I agree that I should never say never That applies only when the build doesnt contain PPA, so was wrong to say that in this context. I would also use RS every time it is available but I would hope that the crit buff would be running at least 50% of the time.

Yes but that depends how many CD resets you get and ofc crit buffs.

That is dissapointing, but I hope there will be a more dynamic tanking style that can be used. I like the look of some of the abilities like guard that use friendly targeted shields so I still have hope for something entertaining. Else there is always full dps mode.

That is a wierd comment, just because I need to take that ability to get up the tree doesn't mean I will have it as a main attack. And at OPs respone while there may not be any main boss that is better tanked at range which is doubtful there are likely to be extra mobs or turrets that will definatley be better of tanked at range. I remember seeing a video of the first operation that had two towers being tanked by BHs from range. I'm not disagreeing that STech is the way to go for being a main tank but, i'm looking for SWTOR to give me something different that the tired old tank and get spanked role. On the surface it looks promising but in practice it may not.

Gonna have to call BS teacosy, I never said how I was going to play this kind of build and the simple fact is we would cast RS the same amount of times but mine would crit way more. Anyway there are so many different viable specs and nobody is level 50 yet so we shall see what works best in practice in the months to come.

Unfortunatley because there is no combat log in this game it will be impossible to say who is correct. However it is a universally know MMO fact that critical chance > critical damage. Also you are doing something very wrong if you a playing full pyro as it is the general tree used by both AC so there is very little point in rolling a powertech BH.

Nice guide, but personally I feel that the BH needs to look at tanking a bit different than any of the other tankable classes in this game (mentioning because you only had RS as a ranged attack in your main rotations which will fail for ranged tanking). This is because they have the incredibly cool ability to be a ranged tank. Ranged tanking is extreemly fun to play but requires you make the most out of ranged abilities meaning that you will need to effictively take aggro by having a higher ranged damage than others with the help of taunts and perhaps being a regen tank rather than a mitigation tank. Take a look at Kolto Vents and the synergies with vent heat abilities to get an idea of how that could work. I just have a sneaking feeling that ranged tanking will be so vital at the end game and only this class can do it so we better figure out how that will best work. Ofc I am just theory crafting now but I fancy testing a build like the following to be a powerful dps ranged tank with good survivability. Excelling at drawing ranged fire and staying alive while the melee tanks are tanking the big hits from the main boss. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301G00MZrsrMobcozZbIbb.1 keep up the good work. /Shock

First of all 9% increase to aim is not 9% increase in damage as 1 aim is 0.2 to your ranged damage abilities. Yes you must sacrifice the 6% boost in the shield tech tree. Second both FB and RP have a 25% chance to proc the critical railshot and it is advisable to never cast railshot without the crit buff. RS and RP are the two biggest damage dealers for power techs. Lastly I have been playing around with different build options and it is quite clear that there are amazing synergies between Prototype and Pyrotech that simply cannot be sacrificed for the top tier talents in pyro. I will let you work out what they are

I believe rail shot is superior if you feat for it because you can get it to have 90% armor penetration and 100% crit chance and the CD resets on RP or FB. Oh an ofc it has 30m range....

I really don't know why there are any more posts after Xanatos's just re-read that take it and go to another thread.

I believe this post was created to try and balance the sever amount of fanboi posts created on the forums. There are a lot of good things about the game and a lot of very bad things too, with my number one problem being the lack of a combat log. Player interaction UI is also quite poor but I think I will play the game to its story end and see what else there is to do, if it cant hold my attention then I will stop.

Good constructive post, very helpful thanks. Would like to see more of this on the forums. I was thinking about going for a dedicated rail shot of doom build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#3010MZrs0rRbcoZfhrbzh.1

If you could change your AC then there would be only 4 classes to choose from with different trees.