For the profit, you're better off doing Yavin Dailies.

One of the struggles of PvP is having teammates queue in PvE gear. 178s, 186s, (god forbid) 192s. It has happened to everyone, and it's extremely aggravating to know that one of your teammates will be garbage for the entire match. However, I don't think we should blame the players for this. It is the extremely unintuitive bolster system, and how difficult it is to get entry level gear. I'll use a personal anecdote for starters. I returned to the game several months ago and started PvPing, I knew my class and my role and always did my best. I usually sat around 3rd or 4th on my team. I was wearing my 186s this entire time. Purely by chance, I stumble across the bolster guide in this PvP forum and see what a huge mistake I've made. I'm forced to blow thousands of credits on the GTN to get sub 168 gear, because like most people who don't know how bolster works, I simply put new mods over my 162s as I leveled in Rishi, as there's nothing marking them as special. After that, I grind (for several weeks, cause I totally have a life ) to get a full min/maxed exhumed set. At this point, I'm actually playing reasonably well. TL;DR: There needs to be changes to make getting entry PvP gear better. I know Bioware is in love with bolster, so I won't bother suggesting changes to it. Here are the options. 1. Make exhumed gear much cheaper, or add a tier below it. It takes a normal player too long to acquire functional gear. 2. Mark 162s as special when you get them. Pop up a tutorial that says they are "entry level gear". 3. Add a bolster tutorial. Whenever you log in to a warzone with a (non-PvP) item of 168 rating or greater equipped, you are shown an unskippable bolster tutorial. 4. Add a 2018 expertise requirement for ranked. And no All-Galaxy Edge Cases either. Thoughts?

This exceptionally obvious troll thread has reached 12 pages. I can't even.

No, direct damage is necessary to stop objective caps. DoTs only keep you out of stealth (assuming you don't have stealth purge).

ALAAAAAACRITY (Is alac better than surge for PvP? What about focus PvP? Numbers?)

+1 for saying defense is bad. I'd remove as much defense as possible. Get the shield/absorb enhancements and the B mods (with extra endurance). As for relics, DPS relics might be the way to go. An absorb boost is relatively weak...

Stop leaping to targets that are immune to roots?

As someone who plays exclusively melee: in PvP terms, the only melee that is actually in a bad place is a marauder. Sorc kiting is the only real problem. Jugg/guardian have survivability 4 dayz Op/scoundrel have stealth and good burst Sin/shadow OP PT/VG isn't even melee In PvE however, melee is usually pretty garbage.

Dat clickbait tho

Merc OP thread? 1/10

Same here. The reason I didn't make daunting presence mandatory was that this was mainly aimed at beginners, who probably don't know how to get the most mileage out of reflect. And messing around can be fun As for healers, can you share your strategies? Mando/merc is a cakewalk, but the other can be a massive annoyance. Perhaps I'm just salty because it feels like you're useless when you smash his face in with a lightsaber for 5 minutes and make no progress.

The only ranged classes you could be having trouble with are the two viable ranged classes.

I wanted to get a consolidated thread together to allow veterans to help new players, and new players to ask questions about guardian PvP. I'll also post a few builds in here, even though I'm not an MLG pro (Unless otherwise noted, these tips are for real PvP (regs)) Use guardian leap prolifically. This ability can be a godsend, and is very under-appreciated. A 20-30% damage reduction is worth a heroic utility for some classes, and you can throw it out every 15-20 seconds. It's also a huge augmentation to your ability. Picture this: a sniper opens up on you at 35 meters. You can leap to an ally, and then an enemy, putting almost 100m between you and your enemy. Even more amazing it huttball, particularly on Quesh. Taunt or kick. Keep your taunt bound and use it more or less on cooldown. Prioritize burst classes for taunting. Remember that your AoE taunt doesn't work unless you're in Soresu form. It might be worth running into a big brawl in Soresu, even if you're DPS specced. AoE taunt and then stance switch and go to town. Remember the AoE. Don't unbind force sweep just yet. While the damage for focus is down, it can still be a superior choice against 3 or more targets. The same goes for defense and vigilance: your DoT spread can be potent, and an AoE guardian slash is powerful. Hop into the fray. Know your defensives. These are the abilities that define the guardian class. Saber ward for mainly M/R damage, reflect for big hits, and warding call for F/T. Good use of reflect in particular is what separates the good from the great. Remember your adrenal as well, which I recommend when you'd normally use your saber ward, and it's on CD. Cats have nine lives, we have three. You should really never die as a guardian without these abilities on cooldown. Intelligent use of them is important. Don't pop FD in a 5v1 unless you're trying to hold a node for a few seconds. And don't wait until you're at 10% health to pop enure. Generally you will prioritize like this: Against burst specs: Pop FD at 60-70% Against DoT or sustained specs: Pop FD at 40-50% Pop enure before you reach 30% (execute zone). If you aren't receiving heal support within seconds, use your medpack+stunbreak heal. If you still go down, congratulations: you're a huge pain in the *** for the enemy team. Moar CC please. You have an AoE mezz, use it. Just don't be the guy who immediately breaks it, or uses it on DoTed targets. I like to leap to the nearest enemy in Novare Coast and mezz their entire mid rush. Force stasis should be saved to counter force speed or HO, or perhaps to lock down a healer. Force push is best for throwing an enemy off a ledge, or getting a double leap. I recommend using a slow beforehand to impair their return. Don't overextend. Remain mindful of where your teammates are and don't charge away from the group without a good reason. Chasing kills is never helpful to your team. It's tempting to feel invincible and abandon common sense, but if you do, you're gonna have a bad time. DPS Specific Tips: Pick your targets well. I know the lure of beating your face into that sorc healer for half an hour, but soloing healers isn't your strength. Provide AoE and single target pressure in vigilance, and burst away wounded targets before they anticipate using DCDs in focus. Tank Specific Tips: Be a nuisance. You have two stuns, a push, an AoE mezz, AoE pressure, and you're a nightmare to take down. Don't just tunnel vision onto a healer and forget the battle around you. Guard swap proactively and taunt prolifically. Utility Builds: For every build, I'll recommend Second Wind, Battlefield Command, and Debilitation. Debuffer Build: Pulse, Intervention (if DPS), Purifying Sweep (if Tank) Jedi Warden, Whiplash This builds sacrifices some survivability to augment your CC, turning you into a massive annoyance for the enemy team. Pushing, stunning, slowing, immobilizing, this build is a great complement to a decent team. Good for huttball. Group Support Build: Guardianship, Inspiring force Intercessor, True harmony Relatively niche build, use if you want a unique playstyle, or you're a fan of the extra mobility. Unkillable Build: Pulse, Intervention Daunting Presence, Through Peace A good pugging build, putting your third live on a 1:30 cooldown is a major boon, and the extra interrupt and reflect duration can be a godsend against certain builds. Damage Build: Gather Strength, Intervention Intercessor, True harmony This is another solid pugging build, adding damage and mobility to help you stay on target. Hopefully you found this helpful, feel free to leave constructive feedback.

VG could be easier for you because it has fewer buttons to press in a fight. If the number of buttons doesn't turn you off it should be perfectly fine, it's an effective tank. Threat management issues in raids only happen if you don't make good use of saber reflect (get daunting/intimidating presence!). Nothing is better than reflecting an insta-gib attack to a boss.

Lethality is also getting a 24sec slow in the next patch I believe, on Cor grenade. That said, juggs can perma slow you as well. Above poster had good points. Since veng is the most common PvP spec: Counterstrike+ roll 1st ravage evasion second (as you'll likely have the DoTs on you) You can win a war of attrition against a jugg, as your KP will keep you more healed than them, outside of ED.

75% increased smash damage and off the GCD retaliation will be much more useful than raging burst. Raging burst can help you kill one mob, then you're spamming VS for the rest. Tank also has to heal up less between pulls and crushing blow will hit for more than impale, and in an AoE. Low levels are different. I say this as someone who just leveled to 60 using this method.

Guardian tanks are in an odd spot if you're gearing for the pure tank role. PT/VGs have an absorb boost, sin/shadows have a shield chance boost, but guardians don't have much. So here's how I'd gear: Defense is almost useless. There are few specs that have any meaningful white damage (marksman sniper, carnage mara, arsenal merc, veng jugg). The blade barricade boost will be more than enough, along with saber ward and saber reflect. Shield and absorb are a mixed bag. Crits will never be shielded, so any time that there's an autocrit you will not shield it. That said, the percentage of abilities in PvP that crit, even autocrit, is actually quite low. So gearing for absorb/shield is your best bet for secondary stats. However: Endurance is your best bet. Health is the only thing you can't bypass. Additionally, many jugg abilities work as a percentage of health, so they'll be more effective. (Enure, payback, WZ medpack) If you're insane, you can gear for full alacrity. Get that reduced intercede cooldown

This thread gave me cancer.

+1, if you don't have a class preference VG/PT would be the easiest choice. Sins/shadows have a ton of buttons that would be difficult if you don't have a really fast hand and complex binds. However I think you could do it if you put in the work.

I disagree, most players strive to use one hand for everything except turning. Unless you plan to do high level PvP, if you set up good keybinds you'll be just as good as any other player.

Best spec for leveling: tank spec up to 36, then any of them beyond that. Vigi has focus issues up until then, and focus lacks the auto-crit. Guardians are easy to level.

No, no more *********** utilities. We have enough mandatory choices as it is.

This thread gave me cancer.

They get immunity on force charge, which is immediately before force crush in an opener. Additionally, they can use it a lot more due to the warmonger utility that everyone with a brain takes. You're trading 2secs of CC immunity for a massive defensive arsenal.

Anni is pretty crap in PvP, but if you're gonna give it a whirl: Leap-Annihilate-Battering assault-DS-assault-rupture-ravage-DST This isn't a great DPS rotation, but if you need to get those annihilator stacks up ASAP. Don't use force rend unless you're DoT spreading. Don't use DST without pulverize. Do use anni and DS on CD. Do cry as you are a detriment do your team. Do respec.