Is tactics any good?

[GregMD]

My vanguard is lvl25 right now, I've been PvPing off and on since lvl18 as assault and I've been doing pretty good. My survivability is pretty decent and I'm always either 1 or 2 on damage. I've been checking out tactics a bit though and with things like hold the line and shock absorbers, it seems like it has more pvp utility than assault. So is tactics as viable as assault for leveling/PvP or should I just stick to assault for now?

[AydenBari]

Viable? Yes, quite so. Completely different playstyle though. Tactics is an upfront, in your face almost melee type of combat. You won't have the burst of assault, but you will have steady damage, which is, again, a different playstyle. I would suggest you check out Taugrim's blog, taugrim.com, he is really good with his commentary on the vanguard/powertech class. Edited January 21, 2012 by AydenBari

[BardaTheHobo]

Most People do not like it, however I love it, both with an added 10meter range and melee range ability. When its a caster or ranged person I can get in their face, and when its a melee i can kite all day long with the added run speed through skill points and Hold line. Plus the 6 second interrupter is nice. It might not do as much spike damage as assault but it is still viable and fun to play if you like short range combat

Currently Level 47

Edited January 21, 2012 by BardaTheHobo

[MasterEddard]

I've been with tactics all the way so far. Currently level 26 and right now I am considering changing to assault or tank. This is for several reasons:

 

First is that I don't feel like I'm doing enough dps. As above poster said, the dps is fine, it's just very very steady. As you can imagine, this isn't ideal for leveling and only shines on long duration boss fights in FP's and it makes fighting mobs a wee bit tedious.

 

Second of all, and my first point also factors into this, I find this tree rather boring and lacklustre. There is nothing "cool" about the tree. The main thing that attracted me to the tree is the Gut ability. Knives and all, sounds cool. When I got it, it felt weak and nothing special. The lack of burst also conveys this as it makes fights more drawn out and thus a bit boring.

 

I've been looking at the other trees and the apparent burst of assault is a very tempting change from tactics and should make leveling much easier. The tank specc on the other hand looks very VERY powerful (I'm comparing this with the tank tree on my Guardian) offering very decent damage mitigation + what looks like plenty of damage. The Storm ability in that tree also looks very appealing.

 

My rundown is that Tactics is a tree that probably should wait till you get to level 50 and start taking on end game Operations. That is when you would make the most of it.

[Lhaim]

Its beast, you can run around and do damage allthetime. You want to get into melee most of the time but if you dont you can still fire away. Its the most mobile spec i played in the game (vanguard50,sentinel30,scoundrel25,shadow25).

 

Also KILLER pvp talents like interrupt/pull cd reduce, mez timer set bonus and the talent to rule them all "Hold the line".

 

If you played pvp alot in past mmos and like to have lots of options you should be pretty happy with the class/spec.

[Domiinick]

There's a talent that pretty much sums up, name wise, what I feel about Tactics. "Battering Ram".

 

I mean, it pretty much is that. You're insanely hard to stop, you don't deal crazy break neck damage but it's -constant- and very easy to keep up ammo. I'm trying assault right now, after 41 levels of tactics, and I admit, I'm already starting to miss hold the line. x3

[shucksy]

After trying all specs I've finally settled on tactics with Ion Cell and the left over points put into shield to get to Aim and Ion Cell talents. High Energy Cell would be exchanging 9% damage for 60% armour, 5% damage reduction, Ion Cell damage proc, Ion Cell slow proc and the ability to guard. I've no doubt that Assault is highper dps, but I dislike that it relies on RNG so much and I like the increased survivability, mobility and reduced CC/interupt CDs.

 

Like others said, depends on play style, but if you're wanting a 'pvp tank' then Tactics with Ion Cell is superior to Shield spec imo, I do miss Storm though :<

[grandmasterub]

Unless you're tanking dont use ion cell. The increased hate makes agro hell on the tank.

 

(Note not relevent for WZ builds)

[AydenBari]

After trying all specs I've finally settled on tactics with Ion Cell and the left over points put into shield to get to Aim and Ion Cell talents. High Energy Cell would be exchanging 9% damage for 60% armour, 5% damage reduction, Ion Cell damage proc, Ion Cell slow proc and the ability to guard. I've no doubt that Assault is highper dps, but I dislike that it relies on RNG so much and I like the increased survivability, mobility and reduced CC/interupt CDs.

 

Like others said, depends on play style, but if you're wanting a 'pvp tank' then Tactics with Ion Cell is superior to Shield spec imo, I do miss Storm though :<

 

High Energy Cell is more than just damage increase. Talented for it, which you should for deep Tactic builds that don't use 18 points in assault, gives you 15% run speed, 1 ammo per 6 second regen, and the damage buff. With smart play, in pve you can dps quite well to make fights easy on Elara(if you level with her), and in pvp you can keep high pressure on anyone you are fighting. 6-9k damage in 3 cooldowns? No, but you have the potency to make a healer pull their hair out trying to keep one person alive, let alone smart play to focus on the healer with 6 second interrupts, stuns, peels, and kiting the melee'ers trying to keel you because you are attacking the healer .