2.0 Powertech Tanking Guide

[frisco]

A misuse of acronyms on my part. Sorry for the confusion.

 

I do take Ion Overload for proc and do use the Ion Gas Cylinder for the obvious reasons. (using full names to avoid the confusion). Even as a tank, I do take DPS seriously since I'm in a progression guild.

 

I believe we are debating the value of Supercharged Ion Gas, Prototype Cylinders, Iron Fist and Hot Iron.

 

From an actual HM parse from boss fight, here are actual numbers plus calculated values (to accommodate my current skill tree)

 

Supercharged Ion Gas

Ion Overload Base damage: 4590 (23.30 dps)

Bonus with 1 point Supercharge Ion Gas: 1148 (5.82 dps) (assumes single boss fight)

Total damage: 5738 (29.13 dps)

 

Prototype Cylinders:

Ion Cylinder Base damage: 6867 (34.73 dps)

Bonus with 1 pt Protoype Cylinder alone: 549 (2.79 dps)

Total Damage: 7416 (37.64 dps)

 

Hot Iron (1pt)

Flame burst base damage: 56423 (286.41 dps)

Hot iron with 1 point: 1693 (8.59 dps)

Total damage: 58116 (295.00 dps)

 

Iron fist (1pt)

Rocket punch base damage: 16187 (82.16 dps)

Bonus with 1 point Iron fist: 647 (3.28 dps)

Total damage with 1pt Iron fist: 16834 (85.45 dps)

 

 

I'll verify the numbers from a few other fights, but from a DPS/TPS per point in skill tree perspective, looks like the priority for the extra points are:

 

Hot Iron > Supercharged Ion Gas> Iron fist > Prototype Cylinders

 

I only included 1 point in Hot Iron/Iron Fist above, but the second point is additive. Here is the math for 2 points:

 

Hot Iron (2pts)

Flame burst base damage: 56423 (286.41 dps)

Hot Iron with 2 points: 3385 (17.18 dps)

Total damage: 59808 (303.59 dps)

 

Iron fist (2p)

Rocket punch base damage: 16187 (82.16 dps)

Bonus with 2pts Iron fist: 1295 (6.57 dps)

Total damage with 2pts Iron fist: 17482 (88.41)

 

Based on this, 2 points in Hot iron is almost a must have now....Supercharge also a good dps boost. I may try swapping 1 point in Iron fist for Prototype burn enhancers and post a new parse this week.

[frisco]

Dummy parses:

 

http://www.torparse.com/a/256812 36/8/2

DPS: 906.4 (didn't bother clipping end of parse)

TPS: 1930.22

 

0 point Supercharged Ion gas

2 points hot iron

0 point prototype cylinder

1 point prototype burn enhancer

2 points iron fist

 

 

http://www.torparse.com/a/256836 36/9/1

DPS: 952.82 (didn't bother clipping end of parse)

TPS: 2041.42

 

1 point Supercharged Ion Gas

2 points hot iron

0 point prototype cylinder

2 points protoype burn enhancer

1 point iron fist

 

Some RNG in there, but good idea of what to expect with each build.

Edited May 29, 2013 by frisco

[Marb]

I think you should also take into account that flamebust should really just be used to refresh the combust debuff, rapid shots as filler will make heatblast come off cooldown sooner. Rocket punch and railshot are always going to be used on cooldown, and flamethrower should be as well (even without the flame engine proc).

 

Also, I find it surprising that hot iron is bringing more damage to the table then iron fist.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Marb

[Mc_Gregor]

Probably should post a parse so we can see the nuances of the fight and see how much ICG really impacted total TPS.

 

Using the build I posted early which forgoes ICG in favor of HI and RP, my TPS was 8246.14 Granted this is HM where a tank swap is somewhat necessary when the other tank gets booted into the air during Thrashers roar phase. Flame burst accounted for 605 TPS in this parse. (Tanks are forced to move a lot during HM so FB/RS/RP tend to be used quite a bit)

 

DPS wise, I parsed 960dps in full tank gear. My biggest problem was the fight only lasted a little over 3min.

 

http://www.torparse.com/a/213217/11/0/Overview

 

edited to add this fight was with the current #2 (3179) and #4 (2920) DPS for Thrasher on torparse. We didn't have a problem holding threat even with their dps.

 

Here is the parse: http://www.torparse.com/a/254656, my dps was 1242.

 

From what I see in yours your TPS on Thrasher itself is 4692.4, the rest comes from snipers and demolitionists aggro. If you also substract neural dart you will net 2322 tps. We dont do tank swap since one of the tanks and one marauder is up on the gallery killing snipers and the whole raid remains stationary on the ground. This makes fight a bit longer but also a lot easier and less hectic.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Mc_Gregor

[WillLongstick]

Thrasher is a terrible fight to examine for tank threat and DPS. You get a damaged increase buff that the DPS doesn't.

[TheDuge]

I didn't read the whole thread only the first post, so this may have been discussed already. You say:

 

For enhancements use only Bulwark and Bastion, the other ones are high Endurance and suboptimal.

 

The Bulwark and Bastion have these stats at 30:

58 End 72 Shield 29 Absorb

58 End 72 Shield 29 Defense

 

While the sturdiness and immunity enhancements have these at 30:

47 End 72 Shield 47 Absorb

47 End 72 Shield 47 Defense

 

So if I want to do as you say, and don't concentrate on endurance but secondary stats, then shouldn't I be using the sturdiness and immunity enhancements?

 

BTW really awesome guide, I was so happy to find it, congratz for it

[Snarkasms]

Pretty sure he was talking about Bastion/Bulwark at Underworld level or higher. Anything below that is Sturdiness/Immunity, yes.

[TheDuge]

Well, at underworld level we have bastion for example: 63 End 79 Shield 32 Def

And immunity: 46 End 79 Shield 52 Def

It still seems to me that immunity (and sturdiness) should be the way to go.

[Snarkasms]

I was fairly sure there weren't any 31 immunity/sturdiness from my gear checks and other forum posts here, but I might be wrong, I guess. If you're getting them off of an item site, I agree they're better, I just don't think they're actually in game anywhere. Kitru was talking the other day about how the devs haven't put them in because they're so obviously better in every respect.

[TheDuge]

You are right, they aren't in game. The 30 ones are in game only because they are craftable, but you can't get them from any gear. I was using askmrrobot to get the stas btw.

 

Edit: I checked and even the 30 sturdiness and immunity enhancements seem not to exist. Afaik you can craft them if you RE some which you rip from arkanian gear. But that gear does not have these enhancements anywhere. SO yeah, basically the guide is right in what enhancements are the best. Well done

Edited June 4, 2013 by TheDuge

[Snarkasms]

Personally, I use the rating 66 Imm/Sturd until I get the Underworld Bas/Bul, which I think many do.

[SSSPARKY]

Awesome guide - especially the link to the defensive stat regression. Thanks!

[thebvp]

Interesting discussion here. While I think it's fine to be a rock hard tank, your healers probably won't appreciate you having a low health bar that is slave to the RNG. And having played one, I can tell you that this is particularly true for healing classes with massive "bomb" heals with cast times as opposed to instant hots. That said, I prefer using something similar to the effective health that was used in WoW.

 

Consider the following ignoring spec tree mechanics:

Over the course of an infinitely long fight:

1) A 1% chance to avoid an attack entirely is the same as reducing all incoming attacks by 1%.

2) A 50% to reduce damage of an incoming attack by 50% is the same as a 25% to avoid an attack entirely.

 

I think you can see what I'm getting at here. When looking at damage taken:

 

1% defense = 1% armor = 10% shield and absorb

Now, effective health says the following:

A tank with 40,000 hp and 50% mitigation has 80,000 effective health.

A tank with 30,000 hp and 60% mitigation has 75,000 effective health.

 

The goal here is to simply get as much effective health as possible. The only question is how to get there.

 

This is where you need to look at things from a micro perspective. While it's fine to stack one type of mitigation, you need to think of how it will affect your damage intake. Defense is great, but it is slave to the RNG and will make your health spike. Similarly, straight armor is fantastic, but your damage intake will be consistent and your healers will never get a break if they need it. And while it's true spongebob (endurance based) builds receive more damage, they also give your healers more time to respond.

 

This is why I prefer a blend.

Edited August 4, 2013 by thebvp
typo

[Osskask]

This is where you need to look at things from a micro perspective. While it's fine to stack one type of mitigation, you need to think of how it will affect your damage intake. Defense is great, but it is slave to the RNG and will make your health spike. Similarly, straight armor is fantastic, but your damage intake will be consistent and your healers will never get a break if they need it. And while it's true spongebob (endurance based) builds receive more damage, they also give your healers more time to respond.

 

This is why I prefer a blend.

 

The one thing you're missing in your discussion, is that the only choices you have are defense, shield, and absorption. Armor is completely based on armorings, which only have endurance and your main stat, so you only control this by upgrading to the best armoring you can have. When it comes to choosing between defense, shield, and absorption, you want to strike a balanced ratio.

[thebvp]

The one thing you're missing in your discussion, is that the only choices you have are defense, shield, and absorption. Armor is completely based on armorings, which only have endurance and your main stat, so you only control this by upgrading to the best armoring you can have. When it comes to choosing between defense, shield, and absorption, you want to strike a balanced ratio.

 

Right, I agree completely.

 

I guess the only point where the discussion of armorings would come up is when, say, you're deciding whether or not to upgrade an Arkanian set bonus piece to an Underworld nonset bonus piece. In this case, it is never worth upgrading from a 69 to a 72 armoring if you cannot maintain your four set bonus, because the armoring increase is not greater than 2% defense.

 

I think you are absolutely right regarding striking a balance. When someone asks "do I want defense, shield chance, or absorb?" the quick answer is, "yes."

[TraumaDrift]

Great guide, thanks so much for posting it (it helped me quite a bit going from a pre-2.0 assassin to a post 2.0 powertech!)

 

I do have a question however: Has there been any additional research or math/theory on set bonus versus armoring?

 

Currently, for armoring, I'm using a campaign set (61) for the bonus, 72 in offhand and 72 in fifth slot (And a mix of 72's and 69's for all mods/enhancements - grinding dailies whenever I have time to earn the creds for bastion/bulwark 31's). So with that in mind - Would I be better swapping those armorings to 69's, waiting until I can get all 72's or just keeping the 61's?

 

I don't do operations, so getting higher level set bonus is out unless they put them on com vendors or start dropping from HM FP (like the old tionese/columi).

 

My guild and I mostly do a few 55 HM FP a week, but for a while now it's just been 3 of us and a companion so every bit of extra tanking power can be the difference between a win or loss, so appreciate any input on this!

[jacobhubbard]

Wow very interesting, I have a level 55 Powertech on solid Tank and yes you do want some Defensive but don't take it all away just so you lose tons of Health. Good job though but there is a lot of Defensive in there but again good job.

[Snake_of_Nemesis]

Hope this isn't Necroposting or anything but just wanted to bring up the Opening rotation you use and my own ideas.

 

I have yet to even hit 55 with my Ptech but I am loving him very much. With that said this thread is an excellent help for looking ahead On with the rotation!!

 

You have yours set down with 2x Flame Bursts quite early on, is that to get aggro on mobs that may be a bit scattered about?

 

My personal opener (or what will be soon enough) consists of: Explosive Fuel -> Jet Charge -> Flame Sweep -> Rocket Punch -> Rail Shot -> Flame Thrower -> Flame Sweep

 

You will notice two things, first I do not use Flame Burst at all, at least not for opening the fight. The reason comes down to Flame Sweep. After using Jet Charge, Flame Sweep is free for the next 2 uses. Its a full AoE, meaning it will hopefully hit things around me right at the start of a fight (if things are scattered perhaps use RP/RS and then use Sweep). More importantly is the damage reduction Proc from Flame Sweep. To apply that debuff to all the mobs around me, whilst still in effect taunting them all to me through the damage as well (all being completely free) just sounds so lovely. Down the road slightly, I use it one last time while it is still free to use, making sure that all through the opening my heat is dead low. The Debuff will have been placed on many targets as well as last plenty long for the second FSweep to update its duration. Granted this is all considering a fight with multiple targets, not a solo boss.

 

In such a case as the solo boss, is the damage from Flame Burst much higher then Flame sweeps? In such a case I can see using Burst instead to help build up the agro.