I've wanted the Commando Elite Chestguard for ages, but I've never been able to find the schematic or actual chestguard on the GTN, and none of the crafters I've asked have had the schematic. However, I finally found a guy who would make it for me and it looks REALLY cool. Surprisingly, it doesn't unify to black and white. It actually unifies to white, gold, and black. This means that a lot of my gear now has gold trim. It's a really, really cool look, and I actually feel like an officer now. Screenshot (sorry about the bad lighting).

Not entirely true. There are weapon damage attacks in the game that apply an effect dealing elemental/internal damage if they hit, like Overload Saber, Shadow Technique, or Speed Shot + Blazing Speed. If you can avoid the weapon damage portion of the attack, you avoid the attached elemental/internal effect. I only know for sure these exist with player abilities, but I'd be shocked if there weren't NPCs with similar skills.

IMO, the best you're going to be able to do is 4/8/29 (Assault). This gives up a little burst from Burnout and Assault Plastique, but you get decent defensive boosts. You get -6% incoming damage from all sources, and really low cooldowns on Reactive Shield and Adrenaline Rush. With those cooldowns active, you'll be really hard to kill. We don't get short bursts of extreme defense. In stead, we get consistent, long-duration bursts of moderate defense. With heavy armor, -6% incoming damage passive, and -25% incoming damage from our shield, we are pretty hard to take down.

Okay, here's a pic of me wearing a Commando Elite Chestguard, with colors unified. I really like it ^^ Link

No, for Balance you have it right. Get Expertise as high as possible, and then it's Crit (30%) -> Willpower -> Power/Surge. Endurance's priority depends on how much you want, of course.

The purpose of this build is to not waste points on talents that are worth very little in PvP. Very few attacks are shieldable. This allows you to do the most DPS it's possible to do while using Ion Cell. You get high mitigation-based defenses, which work against everything. Gut is essentially to make up for the loss of Energy Blast. If you want to read more about it, go here. Taugrim has done a great job explaining why he uses this build. I don't use it, so I'm not really an authority on it. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the spec either. However, it fulfills what the OP was asking for. From what I understand, he wants high defenses but to still be able to do good damage. In PvP, this has very nearly the same defenses as a full tank spec, but with higher damage output. It's not something I would use, but of all specs I know of it best fits what he's looking for.

Okay, here's the thing with your build. Unless you go full tank spec with Ion Cell, shields aren't worth it all. With the second spec you linked and no tank gear, you'd have a 7% shield chance and 24% absorption. That translates to a 1.7% defense increase, and that only applies to maybe 1/3 of the hits you'll take in PvP. When you consider that you're giving up a Power Generator (which is a huge amount of DPS) and a bunch of DPS talents, that's really not a good spec. If you're looking for a build with good defenses that can still do decent damage, you should probably use the Iron Fist build. It looks something like this, although there's quite a bit of flexibility. The important thing about Iron Fist is that it gives you all of the non-shield-related defensive boosts of Shield Spec, but gives you some bonus damage in stead of shield/absorption. This will have high defenses in PvP. In this spec, you take 9% less damage from all sources, IP debuffs the enemy for -4% damage, and you get +60% armor. This will give you a significant defensive boost. You could also go deep Assault. Assault will give you cooldowns under a minute on Reactive Shield and Adrenaline Rush. Since you can use them so often, you'll almost always have your cooldowns available for a hard fight, giving you a large (if temporary) defensive boost. You'll also do significantly more DPS than Iron Fist or your proposed build(s) would. If you're willing to sacrifice some DPS for defenses, an Assault build like this would be pretty good.

Okay, we need to know more about what you want before we can give good build advice. So: Are you looking for PvP, PvE, or a mix of both? Are you wanting to tank or DPS? There are a lot of talents that are incredibly powerful for some things, but horrid for others. For example, Storm and Defensive Measures are essential PvP talents, but you can easily skip them for PvE. If you could tell us exactly what you want out of this build, we can help you turn it into something that will work much better.

Okay, there are several ways you could level. I'll go through them each briefly. Shield Spec With Elara out, you'll be able to kill anything with ease. However, it will also be the slowest leveling by far. If you bring a DPS companion, you'll be able to kill reasonably fast and still won't struggle too much. If you usually end up doing quests above your level or have trouble surviving quests, Shield Spec is probably for you. Iron Fist I'm a skeptic about Iron Fist. It's a great build for PvP, because it omits most of the shield-based stuff (which is pretty bad in PvP). However, in PvE, a large portion of the attacks you take a shieldable. I'm not so sure that the slight DPS increase is worth the drop in survivability. Full Shield spec basically only loses Gut, but you gain Energy Blast which might even make up for it. Nonetheless, Iron Fist will level fairly easily and fairly quickly. Assault/Tactics Levelling as DPS is hard. I'll just say that now. If you don't want to bother with keeping your gear up, you're going to have to quest a few levels under your level. However, levelling as a DPS spec will be faster (even including recovery times) than Tank spec. You'll do best levelling with a Tank companion. They have good DPS and will keep you alive much better. However, they're really hard to keep geared. Elara will do almost as well as a tank. You can also level with a DPS Companion. You will kill incredibly fast, but you'll also be challenged constantly. You'll have to use every trick you have to survive, but it can be done. I've been leveling as Assault Spec with Aric Jorgan since lvl 10. I'm lvl 44 right now, and so far nothing has been so hard that I couldn't do it with Aric. Although I die once or twice a planet because it's so easy to screw up, I kill incredibly fast. With Aric in AoE mode, we can clear groups of mobs insanely fast. I chose to level as DPS+DPS because I enjoy a challenge. I'd prefer to be fighting for my life and barely making it than to have an easy leveling experience where I'm rarely challenged. Also, I like Aric's personality best of all my companions.

Yeah, Phobium Onslaught was what I was using at the time of this post. It's decent, but I hate how everything is grey except your chest. I think my problems have actually been solved, though. I've wanted the Commando Elite Chestguard for ages, but I've never been able to find the schematic or actual chestguard on the GTN, and none of the crafters I've asked have had the schematic. However, I finally found a guy who would make it for me and it looks REALLY cool. Surprisingly, it doesn't unify to black and white. It actually unifies to white, black, and gold. This means that a lot of my gear now has gold trim. It's a really, really cool look, and I actually feel like an officer now. I'll post a screenshot when I get home. I know this is craftable, but for some reason I cannot find the schematic on the GTN. The player who made it for me is the only person I've found who had it, out of lots of crafters, and he couldn't remember where he'd gotten it. Anyone know the trick to getting it? I'd really like to try to get the schematic for my companions and try for an augmented version.

That's why I specified that it be moddable armor. I'm not interested in anything I'm going to have to throw away later.

Sorry, but you're going to need two separate sets of gear for PvP and PvE. Supercommando is indeed the armor you want if you're playing a tank in PvP. However, it's not good for PvE. PvE gear has higher primary stats (like Aim, Endurance, Power, Crit, etc.). PvP has less of those stats, but also has Expertise, which raises your damage and damage reduction against enemy players. For example, the armoring in Battlemaster Supercommando gear has 33 Aim, 31 Endurance, and 50 Expertise. The Rakata Armoring has 51 Aim and 55 Endurance. The Rakata gear will be better against mobs because it has more Aim, but the Battlemaster gear will be better against players because it has more Expertise. However, there is good news. If you want to start PvE, you have a big head start. Fresh 50s starting PvE have to grind dailies and spend money on crafted gear. Your PvP gear is decent for beginner PvE stuff. You should be able to easily handle any Hardmode Flashpoint, which will make your PvE gear pretty easy to start on. You might even be able to pull off some Storymode Ops, although I'm not sure. I'm primarily a PvP'er.

I'm levelling Assault, and I'm using Jorgan. I'm 43 right now, and so far everything has been doable with him only. I take a lot of damage, but I did some rough testing and I'm pretty sure I go faster (kill time + recovery time) with Jorgan than I do with Elara. They were equally geared at the time. Running with Elara meant a few seconds less reloading between fights, but significantly slower kills. I never used M1-4X. Theoretically, he's the best companion for us. Higher DPS than Elara, but more survivability than Jorgan. However, Tank companions suck horribly unless you keep them geared, so I think M1-4X is out for anyone who isn't a cybertech. Since I arrived on Belsavis, my recovery times have been getting longer than I'd like them to be. I'm going to try Tanno Vik. I'm an Armormech, so it should be pretty easy to gear him up.

I'm picky about how I look in-game. I've put quite a lot of work into looking for rifles, and I've found a few that I'm happy with. Now I just need some armor. There are plenty of options for legs, feet, hands that all look essentially the same (with Unify to Chest on), so I'm not worried about that. I also already have a cool helmet, so that's taken care of. However, I really need to find a good chestpiece. I'm currently using a decent one, but I'm not a fan of the way colors unify. The chestpiece is white, but it makes everything else you wear bluish-grey, and it just doesn't match. Here's what I'm looking for: Moddable. Obviously. No backpack. I hate backpacks with a passion. They stretch really strangely when you run, and as a Vanguard that relies on mobility I'd never weigh myself down with one. Thick armor. I don't want some of the lower-level stuff that had wimpy shoulderpads (with little... hooks?) or cloth. I want something that a trooper could actually wear into a melee and survive in. Black/White or camo. I would prefer something with black/grey/white, but camo is also acceptable if it looks good. The point is that I'm not painting myself red or orange to make a nice target for the enemy. Unifies well. I want it to look good if you unify to chest. My current armor would be great if the rest of the armor matched, but in stead I'm wearing blue-grey armor with a bright white chestplate, which bugs me. Can you guys help me out?

Well, this depends on how much PvP you do. If you mostly do PvE, I'd go for something like 0/6/25, with your next points going into Shield Spec. That gives you nice, strong HiB and elemental attacks, which is great for bursting down landscape mobs. Having Reflexive Shield up every minute is dead useful. I pop it every time there's a strong or higher in the pull, and it really cuts back on downtime between fights. However, if you do much PvP at all, I'd strongly recommend going deep Assault. I split my time maybe 40/60 PvP/PvE, and I had this spec at 40. Assault Plastique is extremely useful in PvP. Assault Plastique followed by HiB -> SS/IP -> HiB produces a massive amount of burst. You'll never again have issues taking down tanks or healers. It's my second favorite PvP skill, beat only by Harpoon. Assault Plastique is also really useful in PvE. It's one of your single hardest-hitting skills, and the CC effect is dead useful. If you put it on a standard/weak mob, they're out of the fight for a good 5 seconds between the panic and the knockdown, and they take a really strong hit. If you only PvE, it's better to go for the low-tier Tactics/Shield talents for a DPS boost. However, Assault Plastique is still a really useful skill for PvE.

Okay, you do have to realize that that compilation was if all the stars line up. Yes, a PT/Vanguard with all cooldowns up can get a string of crits and absolutely destroy the other player. Guess what? Lots of other classes can do that too. Shadows/Assassins, Scoundrels/Operatives, Gunslingers/Shadows, and Sentinels/Marauders can all do massive damage in a couple of seconds if everything goes right. That requires a relic, adrenal, all cooldowns up, and several crits in a row, but almost every class can do it. Doesn't make PT/Vanguards OP.

Gear is unfair! I hate getting owned because my opponent had better gear. Okay, we'll get rid of all gear! That way, everyone's on equal footing so it's not unfair. CC is unfair! I get stunned for 15s and destroyed by exploiting OP losers! We've removed all CC. Healing is unfair! Their team had more healers, and that's the only reason they won! Healing havs been removed from the game. They had more tanks and they won! Exploit!!!1! Tanking has also been removed. Ranged skills are better than melee skills! OP! All skills can now be used at 30m. Wait a sec, the classes are still different (...somehow)! That's not fair, because different means OP! Okay, we'll give everyone an identical class, with identical skills. Hold on a moment! Teams with teamwork will be much more powerful! Unfair! Players will now be forced to play with complete strangers to prevent unfairness. This player kept running behind me and I couldn't hit him and he just laughed as he blew my head off cheating unfair OP! Getting into combat now auto-roots you, and you automatically face your target to prevent OP movement. People are sneaking up on me behind trees! CheathaxxorexploitOP! Okay, all maps are now identical, featureless, infinite 2D plains. People are focusing damage on me and killing me! Targets will now be automatically selected by the computer. People are still killing me! It must be a hack! Click the green button to auto-win. Serious post:

Yeah, pulling into fire is a great trick, and I use it whenever I see a good opportunity. However, I'm always a little sad when I see Vanguards/Shadows hanging around fire pits for no good reason, clearly waiting for a chance to pull. It's not an opportunity you should actively seek out, just one that you should jump on whenever you see it. Frankly, I get more use out of Harpoon just pulling ball-carriers off of catwalks than I do pulling them into hazards.

I would like a better sound effect for HiB. I also like our Ion effects. Frankly, I think Pulse Cannon and Ion Pulse are much cooler than Flamethrower and Flame Burst. But either way, I like that our lightning is the counter to their fire. Changing Stock Strike so you hit them with your barrel would be kinda lame. Riot Strike already has that animation. However, I would like to see Stock Strike tweaked so that it looks like (the move in the first 12 seconds). That looks much more like something you'd actually use in combat. Our current SS has two motions: you swing the rifle up into position, reverse direction, and slam it into their face. A Horizontal SS would only have one motion; you can go straight from firing to smashing face in one fluid move. It's a much faster move, and it would have more force behind it because you're using the gun as a lever (which multiplies your force).

Honestly, I don't think Vanguards have a single level where the switch flips and we get powerful. It starts once we get High-Friction Bolts and Incendiary Round at lvl 22, and it just keeps getting better. We get a big boost from Ionic Accelerator, but then we just keep steadily getting better with Rain of Fire and Assault Trooper. However, I did have a moment when I finally decided that this was my new main character. When I hit level 31 and started using Reactive Shield every minute, I got really happy with the class. Now I have powerful defensive cooldowns that are almost always available when I need them, and I have punishing amounts of DPS. I stuck with Assault all the way until 40, because Assault Plastique is such an amazingly fun skill. I love using AP -> Cryo Grenade to burst down healers. No more of this nonsense where Ops can stack two HoTs and then run around spamming their free heal once you get them to 30%. I'm at level 42 and still loving the class.

I really don't care for carrying the ball. I was DPS, so I was unbelievably squishy. Carrying the ball meant dying in seconds. On my Shadow, I focused more on taunting them off the carrier and knocking them off catwalks, or getting in position to receive the ball and pass it on. But yeah, for a Tank spec that's a really strong strategy. Either way, Vanguard rocks ^^

Wow, 10 DPS (0.66%) less at mid-range! That really makes me happy. Thanks for all the work you've put into this. You've given us some really valuable information. They fixed it in 1.2.2. Before that, Plasma Cell only ticked twice. It's supposed to tick immediately when you apply, tick again after 3s, and then again after 6s. However, it didn't deal damage on that first tick. This meant that Ion Pulse would do significantly less damage.

Still playing, but my Shadow has been shelved. I realized that the reason I enjoyed Balance was the fact that it was (kind of) a melee/range hybrid. However, it's still pretty weak at range. I'm playing an Assault Vanguard now, and it fits my playstyle perfectly. I'm best in melee range, but I can still pull 70%-ish of my max DPS at 30m range. Also, Trooper armor is a relief after wearing bathrobes

Yeah, stealth was great. However, Force Speed isn't all that useful in Huttball. It gives you +150% run speed for 2s. So turn off sprint and run for three seconds; that's how much extra distance it lets you cover. It ends up being an average speed boost of 7.6% if used on cooldown. That's great in flat maps, but in Huttball that's not so much. If a Shadow gets knocked off a ledge, he's going to have a long run to get back up even with Force Speed. I'd much rather be able to shoot and taunt people while I run on my Vanguard than to run slightly faster on my Shadow.

I know how you feel. My previous character was a Shadow (and I hated tank spec, so no pull). I actually still enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as I do on my Vanguard.