only way I'd be interested in speccing full Vig is if I wanted to DPS and only DPS, which I don't.

 

Unless you're talking about speccing full Vig while leveling then switching to hybrid at 50..

Edited by Kurugi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm confused. Isn't the hybrid spec 18/23? If you're full Vig (which I assume you are since you mentioned Plasma Brand) then I don't consider that a hybrid spec. Only way I'd be interested in speccing full Vig is if I wanted to DPS and only DPS, which I don't.

 

Unless you're talking about speccing full Vig while leveling then switching to hybrid at 50..

 

Believe it or not you actually can tank as a Vigilence, tanking is mostly gear not the actual skill trees.

 

The hybrid build is also supposed to be effective, but I didn't go that route. You will get more threat as a hybrid though (you just want to use overhead strike a lot).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Believe it or not you actually can tank as a Vigilence, tanking is mostly gear not the actual skill trees.

 

The hybrid build is also supposed to be effective, but I didn't go that route. You will get more threat as a hybrid though (you just want to use overhead strike a lot).

 

Yeah, I always thought the big draw to hybrid was OHS just being better single target threat than Guardian Slash, and Blade Barrier being more effective with the reduced CD on Blade Storm.

 

I'm liking soloing a LOT better with Vig though. It just feels smoother, I can actually watch fights more instead of staring at my focus bar and abilities all the time. Almost makes me want to just play DPS instead of tank...almost. Depends on how I like tanking with this build. I really liked Vig hybrid in soresu form for PvP, but dunno if it'll translate as well to PvE tanking.

 

In PvP it was nice (this was before 1.2 btw, dunno if it's changed a lot since then. Tried Focus at 40 on my Jugg but didn't like it) because you could defend and guard people etc. but I found it was really good for 1v1 too, because you still had decent damage output with OHS (think I took Force Rush over Blade Barrier though for extra damage so my Blade Storms always crit). I think the reason I had less issue with focus was because in PvP Defiance triggers extremely frequently from all the CC going around, so I can see focus being a lot more tight in PvE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Believe it or not you actually can tank as a Vigilence, tanking is mostly gear not the actual skill trees.

 

The hybrid build is also supposed to be effective, but I didn't go that route. You will get more threat as a hybrid though (you just want to use overhead strike a lot).

 

I've done both on my Jugg. And for tanking, I prefer the hybrid. It allowed me to get stasis mastery and still have OHS (which I've read builds more threat than both Guardian Slash and Hilt Strike combined, although I've never tested it out). If you go full Vigilance, then stasis is used more as an additional interrupt, and then only on normal mobs, etc. I've found that with the hybrid, controlling a group of enemies is easier, since I can throw stasis mastery on one and attack a different one.

 

Plus, I also have Shien that way, so I can be a decent dps when I'm not needed for tanking duties. Granted, I have two sets of gear for this, but it's a simple matter of just changing out the gear and switching stances. I don't have to worry about respeccing for smaller things.

 

As to your question about Guardian abilities, many of them are very situational. Some I very rarely use, and some I use only once a fight. Others (OHS, Blade Storm, Riposte, Master Strike), I use over and over again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I always thought the big draw to hybrid was OHS just being better single target threat than Guardian Slash, and Blade Barrier being more effective with the reduced CD on Blade Storm.

 

I'm liking soloing a LOT better with Vig though. It just feels smoother, I can actually watch fights more instead of staring at my focus bar and abilities all the time. Almost makes me want to just play DPS instead of tank...almost. Depends on how I like tanking with this build. I really liked Vig hybrid in soresu form for PvP, but dunno if it'll translate as well to PvE tanking.

 

In PvP it was nice (this was before 1.2 btw, dunno if it's changed a lot since then. Tried Focus at 40 on my Jugg but didn't like it) because you could defend and guard people etc. but I found it was really good for 1v1 too, because you still had decent damage output with OHS (think I took Force Rush over Blade Barrier though for extra damage so my Blade Storms always crit). I think the reason I had less issue with focus was because in PvP Defiance triggers extremely frequently from all the CC going around, so I can see focus being a lot more tight in PvE.

 

your right sorsu in pvp with dps gear and vig spec is very nice sadly it doesn't translate for pve tanking as sorsu is a massive focus sink designed into the stance ( "all strikes generate one less focus" ) .

annoyingly with the full vig tree it's very focus dependant mostly thanks to using OS and PB to reset MS as offosed to just OS for threat and for that reason i like the hybrid more then full vig in sorsu.

 

im abit like you id rather watch the fight cause i know the rotaion like it's a extention of myself then focus on my buffs and bars and thats exactly what you'll do with full vig tree in sorsu so do yaself a favor and go the hybrid when you get to 50, i highly recomend it until then just go dps it's far easier and once you get doc you'll be laughing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

If they prioritize threat they favor Guardian Slash and Hilt Strike more since they generate high levels of threat.

 

So which is correct?

 

Being able to generate threat is critical later on in endgame, because so many DPS will steal the aggro from the Tank which forces the use of Single or AoE taunt before the Tank wants to use it. The Tank should level up to acquire Guardian Leap(which helps in keeping aggro) and make good use of the Guard ability.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...