Tank gearing: Defense and Mastery vs. Endurance

[gsummers]

I have slowly been gearing up my VG Tank. I had purchased boots from the 216 comms vendor. So I was running with endurance heavy mod and enhancement. Then on a Story Mode Op last night, I won the roll for the 216 set piece boots. I turned it in and immediately took the armoring out and put it in my current boots so as to get the set bonus.

 

But the mod and enhancement I am not sure what to do. From the SM OP token piece, the mod and enhancement have less endurance, trading it for a little more mastery and a lot more defense. So I guess the question is: what is the right thing to do? Does defense actually matter in Ops and HM FP's? Would losing about 75 endurance be worth boosting defense by roughly that amount (if not a bit more)? Or is the best thing to do to take the endurance heavy mods and enhancements from the comms vendors and match in the token piece armorings to get the set bonuses?

[space_mechanic]

Take comm mod, you don't need high defense. That will also drop some mastery, but there's good barrel, rotation and taunts to keep aggro.

For enhancement go for one from ops gear. It has higher shield/absorb, these stats are actually needed more than def.

Actually, best enhancements drop in ops from MK-2 gear (http://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/itm/advanced-bulwark-enhancement-43). More endurance, *same* shield/absorb and less defense compared to MK-1 (http://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/itm/advanced-sturdiness-enhancement-43) items.

Comm MK-4 gear enhancements (http://swtor.jedipedia.net/en/itm/advanced-vigilant-enhancement-43) are ok to start with, but try to replace them as soon as you reach desired hp numbers. That should be 75-80k, depending on gear level.

And install only shield/absorbtion augments, no redoubt.

 

P.S. Absorb enhancements are just for example, use them combined with shield ones.

Edited December 4, 2015 by space_mechanic