Star Wars the Old Republic Tanking Classes

[ealcorey4]

Hello all,

To anyone that has tested star wars the old republic, I was wondering if anyone has a good comparison of the tanking classes. Will one class be the "main" tank while another is the off "tank", or are all tanking classes viable like in wow? I really want to roll a jedi guardian or sith warrior as a tank, but it almost sounds like the soldier is better. I am not sure. Does anyone have any input?

[Nirawen]

I haven't played the beta but from the videos they've released and questions they've answered it does sound like a Main Tank / Off Tank comparison between them, basically like the Trooper tank can tank bigger hits from a single boss while the Jedi Knight picks up all the adds and kills them. Thats not taken from any evidence, just my opinion from what i've seen .

That said I do remember hearing something like 'You wont NEED to have a certain tank, 2 or more of the same one will still work', but dont quote me on that :3.

[Redgoon23]

There is a huge thread that covers everything TOR. People do a good job answering any questions you may have. http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...arious-sources

[Tore]

Any tank spec can main tank. The ranged tanks can tank from ranged, but it's generally a better idea to get in close as it affords you more positioning control.

The video you saw in which a Jedi Knight offtanked was probably the Taral V dev walkthrough, and that Jedi was DPS specc'd. A DPS-specced Jedi Knight can offtank weaker enemies due to it's Heavy Armor proficiency.

Bioware is making it so all tank specs are equally useful as MTs despite tanking differently. On the Republic side it will be Trooper as ranged tank, Jedi Knight as traditional melee tank, and Jedi Consular as avoidance tank. The Empire mirrors to those will be Bounty Hunter, Sith Warrior, and Sith Inquisitor.

[Achaman]

probarly a light shield (lightsaber in the shape of a shield -.-)

[Karteli]

I would go to

www.swtor.com

and read stuff on the HoloNet and stuff about Advanced Classes. Since multiple classes can tank, it's hard to help anyone without knowing you, and knowing what other abilities you want. In other words, there is no easy answer.

[Saverem]

How does range tanking work? Wouldn't that require that you are constantly kiting the target? Or perhaps make bosses not immune to the tank's roots?

[Tore]

How does range tanking work? Wouldn't that require that you are constantly kiting the target? Or perhaps make bosses not immune to the tank's roots?

It works basically the same as melee tanking, except with ranged abilities against ranged targets.

Given the prevalence of blasters and droids with guns and ion cannons and whatnot in the Star Wars universe, most of the targets will be ranged mobs. When a ranged tank engages a ranged mob, the mob stays stationary at range and the tank just soaks the damage. When a ranged tank engages a melee mob, the tank can just let the melee mob close in and soak the damage, or can kite if he's feeling fancy.

It will work out like this: think of ranged tanking like traditional melee tanking, just with a 50 foot long sword. What does this do? This gives you much greater threat control over multiple spread-out mobs that must be simultaneously tanked as you can pick up all mobs without even moving. The tradeoff is that a ranged tank will have less in the way of positional control, aka will not be able to position and move mobs as easily and precisely as a melee tank could.

Each of the three tanking types offers an advantage and a disadvantage to keep them different yet efficient in their own right.

[Shelly]

How does range tanking work? Wouldn't that require that you are constantly kiting the target? Or perhaps make bosses not immune to the tank's roots?

As mentioned many of the mobs you'll be facing are going to be range preferred.

Also you have to remember that for much of the gaming public WoW tanking isn't how it works in a lot of games. I mean sure it's almost always tanks doing mob positioning, but WoW itself - especially in boss fights - is more a glorified platformer than RPG.

Either way the only real "issues" I've seen with any TOR tanking - or at least Trooper tanking - is that it's highly single target oriented. I'd prefer they had expanded the cover mechanic a bit more, but the game promises to be fun and I'll be preordering soon enough.