Strategy for Assault VG Getting Marked with No Healer

[olemanbourbon]

I'm noticing that my Assault VG is getting marked more and more in WZ's when pugging. As we know, the Assault VG is all-out burst damage with only one meager defensive cooldown, making us pretty horrid tanks. Every now and then I find myself simply getting killed over and over (which is smart on the part of the opponent, because otherwise I will mow them down ). What do you Assault guys do when this happens? I typically try to just keep dishing out the damage despite all of the deaths, but sometimes I wonder if it's better to attempt to draw fire through kiting or even equipping a shield and running ion cell for the duration of that WZ: it's pretty hard to spike down targets when waiting in the respawn area half the time. Or is the best bet just to try to fight from range, forfeiting our procs and short-range attacks?

[Philosomanic]

Focus on harpoon and flanking. Rather than charging straight into a fight, skirt around the edges and yank someone away. It's also great to position yourself where you can 1v1 or 1v2 to block objectives. For example, in Civil War, run forward to the enemy spawn and then go left. That way, if any enemies want to attack west, they'll have to get past you (which won't be easy).

 

Also, don't knock our cooldowns. Reflexive Shield is an incredible sustained defense cooldown. Take Shadows, for example. Their only cooldown that does anything against tech/force is 3s of immunity. That gives them a tiny burst of defenses, but only for 3s. We get a strong defensive boost for a much longer duration, and on a short cooldown (for Assault).

[olemanbourbon]

Heh, I love spamming our shield but I'd like one more defensive trick. I won't get greedy though.

 

Good ideas about picking new targets/positions/map tactics. Thanks.

Edited June 19, 2012 by olemanbourbon

[ATango]

You are the equivalent of a healer but on a reverse role. In other words you are a priority takedown target. Find a pillar and hump it. It's what I learned when I played the dps specs, your survivability takes a hit so avoid standing in the open and use the terrain.

 

When you top damage a few times your name sticks in the enemies heads and they spot you from a mile away. You have to make sure they need to pass most your team to get to you. If you can befriend a tank and get a guard will help you a lot. AS is a very hard spec to survive solo but if you can learn to use terrain to add to your survivability you are doing well.

[kjfett]

I end up in the same situation often as well. I have matches where the moment I show up from each respawn, most of their team stops attacking others on my team and they turn on me.

 

At that point, I try to focus on staying up as long as I can...after all, if they are all focused on me, the rest of the team is getting a break. I'll charge in the middle of them, fire off Neural Surge, then my shield and an Expertise Adrenal. The added mitigation from the EA and shield allows me to drag out my death long enough to buy time and I sometimes even manage to get a kill in while I'm at it.

 

I'll also flank. Many of the maps allow me to go around and come in from behind so they A) don't notice I am there initially and B ) I'm right up on their healers and soft DPS and already doing damage/getting kills before they realize they need to refocus again.

 

Don't discredit your ranged DPS either. Sure, we need to get in close for max DPS, but we do still have ranged skills that are good and I've killed my fair share of snipers in a WZ that thought they would out DPS me at range.

[Sanctusvox]

i am almost always the primary target in pvp. i stream a lot of my pvp. i also keep the bad days with the good. so you can check out some of the stuff i do when i get targeted. I try to make them think that when they see me, if they start the fight, they are going to die. it's kind of a dps deterrent. if i start getting focused i will pop AR. that helps to mitigate 15% of the damage i am taking. then i start to look for cover. next i use my AOE stun, then my shield, followed by my health pack. this all buys me time. but i'm not looking to live. just do enough damage to take people out. it's not about surviving, but putting enough dps out that if you die. others can clean up and then you come back and stomp face. we will always be at the top of the kill list. so embrace it and deal death. that doesn't mean charge into a group of enemies. just find the squishy and kill.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/basileus_reges

 

i do a lot of live steams, but if i'm not on i have older videos up. like i said earlier. it's not a highlight real. I typically only stream when i pug. because it is more realistic. plus i dont want to give away my ranked tricks. lol

[ATango]

i am almost always the primary target in pvp. i stream a lot of my pvp. i also keep the bad days with the good. so you can check out some of the stuff i do when i get targeted. I try to make them think that when they see me, if they start the fight, they are going to die. it's kind of a dps deterrent. if i start getting focused i will pop AR. that helps to mitigate 15% of the damage i am taking. then i start to look for cover. next i use my AOE stun, then my shield, followed by my health pack. this all buys me time. but i'm not looking to live. just do enough damage to take people out. it's not about surviving, but putting enough dps out that if you die. others can clean up and then you come back and stomp face. we will always be at the top of the kill list. so embrace it and deal death. that doesn't mean charge into a group of enemies. just find the squishy and kill.

 

http://www.twitch.tv/basileus_reges

 

i do a lot of live steams, but if i'm not on i have older videos up. like i said earlier. it's not a highlight real. I typically only stream when i pug. because it is more realistic. plus i dont want to give away my ranked tricks. lol

 

If by AR you meant Adrenaline Rush, it heals you for 15% of max health over 10 secs, not mitigate 15% of damage. The shield mitigates 25% damage.

 

Also I don't know how you guys top meters every game because most games I'm on defense in PuG's. Good to see someone is giving out tips for VG's.

[Sanctusvox]

If by AR you meant Adrenaline Rush, it heals you for 15% of max health over 10 secs, not mitigate 15% of damage. The shield mitigates 25% damage.

 

Also I don't know how you guys top meters every game because most games I'm on defense in PuG's. Good to see someone is giving out tips for VG's.

 

I know it heals you for 15%, but most of the time when you get focused it is with dots. the 15% heal basically negates there dots or damage. it lets me worry about the real time damage. like smashes or force lightning. so at that point i need to make a decision. do i need to CC and close the distance? or pull them to me and wreckface.

 

As far as being left on D. it happens to me as well. if you watch any of my videos you will see me playing D. I usually just ask someone to replace me. I'm starting to build up enough of a reputation on my server that people will switch me back to offense.

[kjfett]

If by AR you meant Adrenaline Rush, it heals you for 15% of max health over 10 secs, not mitigate 15% of damage. The shield mitigates 25% damage.

 

Also I don't know how you guys top meters every game because most games I'm on defense in PuG's. Good to see someone is giving out tips for VG's.

 

No one would question why I wasn't sitting on a secondary node. I hit 300K+ damage in almost every match. 400K if the healer gives me the time of day. In fact, I hit 500K as often as I am under 300K in matches. What team would want that sitting on a node so a SS VG could run around and net 100K damage?

 

and as someone else pointed out AR is about mitigating DOTs...taking the edge off and sometimes buying that one last GCD you need to fire off a HIB or toss a AP so you take the other guy down with you.