A 30 year power nap?

Are you talking for boss fights in flashpoints or just questing? If it's just questing then it's normal at that level to have to reload your energy. Most of those fights are quick and bursty so not having optimal energy management is fine, especially in Shield Tech. I would advise using Mortar Volley only when Reverse PowerCell is off cooldown. If the fights are just taking to long, check your and your main companion's gear, might be time for a few upgrades. Gear wise, you really don't need defensive stats till you start getting close to 50 if not till then depending on your play style. Stick with high aim and power armor, mods, and enhancements.

You do know that Vanguard stealth is tied to your subscription right? Did you recently went free to play? Maybe the box in your payment section got unclicked.

I usually use Master Strike in the second Guardian Slash cool down time, so it's a good filler in your rotation. As for Full Auto for Vanguards is pretty useless. Hammer Shot does almost as much damage, has the same proc rate for your Ion Cell and it costs no ammo. If you are trying to pull a mob to you at range, Sticky Grenade with Hammer Shot plus AOE taunt won't kill your ammo and provide more threat. That being said this is about Shadow tanking. I have a Shadow tank, but I am far from an expert on how to play. Early on, Force Breach is your best bet for establishing agro on mobs and bosses. Outside of that little tidbit, I always go to Keyboardninja for Shadow stuff. So here is guide that will have everything the OP needs to know about the class. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=714710

The two posters above me(errr the previous page), I think have a far to literal understanding of English and little knowledge of hyperbole. Though given the time, and one is from Italy that is to be expected. Given Bioware's history and knowing that they are geeky Americans, the word usage isn't misleading or over the top. I think that most Americans and English speaking people would understand that there would not be some huge flag saying that (Your guild name) owned all of Balmora, and that you would have to fight through it's guild members to kill the Sith/Jedi at the end. Other points: OP, I agree and well stated! Tuxs and Infernixx agreeing? I'm scare....wait no......that means Bioware is doing something good.....I'm happy? To the others, this will be updated and tweaked almost as well as the Cartel Market has been since it was introduced....mostly because it will be tied to it. Eh what can you do, it doesn't suck.

/Signed It is questionable as to why this is the case at all. It is really frustrating when a Dread Monster is pounding on a healer and we have to wait a second or two for the taunt to apply.

I am not sure I would want to see Storm as a low tier talent, that being said I do think that all Vanguard classes should get the gap closer and it should be a trainable skill, much like they did with Hold the Line. I think the buff of shield chance by as much as you say would make the Vanguard tank almost undamageable and quite frankly overpowered in a lot of fights. (i.e. Cartel Warlord, Draxus, Brontes etc) I think that another cooldown is needed but more in line with Guardian's Saber Reflect or the cleanse that Shadow's get with Battle Readiness (I think, I don't play my Shadow much so I maybe wrong.) I would much prefer a cleanse or even failing that, given our lack of cooldowns compared to the other two tank classes but our smooth damage profile, a armor debuff similar to the Guardian's through the use of High Impact Bolt would be very nice as well.

If you are tank spec, then as strange as it may sound, Elara is your next best DPS companion. If you really want to go with a DPS, the Yunn would be your next best choice. But really your best option there would be to send Yunn out on investigation companion gift missions. IMHO there are really only two companions that you should use for most PvE stuff, Aric and Elara, with Vic a honorable mention. 4X and Yunn are best used for crafting. 4X can't hold agro and Yunn is far to squishy as a mele DPS.

We had a small little talk about this the other night as well, and the prevailing thought was that anything that could lessen the burden on the healers is a good thing. So my question in this discussion is what about talented self heals for Gunslingers and heals coming from a stance for Sentinels? Is the loss of 100+ dps for Gunslingers be expected for the 1% self heal while in cover? Should there be at least one Watchman when there are Sentinels in the group?

This made my night! Ahhh potential energy from cheesy baked potato night.....

My male Vanguard is not an object! When he want female attention, he taunts it or lets 300 Republic soldiers die to get it!

Well I hope their jolly stockings are full for ruining my rare night off early from work. I am one of the few on The Shadowlands that hasn't been DC'ed or had any lag issues, but good luck trying to get anything but level another toon right now.

Two people I am running with lagged out and one of them had the same issue, myself and another are not having any issues.

Yep, who broke the server? Did someone skip Garj again?

I don't need to test it, everyone here has convinced me I was wrong in the way i read the talent. You may now stop browbeating me!

But HiB is such an important part of our rotation and threat generation. A non crit of it for me generates 4k threat easy.

To be fair, I don't run much Nightmare content due to my work schedule. Hard to find a group on Sunday evenings that wants to run Nightmare on my server. I am sure they are out there, but I am still relatively newish to progression raiding and I am content with the challenge that Hardmode gives me. Just to clarify, taunt fluffing is AOE taunt then single target taunt some time in the first three to six GCDs? Oh but you did such a fantastic job of it! If there is one thing I hate and tell to people who I am giving my Tanking 101 to, you never start a fight with a taunt. I had for a very long time only used my taunts as a last resort, but I grew as a player and tank both in game experience and from you fine people it became a situationial part of an opener. i.e. Titan 6.

I do not have an issue with using a taunt and if it helps out the raid group I am all for putting it my rotation and do so when I am on my Guardian. We don't have an issue hitting enrage timers generally speaking so if a wipe occurs it is generally due to mechanics than lack of dps. One of the reasons I read the forums is to improve my game play and understand the game better. Sorry for my wall of text.

The way Blaster Augs reads to me is the stance Ion Cell now does 8% more damage, this should apply to everything from Hammer Shot to High Impact Bolt.. Is this not the case? With the damage rebalance done in 2.0 to Ion Cell, I thought that by taking Blaster Augs brought tanking Vanguards back to where they were pre 2.0 without the Blaster Augs talent. That one point if it is as worthless as you say it is, is it really better used for a 3% increase in elemental crit chance? I could see putting it into Tactical Tools, but not so much Demolitions.

My question to this is, fault for what? If I lose agro and the dps dies, then yes I am at fault for causing a wipe. If the dps doesn't take any significant damage, because I was able to regain agro, then what am I at fault for? When talking about threat generation I rarely use a taunt in my opener unless I am on my Guardian. My Vanguard main, the group I run with gives me two GCD's before they begin attacking as they do with our Shadows (mine is sitting on the shelf at this time), but when I am on my Guardian or dpsing for one, we wait till after Guardian Slash or even Blade Storm no matter the gear lvl and it's inevitable that the Guardian will have to throw a taunt. Generally I will have to throw a taunt on the few bosses that allow precasting of Orbital Strike, but I never use it as a set part of my rotation even on those bosses. If I believe a rip is coming, I will have it on the ready for when I see the target of target change but generating agro is my first and foremost thought and the single target taunt is there to make sure I am doing that while the boss is on me. But from what I have been reading that even after the buffs given to Guardians in 2.0, their single target threat generation still needs some love. There was a Guardian I used to run with that thought far too highly of himself that I would mess with by being a bit derpy and either going in when he did or just simply hit Hammer Shot to pull agro from him so he would have to use his taunt. I do have a question or eight that will help me in threat generation for my Guardian when I make the pull. Preload Combat Focus or wait till sometime after Force Leap and use Sundering Strike? This may tie into my first question, but Saber Throw as an opener, yes or no? Should Hilt Strike be before or after Riposte or used while waiting for Force Sweep/Guardian Slash to come off of cooldown in the opener? I generally have to use my taunt at some point with this rotation: Saber Throw (more often than not) Force Leap Force Sweep Guardian Strike (Sundering Strike if Combat Focus is not preloaded or I enter combat with 2-4 Focus before Force Leap) Riposte Blade Storm Sundering Strike Master Strike/Hilt Strike Hilt Strike/Master Strike Priority: Riposte>Force Sweep=Guardian Strike>Blade Storm>Sundering Strike, Master Strike, Hilt Strike

Wait? You are getting rid of the gap closer? Tanks have to have a gap closer, so keep that. Every trooper gets stealth scan, spec'ing into the cooldown reduction is good for PvP tanks, not so much for PvE. As far as the hardcap goes, check out Keyboardninja's amazing work done here. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=616779 http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GMGrdoroMdRRZbsMZb.3 That is my build and I am puzzled why I see Vanguards take Demolition over Blaster Augs and Frontline Offense. I have reasons for taking these talents over the increase in crit chance. First of all, what good is a crit if it has no oomph behind it (Blaster Augs) and I use Ion Pulse (Frontline Offense) quite frequently due to the damage reduction debuff applied to the target. I never let this fall off. Blaster Augs puts our damage back to where it was pre 2.0 (without the Blaster Augs talent taken) and as tanks we have to generate agro as our first order of business, the second is surviving it. Having three points spent into those two talents allow for more damage being done without needing crits to hold agro. Using this build, I rarely have to taunt off even the rippiest of dps and when I do have to, it's because said dps precasted or had an amazing run of crits hitting all at once. That and there is no better tool to mess with Guardian tanks by pulling agro from them just by being a 'bit early' using just Hammer Shot. Not that I would ever do that....not in a million years.

The short answer for Shadow/Sin tanks are stack absorb, then shield then defense. If you are looking at gear that can be bought with coms, most of it sucks especially in the enhancement department. You are not going to find a enhancement that will be anything more than high endurance, high shield and very low absorb. While these are better than an enhancement with say accuracy in it, they are far from ideal. What you should be looking for and at, are the token pieces that drop from TFB and S&V. These are far better than anything you can buy with coms and they contain the set bonus's. As far as implants and ear pieces are concerned, just look for the ones that offer mitigation stats over stats like accuracy. General rule I use is bypass a token piece if it has useless stats on it. You are going to have to swap out pieces regardless. My advice, find a look you like, augment every piece you are going to keep and swap the armorings, mods and enhancements. Word to the wise, once you get a set bonus piece, do not swap it out for a higher armoring (i.e. a 78 for a 69 set bonus) until you acquire a new set bonus piece. Sorry for the answer not being that short...

Thank you so much for the awesome write up. I wish I had read these before going in blind as a tank in Palace this week.

Hi Duran'del, welcome to 'elder game'! EV hard mode isn't that hard these days, if the answers seem a bit blase, it's because most of us have not only tanked it, but healed and went pew pew more times than we would care to admit. Once it took hours to clear, now it's 30 min if a few people have to bio. That being said, there are things to look out for and do. Since my guild only thinks of me as a tank , that's how I will explain from the most part. Pillars: At the start, don't go to far up the hill until the group is ready. If you pull before everyone has zoned in or are AFK, you're going to have a bad time. Standard fight, pillars pew pew and need to be tanked, adds that need to be killed before they hit the healer. First boss: Nothing special save two things. There are two audible clues and one come with a red circle! Stand in red, you're dead. The other, will tell you to stack under the boss for AOE heals. There is a potential stun and knock back. If you are knocked back, get your butt back in the fight ASAP. If you are tanking, I like to stand at the corner of the corridor to the door. Sure I'm an a-hole to the DPS, but this is one of the few fights I get to do that. Droid and Eshka trash: Nothing major, the floating droids have a pull and a knockback. Have your back to the outside wall and do your best to burn. There is a hallway where a swarm of Eshka will spawn. Most groups like to AOE this down, so if your tanking, AOE taunt and get in the green circles. Ugly lizard cow trash: Nothing really here, but a lot of groups now like to keep running and pull all three mobs. If you're main tanking, then go at your own pace. If you're not, then just hang back and AOE and do what ever it is that you do. Garj: This can now be skipped. But if you fight him, it's a tank and spank, with a lot of movement. Turn the boss away from the group. If you are pew pew, then you will want to see his backside. There is a knock back for non tanks, and you may be thrown into lava. Never have your back to a lava flow, as that is instadeath if you get knocked back. There will be rock that fall that form a loose bridge to the next platform. Follow the group or look for them after the boss has been through a telegraphed attack or two. Puzzle: There is a non agro shortcut that can be taken, If you don't know it, make sure the group knows before the Garj pull. Remind them after too. It's easy to follow but tricky. The puzzle is fairly simple and some groups will do more than just click left console. There is a app for many smart phones that will give you the most efficient clicks. If that is being used, you will see something like this [2r2l1l3r]. That will correspond with the number of one of the two panels available. After you match one level of the puzzle you will have to lock it in with a small panel in the middle. There is a debuff that will last just long enough till the panels are lit after the second person activates it. There are adds if you kill Garj. Normal adds are just pew pew, but an aklay will spawn at least once. Those need to be tanked and if you are healing, there is a bleed that you need to cleanse. Counsel: Tanks take Juggs, dps takes Mara's, healers take sorcs. Do not use group wide in combat buffs, or any other allied intend buff. Just pew pew them till they are all dead. Self heals, medpacks, and cooldowns can be used if you need to. SOA: Mulitphase fight, can't damage if his blue shield is up, random pull into a mindtrap, final phase is a kiting test. You will be dropping down onto platforms, so fall damage is given. You will group up for AOE heals twice during the transitions to phase two and three. 90% for the start of phase two and 30% for the start of phase three. You will need to be on the outer ring with your group at the start of each phase. Pew pew boss until mindtraps form, if you're not main tanking for phase two and three. Kite boss under the pillars floating in the air, when pillar drops, pew pew the boss till the blue shield pops up, rinse and repeat till the boss is dead. Hope this helps and happy hunting!

Not hating here, but unless they look amazing and or class representative in some way, they should just be removed. It would be one thing if they were moddable, legacy bound, and iconic. As it is, it's just a pain to even have them take up inventory space. Heck it's not even worth it to go to your capitol planet, buy it, and then wait 24 hours to finally sell it at 'decent' price to a vendor.