Tactics or Assault? Also, what secondary stats do I want to stack (power, crit, accuracy, etc). I've been 50 for a little while, but I haven't done much end game stuff as I've been leveling alts. I leveled the entire time as a tank, but I hear Vanguard DPS is pretty good and thought I'd try it out.

if i am not wrong assault is a dot spec, in PVP is fine but in PVE (EC and TFB HM) that you need do CC alot of mobs because the packs are big and can cause a wipe, breaking CCs with granades or AOE abilities is a bad thing

You can control the spec on the mobs,but you will not to full dps, most things in ops is more a focus fire

In the WB in VOSS dots get you kill if you get the debuff from the dog or shield up in the other one.

I already play a dirtyfighter smugler, also a dot spec in EC and TFB HM, is alot of work for the same damage that sharpsS.

The above poster is incorrect: Assault has no issues with "CC-breaking." Plasma Cell, Assault Plastique, Incendiary Round all do single-target damage. Assault's burst (and sustained, for that matter) damage is 90% single target, so there are absolutely no issues there with breaking CC. Essentially, assuming you don't do anything stupid and purposely break CC, you will have no issues. It goes without saying that Gut and Fire Pulse don't suffer those problems either. The obvious AoE moves will, such as Sticky Grenade, Pulse Cannon, and Mortar Volley, but since you (OP) leveled as a tank I think you already know that. Only sheer stupidity on a player's part will CC break and chaos ensue. The obvious way to avoid any mishaps is to coordinate ahead of time, but that's common knowledge.

 

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Vanguard DPS is approximately 2nd or 3rd ranked DPS in the game, behind Sentinels. It's that good when played well.

 

Both specs generally work well in PvE. As far as I am aware, Assault tends to out-DPS Tactics, but it's not a necessarily a significant difference, at least for sustained. For the most part, Assault trades the mobility of Tactics for higher burst damage capabilities. Tactics has Hold the LIne, faster in-combat movement, and a more lenient resource booster (since it's passive and not proc-based like Assault). Basically, Gut, Fire Pulse, combined with your generic Vanguard abilities, conspire to make your Stockstrikes free, your HiBs auto-crit with the bonus of much greater utility via lowered interrupt cooldowns (and, for PvP, lowered Grapple cooldowns). You can use Pulse Generator as a way to boost Pulse Cannon, but in PvE it has less uses than in PvP. Note that since Gut is a melee attack, compared to Assault you will have to spend a bit more time in the 4m (Gut + Stockstrike for Tactics) range as opposed to the 10m range (just Stockstrike for Assault). A sample PvE spec is 8/31/2 Tactics.

 

Assault has insanely high burst DPS with Assault Plastique+Sticky Grenade, resets of HiB, which, combined with constant Plasma Cell ticks, will generate high burst (and sustained if managed well) DPS at the cost of a more strenuous resource management process as Assault relies on Ionic Accelerator procs (granted, they come up often enough that you'd have to get incredibly unlucky for it to matter over a sustained period) to maintain high ammo. I will note that Incendiary Round is not very important to the Assault spec, especially with the recent range nerf, but for maximum sustained DPS it needs to be incorporated into your rotation (i.e. since PvP is all about burst, Incendiary Round sucks for PvP because of its insanely high ammo cost). My preferred spec is 8/2/31 Assault Specialist.

 

Basically, try both and choose the one you like. I'm an Assault Specialist man myself. I've been re-leveling a Vanguard for kicks (I've played Pyro Mercenary, and Assault Specialist Vanguard before, but I'm on a new server), and at level 23 (straight up the Assault tree), I hit 200k in a WZ yesterday, with the next person behind me 100k+ DPS less. Quite hilarious.

Edited October 31, 2012 by ezrafetch

What's your Assault PVE rotation for single target?

What's your Assault PVE rotation for single target?

 

Very roughly, this is how I would approach it. It's a priority flow, however, since Assault hinges so much on Ionic Accelerator procs:

1. High Impact Bolt - With Plasma Cell DoT OR Incendiary Round DoT on AND Ionic Accelerator proc.

2. Assault Plastique - Burst preparation.

3. Sticky Grenade - Burst preparation. Best used outside of 10m range. (avoid in situations where you require CC to remain unless they're far enough apart).

4. Stockstrike - Use on CD to trigger Ionic Accelerator.

5. Ion Pulse - Filler, to trigger Ionic Accelerator.

6. Incendiary Round - use when applying a long-term DoT is necessary.

*Hammer Shot to keep ammo regeneration at maximum.

Edited October 31, 2012 by ezrafetch

Thanks! I did some dailies today using Assault and coming from tank build, it's both exciting (to burn things a lot faster) and more terrifying (I have to use my defensive abilities WAY more). I may try some regular randoms later tonight (Not sure if I'm ready for HMs) and see how it goes.

I'm not sure why people make the pseudo-logical jump that tactics has decent sustained dps, because assault is more bursty. Tactics sustained dps is significantly lower than assault, if you want to do high end pve, you dont have to be assault, but you should be. if you just want to do flashpoints, then try both, both specs are fine.

They are all good in PvE I find.

 

Assault does single target really well. Tactics does AoE well, and you can just ignore the ammo bar since it will rarely be an issue. But for PvE, my favourite is still tanking in Shield. Easier to find a group, and you don't have to worry about following crappy (and slooooow) tanks.

8/5/28 is best dps spec for PvE.

They are all good in PvE I find.

 

Assault does single target really well. Tactics does AoE well, and you can just ignore the ammo bar since it will rarely be an issue. But for PvE, my favourite is still tanking in Shield. Easier to find a group, and you don't have to worry about following crappy (and slooooow) tanks.

If you spend any real time playing your vanguard, you will find the utility and harder rotation involved with tactics rewarding. Well played, it can easily out dps assault in longer boss encounters.