Ease of leveling: SS or DPS?

[Carandrian]

I've got a 25 Van that I'm enjoying leveling and am trying to decide what's an efficient leveling spec to go with. Due to RL family obligations, I find myself soloing most the time, with only the occasional grouping with a friend.

 

I've tried some of the DPS builds and they felt a little squishy, and I've tried the tank build and had to rely on my companions do bring any damage.

 

So I'm seeking some advice from more experienced troopers out there, as mine is only 25 and obviously I don't know what potential the different specs have to offer down the road. Do the DPS specs offer smoother leveling backed by Dorne? Or would a tank spec work better, backed by one of our DPS comps? And is tank, is it better to go full tank spec and tank gear? Or go after something more offensive like the IF build with more DPS focused stats?

 

Once again, this is mostly from a soloing perspective.

 

I thank you in advance your your time and feedback!

[skidrows]

I lvl with something like ironfist build and was disapointed that everything felt to easy, also lvl a gunslinger and damn i have a hard time with that one when i try the same thing as i did with my vanguard Edited May 11, 2012 by skidrows

[Carandrian]

I take your response as a positive for the IF build for leveling.

 

What companion did you run with? And did you pair that with DPS focused gear?

 

Thanks.

[jbuschell]

I'm leveling very easily as assault spec with Dorne, I'm lvl 40 and have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with bosses or any quests

[Philosomanic]

Okay, there are several ways you could level. I'll go through them each briefly.

 

Shield Spec

With Elara out, you'll be able to kill anything with ease. However, it will also be the slowest leveling by far. If you bring a DPS companion, you'll be able to kill reasonably fast and still won't struggle too much. If you usually end up doing quests above your level or have trouble surviving quests, Shield Spec is probably for you.

 

Iron Fist

I'm a skeptic about Iron Fist. It's a great build for PvP, because it omits most of the shield-based stuff (which is pretty bad in PvP). However, in PvE, a large portion of the attacks you take a shieldable. I'm not so sure that the slight DPS increase is worth the drop in survivability. Full Shield spec basically only loses Gut, but you gain Energy Blast which might even make up for it. Nonetheless, Iron Fist will level fairly easily and fairly quickly.

 

Assault/Tactics

Levelling as DPS is hard. I'll just say that now. If you don't want to bother with keeping your gear up, you're going to have to quest a few levels under your level. However, levelling as a DPS spec will be faster (even including recovery times) than Tank spec. You'll do best levelling with a Tank companion. They have good DPS and will keep you alive much better. However, they're really hard to keep geared. Elara will do almost as well as a tank. You can also level with a DPS Companion. You will kill incredibly fast, but you'll also be challenged constantly. You'll have to use every trick you have to survive, but it can be done.

 

 

I've been leveling as Assault Spec with Aric Jorgan since lvl 10. I'm lvl 44 right now, and so far nothing has been so hard that I couldn't do it with Aric. Although I die once or twice a planet because it's so easy to screw up, I kill incredibly fast. With Aric in AoE mode, we can clear groups of mobs insanely fast. I chose to level as DPS+DPS because I enjoy a challenge. I'd prefer to be fighting for my life and barely making it than to have an easy leveling experience where I'm rarely challenged. Also, I like Aric's personality best of all my companions.

[LeggoMyMuoio]

I leveled in Iron Fist all the way and barely had any problems at all. For the first half I stuck with Jorgan just for the increased dps. We were killing stuff so fast that I only had to heal every 3-5 fights. Around the mid 30s though you start facing a lot more strong mob packs which will slow you down significantly if you're still using a dps companion. At this point I switched to Elara and even though I had let her gear slip behind, I was amazed how good she was at healing. Killing stuff took more time, but the downtime was reduced so it all evened out (not to mention I was able to survive multiple strong pulls if necessary).

 

I haven't played a dps specced Vanguard, so I can't comment there, but tank spec is very viable (and a hell of a lot of fun in WZs, expect to crush people, especially in Huttball).

[CitizenFry]

I found it very quick to level up in Assault Specialist, High-Impact-Bolting the stuffing out of everything. I used Jorgan most of the time. You can also blow up other players fairly well with that spec, if you the occasional PVP. Edited May 11, 2012 by CitizenFry

[Keypek]

If you are looking at ease in how hard content is then go SS or iron fist spec. Kill time is slow some times but you'll never come close to getting killed doing just about anything. Fun in lowbie pvp also... all though spec out once you hit 50.

 

If you are looking at burning through content the fastest go assault or even tactics once you are high enough to get PG. But you will be very squishy so doing heroics and champs will not be as mindlessly easy as it is with a SS spec. If all you care about is getting through normal quests and leveling the fastest dps is always better.

[ItchyRash]

Okay, there are several ways you could level. I'll go through them each briefly.

 

Shield Spec

With Elara out, you'll be able to kill anything with ease. However, it will also be the slowest leveling by far. If you bring a DPS companion, you'll be able to kill reasonably fast and still won't struggle too much. If you usually end up doing quests above your level or have trouble surviving quests, Shield Spec is probably for you.

 

Iron Fist

I'm a skeptic about Iron Fist. It's a great build for PvP, because it omits most of the shield-based stuff (which is pretty bad in PvP). However, in PvE, a large portion of the attacks you take a shieldable. I'm not so sure that the slight DPS increase is worth the drop in survivability. Full Shield spec basically only loses Gut, but you gain Energy Blast which might even make up for it. Nonetheless, Iron Fist will level fairly easily and fairly quickly.

 

Assault/Tactics

Levelling as DPS is hard. I'll just say that now. If you don't want to bother with keeping your gear up, you're going to have to quest a few levels under your level. However, levelling as a DPS spec will be faster (even including recovery times) than Tank spec. You'll do best levelling with a Tank companion. They have good DPS and will keep you alive much better. However, they're really hard to keep geared. Elara will do almost as well as a tank. You can also level with a DPS Companion. You will kill incredibly fast, but you'll also be challenged constantly. You'll have to use every trick you have to survive, but it can be done.

 

 

I've been leveling as Assault Spec with Aric Jorgan since lvl 10. I'm lvl 44 right now, and so far nothing has been so hard that I couldn't do it with Aric. Although I die once or twice a planet because it's so easy to screw up, I kill incredibly fast. With Aric in AoE mode, we can clear groups of mobs insanely fast. I chose to level as DPS+DPS because I enjoy a challenge. I'd prefer to be fighting for my life and barely making it than to have an easy leveling experience where I'm rarely challenged. Also, I like Aric's personality best of all my companions.

 

Great write up Phil.

I would like to add one thing in addition to what you covered in regards to DPS/DPS.

My Sith Jugg is vengence and I lvled using Vette and Jeasa. At early lvls it really is quick however as you start getting higher lvls some fight an be a challange which requires you to use alot more skills that you might not have to use with a healer. So it requires more keybinds which will benefit you and your skills specially for pvp.