Great guide taugrim, you really made me think about my spec for pvp. Regarding that, I have two questions about your pvp build for a shield/tactics vanguard. The first question I have is regarding smoke bomb. Having read up on the defence/avoidance mechanics for PVP, wouldn't that make smoke bomb relatively useless in pvp as well? Since the ability debuffs the accuracy of ranged and melee attacks, wouldn't that just affect auto-attack abilities mostly? And therefore be a waste of a point? Secondly, I personally prefer to spec into 4% extra dmg reduction through Ion Shield and Power Amor, dropping Charge and Tactical tools for it. This is because I find a movement boost after storm situational at best, since I generally want to be in melee range for a stockstrike immediately after. Besides, I will be slowed mostly anyway, so I won't be getting the full benefit of the movement increase. Also, while tactical tools seems nice in theory, in practise I rarely come across instances where I want to use Ion Pulse in pvp and it's on cooldown. The only real benefit would be -10 secs off the cd of harpoon, which can be nice in huttball, but I'd prefer the extra 2% dm reduction there. My spec would be something like this (having one point spare I got from smoke bomb): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GRGb0RroMZMsrboZb.1 So, TLDR, you think getting 4% extra dmg reduction is worth dropping situational utility? And is smoke bomb worth the point? Thanks!

I know, that's why I let a (lower lvl) melee mob attempt to strike me 25 times before I killed it. I ended up with around the same HP each time I tried it, tried 5 times total. Not what you'd call extensive testing, but still. Dropped the talent for now

I picked up this skill but it doesn't seem to do much. I've been testing a bit, although it's hard without a proper combat log. I let a mob hit me a set number of times, first time with, and second time without me popping smoke grenade. I had around the same HP left everytime I tried. Anyone know what's the deal with this skill? I haven't tested it properly in PvP, but I always use it in 1vs1's but it doesn't seem to help me much...

In the first part of your vid, why do you burn through all your ammo in a fight that's being drawn out so much? Isn't it more effective to use your abilities more conservatively in order to maintain a reasonable ammo regen and thus more dps over sustained periods of time?

Since most packs consist of 3 to 6 mobs, I usually start the pul by throwing a sticky on one of the middle mobs and throwing an explosive round on another. Then hammershot while coming closer and then ion pulse an elite when in range. Then I keep agro while rotating ion pulse/hammershot and stockstriking whenever it's up. This is from my experience 'tanking' esseles though, while I don't have access to guard or anything!