Leveling as a Vigilance specced Guardian

[dhoytman]

Hey guys. I'm making this post to inquire as to why my guardian, when I'm leveling (currently lvl 29 on Alderaan) dies as much as he does. I honestly have trouble fighting a group of normal mobs, often either dying or falling to sub 10% health. Could it be my rotation, is there a skill I'm not using, or what? What should I be doing?

[MimicUnleashed]

I leveled Vig and I had issues with survival for a very long time. The only thing I can suggest is either spec to a tank to level (much easier) or gear up that annoying C2 droid and use him as a healer. Other than that Vig is painfully underwhelming until you get your healing companion and get at least Overhand Slash.

[Bowflex]

My guardian is level 44 and I have had no issues leveling. I went Vig specced and it treated me pretty well. Some things to think about:

Are you finishing all the quests on each planet? Doing that will make sure you're leveled good for the next planet. Are you using your companion properly? I found it easy to send Kira in first, have her take on her own target and absorb a little damage from the rest of the pack, after she takes a few seconds of damage i taunt off the extra mobs and then finish them within a few seconds. And, are you using the right rotation with your skills? Skill rotation is key and can either make fights extremely difficult or much easier.

 

Like I said, I leveled vig. spec and only really had trouble with Gold and Silver mobs together. Even the Story bosses that people complain about didn't take me more than 1-2 tries. Chances are if you're dying so much, or coming very close, you're probably not doing one of the above correctly. Once you get Doc things get super easy though.

[Aikiash]

Bowflex is right. Probably under leveled for the content. U need to take on the side quests to keep urself up to level.

 

Also on my sentinel, I encountered similar problems around this level despite leveling on all the side quest. After I a updated my gear to catch up with my level, I did alot better. Also perhaps vigilance doesn't suit your play style? After respeccing from combat to watchman on my sentinel the game just soared..

[EchoTwoOmega]

The new ability they added in (1.2 ...focused defnese) helps considerably with survivability. With a 1 min CD you can pretty much use it (and should) every pull. You also have your shield with a 3 min CD which you should probably use failry often too.

 

Unremitting (if you have it) also provides damage reduction too (20%). So feel free to force push that mob and charge again. Just make sure you wait a few seconds (4 to be more precice) before actually punting the mob.

 

Force sweep stuns weaker enemies. Effluence (when you can get it ) makes Force sweep cost no focus.

Pommel strike works well after a force sweep or blade storm on weak enemies. Its usually sufficient to kill them outright.

 

General combat flow:

 

Saber Throw

Force Leap

Master Strike

Overhead slash

Blade Storm

Plasma brand

Dispatch

Master Strike (if its available again)

Riposte if its up since its off the GCD

 

Also make sure your gear is in good order. GTN and /3 for trade channel can offer assistnace with gear. And yes, it makes a difference.

 

SADLY you wont see your healing companion until the end of hoth. Which makes a pretty substantial difference.

 

Its a solid class and a solid tree thats (imho) a lot of fun to play.

hope this helps.

[Pyymm]

It's true, after Hoth things do get a lot easier to manage. Until then just gear out the best you can. Don't forget Kira or T7, whichever your using, to gear out too.

 

I'm at 43 and a completely unstoppable beast. I can wade into a group of 4 or 5, including a silver and only have to pop Focused Defence and/or Enure in order to stay above 75% health. Doc makes a huge difference.

 

On goldies, with adds or not, I just pop a good Saber ward and unleash hell on everything, nothing lives, your crits guarantee that.

 

I usually wade in with:

 

Saber Throw

Leap

Plasma

Sundering

Master Strike

Overhead Strike

Blade Storm

(Dispatch) As soon as I get it. Sigh...

Sundering

regular strike (focus builder) .. forgot the name

repeat

 

Usually after one of those chains a goldie is half dead, anything else is chopped to bits.

 

Keep at it, these Vigilance Guardians are friggin bad ***. My favorite class.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Pyymm

[Hobothesis]

I leveled as vigil since lvl 10 and never had any issues. I am a cybertech and make my own mods, and just spent comms on a new hilt if i couldnt find one on the GTN. Used kira too once I got her in 'guest' mode early on in coruscant, never ever had to pull out t7 for anything either. I'm currently lvl 41 and I leveled my guard after 1.2 if it even matters.

 

Maybe its your mods and/or gear? Or maybe your rotation.

 

As I leveled my typical rotation was leap immediately followed by force sweep to make sure I get the small 'stun' on everyone. Usually after that I'd sunder armor to get some focus and just go from there.

 

Leap+master strike on a strong is great, I fell in love with master strike the moment I got it. With good gear it hits like a truck, especially when it crits.

 

Make sure you use force stasis, especially on elites/chams as it will interrupt them which is crucial(and of course if your own interrupt is on cd you want to interupt every move you can.)

 

It builds focus every second you hold it and it actually does nice damage. Force push is another interrupt move and resets your cd on force leap.

 

But yea like I said I have never had any issues leveling as full vigil even before I got doc. Make sure you keep at least your 'main' companion geared as it helps tremendously. Your force sweep followed by kiras aoe move is a great combo and geared she can hold her own very well.

 

Now that I'm 41 and have had Doc for a little while now I freaking love that ******** (voiced by a comedian so what do you expect.)

 

I'm still not really sure what secondary stat I should be focusing on. I try and grab accuracy when I can and WAS getting crit+surge but figured power would be better as vigil (and leave the crit for focus) as our class buff boosts our bonus damage by 5%. Took me 40 levels to actually read it and read BONUS instead of +5% normal damage. I might respec and go defense just to see how it is and bring 'new life' into my character.

 

But if you stay geared up, and doc too later on he can actually hold his own lol.

 

Great rotation once your done with leap and blah blah, is to force sweep then pommel strike someone. Then you can use freezing force followed by opportune strike. Freezing not only opens up opp. strike, but it also slows down guys if they decided to rush doc. Once he starts taking damage he will want to heal himself and not you, which of course could make things go bad. Stasis and force push are awesome in so many ways, and dont forget the first few seconds of blade turning grant 100% ranged and melee defense so if you can't interrupt a huge hitting move, pop it and laugh.

[Blurps]

Overhead Slash at 30 makes a big difference. You could also try to run in Soresu stance, have to be more conservative spending Focus but it does help with survivability. I would recommend putting your lvl 31 and 32 points into Momentum even in an otherwise full Vig build either way, free Bladestorm is just that good.

[Galecc]

Doc at level 34 or 35 makes a huge difference once you get to balmorra you should rush to get Doc once you do as long as you are paying attention and know your fighting a gold elite you will be able to beat them reliably however if you aren't paying attention and don't realized your getting smacked by golds it can be still get lethal, once you get doc your whole PVE world changes.