Defense / Vigilance / Hyrbid Solo Levelling Concensus

[Rixavatar]

I've read the myriad of posts talking about various builds for the Guardian. Now that the game has been out long enough for a lot of people to level up, I'm curious what the concensus is for the most effective (i.e. easiest) solo player PvE levelling build.

 

Simply put, if you were going to recommend to a friend a levelling build for a new Guardian who would be playing solo (with their companion, of course), would you suggest Defense? Vigilance? A hybrid? Also, if going Vigilance, is it better to use Shien or skip it and use Soresu? I'm mostly thinking of the speed of levelling and the ability to handle elites.

 

I've read through the various posts and there is a lot of good information, so it's not so much a matter of understanding what the specials and skills do. It's more about how they work in practice for PvE levelling and which would make for the smoothest levelling for a solo player.

 

 

Thanks!

Edited January 7, 2012 by Rixavatar

[EvanSnowWolf]

I've read the myriad of posts talking about various builds for the Guardian. Now that the game has been out long enough for a lot of people to level up, I'm curious what the concensus is for the most effective (i.e. easiest) solo player PvE levelling build.

 

Simply put, if you were going to recommend to a friend a levelling build for a new Guardian who would be playing solo (with their companion, of course), would you suggest Defense? Vigilance? A hybrid? Also, if going Vigilance, is it better to use Shien or skip it and use Soresu? I'm mostly thinking of the speed of levelling and the ability to handle elites.

 

I've read through the various posts and there is a lot of good information, so it's not so much a matter of understanding what the specials and skills do. It's more about how they work in practice for PvE levelling and which would make for the smoothest levelling for a solo player.

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

Do not level Defense.

 

I am doing it, and I wasted almost ten levels with it. Even if you want to tank, we don't get our tanking stance of Soresu Form until level 14, and our Taunt does not come until 16. The Defense tree begins to pay off heavily at levels 30-34, but before that you are doing what I did and choosing to play the game on Hard (or at least, set on Slow).

 

Vigilance probably has more short terms gains. If you want to tank later, you can always respec, as the first respec is free.

[GrageVonSydow]

Do not level Defense.

 

I am doing it, and I wasted almost ten levels with it. Even if you want to tank, we don't get our tanking stance of Soresu Form until level 14, and our Taunt does not come until 16. The Defense tree begins to pay off heavily at levels 30-34, but before that you are doing what I did and choosing to play the game on Hard (or at least, set on Slow).

 

Vigilance probably has more short terms gains. If you want to tank later, you can always respec, as the first respec is free.

 

So, as a noob Guardian LV 19, you're suggesting going strictly with working my way up the Damage tree? Then when I hit 30 respec? I'm game for anything. I just feel a little helpless at times. Sure don't feel like I deal out much damage and I take a beating...LOL. I would sure like to see a model of what would look best on a skill tree at lv20 and say lv50, mostly PVE, but wouldn't mind seeing someones take on PVP also

Edited January 7, 2012 by GrageVonSydow

[EvanSnowWolf]

So, as a noob Guardian LV 19, you're suggesting going strictly with working my way up the Damage tree? Then when I hit 30 respec? I'm game for anything. I just feel a little helpless at times. Sure don't feel like I deal out much damage and I take a beating...LOL. I would sure like to see a model of what would look best on a skill tree at lv20 and say lv50, mostly PVE, but wouldn't mind seeing someones take on PVP also

 

I wanted to tank badly. But the sad truth is that low level we just can't do it. We get one AoE, Force Sweep... and it is on a long cooldown. We leap in, get the one Sweep.. and more than likely you might get to press it ONE more time. We can hold that one gold elite, but everything else just runs around doing whatever it wants to do. When you tank in level 18-30 flashpoints, you are basically annoying the big bad while everyone else tears apart the weaklings and you hope the healer is paying attention. In the 30's we get Cyclone Slash, which helps a lot.

[Rixavatar]

Do not level Defense.

 

I am doing it, and I wasted almost ten levels with it. Even if you want to tank, we don't get our tanking stance of Soresu Form until level 14, and our Taunt does not come until 16. The Defense tree begins to pay off heavily at levels 30-34, but before that you are doing what I did and choosing to play the game on Hard (or at least, set on Slow).

 

Vigilance probably has more short terms gains. If you want to tank later, you can always respec, as the first respec is free.

 

Compared to Defense, is Vigilance squishy at all after level 30? Meaning, If I wanted to spec purely in the Vigilance tree for all DPS through to level 50, would I suffer much survivability compared to Defense?

 

My playstyle tends to favor DPS with decent survivability, which I know is a bit of a hybrid. I'm definately not the "glass cannon" sort of player. For those who have played LotRO, I found the Champion class to be the most fun, if that helps put things into perspective.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Rixavatar

[GrageVonSydow]

I wanted to tank badly. But the sad truth is that low level we just can't do it. We get one AoE, Force Sweep... and it is on a long cooldown. We leap in, get the one Sweep.. and more than likely you might get to press it ONE more time. We can hold that one gold elite, but everything else just runs around doing whatever it wants to do. When you tank in level 18-30 flashpoints, you are basically annoying the big bad while everyone else tears apart the weaklings and you hope the healer is paying attention. In the 30's we get Cyclone Slash, which helps a lot.

 

Well...at least, thanks to you!!, I know I'm fighting somewhat right...LOL. I leap in, force sweep, master strike, then just slash with the occasional Kick. Yesterday I had a healer so I did some taunting...which helped me actually semi-tank a b it

Edited January 7, 2012 by GrageVonSydow

[EvanSnowWolf]

@Rixavatar

 

We are NEVER really squishy. We get heavy armor, and you can always use Soresu form even if you are not in a tank spec. Plus, we get Saber Ward, which I suggest putting somewhere easy to click or keybind. You will use it. A LOT.

 

If you want DPS over survivability, keep Kira as your companion. She becomes quite the blender, especially after she learns Force Tremor.

 

@GrageVonSydow

 

Slip a Sundering Strike in before that Master Strike. It will make your Master Strike hit harder.

 

 

Also, don't be afraid to hit Combat Focus right before you Leap if you want to start a combat with a ton of Focus and dump a ton of damage into Slash or Bladestorm.

[tirestuntman]

My experience:

 

I've noticed throughout leveling a guardian to 50 during beta that the game in general gets harder post 30. So after experimenting, this is the route I used on my 2nd guardian during beta and the way I'm playing on live.

 

Vigilance is my preferred tree to 30, because defense really doesn't get rolling until the 30s.

Spec to 30: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500ZIMMRMuzz.1

 

Went shien form with Kira for 99% of the content to 30, switched to soresu for a few hard fights (like the planet end story bosses)

 

At 31 I switched to defense:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMGcub0o.1

 

At this point you're extremely tough to take down in pve if you use your CDs (which, learn now, CD useage for this class is a must, don't save them). I stay in soresu nearly full time, popping into shi-cho just for fun sometimes. Once you get Doc, I started using him for heroic 2's and any elites/champs in the story quests. Didn't feel I needed him out for regular questing, I stay alive with kira just fine.

 

Also a note, while biochem is useful for all classes, I find it completely invaluable for my guardian. People say we have a hard time soloing, but with my reusable buffs and medpack, it makes life MUCH easier.

[Rixavatar]

My experience:

 

I've noticed throughout leveling a guardian to 50 during beta that the game in general gets harder post 30. So after experimenting, this is the route I used on my 2nd guardian during beta and the way I'm playing on live.

 

Vigilance is my preferred tree to 30, because defense really doesn't get rolling until the 30s.

Spec to 30: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500ZIMMRMuzz.1

 

Went shien form with Kira for 99% of the content to 30, switched to soresu for a few hard fights (like the planet end story bosses)

 

At 31 I switched to defense:

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMGcub0o.1

 

At this point you're extremely tough to take down in pve if you use your CDs (which, learn now, CD useage for this class is a must, don't save them). I stay in soresu nearly full time, popping into shi-cho just for fun sometimes. Once you get Doc, I started using him for heroic 2's and any elites/champs in the story quests. Didn't feel I needed him out for regular questing, I stay alive with kira just fine.

 

Also a note, while biochem is useful for all classes, I find it completely invaluable for my guardian. People say we have a hard time soloing, but with my reusable buffs and medpack, it makes life MUCH easier.

 

Good information. What I'd like to know is if going pure Vigilance would be any more/less difficult than pure Defense when it comes to smooth questing.

[Rixavatar]

I've done a bit more reading and most of the feedback has been around the Defense spec. I'd love to hear from those who have levelled using Vigilance or Focus and how smoothly leveling has been for them.

 

Thanks to everyone who has left feedback so far!

[Marak]

I leveled as Vig.

 

10-25 was a breeze. 25-34 (when I got Doc) was a pain. I didn't die a lot, per say, but I did have to stop and rest a lot more than I felt I should have, and elites at that level? Yeah have fun.

 

Once you get Doc everything goes back to breeze mode all the way to 50.

[gurugeorge]

I've done a bit more reading and most of the feedback has been around the Defense spec. I'd love to hear from those who have levelled using Vigilance or Focus and how smoothly leveling has been for them.

 

Thanks to everyone who has left feedback so far!

 

At 33 now. I started Def (too slow, and still relatively too squishy for the time it takes to nibble the mobs away while they're wailing on you) then tried Vig (fun with tons of Focus, but squishy), then Def/Vig (spread too thin). I recently went Focus, and I'm finding Focus altogether the best for PvE simply because of the massive AoE crit from Force Leap (or Zealous Leap) + Force Stasis and then Zealous Leap and a Singularity-talented Sweep (and I haven't even reached the top of the tree yet, just up to Singularity). It really gets rid of the trash fast, so you can concentrate on the heavier mob/s. The damage and mitigation seem to balance nicely. You have tons more oomph than Soresu, and you're tough enough in Shi-Cho to take advantage of it, but not too squishy and accident-prone like you are in Shien.

 

Yeah, I think I've settled on Focus for now. Nothing like sseeing those big numbers!

[VanorDM]

I'm curious what the concensus is for the most effective (i.e. easiest) solo player PvE levelling build.

 

I don't believe there is one.

 

Look at any thread about either tree, and you'll see around the same number of people saying it's great as you will see saying "no don't do that do this". Same goes for Shien vs Soresu form. I've seen a number of posts saying Vig with soresu rocks, and around the same number of them saying it isn't needed...

 

Myself I leveled up to 23 in the Defense tree, and thought it was just fine. Could go though fights at a decent clip with Kira, and didn't have to heal very often. Tried respec'ing to Vig with Shien and felt super squishy compared to what I was.

 

This tend to lead me to believe that the two trees are likely fairly well balanced, and you have a lot of "the grass is greener" posts.

 

The best way I've seen to figure out if something is balanced is when no one can agree on which is better X or Y. If there isn't a clear consensus then it's likely a good sign of balance.

Edited January 10, 2012 by VanorDM

[Dee-Jay]

I've been leveling with the Focus Tree because those awesome Force Sweep hits really make it easy to mop up all the small trahs mobs you run across on a regular basis. The downside is that Force Stasis stays your only mean to generate Singularity, which kinda blows because of the long CD.

 

I'm not sure what I'm missing in other trees but in my book powerful AoE attacks help most with leveling.

[sac-]

I leveled as Vigilance mostly in Shii-Cho all the way to 50. Had no problems at all with any class bosses or regular bosses/elites, also had minor to no downtime after I got Doc. Although I think Focus would be better after 40 (when you get Force Exhaustion). Edited January 11, 2012 by sac-