Now that patch 1.2 is out, we can start adjusting our Guardian Tank Guardian’s build. 4z342p
Defense Guardian Changes:
Guardian slash was the Guardian’s main weaknesses was damage output.
Focuses Defense is a new skill on a 45 second cool down that consumes 4 focus upon usage. Whenever the Guardian takes damage, one point of order to ensure that the tank maintains threat. I also recommend following it up with high threat attacks, like Hilt Strike and Guardian Slash. Because Focused Defense consumes a large amount of focus, it is also advisable to pair it up with Combat Focus in order to ensure that you have enough focus to both heal yourself and continue attacking.
New Specialization Build:
Now that we have reduced the number of talent points required to spend in Defense, we can refine our original tank spec. The new specialization build I have been using for 1.2 is 31/7/3. This build takes all of the necessary Defense hits harder than it ever did before. Note that the overall damage from Force Sweep has been decreased, however.
Priorities:
Single Target:
Single target priority is the only priority list that had any real changes. The current line up is:
Guardian Slash > Hilt Strike > Blade Storm > Master Strike > Force Sweep > Force Stasis> Slash
With the buff to Guardian Slash’s threat generation, it is still the most important attack on our priority list. Hilt strike is only the second best threat generator because of its cool down, and Blade Slash are all lowest on the priority list for bosses.
Area Threat:
Force Sweep > Cyclone Slash > Hilt Strike > Guardian Slash = Force Stasis > Master Strike > Slash
Now that Cyclone Slash is a tad more damaging, it becomes more relevant to our AoE priorities. Force Sweep is still our hardest hitting area attack, even though it no longer out damages Blade Storm for single target damage. Hilt Strike still precedes Guardian Slash due to the stun component, but now that Guardian Slash deals additional threat, it is on equal footing with Stasis. Master Strike’s channel makes it unideal for area encounters and slash is always our last filler.
Gear:
Sadly, even with the orange schematics.
Campaign relics can now also be purchased from the mission vendors on Corellia for 200 daily commendations. There is a very tasty tank relic there for those who have been saving up their dailies.
Now that we can augment our gear, it’s time to re-bring up the idea of stat caps. As you may recall, we had a graph that shows the falloff curve for all secondary stats in SWTOR:
stat the lowers incoming damage the most. Note that augments that add defensive secondary stats also add power, so if you’re lacking on HP you may consider strength or straight endurance augments.
With our shield talents, your shield chance should already be fairly high. It should sit in the 300 range, but defense should still take priority. This will put your shield chance at something close to 40%. The new tank relic procs off of our shield stat and adds more to our absorb. You can use this as an excuse to gimp your absorb stat a little. After all, absorb is worthless without shield in the first place.
In of raw HP, it might surprise you to find that the Guardian Tank actually has one of the lowest HP tables out of all the tanks. Why this is, I’m not so sure, but in full Rakata my hit points barely break 21,000 without buffs. I’ve seen multiple Vanguard and Shadow tanks at over 22,500 without the trooper buff, which can only lead me to assume that Bioware deemed hit points a less necessary stat to Jedi Guardians.
Since so many changes were made to Jedi Guardians as a hole the last patch, I will also be covering the changes than Defense ones this last patch, which I will cover in my next article.
