greatmilenk Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) I've searched the forums and I'm pretty much certain its mostly priority on abilities but was just wondering people's stance on what goes first. Single Target (Elite / Raid Boss) I've thought Death from Above, Charge, Rocket Punch, Rapid Shots, Rail Shot, Flame Burst, Explosive Dart, Flame Thrower, Unload, Heat Blast (Keep on cooldown), Rapid shots as a filler. Priority being: Death from Above, Rocket Punch, Rail Shot, Explosive shot, Flame Thrower, Flame Burst (Not really sure where to fit Flame Burst in), Heat Blast. And I always use Rapid shot when I hit right above 30 heat. Can anyone give me some tips? I used to tank in WoW as a Warrior and it felt seemless and BH tanking just feels so clunky to me. But could be my rotation where I'm running out of things to press, and kind of sit there wondering what in the hell I'm doing wrong. At least in WoW I had the skill devestate which kind of feels like Heat Burst and Rapid Shot where you can keep pressing it, but Heat Burst builds up heat like a mofo and Rapid shots at least to me doesn't do much threat..... then again I can't tell without meters. AOE: Death from Above, Charge, Flame Sweep, Explosive Dart, Flame Thrower, Rocket Punch, Rail etc. Sometimes I feel like AOE threat in this game for BH is broken, it totally could be me, but everyone in the raid seems to pull off even with this rotation. Anyway any advice would be great, love SWTOR and Tanking but the BH to me is just frustrating. Help! =D Edited March 20, 2012 by greatmilenk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunsNRses Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) I rarely if ever stick to a specific rotation. I keep rocket punch on cooldown all the time and whenever it procs from shielding I hit it right away. Other than that it's just flame burst to refresh the debuff, and railshot and heat blast whenever they're off cooldown. We really don't need to hit that many skills to tank and there isn't a need to stick to a rotation. Just use rapid shots as filler if everything is on cooldown and you're building up heat too fast. I know what you mean about clunkyness though. But if you think powertechs are bad, vanguards feel even more clunky because every single one of their animations is based off of their rifle. They hardly move at all when using abilities. If you're worried about damage, don't be; rocket punch and railshot do plenty of damage for tanking. If you're worried about holding threat, just work taunts into your rotation whenever they're off cooldown. Apparently they increase your threat threshold each time you use them. Read this post for more info on that: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=341126 In a raid setting your AoE taunt will be your best friend for holding all those champions. Telling your group to focus fire using the target of target option would help too. Edited March 20, 2012 by SunsNRses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnitemonster Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 If you really want a rotation for initial aggro this what the norm seems to be... Charge>Rocket Punch>Rail Shot>Flame Burst>Heat Blast>Flame Thrower>Taunt>Rocket Punch You can switch Taunt and Flame Thrower depending on how hard your dps classes are hitting. You might need to Taunt a little bit earlier. When certain things are on cool down throwing in an occasional Unload is acceptable but not necessary. Considering your other attacks ignore armor due to kinetic/elemental dmg. I would suggest an Explosive Dart over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agooz Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) PT tanking doesnt really follow a rotation. It all depends on the situation and your group makeup. There are some tactics you need to practice though, like carbonize + flame thrower. Explosive dart on the furthest mob, followed by a grapple. Charge + flame sweep. The most important thing, even more important than a specific rotation, is being very aware of your surrounding. The best rotation in the game wont help, if you didnt see a 1-2 mobs wailing on your healer or another squishy. Rotation wont help if you turn your back the wrong way and gets knocked into another group or knocked off the ledge and now your group is without a tank. Also, make the healer's job easier, not just by grabbing all aggro but also using everything you got to mitigate damage, especially interrupts. Also more important than rotation, is leading. As a tank you need to know the gameplan. You call the CCs, you mark the targets of priority. Pre 1.2 there really is no reason to be all out full tank spec in all out full tank gear. I have tanked all Hardmodes in a hybrid spec and full dps gear + shield. I am not telling you to do that, but adding dps whether through a hybrid spec or gear, actually helps alot with holding aggro. When I am dps, I constantly pull aggro off of full tanks. But when the tank is hybrid and is dealing way more damage, it becomes very hard to pull off of him. Of course this is when you need a healer that can step it up a notch. Edited March 21, 2012 by Agooz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verfallen Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 In group I mostly open with DFA, before the CC is even cast. Allows to build good threat on the group right off and you can then concentrate on the main target. Then jump, rocket punch, railshot on the 1st target, when its about to die, I give a good hitter on the 3rd target to keep it on me, and proceed to dish out on the 2nd so I get a bit of a head start before DPS start hacking at it. Works well. As far as rotation goes, I normally keep rocket punch and railshot on CD, exeption is if we are about to change targets. I'll keep them close at hand to open with a strong hit on the next target. Unload is also off CD most of the time. I keep taunt up in case of an enemy turning on the healer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnitemonster Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 PT tanking doesnt really follow a rotation. It all depends on the situation and your group makeup. There are some tactics you need to practice though, like carbonize + flame thrower. Explosive dart on the furthest mob, followed by a grapple. Charge + flame sweep. The most important thing, even more important than a specific rotation, is being very aware of your surrounding. The best rotation in the game wont help, if you didnt see a 1-2 mobs wailing on your healer or another squishy. Rotation wont help if you turn your back the wrong way and gets knocked into another group or knocked off the ledge and now your group is without a tank. Also, make the healer's job easier, not just by grabbing all aggro but also using everything you got to mitigate damage, especially interrupts. Also more important than rotation, is leading. As a tank you need to know the gameplan. You call the CCs, you mark the targets of priority. Pre 1.2 there really is no reason to be all out full tank spec in all out full tank gear. I have tanked all Hardmodes in a hybrid spec and full dps gear + shield. I am not telling you to do that, but adding dps whether through a hybrid spec or gear, actually helps alot with holding aggro. When I am dps, I constantly pull aggro off of full tanks. But when the tank is hybrid and is dealing way more damage, it becomes very hard to pull off of him. Of course this is when you need a healer that can step it up a notch. So you have main tanked in NM or HM Karaga's/EV as a Hybrid? And yes rotations help on boss fights. Especially in the operations where you normally only have to focus on the boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agooz Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 So you have main tanked in NM or HM Karaga's/EV as a Hybrid? And yes rotations help on boss fights. Especially in the operations where you normally only have to focus on the boss. No NM but yes on HM. But in ops, I will put full tank gear. The difference between a hybrid and full tank as a PT is 10%SC, that's it. But I was mainly referring to the remaining 75% of the game. In fact the vast majority are not running HM Ops, let along NM. As someone who seems to know something about the game, I am not even sure why you are asking this question. But I would guess it's just to call me out on it. And NO, there is still no rotation on Bosses. The shieldtech tree gets a lot of procs. So RP is always priority followed by FB and RS (which ever is available) and as heat dictates. It is not like we have a wide array of dps abilities. Tanking Bosses is pretty easy. If/when a Ops wipes on a boss, 90% of the time it has nothing to do with the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnitemonster Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 You are right. I was only referring to an initial rotation though. The rest of the fight is always up in the air. However, for the start of fights I think a set rotation is worth getting to know so you don't get flustered or have to taunt asap from dps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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