Kinetic Combat Shadow Jedi Consular Guide (6.0)

Kinetic Combat Shadow Guide

The Shadow’s dual-bladed Lightsaber flashes with deadly precision to provide a relentless offense and when necessary, a formidable defense.

In this guide we’ll be going over how to play a Jedi Consular Shadow Tank including when and how each ability should be used, tips and tricks, and some basics about gearing up. The shadow tank is the most involved of the three republic tanks, and requires a constant upkeep of a ward fueled by the Shadow’s connection to the force, and a creative use of telekinetic abilities channeled to reduce the damage you take as a tank.

This guide has not been translated from Imperial to Republic yet! There are many terms that still refer to the Imperial Darkness Assassin Tank.

Abilities

The Kinetic Combat Shadow uses a combination of useful mechanic abilities, defensive abilities, and damage abilities to keep themselves and their team alive.

Mechanical Abilities

The Shadow tank’s job in a fight is to stay alive through dark sith sorcery, and to keep their teammates alive long enough to for them to take down their enemies. Apart from their defensive force abilities, they have some clever tricks to help keep themselves and their group alive.

Let’s start by going over the Shadow tank’s mechanical abilities.

Icon	Ability Name	Level	Type	Description
	Force of Valor	1	Class Buff	Force of Valor is your class buff – its gives an hour long boost to damage to your group or to any other character you cast it on.
	Meditation	1	Regen	If you're low on health between fights, you can use Meditation to regenerate health - but it only works outside of combat.
	Force Wave	3	Push	Force Wave is your push. A knockback can be useful when you’re playing solo as it can keep melee enemies away from you if you’re taking too much damage, or you can use it to push enemies off of cliffs. As fun as it is, don’t use it in group fights – this often frustrates other players who are trying to group enemies up to take them down faster.
	Force Stun	5	Hard Stun	Force Stun is your short 4-second hard stun – you can use it on weaker enemies to stop them from running around, from casting abilities, or just to keep them out of the fight in general.
	Stealth	6	Stealth	Stealth turns your character invisible to everyone not in your group, and can allow you to sneak past weaker enemies or perform stealth sneak attacks. As soon as you enter combat, you'll be pushed out of stealth.
	Force Lift	7	Crowd Control / Soft Stun	Force Lift is your crowd control soft stun - you can use it to stun weaker enemies for 8 seconds, but it breaks on damage, so only use it on enemies you’re not going to hit soon.
	Force of Will	9	Stun Breaker	Force of Will is your stun breaker. If you are stunned and can’t move, you can use this ability to unstun yourself.
	Mind Control	14	Taunt	Mind Control is your taunt. A taunt forces most enemies to attack you, and only you, for six seconds, and also increases the chance they'll continue attacking you afterwards. As a tank, in a group fight it's your job to keep the enemy's attention, because unlike your other team members, you have stats and the abilities that will help keep you alive and allow your team members to focus on defeating the enemy. Apart from taunts, you can keep the enemy focused on you with what's known as threat or aggro, which means using your abilities in a way that aggravates your enemy to continue attacking you. The higher your threat, the less likely a team member is going to catch the enemy's attention.
	Force Speed	16	Speed Boost	Force Speed is your speed boost. It helps you move faster. You can use it for fun while running around, to get to a strategic location in battle faster, or most importantly to run out of stuff that’s hurting you.
	Guard	16	Guard	Guarding another player reduces the chances of the enemy attacking them as long as you are within 15 meters of each other. The guarded player also takes 5% less damage, but players mainly use guard on a team mate who is often attracting the attention of the boss enemy - either a strong healer or DPS character - not the weakest player who needs "help".
	Mind Snap	18	Interrupt	Mind Snap is your interrupt. Every class has an interrupt ability that allows them to interrupt an enemy while they are casting. This can be useful when fighting low-level enemies as many abilities can be interrupted, and in some max-level fights interrupts are a mandatory part of combat. Castbars that fill up from left right are called channels and can be interrupted and the ability will be stopped, but castbars that go from right to left deal damage the entire time they are casting.
	Mass Mind Control	20	Group Taunt	Mass Mind Control is your group taunt, commonly know as an AOE taunt. It will force all enemies within 15 metered of you to attack only you for six seconds, similar to your single-target mind control ability.
	Mind Maze	20	Crowd Control / Soft Stun	Mind Maze is your soft stun, sometimes called your cc, your crowd control or your mez. While in stealth, you can stun an enemy, and they will stay stunned for one minute as long as no one attacks them. Players use this to either take one enemy out of the equation for a short time in a fight, or to sneak past enemies without attracting their attention. You can only use Mind Trap while not in combat.
	Force Slow	22	Slow	Force Slow is your slow, and slows your enemy’s movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. This can be used to keep Melee enemies away from you as you move farther away, or to slow down enemies who are running away.
	Force Cloak	22	Combat Stealth	Force Cloak allows you to enter stealth while in combat. As a tank, you usually will not want to use this ability while tanking an enemy for your team, as you will lose all the threat you've built up over time. Force Cloak is useful if you enter a fight but want to exit it quickly, or can be used to revive a fallen team member since you will no longer be in combat once you stealth out. Force Cloak can also be used by skilled player to avoid channeled damage abilities or knockbacks which are canceled when you stealth out - just make sure to taunt back immediately afterwards, as you'll have lost all your threat.
	Resilience	36	Cleanse	Resilience, which make you almost invincible by increasing your chance to resist Force and tech attacks by 200% for a few seconds and will also cleanse any cleanseable debuffs you have. It’s one of the strongest defensive abilities in the entire game and allows you to negate a lot of Force or Tech attacks, and even ignore some mechanics by using it at the right time.
	Spinning Kick	42	Short Hard Stun	Spinning Kick is a second short stun you can use that lasts 2 seconds, and also knocks down weaker enemies. As a Shadow Consular you can use it out of stealth. If you collect the [[Efficient Termination]] 6-piece set bonus, Spike turns in to a defensive ability that increases your damage reduction by 10% for 6 seconds.
	Shadow Stride	51	Leap	Shadow Stride is your leap - it allows you to instantly teleport forward to an enemy within range.
	Force Pull	58	Pull	Force Pull allows you to pull an enemy to you, and also generates a lot of threat. Although this does not work against most boss enemies, you can still use it to gain threat.
	Cleaving Cut	72	Short Slow	Cleaving Cut is a second slow. It does slightly more damage than Force Slow but lasts for half the time.

Defensive Abilities

The Shadow tank has a variety of abilities that helps keep them alive.

Icon	Ability Name	Level	Type	Description
	Kinetic Ward	26	Perpetual Shield	Kinetic Ward is your most important ability as an assassin tank. This ability surrounds you with a shield that starts with 15 charges that increases your shield chance by 15% for 20 seconds. Each time you successfully shield an attack, you'll lose one of the charges. As a Shadow Consular, every time you shield an attack with Kinetic Ward, you'll also get a stack of [[Dark Bulwark]], an additional defensive buff that increases your absorption by 1% per stack, and it can stack up to 10 times. If you cast Kinetic Ward again, it will reset your [[Dark Bulwark]] shields back to zero. A big part of Shadow tanking is balancing these two defensive buffs - you want to try and always keep Kinetic Ward up, but anytime you re-use Kinetic Ward, it will reset your [[Dark Bulwark]] stacks back to zero. This means you'll want to wait until your Kinetic Ward is about to run out of time before you refresh it, allowing [[Dark Bulwark]] to build up as long as it can before resetting it.
	Deflection	24	Shield	Deflection is your shield - it increases your ranged and melee defenses by 50% for 12 seconds. As a Darknes Assasin, it also causes all enemies within 8 meters to deal 15% less Force and tech damage.
	Resilience	36	Invincibility Shield	Resilience is your invincibility shield which increases your chance to resist Force and tech attacks by 200% for 3 seconds. Resilience is an extremely powerful defensive ability when used pre-emptively against powerful attacks. If you choose the Mind Over Matter utility, Resilience will last 5 seconds instead.
	Force Cloak	22	Stealth Out	Cloak is not a defensive move, but it can be used as one. First, you can stealth out and use an extra medpac if you've already used one in your fight. Second, you can use it in all kinds of creative ways including resetting certain stacking debuffs, cancelling casted abilities to avoid knockbacks or damage, or even using it as an extra tank swap if your co-tank has the second highest threat. Just make sure to taunt back and start building threat immediately after exiting stealth.
	Spinning Kick	42 (75)	Small Defensive from Set Bonus	If you collect the [[Efficient Termination]] 6-piece set bonus, Spike turns in to a defensive ability that increases your damage reduction by 10% for 6 seconds.
	Force Potency	8	Absorb Shield, mainly use for damage	Force Potency increases the Force critical chance of your direct attacks, but as a Shadow tank, activating Force Potency also grants 30% shield absorption for 20 seconds. Force Potency is usually not used defensively, instead it's used to cause more damage.
	Battle Readiness	50	Shield and Heal	Battle Readiness immediately restores 15% of your max health, and as a Shadow Consular, your damage reduction is increased by 25% for 15 seconds. This is a very useful defensive ability to use when you are expecting a large wave of damage over time.
	Damage Abilities	10	Rotation	As a Shadow Tank, your damage abilities, when used correctly, will also reduce the amount of damage enemies do to you. Your key damage abilities for defense are Cascading Debris, Project and Slow Time.
	Advanced Kyrprax Shield Adrenal	75	Adrenal	Absorbs 30% of damage for a short time. Keep a pile of these on hand!
	Relic of the Shrouded Crusader	75	Relic	Increases Shield Rating and Absorption Rating for a short time

Damage Abilities

Although the Shadow tank should be focusing on tanking rather than doing damage, using certain abilities efficiently can actually raise the Shadow tank’s survivability, and help keep threat with enemies.

Icon	Ability	Level	Description
	Cascading Debris	10	Cascading Debris is your key damage ability as an Assassin tank, but it's most powerful when you also have 3 stacks of Harnessed Shadows, a special buff you get from using either Project or Slow Time as a Shadow Consular. If you get three stacks of Harnessed Shadows, then each tick of Cascading Debris will increase your damage reduction by 1% for 12 seconds. This makes Cascading Debris when you have 3 stacks of Harnessed Shadows both a powerful damage attack as well as a strong defensive boost which you can keep up during most of the fight.
	Project	1	Project is one of your two abilities that builds up those special stacks of Harnessed Shadows. You can use it once every six seconds, so Project is one of your abilities you will use the most.
	Slow Time	42	Slow Time is your other ability that builds stacks of Harnessed Shadows. It's a great multi-enemy damage ability, and it generates a high amount of threat to help you tank, and it also weakens enemies so they deal 5% less melee and ranged damage. You can use it roughly once every ten seconds, so use it whenever you see it available.
	Force Breach	2	Force Breach is another multi-enemy attack you'll be using often to blast your enemy with raw lightning and do damage over time. As a Darkness Assassin, Force Breach also causes its targets to become unsteady, which means they have their melee and ranged accuracy reduced by 5%. While targets are unsteady, your Lacerate ability also does more damage to them.
	Double Strike	1	Thrash is your basic Aassassin lightsaber attack. Although it's not very interesting on its own, as a Darkness Assassin, damage dealt by Thrash, Maul, Lacerate, and Assassinate have a 30% chance to finish the cooldown on your Shock ability and make your next Shock an Energized critical hit. Energized Shocks that consume a charge of Recklessness also deal an additional 50% critical damage, so you'll want to combine your Recklessness Ability with a Shock that is Energized from Thrash.
	Force Potency	8	Force Potency is not an ability you use against an enemy, instead you use it to give your attacks a boost. Using Force Potency grants you 2 charges of Force Potency, which increases the Force critical chance of your direct attacks by 60%. Each time a direct Force ability critically hits or each time you activate a channeled ability, you use one charge of Force Potency. These Force Potencystacks wear off after 20 seconds, so make sure to use them before they disappear. You'll be combining this with an [[energized shock]] or Cascading Debris to do a lot of extra damage when possible, otherwise it's useful with a normal Project as well. Additionally as a Shadow Consular, Force Potency grants 30% shield absorption for 20 seconds.
	Whirling Blow	4	Whirling Blow is similar to your Cleaving Cut attack, but it can hit up to 8 targets around you. It can also cause [[Energized Shock]] just like Cleaving Cut can.
	Shadow Strike	28	Shadow Strike is your backup single-target basic attack, and it does more damage if you are behind your target. As a Shadow Consular, your Cleaving Cut, Whirling Blow, Spinning Strike, and Shadow Stride abilities all grant a Conspirator's Cloak buff, which makes your next Maul consume 50% less Force and damage your enemy as if you're behind them. This makes Maul most worth using when you have Conspirator's Cloak available. Maul also has the ability to Energize your Shock ability.
	Spinning Strike	32	Spinning Strike is a special ability you can only use when your enemy is below 30% health which does a lot of damage.
	Saber Strike	1	Only use Saber Strike if you ran out of Force and can't do anything else. Even if you're doing your rotation perfectly you'll still need to use Saber Strike sometimes. Saber Strike does damage and restores your Force.

Rotation / Priority System

Using your abilities efficiently can help you survive longer, do more damage and gain more threat. This efficiency is gained by using abilities in an order that causes them to amplify each other. This order is sometimes called a rotation or a priority system – what abilities take priority over others.

Opener

Your opener is the ideal set of abilities you will use in order as a Shadow tank during the beginning of a fight to gain the most threat with an enemy, and to set up your success for the rest of the fight.

#	Icon	Ability	Description
1		Stealth	Starting in Stealth gives you a free defensive boost
2		Force Pull	Generates threat
3		Shadow Stride	Leap to enemy, careful, in some fights this bugs and sends you off a cliff. Or use Force Speed to get to the target quicker.
4		Project	Damage creating one stack of Harnessed Shadows
5		Slow Time	Damage creating second stack of Harnessed Shadows
6		Mind Control	Taunt
7		Force Breach	Damage which reduces accuracy of enemy
8		Shadow Strike	Free damage from using Shadow Stride earlier (if it is not sparkling, use Double Strike instead)
9		Force Potency	Damage boost
10		Project	Damage creating third and final stack of Harnessed Shadows
11		Cascading Debris	Damage which uses the three stacks of Harnessed Shadows to reduce damage taken
12		Mass Mind Control	Group taunt
13		Double Strike	30% chance to finish the cooldown on your Project ability and make your next Project an Accelerated critical hit
14		Force Slow	Start the next round of Harnessed Shadows stacks
15		Project	Hopefully you also go a Particle Acceleration from Double Strike earlier!

Single Target

Your single-target rotation / priority system is a list of abilities you should use after your opener, and for the rest of the fight. These abilities shouldn’t be used one after another – instead, abilities higher up the list take priority over those at the bottom.

#	Icon	Ability	Description
1		Spinning Strike	Spinning Strike is one of your strongest-hitting abilities. Normally, it only becomes available when your enemy is under 30%. If you choose the utility Stalker's Swiftness, it becomes available all the time.
2		Cascading Debris	Use when it's glowing, which means you have 3 stacks of Harnessed Shadows.
3		Project	Use whenever it's available, unless you have 3 stacks of Harnessed Shadows.
4		Slow Time	Use whenever it's available.
5		Shadow Strike	Use only when you have Shadow Wrap up.
6		Double Strike	Use when everything above is not available.
7		Force Breach	Only use once every 45 seconds to apply Unsteady, if it's glowing
8		Saber Strike	Only use if you ran out of Force to do anything else. Even if you're doing your rotation perfectly you'll still need to use Saber Strike sometimes.

Multi Target / AOE

Your multi-target / AOE rotation / priority system is a list of abilities you should use after your opener, and for the rest of the fight. These abilities shouldn’t be used one after another – instead, abilities higher up the list take priority over those at the bottom.

Wither is your hardest hitting AoE ability and builds stacks of Harnessed Darkness. Discharge is your second hardest hitting AoE and applies Unsteady debuff and makes your Lacerate deals 15% more damage to affected targets. Severing Slash does more damage than Lacerate but it’s a conal, while Lacerate is a 360 cleave, so if you aren’t going to hit all your targets, don’t use Severing Slash.

#	Icon	Ability	Description
1		Slow Time	Use whenever it's available.
2		Force Breach	Use whenever it's available.
3		Cleaving Cut	Use when you'll hit all enemies in a conal shape in front of you.
4		Whirling Blow	Use as a filler move to hit all enemies in a circle around you.

Utilities

Utilities are a special type of ability that you can choose. As you level up, you’ll be able to use additional utilities slots.

All Utility Options

Utilities are a series of abilities that you can choose from for your Advanced Class. On the list below, these utilities have been rated for their use in difficult boss fights in Operations, the most difficult group content in the game. However, if you are playing solo, playing less difficult content, or PvPing, you’ll want to read the descriptions of the utilities carefully and instead either choose ones that sound fun, or choose ones that seem useful for the type of content you like to play. For example, if you enjoy using Whirlwind while leveling or running Heroics, there are a ton of  Whirlwind-focused utilities available to you that are all useless in Operations.

• Tier 1 Skillfull – You must choose 3 Skillful utilities before the next tier is unlocked
• Tier 2 Masterful – You must choose a total of 6 Skillful or Masterful abilities before the next tier is unlocked
• Tier 3 Heroic – You can choose a max of 3 utilities in the Heroic category

Icon	Utility	Tier	Tier	Rating	Tooltip	Description
	Celerity	1	Skillful	Awesome	Reduces the cooldown of Mind Snap by 2 seconds, Force of Will by 30 seconds, and Force Speed by 5 seconds.	This ability is very useful in fights where you will need to often interupt, or use a stunbreaker, or use Force Speed to get out of the way.
	Pinning Resolve	1	Skillful	Not Worth Taking	Reduces the cooldown of Force Stun by 15 seconds and increases the duration of Force Slow and reduces its cooldown by 6 seconds. In addition, your Force Lift affects up to 2 additional standard or weak enemies within 8 meters of the target.	Mind Snap and Force Lift (your stun and crowd control) are not useful in most boss fights.
	Intangible Spirit	1	Skillful	Awesome	As Kinetic Combat reduces all damage taken while stunned by 30%. As Infiltration and Serenity, reduces the damage taken from area attacks by 30%	During boss fights, you are often stunned, so a 30% reduction in damage is very good.
	Lambaste	1	Skillful	Awesome	Increases the damage done by Whirling Blow by 25%.	Good for clearing non-boss enemies, flashpoints, or any encounters with multi-targets.
	Force Wake	1	Skillful	Not Worth Taking for most situationns	Force Wave unbalances its targets, immobilizing them for 5 seconds. Direct damage dealt after 2 seconds ends the effect prematurely.	Force Wake (your push) is not useful in most boss fights - but whenever you need it, it’s great (will be more used on Veteran Mode and Master Mode)
	Snaring Slashes	1	Skillful	Not Worth Taking	Double Strike, Clairvoyant Strike, and Whirling Blow reduce the movement speed of the targets they damage by 30% for 6 seconds.	Reducing movement speed is not useful in most boss fights.
	Nerve Wracking	1	Skillful	Not Worth Taking	Targets controlled by your Spinning Kick or Force Stun take 5% more damage from all sources.	Spinning Kick and Force Stun (your stuns) are not useful in most boss fights.
	Shadow's Shelter	1	Skillful	Small Group Damage Reduction	Mass Mind Control provides Shadow's Shelter to all allies within range, excluding yourself, reducing the damage they take by 5% for the next 6 seconds and healing them for 44 health over the duration.	Sounds awesome, but the damage reduction and healing is very low. It's a good option if you're not already choosing 3 in this tier.
	Fade	2	Masterful	Awesome for stealthing out	Reduces the cooldown of Force Cloak by 30 seconds and extends its duration by 5 seconds.	30 seconds of cooldown reduction for stealthing out is really significant since Force Cloak is really useful (stealth rezzes, reset medpac, if you have Cloak of Resilience it can be a defensive cooldown).
	Misdirection	2	Masterful	Useful for fights where you need to move fast	Increases your movement speed by 15% and your effect stealth level by 10.	Useful if you want to go 15% faster. Extra movement speed is always good if you can afford taking it.
	Force Harmonics	2	Masterful	Awesome, for Force Potency	Reduces the cooldown of Force Wave by 2.5 seconds and Force Potency grants 1 additional charge when activated.	Although Force Wave (your push) is not useful in most boss fights, Force Potency directly helps you do more damage with attacks and with this you go from 2 to 3 charges.
	Kinetic Acceleration	2	Masterful	Not Worth Taking	Activating Project, Psychokinetic Blast, or Squelch increases your movement speed by 50% for 9 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 18 seconds.	Moving faster is nice, but it can only happen once every 18 seconds which makes it not very useful.
	Motion Control	2	Masterful	Not Worth Taking	When a target recovers from being stunned by your Spinning Kick or Force Stun, its movement speed is slowed by 90% for the following 3 seconds. Additionally, Force Cload increases your movement speed by 50% while it is active, and Force Slow reduces the movement speed of it's target by an additional 20%.	Reducing movement speed is not useful in most boss fights.
	Sturdiness	2	Masterful	Useful for fights where you get stunned	Activating Deflection grants 6 seconds of immunity to stun, sleep, lift, and incapacitating effects.	You rarely need immunity to stun, sleep, lift or incapacitating effects, but can be very useful in some boss fights.
	Egress	2	Masterful	Useful for fights with movement-impairing effects	Force Speed grants Egress, removing all movement-impairing effects and granting immunity to them for the duration.	Very useful for any boss fights where you need to move around a lot an the boss roots you or slows you.
	Containment	2	Masterful	Usually Not Worth Taking	If your Force Lift breaks early from damage, the target is stunned for 2 seconds. In addition, Force Lift activates instantly.	Force Lift (your crowd control) is not useful in most boss fights.
	Cloak of Resilience	3	Heroic	Awesome	Activating Force Cload grants 2 seconds of Resilience.	Very useful in any fights you stealth out during to avoid damage.
	Shadowy Veil	3	Heroic	Not Worth Taking	When damage breaks your Mind Maze prematurely, the target will suffer from Sapped Mind, reducing the damage they deal by 25% for 10 seconds. Additionally, you gain another benefit depending on your active discipline. Kinetic Combat: Cascading Debris increases movement speed by 35% for 6 seconds. Infiltration, Serenity: Increases your armor rating by 30%.	Mind Maze (your stealth crowd control) is not useful at all on Operation bosses (you can use on some trash mobs but that’s about it).
	Mind Over Matter	3	Heroic	Awesome	Increases the durations of Resilence by 2 seconds and Force Speed by 0.5 seconds. Additionally, Force Speed slows all enemies within 5 meters by 75% for 2.5 seconds when activated.	Make Resilience, your 200% damage reduction shield last longer, definitely take this one as a tank! One of the best utilities on last tier.
	Stalker's Swiftness	3	Heroic	Gives spinning strike early	Shadow Stride grants Stalker's Swiftness, allowing your next Spinning Strike to be used on any target, regardless of remaining health. Stalker's Swiftness lasts for 10 seconds. Additionally, if the target of your Shadow Stride is killed within 10 seconds of using Shadow Stride, Shadow Stride's cooldown is reset.	This is pretty nice since you can use your powerful-damage Spinning Strike ability early on which will help you keep threat better at the beginning of the fight.
	Martial Prowess	3	Heroic	Not Worth Taking	Force Pull immobilizes its target for 3 seconds. Serenity Strike immobilizes its target for 2 seconds, and Low Slash immobilizes its target for 1 second after the incapacitating effect wears off. In addition, successful use of Mind Maze grants Martial Prowess, increasing the critical chance of your next direct attack by 100%. This effect lasts for 20 seconds.	Immobilization does not work on most boss fights.
	Restorative Shade	3	Heroic	Not Worth Taking	When entering stealth with Force Cload you generate a stack of Restorative Shade and heal 4% of your maximum health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Stacks last for 6 seconds. When stealth is broken, each stack of Restorative Shade heals you for 4% of your health.	Alhough you may stealth out in some boss fights to cancel a boss's ability, you should never stay stealthed for a long period of time.
	One with the Shadows	3	Heroic	Useful for fights where you need to move fast	Shadow Stride can be used while immobilized and purges movement-impairing effects when used. Additionally, activating Force Speed grants Once with the Shadows, which bestows a different benefit depending on your active discipline. Kinetic Combat: Increases your Force regeneration rate by 10 for the duration of Force Speed. Infiltration, Serenity: Reduces all damage taken by 25% for the duration of Force Speed.	Pretty useful, you can use Shadow Stride if you are slowed or rooted, and you also regenerate Force faster from Force Speed.
	Avenging Grip	3	Heroic	Good	Deflection grants Avenging Grip, reflecting 50% (or 100% for the Kinetic Combat discipline) of all direct single target tech and Force damage back at t he attacker. Avenging Grip lasts for 12 seconds and does not absorb incoming damage.	Reflects 100% of all direct single target tech and Force damage back at the attacker for 12 seconds.

Gear

When gearing up your Shadow Tank, you’ll want to focus on the Endurance, Shield and Absorb stats which will help keep you alive. Endurance gives you more health, and Shield and Absorption helps you take less damage. In some fights it is better to have more endurance, in others it is better to have more mitigation of damage with Shield and Absorption. Tank-focused gear always has defense in it, and tanks will always have more defense than they need due to the stats that are built in to all tanking modifications. It is better to get more Shield, Endurance or Absorption than to get more defense – it’s even recommend that if you are playing unsynced content to choose power over defense, even though power is meant for DPS characters. You can work towards getting your optimal tank stats by switching around your modifications, enhancements, and augments to get the right amount of Shield, Absorb and Endurance.

Stats in modification items have primary, secondary and tertiary stats. As a general rule, you will only have to make a serious choice about what tertiary stat you want to have. (An enhancement will have you choose between Shield and Absorb, but Power and Defense won’t be part of that pool as they aren’t tertiary).

• Primary (Mastery and Endurance) – Tanks choose Endurance
• Secondary (Defense and Power) – Tanks are meant to choose Defense – but Power is often more useful
• Tertiary (Alacrity, Crit, Accuracy, Shield, Absorb) – Tanks choose Shield or Absorb depending on what stats they need to adjust

How to Get Gear at Level 75

“I recommend above 50% shield without Dark Ward up and 40%-45% absorb” – Jaydenz

Apart from getting the best gear you can with tanking stats, you’ll also want to pick a tactical item and a set bonus to work on earning.

Set Bonus

A set bonus is a special type of gear bonus that gives your Kinetic Combat Shadow a boost in battle, like making some of your abilities stronger or making them usable more often. The more pieces of set bonus gear you collect, the more bonuses you will get. Set bonuses only exist on the pieces of armor that you can “wear” – Head, Chest, Hands, Legs, Boots, Belt and Bracers.

Set Bonus Recommendations

Image	Set Bonus Name	Source	Set Bonus Effects	Reason
	Efficient Termination	Conquest or Tech Fragment Vendor	2 - 2% Endurance 4 - Spinning Kick’s stun and slow effects last for an additional second. 6 - Using Spinning Kick grants you 10% damage reduction for 6 seconds.	Favorite This 6-piece set bonus turns your Spinning Kick ability in to a small Defensive ability.
	Saber Master	Conquest or Tech Fragment Vendor	2 - 2% Mastery 4 - Reduces the cooldown of Battle Readiness by 20 seconds. 6 - Killing an enemy during Battle Readiness refreshes the duration of Battle Readiness. Can occur up to 5 times during one Battle Readiness.	Worth it for the reduced cooldown on Battle Readiness, one of your defensive abilities.

Set Bonus Options

Image	Set Bonus Name	(2) Piece Set Bonus	(4) Piece Set Bonus	(6) Piece Set Bonus	Vendor	Source
	Revitalized Mystic	2% Alacrity Ratiing	(Sage) Reduces cooldown of Healing Trance by 1.5 seconds.	Healing a target with another ability while Rejuvenate is active on them has a chance to cause an extra Rejuvenate tick for half. Refreshing Rejuvenate on a target refunds some force.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Empowered Restorer	2% Alacrity	(Sage) Benevolence’s critical chance is increased by 10%.	Benevolence heals for 20% more if you have a Vindicate or Amnesty stack and consumes 1 stack upon use.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Endless Offensive	+2% Mastery	(Sage) Telekinetic Blitz deals 10% more damage	Energize now stack up to 3 times. Force Speed immediately recharges one Telekinetic Blitz ability charge.	Not Available From Vendor	Dxun Operation
	Gathering Storm	2% Mastery	(Sage) Force Speed makes your next Force attack deal 20% more damage and Force attacks deal 20% more damage while Mental Alacrity  is active.	Activating Force Speed reduces the cooldown of Mental Alacrity by 10 seconds. Using Mental Alacrity immediately after adds 10 seconds to its duration.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Operations
	Death Knell	2% Mastery	(Shadow) The cooldown of Force Potency is reduced by 15 seconds. Whenever you consume a charge of Force Potency you gain a stack of Potent Critical, making your next Spinning Strike or Shadow Strike critically hit. Stacks up to 3 times.	Whenever you consume a charge of Force Potency you gain a stack of Audacious Potency, increasing your melee damage done by 10% for 30 seconds. Stack up to 3 times.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Efficient Termination	2% Endurance	(Shadow) Spinning Kick’s stun and slow effects last for an additional second.	Using Spinning Kick grants you 10% damage reduction for 6 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Murderous Revelation	2% Mastery	(Shadow) Battle Readiness and Force Cloak reset the cooldown of Phantom Stride.	Using Teleport from stealth grants Shadowcraft, increasing your critical hit chance by 100% for 6 sesconds.	Not Available From Vendor	Crafted
	Rebuking Assault	+2% Endurance	(Shadow) Each target hit by Cleaving Cut reduces the cooldown of Mind Control and Mass Mind Control by 1 second.	Each target hit by Cleaving Cut extends Deflection’s duration by 1 second.	Not Available From Vendor	Dxun Operation
	Saber Master	2% Mastery	(Shadow) Reduces the cooldown of Battle Readiness by 20 seconds.	Killing an enemy during Battle Readiness refreshes the duration of Battle Readiness. Can occur up to 5 times during one Battle Readiness.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Shadow Purger	2% Endurance	(Shadow) Cleaving Cut immobilizes the target for 2 seconds.	Using Cleaving Cut while under Resilience lowers the targets accuracy and extends the duration of  Resilience by 2 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Operations
	Controller	2% Endurance	(Jedi Consular) Killing the enemy affected by Force Lift before it’s cooldown ends resets the cooldown of Force Lift.		Not Available From Vendor	Crafted
	Decelerator	2% Mastery	(Jedi Consular) Force Slow now has 2 charges. Using Force Slow on an enemy already under the effect of Force Slow slows them by an additional 20% and extends the duration.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	PvP
	Dire Retaliation	2% Endurance	(Jedi Consular) Force Wave increases your damage reduction by 10% for 10 seconds. Getting attacked during this time causes your next Force attack to critically hit. This effect can only occur once every 10 seconds.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Soulbenders	2% Mastery	(Jedi Consular) Force Stun’s stun lasts an additional 2 seconds.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	Amplified Champion	The Amplified Champion’s set has same amplifiers pool as an armoring, hilt or barrel, so you can boost your combat stats even more than normal, though the highest boosts are not available. The trade-off is that this set has no actual set bonus ability like normal set bonus pieces. Vew Amplifier Info & Chart			3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Avenger	2% Endurance	(Generic) Increases your damage dealt by 3% while you Guard an ally.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	PvP
	Berserker	2% Critical Rating	(Generic) Increases all damage dealt by 3% and all damage taken by 6%.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Operations
	Dying Precision	Increases critical rating by 3% while health is below 50%	(Generic) Increases critical rating by 5% while health is below 50%	Increases critical rating by 10% while health is below 50%	Not Available From Vendor	Onderon Reputation Vendor
	Preserver	+2% Shield Rating	(Generic) Passively regenerate 1% of maximum health every 10 seconds.		Not Available From Vendor	Corellia Flashpoint
	Rapid Response	Increases alacrity rating by 3% while health is below 50%.	(Generic) Increases alacrity rating by 5% while health is below 50%.	Increases alacrity rating by 10% while health is below 50%.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Operations
	Stationary Grit	2% Alacrity Rating	(Generic) Increases damage dealt by 3% while not moving or increasing armor rating by 10% while moving.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	Stimulated	2% Alacrity Rating	(Generic) Increases Mastery by 5% while under the effects of a stimpack.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Flashpoints
	Taskmaster	2% Alacrity Rating	(Generic) Significantly increases the attack and activation speed of your companion.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	The Entertainer	2% Endurance	(Generic) Entering combat improves nearby allies, increasing their mastery, endurance, and rate of experience point gain. This effect is removed when combat ends.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	The Final Breath	Reduces damage taken by 2% while health is below 50%.	(Generic) Reduces damage taken by 3% while health is below 50%.	Increases defense rating by 10% while health is below 50%.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	The Victor	2% Mastery	(Generic) Defeating an enemy increases your movement speed by 75% for 8 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds.	Defeating an enemy heals you for 20% of your maximum health. This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Trishins Retort	2% Endurance	(Generic) Shielding an attack causes your shield to overload, dealing 1002 – 1502 damage to up to 8 enemies within 5 meters. Your shield can only overload in this manner once every 3 seconds.		3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions

Tacticals

Tactical items are a special type of gear that can drastically change one of your existing abilities, or give you a boost in combat. You can only equip one tactical item at a time, but you can switch them out between fights.

Tactical Recommendations

Icon	Tactical Name	Tactical Ability	Comments	Vendor	Source
	Friend of the Force	Resilience also applies to any ally you are guarding.	General Favorite - It can be useful for extra cleanses and to give Resilience to your Vanguard Tank friend.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	Two Cloaks	Force Cloak has 2 charges.	Favorite for Cloaking - Double Cloak. It's useful for encounters where you use Cloak defensively.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	PvP
	Overwhelming Offense	Dealing damage increases all damage done for 2 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.	Recommended for more DPS - I recommend using this tactical for more damage.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	Durasteel Wall	Successfully parrying, deflecting, or dodging an attack while under 80% health increases your damage reduction by 1% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.	General tactical, if you don't have anything else	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Daily / Weekly Missions
	The Life Warden	Taking damage below 20% health will rapidly heal you for a large amount. 10-minute cooldown.	Heals you up super fast. Like having Kolto Overload. Use if you don't have anything else.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits	Conquest
	Krall’s Accord	Cycles between buffing Mastery, Accuracy, Power, Defense, Critical, Absorb, Alacrity, and Shield. In that order.	Not a bad tactical for tanks, you can use that to start.	Not Available From Vendor	Onslaught Storyline

Tactical Options

Icon	Tactical Name	Class	Advanced Class	Combat Proficiency	Tactical Ability	Vendor
	A Healing Hand	Jedi Consular	Sage	All	Rescue now heals you and the target and makes your next Rejuvenate free.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	An Explosive Return	Jedi Consular	Sage	All	Returning to your Phase Walk marker causes a force explosion around you, dealing damage to any enemies around.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Cleanse the Agony	Jedi Consular	Sage	All	Vindicate lowers the cooldown of Restoration by 3 seconds.	Crafted / GTN, schematic rotating from Kai Zykken
	Endless Barrier	Jedi Consular	Sage	All	Activating Force Mend removes Force Armor’s Force-imbalanced effect from you.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	All for One	Jedi Consular	Sage	Seer	Salvation's pool concludes with a burst of light Force energy, healing up to 8 allies within it.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	One for All	Jedi Consular	Sage	Seer	Wandering Mend heals up to 5 targets instead of 4.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Metaphysical Mender	Jedi Consular	Sage	Seer	Telekinetic Blitz heals an ally within 20 meters of the damaged enemy. This healing scales up with each charge of Empowered, and Empowered charges also reduce the Force Telekinetic Blitz consumes by 30% per charge. (Previously called Storm’s Succor.)	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Elemental Convection	Jedi Consular	Sage	Telekinetics	Telekinetic Blitz triggers Tidal Force when activated. Telekinetic Wave gives you Telekinetic Flux, causing your next Telekinetic Blitz to arc to multiple targets for the next 10 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Eyrin’s Haste	Jedi Consular	Sage	Telekinetics	Force Speed grants an additional Clamoring Force stack. 3 Clamoring Force stacks allow Turbulence to be activated instantly, consuming all stacks. Telekinetic Burst deals 10% more damage and Turbulence deals 20% more damage while Clamoring Force is active.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Stormwatch	Jedi Consular	Sage	Telekinetics	Telekinetic Gust applies Stormwatch to its targets. For the next 15 seconds, whenever the target takes damage to Weaken Mind, Mind Crush, or Turbulence a force gust is called down upon the target, dealing energy damage.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Ticking Force-Bomb	Jedi Consular	Sage	Telekinetics	Mental Momentum now has a greater chance to activate on Mind Crush and Mind Crush deals more damage each time it ticks.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Mystic’s Ruthless Blade	Jedi Consular	Sage	Balance	Vanquish deals 20% more damage on initial hit. Additionally, under Mental Alacrity, Vanquish resets the cooldown of Force Serenity and causes the next Force Serenity to activate instantly.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Tempest of Rho	Jedi Consular	Sage	Balance	Disturbance has a 100% chance and Telekinetic Throw has 50% chance to cause Sever Force to tick an additional time whenever they deal damage.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	The Rushdown	Jedi Consular	Sage	Balance	When Telekinetic Throw generates 4 stacks of Presence of Mind you gain Presence Blitz, allowing your next 3 Telekinetic Blitz to deal 25% more damage and cost 50% less Force. Telekinetic Blitz consumes all stacks of Presence of Mind.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Chant of Regeneration	Jedi Consular	Shadow	All	Force Potency increases your Force regeneration greatly for a short time.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Friend of the Force	Jedi Consular	Shadow	All	Resilience also applies to any ally you are guarding.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Jerra’s Persistence	Jedi Consular	Shadow	All	Shadow Stride gains 2 charges.	Crafted / GTN, schematic rotating from Kai Zykken
	Traumatizer	Jedi Consular	Shadow	All	Shadow Strike and Low Slash inflict trauma for 15 seconds, reducing all healing the target receives by 20%.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Two Cloaks	Jedi Consular	Shadow	All	Force Cloak has 2 charges.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Ancient Tome of Exar Kun	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Kinetic	Slow Time generates Redirected Retribution stacks for every enemy it hits, increasing your Shield Absorption and damage reduction by 2% per stack for 5 seconds. In Addition, Shadow Strike deals 10% more damage to targets affected by Slow Time's slow effect.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Shroud of a Shadow	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Kinetic	Using Resilience while Kinetic Ward is active consumes Kinetic Ward and extends the duration of Resilience by .25 seconds for each Kinetic Ward stack consumed.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Ward of the Continuum	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Kinetic	Kinetic Ward now has 10 charges and Kinetic Bulwark can no longer restore charges. Consuming a charge of Kinetic Ward increases defense chance by 1%. This effect stacks up to 10 times and lasts for 20 seconds or until Kinetic Ward is reactivated.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Blade of the Elements	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Infiltration	The critical hit chance of Vaulting Slash is increased by 50% per Clairvoyance stack. Critically hitting with Clairvoyant Strike reduces the cooldown of Vaulting Slash by 1.5 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	May Cause Injury	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Infiltration	Gaining a stack of Clairvoyance causes your next Force Breach to arc to multiple targets.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	The Awakened Flame	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Infiltration	When Psychokinetic Blast deals damage, it causes its target to take elemental damage over 6 seconds.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Quick Escalation	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Serenity	The critical chance of Serenity Strike is increased by 10%. Critically hitting with Serenity Strike resets its cooldown and grants Hungering Blade, increasing the critical chance and Force cost of your next Serenity Strike. Stacks up to 3 times.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Severance Pay	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Serenity	Force In Balance does more damage to slowed targets and finishes the cooldown of Cleaving Cut.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Two Time Trouble	Jedi Consular	Shadow	Serenity	Sever Force has a 100% chance to tick an additional time when you deal damage with Spinning Strike and a 60% chance to tick an additional time when you deal damage with a non-basic melee attack. Does not trigger additional healing.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	A Breath of Fresh Air	All	All	All	Every third activation of your basic attack restores 10% of your Class Resource.	Not Available From Vendor, Onderon Reputation
	Biorhythm	All	All	All	Dealing Damage increases all healing done. Healing increases all damage done. Stacks up to 5 times, only one effect can be active at a time.	Not Available From Vendor, Onderon Reputation
	Durasteel Wall	All	All	All	Successfully parrying, deflecting, or dodging an attack while under 80% health increases your damage reduction by 1% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Krall’s Accord	All	All	All	Cycles between buffing Mastery, Accuracy, Power, Defense, Critical, Absorb, Alacrity, and Shield. In that order.	Not Available From Vendor, Onslaught Storyline
	Luck Always Changes	All	All	All	Your critical chance with Melee, Ranged, Tech, and Force attacks is increased by 1% each second. This effect resets on a successful critical hit.	Not Available From Vendor, Corellia Flashpoint
	Overwhelming Offense	All	All	All	Dealing damage increases all damage done for 2 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Reliquary of Time	All	All	All	Reduces the cooldown of on use Relics by 5%.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	Rolling Boil	All	All	All	Increases Mastery by 5% for 5 seconds when a Relic triggers.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	The Life Warden	All	All	All	Taking damage below 20% health will rapidly heal you for a large amount. 10-minute cooldown.	3,000 Tech Fragments + 1 million credits
	REMOVED in 7.0: Slow Mercy	Jedi Consular	Sage	Balance	Force In Balance spreads Force Slow’s effect. Vanquish hits all nearby targets affected by your Force Suppression and Forcequake does 15% more damage to targets affected by your Force Suppression.	Not Available
	REMOVED in 7.0: Go to Sleep, Go to Sleep!	Sith Inquisitor	Assassin	All	Mind Trap can now affect up to two targets at once.	Not Available