so tanking builds for 1.3

[mariioow]

i know this is a pretty new patch but how is everyone doing with the tanking i'm more intested on tanking on pve and with the changes they made to threat i don't know if defense is better than hybrid now or everything is the same? Edited June 26, 2012 by mariioow

[Parthenon]

For my money, it doesn't get better than the 17/24 build both pre- and post-1.3 for PvE Ops tanking.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGou0MZcrrMRhkzM.1

 

Note: the one point in profound resolution is actually there for the current power, which puts Sunder on your Force Sweep.

[Drgneb]

can you repost that tree? Its only showing 17/4. And how far have you tanked as hybrid? I tried it for awhile but it just felt like I didnt have enough to offer, but would love to give it another crack with 1.3.

[Konokosan]

8/31/2, diminishing returns on tanking abilities in the def tree prohibit going past tier 2 effectively

[Arakas]

8/31/2, diminishing returns on tanking abilities in the def tree prohibit going past tier 2 effectively

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I'm sure a lot of people are wondering the same thing. As someone who's just back since 1.1, 8/31/2 is extremely vague in that I have no idea which skills to take to get to 8/31/2

 

I know Torhead* hasnt updated yet, so I guess it's a waiting game. Sad that our taking tree is so underused and that we have to use a Hybrid spec to stay competitive... :/

Edited June 27, 2012 by Arakas

[thebigdoubleu]

I'm gonna test out a hybrid build shortly. I went 31/10 to test out the new Defense tree in the BH H4 and HM Lost Island, and honestly, it felt underwhelming. Single target threat has never been an issue, so it didn't really matter. The AoE threat didn't really make a difference either in that most mobs that come in AoE are trash anyway, so they should be eliminated very quick anyway.

 

Even by taking the Force Sweep talent that gives the 4 sundered armour debuff, I find that most AoE situations mobs would be taken down anyway. The new SSM ability for Force Sweep in Soresu seems sufficient to grab the initial aggro.

[Drgneb]

yea, can you post that hybrid...if Mr Robot or Tor get updated? I went hybrid to give it a shot as a guildie ran with the "new" def and had issues with guardian slash almost killing him. On D7 with the 3 bosses it kept getting reflected and hitting him....so um yea, BW didnt think that one thru.

[JediMasterSarynn]

I just did Nightmare Karagga's in 31/7/3 without any issue. Actually, there was another Guardian tank with I think the same build. Again, we didn't have problems. We one shot every boss and only hit the enrage timer on Karagga due to a death and slow rez.

 

So I don't really see any issues with the good old tank build for PvE.

 

EDIT: The other tank uses 31/8/2.

Edited June 27, 2012 by JediMasterSarynn
Updated info

[KiranK]

18/21/2. Only way to do it for EC Hard mode. Full Defense is pathetic now. The AoE damage off Guardian Slash, pathetic and slow as it is, add absolutely no benefit to EC or tanking its bosses. Boss tanking used to be the Defense Guardian's strength. Now it's his weakness, and the damage is smaller than ever. Going Hybrid assures that you don't sacrifice your damage just for a few meager tank talents. Pick up blade barrier, defensive stance, a little blade barricade, and the talents associated with force sweep and dump the rest. Go up the vigil tree to get to overhead slash, skipping any burn and shien form oriented talents. Pick up the two points in sweep from focus. Now sweep is one of your best attacks, with good damage and great threat, even some sunder armor stack help. Full Defense is kinda dead right now. Let it rest in peace.

[Arakas]

KiranK and JediMaster,

 

I noticed Torhead is up ( http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500.1 ) and updated to 1.3

 

Is there any way we could get you to post the builds you've been talking about (18/21/2 and 31/7/3 respectively)?

 

I know it would be an enormous help to me and I'm sure many others

 

Thanks!

 

Edit: Looking over the Jugg section, froops posted the following build (which I have ported over to Guardian): 31/2/8

 

(here is the Jugg version of the build: 31/2/8 )

 

(Note the names of skills and trees are different

The points in Immortal are absolutely necessary as well as the 2 points in Improved Sundering Assault and 3 points in Single Saber Mastery. The final 5 points you can allocate are up to personal preference. I've put 2 into Decimate for that extra AoE damage and threat, 2 points into Dreadnaught for additional damage/threat generation from all physical damage attacks (pretty much 90% of your attacks in an Immortal Build), and I've put the last point in Unyielding for that additional rage generation, even though you'll probably be swimming in rage most of the time anyway. You could put some points in Accuracy if you prefer which would help with consistency of threat generation. Probably the better option if you are optimising your tanking gear to remove all +Accuracy stats.

You can find the original thread here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=492045

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 27, 2012 by Arakas
Added a build

[ViridisDraco]

18/21/2. Only way to do it for EC Hard mode. Full Defense is pathetic now. The AoE damage off Guardian Slash, pathetic and slow as it is, add absolutely no benefit to EC or tanking its bosses. Boss tanking used to be the Defense Guardian's strength. Now it's his weakness, and the damage is smaller than ever. Going Hybrid assures that you don't sacrifice your damage just for a few meager tank talents. Pick up blade barrier, defensive stance, a little blade barricade, and the talents associated with force sweep and dump the rest. Go up the vigil tree to get to overhead slash, skipping any burn and shien form oriented talents. Pick up the two points in sweep from focus. Now sweep is one of your best attacks, with good damage and great threat, even some sunder armor stack help. Full Defense is kinda dead right now. Let it rest in peace.

 

you drop 1 point of Commanding Awe to fill swelling winds?

isn't it unwise in a tanking prospective?

[Parthenon]

Doh! Sorry my link to my trees didn't work in my first post.

 

Here's the 17/24 build I'm referring to.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGou0MZZcrrMRhkzM.1

 

For some reason the "new" TOR has Vigilance over on the right and Focus in the middle.

 

With the augments we got today, I'm sitting at 27.33 % def chance (which is perma at 30% while fighting with Riposte), 41% Shield chance and 45% Absorption rating. And I'm well aware that those numbers aren't nearly as high or as optimal as they can be for someone who has been running HM Denova to completion for a few weeks/months, but still, running the build above I am tanking HM EC with no problems.

 

I just don't think, if you're going for the most damage mitigation, that you can beat having Blade Barrier AND Commanding Awe. I don't post a lot here on the forums but I read just about everything in and out of here and I have yet to read something or experience something in game that convinces me otherwise. That's not to say 31 defense builds are terrible. They're great, and I know a few great players who really make it work very, very well and they're all superb tanks for HM EC. I just think they'd be ten times more effective if they were Hybrids.

Edited June 27, 2012 by Parthenon

[ViridisDraco]

Doh! Sorry my link to my trees didn't work in my first post.

 

Here's the 17/24 build I'm referring to.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGou0MZZcrrMRhkzM.1

 

For some reason the "new" TOR has Vigilance over on the right and Focus in the middle.

 

With the augments we got today, I'm sitting at 27.33 % def chance (which is perma at 30% while fighting with Riposte), 41% Shield chance and 45% Absorption rating. And I'm well aware that those numbers aren't nearly as high or as optimal as they can be for someone who has been running HM Denova to completion for a few weeks/months, but still, running the build above I am tanking HM EC with no problems.

 

I just don't think, if you're going for the most damage mitigation, that you can beat having Blade Barrier AND Commanding Awe. I don't post a lot here on the forums but I read just about everything in and out of here and I have yet to read something or experience something in game that convinces me otherwise. That's not to say 31 defense builds are terrible. They're great, and I know a few great players who really make it work very, very well and they're all superb tanks for HM EC. I just think they'd be ten times more effective if they were Hybrids.

 

at the moment i'm using this:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500hMGbu0MZ0zZcGMRRhz0M.1

 

max dmg reduction, max debuff (accuracy and fast sunder stacks), i had to sacrifice 1 point in swelling winds but i'm okay with it

[mariioow]

thanks for all the builds i'll try them asap

[JediMasterSarynn]

KiranK and JediMaster,

 

I noticed Torhead is up ( http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500.1 ) and updated to 1.3

 

Is there any way we could get you to post the builds you've been talking about (18/21/2 and 31/7/3 respectively)?

 

I know it would be an enormous help to me and I'm sure many others

 

Thanks!

 

Edit: Looking over the Jugg section, froops posted the following build (which I have ported over to Guardian): 31/2/8

 

(here is the Jugg version of the build: 31/2/8 )

 

(Note the names of skills and trees are different

 

You can find the original thread here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=492045

 

Thoughts?

 

Here you go:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGdudMdfzZMzZcMM.1

 

It is a 31/3/7 spec on TORHead. Not sure why they switched Focus and Vigilance around.

[Arakas]

Here you go:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGdudMdfzZMzZcMM.1

 

It is a 31/3/7 spec on TORHead. Not sure why they switched Focus and Vigilance around.

 

Thanks I'd also love to get your take on the above posted 18/1/22 and 17/0/24 builds. That is to say, how do you feel about 31 Def vs blade barrier and commanding awe? Is Awe worth giving up the last 3 (1/2) tiers of the Def tree?

[JediMasterSarynn]

Thanks I'd also love to get your take on the above posted 18/1/22 and 17/0/24 builds. That is to say, how do you feel about 31 Def vs blade barrier and commanding awe? Is Awe worth giving up the last 3 (1/2) tiers of the Def tree?

 

I'm running Denova tomorrow. I'll try the spec out and let you know.

[Arakas]

Doh! Sorry my link to my trees didn't work in my first post.

 

Here's the 17/24 build I'm referring to.

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RMGou0MZZcrrMRhkzM.1

 

For some reason the "new" TOR has Vigilance over on the right and Focus in the middle.

 

With the augments we got today, I'm sitting at 27.33 % def chance (which is perma at 30% while fighting with Riposte), 41% Shield chance and 45% Absorption rating. And I'm well aware that those numbers aren't nearly as high or as optimal as they can be for someone who has been running HM Denova to completion for a few weeks/months, but still, running the build above I am tanking HM EC with no problems.

 

I just don't think, if you're going for the most damage mitigation, that you can beat having Blade Barrier AND Commanding Awe. I don't post a lot here on the forums but I read just about everything in and out of here and I have yet to read something or experience something in game that convinces me otherwise. That's not to say 31 defense builds are terrible. They're great, and I know a few great players who really make it work very, very well and they're all superb tanks for HM EC. I just think they'd be ten times more effective if they were Hybrids.

 

I wonder why you only took 1/3 in Dust Storm, and yet 2 points in Defiance? I almost feel like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500G0Gou0MZZcGRMRhkzM.1 would be a better set up, and am even tempted to take the point from Defiance and put it into Shien Form just so I can stance dance when the need arises. I imagine it would be more beneficial than 2 situational focus points. And in return, I get 3/3 in Dust Storm, and 0 in Victory Rush (I assume that while tanking, Focus isnt really going to be an issue (but I may be wrong!)

 

Thoughts?

[LarryRow]

How do you guys feel about

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RRukd0MZZfRr0rhdzz.1

 

I consider it a pvp/pve hybrid build. I'm going to miss Stasis Mastery for pvp, but I find this build has the least reliance on RNG. For example, no 50% chance to proc Force Rush, no 50% chance to proc Blade Barrier.

 

Reduced cost of Riposte is nice all around, and reduced cost of Freezing Force is nice in pvp.

 

I'm particularly curious how you guys feel about my choice of forgoing Burning Barricade in favor of Gather Strength and/or Improved Sundering Strike. Is the DOT worth it?

[Blev]

Thanks I'd also love to get your take on the above posted 18/1/22 and 17/0/24 builds. That is to say, how do you feel about 31 Def vs blade barrier and commanding awe? Is Awe worth giving up the last 3 (1/2) tiers of the Def tree?

 

It is. The last 3 1/2 tiers of defense really were never very good to begin with especially now with the Guardian Slash change. You're basically exchanging Utility for Durability going from Defense to the Blade Barrier/Awe build. Things like the Force Push CD and Stasis Mastery while nice, really aren't missed when you're going up against raid bosses.

 

I wonder why you only took 1/3 in Dust Storm, and yet 2 points in Defiance? I almost feel like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500G0Gou0MZZcGRMRhkzM.1 would be a better set up, and am even tempted to take the point from Defiance and put it into Shien Form just so I can stance dance when the need arises. I imagine it would be more beneficial than 2 situational focus points. And in return, I get 3/3 in Dust Storm, and 0 in Victory Rush (I assume that while tanking, Focus isnt really going to be an issue (but I may be wrong!)

 

Thoughts?

 

This is what I use which is more along the lines of what you talked about: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc/#500hMGou0MZZcrrRMhkzM.1

 

Victory Rush, imo, is required. Sundering Strike is an ability that is going to be consistently used no matter what, while, Force Leap can end up being situational and I do find with the build that focus can sometimes be hard to come by. Gather Strength and Defiance are both situational, but in the end I think I'd rather have the focus rather than the damage. Shien is semi-useful when offtanking something like with 3 tank Nightmare Pilgrim, or 3 tanking Nightmare Jarq and Sorno to get some extra DPS (or if you are stuck as teh odd tank out on Kragga/Gharj).

Edited June 27, 2012 by Blev

[Parthenon]

I wonder why you only took 1/3 in Dust Storm, and yet 2 points in Defiance? I almost feel like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#50...MZZcGRMRhkzM.1 would be a better set up, and am even tempted to take the point from Defiance and put it into Shien Form just so I can stance dance when the need arises. I imagine it would be more beneficial than 2 situational focus points. And in return, I get 3/3 in Dust Storm, and 0 in Victory Rush (I assume that while tanking, Focus isnt really going to be an issue (but I may be wrong!)

 

I take the 2 points in defiance because the only real downside of the 17/24 build is Focus. It's not a struggle if you do it right, but a careless player could have trouble with it. So in the instance of, say, Chasing the Shadow and all those horrible KBs and pulls from the Torches and Bots, I just love having a free 4 focus hit me every time I get so mad that I just got KBed during my Master Strike.

 

The Dust Storm thing... I just speced out of it a few months back and noticed I didn't really miss it. Until I see something definitive that says it truly helps survivability against HM Denova level bosses, I'm just gonna have it with the one point. The thing is, I'm not positive about the TOR mechanics, but in most games an Ops level boss isn't gonna suffer much from -acc, and I just assumed the same here. But it is attractive in that it kind of "stacks" with our high defense.

 

That's another issue I think should be remembered: what you're building for. I personally think it's a bit silly to build for big mods of strongs and elites that your group faces on the way up to the big Ops boss. Better to build for the Ops boss. That's why, IMO, the new Guardian Slash changes are so silly (I've seen others mention the same thing).

 

I mean, really, when you're with your progression group, are you really that worried when a strong or two are peeled off of you and they go for your DPS sentinel or Shadow, or your Commando? I'm not. They can hold their own just fine until my taunt recharges.

 

So going for multiple target tanking or speccing Dust Storm when it's only really going to make a difference against mobs that are going down in under 30 seconds anyway seems like a waste to me.

 

Now, if I were a Vanguard who was built to manage multiple target threat from the get-go... well, that'd be another story.

[KiranK]

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500hMGdkzMZ0MZcGr0rhzz.2

 

There's my hybrid spec. Guardian Slash is too much of a piece of garbage right now to bother with for EC Hard Mode. Overhead is much better and on a shorter CD. Use Sweep whenever it is up and use it first. It costs 0 focus, had high threat, decent damage, is AoE, and it can't miss. Overhead when it's up as well. Blade Storm for the barrier. That's about it.

[JediMasterSarynn]

Just did Denova with my 31 point Defense spec and we had no enrage issues at all. I was going to try the hybrid over it but wanted to stick with what I knew best. Worked out just fine. I have no need to switch over at this time and am sticking with what works.

[LarryRow]

Just did Denova with my 31 point Defense spec and we had no enrage issues at all. I was going to try the hybrid over it but wanted to stick with what I knew best. Worked out just fine. I have no need to switch over at this time and am sticking with what works.

 

Glad it's working for you. Just curious, do you pvp in that spec?

[LarryRow]

How do you guys feel about

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500RRukd0MZZfRr0rhdzz.1

 

I consider it a pvp/pve hybrid build. I'm going to miss Stasis Mastery for pvp, but I find this build has the least reliance on RNG. For example, no 50% chance to proc Force Rush, no 50% chance to proc Blade Barrier.

 

Reduced cost of Riposte is nice all around, and reduced cost of Freezing Force is nice in pvp.

 

I'm particularly curious how you guys feel about my choice of forgoing Burning Barricade in favor of Gather Strength and/or Improved Sundering Strike. Is the DOT worth it?

 

Quoting myself because I'm curious to hear your thoughts.