Tank Build and Best Rotation

[Kirunnah]

Highest Survival/Mitigation Build:

 

Ardimias's Build

 

Starting Rotation:

 

Battle Focus > Mortar Volley > Charge > Taunt > Energy Blast > Ion Pulse > Hammer Shot > Ion Pulse > Stockstrike

 

Standard Rotation:

 

Hammer Shot > Full Auto > Hammer Shot > High Impact Bolt > Hammer Shot > Energy Blast > Ion Pulse > Hammer Shot > Ion Pulse > Stockstrike

 

This is different from any rotation you will find on the internet, and yes I include Full auto, Full Auto has been missed my the tanking community for a very long time due to it being channeled. Full Auto costs only 2 ammo, so it doesn't matter too badly if you get interrupted, Bearing in mind Full Auto is effected by armor debuffs planted by some classes and procs Ion cell, And is the second or third highest damage ability you have. This rotation also keeps up your Ion pulse debuff and the absorb stacks.

 

In comparison to other rotations, This currently does for me (full rakata and 3 black hole items) about 100-120 DPS (150 - 180 TPS more) more than other rotations you may find.

 

Sticky grenade is more used on AoE than single target and also has to tick before dealing damage, try to never use it on a single target. DPS = TPS and in terms of when used to when it deals damage its DPS is low.

 

I've seen tanks use Pulse cannon in their rotations only issue I find with this is its cool down and ammo cost, especially if you get interrupted.

 

Here I took off all my items and used every ability once making sure nothing critically hit:

 

Trooper Abilitys

 

Once enough armor debuffs are placed on the target there will be little difference between Full Auto and Pulse Cannon except the ammo cost and cooldown

Edited May 2, 2012 by Kirunnah

[MartyMacGraves]

Rather than a rotation, I use my attacks in a hierarchy based on cooldowns, while mixing in Hammer Shot for ammo regen.

 

I put points into Heavy Stock (instead of Soldier's Endurance), and use Stockstrike whenever the cooldown is up. With Heavy Stock, Static Surge, Ion Overload and Static Surge, I find Stockstrike to be our bread and butter attack.

 

Energy Blast is another attack I always keep on cooldown, for the damage and for the ammo regeneration.

 

I like Ion Pulse because it reduces the target's damage by 4% with Static Field.

 

High Impact Bolt is another ability I try to keep on cooldown because of its high damage.

 

Like you, I try to work in Full Auto, but its lower in my hierarchy.

 

From a recent EV Hard Mode, my rotations resulted in the following attacks, by percentage of use:

 

Hammer Shot 20.8%

Stockstrike 18.2%

Ion Pulse 17.4%

High Impact Bolt 10.7%

Shocked (Tech) 8.4% (I believe this is the Ion Cell DOT proc)

Ion Cell 8.4% (the base Ion Cell proc)

Full Auto 7.8%

Energy Blast 7.4%

 

I would be interested in the thoughts of the OP and any other experienced PVE Vanguards, as I am always looking to improve my performance.

[Kirunnah]

I forgot to mention whilst channeling Full Auto you regen ammo so the attack (if not interrupted) is free.

 

Here is my full rotation in % of ability damage (Starting with start rotation then moving on to standard rotation) and with only the trooper buff:

 

Full Rotation Damaging Ability %

 

As you can see Ion pulse is on the top, And the free Full Auto (due to cast time) allows me to do 2 x flurry for extra threat, which is Energy Blast + Ion Pulse, and, Ion Pulse + Stockstrike.

 

This rotation has maximum ammo regen regardless of the ammo when you shield talent, this means even if Full Auto is interrupted ammo isn't an issue.

 

Ion Pulse applies a debuff and a buff which both generate additional threat.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Kirunnah

[Wallsie]

A lot of bad information, except for the spec (assuming PVE tanking).

 

First issue - you didn't specify whether this is for pvp or pve, although you mention "other classes". If this is for pvp you're really wasting talent points by going into the top two tiers of the shield tree. Due to the way shielding works in pvp, using that many points on it is a waste and they are far better used to increase your utility. I won't go too in depth here since pvp shield spec is addressed rather well in other threads here as well as the bounty hunter forum.

 

If this is for pve, the first mistake is having a "standard rotation". Abilities should be on a priority basis, and in a single target fight Mortar Volley is a poor choice. It's usefulness is limited to leveling content (and dailies) and trash packs in flashpoints (including add phases). Using it on a boss pull is an indicator you don't know how boss fights work as many/most of them require the tank to position the boss from the very start of the pull. These include Gharj, Fabricator, Karagga, and every boss in EC off the top of my head.

 

Full Auto shouldn't come near usage for a shield spec VG as it's simply a waste of ammo. Due to it being a physical ("white") attack, it's subject to a higher miss chance than all your tech abilities and equivalent to Hammer Shot. On top of that due to it being a channeled ability subject to knockback, as soon as you take one hit from the boss you're going to lose a tick of damage on the back end of it so the damage is always going to be dropped by a third of what it would do in an ideal situation. This ability in short is a complete waste of a cooldown on every situation except one: Bonecrusher. Since his aggro table has the element of randomness integrated into it there will be periods when you can turret up and use it since you won't be taking damage. I'm absolutely sure the numbers you provided are from a training dummy and will not believe otherwise until you link an Ops parse from EC where you are tanking.

 

Sticky grenade does a sufficient amount of damage and should be used any time HIB and Stockstrike are both on cooldown unless: a) Power Screen will drop off if you don't Ion Pulse/Energy Blast on the next ability used or b) you're about to enter a phase with adds and expect to be using it to help burn them down.

 

Pulse Cannon is an excellent threat gen ability so long as it is used intelligently. Once you learn the bosses you're fighting you'll figure out when they do and don't use knockbacks. During these periods is a good time to use it. It should only be used in conjunction with one of your ammo regen abilities however, ideally Reserve Powercell. Pop RP then Pulse Cannon and it's a free big damage attack and you regen ammo while it is being channeled - win/win situation. I find another excellent time to use it is on the initial boss pull after popping Battle Focus -> Stockstrike -> HIB -> Energy Blast -> Ion Pulse -> Sticky Grenade -> Recharge Cells -> Ion Pulse -> Pulse Cannon. Throw Taunt in with Recharge Cells or sooner if your dps are going crazy and threatening a pull. This is a huge amount of burst (both threat and damage) on the initial pull and the best time to burn your dps cooldowns (which is exactly what Reserve Powercell and Recharge Cells are).

 

For the record your ability priority list should be as follows:

 

Energy Blast

Ion Pulse (if Power Screen will run out within the next GCD)

Stockstrike

High Impact Bolt

Sticky Grenade

Ion Pulse

Hammer Shot

 

Obviously when to weave Hammer Shot into the rotation is entirely dependent on your current ammo regen, but more than likely you'll be using it on average once every 2.5-3 GCDs once the fight gets rolling. Also, try to always make sure you're at 10 ammo or less every time Energy Blast comes off cooldown to increase overall dps.

 

 

I know you're just trying to help some people and if your raid group is able to down all your progression fights then more power to you and do what you do, but this comes off to me as someone that just wants to be a special snowflake and do something different. There will always be a mathematically ideal way to perform each role in an MMO and given enough data and tools the community will find it. Your way is not it.

Edited May 4, 2012 by Wallsie