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An in-depth SWTOR 6.0 Shield Tech Powertech Tank Guide for PvE, suitable for beginner players who seek to learn how to improve their performance!

This Guide is written for VULKK.com by Cӓboose (Star Forge server)

Related content:

INTRO

Shield Tech Powertech is one of the three Tanking Disciplines in SWTOR, available to Powertechs level 10 and over. Shield Tech Powertechs offer great passive mitigation through our Shield and Absorb Stats and procs, as well as the best out of combat Damage Reduction against Kinetic/Energy Damage. The class also offers great threat generation, tank dps, mobility, and crowd control abilities that allow you to protect your allies from whatever you face. This guide will go over gearing, utility, rotational and miscellaneous advice for the Discipline, with a focus on PvE content.

What is Shield Tech Good for

Shield Tech excels in mitigating damage passively through a combination of our Damage Reduction and our Shield and Absorb Stats. Shield Techs shine out among their peers in fights where a lot of Kinetic and Energy Damage is being dealt out, as this allows us to take full advantage of our High Armor Rating, Shield and Absorb Procs, and many of our defensive cooldowns. We also have great damage and threat generation as a tank, with Heat Blast, one of our core abilities for threat generation and Damage mitigation, as well as shoulder cannons, being off the gcd, as well as many of our important passives increasing the threat generation for core abilities. We also have access to great crowd control through Oil Slick, Electro Dart, Carbonize and Grapple, and Hydraulic Overrides makes us one of the most mobile classes in the game. Like other Tank Classes, Shield Tech Powertechs won’t be as efficient at leveling or solo content like MM chapters or Story Content. However, we are always needed, and often in short supply, for group content, such as Flashpoints or Operations.

Shield Tech compared to other tanks

As stated before, Shield Techs are great with their passive mitigation, allowing us to even many unpredictable damage spikes you will take. This reliance on our Shield, Absorb, and DR is both a blessing and a curse, as the trade-off is that we have less Defensive cooldowns than our Juggernaut and Assassin Counterparts. We also lack a cooldown like Force Shroud and Saberward that gives us a guaranteed or near guaranteed chance to dodge / resist a certain type of damage. These factors mean that Shield Techs may not be quite as adept at managing predictable Damage spikes, nor do we have the same potential to ignore certain fight mechanics as our peers. While this can often be a dissuading factor from playing a Shield Tech in high level content, our weaknesses can be greatly compensated for through knowledge of the discipline, fight mechanics, and learning how to stretch your cooldowns out so you will never feel like you don’t have a response for incoming damage spikes.

GEARING AND STATS

Defensive Stats Overview

Defensive Stats overview: it is essential to know exactly what each defensive stat does, and what types of damage each can mitigate. Your character sheet takes shortcuts in telling you how each stat is affecting each damage type, (eg: The DR percentage you see on your character sheet includes armor from DR, so it isn’t accurate for Internal/ Element attacks.) Always check your pop up tooltips to see the full story of how much you will mitigate. Here’s a quick overview:

Attack types:

Melee/ ranged : Always deals Kinetic/ energy damage

Force/ Tech : Can be either Kinetic/ Energy OR internal/elemental.

Defense Stats:

Damage Reduction “Proper”: Reduces damage taken from all attacks by x percent. Abbreviated as DR

Armor Rating: Increases your DR against Kinetic/Energy Damage types. No affect on Internal / elemental damage. The sum of this and DR “proper” is what you see on the Character sheet unless you look at the tooltip.

Defense: increases your Chances to dodge or parry melee/ranged attacks. 2% chance to resist Force tech damage. (The latter is not affected by defense rating, but buffs that increase your defense chance will affect it.)

Shield: Increases your chance to shield Kinetic/energy damage.

Absorb: Increases the amount of damage mitigated when you shield an attack.

Gearing Up

Compared to DPS and healers, Tanks in SWTOR have a bit more freedom in how they gear, resulting in many different viable builds you can use for you’re gearing. While below is a good baseline setup for a Shield Tech Powertech, keep in mind that it is good to experiment with different setups, and use whatever feels most comfortable to you. Note that older content, such as operations, is scaled down to level 70, so you gearing method may change depending on what content you plan on tackling.

What items to use

Armorings: Use either Resistive 80 or 80R-1 armorings.

Mods: I’d recommend Warding Unlettered, Warding B, or Lethal B mods. In the build below I am using a combination of Warding B and Lethal B mods. Use only Unlettered Warding Mods for scaled down content.

Enhancements: I recommend you use Superior Bulwark or Superior Bastion enhancements, as they have the most tertiary stat pool.

Augments: Use Advanced Shield/Absorb 74 augments.

Earpiece/Implants : Any Bastion or Bulwark Earpieces/ Implants will work. The build below uses the Sha’tek variant, as they are the most common drop, but in most builds I would recommend using the High Tertiary Stat Sund Tech variants, if you have them.

Relics: Use either Relics of Avoidance or Relics of the Shield Matrix. I use one of each for the build below.

Stats Priority

Shield Rating should be the stat you focus on most as a Shield Tech Powertech, followed by Absorption Rating, then Defense Rating.

Shield/ Absorb: I would recommend you start any Tank build by first making sure you reach at least 50% Shield Chance, and then placing your remaining stats as you see fit. A build with similar Shield Chance and Shield Absorption percentages like the one below will offer better mitigation per shielded attack than a high Shield Chance build, albeit less consistently. I do not recommend having a Higher Shield Absorption percentage than a Shield Chance percentage, as Shield Absorption becomes less useful the less likely you are to actually shield an attack.

Defense: Your Defense rating should run anywhere between 3492 and 5297, depending on what type of build you are going for. 3492 is the soft cap for Defense Rating, which is where the mitigated gains start to become noticable, and 5297 is your hard cap, which is where it is no longer worth increasing your defense rating. Typically, the less you put into Defense, the more you can put into Endurance, increasing your health pool. The build below is closer to the Hard cap, but still offers plenty of endurance for all content. *In Scaled down content, you should use only unlettered Defense mods, even if you pass the 5297 Defense rating Threshold*

Example Build

This is a baseline build that will give you a good starting point for the horizontal gearing of your Shield Tech Powertech. Remember, it is great to experiment with different builds for your tanks, and I highly recommend finding what works for you and using that build.

Mastery: 12466

Endurance: 17328

Power: 3441

Defense: 5011 (28.67%)

Shield: 4282 (51.71%)

Absorb: 2986 (50.49%)

Armorings: Resistive 80 or 80R-1 Armorings x 8, + Resistive 80 or 80R-1 Barrel x1

Mods: Superior Warding Mod 80B x4 + Superior Lethal Mod 80B x5

Enhancements: Superior Bastion Enhancement 80 x3 + Superior Bulwark Enhancement x4 Implants/Earpiece: Sha’tek Bastion Package Mk-19 x 2 + Sha’tek Bulwark Device Mk-19 x 1

Augments: Advanced Shield Augment 74 x 13 + Advanced Absorb Augment 74 x 1

To see a more indepth look at 6.0 Theorycrafting for tank stats and baselines for High Endurance and High Defense Tank builds for all classes, I recommend looking at Dipstik’s forum thread on the topic here.

Set Bonuses

With 6.0, Shield Tech Powertechs lost our old Set bonus. This means we no longer have our Taunt CD reduction on Rocket Punch, which allowed Powertechs to have the shortest possible single taunt cd (we could get the cooldown down to 6 seconds in some instances) and the highest threat generating tank. Below I have listed the set bonuses that are available and relevant to Powertech tanks, and to what degree I see them being useful as a tank. For a more in-depth look at all the different Set Bonuses and how to get them, I recommend checking out Vulkk’s guide on the topic.

Emercengy Power

(2): +2% Endurance

(4): Increases the Duration of Energy Shield by 5 seconds

(6): Activating Power Yield grants you a major Absorb shield for 3 seconds

Source: Dxun Op. Not available from Tech Fragment Vendor

This set was introduced in 6.0.1, possibly to give a Shield Tech Powertechs a set that was definitely tailored towards them. The buff to Energy Shield is good, having a pseudo sage bubble while Power Yield gains stacks is also nice. The bonuses are straightforward, and will perform consistently well in all situations, making this set a good fit for those who are new to the class, as well as veterans who are looking for more guaranteed mitigation.

Right Price

(2) +2% Mastery

(4) Explosive Fuel increases damage dealt by 20% when Ion Cell is active, and increases Dr by 5% when Ion cell is not active.

(6) Whenever you taken damage while Power Yield is up, the cooldown of Explosive Fuel is reduced by 3 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 3 seconds.

Source: Conquest Crates

Despite the Nerf to the 6 piece bonus that came with 6.0.1, this is as of right now still my favorite Set Bonus to run as a Shield Tech Powertech. For some reason the set doesn’t seem to distinguish how long Power Yield actually lasts, as the cooldown reduction effect continues to occur for 30 seconds after Power Yield is activated, regardless of whether or not you are a DPS or Tank, or if you actually have the utility that extends the duration of Power Yield when in DPS spec. This allows you to shave up to 30 seconds off the cooldown of Explosive Fuel when you use Power Yield. When used most effectively, this set bonus allows the first 1 minute and 15 seconds of Explosive Fuel’s Cooldown to pass in only 45 seconds (15 Seconds when Explosive Fuel is active and 30 seconds after Power Yield is activated.) This set bonus gives Shield Tech Powertechs the potential to greatly increase their defensive cooldown uptime, however, it is good to keep in mind that it can also make the usage of Power Yield and Oil Slick more conditional. (Using Power Yield when Explosive Fuel is off cooldown can be wasteful, and the cooldown of Oil Slick will no longer line up with the cooldown of Explosive Fuel.) While using this set you will also never want to use Power Yield when Explosive Fuel and or Oil Slick are active, as the Cooldown Reduction effect does not occur if you dodge/resist an attack. In its current state, I’d say this set is on tier with Emergency Power on paper, however, its usefulness can fluctuate higher or lower depending on the situation (Right Price is amazing when tanking a boss like Tu’chuck, since he hits you several times each GCD for exclusively weapon damage, but isn’t very effective on a fight like Izax, where you are being hit less often, but each hit does lots of Tech Damage,) and on the skill and knowledge of the user (Proper knowledge of a boss’s damage profile and understanding of fight mechanics makes it easier to know if you can rely on the benefits of Right Price ahead of time.)

Meteor Brawler

(2) +2% Endurance

(4) Energy cost of Stockstrick/Shockstrike reduced by 4. Rocket Punch/ Shockstrike and Heat Blast increase damage dealt by 10% for 15 seconds. Can occur once every 30 seconds.

(6) Activating Explosive Fuel gives you Firefall for the duration of Explosive Fuel. During this time, dealing damage with Ion Wave, Flame Burst, Rocket Punch, or Shockstrike builds up to 7 stacks of Firefall. When Explosive Fuel ends, it detonates dealing elemental damage to all enemies around that scales with Firefall stacks. After it explodes, your energy abilities cost 50% less energy for 20 seconds.

Source: Increased Drop chance from Ops

If you want to go for a maximum damage dealing tank, this is the way to go. The 6.0.1 change to allow Heat Blast to proc the 4 piece damage buff slightly increased Shield Tech compatibility with this set.

Squad Leader

(2) +2% Endurance

(4) Taking damage while Energy Shield is up grants a weaker Energy Shield to nearby Allies.

This set bonus is not bad, but Energy Shield is a cooldown you typically will want to save until you need it. The rest of the group should be avoiding avoidable damage, and have their own cooldowns for raidwide damage.

Amplified Champion

This set contains an additional Primary Amplifier on each piece’s shell. These Amplifiers have lower than standard rolls.

Replaces the Quality of Life/ Crafting/ Experience Amplifiers usually found on Shells and replaces them with Combat amplifiers usually found on Armorings/ Hilts/ Barrels. Amplifiers on these pieces can only reach the 2nd Tier (Blue) Quality. Any gear piece that does not contribute to your set bonus should be an Amplified Champion Set Piece (So if you use a set with a 6 piece bonus, your seventh shell should be Amplified Champion. If you use a set with a 4 piece bonus, you should use 3 Amplified Champions Pieces.)

Tacticals

Tacticals are a new gear piece introduced in the Onslaught expansion. Tacticals have no stats, but they can alter the way you play your discipline. I will be going over the Tacticals that are relevant to Shield Tech Powertechs, but there are many others you can obtain and use in the game that I won’t be mentioning. For a more in-depth look at all the different Tacticals and how to get them, I recommend checking out Vulkk’s guide on the topic.

Thermal Screen Thermal Screen

Heat Screen now Stacks up to 6 times. Using Power Yield finishes the cooldown on Heat Blast and grants 3 Heat Screens.

My personal favorite tactical to use. You get a near permanent passive 3% increase to Shield Absorption, which will intermittently be as high as a 6% increase. It can also give you 12 seconds of extra 30% Shield Absorption, if you proc a second Heat Blast with Power Yield as the first Heat Blast Buff drops off. Unfortunately, you cannot stack 2 Heat Blasts for 100% Shield Absorption. Using Heat Blast when you already have the buff simply refreshes the cooldown.

Oil Fire Oil Fire

Each enemy hit by Firestorm while affected by Oil Slick increases DR by 2% for 8 Seconds, and reduces the cooldown of Oil Slick by 1 second. Firestorm Hits for 20% more damage on targets in Oil Slick.

Another good tactical. Strengthens Oil Slick to varying degrees based on the scenario. Unfortunately, Juggernauts and Assassins have similar set bonuses/ Tacticals that grant them the same benefits without the requirement of using a cooldown.

*AS OF PATCH 6.0.1 THIS TACTICAL IS BUGGED, AND ONLY GIVES ~.13% DR PER ENEMY HIT*

Holoswap

Translocating a guarded target grants the 40% DR and causes them to taunt all nearby enemies for 6 seconds. After six seconds you swap back.

It’s an interesting tactical if nothing else . I wouldn’t recommend using it often, but if you can find a strat to use it on certain fights, go for it.

Flying Fists Flying Fists

Stockstrike / Rocket Punch and Shockstrike / Flaming Fist now have a range of 10m.

Not very useful in PvE unless you plan on kiting a lot.

Neural Trigger Neural Trigger

Dealing damage to an enemy affected by your Neural Dart stuns them for 2 seconds and ends the taunt.

Not Very Useful in PvE.

The Life Warden The Life Warden

Taking damage below 20% health will rapidly heal you for a large amount. 10 minute cooldown.

General Tactical available to all classes that can be situationally useful when you cannot cycle through all your cooldowns. An example of this is when tanking NiM Zorn with no tank swaps. Since not all of your cooldowns (primarily Explosive Fuel and Oil Slick, and Power Yield to a lesser degree,) are effective at mitigating Zorns damage, and your medpac is restricted due to the baradium sickness mechanic, this cooldown can act as a conditional medpac.

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are a new aspect of gearing introduced with the Onslaught expansion. Amplifiers can buff your Combat, Crafting, Activity Rewards, or make Quality of life changes. There are many amplifiers to choose from, but I will only be going over the Combat Amplifiers Relevant to Shield Tech Powertechs. For a more in-depth look at all the different Amplifiers and how to get them, I recommend checking out Vulkk’s guide on the topic.

There are many Amplifiers that are available in the Armoring/ Hilt slot. For Shield Tech Powertechs, I’d recommend using either Aural Resistence or Tech Wizardry. While there are many defensive Amplifiers other than Aural Resistance, many of them are very niche, and will work great on some fights but be useless on others, requiring you have multiple sets of gear or constantly reroll your Amplifiers. Most bosses do plenty of cleaving and AoE damage, so Aural Resistance will be helpful in most or all fights in the game. Tech Wizardry is useful if you want to do a bit more dps as a Shield Tech.

COMBAT ABILITIES

Passives

Below is the List of the Passive Ability Tree available to the Shield Tech Powertech, as well as a short explanation as to how your important Passives will affect your rotation.

ABILITY NOTE

Ion Gas Cylinder Loads your rifle with ion powercell, giving ranged attacks a 15% chance to deal additional energy damage once every 1.5 seconds. While this cell is active, armor rating is increased by 61.5%, damage reduction is increased by 5%, shield chance is increased by 15%, threat generation is increased by 150%, accuracy is increased by 10%, and all damage dealt is reduced by 10%.

Ion Overload Dealing damage with Rocket Punch triggers Ion Gas Cylinder on the target and dealing damage with Railshot triggers Ion Gas Cylinder on the target and up to 7 additional enemies within 5 meters. In addition, when Ion Gas Cylinder deals damage, it will also shock the target for X additional energy damage over 6 seconds. None of these effects damage sleeping, lifted, or incapacitated enemies. Generates a high amount of threat.

Combust Flame Burst and Flame Sweep cause trauma and weaken their targets. Weakened targets deal 5% less damage with ranged and melee attacks for 45 seconds. Targets with Trauma receive 20% less healing from all sources for 6 seconds.

Heat Screen Shielding an attack or triggering your Ion Gas Cylinder generates a Heat Screen, increasing shield absorption by 1% for 20 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds. In addition, each time you build a Heat Screen or refresh your Heat Screen stacks, the active cooldown of Heat Blast is reduced by 1 second.

Flame Engine Direct damage attacks have a 50% chance to trigger Flame Engine, which finishes the cooldown on Firestorm and causes your next Firestorm to generate no heat and deal 40% more damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds.

Shield Vents Increases shield chance by 2%. In addition, shielding or defending an attack vents 1 heat. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.



Hydraulic shield Increases the critical chance of Rocket Punch and Flame Sweep by 10%. In addition, shielding or defending an attack has a 50% chance to finish the cooldown on Rocket Punch. This effect cannot occur more than once every 7.5 seconds.

Power Armor Increase damage reduction by 2%, armor rating by 15%, and the damage dealt by Ion Gas Cylinder by 5%.

Flame Surge Increases the damage dealt by Flame Sweep by 15%. In addition, Jet Charge grants 2 charges of Flame Surge, which makes your Flame Burst and Flame Sweep generate no heat. Each use of Flame Burst or Flame Sweep consumes a charge of Flame Surge.

Ion Screen Increase damage reduction by 2%. Additionally, Heat Blast damages up to 3 additional enemies within 5m of the primary target. Does not damage, sleeping, lifted, or incapacitated enemies.

Coolant Kolto Overload now heals you for 2% of your total health every second while above 35% of your maximum health. Additionally, Explosive Fuel increases defense chance by 35% while active.

Deflective Plating Increases melee and ranged defense by 4%.

Ablative Upgrades Increases shield absorption by 4%.

Shield Enhancers Rocket Punch and Railshot grant Shield Enhancers when activated, increasing shield chance by 1% for 15 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times. Heated Absorbers Heat Blast increases shield absorption by an additional 5%.

Close and Personal Important Powertech Passive

Increases the duration of Energy Shield by 3 seconds. In addition, suffering direct damage from area attacks recharge 2 energy Heat and heals you for 2.5% of your total health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.

In short, your rotational priority should focused on maintaining your shield Amplifiers, and generating Heat Screens so you can use Heat Blast. This means using Rocket Punch and Railshot on cooldown, since they guarantee to grant stacks of both these.

Core Abilities

ABILITY NOTE

Firestorm 10 meter conal cleave ability. Deals Elemental Tech Damage. Heaviest hitting ability in your arsenal. Should be used on cooldown, even if it isn't proc’d.

Rail Shot 10 meter Ranged ability that deals Energy Weapon Damage. Deals good damage, penetrates armor, and is guaranteed to proc Ion Cell, Heat Screen and Shield Amplifiers. Spreads Ion Overload to multiple nearby enemies. Use on cooldown.

Shoulder Cannon On activation begins loading 4 Missiles over the course of 15 seconds. Anytime you have a stack of Missiles you can reactivate off the Global Cooldown to deal Kinetic Tech Damage. When you use all 4 missiles or your Missile Stacks fall off, goes on cooldown for 1.5 minutes. Should be used off cooldown, or can be saved for a Burst DPS Check. 10 meter range.

Rocket Punch Melee ability that deals Kinetic Tech Damage. Deals good damage, and is guaranteed to proc Ion Cell, Heat Screen and Shield Amplifiers. Deals 2.5 times more threat than normal. Use on Cooldown.

Heat Blast Deals Elemental damage, refunds 10 heat, generates extra threat and increases Shield Absorption percentage by 30% for 6 seconds, plus its off the Global Cooldown. Should be used off cooldown, unless you want to save it for a few seconds. Do not delay using this ability for more than 4.5 seconds. Can chain damage multiple enemies. Requires 3 Heat Screens to use.

Flame Burst Your spammable single target filler. Deals Elemental Damage and Applies Trauma and Weakened Debuffs to the target. 10 meter range.

Rapid Shots Your Basic Attack. Deals Ranged Energy Damage. Use when low on Heat, or if you want to proc Heat Blast. 30 meter Ranged.

Neural Dart Single Target Taunt. Forces the target to attack you for 6 seconds and MULTIPLIES threat.

Sonic Missile Aoe Taunt. Taunts all enemies within an 8 meter radius, forcing them to attack you for 6 seconds and multiplies threat.

Other Abilities

ABILITY NOTE

Shatter Slug Splash AoE Ability that deals kinetic tech damage to the target and enemies around the target. Replaces Flame Burst in AoE Situations.

Deadly Onslaught Ground targeted AoE that deals half its damage as Kinetic Tech and half its damage as Elemental Tech over 3 seconds. Can be channeled while moving. Replaces Flame Burst in AoE situations if Shatter Slug is on cooldown.

Flame Sweep Spammable Point Blank AOE that deals elemental damage to enemies within 5 meters of you. Replaces Flame Burst in AoE situations when your other AoEs are on cooldown. * With the Shrap Satchel Utility this does similar dps as Flame Burst, so you can sub it into your single target rotation if you’d like.*

Grapple Pull / Ranged Threat Generator. If you find yourself in range to use this and you have time, you should use this for extra threat. Can be used when between a 10-30 meter range from the target.

Jet Charge Leap with a root. Deals Kinetic Tech Damage. Can be used when between a 10-30 meter range from the target.

Quell Our Interrupt. On tier for shortest cooldown interrupt in the game, cooldown can be reduced even further through utilities.

Determination Our stun breaker.

Guard Guarded player takes 5% less damage and generates 25% less threat. 50% of damage from players taken by the guarded target is transferred to you.



Always have someone guarded, usually a dps.



Carbonize Aoe stun ability that deals internal damage and stuns enemies within 8 meters of the player for 2.5 seconds

Electro Dart Single Target Stun Ability that deals energy damage and stuns the target for 4 seconds.

Translocate Swap utility ability. Rarely Used. Target will be ignored by enemies for 6 seconds or until they use a healing/ damaging ability.

Vent Heat Vents 50 Heat

Thermal Sensor Override Your next ability costs no Heat.



Use for anything but a Proc’d Firestorm.

Stealth Scan AoE that reveals stealth enemies in its area.

Defensive Cooldowns

ABILITY NOTE

Oil Slick Reduces the Melee/Ranged Accuracy of enemies affected by 15%, and slows them by 70%. Lasts 10 seconds.



Not incredibly noticeable on its own, but combos well with Explosive Fuel, and can be used to help your co-tank or reduce raidwide Melee/ Ranged Damage. Works best when mitigating several smaller, rapid hits.

Explosive Fuel Increases your ranged and tech Critical Chance by 25% and you Defense Chance by 35% for 15 seconds.



Your Go to cooldown against Melee / Ranged Damage, but can also help against Force/Tech damage in a pinch. Works best when mitigating several smaller, rapid hits. Can also be used offensively in your opener or during burst phases. Combos well with Oil Slick.

Energy Shield Increases your Damage reduction by 25% for 15 seconds.



The best cooldown available to Powertechs. Works against all damage types, however, it is your best cooldown against Internal/Elemental damage, so use other cooldowns for Kinetic/Energy Damage before you use this one.

Useful against larger, telegraphed or scripted hits.





Power Yield Increases your armor by 40% and your damage done by 2% for 10 seconds. Getting attacked during this time adds an additional stack, up to 5 times for 200% armor and 10% damage done.



New Powertech Cooldown introduced with onslaught. Grants Armor Damage Reduction, making it your go to cooldown for Kinetic/Energy Damage from Force Tech Abilities, or for Melee/Ranged Abilities. Does not work against Elemental/Internal Damage. Useful against rapid, smaller hits until you get maximum stacks.

Kolto Overload Grants Fired Up for 60 seconds. If your health drops to or below 35% while Fired Up is active, you will be rapidly healed back to 35%, and continue to be healed for 2% of your total health once you exceed 35% health until Kolto Overload Ends. Lasts 8 seconds



Can be used like a medpac, or to counteract smaller, rapid damage hits.



Shield Adrenal Absorbs 30% of damage up to a massive amount of damage for 15 seconds.



Very Useful. Can be used against anything, I recommend you use this as you would Energy Shield. Useful against larger, telegraphed or scripted hits.

Hydraulic Overrides Grants Six seconds of immunity to physics/roots, and increases movement speed by 30% for the duration.



Amazing ability. Allows you to ignore many knockback/ movement mechanics in high tier content, and makes you incredibly mobile.



Medpac Heals you for a large amount. Can be used only once a fight.



Should be used if you are getting low and your healers are feeling stretched.



UTILITIES

In 6.0, our Utilities Were consolidated into only 3 tiers, as opposed to the previous 4. You now have a total of 9 Utilities Points, and unlock a new tier of utilities every 3 points spent. Listed below are the utilities I recommend in most instances, and utilities that are useful in certain fights, as well as explanations on why or where to use each utility.

Skillful

Iron Will

Effect: Reduced the cooldown of Determination by 30 seconds and the cooldown of Hydraulic Overrides by 10 seconds.

Note: Always take this. Stunbreaker and Hydraulic Overrides are valuable in any fight.

Reflective Armor

Effect: When Into the Fray is triggered, it will also deal elemental damage to the attacker if the attacker is within 10 meters.

Note: Always take this. Its free damage every time you take AoE damage.

Engulfing Flames

Effect: Increases Flame Sweep damage by 25%.

Note: Usually Take this. Best remaining option in skillful, useful in most fights.

Masterful

Pneumatic Boots

Effect: Increases in combat movement speed by 15%

Note: Always take this. Being able to get from place to place faster is always good.

Sonic Rebounder

Effect: Sonic Missile protects all friendly targets in its area of impact, excluding you, granting Sonic Rebounder, which reflects the next direct, single-target attack back at the attacker.

Note: Always take this. Rebounders is one of the best group utilities in the game.

Pyro Shield

Effect: When activated, your Energy Shield ignites in a blaze, scorching attackers for elemental damage when they deal direct damage to you. This effect cannot occur more than once each second.

Note: Always take this. It’s free damage when you have Energy Shield Up

Hitman

Effect: Reduces the cooldown of Quell by 2 seconds, and reduces damage taken while stunned by 30% when Ion Cell is active.

Note: Sometimes take this. Anytime you know you will be taking hits after being stunned in a fight, or have to interrupt something, I’d recommend you take this.

Heroic

Torque Boosters

Effect: Increases the duration of Hydraulic Overrides by 4 seconds.

Note: Always take this. Makes Hydraulic Overrides better, which is great

Overdrive

Effect: Hydraulic Overrides increases movement speed by an additional 45% while active.

Note: Always take this. Same reason as above.

Combustion Chamber

Effect: Power Yield increases damage done by an additional 2% when hit while Ion Cell is active

Note: Usually take this. Extra damage is always nice. If you don’t need Reel and Rattle or Hitman, take this.

Reel and Rattle

Effect: Grapple deals tech damage to pulled targets and grants Reel and Rattle, causing your next Rocket Punch or against the pulled target to deal 20% additional kinetic damage and stun the target for 1.5 seconds. This effect lasts for 6 seconds.

Note: Rarely take this. If you are having threat problems in you opener, you can take this to help a little bit.

Example Builds

General Use PvE Build

Extra Threat Opener Build PvE

Stun Defense and Interupt Build PvE

OPENER AND ABILITY PRIORITY SYSTEM

Powertech has a relatively straight forward priority system and Opener which we alluded to earlier. Below is an example of a standard opener that you can use. Note that in some fights you may need to alter this in the interest of mechanics.

Opener

Pre-load Shoulder Cannon Grapple Jet Charge Explosive Fuel if not needed later Firestorm + Shoulder Cannon + Taunt Rocket Punch + Shoulder Cannon Rail Shot + Heat Blast + Shoulder Cannon Flame Burst / Firestorm + Shoulder Cannon Flame Burst + AoE Taunt Priority

Priority

The priority is very simple for Powertechs. The goal of this is to get enough Heat Screens to use Heat Blast as often as possible, and maintaining Shield Amplifiers. You can pretty much follow this to the T.

Heat Blast / Shoulder Cannon. They are off the GCD so they wont conflict. Rocket Punch Rail Shot Firestorm (Even if it doesn’t proc.) Flame Burst (filler if you have low Heat) Rapid Shots (If Heat is building up)

x) Single Target taunt frequently if you don’t need to save it for an add or tank swap

CONCLUSIONS

Quick and easy Tips to make you a better Powertech Tank (or any tank in general):

Know the damage profiles of what you are fighting . Figuring out what types of damage a boss will be dealing at a certain time, and when the boss will be dishing out large amounts of damage in a short time will improve your tanking experience greatly. Tools like StarParse are invaluable for tanks, as it easy gives you a breakdown of all the damage you take, sorted into each ability the boss uses, what type of damage each ability deals, how much damage each ability deals, and when it is used. This information allows you to better prepare for each phase of a boss fight, plan out when you will need to use a cooldown, and what cooldowns will be most effective at any given point, so that you never get caught on your back foot. Learning to Stretch out your Cooldowns . This tip goes in tandem with the first tip, but with Powertechs you want to make each of your cooldowns pay its dividends and then some. Knowing when you can rely on your passive mitigation, making sure you use a cooldown that is effective against the type of damage you take, and not overusing your cooldowns, will allow you to make the most out of your toolbox. For example, while fighting Warlord Kephass, you will be taking only Melee Kinetic Damage while you hold the boss, but when it is your turn to eat Kephass’s Slam and dot, you take large amounts of Force Elemental damage. Knowing that your Shield and Passive Damage Reduction and Heat Blast will be effective while holding Kephass, with having Explosive Fuel and Oil Slick in a pinch, and saving Energy Shield for Kephass’s Slam and Dot, is effective use of your cooldowns, allowing you to stretch out your cooldowns later in the fight. Panicking, and spamming cooldowns can leave you with no response to a big burst of damage later in the fight. Stay Calm, trust your team . I cannot stress this enough, but being able to stay relaxed and have strong judgement throughout a fight will greatly improve your time in raids. As stated before, spamming all your cooldowns because you took an unexpected burst or your healers are spread thin will often bite you in the back later. Make sure you show confidence in your healers, and your ability to maximize your passive mitigation, to keep you alive through unexpected bursts, especially if there won’t be another large hit for some time. And if you mess up, make sure you figure out what you did wrong, and then move on. Don’t give yourself a hard time if you learned from your mistakes. Ask questions . Ask every question you have. Speak up if don’t fully understand what your roles are in a fight. People will appreciate your transparency, and your willingness to learn.

As said before, Shield Tech Powertech is one of the three Tanking classes in SWTOR. Shield Techs rely on their Shielding and Passive DR stats to take use the length, but also have a toolbox full of great cooldowns for any situation, a bevy of unique utilities to assist your team, as well as personal utilities to keep us in your opponent’s face, and out of your friends. You will find that Shield Tech Powertech is not only viable in all content at all difficulties in the game, but is also a blast to play at all levels, being easy and straightforward to pick up, while also possessing a high skill ceiling as you settle in with the class. I hope this guide was helpful for anyone who was interested in trying out or had questions about Shield Tech Powertechs, and gave you the confidence to leap into the discipline, and also taught something new to returning and veteran Shield Tech players, and that you all have as much fun with the class as I do.

About the Author

My name is Cӓboose, and I raid on the Pub Side Star Forge server, but occasionally pop on my Powertech Kӓboose. I jumped into SWTOR in 1.0 as a Level 15 Free Trial player, before Swtor became Free to Play. The second character I created was my Vanguard, and it was the first character I max leveled and completed the story. SWTOR was my first MMO, and I leveled all the way to 50 in tank spec because I didn’t understand the difference between DPS and Tanks, so I’ve mained Shield Specialist for my entire time in SWTOR. I began raiding in 3.0 and joined my first raid team in 5.0. Since then I’ve become proficient in all the tank Classes in Swtor, but Shield Specialist has always remained my bread and butter, and I’ve cleared most MM and HM endgame content as a Shield Specialist. I really enjoy meeting people in the game, and will always /wave at you if I see you around fleet, so feel free to /wave at me anytime.

I’d like to first of all thank Vulkk for giving me the opportunity to write this guide, and for his wider contributions to the SWTOR community as a whole. This was my first voyage into writing a class guide, and I’ve had a bunch of fun putting all my thoughts and advice on the class into writing, and I hope that I’ve been helpful to the community through this guide. I’d like to also thank Nyyah and Riku for proofreading and providing feedback on this guide, and Nyyah again for teaching me so much about Shield Specialist, and being an amazing person to raid with. Finally, I’d like to thank everyone that I’ve raided with in the past, be it in a raid team, as a fill, or as a pug. There are too many guilds, teams, and individuals to name them all, but they know who they are, and are all amazing people.

From Vulkk

I would like to thank Caboose first for providing this Vanguard Shield Specialist tanking guide for PvE and then translating it into the article you have been reading here today.

The Tank is the single most important role in SWTOR and usually hardest to find. Being a tank means you are carrying a whole team of players on your back and the beginning is always tough and challenging. I am happy we now have a source for new or returning players, as well as veteran ones, to find tips and suggestions on how to improve their level 75 gameplay and become the leaders each SWTOR team needs.

In this article I have used abilities icons from the Jedipedia and Torcommunity databases.

If you are skilled with a Class and Discipline that has not yet been covered with a guide on VULKK (check the list here), and you want to provide one for the SWTOR Community, contact me via email or wherever you see Vulkk present.