No vanguard guides

[paowee]

( Hi new Vanguard here! Level 32 )

 

The ones i found via search were mostly outdated . Looking for a good tanking and DPS write-up :-\

Edited September 23, 2013 by paowee

[T-Assassin]

( Hi new Vanguard here! Level 32 )

 

The ones i found via search were mostly outdated . Looking for a good tanking and DPS write-up :-\

 

DPS guide is as follows:

 

Reroll.

 

Tank guide:

 

hold agro, guard your best, in-range DPS.

 

Naw, j/k (kinda)

 

if you are looking for a DPS guide, first you need to decide which spec you prefer. Tactics or Assault.

 

Tactics, is mostly about 3 stacks of "pulse generator". the rotation is pretty easy as well. keep gut on, PC at 3 stacks, IP, or free SS. once you practice on a dummy, you'll see how it is quite intuitive, and not heavily proc reliant. just 3 stacks and a free SS.

 

Assault, well...I have my own opinion on Assault. I run 8-8-30 (currently, no reason to take AP, or any of the top 4 talents). IR, HiB, IP, HiB, IP, HS, IP, HiB..on the 4th rotation, IR, IP, IP, HiB...and continue. you can remain <10m and maintain MAX DPS. (according to my parses SS is a wash for DPS...see any of my previous posts) you will have little to no ammo issues, even using MV (IP, HiB...or IP, IP, HiB) as needed. and Reserve Powercell and Recharge Cells during burn phase (adrenal, relic, battle focus, shoulder cannon)

 

I'm a long time Pyro/Assault, so I don't play tactics...but, it parses higher than assault, and will continue to do so, post 2.4. (as my parsing indicates) I just prefer the range and play style.

 

also, my personal preference, Assault for PvP. I love to kite. some would say I am doing it wrong, but I do quite well. to each his own. i'm not on any uber ranked, hardcore team...but, I was a server first BM, I have some PvP experience...but, what do I know? (again play style preference)

 

Tanking, I wish I could offer you some solid advice, but from my limited testing and playing as SS, I would hate to steer you wrong. people are saying hybrid SS/tactics is pretty viable in PvP...again, i'm assault, so I can't really say.

 

gearing for assault, acc to 100% (HiB NEEDS to hit). then I stack power, with crit/surge(23%/70%) on MH/OH. Aim augments.

 

I use Elara for solo PvE and have had no issues with 50 HM's (except Battle for Ilum, final boss. haven't tried LI) and kingpin bounties were a cakewalk.

 

anything else you can think of, just ask...i'll try my best to help.

[TACeMossie]

If you can't find anything for vanguards, you can always look here...

http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=56

(PT Sub-forum)

 

I can offer some advice for tanking though:

As you are currently level 32, you should have a skill tree something like this:

(Torhead's skill calculator isn't working for me for some reason so just put points where I tell ya):

Everything in tier 1 except brutal impact

Everything in tier 2 except neural overload

Everything in tier 3

Everything in tier 4 except defensive measures

Storm in Tier 5

 

As you progress:

Static surge, followed up by Pulse engine, then Deflective guards, then 2 points in what YOU want them in, then the rest of the Tier 7 abiltiies and Energy Blast.

The final points go into:

Heavy Stock

Demolition

Power Armor

Focused Impact

CHOICE OF:

Blaster Augs or Tactical tools (1/2). I take blaster augs but others prefer 2 Pulse Cannons in a row if Pulse engine doesn't proc.

 

Now that the skill tree is covered, Keep these in mind:

Try to keep Pulse Cannon on cooldown. It hits like a truck, especially if pulse engine procs. If Pulse engine does proc, use Pulse Cannon next GCD to minimize downtime of it.

Stock Strike is also one of your strongest abilities. Keep that on cooldown, and when possible follow up with a High Impact Bolt (HiB)

ALWAYS Keep energy blast on cooldown when you get it

 

Energy management is very easy. Pulse engine makes the next pulse cannon free. Hammer shots does more damage than you would expect because of Ion Cell. Storm is free and makes the 2 next explosive surges free! Energy Blast is not only free, but is off the global cooldown and automatically regenerates energy!

 

As for gear, you start off getting defense, but eventually you want 18% defense chance (boosted to 20% with set bonus), 40% absorb rate (Boosted to max 58% due to Power Screens + Energy Blast) and as much shield as possible. Mainly because a lot of your procs happen from shielding.

 

Also with 2.4 around the corner, DPS guides are all going to have to be reworked, so wait until then to learn about the changes to it.

[Michalrajtar]

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=658277 Here is Hybrid DPS guide.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=158355 Here is tanking guide.

 

Probably in 2.4 much better than hybrid will be Tactics DPS Vang. I am sure that in few minutes you could find Tactics guide on Vanguard subforum. Just search. Now I am using on DPS Hybrid and Tactics (depending on fight) for PvE.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Michalrajtar

[paowee]

Thanks for the links! I really want to steer away from Hybrid builds since i know BW is actively working to buff full trees to make the hybrids obsolete (pve).

 

I am finding VG tank to be very fun ad a nice change from Sin tanking.

 

Pull is very nice for run away adds, and i just basically AoE everything down with mortar volley, the sticky grenade, pulse cannon. Also if i can pull it off i Storm and do the 2 free explosive surge ^_^, very fun. This class has ridiculous amounts of AoE threat! I can't wait for the top tier tanking talent too How exactly does it look like?

 

Aside from the long cooldowns basically i just do:

 

single target:

Stockstrike

HiB

Ion pulse

auto attack

 

aoe:

mortar volley

sticky grenade

hib (the talent!)

storm+explosive surge

auto attack.

 

also what level do i get the AoE stun?

 

p.s. VGs = really fun aoe tanks!

[MGNMTTRN]

I noticed you left off Pulse Cannon/Flamethrower from your mention of AOE and single-target tank damage. I just want to point out that Pulse Cannon, at its 3 sec cast time and pushback protection, is more ammo-efficient and has better damage than just using Ion Pulse twice in a row would be, so it's good AOE and single-target damage. Stockstrike and HIB are still more important to get on CD at level 55 due to their contributions to energy blast uptime, but once you get closer to level 55 and can cast Pulse Cannon for free over 1.5 sec, it's actually probably going to be your highest-DPS ability.

 

I don't have a good 'guide' written up, but I do have some detailed and evidence-backed notes on Vanguard tank mechanics written up at my vanguard tank thread and I covered things like AOE damage and single-target damage, as well as outlining your highest-priority abilities.

 

I cover AOE threat gen/DPS in my thread but didn't really discuss the killzone. In my opinion it's the tank's job to create a 'killzone', or a place where everything inside should be AOE'd. This can involve tactics like 1) pulling ranged enemies closer to a group of melee enemies; the ranged enemy is next to you and the melee enemies run to you, so the killzone is centered on yourself 2) pulling one ranged enemy toward another ranged enemy, and having the melee enemies chase you to their location 3) with lower-skilled or lower-geared teammates, you may find it necessary to designate cc targets and pull them out of the killzone.

 

As for Tactics and Assault advice... Tactics is really up in the air, but my gut tells me even after the patch you're going to want to cast Pulse Cannon a lot.

[Darth_Dreselus]

I won't discuss DPS as 2.4 is landing two days from now and while I may have an idea of what it will be like, I want to test it first.

 

The tanking guide linked earlier is mostly good, I don't know where he gets the ranged threat to have a threshold of 125% instead of 130% but that hardly matters. The links to builds are generally outdated too. It is still a good resource

 

Just a few things

-Endurance talent in Assault tree is generally optional, really depends if you (or rather your healers) need that extra buffer. Some fights it may be very useful, others not so much.

-Do not be afraid to use Pulse Cannon and Mortar Volley for ST damage, it is still worthwhile, particularly on burn phases like Kephess

-I also do not take Blaster Augs (increases the DoT by 8% a whopping increase of bugger all considering the DoT) and instead put one point into Tactical Tools. The reason for that is that the natural cd of Pulse Cannon is 18s and the internal cd of the PC proc is also 18s. By making the natural cd 16.5s you can double up on your Pulse Cannons in the 18s window, if you are on top of it.

-Energy Blast now actually has a tanking mechanic attached to it, it gives you 25% Absorption for 6s. As a result you want to use it as much as possible. The cd of of Energy blast can be lowered by shielding, Hammer Shot, Stockstrike or High Impact Bolt. Essentially if the cd is about 2s left and SS/HiB become available it may be more prudent to use HS/IP instead and then use SS/HiB once Energy Blast has gone on its fresh 15s cd.

-Unlike Force Pull, Harpoon only does about 2k threat, it may be more useful to just use Battle Focus+Storm to start a fight, unless you can and want to move the enemy towards you.

 

With that in mind here is my build: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801GMGrdoroMdRRZrc0zZb.3

As outlined some points are optional/personal preference/dependant on fights

[mfourcustom]

Re-roll to a jug, sniper, mara or op heals if you want any shot at doing anything in this game.

 

Drop the vanguard as fast as you can for your own sake.

[Zoom_VI]

Just push buttons and numbers pop up.