Parathax Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 [Obviously, there are plenty of guardians using Focus tree. I'm not asking about them.] I rarely see any Focus Sentinels in my warzones. I've PVP'd with Watchman and Combat, but not yet Focus. The Focus tree looks interesting, but I'm not sure if I want to be reliant on AOE and needing to hang around the zergs to maximize my effectiveness. Can Focus 1v1, lone wolf, not have to rely on being where the big action always is? Don't get me wrong, most of the time I'm where the action is anyway, but I like Watchman and Combat because they're so strong when you're solo on a node or patrolling etc. I've seen some pretty strong Focus Guardians. Are Focus Sentinels as effective? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowflit Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Focus is very effective, and I have no problem taking on most anyone 1v1. Particularly good players are tough - but that's a my skill vs their skill issue, and some good tanks are tough for me to take down solo. Actually, let me rephrase that. Crowley, a powertech on my server, is hard for me to take down. No other tank usually present a problem solo The only issue I've had is sometimes my sweep misses when there seems to be no logical reason for it to miss. And my reasons for staying Focus boil down to: 1) Nice burst off of sweep, with the added benefit of putting pressure on multiple opponents at once, as well as sometimes killing people as collateral damage. 2) Force Exhaustion is awesome. 3) Guarded by the Force, 45s cooldown. Pretty amazing. I've been in numerous occasions where I pop Gaurded, get healed almost to full while invulnerable, and 45s of fighting later I pop it again. Even without a healer, breaking cc and using a medpack takes me back to around half health. 4) Second leap still surprises lots of people, and gets me back in the fight or back up to the goal line in Huttball. Also, screw cover. 5) Resolute can legitly get you the 2.5k heal medal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beddo Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I was combat up to 50 and due to some posts on here I switched to Focus. I'm a mediocre PvPer and I doubled my damage in warzones consistantly compared to combat spec PvPing at 50. Partially due to the AoE attack being the "main" move, but also the DOTs allowing you to escape when you are focused, and you WILL be focussed. I can't claim that I can beat any one class one on one all of the time. I tend to hit healers who pop bubbles and run real quick, but what I do know is that I can attack anyone with confidence that I will hurt them badly enough for them to at least burn all of their cooldowns. If I start losing, I go camo, get in Force Jump range, pop my mods and start round 2 which normally finishes them off. I've heard great things about watchman and I'm typically at or higher than their DPS in Voidstar and Civil War.. I went from 150k max DPS combat spec to over 300k (with decent healing) Focus spec. I find that since we are a class that needs to be tricky and unpredictable, having DOTs is nice because you can stealth away, rethink and repop all enhancements. Combat is similar but I just couldn't get near the DPS I get iwth Focus.. FOCUS is very heavy on focus usage though.. I heard watchman builds and maintains focus much easier than all builds. Also, FOCUS might be a negative if you aren't careful where you use Forcesweep since it breaks CC.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beddo Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I would also like to add that I only had 3 pieces of Champion gear and 1 centurion piece when I got that number. There are focus and watchman sentinels here who have achieved much higher damage, but that is relative to your role and play style. Force Exhaustion is great in Huttball too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iveren Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Im only lvl 40, but ive found focus to be the by far most enjoyable pvp spec. The aoe's hit hard enough to forget they are aoe's when im only fighting one person, and as someone mentioned already, that second jump is golden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parathax Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 So I've been playing Focus for a couple of days now. It's taken this long to get the hang of it, but I'm really starting to like it. Don't know yet where it ranks compared to the other two, but I plan to stay Focus spec'd for at least a week and see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parathax Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 What do you guys rotate in when Force Exhaustion, Zealous Leap, and Force Stasis are on cooldown? I'm sometimes tempted to run out to jump back in with Force Leap, but that is a significant amount of time without any DPS, plus your target may just follow you (e.g., hard to do 1v1 if your target is fighting you). So, Strike and Slash, then? That is what seems obvious to me, but I might be missing something. A couple of non-empowered Sweeps? Maybe if you're in the middle of a group, right? But not if you're 1v1, since Strike and Slash average out to be higher DPS than Sweep, it seems. Anywho. Thanks for the tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodrin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 The only issue I've had is sometimes my sweep misses when there seems to be no logical reason for it to miss. This is the reason I don't run focus in PvP anymore. This game has some server side latency issues that prevent you from always being able to see where your target really is. This results all too often in force sweep missing when it looks like it should hit, and unlike single target attacks, it will go on cooldown. I lost a few too many 1v1 fights to this and respec'd to watchman. Overall damage is similar and it is less affected by the games bugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodrin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 What do you guys rotate in when Force Exhaustion, Zealous Leap, and Force Stasis are on cooldown? I'm sometimes tempted to run out to jump back in with Force Leap, but that is a significant amount of time without any DPS, plus your target may just follow you (e.g., hard to do 1v1 if your target is fighting you). So, Strike and Slash, then? That is what seems obvious to me, but I might be missing something. A couple of non-empowered Sweeps? Maybe if you're in the middle of a group, right? But not if you're 1v1, since Strike and Slash average out to be higher DPS than Sweep, it seems. Anywho. Thanks for the tips. Slash and blade storm are your damage fillers, you can also go with cauterize as the DoT ticks still benefit from the crit damage bonus from the focus tree. If the target is incapacitated you can also through in Master Strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylriana Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Yeah, Slash should be your main filler focus dump, and it does pretty good damage with all of the talents to buff it. I love the spec. Between perma-transcendence, beefy sweeps, decent survivability compared to the other two, and everything else it's a lot of fun and better than people get it credit for. Only real complaint I have is how ridiculously slow Zealous Leap's travel time is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodrin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Yeah, Slash should be your main filler focus dump, and it does pretty good damage with all of the talents to buff it. I love the spec. Between perma-transcendence, beefy sweeps, decent survivability compared to the other two, and everything else it's a lot of fun and better than people get it credit for. Only real complaint I have is how ridiculously slow Zealous Leap's travel time is. You should really be using zealous leap for the crti buff, speed buff, and damage. It sucks as a gap closer other than the speed buff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylriana Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 You should really be using zealous leap for the crti buff, speed buff, and damage. It sucks as a gap closer other than the speed buff. Oh I know. I just wish it could be used better as a gap closer. I remember the first time I got it I used it on a running target and ended up pretty much the same distance from the target as when I started..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nanohana Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Unless you just want to play 1on1s with your build you can drop Agility Training completely. Get 2/2 Inner Focus instead and with team mates around you can have Transcendence up 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romonius Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Force Leap, Force Exhaustion, Zealous Strike, (hit relic/adrenal) Force Sweep, Strike, Cauterize, Force Stasis, Zealous Leap, Force Sweep. Thats my main 'cycle'. I use dispatch whenever its available, which is usually near the end of the Force stasis, and I use it before stasis expires so the mark doesnt have the opportunity to stun once it wears off. Different scenarios of course you want to use stuff like pacify, riposte, slash. Cyclone slash is great at doors when people are trying to defuse. Awe/Transcendence is great once a door blows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodrin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Oh I know. I just wish it could be used better as a gap closer. I remember the first time I got it I used it on a running target and ended up pretty much the same distance from the target as when I started..... It does work as a gap closer if you have the speed boost after leap talented, but not because of the charge obviously. I will sometimes use it to counter a snare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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