LVL 50 tanking guide?

[Wiffydog]

Is there an updated tanking guide out there for 1.7? anything that tells you builds, attack priorities or armor? everything i find is outdated by atleast a year.

[grallmate]

Here's one I wrote about the time of 1.5 but has fallen to page 2. Fortunately, nothing has changed for Guardian since 1.3. That said, a lot of it will change when 2.0 hits, namely that Hybrid will no longer be the preferred tanking spec.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=608472

[Wiffydog]

thanks for that it really has helped, do you plan on coming out with something when 2.0 hits?

[grallmate]

Yeah I plan to update it when it does. I'm holding off now just in case something changes again before it hits Live. Fortunately, the important bits like understanding what a tank actually does won't change but I can assure you that 2.0 is a massive QOL boost for Guardians. Like off the charts.

[Jossajus]

Yeah I plan to update it when it does. I'm holding off now just in case something changes again before it hits Live. Fortunately, the important bits like understanding what a tank actually does won't change but I can assure you that 2.0 is a massive QOL boost for Guardians. Like off the charts.

 

Lol AOE threat will be a joke. Trash mobs will basically be a Saber Throw, Force Leap, (MAYBE push) Sweep, Guardian Slash, Cyclone Slash until depleted, Combat focus, Force Sweep, Guardian Slash, Cyclone Slash. If it turns out different I'll eat my shorts.

[grallmate]

Lol AOE threat will be a joke. Trash mobs will basically be a Saber Throw, Force Leap, (MAYBE push) Sweep, Guardian Slash, Cyclone Slash until depleted, Combat focus, Force Sweep, Guardian Slash, Cyclone Slash. If it turns out different I'll eat my shorts.

 

The difficulty for Guardians when AoE tanking has more to do with the 4m range on most abilities than anything else. Once you add in multiple spread out ranged enemies it gets worse since they don't run in and group up together for you. Great Guardian tanks can already deal with that situation while the buffs aren't going to make it THAT much easier for the bad ones. They'll help, but it won't be "lol aoe threat" since the Guardian still needs to keep everything within a smaller area than the others.

 

Finally, once I've got everything on me and know its not leaving until its dead (aka, I've depleted ~25% of its HP myself) I tend to stop spamming AoE abilities since they are pitifully weak and don't help me survive. I just go back to Single target rotation and change targets every so often.

[Jossajus]

The difficulty for Guardians when AoE tanking has more to do with the 4m range on most abilities than anything else. Once you add in multiple spread out ranged enemies it gets worse since they don't run in and group up together for you. Great Guardian tanks can already deal with that situation while the buffs aren't going to make it THAT much easier for the bad ones. They'll help, but it won't be "lol aoe threat" since the Guardian still needs to keep everything within a smaller area than the others.

 

Finally, once I've got everything on me and know its not leaving until its dead (aka, I've depleted ~25% of its HP myself) I tend to stop spamming AoE abilities since they are pitifully weak and don't help me survive. I just go back to Single target rotation and change targets every so often.

 

You're right, great Guardian tanks already deal with the situation, and bad ones won't get that great of a boost. However, this will really help the ones like me, who are just adequate. Who have the basic fundementals down and can get decent AOE threat but may have a little trouble holding it as the fight wears on and NEED to use taunts in order to keep AOE threat (and can keep aggro on the boss no problem). I still get the job done, and still avoid wiping, I just work really hard for it.