Making a Tank for the first time

[errant_knight]

I've been playing since beta and have a level 50 vengeance Juggernaut (which I love beyond words), as well as a host of other dps characters including marauder/sentinels and a level 50 sniper, but I've decided to make a tank jugg to try that kind of game play. Does anyone have any advice as to stat percentages that I should be aiming for by 50, or words of advice about tanking in general? It's all new to me.

 

I'm off to read the guide, but any advice that anyone thinks worthy of adding would be appreciated.

 

PS. I don't pvp, so that's not a factor.

Edited November 12, 2012 by errant_knight

[Taleek]

Don't be afraid to use your taunt, unlike in some games, taunts aren't JUST for emergencies in SW:TOR. Also, you don't have to hold the aggro of every single npc on every pull, it's generally not worth it to try, try to grab the most guys you can who do the most damage, and let your group handle the smaller stuff. Your dps can handle a couple of normals, they probably can't handle a pair of elites on their own, though. Also, you can visit the tanking forums for more information, or if you are looking specifically for Juggernaut advice, you could try this recent thread which should tell you what you need to know, you've just gotta figure out what the Jugg equivalents to the attacks given are, since this is about Guardians . Edited November 12, 2012 by Taleek

[errant_knight]

Thanks, Taleek, noted. I have to admit, just reading the introduction to the tanking guide has me intimidated as hell. So many ways to fail and bring shame down on my head, lol.

[Taleek]

Haha, yeah it can be bad about that sometimes, but it's really not that bad once you get used to it, my advice would be to maybe run some heroics with friends to get a feel for how it plays, and then you can start doing other stuff.

[errant_knight]

He's only level 8 right now, so plenty of time to follow that good advice.

[epicfear]

At level 8, you don't have access to skill trees yet... basically, you won't have to worry about tanking for a while because you won't get some of your actual tank skills till about tatooine. But as a tank, don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you get kicked out of a group because they think you are a failtank, don't worry. tank is the hardest type of character to play, you have to keep yourself well geared (Not as easy as most DPS would think), and you have to keep track a dozen things at once: which dps is pumping out the most damage, and therefore threat, how many enemies are you capable of handling and how many will your damage dealers need to sweep up, and most importantly making sure to keep the threat your healer produces low, especially during the bosses, when they may be forced to heal all three of you, therefore tripling their threat. It can be imposing at first, but once you get the hang of it (Though in operations, you will want to be the "Offtank" at first, until you have experience in the operation) it can be the most rewarding way to play. You will always get groups if you are a tank, because they are, frankly, rare.

[Fallerup]

I must admit, Assassin tank is so much easier to play than Juggernaut. With assassin, threat is not an issue, it is with a juggernaut, especially aoe threat is terribad. this is why I switched to assassin

 

someone once wrote: a bad Assassin tank dies, a bad juggernaut tank gets the group killed. This can't be more true. your group doesn't die until after you do as an assassin, no matter your skill. If they do, it's 99.9% surely their own fault.

 

some may disagree on the learning curve of all the classes. But I find juggernaut harder to play.

 

info on stats and such, you should find here: http://www.tankingtor.com/2012/06/overall-tank-comparison.html

 

the table there under "PvE at a glance" is great, you can see what each class is good and bad for.

[Taleek]

Just do plenty of heroic 4s as you level up and you will learn to tank well enough to be able to do hardmode flashpoints, tanking in ops is a little different since you are working with more people but it's not really that much different.

[Elyx]

someone once wrote: a bad Assassin tank dies, a bad juggernaut tank gets the group killed. This can't be more true. your group doesn't die until after you do as an assassin, no matter your skill. If they do, it's 99.9% surely their own fault.

 

that quote was just full of win Fall and echoes exactly what I felt after getting my shadow tank going on repub side (this was after my juggs). Initially it was a bit tough to get used to. I think i was more used to my jugg and their approach. with my jugg i worry less about my own safety and more about mob interactions. with my shadow, it's all about managing my own defenses...mob threat is a few buttons repeated on a cycle.

 

Jugg tanking is all about using your skills to the upmost Errant. backhand isn't a simple stun...it's what you use on that mob to the right as it turns to head towards the DPS that just aggroed it. You don't freak out when a mob turns on the healer...you wait till its a few yards away from her, then use your single target taunt and let it spend the next 4-6 seconds running back to you (in the meantime the DPS have probably killed it). you force push Mob A onto mob B, then you leap onto mob B, smash it, backhand it, Force choke Mob C, hit Mob A with Crushing blow...Intercede over to the healer, leap back to Mob A...you get the point. lots of switching mobs and spreading skills out.

 

My shadow? hunkers down in the middle. spams AoE threat skills, and hopes to Mergitrude that a spike hit doesn't come in just as his shield of floating rocks dies Im being harsh on my poor shadow (he does well, he's just not my juggy). Juggs are quite fun if you enjoy having to make split second decisions. if you do it well, and pull it off, you look like a mexican jumping bean on steroids and it feels great. if you don't like that kind of challenge, you may get frustrate with the class. but it's not bad, just takes some getting used to.

 

Falls link is great for info. short and skinny: Base stats to shoot for: 30 Def, 50 Shield, 50 Absorb. you wont get there until full campaign or higher. so don't sweat it if your floating somewhere lower. a good starting point for Ops is 20 Def, 30 shield, 30 absorb. you should be close to that with the recruit PvP set (don't quote me on that, haven't checked myself recently).

Edited November 13, 2012 by Elyx

[errant_knight]

Lol! I'm going to have to get a new mouse, clearly. The one I have just isn't going to be able to cope with that level of frantic. (The problem isn't that it's slow, it's that it's too fast and multiple sudden movements have a tendency to leave me looking at the ceiling.)

 

And thanks, guys!

Edited November 13, 2012 by errant_knight

[DarthTimmah]

There is certainly some good information here, including the links. As a fairly new tank who switched at 50 to tank spec (guild needed a backup / off tank), there is a bit of getting used to. The fact that as jugg we don't have as good of AoE threat as shadows/assassins is correct, but it can be handled. What I've found is that plenty of smashes and your normal threat builders and judicious use of your AoE taunt tends to keep things running smoothly. As mentioned above once you start moving though and completing flashpoints and heroic 4s, you will get a pretty good hang of it. Best of luck.

[errant_knight]

There is certainly some good information here, including the links. As a fairly new tank who switched at 50 to tank spec (guild needed a backup / off tank), there is a bit of getting used to. The fact that as jugg we don't have as good of AoE threat as shadows/assassins is correct, but it can be handled. What I've found is that plenty of smashes and your normal threat builders and judicious use of your AoE taunt tends to keep things running smoothly. As mentioned above once you start moving though and completing flashpoints and heroic 4s, you will get a pretty good hang of it. Best of luck.

 

Thanks! This brings up a question though. I can see how smash would be really useful when tanking, but as a vengence jugg, I find I can hardly use it in groups because it breaks cc. How do you guys deal with that?

[Fallerup]

Thanks! This brings up a question though. I can see how smash would be really useful when tanking, but as a vengence jugg, I find I can hardly use it in groups because it breaks cc. How do you guys deal with that?

 

take mobs right before Zorn and Toth in denova for example. What you do is, you let the CC'ers do their thing, you taunt the mobs you are tanking and when they come over to you and then you smash and sweep and what not or, you charge one, aoe taunt and drag them back and then sweep and smash. this way, your smash wont hit the CC.

 

And this is why Assassin/shadow wins imo. As assassin/shadow, you dont have to worry about breaking CC as Wither/slow time is smart aoe (the only one in game).

Edited November 14, 2012 by Fallerup

[Elyxin]

take mobs right before Zorn and Toth in denova for example. What you do is, you let the CC'ers do their thing, you taunt the mobs you are tanking and when they come over to you and then you smash and sweep and what not or, you charge one, aoe taunt and drag them back and then sweep and smash. this way, your smash wont hit the CC.

 

And this is why Assassin/shadow wins imo. As assassin/shadow, you dont have to worry about breaking CC as Wither/slow time is smart aoe (the only one in game).

 

Well, technically our Crushing blow Effect (with a 5 sunder stack) is also a smart AoE....but the amount of times I can get it to work effectively is about as often as my ex calls me with good news . on a side note, that's another reason I'm irritated at Bio for how they changed Immortal. but that's a different argument.

 

smash as Vengeance is really a timing and distance thing. you have to be very familiar with how far away stuff gets hit. When I run vengeance (as DPS), ill back up a bit just so that the mobs I want to hit are in range. It's not really useable all the time, but this is a way to use it far more often. backing up doesn't impact your rotation at all, as you are usually still within melee range...even if you aren't, you can back up and execute it within 2 GCD's so it won't interrupt a normal rotation. As a vengeance running tank, they covered it above. let them run to you. smash area of effect isn't huge, which makes it controllable, an aspect I like.

[errant_knight]

This is turning out to be a very interesting and useful thread! Thanks for all the great responses--that I plan to apply fully!

[Elyxin]

Lol! I'm going to have to get a new mouse, clearly. The one I have just isn't going to be able to cope with that level of frantic. (The problem isn't that it's slow, it's that it's too fast and multiple sudden movements have a tendency to leave me looking at the ceiling.)

 

And thanks, guys!

 

Feel for ya it's half the reason i picked up a mouse with an adjustable DPI setting. on another note, if you haven't done it yet....there's a setting in properties where you can adjust your mouse look speed. its not the best..I leave it at 0 as even going up to 3 is too fast for me...but I think I found it on setting 2 by default. though im not sure I did that ages ago and forgot...either way, it's there, and if its above zero it may be an option to take advantage of to reduce the spaz effect (As I call it) on your current mouse till the budget opens up.