Jedi Guardian DPS help

[KnownError]

Sorry if this is a constant question among the communities. I just want to know what is the best DPS. I just got the game, and I am looking forward to building a DPS player.

 

What is the difference of having a DPS pvp and then having one for the story line? I kind of want to build a Jedi Guardian that will DPS more than a Sentinel. I also want to have one that can play pvp and for story line mode. I apologize for not having the terms correctly. This is my first MMO Been a FIFA player most of my gaming life. Be gentle MMO pros, be gentle lol

 

Thanks! Live long and prosper...jk jk jk jk hahah Star Wars fanatic, I am.

[KnownError]

I also tried using a Spec Tree to help, but wasnt to sure what helped what to increase DPS skills. Most of the Spec Trees I looked at were incomplete for some reason.

[KnownError]

I saw different sections on DPS pvp and pve, wasnt sure if there was a difference. I wasnt sure if having a pvp DPS Guardian would be different if I played story mode. Yes, I am ignorant to the terms and how things work on SWTOR.

[denpic]

Vigilance and focus are your dps trees

Vigilance is single target dps and focus is more aoe centred but still does decent single target dps and is a top performer in pvp most builds are 3/7/31 for focus Or 3/31/7 for vigilance there are some decent guides around to google

Good luck guardians are my favourite class and are Well Rounded in both pve and pvp

[THorsblood]

Well 1st of WELCOME TO YOUR 1st MMO!

 

Ok so the main difference between PvP (Player VS player) specs and PvE (Player VS environment) specs, is that in

 

PvP you want skills that do high amounts of damage quickly, along with the max amount of stuns, and defensive cooldowns, Fights normally don't last more than 30 seconds so you need to deal your damage faster than your opponent.

 

In PvE fights can last up to 5 minutes (more or less), so you have to be more careful about your resource's (focus as a Knight) so you don't go completely empty, (not much of a big deal for Knights as much as it is for the other 3 class's) Damage over time has more use, as you almost always have it run its full timer, stuns are worth much less ESPECIALLY on boss's who can't be stunned, and debuffs and party buffs become more useful especially when coordinated.

 

Luckily PvE builds will do fine in PvP, as well as PvP doing ok in PvE, though playing the *wrong* spec can make life a little harder, but like i said not much.

 

As for Beating a Sentinel in DPS good luck, you may be able to match them, but i doubt you could ever beat them (similarly skilled of course, everyone can out DPS someone who doesn't know how to play lol)

 

My guardian is a hybrid tank spec built for PvP/PvE however most people pick at it, but i love it lol. (built for lasting longer, or giving healers breathing room, not killing people) http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500GrGdzzRzZfMrMM0zZ0M.2

[THorsblood]

Oh and just a side note Focus is much easier to play then Vigilance and can hit multiple people which is a +, HOWEVER vigilance is much funner once you get a feel for it, though I'll never leave my awesome tank spec Edited October 10, 2012 by THorsblood

[Dalfurend]

When you are leveling, pick talents from the vigilance tree. Once you hit 50, or have a better handle on your class and mmos in general, you can worry about the rest. Everything is fairly straight forward.

 

So you know, if you have no intention of tanking - being the player that can take a lot of damage and not dealing as much to protect others - you may consider being a sentinel instead.

[KnownError]

Thanks everyone for the info, glad that people were gentle to my noobness haha

[Odan_Urr]

here's the simple and ugly truth about guardian dps:

PvP is so intolerably frustrating that you'll que for warzones fewer than five times before you're sick of 15 minutes of stunlock gangrape by sorcs and agents who see you as a lame impotent sitting duck.

 

In PvE there are two scenarios that can play out; if your raid leader doesn't use a parser, there will always be the looming question of 'why can't we get enough dps on this hm boss before the enrage timer hits?' or, if they do use a parser, enjoy pugging and running dailies or crafting for your guild. You simply won't be asked to participate in raids unless your guild is completely lacking in sents and gunslingers.

 

Many on this forum tried desparately to inform the devs BEFORE 1.4's release that the guardian class is pathetically underwhelming in both PvP and PvE and they decided that we are, in fact, sucking perfectly the way they want us to, as is. Why take the most iconic figure in star wars (the single saber weilding jedi knight) and make it the worst possible class in the game? Only the developers can answer that, and so far they won't touch the question with the twenty foot pole they reserve for questions they wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. If you really want to be tops in dps, just do what everyone else does and flood carick with yet another dps commando or gunslinger. Don't get me started on guardian tanking. Hope you have better luck with your next character roll, it can't possibly get any worse than what you're playing now.

[Creslan]

Guardian dps in PVE can put out good numbers. However, the perception of the community doesn't see that. They see us as tanks only, off tank second, then maybe loldps. For some reason shadows and vanguards don't seem to get that same stigma attached either.

 

I was talking to a commando and he asked me why I wasn't tank spec? " Guardian is tank only right?"" Why don't you tank for us?" After informing him I wasn't spec'd for tanking he launched into the" guardians are the tank only class and you should accept that."

 

My response was " you are a healer only right?" "Commandos only heal right?" "Why aren't you healing?" He goes "no, we are dps or heals" "we can do 1 or the other". I respond, "like a guardian right?" "one or the other" He goes "no, thats different, I'm dps spec commando"

 

I get the above quite often when dealing with people sadly. Oddly enough, I get less of this on the Empire side as a Juggernaught.

[KnownError]

haha, well it seems you guys have a point of the guardian being the most dominate class in Jedi history, but yet they make the class the most inferior. It doesnt make sense. I think Dev's do not really listen to anyones opinion until they notice a drop in money, then they start listening.

 

I dont see why a Guardian can not be a DPS, probably not as high as the DPS specific classes, but I rather be able to take damage and also give it.

[Odan_Urr]

Guardian dps in PVE can put out good numbers. However, the perception of the community doesn't see that. They see us as tanks only, off tank second, then maybe loldps. For some reason shadows and vanguards don't seem to get that same stigma attached either.

 

this is very true, vigilance guardians in pve raids can put out decent numbers, but i know for a fact that on my guild runs, comparably geared sents, commandos, gunslingers and even sages are hitting the 2k mark on their parsers while i'm struggling to sniff 1700 with my best rotation. Part of the problem is that combat focus is a long cooldown and part is that you have to spam strike to build focus when combat focus is on its cd. so you spend alot of time doing meaningless low dmg attacks to build your focus, where other classes start with a full bar and burn down . the other part is that high teir plasma brand hits like a cotton swab and the dot does'nt compensate for the initial lack of punch (the dot is typically in the double digits which makes me cringe every time). master strike and dispatch are our big hits and dispatch cant be used until the end of the fight, so if youre hitting an enrage timer, dispatch becomes available far too late in the pull.

 

It's also true that most players see us as a tank class, and a last ditch option tank at that. we do have good survivability (compared to sents at least) but using a shield generator completely negates any dmg output you would otherwise bring to the fight. Even still with all that said, for my 15 bucks the guardian is the most fun class to play. i like it better than my vanguard or my shadow and playing solo content does give you the feeling of being a star wars movie jedi knight in ways that the other classes can't. It's just too bad there isn't more solo content or at least variety in the dailies to make up for the uselessness you experience in pvp or pve raiding.

[Dalfurend]

Hate to break it to you guys, but you may just be bad. Guardian DPS is fine.

 

In PvP we are, and have been pretty OP for a good while now - Focus Spec.

 

In PvE - Vigilance Spec, it is admittedly hard to beat vanguards and sents, but they are the only people that can consistently be a problem. Also, keep in mind on dummies we don't get the execute phase.

 

If you want to play a guardian, do it. Just learn how to do it properly and you will be fine.

[wadecounty]

Hate to break it to you guys, but you may just be bad. Guardian DPS is fine.

 

In PvP we are, and have been pretty OP for a good while now - Focus Spec.

 

In PvE - Vigilance Spec, it is admittedly hard to beat vanguards and sents, but they are the only people that can consistently be a problem. Also, keep in mind on dummies we don't get the execute phase.

 

If you want to play a guardian, do it. Just learn how to do it properly and you will be fine.

 

This.

[Creslan]

I know guardians do good dps, I do good dps. But the perception of the community is what I am talking about, and according to "them" we are laughable. It's talked about with a smile and a nod. That's all. Edited October 11, 2012 by Creslan

[Dalfurend]

I know guardians do good dps, I do good dps. But the perception of the community is what I am talking about, and according to "them" we are laughable. It's talked about with a smile and a nod. That's all.

 

That is why I have fun joining the occasional pug that uses MOX. I make believers out of them.

[Odan_Urr]

Hate to break it to you guys, but you may just be bad. Guardian DPS is fine.

 

ah the age old l2p retort. please enlighten us then, oh wise one. My guild uses mox and the numbers i posted above are accurate. So how do you keep your focus bar full and put up 2k dps like the sages and gunslingers (since you've already conceded sents and vanguards are tanks and thus not really relevant to the topic)?

 

In PvP we are, and have been pretty OP for a good while now - Focus Spec.

 

i may concede that point, tbh i haven't pvp'd since 1.2 because the experience i had was miserable. But isn't it a bit of a pain constantly respeccing? I keep my Scourge in my tank gear that i'll occasionally use for guild runs as offtank and the respec from vig to defense gets tedious. I couldnt imagine respeccing every day and having to reset the skill tree every time i wanted to switch playstyle.

 

In PvE - Vigilance Spec, it is admittedly hard to beat vanguards and sents, but they are the only people that can consistently be a problem. Also, keep in mind on dummies we don't get the execute phase.

 

that's fine except noone here is talking about dummies. dummies don't have an enrage timer. And again, how exactly do you keep your focus bar full enough to deliver the big hits consistently (without inevitably spamming strike, which lowers your dps)? my immediate guess would be that you're a second teir dps who runs with geared sents, commandos, or slingers and get to pop your dispatch before enrage? Carry the dps load in a hm ops run and you'll quickly understand the complaints in this thread.

 

If you want to play a guardian, do it. Just learn how to do it properly and you will be fine.

 

...but never great... or highly sought after.... or necessary to a group in order to bring down boss X in hard mode Y. I do agree, just do it, use your rotation to its maximum potential, and have fun with it. It IS a fun (though useless in raid content) class to play inspite of the deficiencies.

[wadecounty]

Wait, you play a Vigilance Guardian and you have to spam Strike to maintain Focus? Yeah, you're bad.

 

If you manage your rotation properly, the only Focus builders you should ever need as Vigilance are Sundering Strike and Saber Throw, unless you get extremely unlucky on Master Strike procs.

 

Also, what fight are Gunslingers/Sages putting up 2k DPS on? Can you post a link to some numbers? Or are you just making up numbers that sound about right?

 

I just DPS'd hard mode TFB on my Jugg yesterday, and was the 2nd highest on Mox for every fight, behind a Pyro Powertech and in front of an Annhilation Mara and a hybrid Sorc.

Edited October 12, 2012 by wadecounty

[Mattmonkey]

Wait, you play a Vigilance Guardian and you have to spam Strike to maintain Focus? Yeah, you're bad.

 

If you manage your rotation properly, the only Focus builders you should ever need as Vigilance are Sundering Strike and Saber Throw, unless you get extremely unlucky on Master Strike procs.

 

Also, what fight are Gunslingers/Sages putting up 2k DPS on? Can you post a link to some numbers? Or are you just making up numbers that sound about right?

 

I just DPS'd hard mode TFB on my Jugg yesterday, and was the 2nd highest on Mox for every fight, behind a Pyro Powertech and in front of an Annhilation Mara and a hybrid Sorc.

 

THIS.

 

If you cant consistantly come second in raid go read this guide and you will http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=515309

[Dalfurend]

ah the age old l2p retort. please enlighten us then, oh wise one. My guild uses mox and the numbers i posted above are accurate. So how do you keep your focus bar full and put up 2k dps like the sages and gunslingers (since you've already conceded sents and vanguards are tanks and thus not really relevant to the topic)?

 

i may concede that point, tbh i haven't pvp'd since 1.2 because the experience i had was miserable. But isn't it a bit of a pain constantly respeccing? I keep my Scourge in my tank gear that i'll occasionally use for guild runs as offtank and the respec from vig to defense gets tedious. I couldnt imagine respeccing every day and having to reset the skill tree every time i wanted to switch playstyle.

 

that's fine except noone here is talking about dummies. dummies don't have an enrage timer. And again, how exactly do you keep your focus bar full enough to deliver the big hits consistently (without inevitably spamming strike, which lowers your dps)? my immediate guess would be that you're a second teir dps who runs with geared sents, commandos, or slingers and get to pop your dispatch before enrage? Carry the dps load in a hm ops run and you'll quickly understand the complaints in this thread.

 

...but never great... or highly sought after.... or necessary to a group in order to bring down boss X in hard mode Y. I do agree, just do it, use your rotation to its maximum potential, and have fun with it. It IS a fun (though useless in raid content) class to play inspite of the deficiencies.

 

Haha. *Strike*Strike*Strike* "Gawd, why is my dps soooo badddd?" - L2P

I know this is a bit different from other good guardians, but I essentially use saber throw -> leap, instead of ss -> strike. Not sure you'd understand this till you read the guide...

 

I'll just pvp in raid spec sometimes. My respec costs do get high.

 

I am saying that your comparative dps should be higher in raids due to focus gained from AoE attacks, and the nearly 100% chance you have to crit on your dispatch.

 

Clearly I was carried through the 8m HM server first - US 2nd - Terror kill. As leet as my guildies are, they aren't up to that quite yet. We make it a point to carry our own weight in dps. If we don't, we are replaced. We all end up being within 5k dmg of each other, and MoX is constantly swapping peoples positions.

 

Dps guardians do have a great role in ops, be it mostly for "Oh crap, a tank is dead" moments. Soresu form -> taunt. I have started making it a point to pay attention to what tanks need to do in fights just in case. We also have a bit more utility then a lot of the other classes as well.

 

And don't lump class deficiencies and your own in the same category, 'kay?

[Varye]

Vigilance always was and still is viable in endgame pve content.

Since 1.4 Focus is too, and i find myself doing more dps in lolsweep specc, singletarget of course. If your sweep hits multiple targets your dmg will skyrocket.

And yes, i have cleared tfb hm while parsing, and no, i was not carried by my guildmates.

[KnownError]

Thanks for everyone's input, Im learning a lot and looking forward to making my Guardian/DPS...I enjoy having the comfort of heavy armor, while able to do damage. While filtering through everyone's sarcasm lol, I found everyone's input great. Again, thanks for the input people, if you have more...keep posting! Im very new to MMO and have gotten better from reading everyone's input. Again, thanks!

[KnownError]

So far this is what my plan is going to be for specs :http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/skills/guardian#0-8iddjc82k3-2228

 

Let me know if you have better ideas, for DPS Guardian. Thanks!

[Dalfurend]

So far this is what my plan is going to be for specs :http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/skills/guardian#0-8iddjc82k3-2228

 

Let me know if you have better ideas, for DPS Guardian. Thanks!

 

Read this. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=515309

 

It's a guide for guardian dps. Once you get comfotable with the class, there are some things that you could consider changing. For now, do exactly as it says.

[BigGoatBR]

On hint I can give you:

 

Before you reach level 50, you could try a more defensive spec for leveling. After you get a healer companion (not going to name it or tell you were you get, but if you dont mind spoilers you can look it up), being a hybrid with a healer is the way to make most fights in this game very easy. I'm leveling a slinger DPS and I can't tell you how much easier guardian fights are in general, simply because we can survive much more than any other tank companion out there (even a sith jugg companion). Also, with the guardian + healer combo you get all the fun in leveling stage, being the one to actually kill everything (if you are DPS and bring a tank companion, he will do some of the killing for you, a healer won't).

 

But that's mostly if you find yourself dieing too much during leveling, since this is your first toon in a MMO I understand it can be hard.

 

After that, you are pretty much set, guardians are very useful if you know how to use it. Don't ignore the way Focus Guardians are doing in PvP though. They have very good mitigation + HUGE dps, it's a very safe spec to go for in 1.4. Gearing up after level 50 can be very hard, so you will be safe there. Vig will be better if you intend to do more level 50 PvE.