This is my first gameplay / guide video for the Powertech advanced class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Powertech is the mirror class to the Trooper Vanguard, so the material covered in this video is relevant to players of either class.
The video provides detailed educational commentary on Powertech’s single-target and AOE damage mechanics, CC abilities, defensive tactics, and analysis of match play in Huttball.
Here is the spec used in the video:
http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/bounty_hunter/powertech/#::f20efe2f5ef4e2f21
I queued solo for this match and finished with 273k damage, 51 kills (23 killing blows, 2 solo kills), and 15k Protection.
Also included is a clip of my 20 Powertech soloing a 28 Trooper Commando (at 35% health) and 28 Jedi Consular Sage.
Comments / Errata:
- I sometimes referred to Powertech abilities by their counterpart Vanguard names. E.g. Mortar Volley instead of Death From Above, Gut instead of Retractable Blade
- the Jedi Consular who punted me was Shadow not Sage spec’d
- one thing I didn’t mention was Neural Dart. As a Taunt, it debuffs your target’s damage by 30% against any friendly except for you
For more information on Powertech PVP, please refer to my in-depth Guide.
To see me PVP’ing live, check out the streaming schedule on TwitchTV. My stream features real-time narration and commentary – and to the extent possible interaction with the Chat Room.
Follow Me
Twitter: @taugrim
Stream: http://twitch.tv/taugrim
YouTube: http://youtube.com/taugrimtaugrim
Facebook: http://facebook.com/taugrim
GAMEBREAKER Host for “The Republic” SWTOR show: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/category/the-republic/
Taugrim's MMO Blog 
Taugrim have you done any open world pvp yet? It is very fun, but something easily noticeable is, not all classes get their companions in the same order, and you are at a big disadvantaged if you don’t have your healing companion, like for me on my JK Guardian, they don’t get their healing companion till Balmorra (lvl 30-35ish).
Not yet, only level 22 as of this morning.
I don’t like that pets are involved in World PVP, given as you mentioned that some classes get a healing companion before other classes do. The asymmetry affects balance.
The bad thing about the interrupt is that it only locks out the spell it interrupts. Smart healers that don’t panic will just stand and turrent spam a different heal after one gets locked out. The interrupt needs to lock out all healing.
After playing with Quell, I think a full lockout is too punitive and makes it too easy to shut down a healer.
The cooldown of Quell is 8 secs by default but 6 sec with a 2-pt talent investment, and I think that’s as good as it should get.
Yes, if it locks out all healing the cooldown would have to be increased for sure. It’s probably fine as is for regular PvP. What sucks is a 1v1 with a healer who knows all they have to do is switch the heal they are casting when they get interrupted. I guess you will eventually win, but I hate beating on someone who is standing still beating on two buttons.
I’m not talking Ilum open world pvp, I’m talking just normal open world pvp pre-lvl 50, like I have done some open world pvp on Tatooine and Alderaan.
Nice video, BTW. The class has great damage potential and a nice variety of ways to do it. DoTs, AoEs, hard hitters. The class has it all. It is still quite challenging to 1vN with though. It doesn’t quite have enough burst to take down one target quickly.
Ok you answered this on your stream pretty much, Thanks Taug.
Great guide Taugrim. Do you respec from a PvE to a PvP build before you queue or do you just do your quests with your pvp spec?
Same spec.
While there will be some talent points that don’t really have sufficient value in PVE, such as the 2-pt talent to reduce the cooldown of our interrupt by 2 seconds, it won’t make much difference for PVE leveling and instancing.
At endgame for PVE raiding or hard mode content, you’ll want a PVE-focused spec.
I´m currently playing a Sage healer in PvP and I absolutely LOVE it.
But one thing I’ve noticed is that ALL classes and specs seem so very fun to play.
My impression of swtor PvP so far is very very good.
Infact I find it to be the most enjoyable PvP I´ve ever done in any mmo.
I love the fact that there are no macros or add-ons.
The lack of “target´s target” makes awareness so important. Love it!
I would even go as far as say that the “health bar/raid bar bug” in PvP is “good”… Maybe :)
Are health bars/raid bars even necessary?
Sure it would make healing more difficult, but it also takes away the “whack-a-mole” playing style and takes you in the action in a whole different way.
There are moments, like when a teammate is surrounded by enemys, it´s very hard to target him by clicking on him. In these moments the raid bars is a must.
But if there was a way to easily click your target (bigger healh bars on teammates?) in those situations, maybe it would be prefferable to the raid bars?!
What do you think?
ps. My english isn´t the best, but I hope you understood everything.
I agree.
SWTOR PVP requires the most skill of any MMORPG I’ve ever played, and that list includes WoW, LOTRO, WAR, Aion, Allods Online, and RIFT.
Target of Target is getting added. Macro functionality too, but my guess is that BioWare will make it limited so it’s not OP or auto-pilot.
The bugs with the raid frames affect quality of play in PVP and PVE. It’s a great annoyance to healers and one of those things if it’s not fixed will be a major wart on the game.
Your English is excellent, I wish I could read/write in a 2nd language as well as you.
Also, great vid :)
I feel I have to make some clarifications.
When I wrote health bars/raid bars, I meant the raid bars.
I think the health bars over the characters heads is a must have.
Also, when I wrote (bigger health bars on teammates) I was thinking that you can target your teammate by clicking it. I don´t think that is actually the case right now.
I think you have to click the actuall character to target him.
Is this correct?
Hey, Taugrim, I’ve been wondering what your thoughts are on the pyrotechnic tree for pvp are compared to AP.
Different playstyle.
Advanced Proto (Tactics) emphasizes short-range combat at 0-10m.
Pyrotechnic (Assault Spec) tree focuses on DoT damage and proc snare effects.
They’re both good, it just depends which you prefer.
Curious if you recommend always playing in tanking stance in PvP for all tanking classes or dance? Also, you say not to hold the ball near your goal–and I think you said the guy should have jumped into the pit. Frankly, I think the better advice is to recommend if you get the ball near your goal–unless very heavily guarded w/out any/many enemies, just throw it away, and reset it back to the middle. Thanks for taking the time to post these. The commentary always appreciated.
I don’t stance dance with this class for two reasons:
1. switching stances requires 1.5 sec cast
2. Guard provides the highest benefit of any of our stances
Agree with you that it’s smarter to just throw the ball away to reset it.
BH:Flame Burst T:Ion Pulse
BH:Rocket Punch T:Stockstrike
BH:Rapid Shots T:Hammer Shot
BH:Neural Dart T:Neural Jolt
BH:Rail Shot T:High Impact Bolt
BH:Missle Blast T:Explosive Round
BH:Rectractable Blade T:Gut
BH:Explosive Dart T:Sticky Grenade
BH:Death from Above T:Mortar Volley
For the Trooper player a translation of the different ability names. I don’t know a way how to format it nicely.
Thanks, that is very helpful :)
LOL Watching your video and seeing the damage numbers your ablities are doing at range are far ahead of my most powerful melee attacks on my SW. Hopefully some help is coming soon for us.
I hope so too. I’ve said all through Beta that SW/JK needs help. But not in the damage department. They need to get their CCs earlier, like everyone else does.
Keep in mind it is rare to see any RDPS putting up 270+k damage.
Great analysis on the Bounty Hunter Vanguard! I play a BH Merc but there were still some great tips in this video for me and probably any other player. I really thought you did a really good job ,but if you don’t mind i would like to give you some constructive criticism. Some parts of the video you name the wrong move or you talked about the wrong side of the map (i.e. Gut or South East of the map) but you corrected yourself which is fine, but what i think would make you look more professional is if that did not happen. Now i know this is your first few videos but i just wanted to let you know what i saw that i thought you could work on.
Thanks Taugrim and i cant wait for the next video you put out!
Thanks for the feedback!
I agree with you that getting the narrations right would be best. Main thing is recording / editing / narrating takes so much time away from the game, and I’ve already fallen behind most of my guild as is.
He’s on Jung Ma, just so you people know. No, please don’t roll on that server, our queues are long enough as is.
And I find it hilarious that Empire fights a level range from 15-30 and those of us on Republic are regularly facing people in the 40s.
Hey Taugrim. I really enjoyed your videos during the beta weekends. It’s refreshing to see someone who is making informative pvp videos without all of the attitude and arrogance. Keep up the great work. Have a merry Christmas. =)
Merry Christmas to you too :)
Hey there Taugrim
I’ve been following your videos from your WoW time and I’m enjoying them alot. I’ve even gotten a few pointers here and there which helped me improve a little.
We seem to have the same idea about what classes to play. I played a Paladin in WoW, a Warrior in Rift and a Vanguard here in SWTOR. We had some smaller discussions about builds in Rift, so spec-wise, we do not always agree, which got me thinking.
How are you planning on ending up and why?
I’ve heard many complain that hybrid builds doesn’t work in SWTOR, but none-the-less that’s what I’m aiming for (atleast for now).
http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#801hRGbkRZrsrro0ckz.1
Gratz on taking the leap and doing this fulltime. I hope it works out for you :)
Regards Daniel
Haven’t decided on 50 spec, need to test first.
I would ignore people who are saying hybrid builds don’t work – it depends on what playstyle you are trying to support, and there are good reasons for going Tactics / Shield Spec as you have.
Re: your spec, move the 2 points from Power Armor to Battering Ram.
I’ve actually changed my mind now. Tested Shield Specialist out the other day. It absolutely crushes Tactic by far. You should really test it out. It really starts to shine around lvl 30 with the charge. Running 31/8/2 atm. and doing equal if not better dmg. And to top it of. You are damn hard to take down. The playstyle is much more melee though.
Great Video!
A few questions:
– Can you post your full build?
– Are you using this for PvE too?
– When, if at all, are you switching to Shield Tech Tree for Tanking in PvE?
1. the link to the 20 spec is above. I won’t post a 50 build until I’m closer to 50 or have done sufficient testing to feel that my 50 spec is effective.
2. there is no dual spec in this game, so I run the same build in PVE and PVP
3. for level 50 tanking, I would switch to Shield Tech. Also planning on trying Shield Tech as my main tree once I can get the charge ability
An observation Taugrim; strafeing around melee with leaps (guard/sent) doesn’t actually work if they spec for the reduced range talent, which drops the min. jump range to virtually nil.
Interesting guide; i’m playing commando and your comment re. aoe is totally right. People KEEP ON standing in my mortar volley + auto sweep spam, and it literally takes 2/3 of their bars away (was in a warzone where I got over 60 kills last night due to the opfor perpetually standing in my aoes)
True, but the Charge ability has a 15 sec base cooldown. And not every tank will spec in the tree to get enable Charge under 10m.
It’s sad. I don’t understand why people don’t move.
Any thoughts on why it is more difficult to 1vN in swtor compared to other games such as wow?
Time-to-kill is longer, there aren’t any true “OP” classes, and the bolster system keeps people’s stats relatively balanced against each other. Most 1vN situations in WoW were due to gear and using an overpowered aspect of a given class.
Oozo hit the nail on the head.
I vastly prefer PVP in SWTOR because of the TTK and the fact that all classes by mid-to-upper levels have counters and CC to work with.
SWTOR has the highest skill level of PVP of any game I’ve played.
Great guide, thank you Taugrim!
hi
really good video. ive specced the same as you and find the rblade/railshot combo deadly. can i enquire as to your intended spec up to lvl 30+ and beyond. Best, Tom.
Great vid as always, the top left corner info popups could use some opacity imho, ~90%ish? I really think it’d look better.
Just wanted to let you know about a problem between the Trooper and Bounty Hunter. The Bounty Hunter’s Death From Above and Unload attacks cause damage almost instantly. In the Trooper’s version of these attacks (Mortar Volley and Full Auto) there is a 1-1.5 second delay before the damage is actually caused. This is crippling in PvP as Mortar Volley becomes extremely difficult to use and both can be interrupted without before they cause damage.
In my experience, there is a delay with both abilities for Powertech and for Vanguard.
Don’t watch the animations, just see how long until the damage numbers appear on the screen.