TheRealShepard Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 So I have decided to make a Vanguard after realizing I'm not a big fan of Scoundrel. The lines are pretty funny, but gameplay wise I've never been a big fan of the Rogue archetype and when I tried Slinger, just.. bleh. I had a couple questions! What tree would be better, leveling wise? No, I do not have any Presence from other characters (This would be the first I get to 55). I asked on the Reddit and everyone told me the tank one, but I feel like it would just be incredibly slow. What would be the best companion? I'm thinking Elara when I get her, simply because she's a healer and could probably heal me through soloing most Heroic 2s if I keep her geared. Best set of crew skills? I already have 2 characters with Cybertech and I really DO NOT want a 3rd. I was thinking of switching to tank later, so maybe Biochem/Bioanalysis/Diplomacy would be best? What race is YOUR Vanguard? (I know, not really IMPORTANT, but I'm asking anyway). The one I'm making is Human, or possibly Mirialan.. I haven't decided yet being that I haven't even made it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TACeMossie Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) So I have decided to make a Vanguard after realizing I'm not a big fan of Scoundrel. The lines are pretty funny, but gameplay wise I've never been a big fan of the Rogue archetype and when I tried Slinger, just.. bleh. I had a couple questions! What tree would be better, leveling wise? No, I do not have any Presence from other characters (This would be the first I get to 55). I asked on the Reddit and everyone told me the tank one, but I feel like it would just be incredibly slow. What would be the best companion? I'm thinking Elara when I get her, simply because she's a healer and could probably heal me through soloing most Heroic 2s if I keep her geared. Best set of crew skills? I already have 2 characters with Cybertech and I really DO NOT want a 3rd. I was thinking of switching to tank later, so maybe Biochem/Bioanalysis/Diplomacy would be best? What race is YOUR Vanguard? (I know, not really IMPORTANT, but I'm asking anyway). The one I'm making is Human, or possibly Mirialan.. I haven't decided yet being that I haven't even made it. Best leveling tree actually changes a lot as you level up. it starts off as shield tech in plasma cell (level 18-20 puts points into assault tree for Ionized Ignition), at level 21 it swaps to Tactics, and at level 25 it swaps to assault. At level 31 tactics makes a comeback as a possible spec, and from that point onwards its personal preference. Though note that shield spec is about 67% of the dps of the DPS trees in equal gear (though needs a shield for an offhand) at level 55, but significantly tougher and also gets quicker FP pops as its a tank and tanks are always in demand, and also the difference the specs gets bigger as you go higher up the tree (e.g. until level 40, assault and tactics are neck in neck. The next 3 levels give a nice boost to assault, and on hitting 45 assault massive charges ahead). The best companion for levelling is actually all of them! Just make sure that you keep your old gear and always put it on your old companion, since they share all your gear with you. Yuun (melee DPS, last companion you get) is probably the worst one because he's glitched though. If you are willing to shell out the CCs, treek outclasses all other companions for a vanguard by far, but only because she shares every piece of your gear, allowing you to carry a tank and DPS set around with you. Though I did level with Elara, and because I was a tank and kept both our gear completely up to date, I was soloing heroic 4s by the end of Alderaan. If I had treek though, I would have used her over elara (I bought treek on my vanguard once I hit legacy 40) The best crew skills for pretty much anyone would be the Biochem/Bioanalysis/Diplomacy combo. It lets you get to light V for free unity so much quicker, but also gives you reusable medpacks and stims and adrenals, which make mobs so much easier to deal with. I found I didn't even have to rest after most fights, because I just popped the reusable medpack mid-fight and it covered everything, and if you ever get into end-game progression or PvP stuff, the reusable stimpacks are a really nice bonus to have, saving yourself 3k/hour Finally, I made my vanguard a human, because I thought "I should get around to making a human" (chiss sniper, pureblood assassin, zabrak warrior, mirulaka sage, mirilian sentinel, cyborg scoundrel, mirilian merc) Edited July 12, 2014 by TACeMossie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealShepard Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 So would it be viable and Not to slow to level up as a tank? If so, I'd probably just do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastervalkar Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 My Vanguard was the only character I leveled as a Tank for the majority of the way. Only when I hit Belsavis and thing started to not die as quickly, did I switch to Tactics and never looked back. Thinking back on my leveling process (was last year, early 2.4) I could survive anything running as Shield Spec, and everything up to Hoth died fast enough ( my gear was always at level, Artifact quality barrels/earpieces/implants for both me and Elara), but so how the level up between Hoth and Belsavis was enough that missions slowed down where I decided to try Tactics. Ran all the way to 55 in it (was lvl 42 when I made the swtich), and though I have a decent tanking set, my Vanguard is a Assault Spec beast in mid-maxed 180s now. Couldn't be happier with him. TACe is spot on in everything else. He always is, his VG is a legend on the Harbinger and the VG forums. Last thing: Though Treek is great (used her in leveling 4 of my 8 55s), I favor Elara more as my main healer for my Troopers because her heals hit harder in the same gear (in my experience). Treek has had integrated features in her healing, (such as a heal over time that cleanses) and her AOE attack is awesome at low levels. Plus Elara is better to look at, and isnt annoyingly talking constantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mastervalkar Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) So would it be viable and Not to slow to level up as a tank? If so, I'd probably just do that. Sorry didnt answer this direct in my previous comment. Leveling as a Tank mean you have much greater survival (ie can pull multiple groups of mobs, fighting enemies bigger, faster, or stronger then you could otherwise, etc.) but you lose is the speed of being able to kill your enemies much faster then they can try to kill you, meaning (in my experience across 8 years of multiple MMOs) that DPS's speed of kill and ability to clear areas faster out-weighs the advantage of being able to survive the impossible Edited July 12, 2014 by mastervalkar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxSHOONYxx Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 Pretty much listen to TAC he knows his stuff. As for spec, I would (and always do) say that after level 31 Tactics is preferred for leveling just because you mostly fight groups of weak mobs, where AoE is king. But I would advise field respec if you can afford it. For companions it depends on your preference, if you don't mind it taking a bit longer use Elara but if you want to mow down everything as fast as possible I like cat boy and M1 Crew skills I personally use are Biochem/Bioanalysis/slicing just for free money. You'll have to buy the blue/purple mats to make the higher grade stimms and stuff but I like my free money My current vanguard is human because I needed an excuse to buy the white eyes, but my previous one was a sith pureblood just for irony's sake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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