Jedi Guardian leveling, help needed!

[Deleted]

Back into SW:ToR after a few months absence and decided to play my Guardian, Level 32 partway through the balmorra quests. Doing a few quests and finding my damage output to be low and my survivablity (Despite being a tank, and geared as such) to be low as well.

So I ask this, does anyone have any specc/rotation/gearing tips for my Guardian? I can't remember too much about this guy and thats starting to show :P

Also, I'm still using Kira, I haven't got Doc yet... although I've heard things get easier once you get Doc so I'm looking forward to that and I have little to no interest in PVE in the way of flashpoints or end game PVE if it helps.

Thanks
Desp

[VenomousCarnage]

Back into SW:ToR after a few months absence and decided to play my Guardian, Level 32 partway through the balmorra quests. Doing a few quests and finding my damage output to be low and my survivablity (Despite being a tank, and geared as such) to be low as well.

So I ask this, does anyone have any specc/rotation/gearing tips for my Guardian? I can't remember too much about this guy and thats starting to show :P

Also, I'm still using Kira, I haven't got Doc yet... although I've heard things get easier once you get Doc so I'm looking forward to that and I have little to no interest in PVE in the way of flashpoints or end game PVE if it helps.

Thanks
Desp

I don't have a guardian so I can't help with rotations.

Since you have been gone for awhile your talents may have been reset, make sure they are allocated.

remember to pace yourselves on mobs, in this game you can't go around destoying 20 mobs without healing. Do a quick heal between every group or do a couple then a full heal.

Make sure your gear/mods are up to date. If you kept on it before you left and came back then it should be ok.

As a guardian I'm sure you have several defensive abilities be sure to use them if you find you are dying lots. You will almost always have to use a couple against any yellow star enemies.

This game basically needs you to do a bit more then some other games in every battle, it's not just auto-fire and the occasional spam of aoe for mobs like in games such as WoW. Use many abilities, put dots on normal enemies, use stuns when there are a lot of enemies. Remember your centering abilities, make sure you have a beneficial lightsaber form active, use the occasional medpack if you can afford it.

Especially as a tank I'm sure when you get Doc it will help A LOT. I've always found DPS companions in this game to be terrible for any sort of survivability (sad that so many are arbitrarily stuck to only that role despite no story notices of why they are so limited). If your T7 is sufficiently equipped he will probably help with your survivability since he can even out the damage, things will take slightly longer but you'll likely do way better then with Kira.

If you/other people insist on sticking with Kira make sure you have one of her different modes active. They will help slightly. I would think Armour penetration if you aoe going up against a lot of high armored opponents (yellow stars and even silver/grey emblem mobs) and the extra damage mode for when there are lots of normal mobs. Might not make a big difference but I have noticed sometimes they will randomly not be activated.

[Eldar45]

Back when I was leveling my JG I used Kira all the way to 50. Doc was just annoying to me, and Kira is to awesome to sit on the ship. I was also somewhere between the fifth and tenth 50 on our server *Jedi Covenant*.

Just use all you're abilities as you need them. Stun everything you can with Force Sweep Interrupt any and all casts.

Also, level as Vigilance. It has more damage reduction/hp than the tank spec does. The tank spec has more avoidance.

The damage from the Tank Spec is pretty crap till 40 when you get Guardian Slash.

When you respec to Vigi, its basically going to be Master Strike > Overhead Slash > Blade Storm > Sundering Strike > Slash > Strike. If it is stunnable, Force Sweep is your priority. You will get Plasma Brand at level 40, which will highest priority on enemies with a lot of HP, but its a dot and not as useful in shorter fights.

Remember to use interrupt and defensive cooldowns often.

[GeneticVigilance]

lol more conflicting advice as usual here lol, but i recommend levelling as focus over vigilance till 40 =)
- the best way is defense till 30, then focus till 40, and vigilance till cap lol

but as focus using your combat focus/force stasis will allow you to get huge crits (enough to 1 shot weaks until belsavis when you go vigy) so you can clean house with all the extra damage. But, you are kind of squishy, and it requires you to level with Doc when you get him, or channel your heal for like 5-10s every pull. If you really want to stay with Kira and defense your gonna have to go with a hybrid spec for dps output so you can handle end of chapter bosses. and usually, gear for power as well. IMO guardians have the hardest levelling until ~40, by them vig has great dps, great survivability and can wreck basically any pull in the game played properly. (Saber throw is your best friend, that is all)

[Derah]

ack when I was leveling my JG I used Kira all the way to 50. Doc was just annoying to me, and Kira is to awesome to sit on the ship. I was also somewhere between the fifth and tenth 50 on our server *Jedi Covenant*.

I dunno why so many people insists that leveling with DPS companions like Kira is unfeasible, so far I've been leveling 2 toons, and using DPS companions on both without a hitch.

First it was my agent, and I've found it far better to use Vector (melee DPS) than Kaliyo (Ranged Tank). We finish most fights at or above 60% HP, and his health isn't a concern, just mount&dismount and he's back to full in 1.4 seconds. If you are in-doors and thus cant mount, just dismiss&summon back and ta-dah, back to full again. I only really have to stop and heal back every 5 or 6th pull due to my own health being behind.

With Kaliyo I never had to rest, but I also killed stuff MUCH slower.

Then there's my Inquisitor, and while I know its not the same as a Knight, its fairly paralell. I've been using Andronikus most of hte time, and I'm in tank spec. Mobs all focus on me, and he mows them down. Due to Assassins having that lovely tank stance I barely take a hit, and I can self-heal anyways thanks to the effect of Dark Charge and that talent that lets force lighting recover health.

So a Jedi Guardian in tank stance with Kira is completely feasible

[Ixator]

Do you have other max lvl characters? If so do all the conversations with your companions, the presence boost really makes a difference in leveling. Also, if you have an extra 500k unlock the human race in your legacy screen for 100 more presence. Im leveling a guardian now and using Kira without any problems at all Im even able to solo all the 2 man heroics.

[VenomousCarnage]

When I mentioned Kira might be hard I was still thinking his guardian was dps spec. If he's Tank spec Kira shouldn't be a problem but I and many other people I know don't do well as a dps with a dps companion (unfortunately so many good ones are stuck as dps only arbitrarily). It's not too bad when facing normal mobs but the moment an elite mob is the enemy agrro gets bounced around so much survivability suffers, then either you die and the fight is over of they die then it's a race to see if you can beat them before they annihilate your hp. Different specs compliment each other much better then same specs, two tanks turtle and take forever, two healers spend to much time on each other and with 2 dps it's a goal of trying not to be the one who dies because noones healing you or tanking the big hits.

It's why so many games design Dungeons/flashpoints to require a diverse team, so people can compliment each others strengths, if everyone was the same it leave big weak spots.

In WoW for example, a group of 5 rogues wouldn't do well in an appropriate dungeon, unless the rogues are way overqualified. Sure rogues could pump out massive dps but at many points it doesn't make up for the lack of defensive abilities or having no way to bring people back to good health. SWTOR isn't as severe in it's requirement for diverse roles with companions on the field, some people can handle it, but some/many people do feel the pain when only using dps.

---------- Post added 2012-05-20 at 04:52 AM ----------

Do you have other max lvl characters? If so do all the conversations with your companions, the presence boost really makes a difference in leveling. Also, if you have an extra 500k unlock the human race in your legacy screen for 100 more presence. Im leveling a guardian now and using Kira without any problems at all Im even able to solo all the 2 man heroics.

I haer a lot of conflicting reports on that too. I've seen people swear thier lives to say that presence does almost nothing when leveling (I.e "After like level 10 presence dosn't seem to help in any way" or "Theres no difference, companions destroy everyone up to level X without any presence buffs")

Yet then I hear other people say presence has an amazing effect on leveling alts.

In my own experience Presence does seem to help. I just recently bought the human legacy thing since it's the only one that gives a beneficial bonus (rather then just a cosmetic one like all the others, unfair but that's another story...). It does seem to actually make dps companions slightly more useful when leveling a dps character. My T7 is equipped the same or even worse then Kira, he does much better but I can get by with Kira on non-major battles.

[Stormcall]

lol more conflicting advice as usual here lol, but i recommend levelling as focus over vigilance till 40 =)
- the best way is defense till 30, then focus till 40, and vigilance till cap lol

but as focus using your combat focus/force stasis will allow you to get huge crits (enough to 1 shot weaks until belsavis when you go vigy) so you can clean house with all the extra damage.

The thing is, those all have a comparatively long CD, and Focus is a lot weaker when they're not available. A vigilance knight can put out consistent damage, and a lot of his moves are STILL enough to 1 shot weak mobs(1-shotting weaks is not really that impressive, most specs have moves that can do it). And you also get the survivability boost of Commanding Awe and Unremmiting which are very handy when fighting the many NON-weak mobs that you won't be 1-shotting with either spec. Vigilance really doesn't come into it's own till you get Overhead Slash, but you get that at 30.

[Eldar45]

I dunno why so many people insists that leveling with DPS companions like Kira is unfeasible, so far I've been leveling 2 toons, and using DPS companions on both without a hitch.

First it was my agent, and I've found it far better to use Vector (melee DPS) than Kaliyo (Ranged Tank). We finish most fights at or above 60% HP, and his health isn't a concern, just mount&dismount and he's back to full in 1.4 seconds. If you are in-doors and thus cant mount, just dismiss&summon back and ta-dah, back to full again. I only really have to stop and heal back every 5 or 6th pull due to my own health being behind.

With Kaliyo I never had to rest, but I also killed stuff MUCH slower.

Then there's my Inquisitor, and while I know its not the same as a Knight, its fairly paralell. I've been using Andronikus most of hte time, and I'm in tank spec. Mobs all focus on me, and he mows them down. Due to Assassins having that lovely tank stance I barely take a hit, and I can self-heal anyways thanks to the effect of Dark Charge and that talent that lets force lighting recover health.

So a Jedi Guardian in tank stance with Kira is completely feasible

I stayed in Shien form the entire time. Rarely used Soresu.

[Derah]

I stayed in Shien form the entire time. Rarely used Soresu.

well, :P bear in mind that Knights use heavy armor, whereas Assassins use light. So for me, the tank stance was important to avoid being squished to hell.

[Ghosty]

I just started my Guardian, but leveling my Sent, who is 44 and using Kira the whole way, everything falls over dead so fast. It doesn't matter whether it's normal mobs, which actually seem to do more damage to me than the silvers or golds. So I'm leveling my Guardian as Vig and going to try to level with Kira as far as I can. I leveled a Guardian in beta as tank, and it was slow and painful, so this time I'm going dps.

I leveled my Vanguard main from 1-50 as tank and used Dorn once I got her all the way to 50, and it was easy mode for everything. The slower kill time is made up for with less down time. The biggest problem with leveling as a tank is that there really isn't too much tanking gear available until you get into Chapter 2, Balmorra for the pubs, so you are really spending alot of talent points for tanking talents that your gear does not support at lower levels. You are better off running as a dps spec until you get a decent set of tanking gear, then use your free 1 once a week respec to swap over to a tanking spec if you want to tank end game.

[VenomousCarnage]

No matter how many times people say they did fine as a dps with a dps companion it won't change the fact some people have problems with it. And it's too bad Bioware gave no options for some companions arbitrarily (no story denies the possibility) while many do.

I and many people can eat peanuts just fine but if it won't change someone allergic to them to gain the ability to eat them if everyone just goes "Peanuts are no problem just eat them because I certainly have no problem". Or if a bunch of astrophysicists just yell at an arts major that "math is easy, so just snap your fingers and do this problem, it's easy because we do it just fine". 2nd example is probably better then the first, the point is people have different strengths and it's ignorant to think just because something works for you it works for everyone.

If you want to be safe as a DPS use a tank companion or a healer companion but since you are trying to be a tank a dps could be fine if your survivability improves.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info folks!

Decided to level as vigi, pretty fun at the moment. I've still got Kira with me, waiting on Doc to see how things go, and if the healing Doc does makes up for the extra DPS from Kira and downtime after fights.

I was planning of leveling as tank, but after I was booted from my guild (I assume they were clearing house, I was un-subbed for a while, enough to justify it) I kinda lost interest in PVE/group content which is usually why I tank/heal in games for the sake that I know I can get a group easy and with "easier" games, like WoW, tanks just seem to dominate leveling, not so much the case here it seems and don't get me wrong, I love the added difficulty, spices up leveling imo!