Tanking stats

[bliapis]

Sitting around 22k+ HP with 15.5% defence + 52.5% shield + absorb, without stim.

 

Im wondering what to augment more? Go for absorb?

[CitizenFry]

Looks like a pretty balanced build right now. I think I would augment for Shield Rating. You do have an absorb proc relic, right? One of the ones that gives a huge bonus to Absorb for 6 seconds when you shield an attack. Those are very strong, and why I would recommend augmenting Shield Rating since your shield+absorb are currently pretty close.

[Marrkin]

Seems a good start from what I can see, but do not underestimate your +Def either. I'm currently running a Shield Spec VG at 23.2K (24.4k HP's Stim'd), 18% def, approx 50% Shield Chance and ~42% Shield Absorb (could be 48% though- can't recall if I'm in the upper or lower 40%). Armor rating somewhere near 8.5 to 9K. Using approximates since I'm at work and do not have the numbers right in front of me.

 

Adding +Def helps in various fights to eliminate the damages which your armors will not mitigate such as elemental dmg. Going purely Shield and/or absorb can make your damage "spikey" for healers, same with stacking the crap out of your End. I wouldn't go all bat$h!t crazy with it, but it is helpful.

 

I also use the auto-proc Absorb relic. Rakata-level (I think) from Fabricator.

 

It can be expensive but play with Augments and see what works best. If you have healers you run with regularly, ask them for input on how you "feel" to heal. They will generally be your best indicators by their input on how you seem to handle the damage and how their heals feel against your overall health pools. My understanding is that there are some pretty serious negative returns for Absorb after somewhere is the 40+ % range and Shield Chance past 50% (which is still a topic of research for me at this time) so I have been trying to maintain that "sweet spot" while attempting to increase my +Def

 

Good thing is, communicating with my raid healers I have been told that I am fairly easy to heal and keep healed. I know, however, that I am certainly not done playing with the spec to see what improvments I can make.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Marrkin

[CitizenFry]

Adding +Def helps in various fights to eliminate the damages which your armors will not mitigate

 

This statement is untrue. Any attack that Defense Rating helps against is also an attack that Armor, Shield, and Absorb apply to.

[bglodt]

This statement is untrue. Any attack that Defense Rating helps against is also an attack that Armor, Shield, and Absorb apply to.

 

 

Actually it's only partially untrue as currently worded but reworded is completely true. If you "defend" an attack that is "defendable" you take no damage, because it doesn't hit. While defense, armor, and shield (and thus Absorbtion) only affect the same attacks, shield and armor only mitigate a portion of the damage you would normally recieve while as stated defense eliminates all of the potential damage, when it works. Thus defense actually does mitigate the damage that shield, absorb, and armor would let through, so in this regard the poster's comment is appropriate. Now his intent is not necessarily clear, as in was he implying defense worked against force and tech? You could assume it I guess but he didn't actually say it. I also said, "true if reworded" because defense roll occurs first... It might be worded better by saying armor and shield/absorb decrease the "applicable" damage that defense doesn't eliminate. Semantics to be sure, but relevant semantics none the less.

 

I guess the preference is whether you want to be an avoidance based tank, where you are more susceptible to damage spikes, or more of a mitigation tank where you rely on armor and shields to decrease to decrease the damage you take. Probably a combination of both works best for the vanguard.