Some friendly VG pvp advice please? Or not.......

[Trinzek]

Hey Guys, I'm a longtime lurker, but a first time poster here.

 

I have a lvl 55 vg right now, he was my first toon out of 5 and I gotta say that I don't enjoy playing on him anymore. I found that when I started 55 pvp that I was having a hard time dealing any damage at all. Now I realize that I suck. Now that I've admitted that some of this is on me, I'd also like to say that the class kind of (<----emphasis on KIND OF) sucks and has contributed to my failure somewhat. I serve no purpose in Warzones as of now. I can guard a healer, but other than that I have no utility other than to protect. So I focus on getting objectives and using my aoe debuffs, stuns, and taunts to help my team mates. I'm also ashamed to say I really can't 1v1 many people, so node guarding can be a drag at times. It seems like a good amount of my attacks are always absorbed when I'm in a group battle (it mostly because the sorcs keep their team bubbled up), it's like I'm not making a dent. It's really discouraging, but I don't want to give up. I have okay survivability thanks to my shields, Adrenaline rush, my missles and a good healer, but in reality the healer is wasting his time trying to keep alive a tank that can't kill anyone. But a tank like me with dps that isn't that good can only last so long against an operative, sniper, or marauder. I've even recently caught some major (and might I say rude) grief from another player for not being able to dish out enough damage in voidstar. The guy obviously didn't understand that my role ISN'T DAMAGE, but to mitigate and reduce damage to others, but I should still be able to take someone down on my own every once in a while. Other tank classes seem to do just fine in both areas of satisfactory dps and tankyness. I would go dps, but I'm too far into my tank gear now. And to be honest, I do a lot better in pve. But I don't want to give up and just stick to that.

 

I do have some of my partisan gear, and I'm trying to get at least one conqueror piece, but It's been hard since me and the pug groups I've queued with haven't been able to win a warzone match lately, which in turn gets me no ranked comms from the weekly or dailies. So for now I'm trying to improve myself. I'm not a terribad pvper, I do win plenty of matches and I keep my healers alive, and I try to do what I can. I do just fine on my 34 sentinel, and 32 scoundrel. But I seem to get ripped to shreds on my 55 vg toon( Yes I do understand 55 pvp bracket is a whole different ball game). Are there any VGtank pvpers who can offer me some advice to get better? Or any other pvpers? Should I just go dps or what? If you need to know my character stats to give me an answer just ask.

 

Also while lurking these forums I've seen the posts from all you LEARN2PLAY'ers. Some of you are right and are just being honest because some people are just whining and are making excuses, and I see that some of you are just being jerks about it. Not everyone is as good as you, and since they aren't, why not help them get better instead of just telling them to "learnz 2 playzz". I'm not saying everyone is being like that, just some. Let's just face it, some parts of this game are a bit unbalanced. Not all but some, and not unbalanced enough to make me stop playing. I'm sure those of you who feel that their not on par with everyone else can get better with work. Come at me. I'm just saying it like it is. This last paragraph was just a side note. Refer to everything above this paragraph for my original post.

[Atramar]

well, if you want some pt tank things, I started discussion jugg vs PT (so guardian vs vanguard for republic)

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=663060

 

hope that helps

 

in short, I'm loving my PT tank, however briefly.. I find jugg more sturdy... both are good, definetly better then assassins (shadows), while PT/Vans getting alot of hate 'roll a jugg lol', they are good and definetly more fun at pugs

remember, when you are 1 vs 1, don't face tank. if you guard a node, KITE and use 30 meters advantage you have. LOS, interrupt, and such. I could dance with smash monkey for 90 seconds until he gave up and ran off (ofc it was team mistake NOT to come at my 'incs', but hey, we live and learn)

however, as much as I love my PT, untill some buffs come, I'm gearing my jugg tank (guardian) to pvp...

Edited July 21, 2013 by Atramar

[Trinzek]

^Thanks, that should shed some light. I saw some of the posts and noticed that one strong point for them is slowing enemies at choke points and pulling healers. I may not be getting any kills but it will certainly help my team fare better.

[Chickensevil]

As tank you should ALWAYS strive to be number one on the "protection" chart. Aside from that, knowing who to stun and control is really what your purpose is... that and ball running, node guarding. Peeling people off your healers and helping to stun, control, burn their healers is really what it is all about.

 

Most tanks in pvp don't go "full tank". A lot of times what you will see is people will either get full dps gear and spec tank, full tank gear and spec dps, or possibly some hybrid inbetween on the trees (half tank tree half dps). I am not saying that it is not viable to go full tank gear, full tank spec... but just that if you want to balance out your damage a bit more than might be the way to go.

[Trinzek]

As tank you should ALWAYS strive to be number one on the "protection" chart. Aside from that, knowing who to stun and control is really what your purpose is... that and ball running, node guarding. Peeling people off your healers and helping to stun, control, burn their healers is really what it is all about.

 

Most tanks in pvp don't go "full tank". A lot of times what you will see is people will either get full dps gear and spec tank, full tank gear and spec dps, or possibly some hybrid inbetween on the trees (half tank tree half dps). I am not saying that it is not viable to go full tank gear, full tank spec... but just that if you want to balance out your damage a bit more than might be the way to go.

 

I do usually keep my protection pretty high, but there are some game where the nearest player is already guarded and leaving to find someone to guard isn't an option. In reply to the underlined text: That is actually a good idea, I've tried some hybrid specs but they didn't work out, but maybe I'll give it another go. That could be the reason I get beaten by tank spec PT's and the reason I see other tank spec VG's perform a little better. Any suggested specs to try?

[xxforcardassia]

By your arguments, any full blown tank in PvP doesn't have a lot of utility. Your job IS to guard and protect your teammates (healers mostly, also the ball carrier in huttball). If you're looking for damage, that's probably not going to happen in the setup you explained you have.

 

Number one issue is gear, if you can fill the holes in with Basic pieces until you can finish your PvP gear, it would help you out. Simply waiting it out and trying to trudge through WZs until you can finish your set is only going to further discourage you.

 

And if you really, truly, plan to tank... then tank. You can't expect high damage/dps numbers fully setup to tank, it's just not going to happen. If you want more viability damage-wise, then I suggest the same as one of the posters above me: either gear as a tank and spec dps or spec tank and gear for dps. Really the only way to get the "best of both worlds", that is, sturdiness as a tank and damage as a dps. Though you'll probably get more damage out of the latter (spec tank, gear dps).

[Trinzek]

By your arguments, any full blown tank in PvP doesn't have a lot of utility. Your job IS to guard and protect your teammates (healers mostly, also the ball carrier in huttball). If you're looking for damage, that's probably not going to happen in the setup you explained you have.

 

Number one issue is gear, if you can fill the holes in with Basic pieces until you can finish your PvP gear, it would help you out. Simply waiting it out and trying to trudge through WZs until you can finish your set is only going to further discourage you.

 

And if you really, truly, plan to tank... then tank. You can't expect high damage/dps numbers fully setup to tank, it's just not going to happen. If you want more viability damage-wise, then I suggest the same as one of the posters above me: either gear as a tank and spec dps or spec tank and gear for dps. Really the only way to get the "best of both worlds", that is, sturdiness as a tank and damage as a dps. Though you'll probably get more damage out of the latter (spec tank, gear dps).

 

Thanks for the reply, that too is also a great idea. I already have full tank gear and now I'm working on a new set, and after reading your post I'm just going to go ahead and make it a full on dps set. I truly do believe I'll see some great improvements from that.

[TheOneWag]

Are there any VGtank pvpers who can offer me some advice to get better? Or any other pvpers? Should I just go dps or what?

 

I mostly run Tactics, but the real strengths of the VG / PT tank specs (compared to other tanks) in general are HTL (Hold the Line), AOE Stun on a 45 sec CD, Riot Gas, and Harpoon.

 

HTL is going to let you get where you need to be, when you need to be there. My HTL is constantly on CD because I use it very often to get in people's faces. It is one of the best anti-peels in the game, allowing you to stick through roots / slows / physics. The 30% speed boost isn't shabby either.

 

If speccing for PVP tank, I would think a lot about speccing into Defensive Measures to add an immob to your Stealth Scan and Harpoon. Keep in mind that Stealth Scan is not just for dropping out in the open and hoping you hit someone - when the Mara or Operative that is on your healer tries to pop invis to drop target, quickly dropping a scan on top of where you know they are means a 3 second root, making it easier for your healer to get room to cast. The root on harpoon is a little more useful for DPS classes, but can also be useful when playing offensively as a Tank (or huttball dragging people into fire).

 

Neural Overload (AOE Stun) is extremely useful. Use it often for peeling things off of your guard or for disrupting groups in Huttball. Also serves as a clutch interrupt if your main stun and interrupt are on CD vs a non-resolved target.

 

Lastly, Riot Gas. Correct placement on this can slow entire teams of enemies to a crawl. 70% AOE snare that persists for 15 seconds is very strong, not to mention the accuraccy debuff. Another great tool that has many uses - huttball for disruption, or to peel multiple people off of a guarded target.

 

Edit: Also Ranged AOE Taunt is very strong.

 

Come at me.

 

Lol well you rolled a Vanguard, so you're going to get come at. We are at the bottom of the heap, but it does make it that much more sweet when you win.

Edited July 24, 2013 by TheOneWag

[Tonev]

For PvP, if you want to kill and have survivability, go assault/tactics hybrid build. This spec has enabled me to tear any class a new *** in the game 1 vs 1. One thing as people have mentioned, learn to kite, that is key to this build.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801bZrsMrobRMZfG0rzRr.3

 

Here is another one, I messed around with and tore people a new *** in warzones

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801ZrsMrobR0zZfhbrzRrc.3

 

This is link to the spec, enjoy!

Edited July 24, 2013 by Tonev

[Trinzek]

All very good advice guys, it helped me out tons. But I concocted my own idea with a mix of everyone else's. I decided to spec full tactics and continue wearing tank gear. I also use my ion cell for better survivability which allows me to still guard healers and my other teammates. I usually don't exceed 3k a hit, but fire pulse+HIB hit pretty hard when I have my critical tech buff on. I can 1v1 just about anyone without a problem, and if I loose they still barely beat me. My aoe taunt is extremely useful earning me instant protection medals and keeping my teammates alive. No I average a good 10-15 medals a match and top the charts quite often. As for tanking, I only tank in PVE, which is fine with me. But now I like playing on my VG again. Thank guys.