A guide to Star Wars the Old Republic player versus player combat …webpages.csus.edu/garvin/guide.pdf · 2016-11-30 · Northern, Central, and Southern Assault, players also get

Rome-Fu: The Art of SWTOR PvP A guide to Star Wars the Old Republic player versus player combat

Written by Rome Quietus

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Voidstar

3. Alderaan Civil War

4. Huttball Guide

5. Badge Scoring Guide

6. Resolve, Crowd Control (CC), and You

7. World PvP

8. Class Overview

9. Mercenaries/Commandos

10. Powertechs/Vanguards

11. Operatives/Scoundrels

12. Snipers/Gunslingers

13. Sorcerers/Consulars

14. Assassins/Shadows

15. Juggernauts/Guardians

16. Marauders/Sentinels

17. Stat Guide

18. Leveling Guide with Speeder and Companion List

18.a Empire Datacron List (2012.01.11)

19. Biochem Leveling Guide

20. Afterword

21. BONUS: PvP Tanking Guide (2012.01.11)

22. BONUS: Large Scale PvP Guide (2012.02.27)

Introduction

1:1 The following will contain basic and advanced strategies for warzones and pvp in general. If the

beginning of the guide seems too basic, keep reading. I've got a big bag of tricks and there's bound to

be something worth knowing in here.

1:2

Why PvP?

PvP has great end game gear rewards for those at level 50. Players leveling up can choose to pvp for

gear wearable at level 20 & 40. Additionally, players will find a wide range of levels from which to

purchase a pvp weapon at.

1:3

Where is the pvp gear?

The first place to get pvp gear is at fleet across the divide from one's class trainers. One vendor will

sell the gear for leveling, while the remaining three will sell the three tiers of end game pvp gear. Over

by the pvp mission terminal, one can find the pvp weapon vendor.

1:4

What class should I roll?

In general, ranged characters typically have a much less frustrating time killing enemies. Additionally,

characters that have the ability to heal while in combat tend to weather all combat situations better. It

only takes 2 talent points to make a class capable of self-healing, that's it. For those who do not want to

roll one of these classes, get ready to die A LOT. Where self-healing players will relish not dying an

entire warzone, characters that cannot self heal will die a half-dozen times every match just because the

accumulation of damage taken catches up to the player.

1:5

What if I really want to roll something different?

Expect to die a lot. That said, one might hope to have a healing partner, OR, as I do as an assassin tank,

break away from combat and use one's out of combat heal when needed. I personally save my "vanish"

ability for the purpose of healing between fights. As most classes don't have this ability, I suspect they

just die and get used to dying in order to "heal up". That said, non-healing classes do have an advantage

or two.

1:6

What if I don't mind dying a lot or believe I will always have a pocket healer?

Powertechs get an interrupt ability that mercenaries do not. Snipers get an AoE push that Operatives do

not. Assassins get stealth, which Sorcerers do not. All melee get an ability to deflect damage and ignore

tech/force attacks for a short time. Expect any class spec'd for DPS to not do very well in warzones

until fully geared at 50. Those that spec tank will probably feel a bit more successful, but only if there

isn't another tank in the group hogging up the tanking duties. One or two tanks is ok in a warzone, but

more than that and the team suffers too much from the loss of dps. A more in-depth explanation of

classes will follow later in this guide. I personally don't like to recommend most DPS classes simply

because people take my recommendation out of context, ignoring the caveat that comes with praise.

1:7

Are tanks good in pvp?

I play a tank. Yes, they are good. No, I do not recommend playing one. For the same reason that people

don't want to play a healer, one should not play a tank. A tank's job is to suck up damage for other

people. Unless I am running the ball in Huttball, I am shielding someone else taking damage. That

means I generally look for a someone taking or likely to take damage and put my shield on him so

when the enemy focus fires on him, I suck up the damage. Because my shield has a short range, I spend

a lot of my time following a dying person around in a warzone. So in short, don't roll a tank unless one

wants to sign a mutual suicide pact with a fellow player. If one rolls a tank and does not guard other

players, it's a waste. Might as well roll dps where more of a difference can be made with it, because

tank dps is VERY low.

1:8

What's the formula for getting pvp gear?

First, let me suggest not buying a blue pvp weapon unless one really needs the upgrade (questing

provides fine enough weapon gear mods). That said, follow the instructions below to gear up as a 50 in

pvp.

* Do one's daily pvp quests available in the northeastern quadrant of Fleet across the way from the

class trainers. At 50 one will need to complete objectives in Ilum (more later) as well as win some

warzones. In addition to daily quests, one will also find weekly quests worth doing as well. Daily

quests reset at 4am pacific. Weeklies usually reset the day of maintenance Tuesday. Daily quests will

give either a champion or battlemaster bag. Since there's two dailies, one can expect to get two bags a

day.

* As one gets commendations, save them up to buy the purple loot bags one gets for completing

dailies at 50. These contain tokens to get a piece of purple quality pvp gear as well as the appropriate

commendations to buy another piece outright. Exchange warzone commendations as needed into

mercenary commendations to make the purchase, as the nice loot bags require an amount of both

commendation types (200 warzone commendations and 200 mercenary commendations). People

playing to complete their daily warzones shouldn't have a problem saving up additional commendations

to purchase an addditional champion bag.

* As of this writing, the Champion bags give Champion pieces and Centurion commendations. The

Battlemaster bags give Battlemaster tokens and Champion commendations.

* Please note that Battlemaster > Champion > Centurion.

* Battlemaster bags can only be opened by characters possessing level 60 valor (a pvp leveling

system raised through warzone pvp) So no, its not possible to horde them prior to reaching 60.

* As of launch, Champion and Battlemaster bags, purchased from the PvP vendor beside the PvP

mission terminal, have a unique tag. This means players may not possess more than one at any time.

This tag does not apply to the Champion bags obtained as level 50 daily quests.

* Some players while leveling find that they have more tokens than they need. Because warzone

commendations cap at 1000, I have suggested to many of these players that they convert extra warzone

commendations into mercenary commendations. At an exchange rate of 30 warzone commendations to

10 mercenary commendations (3 to 1), a player can amass up to an effective 4000 warzone

commendations (1000 warzone commendations and 1000 mercenary commendations).

*RECAP: Do the warzone and Ilum daily pvp quest each day to get two bags. Each week do the

weeklies to obtain an additional 3 bags each for a total of 6. Additionally, save up warzone

commendations and convert them into 200 mercenary comms to purchase champion bags off the

vendor (besides the daily mission terminal).

* I'm guessing Champion bags roughly have a 25% chance to give a loot item token. The bags will

give duplicate gear tokens, thus making the grind longer. Good luck and don't end up like a buddy of

mine named Typheros (he got 22 relics in a row)!

1:9

Ilum?

Ilum is presumably the world based PvP zone for "any" number of people to participate in.

Theoretically there should be areas the two factions will fight over to control. It is a very large map

with 5 objectives. Players come here each day to complete their daily objectives by killing 30 players

and/or collecting “armaments” located at the central battlezone.

1:10

Each side has a base possessing two cannons that act as an objective to the other side. When at the

enemies base, clicking on one of the enemy cannons will cause one's toon to fire a rocket. When both

cannons have been destroyed, the faction to which they belong may attempt to repair them by using the

console located nearby. Defending one's base comes with considerable advantages as one can hop on a

particle cannon (four located on each side) and fire its cone effect attack for a period of time. It causes

a massive amount of damage, cannot be destroyed, but its user can be knocked off with a force or tech

effect.

1:11

Additionally, three more nodes exist in the center of the map for players to fight over. Labeled

Northern, Central, and Southern Assault, players also get credit for capturing these nodes by clicking

on the enemy's transports and “firing” a rocket launcher at them. With so many nodes scattered across

so large a map, it seems unlikely any single faction can maintain control of Ilum.

1:11.1

2011.01.21: Ilum is finally decent! Killing players in Ilum now provides valor. The more control

points owned by one's faction, the more bonus valor gained. Players have reported gained anything

from a mere 20 valor per kill to 210. As of this date, it takes 30 kills to complete the daily. So far,

people seem to go about the following methods to achieve this number.

* During lulls in combat when few people enter the ilum battle area, head to center and try to collect

the armaments laying around on the ground. They spawn rather rapidly and a person coule easily

complete the quest in less than 30 minutes if left alone. Most likely however, someone from the other

faction will come along and fighting will start.

* Once the fighting starts, expect people to start calling their friends to join. In short order, operation

groups will form, battling it out here and there traveling from their base, up to the enemy's base. Along

the way, players will want to stop and cap the 5 objective areas. Doing so will increase the amount of

valor gained for killing an enemy.

* If the losing side refuses to disband and flee from Ilum, they will likely get pushed back to their

base. Attackers will need to take care not to enter or get pulling into the base or else face automatic

death. Defenders meanwhile, should send stealthers out of the base to recap the control points. In this

way, they can maximize their gains and diminish the resolve the of enemy to continue their siege.

* Generally, as a zerg wins, over time its members will leave having completed their quest. The

anger of the defenders meanwhile, will only grow. A tipping point will eventually develop where the

defenders will push back and crush the siege forces.

* Meanwhile, when held on defense inside one's base, tanks should pull enemies in and the force

should reorganize to attack them from the flank. By retreating back into the base and then exiting the

unbesieged exit, the defending side can hit the flank of sieging forces. Generally it takes a few

moments for the besiegers to realize they've been attacked and a good number of them can be killed.

1:12

TIP: In large scale warfare, its much better to have long ranged attacks available. Where melee

characters excel in warzones with their emphasis on solo-target damage, ranged characters with their

emphasis on multi-target damage will excel in large scale combat. Expect an abundance of AoE on

tightly packed masses to represent the main killer in large scale combat.

1:13

TIP: As an aside, tanks possessing the pull ability can feed their melee buddies some kills by plucking

an enemy from the embrace of their healers. Although only possible on occasion, the sight of one's

companions getting pulled to their deaths generally has a nice backpedaling effect on the enemy.

1:14

What's a Warzone?

Warzones are the SWTOR equivalent of a Battleground. It represents a instanced version of a specific

war scenario between relatively balanced teams as determined by the queueing system. Unlike other

games, players of all levels may find themselves matched against one another. Also unlike other games,

players of lower levels will find their abilities "bolstered" to have roughly the same power as any other

level except 50. End-game characters will find that they possess considerably greater power than any of

their bolstered counterparts as a result of their gear and complete skills list far outweighing the current

bolstering system. I do not intend to argue the merits of the system, but I will say that without it,

players would end up waiting much longer periods of time for a match. As I understand it, the queue

system attempts to match characters of similar levels, but won't let a player of a poorly represented

level remain waiting too long. (2012.01.17: level 50s now have their own bracket and thus only face

one another in warzones.)

1:15

How do I get to a warzone?

Warzones are accessed by clicking the little empire symbol at the bottom right-hand corner of one's

screen. This will bring up the menu to queue. Once queued, the player can continue doing whatever

they want. As soon as the matchmaking system either finds enough players of one's level or gives up

and starts matching up people of dissimilar levels, the warzone enter prompt will appear. Don't wait too

long to click as the ability to join will go away, requiring one to have to requeue. While waiting for the

entry prompt, don't worry about zoning or whatnot, as so long as one's load time isn't too long, one will

still get the prompt even if it pops while in a load screen.

1:16

What warzones will I see?

Currently SWTOR has three warzones of varying tactical complexity. In order of least complex to most

complex they are Voidstar, Alderaan Civil War, and Huttball.

1:17

How many people can queue together for a warzone?

Bioware has limited pre-form pvp groups to 4 players. As of the time of this writing, the best teams

consist of two healers (hybrid dps) and two dps, or a tank in place of a dps. Healers currently are

the lynch pin for all SWTOR pvp.

Voidstar

2.1

Different versions of Voidstar have existed, and each has had its flaws. In its current state, the game

consists of two sides: attackers and defenders. The defenders have the task of defending two objectives

at a time. The attackers have the task of finding a way to interact with one of the objectives for 8

seconds continuously without taking any damage. Should an attacker succeed in planting a bomb on a

door from this interaction, the defenders have 15 seconds to disarm it. The disarming process only

takes 3 seconds, but as with the offense, defense must also perform this action without taking any

damage during the attempt. The likelihood of disarming one of these bombs turns out to be very low

since most players will immediately collapse their offense to the bombed door in question. Since

defense has a timeout period of when they can reenter the match of up to 20 seconds, offense has the

advantage since they can respawn and reenter without restriction.

2:2

Once the first pair of doors are broken, another set of objectives open up. This time the attackers must

use a control panel to bridge a gap. Unlike last time, the defenders do not get to reenter the fight when

defeated. They must stay on the other side of the gap while attackers respawn right at the fight. As a

defender, don't worry about killing the attackers so much as living long enough to delay their crossing.

As an attacker, try to either clear the objective on a "fast break" before the defenders catch up, or kill

them all off. Oftentimes defense will all collapse in on the previously bombed door, grouping into a

nasty close-in fight through the tunnels that lead from area one to the bridge gap. During this time, use

as much CC as possible to slow their advance in the hopes that someone further ahead is trying to cap

before defense arrives. Note: once offense captures the bridge gap objective, defense will not have a

chance to stop the bridge from forming as they did with the previous door.

2:3

Next, offense will find themselves needing to cross an unrailed bridge. Defense meanwhile will either

await them on the other side if they died during the last bit of fighting, or will play catch up from

behind. Either way, both sides should try to push each other off the bridge as it results in automatic

death. Stealthers should consider stealthing past defense to the undefended side, as many players seem

to somehow forget that stealth exists. If offense is on a fast break with defense lagging behind, the lead

guy should cap ASAP in the hopes of continuing the momentum, while the laggers should do their best

to once again slow pursuers. Technically on a fast break, one should NOT kill enemies, as they will

respawn ahead of one, but this is not always easy to communicate to pugs.

2:4

The remaining portions of Voidstar represent a repetition of the previously explained themes followed

by a final objective that has no channel time requirement. Overall, this warzone may seem complicated,

but aside from the variations on a theme of capturing objectives, the match overall doesn't have a lot

that a player can do to change the outcome of the game. With only two objectives at a time to fight over

whose difficulty to overcome lessens with each set of objectives, generally it all comes down to player

error on the side of defense in order for offense to proceed.

2:5

Since all forms of CC in the game last a shorter period of time than the duration needed to capture a

door, CC does not exist as a proactive means of advancing. At best, during a cap, one can attempt a few

things to give the capper some time. In the case where defense staunchly defends both doors, one can

call for everyone to push a single door. Should defense continue to leave defenders on the other door,

they'll have a manpower gap at the door in question resulting in a theoretical period of time in which

offense clears the door of defenders. So while the cap goes down, use an AoE push, if one has it, to

push back the respawn defenders. Then use all the CC in one's repertoire to lock them down and hope

they don't have a breaker. With a good team, maybe enough CC will exist to keep them away and allow

for the cap.

2:6

2011.12.27: Having played a lot more Voidstar since launch, I've since picked up a slightly better

opinion of the Warzone. Granted, I play in a preform of four guildies, but of the three warzones

currently available, Voidstar actually gives my team the most challenge. Head-to-head against another

preform, the matches can get quite intense. I offer the following new strategies based on my new play

experiences.

* Position a ranged DPS in the center of the map when on defense. Then have them look back and

forth between the two doors. As a tank, I watch both doors and then pull stealth cappers to my

position. So while two of my guildies defend the heavily attacked door, and another guildie defends

the lightly attacked door, I can watch their backs for any cappers that try to sneak one in during the

fighting.

* Try having two players simultaneously cap the doors. A player defending the nodes from the

middle will likely only see one of the cappers, thus giving the second a chance to pull it off.

* When capping the first set of doors, cap towards the inside of the map rather than the outside. By

standing closer to the middle, one has a better chance of going unnoticed by players in the middle.

* When capping the consoles that expand the bridge, try capping them while standing behind the

stanchion. Defenders running down the tunnel won't have the ability to see one.

* When capping the consoles that bring down the final force field, consider running to the far console.

Ranged defenders will have significantly less chance of stopping the cap due to the force field blocking

LOS to that console.

* Whether by accident or planning, I once saw a team AoE push me three times as I tried to get in

range to stop a cap. Teams coordinated enough to pull that offer deserve a kudos.

Alderaan Civil War

3:1

Alderaan Civil War has a battleground look similar to designs players have seen in other games in

which players fight over control of some nodes. SWTOR's version of capture the nodes has three

objectives for players to capture: an east cannon, a west cannon, and a central cannon. Players start out

in a dropship not too far from the battlefield and must choose a speeder to take them down to fight. At

the start of the match, both speeders lead to the same place. Later on, the speeders will take one down

to the respectively captured node for defense. In order to gain access to these faster speeder routes,

one's team must have captured that node. The middle route, meanwhile, remains available the entire

game.

3:2

ACW, as the zone is often abbreviated, depends on coordination to win. Unlike Voidstar, players

actually can change the outcome of the battle by applying different strategies to win. A few basic points

to know and follow:

3:3

Not all bases are equal. The side bases take longer to get to initially, but then have a much faster return

flight once captured. Additionally, players reinforcing at the middle or just starting the game will find

that the node to their left will take less time to travel to than the node on the right. Some people refer to

this as strong side / weak side. Most importantly, players can see the fighting going on to the left

(strong side) as they enter the game at middle, but they cannot see the fighting going on to the right

unless they look during the flight time down or travel some distance to gain line of sight.

3:4

The middle isn't bad. Although the sides have faster reinforcement times, the middle has buffs

positioned for the defenders to use. Located in the upper tier of the middle node, one can find a damage

buff that lasts a good amount of time. The side nodes on the contrary, have their damage buffs located

away from the node, better situated for an attacker to get a hold of. While the middle may take longer

to reinforce, pugs are more inclined to reinforce it than a side.

Strategy:

3:5

Some people seem to think that holding the two sides represents the best way to manage the game. In

many respects, the two sides do offer defenders the easier objectives to hold (due to the faster

reinforcement time), HOWEVER, the side nodes suffer from their remoteness to one another.

Traveling from one side node to reinforce the other may take too much time and, more importantly,

pug players seem much more inclined to defend the middle than a side. Those that abandon the middle

and attempt to take the two sides right off the bat, risk losing mid immediately. While they may gain

their strong side easily as most groups don't attack that side, they will likely struggle to get the weak

side because it will likely have some number of enemies present. So then while they struggle with the

weak side, those enemies who took mid without a fight will then reinforce THEIR strong side, and

make taking the second side node difficult. In other words, since middle goes unfought for, the enemy

can zerg immediately from there having captured it and then reinforce the remaining contended node.

3:6

Personally, I think it makes more sense to contend for all three nodes, and then reinforce whichever

node seems most likely to tilt. In this manner, one node will likely flip for one's side and another will

flip for the enemy. Reinforce the third and then start taking the lead. By contending all three nodes, the

enemy will not so easily know which node to stop defending, unlike in the previous example where the

enemy abandons mid knowing that their opponent will keep fighting for the sides.

3:7

Players lose ACW as a result of poor response time. If at least one player would stay at each node and

then call out incomings, the likelihood of losing the node would drop significantly due to the possibility

that players will respond to the crisis. In SWTOR, players don't die within seconds unless SEVERELY

out-manned. That means it takes time to kill someone and take their node. The time it takes represents

the time others can move that way to reinforce. Ideally players will not only announce incoming, but

they'll note where and how many. For example: east 3 or mid 5.

3:8

For my own part, I have always added ONE to my estimate of how many attackers I perceive, since in

all likelihood another will show up immediately OR await to spring out from stealth. Doing this also

brings greater attention to the threat and negates the need to immediately update should someone else

show up. Most importantly, since someone will likely show up during one's attempt to defend the node,

by having estimated an additional attacker, one can remain concentrated on the fight.

Some tips:

3:9

Whenever one finds their side outnumbering the enemy during defense, they should immediately leave.

Although it may seem attractive to continue mopping up the stragglers, the main portion of their force

will have attacked the node less defended: hence why they seem outnumbered. In other words, when

defense zergs up and starts mowing down attackers so that the enemy's numbers start to dwindle and

remain in a low state, the excess of defenders should leave. Defenders should try to keep their numbers

equal to the number of attackers, while attackers need to get their numbers to exceed the number of

defenders.

3:10

When winning at a node, don't fight away from the node. Not only will fighting away from the node

provide an opportunity for the enemy to "ninja" the node via stealth, it reduces one's gain of “defender

points.” By standing in the immediate vicinity of a node, one gains defender points, which in turn will

provide a commendation badge at various break points.

3:11

Beware chasing down any tank that fights away from a node. Tank players have a tendency to fight for

a win much less than their own personal glory. As such, they will represent the most likely candidate to

try and lure defenders away while a stealther ninjas from behind. Furthermore, should one start to fight

a tank and realize that the node behind one has an attacker capturing it, the tank enemy has the ability

to snare and pull one back away from the node, thus making one's chance of rectifying the error more

difficult.

3:12

Beware a situation in which an enemy stealther keeps using a mezz to prevent an otherwise undefended

cap. The stealther will have the ability to continue doing this nearly indefinitely UNTIL one gets into

combat. So if possible, try to be in combat while capping during such a situation or else the stealther

will not come out of hiding. Instead he will stay in stealth and continue to use his mezz ability to stop

the cap.

3:13

Before capping middle, always remember to look up. Surrounding the middle node circles an upper

level. There one will likely find ranged players waiting to shoot those that cap. I cannot recall how

many times a fight at mid has come to a seeming end, only to have the cap broken by someone standing

in plain sight up on that second level. Always look up there.

3:14

2011.12.27: As of late, when I group with my guildies, I send my two weaker buddies to defend what

we refer to as “strong side” (the node closer to us on the left hand side when entering the match). I and

a healer will then head to “weak side” (the node on our right) and attempt to take their usually

uncontested node. Hopefully, the PUGs in our group will contest middle, although they sometimes

follow me to “weak side”. Unless a huge number of enemies come to “weak side”, my healer and I

will usually cap it. Strong side usually gets capped because the enemy doesn't fight over it. Middle

usually goes to the enemy because they're all standing there with nothing to do having killed the PUGs.

The fact that the PUGs fought at middle is important because it keeps the enemy there during the

outside caps. If I had control of the other 4 people in my ACWs, I'd send them all mid, everytime.

Depending on how incensed they get at our attack on “weak side”, we've often pulled off a three cap at

start.

Huttball Guide

4:1

Allow me to preface my guide on Huttball by saying that it is without a doubt my favorite warzone of

all time in any MMO. I understand some people hate it passionately and while I can't understand why, I

do know that some classes don't do as well in it as some others. Having said all this, it may not surprise

one when I say that Huttball has the steepest learning curve due to the amount of built-in strategy it

fosters.

4:2

Huttball represents SWTOR's take on the tried-and-true capture the flag idea. Instead of a flag,

however, players must carry a ball from the center of the arena to the enemy's goal line. Unlike

previous iterations of this theme, Huttball has obstacles spread throughout the arena capable of causing

sudden and humiliating death. Furthermore, not unlike beach football, the game allows players to pass

the ball an unlimited amount of times between themselves at the risk of an interception. Players that

die, “respawn” back at their starting area in a good position to play defense.

4:3

Note: As Huttball takes place not on a battlefield but in a gladiatorial arena, it allows for members of

the same faction to fight against their own. Some of my favorite moments have come from fighting

members of my own guild as we found ourselves on opposite sides of a Huttball match.

Please visit the “Rome-Fu” section of my website http://www.romequietus.com for more detailed

layouts of this area.

http://www.romequietus.com/

4:4

Once the match starts, players have three ramps to choose from in order to cross a pit via either a lower

or upper catwalk. Aside from confused or lagged nubs, everyone starts the game by choosing to run up

the middle ramp. Once they get to the top, the majority of them drop down to a lower set of catwalks in

order to quickly get to the middle of the map. Some of the craftier ranged players may decide not to

drop down, but instead choose either the left or right upper catwalk for various reasons I will describe

later.

4:5

The players who decide to drop down then circumnavigate an acid pit blocking direct access to the

huttball and start fighting. A few of them will ignore the fighting and try to the grab the huttball. Only

one of them can click it first. Generally the guy who grabs the huttball first dies very badly, very fast,

because everyone on the opposite team focus fires him down. Personally, without the assurance of

healing or someone to pass the ball to, I don't know why people grab the ball first.

4:6

With the original huttball carrier dead, the slower team now gains control of the ball because when a

player dies, the enemy player nearest to him gains possession. Assuming this new player doesn't die

immediately and can remember which direction to run with the ball, he will have four choices he can

make: he can run forward, sideways, backwards or pass.

4:7

A player that runs forward will generally get overrun by players both pursuing him and respawning

ahead of him. Generally players will choose to run forward if they have healers keeping them up, or

some type of movement advantage like force speed / charge in order to get distance between them and

their enemies. Without heavy support, don't go forward with the ball at the start of the game. Save

running forward for fast breaks as described later.

4:8

Players that run sideways have access to these air jet things on the ground. Players that step on an air

jet will find their character launched high into the air in a random direction. Although they will land on

the ground not having taken any damage, where they land can end up putting them someplace worse

than where they had hoped (like in the acid pool). Generally, players that run sideways hope to gain

access to that upper catwalk mentioned earlier. It just so happens that the upper catwalks for both sides

come together forming a square elevated around the middle of the board. Should the ball carrier end up

on that upper catwalk, he may have the ability to evade players down below. Personally, I don't see

why anyone would run sideways unless they didn't have a choice, as the chance of landing right back in

the middle seems to happen just as often as getting up on that ramp.

4:9

Players who run backwards may seem a bit confused at first glance, but actually they have the second

best plan working for them. Although I didn't mention it earlier, the upper ramps forming a square

around the middle of the board, have an access ramp up to them on the outside of the square. Thus, a

player that runs backwards (or having cleared the acid pool forward only to change one's mind for

some strange reason) can run to the outside edge of the map and access the upper ramps. By running

backwards, many of one's enemies will end up as mere pursuers dogged down by one's own team and

unable to target one due to the LOS issues that arise when circling up to the ramp.

4:10

Players that gain access to the upper ramp then must time the crossing of two fire traps that alternate on

and off, avoid getting pushed off the ramp AND make it into the endzone before enemy respawn can

zerg them down. Crafty defenders will time their stuns to stop the runner on top of a fire trap as he

crosses. Consider the fire traps the PRIMARY means of stopping a runner at this point. Additionally,

defenders who aren't mindlessly trying to DPS down the runner will push him off the ramp using a tech

or force push. Should the push work, the player will hopefully end up in the pit down below that

players cross earlier in the match.

4:11

Most of the time, ball carriers who don't get fried in one of those traps will get pushed down into the

pit. Once down there, they can either make their way out along the outside edge of the map (possibly

taking advantage of the speed boost in the middle followed by the health boost just outside the pit) or

look for a friendly player to throw to since falling down into the pit usually means getting swarmed and

killed by the other team's respawn.

4:12

To throw the ball, look for the new ability that should have appeared on one's hotbar upon entering

huttball for the first time. Having used the ability, target a spot on the ground and aim the center of the

targeting marker over the player one wishes to pass to. Whoever stands closest to the center of the

circle will get the ball. Note: one cannot throw the ball while stunned. If one cannot see the AoE

marker because the target stands above one's head, simply mouse over the side of the catwalk beneath

the friendly player's feet and click. Although one doesn't see the AoE marker in that situation, the ball

will get thrown anyhow.

4:13

Some players don't even bother with getting up to the top ramp. Instead of circumnavigating the acid

pool, using the air vents, or going around back to access the top ramps, some players just throw the ball

to another player. Back in the beginning I mentioned that some crafty players didn't drop down the the

lower ramp upon starting the match. Instead they went either left or right and stayed up there on the top

ramp. Well, such a crafty person positioned on the top ramp makes an excellent receiver at the

beginning of the game. Players that run to get the ball at the beginning of the match and then

immediately throw the ball up to a waiting receiver demonstrate usage of the best tactic for scoring

points.

4:14

A lot of preforms will use a strategy such as this to quickly and painfully take control of a Huttball

game. What with bringing a preform group of two healers, a tank, and a dps, good luck trying to stop

that freight train once it starts moving. But that doesn't mean possibilities don't exist to defeat such a

team. First, take the ball from them right off the bat. No, don't grab it at the start of the game, pull their

ball carrier towards one just the right way so he ends up in the acid pool. With a bit of nasty DPS, he'll

die and one's team will take possession of the huttball. Unfortunately, a method to counter that move

does exist, but it requires a high level sorcerer casting his “friendly target pull”to get his buddy out of

the acid. But don't get too upset if the trap didn't work. Instead watch as the huttball runner passes over

a fire trap. Use of one's long range stun at that point to help bring the ball back to one's own team

might work.

4:15

Then again, some preform teams won't allow their members to die on fire traps. Using the charge

ability as a Juggernaut/Guardian can allow a huttball carrier to avoid those fire traps altogether. Worse

yet, some teams then have a stealther appear down the the endzone. Rather than throw the ball to this

fellow, the Juggernaut can leap to his friend and take the small trot to the goal line.

4:16

Meanwhile, against such an efficient team, I will probably have given up on stopping the score and

instead stealthed over to the huttball respawn point. As soon as the ball respawns, I try a fast break

with it. Springing over the Acid Trap I take minimal, if any, damage if I time the jump right. Assuming

only one enemy decides to get on me at this time, I will try to PBAoE as many of them as possible

either in a fire trap or off the ramps.

4:17

Generally, my fast break attempts go unnoticed at first. I just have to cross two fire traps, lower myself

down that final ramp, and cross the small distance to the endzone. As a habit, when I run towards a lit

firetrap, I like to jump up to the edge of it, turn 180 degrees midair so I can see my pursuers when I

land. Should I see someone, I then do another quick running jump so that I end up behind them and

then use my PBAoE ability to either knock them off the ramp or more preferably, in the firetrap's last

couple seconds of fury.

4:18

Final tips: Designate a team member to guard against the fast break. Doing so will risk difficulties for

the scoring team since they'll find themselves down one man. Alternatively, players can “get

themselves dead” immediately after having scored a huttball and thereby respawn in position to defend

against the fast break. Without some plan in place, the alternate team will score within seconds

following one's own efforts.

4:19

Trick Play: In those cases when the enemy team has swarmed all over one's side of the map, the

likelihood of getting through them any direction will seem small. This occasion usually occurs when

having just gotten the ball from the enemy team about to score but not yet near the endzone. There's

tons of them standing right next to one and they all start laying dps into one's toon. Well drop down

into the pit and grab the speed buff down there. With the speed buff up, one should have the

opportunity to travel the opposite direction of the board, grab the health buff if its up, and then start

running for the outside ramp with little resistance coming.

4:20

A similar trick play involves much of the same as the last, only in this case, I tend to find that people

really want to kill my character. I guess repeatedly scoring on a team paints a “Kill him!” cross-hair on

my butt. So when the inevitable happens and my character gets swarmed (usually after a touchdown), I

run down into the pit. I figure, if I have to die, I may as well waste these ankle-biters' time as well.

Doing this will help open up an opportunity for my team to do a “power play” against effectively less

players.

4:21

I've got a funny story about this actually. Back when I first joined Republic Justice, I'd run around in

Huttball without a shirt on. As a low level, everyone on the opposite side would start chasing me,

thinking me an easy kill. Well, force speed, bubble, and some LOS later, I'd have sometimes half a

dozen folks jump into the pit after me (back when warzones were 12v12) and my teammates would

easily score. FYI: don't jump down into the pit after a dying guy. Just shoot him from the edge.

4:22

Fun Fact: When the game gets close, say a tie game, the team possessing the ball last wins. Thus it

may seem like a great idea to take the ball and hold it back in one's pit. I personally do this all the time

and dance while doing it. Just remember though, the ball will self-destruct after two minutes of

possession, killing the holder and jacking the people around him, so plan accordingly with this strat.

4:23

2011.12.27: STORY TIME: So my 4 man preforms have gone mostly unchallenged in Huttball of late.

As a result, we've started holding the ball and farming the other team. Due to the suicide timer on the

huttball of two minutes, I normally spike the ball every 60-90 seconds. One of my teammates named

Noxxis, observing me do this, said, “throw the ball at them and see if it gives defender points”. Thus

was born “FUBALL”. Now while we farm our enemies in Huttball, I throw the ball at one of them

before or as we kill the guy. When he dies, we get defender points and possiblly a badge. One thing

I've grown fond of doing is tossing the ball at someone, pulling him into acid and knocking him down

into it with my cc called “spike”. My team will then focus DPS on the guy, he'll die almost instantly

and the ball will return to me. Between this method and just throwing the ball at people so my team

will focus fire the guy, we've had quite a few laughs. WARNING: should one of your guildmates end

up on the other team, be aware that this technique may cause him to quit the guild. Have fun!

4:24

FYI: the player standing closest to a killed huttball carrier gets the ball. So to help force the ball to the

best ball carrier, make sure he knows to stand on top of the enemy as they die. Hopefully a melee pug

won't do the same unaware of what's going on.

Badge Scoring Guide

5:1

When players play a warzone, they get badges for completing various objectives. One can very easily

distinguish the experienced players from the newer ones by looking at the number of badges received.

Players scoring 5 or less will receive a silver star and essentially mark themselves as having played a

poor game. Much better players will score eight or more in a game.

5:2

Since the badges earned in the course of a warzone directly calculate into more valor, xp, credits and,

most importantly, warzone tokens, let's examine how to maximize those badges and top the charts.

5:3

First, most players have a tendency to look at their overall damage done and biggest hits. I don't know

why this represents the metric people care most about, but let's put some things into perspective. A

player can get 1 badge for scoring over 2.5k damage in a single hit. Additionally, he can get another

badge for doing a total of 75k damage. For those with the gear to manage it, players can also receive an

additional badge at 300k total and for a single hit of 5k.

2.5k single hit

75k damage

300k damage

5k single hit

5:4

So far, players stuck on doing big damage have earned 2 (exceptionally geared players, 4) badges. If in

the course of doing that damage the player gets a killing blow on an enemy, he gets another badge. As

he continues killing, he gets another badge at 10 and 25 kills respectively. For most players, this total

of 5 represents the most badges they'll get in a match. Some however will get the coveted and

extremely difficult-to-get assassin badge by running off into the middle of nowhere and thereby doing

nothing for the sake of his team other than killing an enemy while he's out in the middle of nowhere.

Congratulations on the gold star at six badges.

1 killing blow

10 kills

25 kills

1 solo kill

5:5

Seriously though, thanks to this guide, the reader will know the way to get more than 6 badges without

sticking it to his team by constantly running off into the middle of nowhere to collect his assassin

badge.

5:6

First off, many players have the ability to heal but then don't use it. It only takes a 2.5k heal to get

another badge. So even those that don't spec for healing should try doing their large heal a few times

until it crits and thereby pops a badge. For those that do spec healing, one only needs to hit 75k healing

total to get the next badge. Although the game needs healers, don't let the dps have all the fun: try to

cap a killing blow here and there. Drop some instant casts dots and spread some love around. There's

no reason why a healer shouldn't get credit for players dying too. I pity the healer that works his butt

off to keep everyone alive but then only scores 2 badges. Exceptionally well-geared players can get

another badge at 300k healed and a single heal of 5k.

2.5k single heal

75k healed

300k healed

5k single heal

5:7

Secondly, players that roll tank-capable toons, REALLY ought to tank some. At the very least in the

course of one life, throw guard on some melee guy who's going to get burnt down. While he dies, pop

one's damage push off cooldowns, maybe use a taunt, and watch as one's character gets a badge for 2k

defense in one life, 5k defense total, and then a little bit later, 10k defense in one life. That's three

additional badges just for helping a teammate not die as fast as he otherwise would. For those that

make a habit of guarding players in need, like healers, huttball runners, and that awesome dps on one's

team, expect to get another badge at 50k total defense. Coupling these tank-specific badges with the

killing badges above will get one easily into the 8+ badge territory.

2k defense in 1 life

10k defense in 1 life

5k total defense

50k total defense

5:8

Finally catching badges isn't only about killing some random guys, healing some random guys, or even

shielding some random guys. There's actually badges for doing something that helps the team as a

whole. I'm not talking about scoring with the huttball or capping nodes, since for some reason these

actions don't count anymore (in previous beta builds they did), but for those who guard a captured node

or presumably kill and heal/shield huttball runners, expect to get something called “Defender Points”

(not to be confused with the previously mentioned tanking stuff). Defender points when accumulated to

1k give a badge. Triple that amount and get another badge. Since defender badges happen to those

players that actually guard stuff, think about that the next time one desires to leave a node unprotected.

Those guys who spend an entire warzone zerging around chasing that oh-so-coveted assassin badge

could be getting two badges just for guarding a node or a door instead. Go figure.

Specifically, Huttball defender points are gained by killing the ball carrier, ACW gives defender points

for standing near a capped node. and Voidstar gives defender points for interrupting a capture.

1k defender points

3k defender points

5:9

In conclusion, don't be the guy that only scores 5 or 6 badges by games end. Don't zerg around

aimlessly chasing that assassin badge. Defend a node, throw some heals, or guard someone. Sure, some

people get really excited to hit 400k damage in a warzone (I've seen videos, players can hit that).

Honestly, I can see trying to do that on occasion just to do it. But ultimately, players that want the

badges that in turn will give them the tokens to buy pvp gear, really ought to focus on first winning the

match, and secondly maxing their badges using the method above. After all, 8+ badges don't pay as

well in a loss, and incidentally winning a warzone while only getting 5 or 6 badges doesn't pay very

well either.

5:10

Bonus information:

* Pop a strong biochem medpack to pick up that 2.5k healing badge (pvp medpacks don't work

anymore).

* Get out of combat while hurt badly (greater than 5k), then use a rakata medpack. The heal on this

thing after trauma debuff drops will give the 5k healer badge.

* If dominating a game, don't win too fast or else the payout won't be as good. For some reason

Bioware thinks game length equals competitiveness. So run the clock down for max payoff. If playing

Huttball, consider a little bit of FUBALL.

Resolve, Crowd Control (CC), and You

6:1

Players first coming to SWTOR often complain that the “resolve” system doesn't work. In my opinion,

it represents a unique solution to the problem of chain CC. For those who understand how it works, like

my readers at the end of this guide will, resolve offers a system in which good players will make good

choices and thereby reap the benefits that lesser knowledgeable players will complain don't work.

6:2

First, what is crowd control (CC)?

Crowd control, or CC as it's abbreviated, was originally intended in MMO's as an ability used by

certain low dps classes to make them worthwhile in a group. The abilities range from a short term stun

that allows continued damage of the target, to a long term sleep used out of combat to make a mob no

longer take actions until it receives damage. PvPers immediately saw the value in these abilities and

adopted them for their own uses, often to the scorn of those pvpers that didn't have them.

6:3

In SWTOR we have three types of CC:

Snares: an ability that slows the target by a percent up to 100%

Mezz: an ability which causes a target to no longer have the ability to take action for a period of time

or until damage is taken (whichever comes first). Sometimes these abilities can only be used against

certain types of targets (like droids) or when a target is out of combat.

Stun: an ability of a short term duration that prevents a target from taking action regardless of the

amount of damage taken

6:4

In PvP the three above categories have specific uses to consider. First, one will usually always keep

one's target snared so that one can keep on top of them as a melee, or away from them as a ranged.

Even in a ranged versus ranged fight, putting a snare on the enemy will help to unbalance his gameplay

a bit and reduce the chance he can successfully use LOS (line of sight) to any advantage. Second, mezz

can be useful in a small engagement where AoE will unlikely occur. For example, in Voidstar the

disarm bomb ability is much shorter in length than the time a Whirlwind will take a player out of

action. Lastly, stuns work best either in a chain with another player to maximize the amount of time an

enemy has to endure damage OR when the other player is in a hazardous situation (like an

environmental damage area). Additionally, stuns can be used a cast interrupt against healers OR as an

actual stun to kill a player that doesn't know what he's doing or perhaps burned his CC Breaker earlier.

6.5

Secondly, what is a CC Breaker?

In SWTOR, every character has a stun ability and a CC breaker. The CC breaker is an ability that

BREAKS CC. Different classes have different names for this ability. Not all classes have the same

cooldown between uses of this ability. Not much more to say about that other than learn when to use it.

Although all characters get a CC breaker, not everyone knows when to use it properly (to be elaborated

on shortly).

6:6

Thirdly, what is Resolve?

Resolve is SWTOR's method of preventing chain CC. Generally, for those leveling up through the pvp

bracket, resolve seems to do nothing. I myself have played part to numerous occasions in which I've

been stunned, broken the stun with my CC breaker, only to get immediately stunned again. While quite

frustrating, I eventually came to realize I was not using my CC break at the right moment.

6:7

Resolve is a bar that fills up next to one's avatar and the avatar of one's enemy. When the bar fills up,

the person gains immunity to further CC. The length of this immunity is almost long enough to run a

huttball from the beginning of the ramps to the goal with a bit of luck. The problem is, most players

find that the bar doesn't fill up until they're just about dead. Even when the bar does fill up, the

immunity doesn't matter until the cc that filled one's bar wears off. This is where an experienced player

knows why resolve is kinda cool.

6:8

Finally, how do I take advantage of this system?

An experienced player uses his damage mitigation abilities in preparation of an incoming CC. Then,

while stunned and taking a beating, he doesn't take as much damage as the enemy is hoping to inflict.

Thus the CC wears off and the player resumes his PvP having SAVED his CC breaker. Now, when the

player gets CC'd again, he immediately uses his CC breaker (because two stuns will fill the bar) and

gains immunity to all further CC for a good length of time. Getting this to work in Huttball while

carrying the ball works wonders since most players have no idea their CC won't work when the target

has a white bar of resolve.

6:9

It's very important to remember that CC does not work on a player who has a white bar of resolve. It's

also important to realize that using CC on someone will give them immunity to further uses once the

bar fills up. HOWEVER, resolve does not affect snares. So when the resolve bar fills up, one can still

snare the player even to the point of zero movement. Furthermore, snaring a player does not increase

his resolve bar. So use snares as often as needed without any worry. For those warriors with the ability

to cause a 100% snare, remember that it will ALWAYS cause this effect. There is no immunity against

it.

6:10

Another simple strategy to use regarding CC is to test a player's knowledge. Instead of opening up with

one's awesome 6-second stun, try using a garbage mezz on the player. If one has an addition stun like

many melee classes do, try using that first. A less sophisticated player will automatically use their CC

breaker, thus allowing one to immediately follow up with the long 6-second stun whenever it tactically

suits one. I use this strategy all the time.

6:11

In reverse, it's important to know what stuns to break and which to eat. Anytime someone stuns one's

character in a manner that throws one on the ground, beware using the CC break. A stun that floors a

player will only last between 2 and 3 seconds. Stealthers will often mezz a player before starting a

fight, just to see if the player will try to break it. If the situation will allow it, save one's CC break.

Additionally, don't use a CC break on a snare unless absolutely necessary since snares usually have

VERY short cooldowns and can rapidly be reapplied.

6:12

Examples of CC not to break include snares that result from getting pushed. Snipers and some

Sorcerors have a 100% snare they do when they AoE push people away. Unless one is taking damage

or really wants to kill the pusher, consider eating this one. If one's character gets slept, don't break it.

As mentioned twice above, abilities that cause a loss of control belonging to the "Mezz" class of CC

breaks if one takes damage. So when tactically unnecessary for one to take action, just ride it out. There

is only one objective in game that can be capped in the 8 seconds and that's the disarm bomb in

Voidstar.

6:13

So in retrospect, resolve may seem like a broken system, but actually has some interesting layers of

complexity to it. Those players who know these tricks will see that resolve not only does work, but can

be gamed to work very well.

World PvP

7:1

Looking for world pvp but can't find any? As far as I can tell, Bioware has a hard stance against players

griefing other players AT QUEST GIVERS, but not necessarily in the game world. So that means

players can't go to the other faction's side of the world and camp their cities into oblivion (unless one

brings a really nasty 50's raid to deal with the guards). Additionally factions start out so far apart they

rarely see one another without trying very hard at it. Fortunately however, Bioware has designed

certain portions of the world to lead players into conflict. Despite the infrequency, players do have

quests that overlap with the other faction. For those who want to know what areas to look out for, or

like me, where to look forward to, keep reading:

7:2

First, world pvp cannot occur on any origin world, capital planet or faction-only planet.

-Hutta, Korriban, Tython, Ord Mantel, Coruscant, Dromund Kaas, Balmorra and Taris.

(Note: the above is true except for that one time during beta... when I flew to the enemy's fleet and

killed tons of folks from there, then their capital world and starter worlds. People wrote a couple

threads about me because the servers went down shortly afterwards. As a punishment, the bug

apparently only went one way on Ord Mantel and I had to reroll because camping lowbies [I mean

defending myself] is not only wrong, but got boring after an hour or so...)

7:3

Second, world pvp will almost never happen on Quesh (because faction paths don't cross) and

cannot happen on the Promenade of Nar Shadaa nor Voss-Ka of Voss (because they are not pvp

areas).

(One time out of the many times I leveled through Quesh, some Imp player did come across me while

doing a quest. Having a rivalry with his guild [specifically rolled Pub to kill these guys] he decided to

wait till I had finished my mobs. After I healed, we fought and I carried on with my business. I've

never seen someone of the other faction on any other occasion. Maybe he just wanted a no cost trip to

a med center, I don't know.)

(Beta trivia: once upon a time ago, players could pvp on the promenade of Nar Shadaa. It turned into

a huge grudge match for hours on end of people camping and then getting camped back.

Unfortunately, despite how much the PvPers on the PvP server of Darth Malak liked it, the wailing and

gnashing of teeth caught Bioware's ear via hundreds of forum complaints. As a result, rather than

guards like one would expect of a neutral area on a pvp server, we got a no pvp zone instead.)

7:4

Third, world pvp will happen only rarely on Nar Shadaa's bonus area (because not everyone does bonus

quests), Corellia (because the planet rarely has anyone on it) and Belsavis (probably for the same

reason as Corellia).

(I've killed players in the Nar Shadaa bonus area and I've killed players on Belsavis as they transited

from one place to another, but I wouldn't go so far as to consider any of the places I fought a hot spot.)

7:5

Finally, world pvp will most likely happen on Tatooine, Alderaan, Hoth and Voss.

7:6

Tatooine's world pvp will most likely occur in the dune sea while doing the Czerka quest out there, or

while another faction player doing it comes across one's own toon. The final world quest I believe also

sends one off to an area containing some sand people where the two factions have competing goals.

Later during the bonus series of this planet, Empire players will get a timed quest to get an antidote

next to a 4 man heroic zone traveled to by Republic players. In my experience, Tatooine has the highest

incident rate of world pvp of all the planets.

(Although I have a lot of world pvp stories from Tatooine, the one I remember most is this time a

guildie of mine got camped out in the deep desert by 4 troopers. Apparently they thought it would

make for a good time to teabag and trash-talk my soloing guildie. Not only did they have a good time

doing this, but they did it for almost 30 minutes I believe. If not for the crash and hotkey wipe that

followed it, I'd have gotten there a lot earlier and camped them across the desert sooner. Apparently,

these guys didn't know they couldn't hurt me (I was a 50 tank at the time) nor did they realize I

consider myself a veteran of townfighting so all their attempts to get me guard-whacked failed. I

camped them from the second relay to their base, pulled them out of guard zone to camp them and then

stealthed into the guard zone and camped them inside. My guildie had such a good laugh when we

watched them get on speeders and leave the zone. The moral of the story is: don't camp someone TOO

long because their 50 friend may have asked them to keep ressing while they're on the way.)

7:7

Alderaan has two spots players may meet, but the first spot occurs SO rarely I won't even point it out.

Players literally travel through the same area without stopping. A bit later, at Castle Panteer, imperial

players may find themselves outside farming some mobs while yet another group of republic players

(this time possibly on their way to a 2 man heroic) stomp through. That's it for Alderaan. Well, on rare

occasions, republic players will hang out in a place called House Alde and attack imperial players

dealing with the republic-aligned mobs there. Alderaan has the least highest incident rate of world pvp

occurring.

(I don't have a lot of stories of Alderaan, but I do recall another guildie of mine getting camped in

House Alde by a group of trash-talkers. Although it ended in a similar manner, I still find it amusing

that even when three guys camp a single person, they have the audacity to complain that he called for a

50, his guild leader, to help him out.)

7:8

Hoth has two spots (maybe three if they put some quests back in that disappeared in the final beta) but

only one of them seems to work. The first spot occurs in the second region players go to called

Highmount Ridge. There players will follow their world quest and possibly class quest to a geothermal

plant controlled by the white maw. When players get into a valley that then leads to a cave, expect to

run into someone. The second spot used to occur in the next zone over, but the quest disappeared last

build of beta so... I don't know. The last spot includes the last world quest area known as The Ship

Graveyard. For whatever reason, despite the number of quests that intersect in this area, I have not once

seen an enemy player there despite having played 6 beta builds and completed 6 unique characters.

Hoth has the second highest incident rate of world pvp occurring.

(I really enjoy that cave in Highmount Ridge. Everytime I've gone there I've at least seen dead npcs on

the ground indicating that someone had just traveled through there. I recall once killing pubs in there

as an operative. It got so bad, that a backlog of bodies started to pile up in various spots throughout

the caves. I eventually got bored and passed the camp over to another couple imps that came through.

I think a half hour later, I had guildies show up and then camp some of the same guys in there for fun.)

7:9

Voss also has three theoretical spots but only one of them ever pays off. Although factions have

overlapping quests in Gormak lands and the Darkheart (the last two world quest zones of the planet),

the only spot where world pvp ever seems to happen occurs at the Temple of Voss. The Temple of

Voss has an interestingly unique distinction of remaining the only common quest giver area shared by

both factions. The two factions literally pick up and turn in quests, side by side. So expect an attack as

soon as the conversation combat immunity drops. Voss has the third highest incident rate of world pvp

occurring.

(Once at the Voss temple I came across a pub trooper. Although he outnumbered me by three levels I

gave it a shot the way I always do. Apparently this made him angry since he had just finished turning

in a quest, so he decided to camp me when I lost. Since the respawn occurred right in the same spot, I

just zerged him repeatedly from death. He actually complained in /say. We went on to fight for almost

two hours and I learned a lot about the weaknesses of my spec. We only stopped fighting because his

friend had shown up about an hour into it and encouraged him to show up for the Heroic he apparently

had been on the way to going to. Yeah, we really went at it that hard, silently testing each other's

abilities. Oh and despite the flaws in my character's talents, I did win a few of those fights through

skill and not just zerg.)

7:10

Finally, although I didn't list it as a world pvp planet, Ilum is THE planet designed for world pvp to

occur. So rather than read a guide about where it will happen, just expect it to happen once one's server

has an end-game population to support it.

(I've got an Ilum fight I think the reader might enjoy. One time I guess maybe thirty imp started

camping the pub base guarded by a slightly smaller number. They clung to one of their turrets outside

and used it whenever we got too close. The flighting went back and forth as people got yanked into

melee range, or focus fired for having charged into combat. Then the imp raid charged the pubs. The

pubs, naturally got on the cannon, but the two dozen imps casting AoE obliterated the majority of them.

By the time imp melee hit them, most of the pub survivors were half dead and running back into their

base. We back peddled them so hard, we fought our way into their base and camped them inside. Even

the super guard turrets couldn't push us off that camp. The moral of the story is: don't cluster in large

scale combat.)

Class Overview

8:1

Traditionally, most games set up specific classes to fill one type of role and then maybe dabble in

another. This meant that certain classes came preset to do big damage, while other classes would have

to more or less fulfill their role as a healer or tank. Players who then rolled a healer or tank, hoping to

do big damage, would then at end-game complain about the damage inequality. In recent years, gaming

companies have started allowing all classes to have the ability to specialize as a damage dealer or

tank/healer. People refer to this process of making all classes the same in capability as normalization.

8:2

In the same way that other gaming companies have started to normalize the damage potentials of all

classes, SWTOR has followed suit. According to numerous statements by Bioware game developers,

all classes do roughly the same amount of damage per second. Bioware has conceded that characters

only capable of the damage-dealing role, will demonstrate a slightly higher ability to cause damage: by

slightly they mean 5%. Because Bioware has adamantly remained staunch in their design decision to

make damage potential equal amongst all classes, I strongly suggest that when deciding on a character

one not choose a class based on damage per second, but rather on the play style. Any character that

seems to excel BIGTIME in dps will in all likelihood get nerfed (consider oneself forewarned).

8:3

Thus, all classes specializing in damage, do relatively the same amount of damage (all things being

equal). As a side note, all classes at end-game have relatively (within 5%) the same amount of health

(except tanks, who often gear for health at the cost of dps).

8:4

So with classes theoretically having normalized DPS, they differ then in their damage delivery

system, their damage taking ability, and the bag of tricks available to them known as utility. While

damage delivery systems differ in range, burst, and effect, the ability to take damage differs in

effective mitigation, recovery, and damage-push-off. Where many classes may seem rather similar in

their ability to take and do damage, they differ greatly in their Utility as I will cover later. In addition to

my evaluation of these qualities, I will also provide an overview of the class as a whole and describe

where it will work best.

Example:

Overview: Here I will summarize in my own words the apparent pvp role presented by the data.

Damage Dealing Systems:

* Range goes from melee at 3 meters, mid ranged to 10-15 meters, long ranged to 30 and extreme

range to 35 meters. It remains a longstanding argument that the greater one's range in pvp, the better

one will perform (discussed later). In my guide, I will rate ranges in terms of melee, mid, and long.

* Burst generally happens most often at melee range, and diminishes as one increases in range (The

sniper/gunslinger defies the norm and bursts just as well as a melee.) . Due to the incredibly robust

nature of healers, players will want the ability to burst unless they deem some other condition more

important such as healing, tanking, or multi-target damage. Characters capable of burst exhibit it in

one of two separate qualities: front-loaded or back-loaded(The sniper/gunslinger defies the norm and

bursts just as well as a melee.) Front-loaded burst will occur rapidly at the beginning of a fight causing

an immediate panic in the receiver while back-loaded burst ramps up slowly (usually in the form of

dots) and then suddenly catches the receiver off-guard once it reaches its peak. The key point in

quality is that front-loaded burst causes an immediate panic while back-loaded burst causes panic later

in the fight.

* Effect implies how many targets the damage occurs to (while Bioware has said they've normalized

damage, they didn't rule out whether some classes/specs would excel at single target damage where

others would excel at multi-target damage). Characters with a lean towards multi-target damage will do

better in large scale warfare than single-target oriented damage dealers because by design, large scale

pvp has lots of people generally all standing close together (hence perfect candidate for AoE damage).

Damage Taking Ability

* Effective mitigation refers to the cumulative effect of a characters defensive stats that allow the

character to simply ignore a certain amount of damage taken at all times. I will represent this as a

percent generated by the following equation rounded to the nearest five: y = mitigation + defense +

shield chance * shield absorption.

* Recovery refers to a characters ability to heal oneself while in combat and does not include the out

of combat ability to heal. I will rate classes in terms of Healer or Not Healer. Those characters capable

of using heals while in combat, will find they have significantly higher “up time” even if they only use

those heals for themselves right before jumping back into the middle of things. Players that lack the

ability to heal in combat tend to get worn down by a little AoE here, some environmental damage there,

and the last flailing of a soon-dead enemy. Bit by bit, non-healers finally get to a fight that matters and

then die because of all the damage they took earlier catching up to them.

* Damage-push-off refers to abilities with cooldowns that allow the player to ignore an additional

amount of damage for a period of time. Characters with the ability to push off damage will find

themselves significantly able to turn the tide of a fight against characters lacking the ability.

Specifically, damage push offs that reduce a percent of damage over a period of time regardless of total

received, can make even bigger differences when coupled with healing. Expect a character with a

damage-push-off to survive a numerous players trying to dps him down if he has support healing.

Because damage-push-offs come in many shapes and durations, I will describe then in general along

with their effectiveness.

Utility

* Finally, utility encompasses all manner of things from movement speed bonuses to special

movement forms, CC beyond the normal stun, cast interrupt, stealth, physics effects, and more. While

utility abilities may allow one to avoid incoming damage, or do some damage in the process of use,

their main intent serves to shake up things and provide certain tactical advantages to the user. Because

utility varies so much across all classes and specs, I gave up on trying to classify them and instead will

simply note them as needed along with their impact on player versus player combat.

8:5

Without further ado, I welcome the reader to the following section regarding classes and their relative

performance to one another in the above categories. I will cover all of the advanced classes available in

SWTOR from Mercenaries/Commandos, Powertechs/Vanguards, Operatives/Scoundrels,

Snipers/Gunslingers, Sorcerers/Assassins, Juggernauts/Guardians to Marauders/Sentinels. I hope my

refusal to discuss the current FOTM damage dealer does not upset the reader. Furthermore I hope that

the following ranking of damage delivery systems, damage taking ability and overall utility, prove

fruitful nonetheless.

Mercenary/Commando

9.1

Overview: Apparently designed to AoE or heal very well. This class either acts as like a long ranged,

armored gun platform or a healer people hesitate to waste their DPS on. This solid ranged class lacks

only in utility.

Damage Delivery Systems

* Range: Long

* Burst: No

* Effect: Multi-target excellence

Ability to Take Damage

* Effective mitigation: 40%

* Recovery: Healer

* Damage-Push-Off: Moderate shield w/ good talent upgrades

Utility:

* Standard Stun

* Stealth Detection ability

* PBAoE Push physics effect

* Snare

Talent Tree Bonus Information

Class Role Tree: Bodyguard / Combat Medic (Heals)

Unique Tree: Arsenal / Gunnery

Shared Tree: Pyrotech / Assault

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Arsenal / Gunnery

End Game PvP Tree: Bodyguard / Combat Medic

Alternate PvP Tree: Bodyguard+Arsenal / Combat Medic+Gunnery

Talent Theory Discussion

This class works best as an incredible healer in pvp. By using AoE and the occassional direct damage

attacks, this class can not only keep his comrades up, but also score decently in badges. For those who

wants to score even higher damage, consider hybriding into “Tracer Shot” / “Grav Round” to combine

with the healing tree to allow for strong consistent damage and healing where needed tactically.

2012.01.12: Most attacks done by this class ignore the defensive abilities. So feel free to target tanks

and whittle them down.

2012.02.27: Counter Strategy

Beating a mercenary can take some time depending on his spec. If he goes heals, expect him to pop his

shield early on in the fight and become uninterruptible. Use this time to keep pressure on him, but

don't waste any resources, just build them up to unload once the shield drops. Use the time the shield is

present to stack all dots and buffs needed to do big damage after it drops. Then unload, interrupt their

cast time heal and ignore the channeled heal. Hopefully his health will have dropped below 50% at this

point so use all the CC possible to finish him off. Melee expect him to use his push back immediately

when the fight starts, so try to save any long range closing abilities until afterwards. Try approaching

the target from behind LOS in order to close the distance without wasting the charge.

Powertechs/Vanguards

10.1

Overview: Apparently designed as the ultimate harasser. With heavy armor and the best pull and

interrupt in game, this class looks like it should travel in a pack and assist in shutting down targets,

while guarding his buddies. When up against melee enemies, this class looks like he'll wither them

down with all his AoE while his friends pick them off one weakened guy at a time.


* Range: Melee – Long Range

* Burst: No



* Effective mitigation: 40% (70% tank spec)

* Recovery: Not Healer

* Damage-Push-Off: Moderate Shield

Utility

* Standard Stun

* Snare (talent)

* Stealth Detection ability

* Pull (best in game with talents)

* Jump to Target (talent)

* Movement Speed bonus (talent)

* Interrupt (fastest in game with talents)


Class Role Tree: Shield Tech / Shield Specialist (Tank)

Unique Tree: Advanced Prototype / Tactics

Shared Tree: Pyrotech / Assault

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Pyrotech / Assault

End Game PvP Tree: Shield Tech / Shield Specialist

Alternate PvP Tree: N/A


This class has one role and one role only: to shutdown other classes. The tanking tree and melee tree

will work wonders to bring this about. Don't bother trying to range dps as this class. Although

possible, I don't recommend it since burst is so important in warzones and this class doesn't have it.


and whittle them down. This class excels at shutting down channel/cast time classes.


This class is very straight forward he doesn't have a lot of tricks, he just does ranged dps or sometimes

will do melee. Just beat him to death. This class does not have a way to remove DoTs so feel free to

load him up and LOS while it kills him. One thing to note: the proc on his big hitting railshot requires

the presence of a dot on the target. Cleansing the dot can help frustrate players of this class.

Operatives/Scoundrels

11.1

Overview: Not as tough as the Commando/Mercenary, this class obviously tries to stay out of sight

from the enemy. Either taking out the back line through stealth or chasing down enemies as they

flee/pursue, this class whether healing, shooting, or in melee is the subtle backstabber.


* Range: Melee- Mid-Range

* Burst: Front-loaded as Melee

* Effect: Single target as melee, multi-target as ranged



* Recovery: Healer

* Damage-Push-Off: Weak flat damage subtraction shield

Utility:

* Standard Stun

* Best AoE Mezz

* Stealth

* Snare

* Vanish from combat

* Mezz Droids

* Mezz (out of combat living targets)

* Interrupt

* Additional Stun (with Talents)



Class Role Tree: Medicine / Sawbones (Heals)

Unique Tree: Concealment / Scrapper (Melee DPS)

Shared Tree: Lethality / Dirty Fighting

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Concealment / Scrapper

End Game PvP Tree: Medicine / Sawbones

Alternate PvP Tree: Concealment / Scrapper


This class excels as either a healer or melee dps. Melee dps will either go to the top of their DPS tree

or very close to it and then hybrid into their healing tree. Melee DPS will find the addition of the 11

point talent in their healing tree to make a HUGE difference. Healers on the other hand will probably

not care much for their top talent and instead pick up some points in lethality. The AoE dot in that tree

can go a long way to adding some pressure damage as well as help the player get some damage based

badges in warzones. 2012.01.12: For the sake of a little burst, I've seen a lot of healers of this class

favor some points in the unique tree instead (I personally disagree with this choice).


and burst them down.


If this class knocks one on the ground, just ride it out and try to put a dot on him so if he vanishes, the

dot may break him from stealth before he can knock one on the ground again. Once one gets a full bar

of resolve, make sure to break free. Try to stay facing this class and make certain to snare him so he

can't position himself behind one as easily. Most people will push him off immediately once getting

thrown to the ground, then snare him. Don't do that, he's just going to vanish. Get the dot in after the

push, then snare or CC. This class lacks a closer, so once one can get a kiting situation going, there's

no way for this class to get back in range. If this class tries to heal, only worry about the cast time heal

for interrupt purposes. Most likely however, healers of this class will do so while moving using an

instant cast. Healers of this type will heal themselves to full, then start applying damage. When their

health gets low, they'll try to heal back up again. Suck it up, there's no counter to this other than to

keep the pressure on and try to chain CC when he gets low on health. Again, chain CC. Save them up

and use them one after another while doing DPS when he's low on health. When one's CC's are on CD,

just keep the pressure up, stay alive, and wait for them to return.

Snipers/Gunslingers

12.1

Overview: Like an entrenched turret, snipers rarely have the luxury of going unnoticed due to the

way their attacks laze up their targets prior to firing. Although snipers may not seem too tough, once

they get into position and start shooting, anyone in line of sight should take cover. Snipers are

gatekeepers: they determine who can and cannot approach their position.


* Range: Long to Max Range

* Burst: Front-loaded, per spec

* Effect: Single Target or Multi-target Excellence




* Damage-Push-Off: Lots of talents to provide numerous situational damage-push off

Utility

* Standard Stun

* Best AoE Mezz

* Snare

* Mezz Droids

* Mezz out of combat living targets


* Interrupt


Class Role Tree: Marksmanship / Sharpshooter

Unique Tree: Engineering / Saboteur

Shared Tree: Lethality / Dirty Fighting

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Marksmanship / Sharpshooter

End Game PvP Tree: Marksmanship / Sharpshooter



This class revolves around its entrench ability and their powerful bursts of damage. This class wants

the abilities that will allow it to do huge unexpected burst damage, from range on targets already

engaged in combat. Additionally, this class wants to maximize its ability to hold a point such that

enemy players don't want to fight their any longer. As a DPS class capable of creating favorable

conditions, I cannot imagine anyone using any other trees than the ones described above because the

trees above maximize burst and entrench.

2012.01.12: Most attacks done by this class are mitigated by defensive abilities. Avoid wasting DPS

on tanks or melee with their defensive shield up.


This advanced class is amazing in group fights, but terrible one versus one. Interrupt his long cast shot

to take away his big damage dealer. Push him out of cover, CC him out of cover and stay on him to get

an otherwise easy kill. If this class gets the drop on one however and takes a huge chunk of health

away before the fight even starts, then uses entrench, just break LOS and heal up. He'll have to give up

his entrenchment to try and finish the fight. Reengage confident that his important CD is gone and get

the kill. Oh and melee should avoid using their gap closer until after getting pushed. This class does

not have a way to remove DoTs so feel free to load him up and LOS while it kills him.

Sorcerers/Consulars

13.1

Overview: Lightly armored and with little in the way of surviving focus fire, sorcerers must use their

superior movement to gain the best battlefield positions and then support the action from the backline.

Due to their long list of utility, sorcerers can determine the outcome of a battle if left unchecked. A

good sorcerer is like the mastermind of battle, applying what needs to happen, when it needs to

happen.


* Range: Long Range

* Burst: No




* Recovery: Healer

* Damage-Push-Off: Weak flat damage shield with mediocre talent upgrades

Utility

* Standard Stun

* Long Duration Mezz

* Snare

* Interrupt


* Exceptional Movement Speed bonus cooldown

* Pull (friendly targets only: VERY useful, class unique ability, in the hands of a crafty player)


Class Role Tree: Corruption / Seer (Heals)

Unique Tree: Lightning / Telekinetics

Shared Tree: Madness / Balance

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Madness / Balance (First 16-18 points only)

End Game PvP Tree: Corruption / Seer

Alternate PvP Tree: Madness+Lighting / Balance+Telekinetics


This class works well as a healer hybrid damage dealer. The healing tree does not require more than 25

points for PvP and thus can pick up 16 points in their shared tree in order to get Wrath/Presense of

Mind. The points spent in the shared tree will allow the player to manage their Force through the use

of their channeled damage attack (force lightning/telekinetic throw).


and whittle them down.


This class can spec for more tricks than any other. The first thing to consider when attacking one of

them is whether or not he just bubble shielded himself. If he has, attack. If he hasn't, wait if possible.

Attacking this class when he has on old bubble up means his cooldown to immediately recast it

probably has expired. Thus instead of trying to burn through one of these shields, the player will have

to immediately fight his way through another shield to start doing damage. Worse yet, many players of

this class will spec such that having their bubble broken causes an AoE mezz to occur. If the player

has two shields available to him at the start of the fight, he'll get to recover and kite a melee target very

easily. Knowing about the bubble however and making certain to interrupt his short cast heal can make

a huge difference in pressure. If he can cast the channeled heal, just let him do it. Keep the pressure

up, get him below 50% health and then CC/DPS him the rest of the way down with burst. For those

with a closer ability, SAVE IT for when he sprints away during the fight. Use it earlier and get kited.

Also note that when fighting a DPS spec'd player of this class, interrupting his channeled DPS attack

can really set him off his game as he struggles for a couple seconds to realize what has happened and

why his spam style of attacking has ceased to work. This class can cleanse dots, but don't be afraid to

slap instant ones on since he can only cleanse them so often and and it takes up a global on his part to

do so. Bad players of this class won't cleanse DoTs and debuffs. Note: the longer a fight goes against

this class, the more likely he will win. Try to make the fight short and sweet otherwise all those bubble

shields he will cast will make him seem invincible.

Assassins/Shadows

14.1

Overview: With two of the best damage-push-offs in game, assassins have the ability to not only take

on the backlines, but temporarily take on frontliners as well. Expect assassins to pick off the weak, or

when needed, add the extra power to drop big prey. Assassins are less subtle than operatives and more

like a hitman, armed for anything, at least while their defensive cooldowns last.


* Range: Melee to Mid-Ranged

* Burst: Front-loaded as DPS

* Effect: Single Target Excellence


* Effective mitigation: 30% (DPS) 70% (Tank)


* Damage-Push-Off: Two of the strongest shields w/talent upgrades

Utility

* Standard Stun

* Snare

* Interrupt

* Stealth


* Mezz (out of combat living targets)


* Exceptional Movement Speed bonus cooldown

* Pull (with talents)

* Additional Stun (with Talents)



Class Role Tree: Darkness / Kinetic Combat (Tank)

Unique Tree: Deception / Infiltration

Shared Tree: Madness / Balance

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Deception / Infiltration

End Game PvP Tree: Deception / Infiltration

Alternate PvP Tree: Darkness / Kinetic Combat


This class excels as both a burst damage dealer and a tank. The FOTM damage build for this class is

33 points in the Unique Tree and 8 points in the Shared Tree in order to promote massive synergy

between all attacks. Learn it, use it, love it. Tanks meanwhile, do not go to the top of their trees, but

instead decide if they want a tougher version of themselves by going shared tree or a more positional

damage version using the unique tree. I personally use 28 in my tanking tree and 13 in the shared tree,

but various permutations exist.


on tanks or melee with their defensive shield up.


This class is hard to nail down and kill in a one versus one fight simply because they have an effective

vanish ability that allows them to reset conditions. When fighting this class, observe whether or not his

health seems to return. If it does, he's probably tank spec'd so expect the fight to go long and don't race

to finish him off at the risk of dying: the end may not come as quickly as one may think. This class

when spec'd as a pvp tank will repeatedly heal himself for 10% of his health unexpectedly as well as

get random small heals just from hitting his target. So plan accordingly. Also note that trying to kite a

tank is almost impossible so don't risk too much time in the trying. If on the other hand, one observes

this class doing an attack in which he throws his saber a short distance and it turns in the air like a saw,

then he is a DPS spec and should be killed as fast as possible with a couple caveats. Don't DPS him

when he starts to glow. When his whole body glows, he will ignore any tech/force attack effect or

damage 100% of the time. Be aware he can use this ability to clear dots as well so proc abilities

requiring the presence of a dot may not fire when he starts to glow. Players of the DPS variety will

often start the fight using their ability to ignore force/tech abilities so don't waste a critically needed

push or CC then. Also, avoid running from this class, as their backstab ability can really hurt when

spec'd for it. In review: if hes' a tank, remain patient and whittle him down; if he's a DPS, burn him

ASAP. In both cases, don't use important attacks when this class glows because he'll ignore the effects.

Juggernauts/Guardians

15.1

Overview: With all that armor and the default ability to jump into combat from a distance, juggernauts

look predestined to start fights first and last long enough for help to arrive. In short, these guys are the

first ones in. With proper support, they're also the last ones standing.


* Range: Melee

* Burst: Back-loaded (DPS) No (Tank)

* Effect: Single target excellence


* Effective mitigation: 40% (DPS) 70% (Tank)


* Damage-Push-Off: The best push-offs in game (many of them available)

Utility

* Standard Stun

* Snare

* Interrupt

* Snare (talent)

* Push (strongest single target and causes knockdown)

* Jump to Target

* Jump to Friendly Target (only class capable of this)


Class Role Tree: Immortal / Defense (Tank)

Unique Tree: Vengeance / Vigilance

Shared Tree: Rage / Focus

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Rage / Focus

End Game PvP Tree: Immortal / Defense



This class has one function only in pvp and that function is to tank. Either go to the top of the tree if

one desires more damage, or, for those that remember the classes original purpose, take the 11 point

talent in the shared tree in order to gain some more maneuverability. That particular ability, while only

a 10 meter jump to enemy, can be used when pushed to get back on target. Additionally, it works well

for getting up to an enemy on an overhead without wasting charge.


on tanks or melee with their defensive shield up. This class excels at shutting down channel/cast time

classes.


Most players of this advanced class will have their points in the Rage/Focus tree and thus a couple

important notes will help against them. First, despite the fact that their force choke doesn't do much

damage, BREAK IT ASAP if its a channeled ability (if he can cast it and continue doing damage, just

eat it because he's a tank and the CC break will do better for some other class' CC). DPS variants of

this class will get a stacking buff that will cause massive damage if one allows the force choke to go

unbroken. Also, concentrate on avoiding / interrupting his channeled attack and not wasting big

damage cooldowns when he pops his shields. Once his shields drop, burn him down. Melee classes

should try not to let him regain distance in the fight for a charge, but since he can push, players may not

find this feasible except to try and fight near a wall so that his push fails to gain the distance desired. A

bad player of this class will jump to a range class right off the bat. Just push him, cc him and get some

distance then proceed to kite him to death. Beware the good players however that will find a way to

get to a ranged class without using his big charge ability or that picked up the talent making them

immune to CC immediately following a charge. Should the push fail because of said talent, chalk it up

as a lesson learned for the next fight and then wait 2 seconds after the charge to push him away. This

class does not have a way to remove DoTs so feel free to load him up and LOS while it kills him.

Marauders/Sentinels

16.1

Overview: As the only class capable of debuffing heals, this class looks born to assist in focus fire.

Lacking the armor of his brother advanced class, it will take a very wily character to survive the focus

fire this class will inevitably draw. That said, this class most likely brings the lion's share of burst to

an assist train.


* Range: Melee

* Burst: Back-loaded

* Effect: Single Target Excellence



* Recovery: Not a Healer

* Damage-Push-Off: Lots of talents to provide numerous situational damage-push-off

Utility

* Standard Stun

* PBAoE Mezz

* Snare

* Interrupt

* Stealth (Temporary)


* Jump to Target

* Jump to Target (talent)


* Debuff Healing done to an enemy (only class capable of this)


Class Role Tree: Annihilation / Watchman

Unique Tree: Carnage / Combat

Shared Tree: Rage / Focus

Recommendations

Leveling Tree: Rage / Focus

End Game PvP Tree: Rage+Annihilation / Focus+Watchman



This class has a very special role in the world of pvp that most players won't grasp. This is a melee dot

class made to overwhelm healers so that other classes can get their dots to stick as well. Hybrid this

class first to maximize maneuverability in the Shared Tree, then grab as many dot/survivability

enhancements as possible in the Class Role Tree. Then start applying those debuffs/dots to healers and

bring them down in conjunction with other player DPS.


on tanks or melee with their defensive shield up. This class excels at shutting down channel/cast time

classes.


Most players of this advanced class will have their points in the Rage/Focus tree and thus a couple

important notes will help against them. First, despite the fact that their force choke doesn't do much

damage, BREAK IT ASAP. Otherwise they get a stacking buff that will cause massive damage. As

soon as the fight starts, decide whether to stay close or far away and then stick to that plan. Starting far

away, then letting them close only to get away again can have tragic results as this advanced class

increases his damage and does damage by closing the gap. As a melee, stay close and do everything to

keep this class from getting distance again during the fight. If they do a channeled attack, quickly run

through them to their rear to avoid the 3rd hit. I can't think of any player that would have the reaction

time to dodge the 2nd hit, but by dodging the 3rd hit, the maneuver will only do half its intended

damage. At the end of the fight, this class will use a shield that reduces the damage they take almost

completely. Do whatever it takes to stun him through this or vanish or LOS or anything. Many good

players of this class will use their last moments of life to pull off one last huge hit. Don't lose a fight

trying to get that last shred of health down with this shield up. He won't die until it drops. This class

does not have a way to remove DoTs so feel free to load him up and LOS while it kills him. This class

can however stealth for a short period of time regardless of taking damage. Don't panic, just try to

imagine if he's going to run and hide for some reason or reattack once one of his CDs has ended. Very

rarely does this class escape as a result of his short stealth ability. Also note that he can take damage

while stealthed even though it won't break him out of it.

Character Stats and their Use

17:1

Characters all have a primary attribute and endurance on each piece of gear. In addition to these two

statistics, they have the option of many secondary statistics. Continue reading to see which stats one

should bother with and which to cast aside.

* Aim: Bounty Hunters and Troopers

* Cunning: Agents and Smugglers

* Strength: Sith Warriors and Jedi Knights

* Willpower: Inquisitors and Consular

17:2

The above statistics when used by the appropriate class will raise bonus damage, bonus healing (where

applicable), and crit chance. Obviously most players will want to stack as much of their primary stat as

possible.

17:3

Additionally, a couple other basic stats exist: Endurance and Presence. Presence is a garbage stat of no

particular value anymore except for those that really need their companion character to do a bit better

dps. Endurance on the other hand occurs as a default stat that players cannot get away from. Strangely

enough, although it does nothing but expand a players health pool, players use health pool as a general

guide as to how well a player has geared one's toon. Tanks incidentally will stack endurance for

reasons of their own.

17:4

That said, lets look at the more confusing statistics:

* Accuracy: Raises a players chance to hit. Should accuracy exceed 100% it will overcome the

defense chance of the target

* Alacrity: Reduces the cast time of the player's channel and cast abilities. Does not affect GCD.

Also does not affect regeneration of resources like force, ammo and heat and thus may actually lead to

overheating more often. So far a very poor stat.

* Crit: Increases the chance that an ability will do extra damage

* Defense: Increases the chance a player will dodge, resist, or outright ignore an enemy effect

* Power: Raises the effect of an ability, whether healing or damage.

* Shield Chance: Raises the chance a tank-capable toon will have his shield generator reduce

incoming damage received

* Shield absorption: Raises the amount absorbed by a shield generator when shield chance comes

into play

* Surge: Raises the amount of bonus damage done during a critical. Note: this ability grows very

fast.

17:5

Analysis:

* DPS characters should stack Crit and Surge for big burst damage. The only time to consider

accuracy as useful is for those running a dot based build in which the loss of a single GCD or a missed

dot can seriously affect pressure output.

* Healers will want to stack Alacrity and Power in order to get their heals out quickly and with as

much effect as possible, but not with crits causing useless overheals. 2012.01.12 Anecdotal evidence

suggests crit/surge having the best results in pvp healing due to the need to heal through burst situations

exceeding any over-healing concerns.

* Tanks will want to focus on Shield Chance and Absorption since these abilities seem to increase

much faster than defense, but I wouldn't turn my nose up at defense. Note that defense and Shielding

does not affect yellow damage from tech/force attacks. Those players going the tanking route for

utility rather than durability in pvp will benefit best by switching their mods from tanking to crit/surge

just like a dps class..

Leveling Guide

18:1

For those people like me who just want to get to end-game and start end-game pvping, I offer the

following guide on leveling. Rather than a step by step guide in which the player should do this and

then that, I think the leveling experience in SWTOR goes fast enough without such a thing. In my

personal opinion, a person only needs to know a few things in order to level quickly and avoid time

sinks that may otherwise cause a player to regret having partaken in certain portions of the game.

Personally, I believe a step by step guide to leveling will probably waste more time than it will save.

18:2

To level quickly in SWTOR, a person needs to know the apparent methods of leveling available, time

sinks that will slow one's leveling, and finally which methods provide the fastest gains.

18:3

First, SWTOR has apparently tried very hard to provide players with multiple avenues of leveling that

provide sufficient compensation for effort involved. From soloing quests, to questing with friends, to

pvping, or even taking on entire instances of content, players can do some or all of these things.

18:4

Generally players will find themselves doing solo quests. Rather than bothering with some guide telling

a player what order to do the quests in, just follow the world quest and complete the satellite quests that

occur nearby in the same map region. Believe it or not, SWTOR more or less organizes its quests in an

easy to follow fashion that groups them in roughly the same areas as long as a player can identify their

world quest and avoid the temptation to skip ahead to their next class quest.

18:5

One can easily discern the “world quest” by remembering the quest first given upon arriving on a

planet. Every planet after the origin and capital planet will contain an NPC who will greet one either on

the space station leading to a planet or the spaceport on the planet itself. The NPC will give instructions

for one to go someplace and talk to someone who has taken up the task of heading up such and such on

the planet below. When the player talks to this NPC, he will receive one quest after another that take

him throughout the planet until finally culminating someplace near its end. Players who coordinate

their class quest completions to occur when a world class takes them nearby will find themselves not

having to double back to previous areas in order to finish quests they received earlier.

18:6

By following one's world quests and completing quests only when nearby, one can complete a planet

quickly, but along the way some quests referred to as Heroic will pop up. For those new to the game,

heroic quests require a group to complete properly. For those who find themselves solo in SWTOR,

getting into one of these groups may seem like a hassle. I personally only join those heroics I see

someone else advertising near completion to forming the group. I personally don't find it worth my

time to sit around trying to form a group. Although heroics contain good rewards at the end and often a

good bit of experience, don't feel too badly about skipping a large part of them in lieu of completing the

planet faster.

18:7

It just so happens that SWTOR has something known as bonus quests to help players along in their

need to hit level requirements, because characters that don't level properly won't have the oomph to

beat certain class bosses. Oh yeah, did I mention that unlike other MMO's, SWTOR actually challenges

its players with its class quests? Those players who skip too much content will find themselves up

against a class quest boss WAY too strong to beat. So instead of speeding through the game, said

person ends up wasting an hour or more dying repeatedly to the same boss until he gives up and go

back to finish a previous planet or something.

18:8

To prevent the pitfall of leveling too slow, look for something known as the bonus quest series. At the

end of some planets, one may find an NPC quest giver who will catch one's attention while leaving a

planet. After all, having beaten the class quest and the world quest and all the side quests, players tend

to leave a planet in order to “return to one's spaceship and use the intercom/holoterminal”. On the way,

some planets will offer a bonus series of quests. Off the top of my head, this will occur on Balmorra,

Tatooine, and Taris. The remaining planets have had their bonus quest areas changed such that players

only see them at a later time when visiting Fleet. Although a tad confusing, look for a quest giver after

beating a planet and getting a quest to “Visit [some pointless NPC] at Fleet”. The quest giver will stand

someplace on the space station in Fleet nearby the class trainer there, and when approached will ask the

player to return to a planet already beaten: Nar Shadaa, Alderaan, Hoth, Belsavis and Voss. Doing

these bonus quests will help a player level quickly, as needed all the way to 50. However some players

may not need to do them, especially if they got lucky and completed a lot of heroics.

18:9

So does that represent the fastest way to level? Not exactly, I have a bag of tricks to share still, but

before I get to those, consider the following time sinks that will slow one's progress a GREAT deal.

First, tradeskill at one's own peril. I personally find that stopping to pick up resources and manage the

crew skills window wastes a lot of time. But some people love it, so more power to them. Second, do

flashpoints at one's own peril. Flashpoints have a tendency to eat up a lot of time to set up and then,

because people are desperate to get it done sooner than later, fill up with under-leveled people and

FAIL to complete, thus not completing the FP quest and wasting a lot of time. Second, gaze at the

Galactic Trade Network at one's own peril. Its quite easy to break off from questing to have a look at

cool stuff to buy, only to take up nearly an hour before finally getting back on the grind. Finally, do

heroics at one's own peril. Yeah I said that earlier, but I thought I'd remind people how awfully time-

consuming these impromptu group quests can get.

18:10

Having avoided the leveling pitfalls, certainly some tricks exist for leveling a bit faster. Yes they do...

Welcome to Space Combat, folks. I don't care if one hates the idea of being stuck to a rail while flying

a spaceship, DO THESE QUESTS DAILY. That's right, some of the quests represent dailies one can

do for a very nice bunch of experience. I know of players who have heard me tell them to do these

quests so many times they finally break down and do them only to get a level out of it easily. So slap

some ship upgrades on and do the space combat whenever available while the quests remain yellow.

The experience gains are great.

18:11

So by following the world quest series and completing the quests nearby, one can quickly finish a

planet and get access to the bonus series. By knocking out the bonus series, doing space combat and

group quests when a group just needs one more guy, one can hit 50 easily and get on to the end-game

pvp. But wait, additional methods to speed it up even more exist. If ever one should find oneself

questing and some other guy keeps killing the mobs one needs, or grabbing the next node one needed

to click, invite him to party. When players group together, although the experience per mob killed gets

divided among them, whenever one of them completes a bonus quest, everyone in the party gets a piece

of the experience. Thus, group when possible, but don't go too far out of the way. A bad groupmate

makes for the fifth leveling time sink.

18:12

Additional tip: Don't skip all those heroics. For those who don't mind the expense of it, every quest I

can think of requiring the player to use so and so quest object can be completed by corpse running to

said objective. Where mobs guard them, just have one's tanking companion hold their aggro while one

uses the object in question. It used to be that Bioware only let such objects be used while out of

combat, but apparently they decided to let craftier players figure ways to complete them without a

group. Oh, and don't try soloing the quests that require heroic mobs to die: it just won't likely happen.

Leveling Pitfall Prevention Section

18:13

Personal Speeders

Commonly asked, but often overlooked, the savings requirement for a speeder can catch up to some

players, To keep it short, just remember to save credits to reach the following break points or else feel

free to run on foot in tatooine cursing one self for having spent all those credits earlier on corelian ale

and holo-dancers.

Level 25 = 1st Speeder (48k total) for sale in Tatooine.

* Seek the first taxi and then buy from the guy there with numerous speeders on display for sale.

Level 40 = 2nd Speeder (240k total) for sale at Fleet.

* Head to the market section and again look for the guy modeling numerous speeders.

Level 50 = 2nd Speeder (365k+) for sale at Fleet.

* Head to the market section and again look for the guy modeling numerous speeders.

At 50, numerous shapes and special versions of 50 speeders exist. Have a good time figuring out which

one to invest in.

18:14

Companion List: SPOILER

For some reason, having to level up with a certain companion can really take away from the

momentum of getting things done. Although it sounds like a personal problem, I can provide my

reader with a companion acquisition guide to alleviate the the anxiety.

Bounty Hunter Hutta (Heals), Tatooine (rDPS), Taris (mDPS), Hoth (rTank), Belsvis (mTank)

Imperial Agent Hutta (rTank), Alderaan (mDPS), Taris (heals), Hoth (rDPS), Belsavis (mTank)

Jedi Consular Tython (mTank), Nar Shadaa (Healer), Balmorra (rDPS), Hoth (rTank), Belsavis

(mDPS)

Jedi Knight Tython (ranged tank), Coruscant (mDPS), Balmorra (Healer), Hoth (Ranged DPS), ?????

(mDPS)

Sith Inquisitor Koriban (mTank), Tatooine (rDPS), Taris (mDPS), Hoth (Heals), PreCorellia (rTank)

Sith Warrior Korriban (rDPS), Balmora (Heals), Hutta (mDPS), Taris (rDPS), Hoth(mTank)

Smuggler Ord Mantel (rtank), Nar Shaddaa (mTank), Alderaan (rDPS), Balmorra (mDPS), Hoth

(Healer)

Trooper: Ord Mantel (rdps), Taris (Healer), Nar Shaddaa (rTank), Balmora (mTank), Hoth (mDPS)

Empire Datacron List

Instructions: Coordinates given in this guide are in the x,y,z format. Mouse over the mini-map located

at the bottom right of the screen to see one's current position displayed. The first set of coordinates

given will be the location of the datacron itself. In parenthesis after the datacron location will be the

coordinates of a hint on how to reach it. For people seeking a step-by-step guide on solving these

datacrons, consider watching the videos posted on at youtube. For those that want to enjoy finding the

datacrons, but don't want to waste too many hours searching, enjoy the following guide.

Korriban:

End+2 153.81.5

Will +2 530.65.162

Red -54.379.-12

Hutta:

Aim+2 -95.860.22

Blue -11.375.-11

Pres+2 650.-108.13

Dromund Kaas:

Str +2 856.644.-67

Pres +2 580.797.115

Yellow -187.1736.-109

End +2 -795.1452.0

Cun +2 -1218.211.-47

Balmorra:

Str +2 726.2033.171

Cun+2 1851.111.134

Aim +2 -1017.1516.22

Will +2 191.-343.4 (674.37.2)

Green -505.1988.16

Nar Shadaa:

Str +3 1937.2453.-1629 (1945.2481.-1566)

Pres +3 2930.400.-1450 (1600.-2667.-3176)

Aim +3 -3773.-1685.243 (-3785.-1682.241)

Cun +3 1958.3288.-1591 (2037.3385.-1575)

Yellow -1784.3091.-1544 (1707.3092.-1566)

Tatooine:

Cun+3 727.3133.492 (446.3102.516)

Will +3 2073.-577.461 (2055.-416.383)

Aim +3 -621.-24.480 (-603.-46.521)

Blue -2389.-1393.412 (-2340.-3.465)

Str +3 -2392.-1382.391 (-2340.-3.465)

Alderaan:

Str +4 2191.-2019.380 (-2182.-1996.371)

Aim +4 1106.79.173 (1125.87.168)

Pres +3 -82.-267.167 (-413.-200.104)

Will +3 -2507.-426.144 (-2486.-364.112)

End +3 2721.2497.242 (1869.1091.204)

Quesh:

End +4 208.772.57 (161.610.42)

Cun +4 425.-132.125 (570.-179.122)

Str +4 557.1422.163 (426.1800.151)

Taris:

Pres +4 1187.-576.-136 (390.2.-180)

Aim +4 1048.454.-188 (1180.268.-169)

Cun +4 -648.1608-298 (-774.1195-235)

End +3 -1513.-255.-272 (-1380.-197.-193)

Will +4 445.-773.-151 (355.-903.-212)

Hoth:

Red -738.1705.70 (-2633.915.-4)

Str +4 2991.-93.-42 (2915.-94.-47)

Pres +4 1039.-1243.158 (1112.-1033.119)

End +4 2837.-375.95 (2712.-757.65)

Cun +4 3144.475.-12 (3248.494.-20)

Belsavis:

Will +4 -501.767.275 (-824.785.266)

End +4 -992.-449.224 (-903.-378.256)

Pres +4 -1915.-476.249 (-2034.-175.288)

Aim +4 -785.-1930.127 (-715.-1940.161)

Green -315.-2172.62 (-548.-2172.148)

Voss:

Will +4 -29.373.111 (-497.385.34)

End +4 -1948.-2228.-71 (-1908.-2308.-72)

Str +4 654.2050.217 (580.1928.211)

Pres +4 2164.-840.-41 (2003.-942.29)

Cun +4 574.175.105 (443.207.140)

Corellia:

Will +4 -2405.2949.-56

Str +4 -2754.-2007.-46 (-2772.-2061,-74)

Cun +4 -2262,-3116.-52 (-24923-3080.-59)

Aim +4 3143.-1793.254 (3127.-1834.237)

Pres +4 3426.-3211.249 (3415.-3322.258)

Ilum:

End +4 220.-107.-3 (103.-78.-62)

Red 543.544.-11

Aim +4 924.1076.-6

Yellow 311.-380.-6

Will +4 304.-1569.-91 (907.-1119.-15)

Biochem Leveling Guide

19:1

Crafting in SWTOR allows players to learn a single tradeskill that creates things like weapons, armor

or whatnot, and two professions that gather things. Of the gathering skills, players can choose between

skills that gather materials from the world OR gathering skills that only work by sending one's

companion on a mission via the tradeskill window. Bioware at numerous times in the past have stated

they want crafters to truly feel like crafters and not just another person doing the standard trade skills

appropriate for their class. As such, I believe Bioware has made one tradeskill a default tradeskill so

that all other crafting skills will only be pursued by those people who genuinely want to be a crafter of

armor, weapons, etc. The default trade skill in question is Biochem.

19:2

Until the unlikely event occurs in which crafted gear exceeds PvP gear at end-game, I personally don't

see any reason players would want to have a crafting profession that makes weapons or armor in light

of the power of Biochem. For those who don't know, at end-game when players have maybe 18k

health, Biochem offers a 90 second cooldown healing pack that will heal a respectable amount for over

7k (~40%) AND doesn't get consumed on use. Add to this the long and short term buffs to a stat (also

not consumed on use), it seems apparent that Biochem has no equal.

19:3

The Biochem profession requires Bioanalysis to gather the needed mats to level it up. For those who

want to make higher-quality stuff, Diplomacy also goes with Biochem, HOWEVER, it apparently is

not needed to either level or make the final purple stims and med pack, so pick it up at one's own

discretion. Finally, although not necessarily a permanent thing Bioware won't change, currently the

final medpack has no requirement to use other than it is BoP and thus can be crafted by the person who

wants to use it. In other words, once a person makes these medpacks and stims a person could

theoretically drop the skill for another, although I will not take responsibility should Bioware change

the requirement on the purple medpacks and stims OR should they add an even better item to craft at a

later time.

19:4

For those who wish to knock this ability out at 50 rather than waste tons of time while leveling to do it,

consider it an 8 hour endeavor. Just farm up some “strong”/silver “creatures” and have one's

companion Bioanalyze them. The grind starts on one's capital world, continues on Balmorra/Taris then

starts getting a bit fishy and confusing at that point. I found myself farming some rather interesting

mobs on Tatooine for a specific crafting component until I hit 200. Then I went to:

Alderaan till 260

Taris/Balmorra till 280

Hoth till 300

Belsavis till 360

Voss till 380

Then Corellia till 400

19:5

Generally I found crafting the current medpack I could get from the trainer as best, although sometimes

I found I had a stim that crafted well using some of the other components I had left over.

19:6

When leveling up one's crafting, don't forget to use “Re-engineering” to break down the things one has

crafted in order to recover some of the materials used. “RE” as people abbreviate it can significantly

reduce the amount of materials one must grind out and surprisingly may even provide materials for

one's next level crafted item.

Afterword

Before I sign out here, I'd like to tell a bit about myself as a player, express my appreciation to those

who participated in the Darth Malak beta with me, and finally state my commitment of quality to my

readers.

As an MMO player, I've pvp'd in these sorts of games since the first year of Ultima Online, and for

those that count it, the original Diablo online before that. Ultima Online represented an era in gaming

that will likely never happen again. The chaos, the murder, and griefing as we know it today came from

those early days in which players would kill one another and loot all the players belongings as a

reward. As UO aged, I came to dabble in many other titles, but despite the quality improvements of all

the games that would come, my nostalgia for the fierce PvP I encountered in UO always remained on

my mind.

Having played 6 beta builds and completed the story arc of 6 unique classes (Powertech, Juggernaut,

Sorcerer, Consular, Commando, Operative, and Assassin), I had the opportunity to play with some of

the most talented players I've met in over a decade of playing MMO's. Perhaps I've aged and my tastes

have changed, but I believe I will always look back fondly on the SWTOR beta with as much nostalgia

as those years of Ultima Online. Darth Malak acted as a home to not only me, but to great guilds like

Republic Justice, Brutality, and Apathy. I had the additional benefit of not only playing against these

guilds, but also played alongside the first two as a member. I'd like to thank the members of both

Republic Justice and Brutality, as well as the many other guilds that I had the pleasure of participating

with in PvP on Darth Malak. Take care, CoN, Republic Elite, Kind of Terrible, Star Forge, Ebonlore,

and of course, West Coast Players.

Because MMO's change over time, I intend to maintain updates for this book at a fraction of the cost

of an entire new book. Updates will run throughout the year until I release a new edition for the holiday

season. The Rome-fu update pages sold at Amazon will have annotations to denote which paragraphs

have been replaced by new content, while the remaining content should be considered current. Amazon

will display two products: the current book and the update pages that will make the previous year's

book current. So check in with Amazon or better yet, keep an eye on the Rome-Fu section of my

website for release information and bonus content like video and screen shots: www.romequietus.com

Again I look forward to hearing from all my readers,

Rome Quietus

P.S.: Disability is no reason to give up what one likes. Look at me, I play SWTOR using an Xbox 360

controller and most players would never guess it.

http://www.romequietus.com/

Bonus PvP Tanking Guide

21:1

Through the use of their guard/taunt ability, physics effects, special movement and crowd control, PvP

tanks such as Powertech/Vanguard, Juggernaut/Guardian and Assassin/Shadow bring a unique set of

abilities that can determine the outcome of a warzone for better and worse perhaps more so than any

other class role.

21:2

First off, it should be noted that tank spec'd character do not do as much damage as dps spec'd

characters. Tanking specs tend to focus on mitigating damage and providing crowd control abilities.

Nonetheless, tanks should take note that tank stats on their armor don't have much use in pvp due to the

underwhelming number of attacks actually mitigatable by shields or defense. Most PvP tanks I know

have started taking out the tank stat enhancement slots of their armor and replacing them with crit/surge

instead. Although this will reduce the total health of the player's tank toon, it will significantly increase

the amount of one's pressure damage. Enough so that most players will feel actually threatened by the

presence of the tanks dps and not just ignore him as they would if he kept all tanking stat gear. To find

good mods, consider doing some raiding for the raid gear mods. Additionally, consider looking for

duplicate pvp items like the inquisitor gloves that also have nice crit/surge stats in the enhancement

slot.

21:3

More important than dps, tanks have the ability to guard and taunt during pvp. By guarding an

important member of the team, the tank shares the damage that player receives, thus mitigating it down

with his armor and spreading it between them, making healers more able to respond to burst. The use

of guard on a healer can essentially make that healer unkillable by any normal means. Meanwhile,

should any strong burst attempts occur, the tank can use his taunt and aoe taunt to reduce the damage of

his enemies by 30%. I personally have grown used to the sound of an operative or gunslinger coming

out of stealth with their big opening move. As soon as I hear it, I target and taunt to reduce the rest of

the incoming burst on my healer.

21:4

Although less obvious than the guard/taunt and dps tools a tank brings to battle, each tanks special use

of physics effects set them apart from all other classes.

21:5

For example, Powertechs/Vanguards can talent for the most powerful “pull” in game that also roots the

target in place once puled. In huttball, the use of pull to grab a ball carrier and place him in acid or fire

has been well documented in frequent use. Less frequently known however is the use of pull to grab a

healer or tank away from a battle so that they must spend time getting back to the fight rather than

participate in it. I personally like to pull a tank away from his healer during a focus situation so that his

shield drops due to range. Without a shield, the healer dies twice as fast. Additional uses of pull

include, grabbing cappers from a node (something about being grabbed causes them to give up trying

to recap in lieu of fighting), grabbing the rear person of a zerg so that his friends arrive at a fight

without him for a time, and pulling people out of a crowd into the range of melee friends (used

frequently in Ilum during ranged stand offs).

21:6

Push, the opposite of pull, represents one of the best defensive abilities commonly available to

Assassin/Shadows and Juggernaut/Guardians. The uses of push are many and obvious, from pushing

huttball runners off the platforms to pushing a healer off the side node in ACW (thus breaking his LOS

to heal at the node). I can't think of a single player that doesn't relish pushing people off the bridge in

voidstar and Juggernauts/Guardians have one of the best pushes to accomplish this auto kill move.

Remember that push can do wonders for positioning as well as auto kills: by pushing people away from

a node cap to simply pushing a dps target out of range of his healer, push can help change the outcome

of a fight.

21:7

Even more unpredictable, tanks generally have the best movement abilities. So where a marauder may

leap to a target once every 30seconds, a juggernaut can do it twice in that period. Additionally, he can

leap to a friendly target as well. On the other side of the spectrum, while sorcerers can sprint every 30

seconds, tanks can talent to do it every 20 seconds. The increased mobility of tanks means that more so

than any other classes, they have the power to be where they're needed when they're needed. Generally

because of my added speed, I will position my assassin in between the voidstar doors, then watch each

alternately until I see a need for me to be at one. Then, once i feel the situation under control, I can

immediately sprint back to the middle and check the other door. As a tank, remember to use this

mobility advantage to add that needed dps, guard that essential player, or prevent a cap where others

have abandoned defenses.

21:8

Finally, tanks tend to have an additional form of CC than other classes. Usually it comes in the form of

a stun as it does for Assassin/Shadows and Juggernaut/Guardians, but sometimes it comes in an AoE

mezz form like it does for Powertech/Vanguards. Whatever the case, coupled with the other CC's

available, tank players generally have a marked ability to slow down a situation as needed. Between

alternately stunning a healer or CCing multiple players to prevent or cause a cap, tanks have the tools

needed to control a situation. I personally like to use my 2 second stun whenever I want to slow

someone down a bit. Many times said player will start getting focus fired. I don't know if its just

psychological or what, but players that get stunned, tend to get picked out in a crowd for dps. Since I

use my tank spec stun for pacing purposes and not DPS, I almost always have my 6 second stuff

available for clutch plays (firetraps, node caps, focus fire, and interference).

21:9

In conclusion, tanks have some of the best mobility in game to allow them to bring extra dps and

mitigation where needed. With their numerous physics effect powers, they can change the dynamics of

a situation drastically with a simple push or pull. Although not discussed, because a tanks job is to fill

in where needed, they also tend to have a commander's eye view of the battlefield and make excellent

leaders. For those players up to the task of the above and willingly will forgo big dps, welcome to the

ranks of pvp tanking, may your warzones never have more than two tanks in them at a time*.

*Too many tanks means not enough dps and therefore a losing situation.

Bonus Large Scale PvP Guide

22:1

Star Wars the Old Republic has areas devoted specifically to large scale combat like Western Ilum and

Outlaw's Den. Although the battles may seem to merely involve zerg versus zerg where the bigger

group always wins, large scale tactics can play a part if a sufficiently capable leader exists to give the

orders and the other players involved will follow. The following section will discuss the basic line

formation and theory behind it, the powerful wedge formation (and why it doesn't work in SWTOR) as

well as numerous other formations and maneuvers that given the right situations can wreak havoc on

the enemy. Finally, this section will discuss the strongest formation in game, the Armoured Spearhead

and the tactics necessary to have a chance at defeating it.

22:2

Line Formation: In general, players will adopt a melee in the front, ranged in the middle and healers

in the back formation. Without any sort of instruction, players will psychologically gravitate towards

this setup. It plays to the strengths of each role allowing them to stand where they feel most useful and

allows those players not used to taking damage to feel safe by standing back from the front line. When

arraying one's forces, try to place them in this order so they not only feel comfortable, but so they can

maximize their damage dealing and taking capabilities. The tactics discussed from this point forward

will seek to give the utilizing commander an advantage by upset the natural order in which players

array themselves and thus inspire psychological and logistical disarray.

22:3

Skirmishing: Due to the power of Area of Effect abilities in SWTOR, commanders should try to get

players to spread out as much as possible parallel to the enemy so that incoming enemy AoE effects the

minimum number of players possible while still allowing one's healers to reach those in need. The

term skirmishing refers to the idea that instead of forming lines, soldiers would stand about loosely so

as to travel through brush or pursue fleeing enemies more easily. In SWTOR, skirmishing is essential

to reduce AoE damage which can add up quickly across a large, tightly formed force.

22:4

Wedge Formation: The most famous formation, used from ancient times up through world war 2 has

such a reputation that modern day professional sports like Football and Rugby, ban its use. By forming

men in the shape of a triangle and running with it tip first at the enemy, a wedge tends to build such

momentum that it will pierce enemy lines and crash men aside and underfoot. But because it depends

on momentum to break through formations, it has no real use in SWTOR due to the lack of a collision

system. Since players can simply run through each other and do not have the ability to help push their

allies in front of them, the wedge wouldn't serve any purpose other than to concentrate one's manpower

in a smaller area and get AoE'd down. Sorry, despite its real world power, the wedge is useless in

SWTOR.

22:5

Frontal Assault: The most common attack maneuver seen in SWTOR generally occurs naturally. It

merely calls for players to run their characters forward into the enemy so as to engage in close quarters

combat. Generally speaking, with ranged weaponry involved, the Frontal Assault often results in

horrific casualties to the first wave of attackers, even in SWTOR. Because the frontal assault

represents the normal attack sequence seen in battle occurring naturally and without orders to start it,

merely recognizing it as fundamentally weak can provide advantages to those that know how to defend

against it (as discussed later in draw and ridgeline defense).

22:6

Base of fire (or “form up the line)”: Represents the most common defensive strategy employed in

SWTOR where ranged players will set up a line parallel to the enemy and fire. Generally the line

formation will form in the course of the action and the enemy side may even adopt a similar stance

where both sides trade fire against one another. A good commander will set up his base of fire

someplace that provides him some sort of tactical advantage. Whether he chooses a hill, the top of a

ridge, or the security of his base will depend on the situation. Although the aforementioned positioning

happens naturally, an even better commander knows when to move his Base of Fire someplace else in

order to outmaneuver his enemy (as discussed later in the draw and fallback).

22:7

Flanking: Although a bit risky because it takes firepower away from the battlefield during

maneuvering, by moving a portion of one's forces to the left or right side of the enemy and then

attacking, a commander can gain several advantages. First, enemies not accustomed to feeling the

pressure of an attack suddenly feel themselves overwhelmed and may panic or back peddle thereby

reducing their effectiveness. Second, enemies weaker to attack can suddenly find themselves under the

lightsaber and fall because the attackers forgo the front line and attack them directly. Third, enemies

may not even notice the attack due to it coming from outside their field of vision and thus fail to take

the proper precautions against death. Fourth, because forces will array themselves in a wide skirmish

formation so as to reduce the effectiveness of AoE, a flanking maneuver can catch enemies on the

extreme left / right where they will not have nearly as much support as men concentrated in the center,

thus providing easier victories. In order to effectively call for a flank, a commander will need

additional leadership present on the ground, to lead those performing the maneuver. Historically,

smaller armies have used flanking maneuvers to defeat stronger and / or larger enemy forces.

22:8

Pincer: Although it may seem similar to a flanking maneuver, it differs in spirit by representing two

separate attacks on an enemy at the same time in order to gain the advantages of both a flanking

maneuver as well as possibly cut off their retreat or resupply. For example, when a force of enemies

occupy their turret on Ilum, instead of forming a base of fire and trading shots with them, consider

sending a force around to their rear. Then, before the enemy can pull back, charge both forces in,

attacking them from the front and cutting them off at the rear from reinforcements. Generally, the

enemy will panic in the face of the attack and as portions flee back into their base, those that staunchly

defend will fall while many of those that run will also fall due to the broken healer support and the

every man for himself attitude that takes over. Just as the Flanking maneuver requires two leaders, the

Pincer generally requires two as well.

22:9

Interdiction: Sometimes during a stand up draw between two forces, the way to win requires that one

choke off the resupply of the enemy. By preventing their resupply / respawn, one can gain the upper

hand by whittling them down. Thus, a commander may send a small cadre of men away from the

battlefield but in the path of the enemy resupply to attack the enemy as they approach relatively off

guard. Oftentimes, respawn will return to a battle one man at a time. If confronted by a force at least

three times larger, each man hoping to otherwise rejoin the front will die instead. The larger the

interdiction force, the longer they can hold off resupply and the greater the chance the main enemy

force will fall to attrition. Note: the longer the resupply route, the better interdiction works because it

gives more time between each fight, thus reducing the likelihood of the attacking force getting

overwhelmed.

22:10

Hammer and Anvil: Historically, armies have long used the strategy of sending cavalry to the flanks

of their enemies. The cavalry, with their superior speed and power, would then charge into the flank,

crush numerous men, then retreat to do it again and again. Since SWTOR lacks combat vehicles or any

collision/charge bonuses, the power of the mounted charge does not exist. However, that does not

mean the strategy doesn't work. In the same way that flanking an enemy has advantages, using the

superior speed of a mount in order to get to the enemy's flank represents a valid tactic. Specifically,

commanders should use this tactic against a weaker enemy in order to ensure their complete destruction

and not just the deaths of those first engaged. By sending ranged units to flank their rear while melee

crush their front, the encircled force will take damage preventing their mounted escape.

22:11

Armoured Spearhead: While the wedge may not work, the general theory behind a tank led attack

does. By sending in a guarded tank to attack the enemy healers in back and supporting said tank with

healing and AoE damage / taunts, the enemy destroys himself merely by attempting a defense. In

theory, the charging tank or tanks, attempt to disrupt the healers in the back. Because the tank(s) have

another tank's guard on them, they take slower damage that the healers on their team can manage more

easily. While the “main” tank(s) stuns up and damages the healer(s) “off” tanks then additionally taunt

enemies thus reducing their damage 30%. Ranged damage meanwhile either AoEs around the “main”

tank(s) in order to mow down the counter attacking melee or they directly damage the healers being

stunned in order to finish them off. Either way, the enemy's line is broken, defensive measures result in

death and the panic caused allows the Armoured Spearhead to press forward and encourage a rout. The

Armoured Spearhead was modified for SWTOR use by Vendetta of Ajunta Pall on 18FEB2012 and

currently represents the most devastating attacking maneuver in game. It takes advantage of a tried and

true military tactic and uses the guard/heal systems in game to make it work. Stopping the Armoured

Spearhead would require either a disparity in forces or specific countermeasures as follows.

22:12

Ridgeline Defense: In real world warfare, the force occupying the high ground gains numerous

advantages offensively (weapons fire farther, hit harder and are more accurate), defensively (the

elevation offers superior vision and when prone or kneeling, cover for the lower portions of the body)

and psychologically (troops dislike traveling uphill against an enemy looking down at them but troops

feel emboldened when charging downhill at an enemy). Unfortunately, due to a lack of physics in

SWTOR, most of these conditions do not apply. Cover however, where it can interfere with line of

sight does apply. Troops fighting along a ridge can choose to attack the enemy and then step

backwards to drop out of return fire. Using the high ground then does allow one to advance forward

past the ridge to do damage and then step back to receive healing as needed. Those attacking a

ridgeline defense must take into consideration that to win any ground, one must advance up the hill and

fully commit to the other side. Defense meanwhile has two more advantages: by zooming out they can

see the charge coming and through the use of knock back physics, push the assaulting enemy back

down the hill for some damage and / or as a way to break up their charge. Specifically, by allowing an

attack like the Armoured Spearhead to charge over the crest and into LOS and then pushing the

following support and healers back down the hill, the defenders gain a time advantage to finish off the

spearhead before dealing with the remaining reinforcements.

22:13

Draw: By faking a retreat or simply back-peddling in an organized fashion, troops can lure the enemy

to further commit himself into the fight. Generally a draw is done in order to change the positioning of

the battle in order to gain some sort of LOS advantage. When dealing with the Armoured Spearhead, a

draw is necessary to pull the tanks out of LOS of their healers, thus allowing them to be downed. With

the tanks down, the spearhead fails and the defenders may now push back with their own assault or

continue to draw more of the enemy in out of their healer's LOS. The draw in combination with a large

piece of terrain or the ridgeline defense, offers a hard counter to the Armoured Spearhead as

demonstrated by Quietus on 25FEB2012 against Vendetta. Although dangerous, another use for the

draw has a commander lead his forces through a narrow point and quickly back out into the open.

Then when the enemy follows, the commander has his forces hinder them in the confined space and

AoE them down.

22:14

Feint: Similar to the draw but differing in initiation, the feint represents a fake attack used to draw out

the enemy into a full out assault. The fake attack can be as simple as moving one's troops forward,

then calling them to fallback once the enemy force engages, or it can take on a more devious scheme

such as a double pull attack in which a stealth tank (or brave powertech) grabs an enemy from their

line, then another tank pulls him a second time further from his support. The act of the double pull

gives a psychological impression that the fighting has started. Incensed to either defend their comrade

or avenge his death, the enemy force will likely engage or else suffer the humiliating loss. The feint

generally finds itself useful when an enemy has taken a good defensive position and refuses to give it

up or when numerous attempts to draw result in the enemy simply falling back to their base of fire. A

force with the discipline to ignore such a feint, will probably suffer a loss of morale in the face of it

continuing and eventually will pressure its commander to relinquish their defensive position and attack.

The double pull feint was used by Quietus on 25FEB2012 to successfully draw an attack from Vendetta

but has seen earlier uses in beta by members of Republic Justice.

22:15

Ambush: Typically an ambush calls for hidden forces unexpected by the enemy to suddenly spring out,

do maximum damage to the enemy and then immediately disengage before the enemy can react.

Ambushes or asymmetrical warfare work on the principle that a large force has a delay in all their

reactions. The delay comes about due to the time it takes to relay information to its commanders who

then must make a decision and organize troops to respond to the threat. The amount of time required

can be as little as several seconds, but in those several seconds, people can die. If the ambushers have

done their job correctly, the response sent to deal with them will not even find them present by the time

they arrive. A stealth group that kills one or two healers at the outset of a fight and then vanishes back

into their own skirmish line, could decide the outcome of a battle. Unfortunately, ambushes require a

difficult to achieve level of cohesion between members conducting the operation and leadership to get

them in, on target and out before a response occurs. Anyone can grab some stealthers and kill one

target, it takes leadership and cohesion to disengage without loses and rejoin the front.

22:16

Fallback vs Retreat: A fallback represents a calculated move on the commander's part to move his

units to another location in order to either gain or remove an advantage over/possessed by the enemy.

For example, doing a draw calls for a fallback. A retreat on the other hand represents something

entirely different in spirit. When the fighting goes sour and the line starts to break down, a commander

will call for a retreat in order to preserve as many of his remaining troops as possible. Ideally he will

have instructed them where to rally at. The rally point generally needs to offer some defensive

advantage and should take place somewhere along the path of reinforcements. In the case of Quietus

GvG against Vendetta, we set our rally point roughly at the entrance to Outlaw's Den. By the time the

retreating forces arrive back to the rally point, a sizable host of reinforcements await to drive back any

pursuers and render aid as demonstrated 25FEB2012 when the rebuilt Quietus base of fire proceeded to

wipe the recently victorious forces of Vendetta. Armies that do not set up a rally point and refuse to

call for a retreat when needed, will wipe utterly, their reinforcements will trickle in to die and the

enemy will drive them back to their spawn point sealing the state of humiliation. Always set a rally

point for retreat.

22:17

Terrain Hook: Yet another maneuver used by Vendetta, the terrain hook as observed on 04FEB2012

calls for a force to draw in an attack near a piece of vertical terrain. Then, by quickly moving around

said piece of terrain, the force can strike the enemy's flank as they spread out along the circumference

of the interposing terrain. The enemy, with people charging around the terrain to follow, ends up

getting split in half with its tanks cut off from healer and ranged dps support. This maneuver gains the

advantages of a flanking maneuver along with the LOS defensive advantages of a draw. The maneuver

has risks however. Should the hooking force move too slowly and the piece of terrain they maneuver

around include a narrow pass, the enemy may end up pincering them in the middle of two separate

forces. A force will know it's pincered if the two forces surrounding them have line of sight to one

another and thus provide support to both sides of the attack. Additionally, an encircled force will

suddenly feel and see a tremendous amount of AoE damage suddenly raining down on them.

22:18

Breakout: When a force gets encircled by the enemy, generally speaking things tend to go downhill as

command and control is lost and AoE whittles down a commanders forces all at once. The term used

for escaping such a dire position is known as a Breakout. Unfortunately, aside from the name and the

concept, a breakout does not have any particularly game changing strategy involved. It represents a

last ditch effort by a force to escape the encirclement by impressing upon its force the direness of the

situation and the need to move ASAP to another position. By having ones forces familiar with the term

a commander can call for the action in the hopes his troops will quickly and orderly escape the bad

situation.

22:19

Orbis: Latin for circle, globe or orb, refers to a last ditch formation used by Roman soldiers to buy

themselves time in an encircled position. Without going into details on how the Romans arrayed

themselves, the strategy calls for a centralized defensive position in which all directions receive similar

attention to danger resulting in a shields in all directions appearance. Specifically in SWTOR, the orbis

represents an otherwise unthinkable strategy of stacking all members of one's force into a small 10

meter circle. Then by piling on AoE heals and other AoE defensive effects, the group attempts to out

last the enemy DPS. The formation seems to gain the majority of its power from the use of AoE heals

in conjunction with the powerful AoE mitigation ability available to snipers / gunslingers. If it proves

true that such a formation does in fact outweigh the danger of incoming AoE, then the necessary

countermeasure for the enemy force would be to fallback out of line of sight until the formation breaks

due to the duration on the sniper / gunslinger AoE mitigation ability. Should the latter prove true and

the orbis using force can out heal damage done, then the orbis would make for an excellent stalling

strategy to await reinforcements, or provide a break in the fight where key members can get a

resurrection. Vendetta successfully deployed this strategy 25FEB2012.

Documents

A guide to Star Wars the Old Republic player versus player combat …webpages.csus.edu/garvin/guide.pdf · 2016-11-30 · Northern, Central, and Southern Assault, players also get