Vanguard leveling question

[Mrceto]

Hiya folks,

 

I'm going to be making a shield spec Vanguard and plan on leveling up with Elara Dorne, my question is, how painfull will leveling be? Will it be very slow or can I still kill things at a decent rate? Or am I better off leveling in the DPS spec with Elara?

 

Thanks!

[Cordo]

I will be totally honest and warn you that things won't be too fast. If I were you, try using Aric when you're not doing the harder missions while leveling (most class quests you won't need a healer for). You will have to reload at the end of combat, but you'll blow through the mobs much faster.

 

When you get to those harder mobs (elites and occasional champs) pull out Elara and just take your sweet time.

 

Thats my 2 cents worth anyways:)

[Mrceto]

Thanks for the response, I think i'll try the dps spec with Elara first and see how that goes.

[Littletza]

Just pick up Elara, lean back and let the good times roll: Because you're going to roll over anything that steps in your path. She might not put out the same dps as Jorgan or Yuun but you don't need to heal neither so its steady pace all the time.

[Cheeseblaster]

I did things a little backwards in that I did the Nar Shadda missions first then went back to Taris. So I did Nar Shadda with Aric. There were times when I would have liked a healer but to be honest those were few and far between.

 

As long as you have decent armor and a good blaster for you and Aric, Nar Shaddaa shouldn't be a problem.

 

That being said, now that I'm on Tatoinne it's all Elara as far as I'm concerned.

[Vankris]

42 here, just finish hoth. i use a tank spec (with some dps tweak, like ignore armor on HIB or 9% aim ...) with elara since the end of taris.

 

i must admit, you are incredly powerful, you can down elite a few level above you level and even champion about your level. normal and strong, you just chain them with no rest, the time you arguably lose with lower dps, you make up for it with no downtime.

 

beside, elara is a dps as well, you can switch her stance depending if you want her having stronger heal or stronger dps, she wll do both anyway. elara also have a 8 second incapacitating ability that help manage pull or use some ability only on incapacitated target.

 

and it's more fun to be in non stop action, chaining the pull, rather than stop and reload ever pull almost.

 

i don't think it's too slow, but i don't have much to compare except...

 

 

spoiler alert!!!!

 

i just did the gauntlet, was forced to use yuun. it was horrible, could barely make it alive on some tough pull and having to reload every pull.

 

the second part was with vik. With dps stance, same as yuun, with tank stance, went a bit better in term of safety, killed an elite without having scare for my life, but still had to reload after. I just know with elara, i would have killed jim walk in the park with 80-90% life left.

 

 

as tank spec, elara all the way

 

 

now as dps spec, maybe you can plan on quick kill, but expect lots of reload time

[Corran]

42 here, just finish hoth. i use a tank spec (with some dps tweak, like ignore armor on HIB or 9% aim ...) with elara since the end of taris.

 

i must admit, you are incredly powerful, you can down elite a few level above you level and even champion about your level. normal and strong, you just chain them with no rest, the time you arguably lose with lower dps, you make up for it with no downtime.

 

beside, elara is a dps as well, you can switch her stance depending if you want her having stronger heal or stronger dps, she wll do both anyway. elara also have a 8 second incapacitating ability that help manage pull or use some ability only on incapacitated target.

 

and it's more fun to be in non stop action, chaining the pull, rather than stop and reload ever pull almost.

 

i don't think it's too slow, but i don't have much to compare except...

 

 

spoiler alert!!!!

 

i just did the gauntlet, was forced to use yuun. it was horrible, could barely make it alive on some tough pull and having to reload every pull.

 

the second part was with vik. With dps stance, same as yuun, with tank stance, went a bit better in term of safety, killed an elite without having scare for my life, but still had to reload after. I just know with elara, i would have killed jim walk in the park with 80-90% life left.

 

 

as tank spec, elara all the way

 

 

now as dps spec, maybe you can plan on quick kill, but expect lots of reload time

 

get back to us when you're on voss and have to attempt to get the id card from the gormak tech

 

GOOD LUCK!

[Vankris]

ok i will

 

unless it changes dramatically in the last level, i don't see it be that bad, then again speed at which you kill thing is very much a subjective opinion. good for some, too slow for others...

 

the ultimate question would be do i feel i can't do it. So far, up to 42, i pretty much rolled on everything and solo most of the H2+ at current level.

[RogueStrife]

Which will be better when levelling? Spec to an Assault Specialist/Tactics then switch to Shield Specialist once I hit L50? Or just stick with Shield Specialist from L1-50?

 

I want to be a tank but I want to know which would be faster to hit L50 or finish quests.

Edited January 31, 2012 by alpheusse

[origional]

There are a few occasions when Elara isnt right for the job, and you have to watch her when there are two strongs around as she goes down fast under fire, but apart from that, she'll let you do most things, including 2man heroics, but not 4.

[Spifff]

Lvl 37 shield spec (with some dps talents thrown in) vanguard.

 

I switched to elara as soon as i got her. Around lvl 30 i decided to try jorgan and found everyday questing MUCH faster. the few seconds you spend reload/healing yourself are nothing to how much faster all the trash fodder dies.

 

I stick with jorgan even for a single gold enemy.

 

Elara comes out when it's a gold plus more.

[gupadindi]

i ran shield spec with that pocket healing whore. you can take anything short of a boss on no problem... 2 silvers are more of a ***** than 1 gold though. no sith can take you 1v1 at your level with your pocket heals, they just suffer a slow and painful death. you should have any ammo problems and elara will keep your health full... so no reload and refresh ******** between fights. just longer fights.

[Corran]

i have a 50 vanguard, 50 sage, 50 scoundrel. i levelled the sage as seer and the scoundrel as sawbones. i'm working a guardian up now he's in his 40's

 

 

of those 4 classes, the vanguard is the slowest and most painful to level. he can not take on as much as the other three due to very bad damage output (guardian has vanguard beat hands down even as a full tank spec in fulll tank gear). i did shield spec, assault spec, tactics spec, full dps gear, full tank gear, swapped companions out - it didnt matter. non heroic quests that were a breeze and done fast with the two healers+tank companion gave my vanguard issues - mostly due to the lack of any type of minute long cc, but also the abysmal damage all around.

 

 

however it's far less complicated to play than a guardian, and has easier threat and pulling tools than a shadow.

 

i will warn you however - stay in the 10-49 bracket until you can get the maximum amount of champ bags at 50. a fresh 50 vanguard cant kill anyone and it just cat food for the empire team with how fast and easy they get battlemaster since the ilum change. they get their ilum daily and weekly done, nearly nobody republic side can anymore. that's more champion bags and more battlemaster bags for that side.

[Xarry]

I have a 50 Guardian and working on my Vangaurd, sorry, but my Vanguard levels much faster than my guardian did, both are defence specced and my Vanguard is considerably faster at leveling that my Guardian was.

[Chariton]

...so far and no problem what so ever. Don't know what the problem was on Voss with the Gormak Tech. I just steamrolled over him. With Elara you just don't stop killing. I even took out 2 elite droids in Corellia yesterday. Had to use all my CDs (heal, stun, cryo, adrenaline rush you name it), almost died but I killed them.

 

With mob packs be sure to kill from weakest to strongest always and leave the strong mobs (silver) for last. With ELara you can take packs of 5 (2 strong, 3 normal) easily following this simple rule.

 

PS: Always have an eye open for players doing the same quests and don't be shy about grouping up. Two player questing/levelling is even faster because quest XP is more than grinding XP and you never die.

[Treefinger]

I'm a 50 vanguard and changed from Jorgan to Elara around lvl 25-30:ish. I much prefer the pacing with Elara as you can go non-stop from group to group.

 

You can always optimize rotation and tactics to go faster, which I learned during my grind. Sticky grenade, Storm, Harpoon, and Blitz are your friends.

[failchen]

Teaming up with Elara is much more forgiving and allows a lazy playstyle

[Embrosil]

Hiya folks,

 

I'm going to be making a shield spec Vanguard and plan on leveling up with Elara Dorne, my question is, how painfull will leveling be? Will it be very slow or can I still kill things at a decent rate? Or am I better off leveling in the DPS spec with Elara?

 

Thanks!

 

I had no problem with Elara. Been using her since I got her and now at lvl43 still no problem. Just give her a good gun and she can do some nice damage too. Not to mention you do not have to worry about health and medpacks. I even managed to kill an elite 75k health boss, apprentice Le... something. Really cool.

 

But if you choose Arick, do not forget to switch to ion cell. Some fights may be faster with him, but for bosses Elara is the best.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Embrosil

[KoshrBacon]

Hiya folks,

 

I'm going to be making a shield spec Vanguard and plan on leveling up with Elara Dorne, my question is, how painfull will leveling be? Will it be very slow or can I still kill things at a decent rate? Or am I better off leveling in the DPS spec with Elara?

 

Thanks!

 

I have a 38 vanguard and have been leveling up as shield spec w/ Elara Dorne. To answer your question unlike the 20+ replies that just talked about using vik vs. dorne, the bottom line is it is not that painful nor slow. As a vanguard you have plenty of AOE which allows you to mop up those easy groups of 3-5 mobs. Just have to be smart about AOE tactics such as:

 

1.) Mortar volley placement

2.) Aligning mobs for pulse cannon

3.) Tossing the sticky grenade on the farthest mob from the pack/harpooning him into the middle to hit all other mobs.

 

Besides the mobs, like many people have already mentioned, the silvers and golds are not a problem either. I can take on 2 golds/1silver at a time and blowing through some cool downs without a problem.

 

A few key things that help you speed your way through leveling in shield spec:

 

1.) Don't spec all out tanking talents while leveling. You will not need this as you quest grind nor when running through flashpoints at these levels. Throw in some of the key dps increasing skills.

2.) Keep both your gear and Elara's gear up-to-snuff. Running around with item lvl 56 gear when your lvl 38 will not help the cause. I recommend cashing in your credits every 3-4 levels and giving Elara your used items.

3.) Your a tank, people need you to run flashpoints and Heroic +4 quests. Initiate the LFG by making it clear that you are a tank looking to start a group and need healer/2xdps. People tend to jump on this quickly.

 

Enjoy

[Degini]

I have a 38 vanguard and have been leveling up as shield spec w/ Elara Dorne. To answer your question unlike the 20+ replies that just talked about using vik vs. dorne, the bottom line is it is not that painful nor slow. As a vanguard you have plenty of AOE which allows you to mop up those easy groups of 3-5 mobs. Just have to be smart about AOE tactics such as:

 

1.) Mortar volley placement

2.) Aligning mobs for pulse cannon

3.) Tossing the sticky grenade on the farthest mob from the pack/harpooning him into the middle to hit all other mobs.

 

Besides the mobs, like many people have already mentioned, the silvers and golds are not a problem either. I can take on 2 golds/1silver at a time and blowing through some cool downs without a problem.

 

A few key things that help you speed your way through leveling in shield spec:

 

1.) Don't spec all out tanking talents while leveling. You will not need this as you quest grind nor when running through flashpoints at these levels. Throw in some of the key dps increasing skills.

2.) Keep both your gear and Elara's gear up-to-snuff. Running around with item lvl 56 gear when your lvl 38 will not help the cause. I recommend cashing in your credits every 3-4 levels and giving Elara your used items.

3.) Your a tank, people need you to run flashpoints and Heroic +4 quests. Initiate the LFG by making it clear that you are a tank looking to start a group and need healer/2xdps. People tend to jump on this quickly.

 

Enjoy

 

Would you be able to provide an example of stopping defense spec and getting dps talents? At what point do you stop putting points into shield specialist? What example build would you have for, say, level 25.

 

Cheers

[failchen]

Would you be able to provide an example of stopping defense spec and getting dps talents? At what point do you stop putting points into shield specialist? What example build would you have for, say, level 25.

At 30 you can get Storm and that's more or less a breaking point. After that you can choose to go up higher in the Tree or you could instead start working on something else. Going for Gut for example.