My Thoughts on the Vanguard Specs For PVP

[harenmacar]

Hey guys I am a day 1 vanguard for SWTOR and just wanted to throw in my 2 cents for vanguards in the PVP life.

 

 

Stats for damages are all over these forums so I don't need to go into specifics. We will Star with the Tank

 

Tank Build/Shields PVP (includes variations)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GoGrborogzZMcbZ0c.1

 

Benefits from this build are currently rather sparse. There are however a great deal of items in which i believe many people look over. The White attacks are actually more common than we think. Sure people have many attacks that bypass shields due to the type of damage, however snipers, tracer missile, lightning (energy attack), basic attacks, rail shots, and many others are affected by shields. You will find it rather hard not to be shielding quite a bit with a lot of damage reduction making you aprime target for more zerg and thus more shielding. No one in this game is invincible but this build gets you there. Ontop of that the 4% damage reduction from spec and additional 4% damage reduction on Static Field knocks out 80 Damage of Every 1000. Because you will be stacking Con, adrenaline rush also heals you for much much more. a 16k Person Healed for 15% maximum health, is healed for less than a 23K Health person at the same percent. While the increase is proportionally the same, the incoming damage is much less on a higher health person if the incoming damage is the same.

 

In PVP your survivability is what is your shining, You can hold a point by yourself long enough or your team to come help reinforce. You can take damage for a healer being Focused and still live through it. This is what Makes tanks so great, even if shields/absorb are not what we want them to be. Remember white attacks are everywhere. Your energy Regen is also relativly high with BM gear Suppercommando. (reduction in both energy shot and storm) and a 5% increase in damage while guarding a player (wow straight damage jump?) Try this out and see how you do. Remember you aren't in it for the damage your there to take it.

 

The Iron Fist-(this is my variant so as not to copy)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GRG0boroMZrcrroZb.1

 

This is probably the best PVP Spec as far as damage vs. Defense goes, if you need any info just look at the sticky at the top of the forum! The reduction in the interrupt, the defense, Dots, and other gizmos is what makes this set shine with the BM Combat Tech armor set. I really don't need to go into detail but in a 1v1 you will win 90% of your matches if you are smart, react correctly and don't burn your ammo.

 

The tatics Build with HEC

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hMhZMsMrorfkdsZb.1

 

Again this is just a personal variation but generally similar to what you see. Damage isn't as burst as it is in assault but is much, much more consistant. Instant cell every 6 seconds, free Stock Strike, Crit hit HIB, and a nice dot bleed that isn't reduced by armor and is increased by HEC. In a 1v1 you will have more close calls, but can always come out on top. Ammo is easy to get away with and Hold the Line keeps you Kiting. Ion PUlse can be devastating in a zerg group stunned by your 2 second (because of BM) neural surge. Great for Huttball, or as a buddy DPS/Support system (when you need more of this and that then just DPS).

 

The variation to this is to use Ioncell for the extra defense, which is just as good! Great when you are in big battles against Aoe's and can't sustain damage like in HEC. Your DPS Drops but staying alive longer is sometimes the best.

 

The Assault Build

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hMhZMsMrorfkdsZb.1

 

Straight forward DPS and Good DPS. 4k Crits with HIB (and thats normal semi-geared) Dots that wreak HAVOC and enough DPS to make the death star look like a toy gun (say what???). Anyway, livability is Null but in a group where you can be guarded, taunt-protected, and heal focused, you can blow through almost anything with a path of fire behind you.

 

 

Looking at all of the above it really seems to me that vanguards are the top class in this game. They do anything you want besides healing, so not sure what you want to do? Go vanguard!

[Hethroin]

Your Assault build looks remarkably similar to your Tactics build.

[Coramac]

Sure people have many attacks that bypass shields due to the type of damage, however snipers, tracer missile, lightning (energy attack), basic attacks, rail shots, and many others are affected by shields.

 

Type of damage does not determine whether or not something will bypass Defense and Shields. Tracer Missile is a Tech power and Lightning is a Force power. They both bypass Defense and Shields. Tech / Force powers bypass Shields. Ranged / Melee powers do not. Lightning and Tracer Missile are affected by armor mitigation due to the type of damage.

 

 

The Iron Fist-(this is my variant so as not to copy)

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GRG0boroMZrcrroZb.1

 

You really shouldn't switch Shield Cycler for Ceremic Plating. I do think that the swtich of Defensive Measures to Containment Tactics could be an improvement on the spec. They're both situational abilities, but I think in that spec I'd rather have a better CD on Cryo.

 

Personally, I've never understood why he strayed from Rebraced Armor. I speculate it's because he hasn't run the numbers on the mitigational increase vs. mitigated attacks at various penetration values. It's definitely significantly more mitigation than the 1% reductions on a per point basis. The break point really comes around when you are taking ~70% of your damage from attacks that bypass armor. If this is the case, then there really is no advantage to running Ion Cell and the whole defensive spec concept falls apart.

 

Ion PUlse can be devastating in a zerg group stunned by your 2 second (because of BM) neural surge. Great for Huttball, or as a buddy DPS/Support system (when you need more of this and that then just DPS).

 

It's Pulse Cannon, and I agree that it can be situationally devestating; however, the stun is 2.5 seconds (3 with set bonus) and Neural Surge is on the GCD. Once you factor in the GCD delay, a repositioning delay, and the delay on Pulse Cannon's damage, it's very tricky to hit a substantial number of targets when trying to set it up with a Neural Surge.

 

Straight forward DPS and Good DPS. 4k Crits with HIB (and thats normal semi-geared) Dots that wreak HAVOC and enough DPS to make the death star look like a toy gun (say what???). Anyway, livability is Null but in a group where you can be guarded, taunt-protected, and heal focused, you can blow through almost anything with a path of fire behind you.

 

As someone who plays Assault, 4k crits, while attainable (as are 5k crits), are not the norm. Our dots are very weak until a target is under 30% and then only if they crit. Watchman Sentinels have the big boy dots. Cauterize ticks every second for what one of ours does. Overload Saber ticks on the same count as our dots; however, it has a greatly increased chance to crit and does around 2x the damage. Granted, our dots do not have a CD and this is an advantage.

 

Additionally, the survivability is actually pretty decent as Assault if you play it correctly. Range is your friend. It is not a melee spec. Sometimes I just have to facepalm when I'm in a WZ and I see a fellow Assault Vanguard voluntarily enter melee against a Marauder at full health. You are just asking to get eaten. Stock Strike is very nice but dying is a poor trade off to use it in the wrong situation.

[finkelmana]

NEVER put any points in soldiers endurance. total waste of points. at 20,000 HP that gives you 600 more. wewt. You put 2 points in raising the crit of SS but no points in raising SS damage... seriously? Edited March 16, 2012 by finkelmana