Fresh 60 Shadow Tank, advise needed please :)

[Arbegla]

I just dinged 60, or will tonight, and I'm sitting on a ton of basic comm, so I'm wondering what would be good 'starter' tank items to look into getting right away, and how should I gear up, or adjust the comm gear?

 

I will more then likely NOT have time or the ability to do ops, so I can't look at that gear, unless there is a semi-solo/flashpoint way to get some of that gear. I also don't do PvP, so I'm looking at tank stats for strictly PvE encounters.

 

I did a few searches, and while I did see the wonder tank stat guide, I didn't see anything that flat out says 'This range of numbers correlates to this gear level, or get this relic first, etc' and I would really love something like that so I can follow it.

 

Please let me know if there is anything like that, or what advise I can use.

[Archimbaud]

You will want armor and absorb. A lot.

Take first the torso, head gear and legs. then go for gauntlets and boots and then the remaining pieces. Depending on the credits you have and the craft skills you may change those priorities a bit.

If you have both elite and basic comms, do a mix keeping in mind that armor pieces are more efficient in torso, head and legs.

[Aelanis]

I just dinged 60, or will tonight, and I'm sitting on a ton of basic comm, so I'm wondering what would be good 'starter' tank items to look into getting right away, and how should I gear up, or adjust the comm gear?

 

I will more then likely NOT have time or the ability to do ops, so I can't look at that gear, unless there is a semi-solo/flashpoint way to get some of that gear. I also don't do PvP, so I'm looking at tank stats for strictly PvE encounters.

 

I did a few searches, and while I did see the wonder tank stat guide, I didn't see anything that flat out says 'This range of numbers correlates to this gear level, or get this relic first, etc' and I would really love something like that so I can follow it.

 

Please let me know if there is anything like that, or what advise I can use.

 

Take a look at the guide in my signature. The post for it in these forums is 1 or 2 pages in, but it's definitely there.

[Arbegla]

Take a look at the guide in my signature. The post for it in these forums is 1 or 2 pages in, but it's definitely there.

 

I have looked at that guide, and I perfected my rotation based on it, but from my understanding of the gearing section, it only pertains to operation level gear (token gear) not so much flashpoint and basic comm level gear, unless I'm just not understanding things very well.

 

From what I can gather from the daily/weekly quests, there are non-operation ways to earn elite comms, but not ultimate? I guess I just need a refresher course in the stat structure, and where to get things, as the last thing I really played SWTOR was back in 1.0X....

[Aelanis]

I have looked at that guide, and I perfected my rotation based on it, but from my understanding of the gearing section, it only pertains to operation level gear (token gear) not so much flashpoint and basic comm level gear, unless I'm just not understanding things very well.

 

From what I can gather from the daily/weekly quests, there are non-operation ways to earn elite comms, but not ultimate? I guess I just need a refresher course in the stat structure, and where to get things, as the last thing I really played SWTOR was back in 1.0X....

 

Basically, grab whatever is an upgrade until you get into elite comms gear, and then grab about 3 times as much absorb as you do defense and you'll be fine.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Aelanis

[Gardimuer]

I have looked at that guide, and I perfected my rotation based on it, but from my understanding of the gearing section, it only pertains to operation level gear (token gear) not so much flashpoint and basic comm level gear, unless I'm just not understanding things very well.

 

Aelanis covered the stat priorities pretty well. Also, you can use KeyboardNinja's post as a quick reference for stat goals at different gear levels. In full 186 gear you would be close to 3000 stat budget (if I recall correctly), so you could aim for the following stat balance:

 

defense: 848

shield: 967

absorb: 1186

 

If you are starting from scratch with basic comms, I would recommend doing the following:

 

- Get Armorings, Mods, Earpiece and Implants from the comm vendors. However, the Enhancements you get from comms are garbage, so...

 

- Get 186 Enhancements from a crafter. You should get Advanced Immunity Enhancement 34 (for defense) or Advanced Sturdiness Enhancement 34 (for absorb). These crafted enhancements will be better than anything you can get besides token drops from operations.

 

- Get 186 Ruusan relics from a crafter. These 186 relics are a relatively small stat difference from the 192 relic tokens in operations, so they are very good "bang for your buck." I recommend getting a Reactive Warding relic and a Fortunate Redoubt relic.

 

- Augment your gear. Choose whichever augments you need to meet your stat budget, whether that be Shield, Defense, or Absorb.

 

From what I can gather from the daily/weekly quests, there are non-operation ways to earn elite comms, but not ultimate? I guess I just need a refresher course in the stat structure, and where to get things, as the last thing I really played SWTOR was back in 1.0X....

 

Elite Comms

You can get Elite comms from completing [Weekly] quests on Yavin. You can also get them from the bosses in lvl 55 HM FPs. Additional, you get them as rewards from the random Quefinder dailies, from [Weekly] Searching For Allies, [Weekly] Tactical Flashpoints and [Weekly] Galactic Conflicts.

 

Ultimate Comms

Currently the ways to get these are limited.

 

Outside of Operations: you can get 10 from doing [Weekly] Galactic Conflicts and 4 from the [Weekly] Tactical Flashpoints.

 

Otherwise, you can get 10 from [Weekly] Classic Operations. They also drop from bosses in NiM 55 ops and HM 60 ops.

[Arbegla]

That is exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you so much. I'm barely getting back into SWTOR after a very long absence, and I want to try to not be a fail tank. This is the first MMO that I'm playing a tank in, and so far, I'm loving it. I'll be sure to follow your recommendations, and keep an eye on what defense stats I need to work towards.

 

Thank you every much.

[Vortumnus]

In full 186 gear you would be close to 3000 stat budget (if I recall correctly)

 

i mentioned the def-stat-budget depending on item-level in another thread:

 

186 comms gear: 2884 stat budget

186 comms gear: 3059 stat budget (with crafted enhancements)

186 token gear: 3251 stat budget

 

additionally i would recommend to get the old 4-piece-set-bonus by basic-comms.

You will trade in a little HP but you will gain 2% dmg reduction and 5% shield-chance.

[Arbegla]

i mentioned the def-stat-budget depending on item-level in another thread:

 

186 comms gear: 2884 stat budget

186 comms gear: 3059 stat budget (with crafted enhancements)

186 token gear: 3251 stat budget

 

additionally i would recommend to get the old 4-piece-set-bonus by basic-comms.

You will trade in a little HP but you will gain 2% dmg reduction and 5% shield-chance.

 

How exactly do set bonuses work here? Is it based on the Armoring mod? or the actual item?

[Gardimuer]

How exactly do set bonuses work here? Is it based on the Armoring mod? or the actual item?

 

It's based on the armoring. You can take it out and transfer it to another piece of gear. But keep in mind that Chest armorings can only be used in chest pieces, etc.

[Arbegla]

It's based on the armoring. You can take it out and transfer it to another piece of gear. But keep in mind that Chest armorings can only be used in chest pieces, etc.

 

That makes sense, I was able to grab the Campaign Survivor's chest piece from the False Emperor quest, are there any other solo options to grab Survivor gear for free, or just spend the comms for it and enjoy the free-ish set bonuses?

[Aelanis]

That makes sense, I was able to grab the Campaign Survivor's chest piece from the False Emperor quest, are there any other solo options to grab Survivor gear for free, or just spend the comms for it and enjoy the free-ish set bonuses?

 

You can buy it for commendations to get the level 50 bonus (doesn't stack with 55), or you can run operations. That's it.

[Arbegla]

You can buy it for commendations to get the level 50 bonus (doesn't stack with 55), or you can run operations. That's it.

 

Ok, thank you very much. I'm guessing 'tokens' are the item drops from operations, similar to WoW's gear token drops?

[Aelanis]

Ok, thank you very much. I'm guessing 'tokens' are the item drops from operations, similar to WoW's gear token drops?

 

Exactly like that.

[Arbegla]

Ok, now that I've worked out some of the numbers myself, before I actually make the drive to purchase things, I wanted to touch base here, and get an opinion.

 

Looking over the available crafted enhancements, and augments, and the Mods from level 60 basic gear, I came to a budget of 3,159.

 

As that is right between 3100, and 3200, I had to finagle some numbers and hopefully I came to a good metric to go for.

 

I plan on using the following:

 

1 defense Mod (60 defense)

8 Absorb Mods (480 Absorb)

5 Advanced Immunity Enhancements 36 (510 Shield, 340 Defense)

2 Advanced Sturdiness Enhancements 36 (204 Shield, 136 Absorb)

10 Advanced Absorb Augments 36 (520 Absorb)

1 Advanced Shield Augment 36 (52 Shield)

3 Advanced Redoubt Augment 36 (156 Defense)

Basic Commendation Implant x2 (204 Shield, 206 Defense)

Basic Commendation Ear Piece (102 Shield, 103 Absorb)

Defense Relic x2 (86 Defense)

Total: 848 Defense, 1072 Shield, 1239 Absorb

 

I looked at the level 50 Survivor gear, and while the set bonus is nice, I'm losing almost 2k HP, and almost 500 armor rating, which I think translates to more then the 2% DR that the set bonuses gives me. While the 5% Shield bonus may offset it, I'm just not sure if it would be worth it, especially because I do plan on running flashpoints in the future, probably via the group finder, and I want to try to have a cushion in the event I get a poor PuG.

 

Also, from what I have been reading, I need to get each piece of the Commendation gear, as the Armorings can only be used in specific gear slots (i/e, Bracer Armoring from the commendation gear can only go in Bracers, etc) As I plan on using so many Absorb Mods, this means buying all of the gear pieces, and then duplicating purchases to get the Mods I want. While there are more then enough Basic Commendations to go around, this seems tedious, so I'm hoping there may be a better option.

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

[Aelanis]

Ok, now that I've worked out some of the numbers myself, before I actually make the drive to purchase things, I wanted to touch base here, and get an opinion.

 

Looking over the available crafted enhancements, and augments, and the Mods from level 60 basic gear, I came to a budget of 3,159.

 

As that is right between 3100, and 3200, I had to finagle some numbers and hopefully I came to a good metric to go for.

 

I plan on using the following:

 

1 defense Mod (60 defense)

8 Absorb Mods (480 Absorb)

5 Advanced Immunity Enhancements 36 (510 Shield, 340 Defense)

2 Advanced Sturdiness Enhancements 36 (204 Shield, 136 Absorb)

10 Advanced Absorb Augments 36 (520 Absorb)

1 Advanced Shield Augment 36 (52 Shield)

3 Advanced Redoubt Augment 36 (156 Defense)

Basic Commendation Implant x2 (204 Shield, 206 Defense)

Basic Commendation Ear Piece (102 Shield, 103 Absorb)

Defense Relic x2 (86 Defense)

Total: 848 Defense, 1072 Shield, 1239 Absorb

 

I looked at the level 50 Survivor gear, and while the set bonus is nice, I'm losing almost 2k HP, and almost 500 armor rating, which I think translates to more then the 2% DR that the set bonuses gives me. While the 5% Shield bonus may offset it, I'm just not sure if it would be worth it, especially because I do plan on running flashpoints in the future, probably via the group finder, and I want to try to have a cushion in the event I get a poor PuG.

 

Also, from what I have been reading, I need to get each piece of the Commendation gear, as the Armorings can only be used in specific gear slots (i/e, Bracer Armoring from the commendation gear can only go in Bracers, etc) As I plan on using so many Absorb Mods, this means buying all of the gear pieces, and then duplicating purchases to get the Mods I want. While there are more then enough Basic Commendations to go around, this seems tedious, so I'm hoping there may be a better option.

 

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

 

No, it will be tedious. As for the armorings, You'd have to take a look at the DR formula for Shadow tanks to determine whether or not the 2% flat is worth the loss of armor rating dropping down to campaign armorings. The 5% shield chance is super awesome, though.

[Xuanxu]

If you plan on doing dailies commendation gear is fine, it should be close to the 3000 mitigation budget. On the other hand if you plan to do HM flashpoints and operations i'd suggest you go get a lot of credits and buy the crafted 186 gear from GTN i went with full immunity enhancements, redoubt mods, veracity implants/ear that should give you 3300 mitigation budget iir which will be more than enough until you start getting the unassembled tokens

[Arbegla]

If you plan on doing dailies commendation gear is fine, it should be close to the 3000 mitigation budget. On the other hand if you plan to do HM flashpoints and operations i'd suggest you go get a lot of credits and buy the crafted 186 gear from GTN i went with full immunity enhancements, redoubt mods, veracity implants/ear that should give you 3300 mitigation budget iir which will be more than enough until you start getting the unassembled tokens

 

This is something that I'm very interested in, however I haven't been able to find any hard numbers on what the exactly difference is.

 

The numbers that I posted earlier show a budget of 3159 which is using Comm mods, crafted Advanced 36 enhancements and augments, crafted 186 relics (not the 193 ones, as the difference is ~10 stat points between then, but the cost difference is HUGE) and Comm ear and implants,

 

Are the crafted Ear and implants that much better?

[Gardimuer]

I looked at the level 50 Survivor gear, and while the set bonus is nice, I'm losing almost 2k HP, and almost 500 armor rating, which I think translates to more then the 2% DR that the set bonuses gives me. While the 5% Shield bonus may offset it, I'm just not sure if it would be worth it, especially because I do plan on running flashpoints in the future, probably via the group finder, and I want to try to have a cushion in the event I get a poor PuG.

 

You are right that when pugging the HM FPs you might need a nice HP cushion in case your group has bad reaction time and you have to take up the slack. However, personally I've never felt that 2k HP was enough to make a difference. As long as you have around 50k HP you will be fine.

 

For example, HM Manaan and HM Rakata Prime the largest instances of spike damage occur due to tanking 3+ hard hitting enemies at once for 5-15 seconds. During those short periods, my health drops due to mitigating many small hits rather than single big hits. I pop a defensive cooldown and then I am fine (as long the DPS kill everything before my DCD wears off, which is easy as long as the DPS haven't fallen asleep).

 

As for the armorings, You'd have to take a look at the DR formula for Shadow tanks to determine whether or not the 2% flat is worth the loss of armor rating dropping down to campaign armorings. The 5% shield chance is super awesome, though.

 

Where is the DR formula for reference? I've searched around before, but I never found a formula that correlates with the DR I see on my character sheet in-game after the multipliers for Dark Charge etc.

 

My experience has been that the 2% DR from the set bonus is better than the DR from armor rating for at least 2 tiers of gear ahead. So for instance, 4 162 set bonus armorings would provide better DR than 4 180 without set bonus. And of course if you factor in the extra 5% shield chance it's even better. However, I would not bother getting the campaign armorings. It's just not worth it. You could run some super easy SM TFB or S&V ops and get better results for time invested.

[Aelanis]

Where is the DR formula for reference? I've searched around before, but I never found a formula that correlates with the DR I see on my character sheet in-game after the multipliers for Dark Charge etc.

 

My experience has been that the 2% DR from the set bonus is better than the DR from armor rating for at least 2 tiers of gear ahead. So for instance, 4 162 set bonus armorings would provide better DR than 4 180 without set bonus. And of course if you factor in the extra 5% shield chance it's even better. However, I would not bother getting the campaign armorings. It's just not worth it. You could run some super easy SM TFB or S&V ops and get better results for time invested.

 

Here's the formula: Damage Reduction = ArmorRating / ( ArmorRating + 240 * 60 + 800 ) * 100

 

Your Armor Rating, in tank stance and spec, is 150% higher than the total from all your gear (so a 2.5 times multiplier). You then add 4% on top of that for when you have all 4 stacks of Dark Protection and voila.

 

That 2% flat DR boost was, for the RotHC expansion, worth using Arkanian armorings over Dread Touched armorings. The extra 5% shield chance is just gravy. The pre 3.0 set bonus for Assassin/Shadow tanks was so ridiculously overpowered that, now that we have strictly the weakest set bonus, I'm not surprised to see more Assassin tanks frustrated about it.

[Arbegla]

My experience has been that the 2% DR from the set bonus is better than the DR from armor rating for at least 2 tiers of gear ahead. So for instance, 4 162 set bonus armorings would provide better DR than 4 180 without set bonus. And of course if you factor in the extra 5% shield chance it's even better. However, I would not bother getting the campaign armorings. It's just not worth it. You could run some super easy SM TFB or S&V ops and get better results for time invested.

 

I guess that is the issue at hand then, is getting a group to run SM TFB or S&V, especially today with everyone wanting to run current content. Especially because Campaign gear isn't really worth the basic comms to get them.

 

I'm about 80% done with the gear that I posted previously, and I've noticed a significant boost in my survival, especially without a companion healer, aside from getting the rotation down pat, and working on movement (being Story mode as got me in a 'tank and spank' mindset, and i know most bosses aren't that way) is there any other things I need to focus on?

 

Due to running the Revan story, and doing some of the weekly that are solo-able, i've started to earn up some decent elite comms (the tier above basic). What would you'll recommend I purchase first using those comms?

[Gardimuer]

I guess that is the issue at hand then, is getting a group to run SM TFB or S&V, especially today with everyone wanting to run current content. Especially because Campaign gear isn't really worth the basic comms to get them.

 

How easily you can find a group depends on your server. I would recommend standing on fleet at peak population time and advertising to form a 16man SM TFB. I see these form frequently on Harbinger because they are easy for pugs and are a good source of elite comms.

 

I'm about 80% done with the gear that I posted previously, and I've noticed a significant boost in my survival, especially without a companion healer, aside from getting the rotation down pat, and working on movement (being Story mode as got me in a 'tank and spank' mindset, and i know most bosses aren't that way) is there any other things I need to focus on?

 

Knowing your rotation and keeping up your buffs/debuffs is the main thing. Aside from that, you should begin to understand the best times to pop your defensive cooldowns. You should use Deflection and/or Overcharge saber when you are taking a lot of melee/ranged damage. Save Force Shroud for when you know a heavy hitting Force/Tech attack is incoming, or use it to cleanse yourself of a hard hitting DOT.

 

Due to running the Revan story, and doing some of the weekly that are solo-able, i've started to earn up some decent elite comms (the tier above basic). What would you'll recommend I purchase first using those comms?

 

Unfortunately, the gear you will get with Elite comms has the same bad stat balance as the basic comm gear, so you'll have to go piece-meal, buying the items that have the armorings and mods you need while vendoring the bad enhancements.

 

I recommend that you focus first on getting the armorings you need. You should get the armorings that provide the largest boost to armor rating. So for instance: Chest, Head, Legs > Hands, Feet > Belt, Bracer > Offhand. (The armoring in your offhand doesn't actually contribute to your damage reduction; it only affects your Force Damage stat, which would make it a little easier for you to hold agro.)

Edited February 23, 2015 by Gardimuer

[Arbegla]

Due to the god-awful commendation enhancements, are Advanced 36 enhancments the best you can get from the auction house?

 

Are 37 level enhancments only available from actual drops?

 

I've been looking on Harbringer, and I haven't really seen much 37 level items except for barrels and hilts.

[Aelanis]

Due to the god-awful commendation enhancements, are Advanced 36 enhancments the best you can get from the auction house?

 

Are 37 level enhancments only available from actual drops?

 

I've been looking on Harbringer, and I haven't really seen much 37 level items except for barrels and hilts.

 

You can find someone to craft you the 37 enhancements, but they require a mat that drops out of 16 man SM and both versions of HM, but only off of the last boss of each of Temple of Sacrifice and Ravagers. You're better off sticking to the 36 enhnacements for now.