My tank is squishy.

[Tylorious]

Hey guys, I've been playing Star Wars: The Old Republic for a while now, but have never played a tank. My Sith Assassin is lvl 27 now, but he is a bit squishy. Or at least it feels that way. I can tank any flashpoint my level or lower with only a companion healer, but I have to stop after each battle. Some battles with regular mobs get me on tatooine. I'm just wondering if it's normal to feel like this as a tank.

Edit: Let me clarify, in the flash points, I'm playing with 2 dps players, 1 of which has a healer companion. And on Tatooine, I don't ever die, i just get uncomfortably low on health.

[GloatingSwine]

Probably better to ask in a ToR specific thread where people will be able to offer specific suggestions based on the options available in the game.


On the other hand, it's an MMO and you're still levelling, so you might not have access to all the tanking options yet and/or not be geared right, and if you're a straight up tank your kill times will be longer because tanks generally have low dps, so enemies have longer to beat on you.

[Burnheart]

Hmm that sounds about right for an assassin tank, since they have light armour and the other tanks have heavy they do take more damage than other tanks. I assume all your gear is endurance focused and you've got defense chance/shield/absorbtion enchancements, if you can even get those at your level? The thing about Shadow/Assassin tanks is they require intelligent use of abilities but you probably don't have all the abilities you need to work properly yet.

Edit: Also do you have a full set of moddable gear yet with up to date mods?

[Cespenar]

By the way, as someone fully ignorant of the game system: how does a "tank assassin" ever makes sense? I mean, the two notions completely contradict each other.

[Seerow]

By the way, as someone fully ignorant of the game system: how does a "tank assassin" ever makes sense? I mean, the two notions completely contradict each other.

I'm guessing assassin is basically just the Empire scoundrel equivalent. Probably works via evasion tanking.

[Brother Oni]

By the way, as someone fully ignorant of the game system: how does a "tank assassin" ever makes sense?

Tank Assassin? :smalltongue: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ujrKzMF4Jk&feature=player_detailpage#t=427)

There's also these guys from 40K (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Eversor_Temple).

[Tylorious]

By the way, as someone fully ignorant of the game system: how does a "tank assassin" ever makes sense? I mean, the two notions completely contradict each other.

The sith assassin is the darth maul of SWTOR, and you can spec into tanking by evasion, and shields.

[Tylorious]

Hmm that sounds about right for an assassin tank, since they have light armour and the other tanks have heavy they do take more damage than other tanks. I assume all your gear is endurance focused and you've got defense chance/shield/absorbtion enchancements, if you can even get those at your level? The thing about Shadow/Assassin tanks is they require intelligent use of abilities but you probably don't have all the abilities you need to work properly yet.

Edit: Also do you have a full set of moddable gear yet with up to date mods?

Thank you for this, your edit alone has given me ideas on how to make my character shine brighter. I appreciate the help!

[Burnheart]

Thank you for this, your edit alone has given me ideas on how to make my character shine brighter. I appreciate the help!

No problem sir :) If you're having trouble getting modable belts and bracers buy cheap adaptable ones off the Galactic Trade Network, thats what i do.

[Tylorious]

Do you guys think I should start up another SWTOR general discussion thread? I feel like it would get some traffic, but I don't know if it would be enough to have it's own thread.

[NEO|Phyte]

Parroting what others have said, it's probably a case of not having your full tanking arsenal because you're leveling, combined with a mishmash of leveling gear. Also the assassin/shadow has generally been the squishiest of tanks, though recently they changed up how it functions (Or was it still just planned that they're changing it up, I don't recall), not sure if that changed said status.

[Tylorious]

So after taking all your advices, my Sith Assassin can no longer die. He is amazing, I went high willpower on every mod, and on the enhancements i only have defense rating and shield rating. He doesn't hit very hard, but he has twice as much health as my friend of the same level. Thank you all very much.

[Sith_Happens]

Do you guys think I should start up another SWTOR general discussion thread? I feel like it would get some traffic, but I don't know if it would be enough to have it's own thread.

There was one a while back but it died off. I have no idea if a new one would last, though given the brisk pace of updates nowadays there might be a chance.


So after taking all your advices, my Sith Assassin can no longer die. He is amazing, I went high willpower on every mod, and on the enhancements i only have defense rating and shield rating. He doesn't hit very hard, but he has twice as much health as my friend of the same level. Thank you all very much.

Yeah, I'm a year into an unintentional hiatus, but unless a bunch of classes got rebuilt from the ground up since then I can say that Assassins work with their shields a lot more than Juggernauts and Powertechs do.

Also, when in doubt: If everyone's alive at the end of a fight, you've (probably) done your job.

[Jonzac]

I know I'm just getting into this, with my two boys. We play a group of Jedi Sage, Knight and the Jedi version of the Assassin (cant remember the class name). The tank is a bit squishy at level 19 or so, we got killed trying to three man Hammer Station at level 18. Part of the problem is keeping it at a F2P level, (or preferred membership after I spent $5 on each of the boys account). Also, this is the kids first MMO so trying to teach my 14 year old to tank is interesting. The 15 year old has no problem with DPS, and I even have him waiting at least 3 seconds to let the tank get aggro.

With F2P you only get the one class skill so you either gather and no crafting or craft with no gathering and buy from the market. I subscribe so I've got new shield generators for the tank on the way.

We're fine on any elite, but the first boss in Hammer Station just killed us after I ran out of Force to heal after two full minutes. We're a couple of levels higher and we've hit a few of the Heroic 4 quests in Corusant to help gear up so we might have to give it a try again.

* On a side note, I've never run a "bad" character but good Lord I love the Sith Sorcerer class quest line *

[Sith_Happens]

I remember my first time doing Hammer Station too. Just wait until you get to the last boss.:smallamused:

[Tylorious]

I know I'm just getting into this, with my two boys. We play a group of Jedi Sage, Knight and the Jedi version of the Assassin (cant remember the class name). The tank is a bit squishy at level 19 or so, we got killed trying to three man Hammer Station at level 18. Part of the problem is keeping it at a F2P level, (or preferred membership after I spent $5 on each of the boys account). Also, this is the kids first MMO so trying to teach my 14 year old to tank is interesting. The 15 year old has no problem with DPS, and I even have him waiting at least 3 seconds to let the tank get aggro.

With F2P you only get the one class skill so you either gather and no crafting or craft with no gathering and buy from the market. I subscribe so I've got new shield generators for the tank on the way.

We're fine on any elite, but the first boss in Hammer Station just killed us after I ran out of Force to heal after two full minutes. We're a couple of levels higher and we've hit a few of the Heroic 4 quests in Corusant to help gear up so we might have to give it a try again.

* On a side note, I've never run a "bad" character but good Lord I love the Sith Sorcerer class quest line *

Hammer Station is a bit rough for a "First Flashpoint" but if you just add a dps companion it shouldn't be too rough. The lvl 43 flashpoint is easier than Hammer Station in my opinion, Red reaper I believe it is called.