SWTOR 4.0 Vengeance Juggernaut PvP Guide by Zetsuma

SWTOR 4.0 Vengeance Juggernaut PvP Guide byt Zetsuma.[toc]

Introduction to Vengeance Juggernaut

Vengeance Juggernauts are the most durable damage dealers in the Star Wars Universe. Their offence favors close range combat (4 m) and is geared towards burning away an enemy’s health bit by bit with a combination of lightsaber and force abilities. This specialization excels in large battles and with clever positioning and crowd controlling abilities the best Juggernauts will literally Slam their way to top damage.

If you enjoy leaping into the thick of things and dealing massive AoE damage, this is the class for you. Read on if you wish to take yourself to the next level

Ratings

• Single Target Dps: 6
• AoE Damage: 10
• Group Utility: 6
• Rotation Difficulty: 6
• RNG Dependant: Somewhat on a few abilities.
• Burst: 6
• Sub 30% Talent or Ability Buffs: No (Execute available before 30% and execute very marginal in increase of damage)

Gearing Overview

The Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion (4.0) introduced a huge change to the stats by rolling surge rating into critical rating and changing the formulae drastically, making critical chances of over 35% easily attainable. This change has greatly increased the value of this stat to the point that it is viable to stack crit over power (the mastery/strength stat is no longer viable for augments).

In the previous expansion, The Shadow of Revan (3.0), alacrity became another great stat to add to your gear as it decreases the GCD (global cooldown) and CD of many of your abilities. I had much success in stacking this stat. However, it becomes fairly useless if you ping is high, or your APM (actions per minute) is low.

As a result of all of this the way I have chosen to gear is to:

1. Replace all but one Accuracy Enhancement (Initiative Enhancement 40X) from the stock gear with Critical Enhancements (Adept Enhancement 40X).
2. Use the Critical version of the Earpiece and Implants (Adept Device and Package).
3. Use 9 Alacrity Augments, with 5 Critical Augments.
4. If you have high ping or low APM I suggest swapping those Alacrity Augments with Critical (Adept) Augments.

Your secondary stats should look like this:

• Critical Chance ~ 39%
• Critical Multiplyer ~ 69.5%
• Alacrity ~ 8%

Utilities

The Shadow of Revan Expansion (Patch 3.0), introduced two brand new systems: the Discipline system and the Utility system.

The Discipline System is a designed path for each class which grants you key abilities for that discipline, there are 3 disciplines to choose from for each Advanced Class – This guide is for Vengeance Juggernauts.

The Utilities System gives a player an opportunity to customize their character based on their playstyle. The Utility Tree is divided into three Tiers: Skillful, Masterful and Heroic. Tier one, Skillful, you need to spend a minimum of 3 points in order to open Tier 2, Masterful. From Tier 2, you need to spend 2 points in order to unlock Tier 3, Heroic, where you can then spend the final 2 points for a total of 7 Utility points. Now, you can spend all 7 points as you see fit. Meaning you can spend all 7 in the first 2 tiers or spend them evenly across all three Tiers. It comes down to what Utilities are needed to be competitive in your gaming environment.

For PvP there is a lot less wiggle room for utilities. The way I see it, as a dps your primary focus should be on talents that increase your own dps, whether by keeping yourself alive or by a flat damage increase. If you can manage to fit other things in great, but DPS should be your primary concern. The Knights of the Fallen Empire (Patch 4.0) added some new utilities and modified others.

The following are the Utilities that I recommend in a PvP environment. Due to the amount of crowd control in the game, these utilities are geared towards increasing your mobility – the lack of which was the downfall of the class in the previous expansion.

Note: * denotes essential utilities for the spec, ` denotes my personal choices

Skillful:

• *`Overwhelm: Ravage immobilizes the target for the duration of the ability.
• *`Unstoppable: Force Charge grants Unstoppable, granting immunity to movement-impairing effects and effects that push or pull you around for 4 seconds
• *`Warmonger: Getting attacked reduces the active cooldown of Force Charge by 1 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 1.5 seconds.
• `Unshackling Rage: Activating Enrage purges movement-impairing effects and increases your movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.

Masterful:

• *`Pooled Hatred: When your movement is impaired, you gain a 10% damage bonus to your next ability that consumes rage. This effect can stack up 5 times and lasts 15 seconds.
• Oppressor : Force Charge, Crushing Blow, Impale, Obliterate, Intercede, and Mad Dash grant oppressor, which makes your next Chilling Scream consume no Focus and activate with a 0.5 second global cooldown.

Heroic:

• *`Intimidating Presence : Force Charge finishes the cooldown on Disruption. In addition, Saber Reflect lasts 2 seconds longer, and while Soresu Form is active, generates a high amount of threat on all engaged enemies within 30 meters when activated.
• `Through Victory : Mad Dash can be used while immobilized and purges movement-impairing effects when activated.
• Through Power : Endure Pain increases your movement speed by 50% and grants immunity to movement-impairing effects while active.

Note: There may be a slight bit of wiggle room, and while I strongly suggest this build, I think it is important for everyone to experiment with different utilities and come to your own conclusions.

Abilities and Rotation

What you need to know beforehand

Before we begin to learn the rotation of the Vengeance rotation itself, you first have to commit to memory the various “Procs” that generate various outcomes and abilities in Vengeance.

Major Procs and Passive Effects:

	Bloodbath: Smash and Vengeful Slam spread your bleed effects to all targets they damage, if at least one of the targets is already affected by your bleeds.
	Rampage: Shatter finishes the active cooldown on Ravage and generates 3 rage.
	Savagery: Shatter impale, Civious Throw and Venegeful Slam increase the critical chance of your next Force Scream by 50 %. Stacks up to 2 times and lasts 15 seconds.
	Destroyer: Ravage and bleed effects both have a 30% chance to grant Destroyer. Destroyer finishes the cooldown on Vicious Throw and makes it cost no rage and usable on a target with any health level. Can only occur once every 20s.

Abilities:

Note: Alacrity will affect the cooldowns of these abilities.

	Shatter: Cooldown: 12 seconds Requires: 5 Rage Consumes: 1 Rage Range: 0-4M	Does high force elemental damage on initial application with a 12 second Elemental Damage Over Time Effect that deals high Damage. This Damage over Time effect can be spread by Bloodbath! Generates one stack of Savagery and resets the cooldown on Ravage. Each tick of the Damage over Time effect has a 30 percent to generate Destroyer.
	Impale: Cooldown: 9 seconds Requires: 4 Rage Consumes: 3 Rage Range: 0-4M	Does high Melee Kinetic damage with a 6 second Force Elemental Damage over Time effect that does moderate damage. This Damage over Time effect can be spread by Bloodbath! Generates one stack of Savagery. Each tick of the Damage over Time effect has a 30 percent to generate Destroyer.
	Force Scream: Cooldown: 9 seconds Requires: 4 Rage Consumes: 3 Rage Range: 0-10M	Does moderate Kinetic Force damage on initial application with an elemental force damage over time effect of 6 seconds. This Damage over Time effect can be spread by Bloodbath! Each tick of the Damage over Time effect has a 30 percent to generate Destroyer. With the 6pc Set Bonus, Force Scream grants Vindicator’s Critical Bonus, increasing critical chance of your next Impale by 100%.
	Ravage: Cooldown: 18 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Range: 0-4M Channel Time: 3 seconds	Is the Traditional cornerstone of the Vengeance Juggernaut and deals a significant portion of your single target damage. Plasma Brand resets the cooldown on Blade Dance.
	Vicious Throw: Cooldown: 10 seconds Requires: 3 Rage Consumes: 2 Rage Range: 0-10M With keening this ability generates 1 Rage	Used every 20 seconds after Keening is procced. It deals high kinetic weapon damage.
	Vengeful Slam: Cooldown: 9 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 1 Rage Range: 0-5M AoE Type: 360 degrees	It is your primary AOE and secondary filler. Vengeful Slam can be used to spread your Damage over Time effects to multiple targets.
	Sundering Assault Cooldown: 12 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 7 Rage Range: 0-4M	Your primary filler. It’s a core rotational ability in the fact that it’s the quickest method for generating Focus you have in a single GCD. In addition, if you have your 2 pc set bonus, every 30 seconds, it generates a 15 second buff that increases all damage you deal by 2%!
	Enrage Cooldown: 45 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 6 Rage	Instant ability off the GCD. Generates 6 focus. Should be used only when Sundering Assault is on Cooldown and you NEED focus.
	Force Charge Cooldown: 15 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 3 Rage Range: 10-30M	Closes the gap between you and your target instantly, cannot be used if character is under cover. Grants Unstoppable and Brawn.
	Saber Throw Cooldown: 25 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 3 Range: 0-30M	It is a very effective filler, and applies an armor debuff.
	Force Choke Cooldown: 60 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 3 Rage over the duration Range: 0-10M	Does low damage over 4 seconds and stuns the target.
	Force Push Cooldown: 30 seconds Requires: 0 Rage Generates: 0 Rage Range: 0-10M	Pushes the target away several meters and knocks the target down for 2 seconds. Deals moderate damage.
	Sweeping Slash Cooldown: None Requires: 3 Rage Consumes: 2 Rage Range: 0-5M AoE Type: Cone	AOE ability that does moderate damage to multiple targets. Does more damage to burning targets.

Rotation

As a damage dealer, your primary objective is to kill as many enemies as you can. While this spec deals decent single target damage, Vengeance excels at applying group pressure and this guide is geared around the idea of “DoT Spreading” through Vengeful Slam. While there is not set rotation due to the dynamics of PvP here are a few notes on ability priority for PvP.

1. I will start with what I think is the most important note: The goal of a dps role is to kill targets. While the spec should be played to maximize group pressure, if a target is low you should abandon the priority and use your big direct damage attacks to score the kill.
2. Keep your DoTs up. Shatter, Impale, and Force Scream should always be on cooldown. This allows for ease of DoT spreading.
3. The DoTspreading priority goes Shatter, Impale, then Force Scream. Optimally you want all the DoTs on every target, but it’s ABSOLUTELY vital you get the first, important for the second, and the third is icing on the cake. If you expect someone to move out of your DoTspreading range, dotspread NOW regardless of how many dots you have up. More targets = more damage, regardless of how many dots you have.
4. Shatter in particular should be used off CD in 99% of situations no matter what. The only time you should use other abilities when it is off CD is when the target is low and you need heavy direct damage.
5. Due to the changes to crit whereby abilities that have 100% crit chances get and added critical multiplyer, Force Scream should never be used with less than 2 stacks of Savagery.
6. Do not use Vengeful Slam unless a target within the radius has the Shatter on them, and you can spread the DoTs. It is a really big waste of the ability.
7. Vengeful Slam should also not be used in a single target rotation unless everything else is on CD. It is a pretty ability, but it’s damage pales in comparison to everything else.
8. Ravage should used when all your dots are on cooldown and you have already spread DoTs, or there is no target to spread DoTs to.
9. Burst : The only way to generate real burst in this spec is to pair the last tick on Ravage with a heavy hitter (Impale/Vicious Throw). Unfortunately it also relies on whether those abilities crit, which is based on chance.

Openers

Here are some common openers depending on the situation. You should default back to either of these if those abilities are all off CD.

Opener A (Multitarget):

Saber Throw – Force Charge – Enrage – Shatter – Impale – Force Scream – Vengeful Slam (IF > 2 targets)- Vicious Throw / Ravage

This is going to be our primary opener, remember this. That said there are a couple modifications that we can make to maximize our uptime/burst:

1) Ravage should always be used ahead of Vicious Throw provided you are in range and the target does not have a white-bar.

2) Vengeful Slam can shift upwards in the opener depending on if targets are moving. Remember, the goal is group pressure and spreading without all 3 dots is preferable to spreading to less targets as Shatter does significantly more DoT damage than the other two, and Vengeful Slam also hits for a decent amount itself.

3) In 4.0 the 6-piece gear bonus (the auto-crit on Impale) proc has changed from Saber Throw to Force Scream. As a result, in order to get the auto-crit in your opener you will have to swap the positions of Impale and Force Scream.

• In order to ensure you have 2 stacks of Force Rush you can use Vengeful Slam prior to engaging as it grants stacks as of 4.0
• You may opt not to use your auto-crit in this opener (especially against a healer). To get a kill against a healer you generally want to soften them up a little and get debuffs rolling before getting in your big burst. The Internal CD occurs after the bladestorm, not after you use the ability, which means there is no DPS loss by holding it.

4) You can substitute Sundering Assault with Enrage if Enrage is on CD or you want to hold your root-break / speed buff.

5) Due to the Focused Freedom utility Enrage in Vigilance should not be used mid leap. Ideally you will wait until you need the focus to use it to have a greater uptime on your speed increase.

Opener B (Single Target Control):

Saber Throw – Force Charge – Ravage – Enrage – Shatter – Impale – Force Scream – Vicious Throw / Ravage

This opener is for single target control and is designed to get a full Ravage in an Unstoppable + Brawn window with zero chance of it getting stunned or knockbacked (if you have the recommended alacrity). While Ravage has lost much of it’s damage, forcing your target to use a root break early on can be very useful. I rarely open in this manner. The same notes for the multitarget rotation apply here as well.

Defensive Cooldowns

This is the single most important part of any Juggernaut’s utility when it comes to PvP. As the saying goes, you do zero DPS if you’re dead. In general, you will have to learn when you need to use a CD or when to save it for a better time. In regs feel free to be a bit more liberal; in ranked you have to be a bit more certain. That being said, it is always better to pop your defensive cooldowns earlier rather than later. I never ever want to see a Juggernaut dead with DCDs available!

	Mad Dash: Quickly Rush forward 20 m, dealing X weapon damage to all enemies in your path and increasing your defense chance by 100% while blitzing. Cannot be used while immobilized or hinered. (Note: This ability moves you in the direction your character is facing, NOT your camera.)	When to use: This is currently the only ‘defensive cooldown’ that can be used offensively as well. As such, you first have to determine if you need the extra escape, or if you need to stick to a target. With the recommended Utility setup this ability will have a root-break attached to it, Use defensively to get out of melee range and line of sight to wait for your other defensives to come off cooldown, or for you healer to get you back up. Use offensively when your target uses one of their distance making abilities to instantly catch back up.
	Saber Ward: Increases Melee and Ranged defense by 50% and reduces the damage taken by Force and Tech damage by 25%. Additional, Saber Ward activates the passive ability Blade Turning which enables the first 2 seconds of Saber Ward to grant 100% defense against Melee and Ranged attacks.	When to Use: Against melee or ranged attack abilities (ie. non-force/tech specs). If you don’t expect to be attacked by any of those kind of abilities, feel free to use it against the force and tech attacks.
	Saber Reflect: Reflects all direct single target Ranged, Force and Tech damage back to the attacker for 3 seconds.	When to Use: In general, because it is on a 1 min cd you should be using this ability very liberally in regular WZs, but in ranked you should keep in mind which classes you are against. As a rule, if being used against a casted ability, ALWAYS use it when the cast is about 90% Whenever facing channeled abilities (they tend to be the highest dps abilities for many classes, but each hit will be below the reflect threshold) For specific abilities and identifiers to use reflect, see “reflectadex” below
	Endure Pain: Temporarily increases your maximum health by 30% for 10 seconds.	When to Use: Always use it before your medpac and pair with your medpac as necessary for maximum effectiveness. Right before execute range; ideally you never want to get into execute range, but you should put it off as long as possible because you lose all that health when the effect ends. Note that this cooldown increases health by 30%, then removes 30% of your REMAINING health unless you are below roughly 20% health, therefore it technically supplies net healing if the fight lasts long enough.
	Enraged Defense: Grants you 12 stacks of Enraged Defense lasting up to 10 seconds. Whenever you take damage, a charge of Enraged Defense is consumed to heal you for X.	When to Use: You will want to use this once you are being focused if you do not have a healer on your team, even if you are at fairly high health (~60%) – the sooner you use it the earlier it will get off CD If there is a healer on your team pop this at around 30% if it looks like your healer is having a problem getting you back to full.
	Warzone Adrenal: Increases damage reduction by 15% for 15 seconds while fighting other players. (This is likely one of the most underused items in PvP).	When to Use: This is a straight up damage reduction that you will likely only be able to use once per match (ranked) due to the long CD. Use it when you feel like you are really being hit hard. As with all CDs, if you don’t have a healer hit it as soon as you are being focused, but with heals used a bit more sparingly – when you are being hit hard and your healer is cc’d As for regs, it’s the same kind of deal. This is combo’d really well with Enraged Defense to get the most bang for your buck out of the heals, you can alternatively combo this Endure Pain + Medpac as well.
	Soresu Form: Enters a defensive lightsaber form, increasing armor rating by 60%, damage reduction by 6%, shield chance by 15%, threat generation by 100%, and accuracy by 10%. While active, all damage dealt is reduced by 10%, and all Assault abilities generate 1 less focus.	When to Use: “Dancing” into soresu can technically be considered a defensive ability, one which has limited uses, but should be mentioned none the less. Huttball is the first thing that comes to mind. If you are carrying the ball pop into soresu if you are being attacked, BUT if you have a leap target you 100% want to swap into Shien, and then pop back once unremitting/unstoppable is up. Running away! If you are trying to get away from a target and are soaking up damage there is no reason not to pop into soresu while you make your escape(if intercede is on CD or there are no friendlies nearby!). You should always keep in mind whether or not you will need your resource before swapping, because you lose all of it every time you change. This is not an ability I want you to focus on too much if you are not comfortable with everything else yet.

Team Play & Tips

Team Play

The Juggernaut has some great utilities to help teammates stay alive, and make opponents very annoyed.

Taunt: A must, it takes nothing for you to cycle your taunts off CD and it really helps to keep your teammates alive – make sure you are not taunting the enemy that is focusing you, you will lose it effectiveness.

Intercede: The damage reduction on teammates is huge, and can mitigate a lot of burst if timed correctly.

Stance Dancing (Soresu/Shien): This is one of the more difficult concepts to master, for if done poorly it can be disastrous for your team. Here are a few pointers in order to use this concept effectively in both regs and arenas.

• Never ever start a match in soresu form. It will completely gimp your dps.
• Only ever do it for a healer or a dps that you know is worth your health and loss of dmg
• Pay attention to health bars, if one is going down really quickly, pop in soresu, guard, then guardian leap. Congrats, your teammate is still alive.
• Depending on the situation and on the CD of your focus generating abilities, you should wait before popping back into shien and whooping ass – until then play like a tank and swap your guard when necessary, slow everything, cc what you can, etc.
• DO switch back, you are a dps, and that is what you should be doing. The ONLY time I will forgive staying in a soresu is in a ranked match where the enemy team’s healer has already died, and yours is still up.

Intimidating Roar: In venge/vigi this ability is a bit annoying to use, because your dots will likely break it the second you use it. That said, it is not a bad idea to use it before you start putting any damage out, or to interrupt critical heals/damage from the other team.

Force Push: Whether it is a healer or dps, if you see a chance pushing an enemy out of los is generally a good idea so long as your teammates aren’t on them. This is especially useful to push a tank or a healer out of guard range which presents an opportunity for a kill. Other fun things you can do with this ability include pushing people into acid and fire pits. You will eventually get used to the range that you targets are pushed, and from there you just need to make an imaginary straight line of you, your target, and whichever pit. GG.

Tips and Tricks:

• The DoT spread mechanic introduced in 3.0 has greatly increased to dps potential of the class in pvp, whereby maximizing the spread will considerably increase your dps. A lot of the old school “smashers” had to learn when to wait to smash to maximize aoe targets, and you should learn to do the same.
  • Using your stun is also a great way to ensure spreading from classes which have root breaking / super speed abilities.
• This spec is pretty cool in that there is a good mix of force/melee attacks. Become aware of opponents defensive cooldowns and use the relevant attacks accordingly.
  • For example, Evasion / Dodge from the Agent / Smuggler classes will make any melee ability miss, so once you see them use it, either stun them or use only force attacks (Retaliation will also be an option if it has already procc’d, but use it only after your force attacks are exhausted).
  • Shadow/Sins resilience is another ability you should become familiar with. While it is up your force attacks will be resisted 100% of the time. This is the perfect time to go heavy melee with Impale and Ravage
• The defensive ability of a guardian/jugg is really great, but here are some other ways of keeping yourself up:
  • Be aware of where you are: Because how how “tanky” this class is, I will often over extend…BY A LOT – gotta kill healers amirite. Not a problem though; when my defensive cooldowns are all gone I will Force Charge to an opponent, Intercede to a friendly healer then line of sight (LoS) the ranged dps. That allows me to travel 60 meters away at maximum from where you started, and potentially 90 meters away from your opponents in two global cooldowns (GCDs).

About the Author

Zetsuma, of Jedi Covenant from the guild Lethal Dose Fifty, has played a Guardian since launch and has made the top 10 Juggernauts in Seasons 4 and 5. In season 6 he took a break from Jugg and got both his Sorc Healer and Carnage Marauder to Tier 1, the highest on the server for both Advanced Classes. Season 6 also saw him get Tier 2 for all other ACs (excluding Jugg – which was not played). Going into Season 7, with the increased mobility of the class, he is ready to continue the Jugg life.

• Livestream Link
• Youtube Link

Rydarus, AKA “Alácrity.” is one of the more outspoken proponents of alacrity as a stat in 3.0, and 4.0 has only solidified his obsession with the stat. He’s perfected and tinkered his approach to Vig/Veng under the principles of DoT uptime, and hopes to spread the “proper” way to run Vigilance/Vengeance to other players.

• Rydarus’ Vigilance 4.0 PvE Guide

I’d like to give special thanks to a couple other people who helped with this guide.

First Vesev, who really helped get my first guide written and formatted. Without him this guide would not be here.

Special shout out to fellow Lethal Dose Fifty Jugg, Gilgamesh, with whom all things Jugg have been discussed through and through.