TheDarthmaster Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 I have been toying around with the shield tree and this is what I have come up with. Oh and this will be for a lvl 50 PvE Vanguard. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801G0GrdorogzZMcbZ0c.1 Any thoughts or opinions are welcomed. I'm mostly wondering if the added endurance and damage reduction is worth it... Anyways thank you for future info. -Darthmaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordXalas Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) get rid of energy blast and go the gut route instead. Edited January 7, 2012 by LordXalas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeptimusHodge Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) I'm just starting on a shield spec for a vanguard as well. Is the 3% endurance worth it? I've seen other classes skip +endurance%, even for tank builds, on the basis that mitigation > more hp. Edited January 7, 2012 by SeptimusHodge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twulff Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Your spec is definitely useable, there is no getting around that. You should probably try it out in a PvE environment and notice if there is anything that feels "off" to you, in the sense that "X ability doesn't feel worth casting, maybe I should try something else" etc. We're in such early stages of the game, that cookiecutter builds are pretty much non-existant, there are of course certain talents that are a must, but the rest is up to interpretation and preference for the most part. Looking down your talent tree, if there were some things I personally would change, it would probably be to remove the points in Soldier's Endurance unless you're really having issues getting stomped, 3% endurance for 3 whole points isn't the sweetest deal you could get. By doing that you suddenly get to mix it up a bit, throwing 1 point into Blaster Augs is a possibility, considering that an 8% damage increase on a DoT you essentially want up at all times on preferably all targets (Except the CC'ed ones, of course), is a pretty sweet deal. Throwing points into Tactical Tools becomes an option too, lowering the Cooldown on one of your most important AoE abilities, as well as Harpoon which is an ability that is so good I just can't get enough of it. If you decide to go all out and get both Tactical Tools and Blaster Augs, that also opens up the option of getting rid of Energy Blast and picking up Gut. I'd suggest you try both abilities and see which one yields better results, 30/11/0 (Gut spec) is very common for Vanguard tanks I believe, but so is the Energy Blast spec. If I may be so bold and throw in some of my own opinion, Energy Blast is a rather mediocre final tier talent. It's useful, don't get me wrong, but considering what is available for other classes, it's not the greatest. Not that Gut is going to change your life drastically either, but considering how low it is in the tree, its decent, another DoT to bounce HiB off of as well. I would like to mention that I am not the most experienced Vanguard tank around and anything written here should be taken with a grain of salt, as it is mostly me thinking out loud in text format. Edited January 7, 2012 by Twulff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeptimusHodge Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 That's tremendously helpful. There isn't much info on here yet for shield builds (or many other builds) but your entire post would be a great start for a Vanguard Shield guide! I'm definitely saving the first build - endurance + augs & tactical tools - energy blast + gut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twulff Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Thanks for the kind words, however I would like to redirect you to this thread if you're just starting up a SS Vanguard, it's a great guide and all advice written should be taken to heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDarthmaster Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Thank you everyone for the quick and helpful comments. Twulff: Thank you for the nice juicy reply! I was a little uncertain about the endurance talent myself just seems well crappy. Say an average max endurance point of about 1000, those 3 points would only provide 30 more endurance. Which equals out to only 300 more health points. I'm currently talented in the tactics tree, and I must admit I do love having gut. It just another great DoT to put on champions to keep that aggro. I didn't not even think about Blaster Augs, looking at that skill it seems really great for all talent trees. I guess my only beef with not taking Energy blast is the potential of being constantly low on ammo. Whenever I tank right I'm always running long on longer fights, specially if I'm using mortar strike to pull and a lot of "gutting". I may have to just experiment when I finally reach end game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDarthmaster Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 Oh and also I literally just subscribed to the Shield guide right before doing my little spec post! So I found it funny you recommended that post, you are right thought it is a great guide and I recommend it to any Vanguards looking to head down the path of tanking. =) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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