We already have some of the information found in this guide posted previously, so I provided some links to my previous articles as well.

Those who wish to follow in the bootsteps of Han Solo, live life on the outside of the law or simply want to carve their own, fast-paced, independent way across the galaxy will want to investigate the Smuggler class in Star Wars: The Old Republic. A snarky sense of humor and oodles of self-belief will also get you off to a solid start.

Looking in the Mirror & Choosing a Species

So, you’ve decided to live life dangerously as a charming and stylish Smuggler? Good choice! After selecting your class the next thing you’ll need to do is choose a species. Options for the Smuggler are as follows; Cyborg, Human, Mirialan, Twi’lek and Zabrak.

Species has no bearing on your stats and only affects the Racial Ability (basically an extra emote) you are given. Also note that the Cyborg species is basically a human with metal bits grafted onto its face. The Cyborg Racial Ability, Scan, is quite fun though.

Primary Attribute

The Smuggler’s Primary Attribute is: Cunning.
Whenever possible, this is the stat you want to boost when upgrading your gear.

Game Quote:

“Cunning increases the damage and critical chances of the Smuggler’s Ranged and Tech powers. This remains so for both the Gunslinger and the Scoundrel Advanced Classes, while the Scoundrel’s Cunning additionally increases the effectiveness of healing powers.”

Armor, Stylish Vests & Equipment

A Smuggler wears Medium Armor and favors a look featuring a variety of leather leggings, multi-pocketed shirts and knee-high boots. Nothing screams “Back off corporate line-tower” more clearly than a nice, low-slung holster and a puffy cargo vest. Am I right?

Game Quote:

“They don’t wear fancy armor or carry high-powered blaster rifles, but Smugglers are outfitted for action nonetheless. Wearing comfortable, flexible clothing with some custom modifications, Smugglers are able to stay light on their feet and quick on the draw. Usually carrying a fast-firing blaster or two, Smugglers have everything they need to shoot their way out of trouble. Though style is rarely their intent, it seems to come naturally to Smugglers, and their dashing duds generally compliment their roguish charm.”

Starting Skills

The first three damage-producing skills you’ll have right off the bat are; Flurry of Bolts, Charged Burst, and Sabotage Charge.

You’ll also have a buff called Lucky Shots – which increases your Critical Hit chance by 5% – a self-heal called Recuperate and the ability to Take Cover (more on this shortly). Remember to use Recuperate liberally. After every battle if necessary.

At Level 2 you’ll obtain an up-close melee skill called Blaster Whip allowing you to clock mobs over the head with your pistol.

At level 3 you’ll obtain Thermal Grenade which damages up to five targets in an eight-meter radius. You will enjoy Thermal Grenade, trust me.

At level 4 you’ll learn Dirty Kick – hands down, the greatest single skill in SWTOR. Yes, Dirty Kick is a melee boot to an enemy’s groin. Humanoid or droid – they’re going down when you apply the ‘Kick! Ooof!

Level 5 brings in the Vital Shot ability. Vital Shot causes your target to bleed internally (dealing 124 damage over 15 seconds). This is a good thing. You want all of your enemies to be bleeding internally. Yessireebob.

More abilities: Here

Cover System

As a Smuggler you’ll need to find cover and use it to your advantage. You can dish out a whole lot of hurt but you aren’t the toughest toon on the block when it comes to soaking up damage.

When you have an enemy selected you will see a green silhouette appear next to an object (boulder, crate, tree, etc.) that can be used as cover. Click the Take Cover icon on your skill bar or hit the “F” key and you will stylishly roll into cover.

If you click Take Cover and there is nothing nearby to hide behind you will simply “take a knee”. Your cover-dependent abilities will then become available.

In later levels a Gunslinger can obtain a handy Portable Cover option which you’ll thank your lucky stars for.

Energy System

Smuggler skills work on an Energy system and it plays out something like this. Each time to you fire off a blaster shot or toss out a grenade you use up a bit of the Energy on your yellow, Energy bar. When your Energy bar is depleted you will no longer be able to use skills that require Energy to function.

Thankfully, right out of the starting gate, you have the Flurry of Bolts blaster shot which is free to use – costing no Energy. This is your bread-and-butter, basic fighting attack which you’ll rely on time and time again to pull your Smuggler hindquarters out of the frying pan.

Game Quote:

“Your energy regenerates faster at higher energy levels. As your energy decreases, so does the rate at which it recovers. To maintain a high amount of energy, use Flurry of Bolts regularly to allow your energy to recover.”

Skill Rotation

Let’s talk about a series of fighting actions which will help you battle your way through levels 1-10. This plan of attack may not be perfect but it worked well for me in early game.

Firstly, Take Cover. Throw out a Sabotage Charge at an enemy (preferably an enemy standing beside a few evil buddies).

Shoot the enemy with Vital Shot to get it bleeding.

Tab-Target the next enemy and throw a Thermal Grenade, Vital Shot for bleeds, fire off Charged Burst then use Flurry of Bolts as many times as needed.

Note that Sabotage Charge has a short cooldown period after use so you won’t be able to throw out these timed explosives more than once every 30 seconds. Also, keep in mind that Sabotage Charge can only be used when in cover.

To simplify even further; Cover, Sabotage Charge, bleeds, thermal grenades and flurry of shots to finish off any remaining.

Origin World: Ord Mantell & Leveling Like A Pro

You’ll first set down and begin your adventures on the wartorn planet of Ord Mantell. You’ll be assisting the local Republic troops in a battle against rebellious Separatists. The first tasks you’ll be asked to assist with include destroying some remote control stations and disabling some signal jammers. Rest assured, the local Seps will attempt to stop you.

Smugglers will also meet and learn to hate a dastardly thug who looms large in their personal story. I won’t spoil what goes down but you will be given ample reason to chase this fiend across the galaxy – beyond your Origin World beginnings.

TIP One: Grab up every side mission you uncover and get them completed before you leave Ord Mantell. You’ll enjoy the credits, gear and extra experience points they provide. There’s also plenty of fun story to be enjoyed.

TIP Two: Grab all Bind Points you come across. You will be able to use your Quick Travel ability to jump to any Bind Point you have unlocked previously.

You can grab a good Smuggler leveling guide here. It’s definitely worth checking out!

First Companion

Yeah, I know. You’d like a Wookiee as your faithful co-pilot, bodyguard and companion. Don’t worry – good things come to those that wait. Until then, you’ll be running with your first companion, a Heavy Armor-wearing fellow with a Southern American accent known as Corso Riggs.

Riggs ties-in closely with your story and Origin World play and he even helpfully provides you with your first, blue-quality blaster. Now, if we can just get him to wear a Wookiee mask we’ll be all set.

Advanced Classes: Gunslinger or Scoundrel

By the time you finish up your questing on Ord Mantell you should find yourself around level 10 or 11 (depending on how many side missions you completed). At this point you’ll be given a mission which sends you off to Carrick Station on the Republic Fleet. Here, the game really opens up before you and the galaxy is your oyster.

When you arrive at the Fleet talk to Sammo Kob and he’ll send you on your way to the Advanced Class trainers. You’ll be able to choose from one of two Advanced Classes; Gunslinger or Scoundrel.

Those inclined toward causing massive damage will want to select Gunslinger. Smugglers who prefer stealth and healing will want to opt for Scoundrel.

Game Quote:

“Gunslinger: Master of the trick shot, the first to dive for cover and able to take advantage of every opportunity, the Gunslinger and his dual blasters are the perfect team. There’s a right target for ending every disagreement, and the Gunslinger knows enemy vulnerabilities like the inside of his ship.

All Gunslingers learn how to fire two blasters at once, specializing in long-range combat and methods to keep enemies at a distance. Gunslingers can also opt to learn the skills of the saboteur, using grenades and demolitions technology that cause fire damage and ignore enemy armor; the Sharpshooter, shooting from cover and focusing on precise, high-damage attacks; and Dirty Fighting, crippling and bleeding opponents using underhanded tactics.”

“Scoundrel: The Scoundrel doesn’t have time for polite and doesn’t do fair fight. In addition to a trusty blaster, the Scoundrel packs a stealth belt, a scattergun and a medpac—everything you need to get in, knock the enemy for a loop and get out alive.

All Scoundrels learn how to move stealthily—sneaking past or surprising enemies—and various close-quarters fighting techniques that do damage at short range and prevent an enemy from fleeing. Scoundrels can also opt to learn the skills of the Scrapper, using scatterguns to deal even more damage close-up; the Sawbones, applying medicine and damage prevention techniques to heal and protect allies; and Dirty Fighting, crippling and bleeding opponents using underhanded tactics.”

Conclusion

Alright, Smuggler that should get you off to a running start in an exciting world full of new adventures. Remember to shoot first, leave ‘em with a sly wink and a snappy one-liner and hightail it to the next system before they can pick up your trail.

Keep in mind what one famous Smuggler once said and you’ll never go wrong:

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”

Don’t miss this comprehensive Smuggler guide if you want to learn more about this class!

Once you’ve loaded the game and chosen your server, the first thing you’ll see is your character selection screen. If you’ve created a Consular already, great! If not, click ‘Create Character’ and have fun customizing. Race and gender give no advantages or disadvantages in game, so pick whatever looks good to you. When you’re satisfied that you have the hottest looking Consular in the galaxy, you’ll be taken to the opening crawl of your story. Enjoy reading it—this is YOUR Star Wars saga!

A shuttle will fly you down to the surface of Tython, which is the origin planet for both Jedi classes. You’ll meet Master Yuon Par, who has taken you as her Padawan. You’ll also get instruction on how to move in game, find your quest log, locate taxis, and equip items. This is a good spot to click the ‘Options’ button on your top bar, and check out your preferences. If your game is running slowly, the graphics are usually the culprit. Turn shadows, anisotropy, and grass down or off. Lowering ‘ground clutter’ can help, too. Under ‘social’, check ‘allow access to same class stories’ if you plan on grouping a lot. This will let you join other JCs in their class stories. Note—only one of you will get credit if you’re grouped with someone who has the same class quest. There is a choice to auto-loot the area on right click—this is very handy. Add more hotbars, especially the bottom two. You’ll need them as you gain skills. I enabled all four bars and put the skills I used infrequently on the right bar. I set my left bar for crew member skills. There’s a tab at the bottom of the preference window for keybinds. Adjust them as you desire—there are a lot of options you can hotkey or rebind to keys you prefer. Click ‘apply’ to save all your options, and then ‘OK’ to close the window.

You’ll also notice tips on the right side of your screen from time to time–click those to open the tip windows and learn more. These are incredibly helpful, and you want to ignore these about as much as you want to be eaten by a Rancor.

People to See, Places to Go

Once you arrive at the Gnarls taxi stop, make sure to pick up the bind point. Get in the habit of unlocking all your bind points, which are usually located by the taxis and in cantinas. This gives you many more quick travel options. You’ll thank yourself later when you want to hop back somewhere to turn in quests.

You’ll find your first skill trainer and some merchants in this area as well. Visit the trainer as soon as possible after leveling up to get your new skills. You need all your Jedi powers to defeat those enemies!

Skills for Survival
The default hotkey for your skills is ‘p’. Most skills will be automatically added to your hotbars if you have an open space for them. Some are not, however. Also, passive skills do not need to be on your hotbars. They’re always active. The skills are unlocked on your bar by default, so you can move them around freely to suit your particular play style. Click the little padlock icon on the left side of the center skillbar to lock or unlock it.

I usually keep Force Wave in slot one, Project in two, Telekinesis in three, and my melee skills in four and five. Seeing items ripped out of the ground and thrown at your enemy is Very Cool, so I lean more towards using the Force skills. I have those hotkeyed on my number pad. If you prefer more of a melee style, move the lightsaber skills to slots two and three instead. The issue of mousing versus hotkeying the skills has caused many a debate and even a few nasty little flamewars. Do what works best for you and ignore the fruitcakes out there who tell you that you’re wrong for doing it that way.

Quests and Maps

Right near the Gnarls taxi, you’ll notice Master Relnex, who will have your first real quest for you. Quest givers have cut out gold triangles above their heads when they have quests to offer. The triangles will be filled in when you have a completed quest to turn into them. Why BioWare chose triangles, I don’t know. In any case, go find those students before the Flesh Raiders capture them!

Check your map periodically (default hotkey is ‘m’). This is a great way to find more quests and new areas to explore. Accept all the quests you can possibly find, including the bonus objectives that come from taking down your foes. All of those will give you experience points (XP) towards the next level and practice using the different combat and healing skills.

Tempting as it is to move your class storyline along, don’t rush through the Gnarls area. You receive XP for discovering Lore objects, unlocking new areas, and meeting new species. You’ll have your first dialogue option that offers Light Side (LS) or Dark Side (LS) points. You can role-play it the way you want, though there is currently a definite advantage to choosing one side or the other. Some gear is restricted to either LS or DS, and you have to earn a certain level of points to unlock those ranks. Your Jedi can turn to the DS, though it will be a challenging path to play. Dark Side Jedi do not turn into Sith and switch factions to the Empire, just as Light Side Sith do not switch factions to the Republic.

When you receive quest rewards, take the time to mouse over them to find out which attributes they boost. The main attribute for the JC is Willpower, with Endurance coming in a close second. Willpower raises the amount of Force power, while Endurance raises your hit points. Since you can only wear light armor, raising both is essential. Presence is useful for raising your companions’ hit points, but don’t worry about that one too much. At lower levels, you can also put points into Strength if you want to raise the amount of damage you do with your lightsaber. Gear with this stat may arguably useful for Jedi Shadows, but not for Sages, who need the extra Force points more than melee damage. At higher levels, Willpower is always going to be the better option, however. Don’t bother with Aim or Cunning.

After finishing up in the Gnarls area, you’ll be directed to the Jedi Temple. Take the time to explore the area in and around the temple thoroughly. You’ll find class trainers, several quests, a cantina, lore objects, and a variety of vendors, including one for your Tython commendations. Don’t bother buying armor at this stage—you’ll receive a number of armor pieces as quest rewards. The understudy’s foil is useful for killing the bad guys faster than your practice saber, but it’s not essential. Save up the commendations for the Consular robe that you can buy at the Specialty Vendor. That served me well through most of Coruscant, which is the planet you go to when you finish your work on Tython. Pick up a few medpacs and stims that boost your Endurance and Willpower. You can find these at Stim Vendors and Republic Medical Droids.

Health and Welfare

Make sure to use your Force Valor buff as often as it wears off. It lasts an hour. You can buff an entire party or even other players. If you buff other players who aren’t Consulars as you meet or pass them in game, you’ll find that some of them will stop to return the favor. Every bit helps!

What happens if your health drops during battle? Well, when your foes are lying at your feet, take a few moments to use your meditation skill. This will heal you and replenish your Force points. Always go into the battle with a full health bar whenever possible. What happens if your health bar drops to zero? You’ll have a screen pop up saying you were defeated. You will be presented with two options–revive where you’re at, or get revived at the nearest medcenter. If you’ve finished all your objectives and were ready to turn in your completed quests, or are in the middle of a huge mob that you have no hope of defeating, then being transported to the nearest medcenter might be more convenient. Otherwise, revive where you’re at. You’ll have 8 seconds of stealth to get to a safe spot to heal yourself and re-apply any buffs and stims. Then go finish off the bugger who defeated you and pick up those drops he so kindly left behind. Your armor takes damage during battle, but it takes a lot more damage if you are defeated. Make sure to repair your items at a vendor when you sell all those terrific drops you’ve picked up during your adventures.

Explore, Explore, Explore

Once you’re done with the Jedi Temple orientation, you will be directed to Kalikori Village to help the Pilgrims there and to solve some of the mysteries for your class quest chain. Following that, you’ll end up at the Forward Speeder Camp to foray into the ruins of Kaleth. Explore all the areas–you never know when you’ll find lore objects, new quests, security chests and crates, and the fabled datacrons. There are some gorgeous areas on Tython where you have a chance to stop and just simply enjoy.

Sometimes, you’ll receive a mission item when you accept a quest. That item will end up in your inventory (default hotkey ‘i’). Click the ‘mission’ tab. You can drag the item to your hotbar so that you don’t have to open your inventory every time you need to use it.

Enemies of the Republic are Everywhere

The enemies get tougher as you advance through the different zones, and you’ll see more challenging foes and even a few bosses. Generally, if the enemy has a name, it means BioWare cared enough about him to shower him with love, attention, and lots of hitpoints. You’ll have a better chance of surviving a boss encounter if you’re in a group or if you’re the same or higher level compared to the boss. Left-clicking on the boss will give you some of his stats so that you know what you’re up against.

Bosses often have better quality loot drops than the average enemy. Usually the drops will shine with a white light, but if you see green, blue, or especially purple, there’s something special there for you!

A gold shaft of light indicates a drop needed for a mission has fallen. Make sure to grab those up.

Dialogue Options Can Be a Lot of Fun

BioWare has done a terrific job of making the quests varied and fun. I had to laugh at the baby flesh raider quest and the subsequent dialogue choices when turning in the completed quest for the reward.

Heroic Quests

At the Forward Speeder Camp, you’ll also receive your first Heroic quest. Pay attention to the number of people it says you should have in your party before attempting it, usually 2+ or 4. You’ll need at least that many players, and companions don’t count. These aren’t called ‘heroic’ quests for nothing! These quests are also excellent spots for grouping up and earning social points. Don’t miss out on that.

Companions Join You on Your Adventures

Your first companion, Qyzen Fess, will join you on Tython. You’ll receive more companions over the course of the game. Once you have him in your party, your dialogue choices affect you in more complex ways. These choices many times give you not only LS/DS choices, but now also give affection points. If your companion likes the choice you’ve made, you’ll get rewarded with affection points. If he doesn’t like your choice, affection points will be subtracted. The codex entries in your log (default hotkey ‘l’) on your companions will tell you what they like and dislike, so make sure to read those if you’re planning on maximizing affection with them. Sometimes, your companions won’t like your LS or DS choices. This adds a new dimension to your conversation options.

Don’t forget to equip your companion with items, too, though the equipment he has when you first receive him should be sufficient on Tython. He can wear heavy armor, so give him the best you can find or buy. Despite the fact that his main attributes are Aim and Cunning (both ranged attributes), he comes only with a weapon proficiency in techstaff, which is a melee weapon. You can access your companion’s equipment in the character pane (default hotkey is ‘c’). You’ll see the companion tab right next to yours. You don’t have to worry about assigning attribute points or abilities to your companion. He automatically levels up when you do.

First Lightsaber!

Finally, the time will come for you to craft your own lightsaber. This class quest is the toughest on the planet except for maybe the heroic quest. Make sure you’ve reached at least level 8, and preferably higher. Remember to equip the lightsaber as soon as you craft it. You’ll need it! Once you’ve completed this quest, you’ll return to the Jedi Temple and learn some important news that will send you on even greater adventures across the galaxy.

By this time, you should be well past the ‘newbie’ stage and ready to tackle the advanced stuff. May the Force be with you!

Need more detailed Jedi Consular tricks and tactics? Check out this strategy guide here and learn the mistakes every new player makes!

Guide source: Torwars.

Contents:

• Advanced Classes
• Companions
• Species & Appearance
• Leveling
• Stats & Equipment
• Crew Skills
• Heat System
• Skill Rotation & Combat

The Bounty Hunter brings a lot to the table, and has the opportunity to play any three of the major class roles; they can Tank, Heal, and DPS (the ‘Trinity’). Being able to fill all three vital spots of the Trinity leaves a lot of choice for your character, as if you do decide to roll a Bounty Hunter you will have some freedom before you decide your Advanced Class and which direction you’ll take.

Advanced Classes

As with all classes in SWTOR, at level 10 you will have to select your Advanced Class. The Bounty Hunter can choose from the Powertech which favors Tanking and DPS or the Mercenary which specializes in Healing and DPS.

Each AC has two unique Talent Trees, different specializations, and different ‘Cylinders’. You can only have one Cylinder activate at a time, and each provides different “buffs” for your character – They basically function like ‘stances’ in other MMOs. Each Advanced Class gains two unique Cylinders along with corresponding Talents to enhance them. Both ACs gain access to Combustible Gas Cylinder at level 4, which has a chance to add a damage-over-time effect to enemy targets with each attack.

The Powertech gains access to Ion Gas Cylinder which increases damage and threat-generation against enemies while also lowering total damage taken, providing increased Armor, and increases shield generation chance – this is mostly for Tanking. The other unique Cylinder for Powertechs is High Energy Gas, which increases all elemental damage dealt, this Cylinder would be used mostly for DPS.

Mercenaries gain access to High Velocity Gas, increasing Armor Penetration for more DPS and also Combat Support Cylinder which increases all damage & healing output, and allows you to shoot your allies in the face to apply some minor healing. It does take a little getting used to your Rapid Shots healing allies while Combat Support Cylinder is activated, but it is handy indeed.

Companions

Companions are also an important part of picking any character in SWTOR, and the first companion your Bounty Hunter gets is Mako, a pretty little lady who will heal up your wounds and follow you around with the utmost vigor.

(**Slight Spoiler Note: She tends to enjoy ‘good’ choices, although she loves her credits – so some Dark-side choices she will surprisingly agree with, but in general she tends to disagree with very evil moral choices)

Mako is the first legit Healing Companion that any of the classes get in SWTOR, which is also an added perk. If you decide to go Powertech or DPS Mercenary Spec then Mako will be a very handy addition to your adventuring.

The combination of any class role with a nice healing Companion pretty early in the game makes the Bounty Hunter a fine choice for the indecisive and Newbie MMO player. The combination of the Cylinder system with exciting abilities revolving around explosions, fire, and missiles lend itself to an aesthetically exciting character that also proves to be very versatile. Even once you pick your Advanced Class option, you’re still left with either Tanking/DPS (Powertech) or Healing/DPS (Mercenary) – a nice combo of options.

Species & Appearance

The Bounty Hunter can be played by five of the playable species in SWTOR; Humans, Zabraks, Rattataki, Chiss, and Cyborgs. Ultimately, species and appearance have no effect on your character, but it adds plenty of flavor and each race has its own unique emote which also adds some distinction. Feel free to play around with each, and make sure to choose something that you enjoy and makes you feel like a Bounty Hunter who’s ready to conquer the galaxy.

In terms of the Racial Emotes, my personal favorite for the BH is probably the Cyborg’s ‘Scan’ emote, as it adds some nice Bounty Hunter-eqse flair to your character.

Leveling

Starting off as a Bounty Hunter will land you on Hutta, which is a planet rife with plenty of greed and immoral activity for any up and coming Bounty Hunter. Your quest is to become a contestant in the ‘Great Hunt’, which is pretty much the Superbowl for Bounty Hunters. You’re competing, in usually not a nice way, against various other Bounty Hunters and attempting to win the favor of a Hutt who can make your dreams come true.

While on Hutta you’ll naturally deal with Hutts, but also the Empire, find your first Companion and complete plenty of mayhem for filthy credits. It’s also important to take a break from ruthless Bounty Hunting and remember to pick up the Datacrons on Hutta as well for some permanent stat increases. As far as I’ve been able to discover, there are 3 available Datacrons on Hutta, one for a bonus to Aim, one for Presence, and a Blue Matrix Shard.

Leveling up for the Bounty Hunter was for the most part, a piece of cake. Once you pick-up Mako and have a Healing Companion – you’re able to tackle many of the more difficult tasks, quests, and even Heroic Two-mans become pretty manageable.

The important thing to remember in SWTOR is to follow your main class story line. It will present you with everything you need, for the most part. Following the quest will you lead on the path to get your Companion, join the Great Hunt, “acquire” a ship (which is an awesome quest-line, mind you), and get you to the hub where you’ll be able to select your Advanced Class.

Stats & Equipment

As with all the classes, Bounty Hunters have a Primary Stat which functions as the definitive, most useful stat for them. Aim is the key stat for Bounty Hunters, as it adds damage to Tech skills (yellow damage), standard range damage (white damage), and Healing Tech skills (green). It also increases the Critical Strike chance on these types of abilities as well. Endurance is the second primary stat for most BH gear, increasing hit points and health regeneration.

There are plenty of other secondary stats that will become important to your Bounty Hunter later on, such as Accuracy, Alacrity, Expertise and the like; with stats like Willpower and Strength being much less important, to almost useless for a Bounty Hunter. Accuracy will be an important secondary stat for Hunters, as much of the time they will be attacking from Range – so making sure you hit is of added benefit.

Bounty Hunters also seem to be reliant on Critical Strikes, so secondary stats boosting Crit Chance and Crit Damage will be important as well. But for the most part in early game you’ll find yourself focusing on Aim and Endurance. Also, once you get upgraded to Heavy Armor when you select your AC, don’t forget to swap out/upgrade your Medium Armor gear for the better, Heavy Armor.

Crew Skills

If you’re a big crafting fan, you’ll want to pick up your Crew Skills or Trade Skills as soon as possible and the best opportunity is probably once you reach the Imperial Fleet at around level 10. There are plenty of good crafting options for the Bounty Hunter. The two main skills that stick out are Armortech and Armstech in terms of gear construction, depending on whether or not you want to be able to craft Armor or Weaponry for your character.

The Bounty Hunter uses various guns & assorted weaponry and Medium/Heavy Armor, So Armortech & Armstech are the natural selection if you’re interested in crafting some of your own gear.

If crafting equipment isn’t your thing, then Biochem or Cybertech may be good alternatives to those skills, as having extra ‘Consumables’ on hand or crafting gear for Droids can always come in handy if you’re a big fan of the non-Organic. Depending on what crafting skills you’ve selected, you’ll most likely want to choose the complimenting ‘gathering’ Crew Skill so you will be able to provide yourself with your own materials and save your precious credits.

Below is a list of the suggest pairings of gathering skills and mission skills with the listed crafting skills above.

• Armortech – Scavenging (Gathering), Investigation (Mission Skill), Underworld Trading (Mission Skill)
• Armstech – Scavenging, Investigation, Underworld Trading, Treasure Hunting (Mission Skill)
• Biochem – Bioanalysis (Gathering), Underworld Trading
• Cybertech – Scavenging, Slicing (Gathering), Treasure Hunting, Underworld Trading

With Crew Skills in mind, remember to keep an eye on your wallet – as each mission you send your Companion out on will cost you credits. While leveling up and needing to save for a mount and pay for skills, keeping tabs on your Galactic checkbook is always helpful.

Heat System

Your Bounty Hunter uses the Heat System to execute abilities, starting off with zero Heat and slowly building Heat as you continue to use abilities, with each ability having a ‘Heat Requirement’ or Cost to use. Some abilities, like Rapid Shots (your main attack ability), do not build Heat and it will be important to use abilities that don’t build Heat inbetween the use of Heat-building skills, as to give your Heat System time to cool down.

The Heat System works on a scale of 0-100 and the system is not ‘static’ in its depletion after you’ve built heat; so the less Heat that you have, the faster your Heat will dissipate. You can see your current ‘Dissipation Rate’ to the right of your Heat Bar in-game, represented as small arrows; the more arrows you have, the faster your Heat will dissipate. With this mechanic of Heat dissipating faster the less Heat you have built up, it’s in your Bounty Hunter’s best interests to attempt ‘Heat Management’ (or keeping your Heat at a lower level) so it can continue to deplete at the accelerated rate. There will, of course, be occasions where you’re forced to build up large amounts of Heat quickly, but keep in mind that your Heat bar will not ‘cool down’ as fast as it would if your Heat was only 1/3rd full.

You also have abilities in your arsenal to either lower your current Heat level, or not build any at all. Vent Heat is a prime example of one way to get rid of some of that nasty built up Heat, by venting out 50 Heat over three seconds, although it is on a two minute cooldown so be wary with its usage.

The quicker degradation of Heat when your Heat level is lower is an interesting mechanic, as if you are able to manage your Heat well – you could, in theory, stay at a consistent level and keep using your relevant abilities. As a general rule, I attempt to keep my Heat below 25% or 50% to keep the dissipation rate quick. So, when jumping into your Bounty Hunter, learning Heat Management will be key for future encounters as you continue to level up.

Skill Rotation & Combat

In your early days as a Bounty Hunter you’ll be limited in your abilities, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t efficient at blowing things up. As you level up and continue your adventures, your skill rotation will depend more & more heavily upon your Advanced Class, its Class Roles and Talent Specs.

When dealing with groups of bigger enemies; start off with a Power Shot, Mako missile, Death from Above, or Explosive Dart. Proceed with Rapid Shots, Rail Shot, or Regular fire. Attempt to keep Heat low. If enemies close distance, Rocket Punch + Flamethrower or Vice Versa (with Rocket Punch as a finisher) is a good combination.

One very effective combination for groups, up until at least level 20 (as a Mercenary specifically,) was opening up with Kolto Missile, followed by Death From Above. This combo pretty much eliminated most groups, perhaps needing to throw down a little extra blaster fire at most.

For single-enemies or Rare/Elite enemies; I found starting off with Power Shot, Explosive Dart, and Unload was an effective combo to really start the damage; at that point if Rail Shot is triggered, use it – it’s always a nice boon to add some instant damage.

Overall, Combat with the Bounty Hunter is extremely fun, engaging, and if you’re into pyrotechnics – the BH is your pick.

Conclusion

That’s about it for now. Hopefully you enjoyed this introductory guide to the Bounty Hunter class in SWTOR. Stay tuned for further looks into the intricacies of the Bounty Hunter and other SWTOR-related elements!

See also: Skill rotations, leveling tricks, PvP tactics, credits making and more guides specifically written for Bounty Hunters

1. Introduction
2. Advanced Classes
3. Species
4. Storyline
5. Abilities
6. Khem Val (First Companion)
7. Equipment
8. Conclusion

Introduction

If you are thinking about rolling a Sith Inquisitor, but need a little convincing, I’m here to help. Would you like to shoot lightning from your fingers? Interested in wielding a lightsaber? Want to shock people to get your way? No desire to follow a strict moral code like the goody goody Jedi? Well, this Sith Inquisitor is the class for you.

To start, as an Inquisitor, you have each of the MMO trinity roles open to you. Depending on your Advanced Class, you will have the option to tank, heal, or deal crazy levels of purple lightning powered damage.

Advanced Classes

At level 10, your Inquisitor will journey to the Imperial Fleet and will have to choose an Advanced Class. If you want to tank, the Assassin class is for you. If you want to fulfill a support/healing role in groups, the Sorcerer AC is for you. The decision is a little harder if you want to DPS. The Assassin and Sorcerer have one shared tree called Madness that focuses on dealing damage. In addition, each AC has two skill trees that are dedicated to that class. The Assassin has ‘Darkness’ which is the tank tree, and a damage tree called ‘Deception.’ The Sorcerer’s trees are ‘Lightning’ and ‘Corruption’ which are damage and healing trees respectively. If you want fill a DPS role as an Inquisitor, the decision lies in what type of damage you want to deal.

If you want to shock your enemies from a distance until they are nothing more than smoking, still sparking husks on the ground before you, go with the Sorcerer. If you prefer your enemy a little closer to you so that you can bash them with a lightsaber, the Assassin, with his stealth abilities, is a deadly choice indeed.

Lightsaber types differ with your Inquisitor Advanced Class as well. You will receive a double-bladed lightsaber if you take the Assassin route and a single-bladed one with the Sorcerer. Truthfully, I wasn’t that excited many months ago to learn my future Assassin had to have a double-bladed lightsaber. I loved having two lightsabers in the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Mostly because I could have each one be a different color, and for some reason it felt like I was doing more damage. Two lightsabers equals twice the damage right? I understand why BioWare did this, and after playing my Beta Assassin close to level 30, it would be strange to have anything but a double-bladed lightsaber. There’s something satisfying about watching both blades ignite, decloaking and backstabbing an enemy, all in one devastatingly smooth motion. It just feels right.

Species

Sith Purebloods, Humans, Twi’lek, Rattataki, and Zabrak are your species choices for the Inquisitor. If you want to take the iconic route, choose the Darth Maul look-a-like Zabrak. I went with a human Assassin and a Pureblood Sorcerer. While species choice has no effect on gameplay, I have to admit, the racial abilities for the Purebloods are just kick ass. Slapping your companion and making them cry is just ruthlessly fun. Humans get a pump up the crowd racial ability where everyone around you hops up and down doing the Arsenio Hall fist pump motion. (I never thought I’d ever mention Arsenio Hall in a TORWars article, but there you go.) Bottom line, if you really want to be evil at all times, the Pureblood is the way to go.

Species, skill rotations, leveling, Datacrons, specializations and lots more are covered in more detail here!

Storyline

The Inquisitor story is dark. Really dark. I played the Consular on the Republic side until level 10. Not surprisingly, the story is very Jedi-tastic. Sure, there are Dark Side decisions, but those decisions, in my opinion, are nothing like the Light/Dark Side decisions the Inquisitor faces. It’s not really fair to compare the two, because they are completely different factions and storylines, but let me give you a spoiler free example of the sinister beauty that is the Inquisitor story.

Within the first few levels, you are faced with several opportunities to inflict pain on others as your quest for power unfolds. A typical Light/Dark Side dilemma will give you the choice to shock an NPC, or to kill him/her. In a word, the Inquisitor storyline is not for the faint-hearted. Granted, I played my Inquisitor as dark as possible, but if I was trying to go the Light Side route, the choices are just not all that light.

*Minor spoiler example incoming: On Balmorra, I walked in on a Sith Lord Force Choking another NPC. The Light Side choice was to interrupt a very powerful Sith Lord (Dark, would allow her to kill the NPC.) I chose not to intervene, but my hunch is that she would have killed him anyway, and probably would have been a little peeved at the interruption. Think about it, would you interrupt Darth Vader mid-Force Choke? I didn’t think so.

Without spoiling any more of a story filled with backstabbing, scheming and power posturing, the Inquisitor story is amazing in its darkness. If you are curious about how the Palpatines of the Star Wars universe got their sinister beginnings, the Inquisitor is for you. If you don’t want to hurt anyone at all, this is not the class for you. A Light Side Inquisitor, is only marginally more forgiving than its Dark Side equivalent. If that sounds like your cup of blue milk, take a big sip, and shock your way to top. And please, don’t be ashamed if an evil cackle escapes your lips from time to time.

It’s no secret that the Sith Inquisitor starts off as a slave. As I’ve mentioned in my Beta Impressions post a while back, within moments of appearing on the screen, your Inquisitor will have a rival, and every person in power is more than happy to see you fail and die. The rival I mentioned is the ‘star pupil’ of the young Inquisitors. He talks a lot of smack, and is looking to undermine you at every turn. Without giving too much away, if you are patient enough, you will see an opportunity to not only defeat him, but discredit his puppeteer as well. After playing through this scenario twice, it’s just as satisfying the second time as it is the first time. Did I mention the whole ordeal earns you a place at Darth Zash’s side? It’s a good day to be a Sith when you can help your master work her way toward the coveted status of Darth and beyond.

Abilities

I’ve mentioned before how satisfying Force Lightning is, but I’ll say it again. Force Lightning never gets old. In conversations it’s just plain fun, but on the battlefield it’s dominating. In the early levels on Korriban, you’ll be facing mobs of three to five enemies at once. It’s essential before you earn your first tanky companion Khem Val, that you learn to use your lighting-powered crowd control abilities to subdue enemies for a few seconds while you dispatch the others. Not surprisingly, the dark, flowing robes of the class don’t do too much in the way of absorbing damage.

When you venture into the first tomb at level one, you are cutting down K’lor’slugs with relative ease. You’re soon asked to take out the tomb looters that are hanging out in mobs of at least three. Aren’t looters supposed to be looting? Anyway, be sure you visit the trainer near the tomb entrance each time you level up. I remember when I died the first time – it came as a complete surprise. I was owning so completely, I just kept fighting, even after I dinged my next level. I realized pretty quickly that when faced with a mob of four looters, I’d need a new strategy. Buying new abilities from the trainer would have been a good start.

In the first five levels, Electrocute and Whirlwind will be your best friends. Whirlwind, which you get at level four, is an ideal way to approach groups of three or more. The ability will not only scoop an enemy up in a vortex for 15 seconds, but it will shock them, (and up to 8 others) every 3 seconds. Be sure you do not cause damage to the enemy you’ve used it on, otherwise it will break the whirlwind, and he’ll join his buddies in pummeling you.

After crowd controlling an enemy with Whirlwind, tab target the next enemy and use Electrocute. That will both stun and damage for five seconds. You’d think 15 seconds isn’t a lot of time, let alone five seconds, but at early levels, this is plenty of time to bash the rest of the mobs with your vibroblade, or use Force Lightning to do heavy damage. By the time the five seconds are up, at least one other enemy will fall, if not two. Then all you have left is the vortex guy. Do what you will with him. He’ll be close to death anyway.

Khem Val (First Companion)

As you progress in your class quests on Korriban, you will free the ancient devourer of thousands of Jedi, Khem Val. Besides combat becoming a lot easier when Khem Val joins you as a companion, he’s actually pretty entertaining and easy to please. That is, if you get right to the point, don’t put up with any crap, and kill everything in your path, Khem Val is easy to please. He’ll act as a meat shield of sorts for your pre-AC Inquisitor. He’ll absorb a ton of damage while you shock fools from a distance.

If you can get past his ugly mug, and partial nudity, he’ll get your back wholeheartedly. Be sure to choose Dark Side options if you want to keep his favor however. He will actually threaten you at times if it appears that you’re going soft. Kill enough, and make dark choices and he’ll happily kill, and protect you while you rack up a ton of Affection Points. Everybody wins.

Equipment

I mentioned before that the Inquisitor can only use Light Armor. It’s really important that you upgrade your gear as often as possible. Granted, if you decide to use Khem Val as a tank while you dish out the damage, you’ll survive. However, mere survival is not enough I’m afraid. Focus on gear which increases Willpower for a greater Force pool, and Endurance to help you survive the early levels.

Don’t forget the meat shield! Khem Val will die, and die often if you do not upgrade his gear. Focus on Endurance and Strength for Val if he’s to tank for you. He won’t last long on Heroic missions, Flashpoints, or later level encounters if you don’t hook him up with better (Heavy Armor) gear. If he goes down, unless you are a tank spec, you’ll be soon to follow. It happens faster than you’d think.

Conclusion

Overall, the early levels of the Inquisitor are a blast to play. You get to be more evil than you think is possible, shoot lightning from your fingers, shock people in conversations, and selfishly aspire to great power at the expense of everyone around you. If this doesn’t sound like your style of gameplay, this isn’t the class for you. As with all classes, you will be faced with many choices, but most of the Inquisitor’s are just plain evil. Would an aspiring Sith Lord have it any other way? That’s for you to decide.

Species, skill rotations, leveling, Datacrons, specializations and lots more are covered in more detail here!

Torwars

1. Why pick a Sith Warrior?
2. Sith Warrior as a character
3. Species
4. Appearance
5. Primary stats
6. Armors
7. Let’s talk Rage
8. Skill rotation
9. Starting world: Korriban
10. Leveling guide
11. Summary

Why Pick a Sith Warrior?

The Sith Warrior has a number of cool things going for it. Among them:

1. Force Charge enables the Sith Warrior to leap across a rather vast distance and attack his foes. It is also, quite possibly, the coolest and most utilitarian ability in the game.
2. No matter which advanced class you choose, you’re pretty durable.
3. At level 10, you get one of the best companions in the game – Vette. She’s cute, she’s snarky, and aside from dishing out some serious DPS, she’s the kind of girl you’ll want to take home to mom.

The Sith Warrior as a Character:

As a general rule of thumb, Sith Warriors are very melee oriented with very few ranged abilities. However, they’re generally very durable, very good at straight up melee combat, and quite anxious to kick the butts of all those goody two-shoes Jedi. When a Warrior gets to level 10, he quickly learns that there are two sides to this coin: the heavily armored Juggernaut, and the damage dealing Marauder. Choose wisely.

The Juggernaut Advanced Class gets heavy armor, and wields a single lightsaber. Any build that goes deep into the Immortal skill tree can be a very effective heavy duty tank. They have numerous damage mitigating abilities but, generally speaking, their DPS isn’t great.

There are, however, DPS variants of the Jug (those that ignore the Immortal tree, and instead go heavily into the Vengeance and Rage skill trees) that sacrifice some defense in exchange for offense.

In contrast to the heavily armored Jug, there is the Marauder Advanced Class. The Marauder dual-wields lightsabers, and trades off heavy armor (he can only wear medium) for some impressive mobility, stealth, and melee DPS. The Marauder has got a number of tricks up his sleeve, enabling him to get his groove on with with some over the top hand to hand combat.

Be sure to take a look at this guide which should further elucidate the two Advanced Classes.

Species:

The bottom line is, it just doesn’t matter what species you choose. There is no statistical difference or advantage and the differences are only cosmetic. Each species does get a unique ability all their own, but these are essentially species-specific emotes, and have no effect on game play whatsoever. So, feel free to make that uber-sexy Zabrak that you’ve always fantasized about, because you’re going to be staring at her butt for a very long time.

Appearance:

Like choosing your species, appearance choices are entirely cosmetic. Choose whatever appearance you want. In this regard, the galaxy is your oyster.

There are two small exceptions to this rule, for all you super leet min-maxers out there. If you are a hardcore PVP player, you may want to choose the teeny-weeny body size because of the so-called “ghetto stealth” factor. It’s simply a little bit harder for an enemy player to click on wee little you during PvP combat because you’re so teeny. While most players don’t think this is a big deal, for some, this is the .001% advantage they’ve been looking for.

The flip side is if you’re playing a tanking Jug, picking one of the two bigger body sizes can be a good idea. In some fights, where everyone is getting knocked around and confusion reigns, it may be a bit easier for your healer to find your beefy butt in the midst of the fray. Again, you’ve got to be the judge if this is significant to you.

Primary Stats:

Strength and endurance are your primary stats. Strength affects virtually all of your abilities as a Warrior. Want more melee damage? Get more strength. Want your Force powers to be more effective? Get more strength. Want your shields to absorb more damage? Get more strength. While it’s not entirely intuitive, the idea is that strength will affect every one of your abilities far more than cunning, aim, or anything else will, ever. In fact, you could pile on all kinds of other stats, and a small amount of strength would still outperform them all combined.

Endurance increases your hit points. Want to be tougher? It’s pretty simple: find and wear the gear with lots of endurance.

From level one through level fifty, you’re simply much better served if you focus on strength and stamina than anything else (unless, of course, you want to end up as Bantha fodder). If you want more offensive power, go for strength. Want to be able to suck up more damage, go for endurance.

Armor:

Whether you’re a Maurauder or Juggernaut, armor is the thing that keeps your butt from being knocked into the next galaxy. Common sense will tell you that if two pieces of gear are statistically equal, go for the piece that gives you the most armor. Very simply, mo’ armor = mo’ better.

For Jugs, Soresu Form increases your armor by sixty – yes I said sixty – percent. Think about this for a second: bracers with 100 armor on them instantly become the equivalent of 160 armor bracers. When you consider every piece of heavy armor that a Jug is wearing, this is suddenly statistically significant. This multiplier is a huge factor, so armor becomes equally important as Strength and Endurance for tanking Jugs.

Let’s talk Rage:

The other classes in SWTOR generally start off with a full bar of force or a full clip of ammo, but not us Warriors. We have zero Rage when out of combat. We start out empty and have to fill up our unique little love tank in order to, well, tank (or to DPS, but that wasn’t all cool and catchy right there).

Thus, Warriors have a back and forth kind of mechanic going on. We use some abilities to generate Rage and other abilities that expend it. This requires a certain amount of attention on the part of a Warrior, and it’s one of the things that makes Warriors both different and interesting compared to other classes.

Skill Rotation:

Whenever possible start combat with Force Charge. Not only do you look bad ass, but it does some pretty good out-the-door damage. It also generates 3 Rage. This should be followed by an Assault (which generates 2 Rage) or two if you’re feeling plucky. One can never have too much Rage. After this, you can begin to alternate Rage building skills (which are generally low damage) with Rage expending skills (which are much higher damage).

At very low levels, your skill rotation should be:

Force Charge > Assault > Vicious Slash > Assault (then repeat as needed)

As you progress toward level 10:

Force Charge > Ravage > Assault(x2) > Smash > Assault > Force Scream > Assault > Vicious Slash (then repeat from the first Assault in the rotation)

While over-simplified, this rotation gives you the basic idea. Force Charge gets you into combat, builds a bit of Rage, and immobilizes the target. Ravage (on a long 30 second cooldown) will probably take that target out. Taking out a target at the start of a fight, even a weak one, minimizes the damage you receive and gives you an edge.

Next comes a sequence of Assaults (doing a little damage but building more Rage) mixed in with Smashes (AOE damage for fighting groups, with a nice little stun thrown in), Force Screams (single target DPS with a stun), and Vicious Slashes (high single target DPS).

The whole point is that a Warrior needs to 1) take out a weak target early, and 2) keep generating enough Rage to utilize his/her higher DPS and AOE skills every time those skills come off their cooldowns. (Master this, and you’re going to be a god among your fellow MMO gamers.)

Even Simpler:

There are some Warriors that like to keep things as simple as possible. Their “rotation” goes something like this:

Force Charge >Ravage > Assault (x4) > Smash > Force Scream > Vicious Slash (then repeat from the first Assault)

The advantage to this simple rotation is just that: it’s simple. In fact, it’s nearly mindless. The disadvantage is that the Warrior isn’t maximizing his stuns and interrupts, or optimizing his cooldowns. However, it’s really hard to screw this up.

Starting World – Korriban:

At first glance, Korriban looks like a bunch of angry Egyptians strolled over and furiously puked on this desert planet. The place is dry, hot, and sand gets all up in your naughty bits. There’s nothing but temples and tombs (seriously, how many ancient tombs could the Sith really need?) full of ravenous sand worms that want nothing to do but spit on you with their acid-laced drool. Even your Twi’lek companion says that the Sith Academy is the scariest school she’s ever been to. That being said, Korriban really sets the tone: you’re a Sith, and the Sith aren’t a snugly, cozy people. You’ll have a lot of fun killing everything that moves, and the views of the Empire ships cruising in the atmosphere are awe-inspiring.

Your primary quest on Korriban involves becoming accepted as a Sith Lord’s apprentice. Be advised, both your main quest and the side quests are basically a tutorial in how to be truly ruthless and evil….oftentimes making you, the player, feel VERY bad about the choices you are forced to make. Truly, the Dark Side will have it’s way with you on Korriban.

Leveling Guide:

Although this guide is really only designed to help you get a great start as a Sith Warrior, all these principles will help guide you all the way to level fifty.

1. Follow your main story quest. It’s not like you have a choice anyway in how many people you actually put to death, so you might as well enjoy it.
2. Pick up every possible side quest along the way and complete them. These side quests give you a lot of bang (and experience, equipment, and credits) for the buck….no matter how many sand worms or lost zealots you have to slay with your powers of evil.
3. As you’re attempting to follow rules one and two, kill every single living thing along the way. On your way back, after you’re quest objective is complete, kill every single thing that has respawned.

Follow the above guidelines, and you’ll be at level 10 in no time. Heck, keep playing according to the above principles, and you’ll be at the level cap in no time. This collection of beginner leveling tips should also come in handy.

In Summary:

We hope you’ve enjoyed this guide; it’s intended to get you off to a great start as a Sith Warrior. Instead of having you fumbling around with your class like Helen Keller (was that mean? C’mon, folks, we’re Sith, mean is our middle name) we hope we’ve been able to answer a lot of common questions from your very first day as a Sith Warrior.

Truly, we hope you find these fundamentals helpful. Of course, we’re happy if these get you to level 10, where you pick your advanced class and go out to kick the galaxy’s arse. We’d be even happier, to be frank, if these basic skills continued to help you thrive on your evil, bloodthirsty adventures as a Warrior for another 40 levels after that.

Leveling, advanced classes, quest guides, spell rotations, mechanics and more… You can find it all in this guide specifically written for Sith Warrior players!

The wait is over. Bioware finally revealed one of the last remaining class progression videos, of course for our beloved Imperial Agent class. The trailer features both Operative and Sniper advanced classes, showcases some of their armors and abilities, and of course the cover system. You can read the official video description and watch it below!

Through cunning, stealth, and ruthless tactics, the Imperial Agent has no shortage of ways to complete his objectives. Even so, as the complexity and importance of his missions increase, the Agent will have to acquire new skills and equipment to help him combat the ever-growing threat to the Empire. This video shows you a sampling of the many different armors and abilities the Imperial Agent can obtain as he travels the galaxy.

Imperial Agent is currently along with the Smuggler the least played class, so hopefully this video will show others what they’re missing.

I’ve seen all progression trailers for other classes and none of them are nearly as witty, funny and entertaining as this one. It features numerous references to Han Solo and Harrison Ford as well — see if you can catch them all. It also shows your companion Bowdaar, as well as some abilities such as the infamous groin kick and group stealth. But enough talk, watch the video below!

Getting Started

Once you’ve created your personal character and watched your specially-written scrolling text, you’ll arrive in a ship onto Tython grounds. Once you disembark, you have a chance to familiarize yourself with a few of the controls. No doubt you’ll make things your own, as we all have our own way of doing things, but I would suggest going into preferences and having the right quick slot bar open. This allows you to move all your buffs, Medpacs and other none-essential skills off to the side so they’re out of way but still within easy reach. This will stop you clicking on something none-essential during combat, which can get a bit hectic. I would also suggest that you click the little lock button on your taskbar/hotbar, this prevents you from clicking and dragging your abilities away from your taskbar.

When you first begin you’ll have few abilities, so as soon as you level up rush to the skill trainer to acquire some new skills. I would recommend leaving your base attack as slot number one; this is so when you’re running forward you can simply lean your left hand forward and tap one easily, repeatedly, which is required a lot at first to build Focus.

When you first begin you will have three abilities. One is called Strike – this is your base attack. This attack will generate Focus without costing any; so when you first get in, use this attack the most! After that you will have an ability called Slash. This requires three Focus. So hit your opponent with Strike three times then whomp them with Slash! Slash is a more powerful attack but requires Focus, so you’ve got to build the Focus up to use it. Lastly, you will have an ability called Introspection. Introspection is your out of combat heal. After you’ve won your fight (with this guide in hand, how could you not?!) you’ve no doubt taken some damage in the process. So click Introspection and you will begin to meditate, which heals you over a set period of time.

Combat

It takes a bit of getting used to, but reading this guide will make that bit easier! First off, don’t hit and run. This doesn’t work and requires a lot of effort and costs you more than you’ll ever gain. Find a target, approach them, and start hitting them. Remain stationary. Not only does this give you a greater ability to parry (as you’ll be facing the target), but it also looks cooler. And after all, since you’re a Jedi Knight, you want to look cool! This also frees your hand up: you’re not stuck trying to chase a target; this allows you to use your abilities via the numbers above the keyboard instead of using your mouse.

I would suggest that you become accustomed to using numbers one through five and then using your mouse for the later numbers. Doing so means you can assign your best Focus gaining abilities really close to your fingertips and reserve mouse clicking for buffing, healing or interrupting. Remember, Focus is key to the Jedi Knight. There is no auto-attack, so get used to tapping number one every second or so. But don’t worry, after an hour or two this becomes second nature and you’ll settle into the playstyle.

Talent Trees

Talent Trees become available once you attain your Advanced Class at level 10. Naturally, the choice of Advanced Class is yours, so pick wisely! The Jedi Guardian is what is known as a tank, they are best for absorbing heavy damage and keeping enemies focused on them instead of your team. The Guardian can also operate as an off-tank. An off-tank is a Guardian that can absorb heavy damage, but also deal it. They aren’t as durable as straight up tanks, but they are more fun to play solo as you can deal damage as well as take it.

The Jedi Sentinel is a DPS class – Damage Per Second. They specialize in draining an enemy of their health points quickly and ferociously. They can’t take the damage the Jedi Guardian can, but they do more damage than the Jedi Guardian. Remember, there are no story differences, so choose your AC based on your personal choice of playstyle!

The primary concern for the Jedi Knight is Strength and Endurance. Endurance essentially means health points and Strength means the amount of damage you can deal out. Both are important for either Advanced Class, but it comes down to your playstyle that determines what you specifically choose to specialize in. Within the Talent Trees there will be three choices for you to make, Defensive, Balanced and Offensive.

Again it is your choice, but if you’re going for a tank, select Defensive. If you’re going for strong DPS, spend your points in the Offensive tree. If you like to hybrid you can mix the two. However, this will mean you will be a jack-of-all-trades, but master of none! When you reach level 50 you will have spare points, so I would suggest that if you go for the Offensive tree spend your points in that and spend the remaining in Defensive to give yourself a little defensive boost. And naturally if you select Defense, drops some points in Offensive so you can dish some of the good stuff out!

But really, with the Talent Trees, it is your choice. You can read up on all the effects the different trees have and make an informed decision from that. Personally, I picked what sounded coolest; because a game is, after all, all about enjoyment!

Leveling, advanced classes, quest guides, spell rotations, combat, talent trees, mechanics and more… You can find it all in this guide specifically written for Jedi Knight players!

The following is a post of Imperial Agent companions in Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first one is available even before level 10 on the starting planet, but you’ll get access to other companions as you reach further levels.

The current companions are: Kaliyo Djannis, Scorpio, Doctor Lokin, Vector Hyllis, and Ensign Temple.

Kaliyo Djannis

• Species: female Rattataki
• Planet: Hutta
• Role: Ranged DPS
• Armor: Medium
• Weapons: Dual Wield Pistols
• Default Kit: Grenade
• Crew Skills: +10 Armstech Efficiency, +2 Underworld Trading Critical

Scorpio

• Species: Droid
• Planet: Belsavis
• Role: Ranged Tank
• Weapons: Blaster Pistol, Shield Generator
• Armor: Heavy
• Default Kit: Shield

Doctor Lokin

• Species: male Human
• Planet: Taris
• Role: Melee Tank
• Armor: Light
• Weapons: Vibrosword and Shield Generator
• Default Kit: Ground Slam
• Crew Skills: +15 Biochem Efficiency, +10 Research Efficiency

Vector Hyllis

• Planet: Alderaan
• Role: Melee DPS
• Armor: Medium
• Weapon: Vibrostaff
• Default Kit: Ground Slam
• Crew Skills: +5 Bioanalysis Efficiency, +5 Diplomacy Critical

Ensign Temple

• Planet: Quesh
• Role: Ranged Healer
• Armor: Medium
• Weapons: Pistol and Shield Generator
• Default Kit: Med Pack
• Crew Skills: +10 Scavenging Efficiency, +2 Armormech Critical

Your Imperial Agent can get even more powerful! Learn about leveling, advanced classes, quest guides, spell rotations, combat, talent trees, mechanics and more… You can find it all in this guide specifically written for Imperial Agent players!

Below is a full list of known companions for Bounty Hunters. Note that the list may not be complete and some bonuses and information may not be up to date.

Mako

• Species: Female Human
• Planet: Hutta
• Ranged healing
• Medium armor
• Crew Skills: +5 Cybertech Efficiency, +15 Slicing Efficiency

Blizz

• Species: Male Jawa
• Planet: Hoth
• Ranged Tank
• Heavy Armor
• Crew Skill: +15 Armormech Efficiency, +1 Armstech Critical

Skadge

• Species: male Houk
• Planet: Belsavis
• Melee tank
• Heavy armor
• Flamethrower Kit
• Crew Skills: +10 Scavenging Efficiency, +2 Treasure Hunting Critical

Torian Caldera

• Species: Male Mandalorian
• Planet: Taris
• Melee Tank
• Heavy Armor
• Starts with Ground Slam Kit
• Special: AoE flame swipe taunt
• Crew Skills: +10 Research Efficiency, +2 Bioanalysis Critical

Gault

• Species: male Devorian
• Planet: Tattooine
• Ranged DPS
• Medium Armor
• Crew Skills: +10 Underworld Trading Efficiency, +2 Biochem Critical

2V-R8

A companion droid that comes with your ship. He can only be used for crew skills and missions.

If you can provide any additional information on companions, or just screenshots I’m sure many players would appreciate it. Be sure to send it to us via email or post it in the comments below!

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