Title says it all lol.

Sorry there are no face roll builds for Shadow unfortunately. Battles take a lot of time and management from my experience. I've dabbled in all three. Kinetic is most survivable but takes a long time to kill. Infiltration does a good amount of single target damage but doesn't have any AOE skills that can melt down mobs so you pretty much have to click and kill every single enemy one at a time. Very time consuming and boring. Balance has the most AOE skills but I only got up to the first 2 levels of the skills tree. I saw some potential but didn't get too far.

In my opinion, with my limited testing, both deception and madness can work(sorry dont remember 'pub side names) with very similar results. ive only done SM Ops as my Assassin so my experience isnt super but madness was doing slightly more dps last time i parsed but not much more (maybe 20 dps) so it all comes down to which style you like more.

Regarding dailies i also prefer madness just for deathfield, but for Oricon i usually go deception so i can take out the strongs quickly.

Short of it is, there isnt really a clear cut best, its all about preference if you arent comfortable with your spec it will hinder your performance. I'd highly recommend getting field respec and just trying both out.

 

Edit: Replace madness and deception with Balance and infiltration

Edited March 31, 2014 by XAtrophi

Shadow PvE dps ... what is this madness you speak of?

 

But seriously, both infiltration and balance are horrible in PvE. You can do fine in FPs and SM ops, but hm and NiM ... you really need to understand the class, be almost perfect at it, get lucky with procs and even then you will still be at the bottom of the dps.

Unfortunately, there is no jack-of-all-trades DPS spec for everything. Infiltration has burst and slightly better single target damage. Balance shines when you have area damage to do and/or multiple targets to multi-dot (it is a dot spec).

For daylies and FPs I use Balance usually because of the Area Damage. I am not very familiar with PvP, but hybrid builds have been very successful there in the past.

 

You need exactly the same stats both in Infiltration and Balance so respecs should become second nature to you when doing HM or NM content depending on encounter. For SM content it does not matter, pick the one you like better.

 

I suggest reading the DPS guide here, it is up-to-date with 2.6 changes.

 

http://dulfy.net/2014/01/09/swtor-balance-and-infiltration-shadow-dps-class-guide/

Edited April 1, 2014 by Hyos

Learn both dps trees. Why?

Cause Balance/madness is dot based and the burst damage is quite low but it performs SLIGTHY better at dps than infiltration/deception.

Infiltration/deception has a really good burst damage and since there is not a real dps check in hardmodes (we will see in NiM but im half sure that Evolixe already cleared most of it in infiltration) the low damage will be enough.

 

You will need however to be a good player to compensate the low sustain damage in deception spec and an average player to put good numbers on madness since the rotation and management of cooldowns is easier.

 

People will not accept you as shadow dps. if you wanna do dps as shadow, you need to be a good player and prove yourself in every encounter knowing both specs is the way to go.

Here are 2 general guides for Balance and Infiltration. Someone with better knowledge will (or already done so) tell you things you should know.

 

http://www.noxxic.com/swtor/pve/jedi-consular/shadow/balance

 

http://www.noxxic.com/swtor/pve/jedi-consular/shadow/infiltration

Here are 2 general guides for Balance and Infiltration. Someone with better knowledge will (or already done so) tell you things you should know.

 

http://www.Fail.com/swtor/pve/jedi-consular/shadow/balance

 

http://www.Fail.com/swtor/pve/jedi-consular/shadow/infiltration

 

do not use noxxic, not ever.

 

Updated to patch 2.6.2

rofl sure it is...

do not use noxxic, not ever.

 

 

 

From a casual point of view, Noxxic is a good source to get the basics of a class/spec especially when playing an alt you're not too knowledgeable about.

 

Noxxic's layout is simple to understand and good for that: the basics. It's good when you don't feel like reading a 15 pages class guide filled with excel spreadsheets and exhaustive theorycrafting most casual players don't care about.

Edited April 2, 2014 by AnthonyDraft
Different reply

In my experience Balance is better choice among two DPS trees (Kinetic is for tanking) because it has some AoE dmg and is more suitable for changing situations

 

Infiltration offers burst damage, but (note, in my experience) Sentinel's Combat offers almost same amount during burn phases but it is also able to throw out competitive amount of sustained damage, what is Infiltrations weak point among AoE

 

So I would suggest Balace. You get pretty good AoE skill at 20, that adds quality of life

From a casual point of view, Noxxic is a good source to get the basics of a class/spec especially when playing an alt you're not too knowledgeable about.

 

Noxxic's layout is simple to understand and good for that: the basics. It's good when you don't feel like reading a 15 pages class guide filled with excel spreadsheets and exhaustive theorycrafting most casual players don't care about.

 

did you read their balance guide and do you have a clue about it?

 

they don't put a point into Sever Force but list it as #3 in their Priority list

they list Shadow Strike and Project it their Priority list

they reccomend Force wave as #2 Priority for AOE without saying it'll drive everyone else crazy because you Scatter the mobs making it harder for classes with real AOE (and tanks) (since 95% of all trash the target group of noxxic will encounter does not have Bossimunity)

 

they list Battle Readiness as "Burst" CD without commenting that it can function as heal as well

 

they tell you to use Force Potency with project and Force Breach (Force Technique Force Breach has absolutely no connection to Force Potency (fyi Combat Technique FB ignores potency as well))

just a few obvious points don't want to go into the detail

 

if you wanted to help you would list

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=427933

or Dulfy

 

but if you link them to Noxxic what you actually want is material to laugh about in the "fail groups in the Group finder" or whatever was the correct name thread.

Edited April 3, 2014 by DarthSpekulatius

did you read their balance guide and do you have a clue about it?I did and actually use it.

 

they don't put a point into Sever Force but list it as #3 in their Priority list.

You can put the point in there if you want. Their recommended talent tree has one 1 point.

 

they list Shadow Strike and Project it their Priority list

What's the problem?

 

they reccomend Force wave as #2 Priority for AOE without saying it'll drive everyone else crazy because you Scatter the mobs making it harder for classes with real AOE (and tanks) (since 95% of all trash the target group of noxxic will encounter does not have Bossimunity)

 

they list Battle Readiness as "Burst" CD without commenting that it can function as heal as well

Mainly because it's written in the ability description itself, I assume

 

they tell you to use Force Potency with project and Force Breach (Force Technique Force Breach has absolutely no connection to Force Potency (fyi Combat Technique FB ignores potency as well))

 

I answered in red text on some of your specific sentences.

 

I'm a rather new player in MMOs and I've been using Noxxic for WoW, mainly because it was the first thing shown to me, and for a new player like me, it was very clean and appealing.

 

With time you realize that written guides aren't supposed to be a "rule" of how to play the class but as an actual guide to help you move forward. It lets you get familiar with your class that's all.

As you said - Force Potency doesn't stack with Force Technique Force Breach (at least that's how I understood it), but that doesn't matter IMO. If Force Breach doesn't proc it, then Project will, or Force in Balance, or Mind maze etc.

 

Its not reliable - I could argue with that, but then again, no other guide is. That's why there are other resources available, but none of them are clearly better then any other guide. Some may be more detailed on explanation then other but that doesn't make them any better.

Its not reliable - I could argue with that, but then again, no other guide is. That's why there are other resources available, but none of them are clearly better then any other guide. Some may be more detailed on explanation then other but that doesn't make them any better.

maybe what makes them better is that they are less wrong?

maybe what makes them better is they correct mistakes?

maybe what makes them better is that they actually Update their guides instead of just writing "updated for <insert current Patch>"

 

anyway since it doesn't look like you either: read, think nor understand please continue using Project as Balance Shadow.

 

Just don't complain about force issues, try to get yourself elected as Shadow/sin Class rep and don't don't cause others to make the same Mistakes you do.

 

thank you very much.

Dulfy is generally good guide to use

 

anyway since it doesn't look like you either: read, think nor understand please continue using Project as Balance Shadow.

 

.

 

Wow, so mad....

 

Instead of answering my question you go with a passive-aggressive reply. Good job! Plus points for your ignorance.

Well, even I (I have played game 4 months) could pinpoint some clear stupidities on Noxxic so for OP I would highly recommend Dulfy

Wow, so mad....

 

Instead of answering my question you go with a passive-aggressive reply. Good job! Plus points for your ignorance.

 

might you quote the question?

I didn't read one, except you refer to:

they list Shadow Strike and Project it their Priority list

What's the problem?

 

then I'd recommend you try to figure it out for yourself

Edit:

and yea I get mad at people who recommend newbies to use knockbacks for their AOE Damage without going into detail or to use Abilities that will wreck their Force Management resulting in DPS I can match while Raid healing or as Tank.

Edited April 3, 2014 by DarthSpekulatius

Well, even I (I have played game 4 months) could pinpoint some clear stupidities on Noxxic so for OP I would highly recommend Dulfy

 

Well I barely play MMOs, so some obvious stupidities can not be so obvious for me, but from what I gather you should always complement your playstyle by looking various guides as guidance. There is no right or wrong in that.

 

At least you have decency to give advice on other resources without any bias.

From a casual point of view, Noxxic is a good source to get the basics of a class/spec especially when playing an alt you're not too knowledgeable about.

 

Noxxic's layout is simple to understand and good for that: the basics. It's good when you don't feel like reading a 15 pages class guide filled with excel spreadsheets and exhaustive theorycrafting most casual players don't care about.

 

No, Noxxic isnt good for ANYTHING. It is COMPLETE S***. If you want good guides Dulfy.net is the best way to go hands down.

since there are no pars or damage meters in game most of the arguments are mute, unless you can provide some sound therie crafting to go with it. i think the better question would be when will we get a pars / damage / heal meter?

i have read the problem lies within the way the game tracks its damage. before this is resolved talking damage or heals or mitigation is kinda pointless .

just play what ever works best for you and try and remember its a game. you don't need to have the cookie cutter spec and gear setup to have fun.

... when will we get a pars / damage / heal meter? ...

 

what moon do you live on? please google for parsec, torparse or mox-parser and then rethink your post.

Edited April 5, 2014 by johnbgood

what moon do you live on? please google for parsec, torparse or mox-parser and then rethink your post.

 

harsh words, you never know, he might have been comatose for the last two Years?

he just woke up logged into the Forum and Posted without looking at the date.