Jedi Consular Shadow: Tanking

[Samfroman]

My friend keeps bouncing between all the tank classes for the republic side, and now he's come to the Jedi Consular Shadow and he really likes it. Only problem is he really knows little to no information, as well as me. So I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Jedi Consular Shadow tanking. What i'm looking for is what kind of armor can, and should they wear...heavy medium or light? What kind of stats should they be looking for? Are they more of a stealth tanking class that does high burst damage, or do they charge in and use abilities like Force Pull to help gather enemies? If anyone could help answer some of these questions for me, as well as add anything you might know or have had experience with tanking as a Jedi Consular Shadow, then that would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Rooflesstoofless]

Very interested in this myself. Can't add anything since it looks like my first hands on with the game will be at release, but there are a few decent videos showing Shadow tanking on Youtube, but not much explanations with mechanics or anything.

[Shamburger]

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread...ing-Compendium
As informed as you're going to get currently.

[Samfroman]

Oh this is pretty hot, thanks! Lots of info on here.

http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread...ing-Compendium
As informed as you're going to get currently.

[Hulari]

I have a guide that I wrote up from my experiences on a beta test weekend. You should take a look. I will be writing a more in-depth situation by situation guide with videos in the coming couple of weeks. Currently on vacation with the girlfriend though!

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...Sith-Assassin)

[Karazee]

I was leveling a Sith Assassin tank a little bit yesterday through the low to mid 20s and it seemed fun.

You basically stealth in and use a couple of aoe abilities to zap the mobs. Problem sometimes comes up what to do to not damage the cc'd mobs, but that was the same for all tank classes. The good tanks figure out a way around it, the bad tanks don't. Makes it VERY easy to know who to put on your friends list for when you need a tank at some point in the future.

[Illiyana]

There's an excellent thread stickied in the Consular forums on swtor.com that has all the information you need and more regarding Shadows.

[gualdhar]

So here's a little info on here that's not behind a link (Sith Assassin of course plays the same but I'm not familiar with ability names):

Jedi Shadow Tank is completely viable. You'll use Light armor (the only kind Consulars can wear) that has the Willpower stat (also like any other Consular). In that sense, you'll be competing for a lot of gear with DPS Shadows and Healer or DPS Sages. It would be like Paladins being able to use strength gear for tanking, dps or healing (instead of icky caster plate). Also, like other tank classes you'll have an off-hand that's either a straight stat increase for dps and healers (like caster off-hands in wow) or a force shield for tanks.

Shadow tank is a mitigation tank in wow-terms, but its been called an "avoidance" tank in SWTOR because every tank in SWTOR is a mitigation tank, and Shadow is a little more avoidancey than the other two. You'll get 3 passive buffs called techniques that change how your character plays (think Druid shapeshifts, any spec can use any technique, but one is designed for each tree). The tanking one is called Combat Technique, which increases your armor (a la Bear form) and gives you a chance per hit to do a small amount of damage and heal yourself a bit. Another nice ability is Guard, which reduces a party member's threat as long as it's on. You'll also get an ability called Kinetic Ward, which increases your chance to shield an attack (read: reduce incoming damage, like a Prot Warrior shield) for 12 seconds or 8 sucessfully shielded hits, whichever is first. Another great semi-offensive ability is Prject, which will stun lesser enemies, and gets some damage increases from other abilities. Add to that some Single and Multi-target provokes and threat moves, some defensive cooldowns (and an offensive one) and a couple of abilities with on-use procs for other abilities and you've got a tank class.

From my limited time playing it, like most mitigation tanks you won't have much trouble staying alive when you're backed by a decent healer. Its a fun class, and with the removal of auto-attack it gets a more frantic feel to it. Just keep up your defensive buffs, and juggle dps/threat with keeping enough energy to use an oh-shit button when you need to.