Baby Jugg needs some basic advice

[ManiacalShen]

I have a level 24 Juggernaut, and I've recently started PVPing with her. This has made me realize that I have NO IDEA how to PVP as a melee tank. My main is a Mercenary, so my instincts are aaall wrong. No knockbacks, can't cleanse any slows or roots...

 

However, I know a good Jugg can be a PVP monster, especially if you have a DPSer with you to help burn down your targets. I suspect I want to be defending nodes or running the Huttball while a Sorc or Assassin runs ahead to catch it.

 

Do you guys have any pointers I can work on? I really want to improve.

[AllanGand]

You really won't be a beast until you get to 50 and into BM gear. You might get into the grove of things a bit around lvl 40 i guess.

 

First off playing immortal spec in pvp is a big no no to me. You will be able to do very little damage and you don't bring anything extra that a vengeance or rage juggernaut can't bring to the table. The reason immortal or any other tanking spec isn't all that awesome is because your defense (a jugg's main defensive stat) is bypassed by almost all attacks in a warzone.

 

Anyway small pointers for general melee combat.

Keep your charge for when you get knocked back. Most knockbacks are on a similar cooldown as charge, so wait for them to knock you back and then charge. Most people use their knockbacks as soon as you're on them.

 

As a melee you really need to make good use of LOS. So make sure to learn where all those pillars and such are in the warzones so you can just hide behind them and then "RAWR JUGGY AMBUSH!".

 

This takes a bit of getting used to, but you'll have to get used to attacking and moving at the same time. As a ranged you just stand in place and attack, as a melee you have to chase down your opponent while pushing the attack buttons.

[lijahrobinson]

I agree with the other guy, Immortal is not good in PvP. What you gain isn't worth anywhere near what you give up. I would suggest you go vengeance tree until you get to around 40. You can still be pretty effective in the "tanking" form while throwing guards. Once you get to 40, switch to Rage. If you have orange gear that is kept pretty up to date, you can start hitting 5k crits in the mid-upper 40s on all targets in 5m.

 

Vengeance is good for a few reasons. The main one is unstoppable. 20% damage reduction and 4 sec CC immunity after you force leap is just too good (esp for carrying the huttball). In the lower brackets where alot of players will try to knock you back right away and waste their skill. You really don't get a ton of damage until your in your 30s with any sec of Jugg. Its just their design. I tend to focus on controlling enemies, taunting them, and guarding our healers.

 

I bet the biggest problem is that you are the first one jumping into the fray. You can't do this with a Jug. It seems like you should be able to take a bit of focus but you cant. wait for others to engage and then pick your target. I always tended to focus on a healer. At the lower levels they really only have 1 main heal. Make sure you interrupt this as soon as you can and as often as you can. You can force push them when they are casting, or force choke them (you are close to the level that you should have both) and when you jump to them it interrupts their current action. This is extremely successful in keeping them locked down.

 

Use your taunts as much as you can to keep your friends from getting killed. A no brainer but you would be suprised how many don't do this.

 

Lastly, Learn to aim your force push. It is an incredibly powerful tool. Just pushing a healer over a ledge can be more effective than taking the time to kill them. In huttball, you can easily kill someone just buy pushing one button (i.e. fire trap/acid pits) so it can be your most powerful tool. Also, it make carrying the ball a breeze. leap/push/leap can win games and knowing how/where to push can mean you never have to walk over a fire trap.

[lordofdamornin]

I have a level 24 Juggernaut, and I've recently started PVPing with her. This has made me realize that I have NO IDEA how to PVP as a melee tank. My main is a Mercenary, so my instincts are aaall wrong. No knockbacks, can't cleanse any slows or roots...

 

However, I know a good Jugg can be a PVP monster, especially if you have a DPSer with you to help burn down your targets. I suspect I want to be defending nodes or running the Huttball while a Sorc or Assassin runs ahead to catch it.

 

Do you guys have any pointers I can work on? I really want to improve.

 

I'll just throw some things out there from my own experience, as a solo-queue:

 

If I'm the first to engage, it's likely that I'm going to die. That said, someone has to be the first. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. Most of the time, I am not the first to die at first contact, but that comes from target selection, and using my mobility.

 

You are melee, not ranged. Once you stop thinking about killing people, and start thinking about helping finish off targets of opportunity, you will start being more effective for your team. Yes, you can 1v1 a lot of people, but helping thin out your opponents quickly is infinitely more important for your team's success than you beasting out 1v1's.

 

Finding a way to disengage, and stay alive is much, much better than trying to LoS. Keep in mind that if you LoS, there is a really good chance you just LoS'd some (or all) of your healers, too. Now, because you are melee, you are standing behind this object doing absolutely nothing to help your team. Disengage (Push works great for this), stay alive, and re-engage intelligently.

 

If you jump into a group of 2-3 healers thinking that you are going to *harrass them*, you might find out just how many crappy tricks they have waiting for you. Each. Better yet, they might just take a couple of globals to blow you up, without really missing a beat.

 

You have some of the best CD's in the game, and the best time to use them is generally not when you are low on HP. By then, it's too late, and YOU are now the target of opportunity. Sometimes you can use this to your advantage (pulling the attention of ~half of the other team trying to finish you off), but most of the time this just leads to you being dead, and your CD essentially wasted.

 

You should always be taunting someone. Keep them on CD as much as is feasible.

 

Guard can be a pain, so make sure you can hit it quickly, and easily. If your target is already guarded, but out of range, yours will not override it, so you will get an error message. This can happen often, so be nimble with it. I hope they change this, but as far as I'm aware, they still have not.

 

Just some things from my experience - hope they help you in yours.

 

Riôt

[ManiacalShen]

Thanks, guys. This actually sounds more similar to my squishy dps mindset than I thought it'd be. Don't go in first and get all the aggro if you can help it. Find someone who's attacking and help them take down their target! Burn defensive cooldowns early; a percentage-based damage reduction is only so much help when I'm already half dead.

 

Also, save my charge, and wait eagerly for when I can buy Force Choke and Force Push. Remember to taunt. I've been working on running and fighting. I admit merc is lazy about this: You can't get away from anyone ever, so you mostly don't try, and it's extra lazy because our channeled abilities stay locked on target, so I have to do less manual spinning.

 

Even if this class doesn't bloom til later,I think I'll keep PVPing through the 20s just to get good practice. Should make me extra proficient when my toon gets better.