What is the best leveling spec for Vanguard?

[Beefmachine]

I am a level 20 vanguard so far I have just be leveling as shield. Is assault spec better for leveling? Can anyone give some examples of good specs for leveling?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Pubsam]

I'm levelling as shield (at 44 now), and while I can't offer a comparison I'll say that I'm having a fine time of it. With a good DPS companion out it doesn't feel too tedious, and I like being able to tank the heroic quests. Plus Storm is fun.

[Waagabond]

If all you want is to level up, then I recomend shield all the way.

Your survival rate goes through the roof compared to the other specs.

Assault would be the other option but even a full assault spec just wont even have half the survival of shield.

Your damage is a tad lower but not dramatically, you still hit very hard. Stockstrike is our hardest hitting ability regardless, it hits just a tad lower then a fully specd assault for impact bolt, add in 30% crit damage and crit chance on it as a shield tank and it hits incredibly hard.

 

As a shield tank you can even afford to use Jorgen as your companion instead of Elarna, which means you kill stuff really fast, although I recomend Elarna anyway to play it safe, at which point you can just chain pull 1 or 2 elites at a time with 0 downtime as shield.

 

Only reason Im not shield myself is cause I spend 90% of my time in warzones and the earlier delay caused me to spec assault. I love asault but I truly miss the utility and survival of shield, which is just awsome.

Its not a tank only spec but you do some nice damage with it.

[Fuelsean]

If all you want is to level up, then I recomend shield all the way.

Your survival rate goes through the roof compared to the other specs.

Assault would be the other option but even a full assault spec just wont even have half the survival of shield.

Your damage is a tad lower but not dramatically, you still hit very hard. Stockstrike is our hardest hitting ability regardless, it hits just a tad lower then a fully specd assault for impact bolt, add in 30% crit damage and crit chance on it as a shield tank and it hits incredibly hard.

 

As a shield tank you can even afford to use Jorgen as your companion instead of Elarna, which means you kill stuff really fast, although I recomend Elarna anyway to play it safe, at which point you can just chain pull 1 or 2 elites at a time with 0 downtime as shield.

 

Only reason Im not shield myself is cause I spend 90% of my time in warzones and the earlier delay caused me to spec assault. I love asault but I truly miss the utility and survival of shield, which is just awsome.

Its not a tank only spec but you do some nice damage with it.

 

I'd recommend using Elara, but putting her in the damage stance. She still heals you, but hits a bit harder for a little extra DPS. You can then switch her when dealing with bosses or tougher encounters.

[Hackdak]

Well.. I leveled as Tactics. Although it may have been slightly difficult, I found it to be pretty darn fun getting in everyone's face and hitting them with my gun and a knife.

[Pubsam]

I'd recommend using Elara, but putting her in the damage stance. She still heals you, but hits a bit harder for a little extra DPS. You can then switch her when dealing with bosses or tougher encounters.

 

Blech, Elara is so slow. Sure with Jorgan or Yuun you might need to reload between every couple pulls, but you're having more fun in between running everything over. I'd recommend Elara only if you're low level for the content you're at, soloing non-kiteable champions, or perhaps on a PvP server and want to be topped up all the time. Otherwise, if you have Dorne out for any pull where you wouldn't need a heal to survive, you're wasting time. TIME PRECIOUS.

[RabidDutchman]

Shield all the way. And if you allocate your points right you can get all the useful skills from the shield tree and have quite a few points left to put in the damage tree. Quite nice!

 

And I don't care what anyone else says, but the only way to seriously tank is to use Elara. But that's just my opinion, so feel free to not care about what I say lol

[abreen]

If all you want is to level up, then I recomend shield all the way.

Your survival rate goes through the roof compared to the other specs.

Assault would be the other option but even a full assault spec just wont even have half the survival of shield.

Your damage is a tad lower but not dramatically, you still hit very hard. Stockstrike is our hardest hitting ability regardless, it hits just a tad lower then a fully specd assault for impact bolt, add in 30% crit damage and crit chance on it as a shield tank and it hits incredibly hard.

 

As a shield tank you can even afford to use Jorgen as your companion instead of Elarna, which means you kill stuff really fast, although I recomend Elarna anyway to play it safe, at which point you can just chain pull 1 or 2 elites at a time with 0 downtime as shield.

 

Only reason Im not shield myself is cause I spend 90% of my time in warzones and the earlier delay caused me to spec assault. I love asault but I truly miss the utility and survival of shield, which is just awsome.

Its not a tank only spec but you do some nice damage with it.

 

So what shield spec would you recommend?

[Koganei]

I levelled all the way with a shield spec (31 points even, then some damage talents in the other two trees) and elara - since it was my first char I obviously can't compare but I know I could handle anything the game threw at me easily and I didn't really consider my damage to be too low

[Waagabond]

So what shield spec would you recommend?

 

Well, depends on your level but I assume you just started.

 

The talents in distribution goes like this

 

2/2 Brutal Impact

 

3/3 Intimidation

 

Tier 2

 

2/2 Ion overload

 

2/2 Rebraced armor

 

1/1 Neural overload or 1/3 in Steely resolve.

I recomend Neural overload if you want to pvp.

 

Why not 3/3 Steely resolve? Cause at your level your aim is so low you wont get much out of it, just go for defence now. Rebraced armor should any shield tank even for pvp have, until they are 50 in epic gear, it adds a ton of extra defence.

 

Tier 3

 

2/2 Shield Cykler.

 

Now, to jump to tier 4, you might consider placing 2 points into Steely resolve if you already placed 1 there, for a 3/3. Reason?: You wont get Adrenaline Rush for a while and those extra absorbs although they are nice, wont help that much when solo questing and is not vital in flashpoints for your level either. Armor rating is most important at this level, and to have the basic absorbs and shield chances.

 

Tier 4

 

1/1 Supercharged Ion Cell

2/2 Static shield

 

From here on, you are experienced enough to know what you want and not want.

 

Have fun.

[Calibretto]

I've been leveling as Assault and it's absolutely easy mode. I keep Jorgan out at 90% of the time (unless I'm soloing heroic 2's) and have next to no downtime. Basically, just take advantage of the fact that your Plasma Cell (through Assault talents) slows the enemy and you can kite them to death. I've taken on gold mobs and haven't taken a point of damage by just kiting them. In the meantime your overall damage is pretty high and you can always tank flashpoints just fine (as long as you keep your gear up). Me and Jorgan are putting down mobs so fast it's hard for me to play any other character.

[Waagabond]

I've been leveling as Assault and it's absolutely easy mode. I keep Jorgan out at 90% of the time (unless I'm soloing heroic 2's) and have next to no downtime. Basically, just take advantage of the fact that your Plasma Cell (through Assault talents) slows the enemy and you can kite them to death. I've taken on gold mobs and haven't taken a point of damage by just kiting them. In the meantime your overall damage is pretty high and you can always tank flashpoints just fine (as long as you keep your gear up). Me and Jorgan are putting down mobs so fast it's hard for me to play any other character.

 

Considering the tougher elite mobs are ranged DPS, shield will still help you the most.

 

Assault works fine to level with together with Elarna.

Later on you will die if you are assault and use Jorgen. 100%

 

The 40+ class quests is no pushover if you do them at equal level and try to go with no healer. You just wont make it to be honest. Shield and Jorgen is ok, or assault and elarna.

For easy mode, you go shield and elarna.

Thats it really.

[Kaigen]

Leveling as a shield spec with Elara, I rarely found myself in danger (except when trying to solo certain Heroic 2+ missions), but on the other hand, as I got near cap things definitely started slowing down in terms of how quickly I could clear out mobs and make my way through an area. This was most noticeable on Corellia, where the mobs had finally caught up to me in level so I couldn't easily bypass groups on my way to an objective. That said, I haven't leveled up as a DPS yet, so I don't know if that is something all classes go through or if it hits tank specs harder due to reduced overall DPS.

[maltime]

Leveled as Assault/Tactics with Elara.

 

Kept both of our gear sets up to date and it was a breeze.

[grandmasterub]

Lvling as full tactics with elara in blaster stance. I run ioncell and a shield though. Mobs die quick, plenty of survivability, good ammo management.

 

I like it for me

[bootsakah]

I have a level 50 Commando and a level 24 Vanguard.

 

On my Vanny I am currently specced Tactics for added dps and I use Jorgan most of the time to augment the dps. Presently if I need to tank for a heroic or FP I can switch the Ion Cell (more threat/more dmg reduction). However, I plan on changing to shield at some point as the game difficulty really ramps up as you near the later levels, especially around Quesh and Hoth. Mobs take significantly more damage to take down but also do significantly more damage at the higher levels. I'm hoping to just use Jorgan for the dps, survive the fight and reload as needed.

 

It's really a tough call. First which companion to run? You can go shield spec and use Jorgan. But you might need to stop and reload between each fight, or could possible die during some tough pulls. Or you could go Tactics or Assault and keep Elara out to keep you alive.

 

Here is where damage meters would be a good thing.

[Kokostarwars]

Seeing as my talents were refunded with the latest patch, I find this question important again!

 

I think I'll be trying shield spec, but I have an equipment question for you all. I leveled my Jedi Guardian as a deeps spec, using deeps armor and a healer, it worked wonderfully. I'm wondering, though what people think about how best to equip my vanguard: shield with shieldy mods, or shield with deeps mods?

 

I don't know that I'm ready to queue as a tank, since I don't know the FPs well enough to lead a group. I also don't have enough lowbie guildies to make a guild group so I use the group finder.

 

I want it all! I guess I'm just wondering, does using DPS armor offset the (decreased) DPS of not being in a deeps spec, or should I max out the shieldiness of my armor, and use whatever companion seems appropriate?

 

I know it's a noob question, I can always try both. I think it'll be fun to give the shield spec a try. Go easy on me!

 

Koko

[Hyfy]

I know right now I'm leveling a Shield specked VG, with a mix of tanking and DPS mods (pretty much whatever is available when I hit the GTN or mods vendor) and using Treek in her healing stance. She tosses out some good heals and does quite a it of damage and with me not being completely endurance loaded I am putting out a good amount of damage and I cut through most content right quickly.

 

 

Bit of a necro but with new skills and companions being added I guess the necro can be warranted sometimes.

[Zoom_VI]

Shield all the way. And if you allocate your points right you can get all the useful skills from the shield tree and have quite a few points left to put in the damage tree. Quite nice!

 

And I don't care what anyone else says, but the only way to seriously tank is to use Elara. But that's just my opinion, so feel free to not care about what I say lol

 

Going tank for level is the slowest possible way tho. I would recommend assault for leveling as SS>HiB kills mobs pretty instantly and its easy to switch through each mob.

[Corran]

Going tank for level is the slowest possible way tho. I would recommend assault for leveling as SS>HiB kills mobs pretty instantly and its easy to switch through each mob.

 

it's only slow if you wear tank gear.

 

shield spec + dps gear will allow you to do things that you otherwise can't as the dps spec's. you won't actually kill any slower because ion cell dot hits like a freaking truck in dps gear and you can just use a dps companion or treek in tank spec (treek does ridiculous damage for a tank companion and still has a HoT)

 

shield spec + dps gear + treek or a dps companion means you will have to stop and use reload and recharge far less often than a pure dps spec + elara.

[Zoom_VI]

it's only slow if you wear tank gear.

 

shield spec + dps gear will allow you to do things that you otherwise can't as the dps spec's. you won't actually kill any slower because ion cell dot hits like a freaking truck in dps gear and you can just use a dps companion or treek in tank spec (treek does ridiculous damage for a tank companion and still has a HoT)

 

shield spec + dps gear + treek or a dps companion means you will have to stop and use reload and recharge far less often than a pure dps spec + elara.

 

There is not much dps difference between tank gear and dps gear in lowbies, everthing is endurance high anyway. I did my leveling using tactics and jorgan, you just burn through everything way faster and you don't have to reload very often at all.

[Fellow-Canadian]

Stick to assault for quest leveling. If you plan to level through doing FPs over and over then go shield spec for faster queues.

[Corran]

There is not much dps difference between tank gear and dps gear in lowbies, everthing is endurance high anyway. I did my leveling using tactics and jorgan, you just burn through everything way faster and you don't have to reload very often at all.

 

this is incorrect.

 

you start to see tertiary stats on gear as you approach level 20. tertiary stats further increase dps or tanking ability.

 

gear with tanking tertiary stats have less aim and more endurance. gear with dps tertiary stats have more aim than endurance. the cumulative difference over 10+ pieces of gear is not insignificant

 

there is also little difference between the three trees until level 20, with shield having a slight advantage due to higher damage hib and extra aim.

[Zoom_VI]

this is incorrect.

 

you start to see tertiary stats on gear as you approach level 20. tertiary stats further increase dps or tanking ability.

 

gear with tanking tertiary stats have less aim and more endurance. gear with dps tertiary stats have more aim than endurance. the cumulative difference over 10+ pieces of gear is not insignificant

 

there is also little difference between the three trees until level 20, with shield having a slight advantage due to higher damage hib and extra aim.

 

The point was there are few tertiary stats until beyond 40. +9 power is near meaningless

 

Also nearly all aviable lowbie gear is endurance high, the only mainstat based gear is crafted

[Corran]

The point was there are few tertiary stats until beyond 40. +9 power is near meaningless

 

Also nearly all aviable lowbie gear is endurance high, the only mainstat based gear is crafted

 

again incorrect

 

with how easy it is to acquire and maintain a full set of moddable gear now, the only reason to have endurance-bias on gear is if you choose to have that endurance bias.

 

wearing dps gear only, i see no difference in kill speed at 30 on a new vanguard (note: i was the first level 50 pub on hyperspace cannon at launch, as a vanguard, and leveled in tank gear which was full retard) in shield or the two dps spec's right now. shield has an advantage imo due to charge at this level. however i do end up having to reload with regularity as one of the dps trees. in shield (using treek) i only have to rest when soloing heroic 2's.

 

in addition to this, i'm having no real survivability issues when getting my insta-pop flashpoint queue's as a tank role either even though the only tank stats i'm using are on my shield generator. that may have more to do with experience than anything else, though.

 

and you're right, 9 power on a single mod at this level means nothing. however, 12-15 crit on the mod and the enhancement over 8-10 pieces, plus the fact that aim-biased reflex armoring and mods have a combined 15-20 more aim than commando reflex armoring and mods per armor piece they are in IS substantial.

 

as it was at launch, never take the gear quest rewards unless it's orange. always take the comm and buy mods for your gear and for your companion. if you don't already have an alt with maxed out cybertech, pick up cybertech which for this class being as all of the companions are aim-biased means you can save your comms for barrels and enhancements - both of which are cheaper than armorings or mods from the commendations vendors.

 

a smart vanguard, taking cybertech, can maintain two sets of moddable gear by the time they hit 30 with little effort or up-front monetary investment from alts.