Hey guys I just started a shadow alt a couple days ago and basically I want him to be very difficult to kill in pvp. Whats the best tree setup for a pvp tank?

There is no such thing as PvP Shadow Tank.

As a «Tank» spec youll have a lot of shield absorb stats that do virtually no damage mitigation in PvP..

So youll have only a slightly more HP as a Tank and a considerably less DPS..

Hey guys I just started a shadow alt a couple days ago and basically I want him to be very difficult to kill in pvp. Whats the best tree setup for a pvp tank?

31/0/10

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601bIrokrskbsZZf0cM.1

Full BM Survivor gear ??? profit.

There is no such thing as PvP Shadow Tank.

As a «Tank» spec youll have a lot of shield absorb stats that do virtually no damage mitigation in PvP..

So youll have only a slightly more HP as a Tank and a considerably less DPS..

This is simply not true. The survivability difference between a Tank geared and DPS geared shadow in pvp is large and anyone who says differently has never tried both or fought both.

Kinetic DPS spec (tank spec dps gear) is gimmicky and subpar. Don't get me wrong it is very powerful but a Sentinel or Focus Guardian does it better.

Spec balance or switch to tank gear if you want to contribute the most you can as your class. Kinetic burst sucks and most of its WZ chart numbers are fake AoE "soft" dmg. The 1v1 argument is invalid as it just wins via attrition and cooldowns.

Someone posted the other day and I 100% agree with them... As they said it "If you really want to be a GOD wear tank gear and find a decent healer". You and a halfway decent healer can hold a door in voidstar vs their entire team.

I wish the community would figure out what's best. I peruse the shadow forums only to see how awful infiltration is at pvp and how KC is the way to go. Then there are posts like this that are unanimously agreed KC is terrible at pvp. Its not even that the community is split, each post is unanimous one direction or the other. Makes for confusion for those of us trying to find out footing.

Inf is bad. It has amazing burst but poopy survivability and mobility/control. Balance is high sustained with medium burst. Kinetic DPS is medium sustained and no birst but has high survivability for a DPS spec. It is a DPS due to its lack of survivability under focus compared to actual tank geared tanks if you wear DpS gear but it does not DPS well when compared to actual DpS. Sure you can put numbers on a scoreboard by never dying and taking 50k dmg to kill a 15k target along with slow time and FB spam but that damage is meaningless.

A kinetic tank however gets resilience force slow knockback and force speed alog with stealth and a pull. Compare that to the other two tanks and it brings way more to the table then them. Guardian gets leap but coordinated sage pulls replace thqt in a groip enviroment.

Don't just listen to the "experts". Think. Read. Learn. Improve as a player and become an expert.

Inf is bad. It has amazing burst but poopy survivability and mobility/control. Balance is high sustained with medium burst. Kinetic DPS is medium sustained and no birst but has high survivability for a DPS spec. It is a DPS due to its lack of survivability under focus compared to actual tank geared tanks if you wear DpS gear but it does not DPS well when compared to actual DpS. Sure you can put numbers on a scoreboard by never dying and taking 50k dmg to kill a 15k target along with slow time and FB spam but that damage is meaningless.

 

A kinetic tank however gets resilience force slow knockback and force speed alog with stealth and a pull. Compare that to the other two tanks and it brings way more to the table then them. Guardian gets leap but coordinated sage pulls replace thqt in a groip enviroment.

 

Don't just listen to the "experts". Think. Read. Learn. Improve as a player and become an expert.

All of this I have heard and am well aware of. The point I'm trying to make is everyone in the community is making it out to be either one is better than the other in PVP. Seems to me after "Think. Read. Learn." that it's situational. People will say KC sucks but it's only because Infil or Balance more suits their play style. Or that Infil sucks but only because KC suits their play style. Neither one is better than the other, fully depends on the player and these posts should reflect that. If you play as Infil you are squishy and need to be very careful which target you pick and how you fight them.

I wish Bioware would let us choose which PVP map we want to play. Because I find that KC is better in Voidstar and Infil is better in huttball. It may just be me and my newbish ways though. These "WoW" like MMOs are kind of new to me. I played FFXI where there was virtually no PVP so I didn't have to consider the most efficient way to play as much as PVP players do. PVE is so much easier simply because PVP players can think and adapt. Makes the game morei nteresting but also more exhausting.

I've been playing 31/3/7, dropping upheaval for infiltration tactics. I increased my average wz damage dealt by about 15% once I remembered how to properly use shadow strike from my infiltration days.

pros:

- I find myself energy starved less frequently because I project less.

- When you do come up energy dry, at least saber strike is doing something useful. 3 hits = high chance to proc FW

- The armor penetration from FW procs is lovely against other kinetics, powertechs and mercs.

- Stabbing people in the back is emotionally satisfying

cons:

- It takes a little longer to pick up 3 stacks of harnessed shadows because you double strike less frequently

- missing a GCD because shadow strike misfired will make you want to strangle a kitten

Tell that to the healers I can burst down as a DPS geared Kinetic Shadow. The burst is not awe inspiring but it is there and if you pop your adrenals you can do quite a bit of burst.

Play what you want and what you're good at. I can put up 300K in damage 100K in protection and a crap ton of medals as a Kinetic Shadow, because it suites my play style. I taunt I slow time I pull and I guard all while putting out respectable DPS.

I tried Infl it wasn't for me me, kill one guy get smeared by a dozen. Balance is to finiky and proc dependent. While I can play it well, to me it lacks utility.

All three specs are viable in PvP no question. The person at the keyboard is what makes them optimal.

I wish the community would figure out what's best. I peruse the shadow forums only to see how awful infiltration is at pvp and how KC is the way to go. Then there are posts like this that are unanimously agreed KC is terrible at pvp. Its not even that the community is split, each post is unanimous one direction or the other. Makes for confusion for those of us trying to find out footing.

It's not that KC is terrible, if anything it IS our PvP spec. The point of the matter is that ALL our specs are replaceable by other classes who can fulfill the roles better. We are a generalist not a specialist and within there lies the problem.

It's not that KC is terrible, if anything it IS our PvP spec. The point of the matter is that ALL our specs are replaceable by other classes who can fulfill the roles better. We are a generalist not a specialist and within there lies the problem.

I agree

A jack of all trades a master of none.

Tell that to the healers I can burst down as a DPS geared Kinetic Shadow. The burst is not awe inspiring but it is there and if you pop your adrenals you can do quite a bit of burst.

 

 

Play what you want and what you're good at. I can put up 300K in damage 100K in protection and a crap ton of medals as a Kinetic Shadow, because it suites my play style. I taunt I slow time I pull and I guard all while putting out respectable DPS.

 

I tried Infl it wasn't for me me, kill one guy get smeared by a dozen. Balance is to finiky and proc dependent. While I can play it well, to me it lacks utility.

 

 

All three specs are viable in PvP no question. The person at the keyboard is what makes them optimal.

^^this I am fresh 50 and all my wzs I've been top 4 in medals overall. The shadow tank has so much utility I feel like its hard to take advantage of it all. I was infil but the. I tried this and got immortal my dpfirst wz and had like 10 medals. I almost fainted. Although it was in the 1-49..

It's not that KC is terrible, if anything it IS our PvP spec. The point of the matter is that ALL our specs are replaceable by other classes who can fulfill the roles better. We are a generalist not a specialist and within there lies the problem.

QFT mostly. A shadow brings stealth over a sage which is useful in voidstar and alderaan.

A sentinel out DPSes kinetic by a ton with plenty of survivability and self heals at the cost of guard and taunt. Id much rather have a watchman sent then a kinetic dps.

It's not that KC is terrible, if anything it IS our PvP spec. The point of the matter is that ALL our specs are replaceable by other classes who can fulfill the roles better. We are a generalist not a specialist and within there lies the problem.

Defense specced guardians are a sad sad class and the carolina parakeets are no more. That last one was the only possible competition for the kinetics. Also, sub 50 I am usually one of the top dps and most of that is in the form of single target damage. There is not much in the way of a burst against heavily armored targets but but with an expetise stim and power relic pop the damage is.obscene.

You may take a while to go down, especially if you have a healer, but your dps will be laughable. Really the only reason I'd go tank spec again in pvp would be to guard a healer and protect them. Anything else, you may live a bit longer then an infil shadow getting beat on by several targets, but good luck killing any of them.

I was told the same thing and people blasted me for this very thing in my other thread, treating me like im some kind of idiot

Defense specced guardians are a sad sad class and the carolina parakeets are no more. That last one was the only possible competition for the kinetics. Also, sub 50 I am usually one of the top dps and most of that is in the form of single target damage. There is not much in the way of a burst against heavily armored targets but but with an expetise stim and power relic pop the damage is.obscene.

This couldn't be further from the truth. Our Defense Guardian for my premades is more valuable to the team than I am and he doesn't do quarter my damage. Why? His utility, control and defensive abilities are superior to mine. He can hold off a node better than I can, he can get the ball over the line more efficiently and he is far more supportive under the backing of a healer than me as Kinetic. Let's not even get started on VGs, they are seriously in a league of their own. They just don't die.

You're living in a delusional world if you think KC DPS is good. Your damage is nowhere near what true DPS specs can pull off. Sooner you realize just how truly mediocre the spec is, the more you'll realize how replaceable you truly are. Perhaps this doesn't shine in sub 50 brackets, but then again, I don't expect it to.

Also, this:

 

A sentinel out DPSes kinetic by a ton with plenty of survivability and self heals at the cost of guard and taunt. Id much rather have a watchman sent then a kinetic dps.

Not even a comparison, really. Sent is just purely a better choice.

I have a lvl 50 guardian and feel mildly nauseaus playing him considering how good my shadow feels. Would you perhaps share with me that wonderful utility they have over shadows? Awe? Ok, I'll give you that. What else? I am all eyes.

As an aside, I recall a fun moment in a pre 1.2 alderaan instance not too long ago my shadow at 45. 3-4 imp dps tried to have a go at a seer. I throw him guard, aoe.detaunt, slow time, put up my defensive timer, then aoe knockback, stuns etc. all the while going to town on them. We were both alive and well when we got help while they were near dead. I would not have accomplished as much on a guardian, simple as that sub 50. Maybe the guardians get some pimptastic armor that enables them not to suck so hard in the endgame?

I have a Level 50 Jedi Shadow and he is a nasty PvP Tank. His defenses are are pretty high and yes he is wearing full Battlemaster Survivors gear, only thing missing is a BM Shield generator.

Here is the Template i have for him and right now as he stand unbuffed he has 19,247 health. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601rsMokrskrsZZfbc.1

I prefer a 31/7/2 for Kin pvp. Unfortunatley with the new armour set's 1.2 has added its allot harder to build a decent set of gear. Champion headgear had really nice shield rating enhancements that you now have to get warhero gear for. The battlemaster gear doesn't have the stats figured out for proper tank/pvp.

Whoever thought a set of tanking gear needs absorbtion rating on every moddable piece but no shield rating (gave accuracy instead) is an arse.

I prefer a 31/7/2 for Kin pvp. Unfortunatley with the new armour set's 1.2 has added its allot harder to build a decent set of gear. Champion headgear had really nice shield rating enhancements that you now have to get warhero gear for. The battlemaster gear doesn't have the stats figured out for proper tank/pvp.

Whoever thought a set of tanking gear needs absorbtion rating on every moddable piece but no shield rating (gave accuracy instead) is an arse.

It seems the +15% speed bonus works in combat, out of stealth, which is when it is most useful. +15% combat speed is huge. Catching every Balance Shadow off guard while they are sneaking around is priceless.

The shield did nothing that I could see for me before 1.2 so I went

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#601rfrozrskbsZZf0cM.1

But now with combat logs I'll wait and try to figure out if I was WAY OFF!

But I was full DPS gear!

31/0/10 KC is a great PvP Tank build.

Don;t listen to the Wowheads who only claim DPS is king. Don't listen to the noobs who read Scoreboards for their advice.

There is a Logic and Flow of what you should roll.

Everything depends on a few different criteria.

1) What role do you want to play? DPS Melee / DPS Hybrid / Tank?

2) Will you be grouping with other people often?

3) What level of gear do you have?

Full Tank is better for people who run with a sdteady group and understand the power of taunts/Interupts/pulls/knockback etc to keep your team alive and doing their jobs and hindering the other team in the process.

Infiltration is also better with a steady group as you can apply SERIOUS burst damage to a single target and basically wipe the floor but you can be squishy if you get focused and lose your defensive cooldowns.

Balance is great for solo play but the rotation and playstyle are unique and not for everyone. It offers good survivability/SELF HEALS / 30M range on some good abilities including FiB for defending points. Solid Kiting build and solo build as well.

DPS Stats Tank Good for solo play and quickly leveling up while competing against strong competition. You wont be a great DPSer and you won't be a great Tank but if you can find a DPS buddy to guard you two will WRECK any but an organized team usually. Not a very effective spec in 8v8 as they are squishy with the right type of focus fire.

All the specs are viable, you just need to find your playstyle and go from there.