Tank comparisons

[select20]

Hey folks. Deciding to try out SWTOR, my guild has stuck to it past the first month, really enjoying themselves and have finally convinced to me try it out. Just looking for some advice on the tanks. My favorite tank in WoW was the DK, any of the tank classes there compare to that? I guess if someone could give me a quick run down on the tanks classes and their playstyle that would be great too.

Don't tell me to check their forums, I've been part of MMO-Champion a long time, and don't feel like spending time in other forums if I think I can get the info here

Thanks much.

[mstieler]

Probably depends on what part of the DK you enjoyed, though if you like the "badass in plate" feel, that's probably going to be Sith Warrior Juggernaut.

If you liked feeling like a "plate warlock", then Bounty Hunter Powertech is probably your route.

Sith Inquisitor Assassins are a Rogue-styled tank, strangely enough, though a ton of fun. Stealth tank ftw.

[Koalachan]

Probably depends on what part of the DK you enjoyed, though if you like the "badass in plate" feel, that's probably going to be Sith Warrior Juggernaut.

If you liked feeling like a "plate warlock", then Bounty Hunter Powertech is probably your route.

Sith Inquisitor Assassins are a Rogue-styled tank, strangely enough, though a ton of fun. Stealth tank ftw.

Not to nay-say, because the core information is good, but why are you instantly assuming he is going to be empire? Maybe you should enlighten him that it is a jedi knight/sith warrior, Trooper/Bounty Hunter, and Jedi Shadow/Sith Assassin.

[grandpab]

The assassin might be the choice for you. The tank spec gets a couple AoEs, death grip, dark ward (kinda like bone shield), it also has passive healing from attacks, and you use a 2 hand weapon with a shield (you don't see the shield).

The assassin also has a dps spec that's very much like a DK, you get an aoe (kinda like death and decay), along with several dots and a few DD melee attacks. The other assassin spec has a pretty basic rotation, but it's still just as good as the other 2 specs.

Not to nay-say, because the core information is good, but why are you instantly assuming he is going to be empire? Maybe you should enlighten him that it is a jedi knight/sith warrior, Trooper/Bounty Hunter, and Jedi Shadow/Sith Assassin.

I forgot about this too. I'm not use to having a mirrored class.

[select20]

Cool, thanks for the reply's. Looks like I'll go give Assassin a go.

[grandpab]

Cool, thanks for the reply's. Looks like I'll go give Assassin a go.

Also, if you didn't catch on from Koalachans post, if you want to roll Republic instead then the Shadow is the mirrored class to the Assassin.

[agracul]

go bounty hunter, this way you will get both death grip and warriors charge

as well, you will find yourself actually tanking as there are hell lots of siths and barely no other classes

[Deleted]

If you roll Assassin, be prepared to hear and ignore exclamations of "You're a tank? Don't be ridiculous, Assassins wear light armor"
I'm an Assassin tank myself (only one in the guild, too, though its becoming more popular now people see how effective i am), and during my leveling i often met disbelief when saying i could tank, to the extent that a dps juggernaut with 500 more health than me (due to being 6 levels higher than me) was voted to tank in a high level heroic quest at one point. He died. Miserably. I picked up the mobs and we finished no problem.

Just prove them wrong when you hear stuff like that!

[Gemini Soul]

go bounty hunter, this way you will get both death grip and warriors charge

as well, you will find yourself actually tanking as there are hell lots of siths and barely no other classes

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Bounty Hunter/Trooper are a Melee tank with some range skills. So if you have a pack most are in melee range and 1-2 over in the distance you can tab target them and make sure you never loose aggro.

On a side note i played Trooper and BH, the BH moves are sooo much cooler than the troopers.

[Ghosty]

From my experiences:

Juggernaught/Guardian:

As of right now, low threat in their pure tanking spec, many use a hybrid tanking/dps build. Lowest aoe threat generation. I'm sure these issues will be addressed in future patches.

Wears heavy armor, has high passive avoidance, low shielding (think block in WoW terms). Game play closely resembles that of a Warrior in WoW

Abilities:Has a charge and leap to friendly target. Limited ranged threat generation via saber throw.


Assassin/Shadow:

Wears light armor buffed up via talents much like a Bear tank in WoW. Lowest base DR of the three tank AC's, high avoidance, high shield chance. Has a bone shield type mechanic that needs to be refreshed every 12 seconds, that is often chewed away by fast hitting or multiple mobs. Game play in WoW terms is like that of a Rogue if they gave Rogues a tanking tree.
Abilities include: stealth, CC via sap, decent aoe capability, Force Pull (works like Death Grip). Highest single target damage and threat of the tanking AC's. Single target ranged stun on a 1 minute CD

Powertech/Vanguard:

Wears heavy armor, and has the highest base DR of the tanking AC's. Low avoidance, high shield chance.
Abilities include: Charge, Harpoon (works like Death Grip), best aoe of the tanking classes (spammable* short ranged aoe, short to medium range frontal cone aoe on medium CD, long range aoe on long CD, and a 30m grenade that also does aoe damage). While the highest threat and damage abilities are limited to 0-10m, you do have many abilities that are 30m ranged. Short range aoe stun on 2 minute CD, single target 30m ranged aoe stun on a 1 minute CD. This AC is probably the closest to a WoW DK in terms of game play.

*spammable up to the limit of your heat/ammo before you must regen.


My guild has one of each tanking AC and they all get the job done. The Juggernaught/Guardian has the most problems primarily due to low threat generation, but I believe this will be addressed soon. Play what tanking class you like the best, as they are all capable of getting the job done, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

PS - I play a Vanguard tank so I am most familiar with their abilities.

[Lathais]

It sort of depends on what kind of tanking you want to do in raids. My guild is using a BH for MT and me(Assassin) as OT. This is only because of my current gear situation though. They have said Assassin/Consular make a poor OT and better MT and BH/Trooper is better OT, so as soon as I get some more gear I will be MT. Not sure if most guilds are doing this or not though and it sounds like something BW wants to avoid as they want all tanks/healers viable in all positions so it will probably end up getting changed at some point in the future.

What it really comes down to is the look/playstyle that you want. I will say that having stealth is great for leveling. Outlevel an area and it's getting too easy? Just stealth past everything, knock out the quests and move on.

[Ghosty]

On a side note i played Trooper and BH, the BH moves are sooo much cooler than the troopers.

Those "cool" looking animations also have their draw backs. The Powertech's Flame Sweep animation roots your character in place, while the Vanguard's Explosive Surge mirror is usable on the move. Death From Above lifts your character in the air, which is cool, but very obvious in PvP situations making it easily recognizable and therefore easily interrupted by near by opponents, While Mortar Volley really has no animation until the projectiles leave the end of your gun which means that unless you are being targeted you generally can get the entire channel off before someone notices (granted currently MV has to be channeled half way before any damage packets actually hit the area of impact, while DFA does damage instantly, but this has already been identified by Bioware as an issue to be addressed).

[Sephiracle]

I haven't played the other tanks, but enjoying my DK, the assassin feels a lot similar to it.

[Sy]

The Powertech's Flame Sweep animation roots your character in place

nope, actually it doesn't^^ i use flame sweep while running around frequently.

@OP: i've not played any of the tanks at high level yet, but i know their spells and talents and such, and played them to like 25-35. and i gotta say, i find powertech/vanguard by far the most fun.

also keep in mind, while there aren't any actual ranged-tanks, powertech/vanguard still can do decent at 10-30m range AND has both death-grip and charge - where as the two sith/jedi tank classes have next to no ranged capability at all and only a charge OR a death-grip. so seeing as how there are far more ranged-enemies in swtor as in wow, that's something you may want to keep in mind (or try on lower levels) before deciding which class to roll.

[Leadsop]

I am a Shadow tank (same as Assassin). I LOVE it, and the Main Healers of my guild constantly talk about how I am their favorite tank to heal, primarily due to the high avoidance.

Good things about Shadow Tank:
*Plays a lot like a DK tank (if that's what you were before)
*AOE threat abilities
*Highest DPS for a tank - makes general questing easy
*2 different battle-healing abilities
*All-around good for PvP, as we also have Stealth, Stuns, and Slows that are very effective
*Force Pull and a good 1-minute CC

Worst thing about Shadow Tank:
*EXTREME damage from raid bosses tends to be a little bit 'burst-y,' likely due to the fact that we wear light armor. Most of the time it isn't a problem, but on bosses that have a Frenzy mechanic the healers have to be prepared to deal with it.

Love it!

[MagicSN]

Hey folks. Deciding to try out SWTOR, my guild has stuck to it past the first month, really enjoying themselves and have finally convinced to me try it out. Just looking for some advice on the tanks. My favorite tank in WoW was the DK, any of the tank classes there compare to that? I guess if someone could give me a quick run down on the tanks classes and their playstyle that would be great too.

Don't tell me to check their forums, I've been part of MMO-Champion a long time, and don't feel like spending time in other forums if I think I can get the info here

Thanks much.

Consular/Assassin Tank -> like Paladin tank, with a little bit of Blood Dk tank "mixed in" (though I would say the spec is most similar
to a paladin tank - despite the stealth and all that). Wearing light armor, though (using an armor buff)
Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior tank - Like Warrior tank. Is set to be quite "broken" currently (and also has horrible itemization on set items currently, as
it seems). I would advice against that one.
Trooper/Bounty Hunter tank - It is a ranged tank, and set to be quite strong and also easy to be played. I sadly do not know that much about them.

Anyways I would recommend to choose either Consular/Assassin or Trooper/BountyHunter

You might also wish to check projectshield.codeplex.com (this is the tool I am currently developing - in the spirit of "Rawr" which you surely know from WoW). It is still in the beginning (currently only supports the tank specs, no dps/heal specs yet), but if you are interested in stat things you might have a look ^^

MagicSN

[Deleted]

I am a Shadow tank (same as Assassin). I LOVE it, and the Main Healers of my guild constantly talk about how I am their favorite tank to heal, primarily due to the high avoidance.

Not disputing any of the facts about your class but the first statement, about your healers etc, doesn't really mean anything. When classes are in balance (or at least do not have glaring differences) the perspective who is a healer's favorite tanks comes from the player, not the class. It is a well known fact that healers have a very narrow perspective into the world of tanks and usually comes in the form of a health bar that bobs up and down, and the rhythm in which it bounces defines to them if you're a good or a bad tank.

[MagicSN]

Worst thing about Shadow Tank:
*EXTREME damage from raid bosses tends to be a little bit 'burst-y,' likely due to the fact that we wear light armor. Most of the time it isn't a problem, but on bosses that have a Frenzy mechanic the healers have to be prepared to deal with it.

Love it!

What has this to do with light armor? We got 270% Armor, while Jedi knight got 160% and Trooper Tank 176% (well actually we got 275.8% despite tool tips claims and the others got 161.5% and whatever it was with the trooper tank ^^).

Shadow tank -> 6872 Armor Value
JK tank -> 7537 Armor value
Trooper tank -> 8351 Armor value

True, it is a bit less armor, but believe me, we get the missing Effective Damage Reduction back at other places.

Shadow in BiS gear -> 70.72% EDR, Squishiness 0.3444, Eff. Health is 65583
JK Tank in BiS gear -> 68.69% EDR (in the case of a purely theoretical 100% Blade Barricade Uptime), Squishiness 0.3583, Eff. Health is 58754 (again, assuming 100% Blade Barricade Uptime)
Trooper Tank in BiS gear -> 72.43% EDR, Squishiness 0.3223, Eff. Health is 73587

All numbers calculated with "Project Shield" (EDR needs to be high, Squishiness needs to be low). Effective Health also needs to be high (do not confuse with "Health", Eff. Health calculates the EDR into the Health)

What I call "BiS gear" here includes stuff like ripping out "stupid" enhancements/mods from set items and replacing them with better ones ^^

[Sephiracle]

What has this to do with light armor? We got 270% Armor, while Jedi knight got 160% and Trooper Tank 176% (well actually we got 275.8% despite tool tips claims and the others got 161.5% and whatever it was with the trooper tank ^^).

Shadow tank -> 6872 Armor Value
JK tank -> 7537 Armor value
Trooper tank -> 8351 Armor value

True, it is a bit less armor, but believe me, we get the missing Effective Damage Reduction back at other places.

Shadow in BiS gear -> 70.72% EDR, Squishiness 0.3444
JK Tank in BiS gear -> 68.69% EDR (in the case of a purely theoretical 100% Blade Barricade Uptime), Squishiness 0.3583
Trooper Tank in BiS gear -> 72.43% EDR, Squishiness 0.3223

All numbers calculated with "Project Shield" (EDR needs to be high, Squishiness needs to be low)

What I call "BiS gear" here includes stuff like ripping out "stupid" enhancements/mods from set items and replacing them with better ones ^^

It doesn't matter if our effective damage evens out in other places. When we get hit, we get hit harder than others.

[Scripts]

I agree that the Consular shadow/Inquistor Assassin are probably somewhere between a druid tank (high avoidance/low armor) and a DK tank (some self heals/slows/good threat generation). The Sith Warrior/Jedi Knight seems like the most similar to WoW warrior tanks.

The one complaint I have about the Sith Inquistor story is that you don't get a healing companion until level 38-40 (Hoth), whereas with the Consular, you get a healer in your 20s (Nar Shadaa). Sith warrior is the same, where you get a healer fairly early on in the story (2nd companion, I think?). Bounty Hunters start out with a healer, and troopers start out with, I think, a dps. I just got my companion on my trooper (level 10) so I haven't really determined what the companion does or doesn't do.

Things to remember:

Every tank has at least 1 closing ability. (Force Leap/Force Speed/Grapple).
Every tank has at least 1 short duration stun.
Every tank has some kind of debuff they apply (Decrease Damage/Decrease Accuracy/Decrease Armor/etc.)
Every tank has 2 taunts - a single target taunt and an AOE taunt.
The classes are mirrors of each other, with different names and animations for the same abilities. (Bounty Hunter = Trooper/Sith Warrior = Jedi Knight/Jedi Consular = Sith Inquistor).

I'd recommend playing each one to maybe 12 or 14 and see which one clicks. You loved the heavy armor, etc., from the DK in WoW, so you try the Warrior/Knight, but maybe it just doesn't click. Maybe the Trooper/Bounty Hunter fits better. As everyone else has said, its your money, so make sure you like the class you are playing and the story you are following. You'll spend a lot of time with your companions, with your story and with your character.