You can solo Torvix as a tank with Talos if you skip all the packs and only do the champion and the last event. As for the OP question, it really depends on your Talos gear. I started doing the daily heroics in tank gear, and as my Talos got better I switched to DPS gear. I can now solo everything in DPS gear, my Talos is full columni + a couple rakata.

Did you inadvertently switch Sith Defiance and Crackling Charge or am I missing something ?

It's not a problem : when your stats are optimaly distributed, you'll get roughly the same damage mitigation from 10 defense than you get from 10 shield or 10 absorption. Remember that 1% defense is 1% less weapon damage, but 1% shield is not, nor is 1% absorption. In fact, 25% defense gives you roughly the same damage mitigation as 50% shield + 50% absorption, so it's perfectly normal that the stat builds up more slowly.

You may want to use Smash more though because as a veangeance Jugg, especialy with the 4 pieces PVE bonus, you can get rid of assault completely. I know I do. Smash, Saber Throw and Ravage can fill the gap it used to fill : - Sundering Assault every 3 GCD. Don't ever miss one, unless you already got 11-12 rage. - Shatter, Impale, and Force Scream every 6 GCD. - One of Smash, Saber throw or Ravage should be available to fill the gap in this 3/6/6 rotation, especially if you Ravage everytime it's available. Using this "rotation", you will even see times when you have more rage than you need (especially when you take AOE damage). Then you can just switch to Sundering Assault, Shatter, Impale, Force Scream, Sundering Assault, Ravage. If you do that, you'll probably want to revert to your original build : lower Smash cooldown and increased damage will definitely make it worth using Smash instead of assault, and Malice will increase its crit rate. Note that bleed effects are force hits too, so there's definitely more than 2 spells that benefit from Malice : Force Scream, Shatter, Smash, and the bleed effects from Impale, Force Scream, and Shatter. Finally, note that Smash is not only free, it actually builds 1 rage : it is still considered a "rage costing ability", and will "refund" you 1 rage when you use it in Shien Form. My build is http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#1010MZcGMRMuddhRZGM.1 It has 1 free point, I currently put it in Deafening Defense for some extra survivability. Stats wise, you want to aim for 40% buffed force crit chance (so that Force Scream has 100% crit chances), 100% accuracy, 70 to 75% Surge, and the rest as Power. Since there's so much accuracy on PVE Gear, you'll want to replace some accuracy/power and accuracy/crit enhancements to power/surge crit/surge ones.

Take a look at this thread : http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Tanking-stat-spreadsheet-online That guy has made a spreadsheet that will help you decide what stat you should raise first.

And don't forget to put your Guard on those marauders.

That's assuming you hit 100% of the time. Since you sometimes miss and get parried, you'll actually proc less than that. That will give tanks a good reason to get some accuracy.