Is pvp tanking viable?

[Junebugman]

I'm used to WoW tanking and I used to pvp there as a tank..but the only thing it gave me was crappy damage and a lot of survivability. But in SWTOR I hear that pvp tanking is much more viable and even deadly. Are there any guides and etc about pvp tanking support? Can you guys win in a 1v1 duel...especially against enemies who can bypass your shield and armor like sorcs? Also do the taunts work in pvp also...such as the enemy does 30% less damage unless attacking me and the other taunts?

[Peytona]

You may find this thread useful/interesting.

 

As disheartening as it may appear though, with an appropriate spec a Vanguard can more than impose themselves in Warzones.

 

More utility wise than tanking though.

[Sunchyne]

Not sure about the guides for PVP tanking. I believe there are a few around. As far as PVP'ing as a tank spec, it's tough to really kill anyone 1v1, although it can be done. I'm playing a hybrid shield/assault spec, and if the RNG hits right, I can HIB and DoT someone to death pretty easily. Realize that your endurance in a fight is a huge plus. You can take a lot of damage, and riot strike/cryo grenade/neural surge give you a few interrupts to work with. Not only that, you can kite and storm to add another interrupt.

 

Taunt does reduce players damage by 30%, and it's incredibly useful. By applying taunts liberally, you can easily rack up three medals (2k/10k defense in one life and 5k defense total). With guard, you should easily get over 50k if you change it around.

 

Also, something to consider is that 1/3 of the WZ maps (and the one you'll probably get the most) is Huttball, and the shield/tank spec for vanguard gives you storm. Using storm, reactive shield with degauss, and self heals, you can easily score 2-3 times before everyone focuses you. If you even have one good team mate, you'll wipe the floor.

[SpotlessMind]

@Peytona

 

As a level 50 vanguard with champion gear, I totally agree with that thread you've linked. Tanking in pvp is non existent. There are a lot of low level Vanguard spouting off about how great they are and how great Vanguard tanking to the point of saying they are OP.

 

There experience isn't false, it is that they are lacking the experience of high end pvp. At high end pvp, where your opponent is geared up just as much as you are, you won't be able to tank. There damage is too great for you to mitigate because BW designed tanking to not be a factor in PvP. Damage mitigation is split into so many different stats and there are damages that can't be mitigated. There is no way to effectively tank in PvP.

Edited January 14, 2012 by SpotlessMind

[Ishkur]

I am almost level 60 Vangaurd doing lots of PVP. Tanking IS viable. You just have to jump right into a bunch of enemys (be sure to have a healer backup) and you will soak up tremendeous amounds of damage.

 

Same goes for Huttball, you carry the ball and you will just not die ever till you reach the goal line.

 

Same for Alderaan, you can guard a turret on your own, survive 3-5 enemys long enough till backup is there and you may kill 1 or even 2 in the process.

[SoulstitchMMO]

I am almost level 60 Vangaurd doing lots of PVP. Tanking IS viable. You just have to jump right into a bunch of enemys (be sure to have a healer backup) and you will soak up tremendeous amounds of damage.

 

Same goes for Huttball, you carry the ball and you will just not die ever till you reach the goal line.

 

Same for Alderaan, you can guard a turret on your own, survive 3-5 enemys long enough till backup is there and you may kill 1 or even 2 in the process.

 

Link your spec.

[MuscarKrone]

I'm rather enjoying pvp, and feel like I can take a good beating before going down. I have never felt ineffective in pvp. Yes at times I get frustrated, but who doesnt in pvp.

 

Me: Valor 49, Full champion gear (well i'm missing an ear peice... )

 

Im using this: http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/trooper/vanguard/#::f6e5f4ef3ce3fe4f2e2fe6f18

 

 

I am a bit low on DPS, most pvp matches I'm between 90k-180k damage (yeah, no dps at all), If I have a pocket healer its easy to hit 200k damage.

 

But my focus is keeping my team alive with guard, and managing the enemies with debuffs and snares.

 

I always make sure to use my taunts to keep the enemy dps down by 30 percent for my teammates.

 

I use gut and my shields to stay alive and keep dots on them to prevent them from getting points in alderon and voidstar. The 18 second dot on gut is way way underestimated for ones ability to prevent them from flipping a point. If I pop all my shields and los them, gut them, I can hold off 5 of them for well over 50 seconds alone.

 

Hutball, with my reduced cooldown on storm, harpoon, and cyro grenade, its just movement logistics to me to score. Especially the cooldown on storm, I just pogo jump from enemy to enemy until I'm at the line to score

[Pistols]

Same goes for Huttball, you carry the ball and you will just not die ever till you reach the goal line.

 

Situational, which really comes down to your group & the Opfor.

 

Same for Alderaan, you can guard a turret on your own, survive 3-5 enemys long enough till backup is there and you may kill 1 or even 2 in the process.

 

Again, situational, but depends on whom you're fighting.

 

Not disagreeing that Vanguard cannot tank like a champ, but I think some certain situations differ from others. =)

Edited January 14, 2012 by Pistols

[SpotlessMind]

The reason why there are differences of opinion when it comes to tanking is simple. We aren't all fighting the same foes. I don't doubt you are tanking well, but what I do know is that you're not fighting Champion geared players.

 

I have experienced both viable tanking and non existence tanking as a Vanguard. In the end, our viability as a tank depends on who we fight. Players with expertise or is heavily geared will make us feel like paper, but on the flip side, players who aren't geared makes us feel like gods.

 

The disparity comes down to the damage mitigation mechanics. Once they are geared those damages that we can't mitigate hits much harder, so we go down. But, my dissatisfaction is base on an end game scenario. Imagine once everybody are all 50s and geared up, we will feel like tissue paper. We can't tank, because we can't mitigate certain types of damages it is that simple.

Edited January 14, 2012 by SpotlessMind

[Lilrys]

PvP tanking is very viable in this game, but it does have some requirements.

 

1. You need to have a healer

 

While tanking still works assualting points/protecting the ball carrier, without a healer it ussualy ends very painfully. And in the case of huttball, you'd often preffer having someone in a forward position that can be thrown to, over having a guard. While defending it is acctually counter productive, since the one thing you don't want happening is people dying at the same time.

 

2. Realise that your tanking stats (except armor) and tanking Talents, are worthless (not entirely true, but close enough)

 

Now you can overhaul your gear and talents. Personally I run with Ion Cell and Full tactics. (ignoreing High energy talents) The increased surviverbillity, from shock absorbers, more then make up for the lack of shield talents.

 

The spec looks like this http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GoMMZMsrrobfkds.1

 

I suspect you can make some decent specs based around Storm or Reflexsive shield (assult spec). Though since I run without a shield generator I'm not overly fond of anything from the shield spec.

 

 

Now that we've gotten that out of the way we'll look at Tanking skills.

 

• Guard
  
• Taunts
  
• Cooldowns
  
• CC
  
• DPS
  

 

Guard is your main source of PvP tanking, not only does it prevent damage to the player being focused, but it has the interresting side effect, of making you the prime target once your health drops below 50-60%. Guard should prefferably be kept on a healer, but don't forget to remove it when your out of range, and don't be shy about swapping it to someone in trouble. A nifty trick for this is targeting an enemy then use target of target to target the friendly being focused.

 

Taunts, not much to say except that these babies should be kept on cd at all times. (granted you might want to wait a few secs untill the fighting starts before fireing off the first one)

 

CD, While the smart thing to do is ussualy spreading them out across time to maximize the effect. I ussualy find that poping them all at once, makes me seem invincible and discourages people from attacking again for the next min or so. (Ps I'm a bionoob and count medpacks/adrenals as CDs )

 

CC, ussualy I use the single target stun offensively and the aoe stun defensively (when aoe taunt or my other CDs are on cooldown)

 

DPS, since there is no reason to stack defencive stats, there is no excuse for not having almost as good dps as a real dps. Now the big difference from normal dps is that your job isn't to kill people, but to put enough presure on them that they have to choose between attacking and running. If they run then don't give chase unless your sure whatever your guarding is fine. If they stay, then great, just kill em.

[Peytona]

I am almost level 60 Vangaurd doing lots of PVP. Tanking IS viable. You just have to jump right into a bunch of enemys (be sure to have a healer backup) and you will soak up tremendeous amounds of damage.

 

 

1. Level 60 - Congratulations.

 

2. Soak up tremendous amounts of damage - If you read the thread that I posted above, you'll discover that Vanguards actually take only marginally less damage than any other class in Warzones due to a higher armour rating. Even this makes no difference to Internal and Elemental damage, which are the most common types.

 

You could argue that a Vanguard has greater self mitigation through CDs such as Reactive Shield, Adrenaline Rush and stuns, but nearly every other class has a similar ability, or three.

 

3. Be sure to have a healer back up - Again, any class, when backed up by a good healer, can survive tremendous punishment. This is not exclusively Vanguards.

I guess the extra 10 skill points you have make a real difference, though.

 

 

I agree with most of the points Lilrys made. The point in general is that tanking in PvP can be viable, just not in the way most players would expect.

 

Vanguards are assets in Warzones for their group mitigation (through Guard, Neural Jolt and Sonic Round) and hindrance of opposition (through Stuns, Harpoon, Storm, Riot Strike). They are not invincible meat shields - Math proves it.