Respecced to tank - having trouble with errant adds

[Avanaco]

I just respecced to tank (level 22), and my first tanking experience was a bit of a disaster.

 

The biggest problem I'm having is when enemies are all spread out and people tend to like to spread their DPS around. I have my 15 second taunt, and my harpoon (but that's not a taunt, just a "large amount of threat"). Aside from that, I'm limited to sticky grenade, pulse cannon and explosive round - if things went WELL I could pick things up and keep them as long as the dps stuck to my main target, but if they messed up I found myself lacking the tools I needed to hold onto everything.

 

Granted, later I managed to verbally whip my group into dpsing the right target, and CCing when I felt that I needed CC... and things started to go better. Still, whenever things would go SLIGHTLY wrong, I'd find myself in a situation that was VERY difficult to recover from.

 

So my questions are these:

1. Is this game simply less forgiving than "that other game" when it comes to multi-mob situations?

2. Do I get any abilities at higher levels that help me deal better with these issues?

3. What's the general tank etiquette in this game as far as scooping up weak and strong mobs when there are 1+ elites present? Is it considered to be no biggie if they get loose and DPS should burn them down, or what? That would make sense to me as long as the healer isn't getting mobbed or something (though that seems to be the likely scenario if DPS aren't paying attention?)

 

It looks like the jedis have a nice instant AOE snap agro ability, I'm hoping that I get something of that nature. Taunt, harpoon, and sticky grenade are only doing so much at this point

Edited December 23, 2011 by Avanaco

[Trevalon]

Stockstrike is your number 1 ability as a tank...put points into Ion Overload and you can Stockstrike + High Impact Shot = big threat.

 

As far as bunches of enemies. Use Pulse Cannon/taunt/Harpoon - but frankly, non elites you don't need to tank. Your DPS should demolish them in a matter of seconds so don't worry about it.

 

Pick up the 1/2 elites in each group and let the dps kill everything else...

 

Also Shadows get an AE taunt off their discharge ability that fairly decent but Guardians don't get crap for AE agro. They are by far the worst tank in the game atm...so be glad you rolled a Vanguard and not a Guard

Edited December 23, 2011 by Trevalon

[Avanaco]

Thank you for the advice.

 

Am I on the wrong track with sticky grenade/explosive round then? Do these have any place in tanking at all? I've actually been throwing sticky grenades instead of a Ion Pulse when I'm tanking 2+ things, simply because it probably generates a lot more threat on multiple targets every 15 seconds... and for the same amount of ammo.

 

I could be off though. Thoughts?

Thanks again.

[elithrar]

Sticky is good for the extra AoE damage/threat on a pack. Explosive Round is useless and costly.

[Trevalon]

Thank you for the advice.

 

Am I on the wrong track with sticky grenade/explosive round then? Do these have any place in tanking at all? I've actually been throwing sticky grenades instead of a Ion Pulse when I'm tanking 2+ things, simply because it probably generates a lot more threat on multiple targets every 15 seconds... and for the same amount of ammo.

 

I could be off though. Thoughts?

Thanks again.

 

Take Explosive Round off your bar - I havent used Explosive Round or Rapid Fire since about lvl 12...

 

Your Main skills should be in this:

 

Stockstrike (First ability I use generally)

 

High Impact Bolt (On the Target after I stockstrike)

 

Ion Pulse (Usually on a different target to grab agro -this is actually a fairly low dmg ability but it lowers the targets damage output so it becomes fairly important to keep up on tough targets)

 

Pulse Cannon (Line this up right and get 2-3 mobs with it)

 

Mortar Strike (when there are a bunch of enemies gathered together - I actually use this more than Explosive Surge as its cheaper for the amount of dmg done).

 

Explosive Surge (I only use this against a bunch of weak enemies as it doesn't do much agro or damage against tougher enemies)

 

Later you will get Charge which is great and should be used whenever ya can.

 

Also don't forget to turn and taunt mobs that are not on you, works great for getting some snap agro - Also taunt is a HUGE skill for bosses as it seems in SWTOR the Devs are not very creative so pretty much every boss has a random agro mechanic (Which is terrible MMO design imo).

 

Those are the main abilities I use. Every now and then I will throw a Sticky Grenade on some random guy, but its pretty rare (I use it on bosses just for the extra DPS but ONLY if I have Ammo to blow).

Edited December 24, 2011 by Trevalon

[Aaoogaa]

Your group should be killing the weakest mobs first. CC the elites if you have it focus each target down. When the first target hits 50% health you should be switching to the next to build threat. You should be target switching often to any nonCC mobs to make sure they stay on you rather than the healer. You are right in guiding the groups kills since it is your job as the tank. If that sentinel wants to jump in before you then let him die and slowly explain so his little DPS brain can understand what you want. All that being said you are only 22 and do not have all your tools yet. If you are maintaining agro on 80% of the mobs and the others are focus firing the healer should not have an issue keeping people up. On a 6 or 7 mob initial pull you will have to expect some bounce around while you lock stuff in. This is why the DPS classes get short duration damage reducers and soon agro dumps.

[Walldude]

As a tank/dps myself, i find that mortars are basically AOE taunts w/ damage. While not exactly lasting, you CAN taunt the biggest threats individually. The Harpoon also means you get the enemy's attention for a good long time.