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Updated: How to Become a Contender


ManiacDavis

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VERSION for Patch 3.0

UPDATED: 12-4-14

 

Originally created by Lunez

 

PvP 101: HOW TO BECOME A CONTENDER

 

I decided to go and update this thread with a lot of new content. Of particular note are changes to expertise which no longer has diminishing returns, the new bolster system, and arenas! (Updated for 2.4).

 

I want to start off by saying that I realize how hard it can be to compete as a fresh ungeared level 60 in the PvP arenas, where you are up against players that may be more skilled and geared than you. For those that want to overcome this challenge, then this guide is for you!

 

The following is a step by step rules of engagement on how to become a contender in the PvP world, starting with a table of contents, followed by detailed explanations for each:

 

Come over to http://www.twitch.tv/rrmaniac/profile for more SWTOR and Ranked PvP content.

Or check out

 

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1) Daillies, Commendations, and Valor

Commendation Management

2) Gearing up for Warzones

a. Level 1: PvE and Bolster

b. Level 2: Exhumed Gear

c. Level 3: Dark Reaver Gear

3) Expertise: What is it and what does it do?

4) Joining a Guild

a. Teamwork

b. Pre-Made Groups

c. VOIPs

5) Consumables, Rotations, Buffs and Skills

a. Consumables

b. Rotations / Priorities

c. Skills: Taunt

6) The DO's and DON'T's of PvP

7) Warzone Objective Tips

a. Voidstar Guide

b. Huttball Guide

c. Ancient Hypergate Guide

d. Civil War Guide

e. Novare Coast Guide

8.) Arenas

a. Tatooine

b. Corellia

c. Orbital Station

9.) All-Star Tactics

10) Conclusion

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1) Daillies, Commendations, and Valor

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Your goal from level 11-59 is primarily to learn how to navigate the maps and how to successfully complete game-winning mission objectives. Your secondary goals are to reach Valor Rank 40+ and to collect your Commendations. Go out there and die, attack, defend, guard, anything at all that will get you that one medal you need in order to get experience, credits, and warzone comms. For those of you that think this is impossible, it's not, simply standing at your node "defending" gets you a medal.

 

Daillies are your new best friend because you get rewards for losses, the daily requires 4 points (1 point for Loss, 2 points for Win), thus it's now easier than ever to get your Daillies done in no time at all. Every time you complete a Daily, you receive a reward. Daily rewards grant you Commendations, and these will become very helpful in buying your equipment faster.

 

There is now a ranked daily and weekly that rewards you for ranked wins.

Level 11-54 Reward: Experience + Warzone Commendations + Warzone Medpacks/Adrenals

Level 60 Reward: Regular Warzone and Ranked Warzone Commendations.

 

 

Commendation Management:

 

As you PvP your way up to level 60, you'll find yourself with fist-fulls of Warzone Commendations. You'll max out at 2750 so it's important to find things to spend them on so you're not wasting Commendations. Purchasing PvP items such as Warzone Stims and Medpacks are a good choice if you're Valor Rank 1-39. If you need some new gear head over to your capital planet (Coruscant/Droomund Kaas) and buy PvP gear from the vendor. You can even convert Warzone Comms into planetary comms and exchange those for modifications/enhancements and more gear on the fleet. Once you reach Valor Rank 40, you can convert your overflow Warzone Comms into Ranked Warzone Comms. Ranked Comms will be important later on when you're ready to purchase Dark Reaver gear.

 

Max Warzone Comms: 2750

Max Ranked Warzone Comms: 4500

 

NOTE: When converting/spending Warzone Comms, make sure you have nearly max (2750 regular + 4500 ranked) upon reaching level 60 so you can begin purchasing Dark Reaver gear straight out of the gates. Assuming you are Valor Rank 40 by then, and have enough Ranked Warzone, you can immediately purchase and convert your Exhumed piece directly into a Dark Reaver piece, which would give you a significant boost straight out of the gates.

 

Another route that some have suggested is if you have converted enough surplus Warzone Comms into Ranked Warzone Comms by the time you reach level 60, you can start buying Exhumed pieces with your initial 2750 Warzone Comms, and convert Ranked Warzone Comms back into regular Warzone Comms in order to expedite purchasing your Exhumed set. Since converting Ranked Comms back into Regular WZ Comms is a 1:1 ratio, you can essentially start out at level 60 with 7070 Regular Warzone Comms to purchase Oboran with. Whereas the ratio to convert regular Warzone Comms to Ranked comms is 3:1.

 

NOTE: I would advise not converting Ranked WZ Comms back into regular WZ Comms because you're basically throwing away 2/3 of your converted Comms in the act of doing so. Save and apply them towards your future Dark Reaver gear purchase. Once you get an Exhumed set, go do ranked for ranked comms.

 

30 Warzone Comms ----converts----> 10 Ranked Warzone Comms

10 Ranked Warzone Comms ----converts----> 10 Warzone Comms

 

 

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2) Gearing up for Warzones

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Level 1: PvE Gear and Bolster

 

Once you're level 60 and are prepared to get serious about beginning the long glorious road to PvP greatness, you need to start by buying a set of Exhumed gear from the PvP vendor. The only exception to this rule is if you already have enough Ranked Warzone Comms to purchase a Dark Reaver piece, but in the end, you will have to fill in whatever is left with PvE gear since you will not have enough in the beginning to buy a full Exhumed set. (This is essential, don't think your teammates won't notice when half of your gear is level 33 greens). Don’t worry too much though because even in bad PvE gear, your stats will be bolstered up. Check out this thread for more information on bolster. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=707204.

 

Now is a great time to invest in legacy gear. Legacy gear allows you to pull the modifications, armorings, and enhancements and mail them to any character in your legacy, regardless of faction! You can take the pvp gear mods out of the pvp gear and put it into your sweet looking legacy gear. In addition, you can use those planetary commendations you have collected from leveling and buy pve modifcations to put in the remaining slots of your legacy gear. With this legacy gear, you only need to gear an advanced class once, since you can mail all this gear to any other character.

 

Make sure to buy the right gear for your class. If you want to start playing prior to having the Exhumed set, this is fine, but prepare to get squished.

 

Jedi Knights/Sith Warriors: Strength

Jedi Consulars/Sith Inquisitors: Willpower

Smuggler/Operative: Cunning

Commando/Bounty Hunter: Aim

 

The easiest way to fill out your gear to level 60 is to buy legacy/adaptive gear with credits, cartel coins, or planetary comms. Adaptive gear can be used by any class regardless of class restrictions of heavy/medium/light armor. Legacy gear can be traded between characters even if the mods/armorings in the gear are bound. Buy a full set of legacy gear that fits your aesthetic needs (I personally only strut with elegant loungewear).

 

Augments

 

Augments are a cost intensive way to buffer your stats. You can accomplish this by buying an MK-9 kit from the GTN or crafting it. You can install it via a crafting table located on the fleet in the crew skills area. Afterwards you can add augments such as the Purple Advanced Augment 28 which increases the main stat of that piece of gear by 32 and endurance by 20. You can do this a total of 14 times to all your gear pieces increasing your main stat by 448 and endurance by 280.

 

Don’t have enough credits for all of these goodies? Go do the level 50-60 dailies, play around on the GTN, or buy the cheaper green/blue augments.

 

Once you've gotten your set of PvE gear and have moved onto Exhumed gear (all Dark Reaver gear requires the previous Exhumed piece) then you're ready to start learning the basics of tactical Warzone strategy. Break out those Warzone medpacks and Adrenals that you've been potentially hoarding while leveling up, and get yourself into the arena as much as possible. Team up with others often, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Those who don't ask, don't receive. Whatever you do, DONT get discouraged. Your glory days have just begun!

 

Level 2: Exhumed Gear

 

This is the part where most people get discouraged and fall to the wayside on. This is going to be a long tedious road, but not nearly half as tedious as acquiring the Dark Reaver set, so stay focused and be relieved that Exhumed is so readily available to you. Your primary goal at this stage is to fill out your modable gear with PvP armorings/mods/enhancements. (Don't forget your offhand, relics, and implants!)

 

This is going to be where you start seeing some serious advancement to your PvP experience. It's often suggested that you start with the most expensive pieces (chestpiece, weapon, or offhand), because they often offer the largest boost to your potential stat increase (including Expertise which is outlined in a later section). Another route is to simply buy the cheapest pieces first to ensure that you increase in prowess quicker. Buying cheaper items quickly also provides you with set bonuses earlier on, which will add to the gearing process of your power-creep.

 

Remember to take the armorings, modifications, and enhancements out of the pvp gear and place them into your adaptive/legacy gear. There is no reason to augment the pvp gear since you have to trade it in for Exhumed gear later on.

 

Either way, you need this, and you probably will continue to suck until you get 2-3 pieces towards your set, and are able to take advantage of some of the set bonus' (Bolster is your friend). Either route you take, dont give up. Only quitters give up, and only the extraordinary from here on out shall rise above the newbs who are not willing to follow this path to PvP greatness.

 

Before you know it, you're going to start getting kills off of your fellow newbs and you're going to feel stronger--not as strong as the geared elites, but stronger than the newb fodder, and for this, you shall relish in your small victories. Zerg forward, do not look back, and do not pity the weak. Only the determined shall win the Warzone.

 

Exhumed Piece ............. WZ Commendations

Chest ............. 1,000

Legs ................. 1,000

Head ............. 1,000

Gloves ............. 1,000

Boots ............... 1,000

Belts ................ 600

Bracers ........... 600

Ear .................. 800

Implant ............ 800 x2

Offhand ........ 1,250

Mainhand ..... 1,250

Relic ................ 700 x2

Total ........... 11,700

 

 

Level 3: Dark Reaver

 

If you've made it to this step, then you probably don't need this guide, and therefore I will not be discussing this chapter in any great detail other than this is only obtainable after you have completed the previous Exhumed stage. In order to convert Exhumed into Dark Reaver however, you'll need to exchange both the Exhumed piece AND Ranked Warzone Commendations. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR PVP GEAR SHELLS!!!! NOTE: Ranked Warzone Comms are only obtainable by converting Warzone Comms at the Warzone vendor, by completing Level 60 PvP Daily/Weekly, or Ranked Warzones.

 

The moment your Exhumed set is complete, start converting WZ Comms into Ranked WZ Comms!

 

Exhumed Piece ............. WZ Commendations

Chest ............. 2,500

Legs ................. 2,500

Head ............. 2,500

Gloves ............. 2,500

Boots ............... 2,500

Belts ................ 1,425

Bracers ........... 1,250

Ear .................. 1,400

Implant ............ 1,400 x2

Offhand ........ 3,500

Mainhand ..... 3,500

Relic ................ 1,300 x2

Total ........... 27,575 (was 28,600 Ranked Commendations + 1,000 Regular Commendations (82,725 REGULAR COMMENDATIONS!!!)

 

Another important piece of information that people often forget is to make sure you remove your mods from your Exhumed armor before converting the armor into Dark Reaver gear. NOTE: There are multiple reasons to rip mods. They can be used to upgrade other gear pieces or serve as an upgrade for your companions.

 

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3) Expertise: What is it, and What does it do?

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To most newbs, expertise is one of those great mystery stats that you see on gear, but don't know enough about which often results in the newb ignoring it altogether. Truth is, it's an essential PvP stat that is critical in maximizing the effectiveness of your PvP prowess. Expertise gives a PvP bonus that can be viewed under the PvP tab on your character screen.

 

Keep in mind that after 2.0, Expertise has NO diminishing returns and is capped at 2018. This means that for every point of expertise, your PvP bonus damage/healing/defense increase point for point whether you’re at 1 point or 2017 points. Having 2018 expertise gives a 60% damage boost, 37.5% damage reduction, and a 20.38% healing boost. It is easy to see from these numbers that a PvE player in a warzone without this bonus would be at a significant disadvantage. Luckily for you bambi noobs, expertise is now bolstered in warzones.

 

The following is a screenshot of the character screen for my Commando character. The toon is wearing a complete set of Obroan gear (old set of pvp gear), including Relics, Implants, earpieces, the whole works (one relic is replaced with a matrix cube to lower the expertise). Take note of his PvP Damage Boost in particular which is at 56.76%:

 

Outside of warzones I have 1909 expertise.

http://tinypic.com/r/2h4z2wl/5

 

Inside warzones my expertise is bolstered to the maximum of 2018 and I receive a 60% boost. Note: you can use the Gree Event area on Illum as a test area for this because it is the only place that has bolster outside of warzones.

http://tinypic.com/r/ka4goo/5

 

This means that even though there is no diminishing return on expertise, you do not need to max the stat out. This allows you to trade some expertise for other stats like power. Thus, if all I cared about was PvP Damage Boost, I could displace one of his Expertise items, such as his relics, Implants, etc, with something else in order to reduce his PvP Damage, and increase other, more important stats, with one that would provide a greater overall boost to my performance. Commando for instance, benefits from Aim and Endurance, so I could swap out those Expertise Relics for something that is more Aim/End heavy or Power/Surge. As brushed upon in previous sections of this guide, one can also obtain maximum effects by ripping mods.

 

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4) Joining a Guild

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Does excelling at PvP mean you need a guild and must PvP as a group? No, it does not, however you might find that working as a group can certainly help increase your effectiveness, or at the very least, teach your group how to work better as a team in the event you are all lacking in skills.

 

JOIN A GUILD. Unfortunately, not all guilds are created equal. If you want to excel at PvP, you probably don't want to stick around in your social guild that just wants to chat and complain about how unfair the game is. They can't help you, and likely, they can't help themselves either. Find yourself an ORGANIZED PvE or PvP guild. The reason I say this is because often within an ORGANIZED PvE or PvP guild, you will also find PvP'ers with good gear who are willing to help you gather gear, or more importantly, join you in some Warzones to team up against your enemies.

 

Warzone MVP votes. As a guild, you are almost unquestionably expected to give each other the MVP vote even if you both suck. These votes increase your valor rank by 50 points , in addition to +1 Commendation each vote, among other things that may or may not be implemented in the future. Don't forget to vote for your fellow guildies!

 

Teamwork:

 

Please please please understand that independance will always breed chaos. Only as one shall you stand strong. Very rarely does a single un-guilded player ever make it far within the PvP world without having dedicated their gaming playtime to becoming beastly in the field. Guild groups of 2-4 are awesome. Communicating with your team is Essential. I cannot emphasis this enough. If you see incoming attackers, CALL them out to your team. If you see them running away from you towards your teammates node, CALL them out to your team.

 

Pre-Made Groups:

 

You will often hear people on the forums complaining about what is often referred to as a "Pre-Made". Ignore their complaints. Those people can't help you. Working as a team in well-organized groups is one of the leading indicators of those who you want to listen to. People who habitually work alone, storm off on lone rambo crusades, or resist working in an organized group-fashion, are doomed to failure. Working as a team is the heart of what SWTOR PvP is based around.

 

NOTE: This should never discourage you from joining a Warzone solo. I find that the majority of my PvP time is spent from blind solo runs through Warzones, and I find it incredibly enjoyable. Over time, you will recognize others and they will recognize you, and eventually, you'll all get better at working together despite being from different guilds.

 

VOIPS:

 

Most guilds use a voice-over-ip service such as TeamSpeak, Mumble, Vent, Skype, etc etc. They do this because its amazing fun, and you don’t have to type while tromping around the warzone. You want to know why that one guild on your server always seems to work like an organized platoon of army-ants? It's because they're talking to each other, not typing. Nearly 99% of ORGANIZED guilds use chat servers during PvP Warzones and PvE Raids. Get yourself a microphone and headset, it’s totally worth it and you can make some friends in the process!

 

 

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5) Consumables, Rotations, Buffs, and Skills

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Consumables:

 

Know your skills! I can't say this enough. Learn to be intimate with all of your skills, AND your consumables. If you're a newb, I suggest going BioChem (with Bioanalysis and Diplomacy) so you can make your own stims, medpacks, and adrenals. This is what parts the pros from the ameteurs. Consumables. BioChem also allows you to make re-usable medpacks, meaning they don't go away, but these are way less effective than warzone medpacks. You can use the crafted stims and medpacks forever, without ever buying more consumables again. Another great crafting skill is Cybertech which allows you to craft reusable grenades. The v-1 seismic grenade is my grenade of choice and allows you to stun a target for 4 seconds.

 

Stims

 

Stims are an easy way to boost your stats. My stim of choice is the new reusable nano-infused stim which persists through death but is only available for Biochemists level 450 offering +154 mainstat and +63 Power. For non biochemists, the Prototype Nano-infused stim offers +169 mainstat and 70 power, however this stim is consumed on use and must be reapplied after two hours. When the cost of the prototype comes down in price on the GTN, I will most likely start using the prototype more regularly since it offers better stats.

 

Medpacks

 

Medpacks and adrenals are invaluable in the middle of a fight because they can increase your health by 35% and decrease damage by 15% with a 90 second cool down. A highly geared tank at 40,000 hp using a medpack would recover 14,000 hp!!! It is also important to note that they stack with class specific abilities such as enure which increases total health. Unfortunately, these medpacks can only be acquired by doing the PvP daily, trading warzone coms with the PvP vendor, or direct trade with other players. They cannot be bought or sold on the GTN. If you don’t have the credits or commendations to spare, a cheaper alternative is a reusable impeccable medpack offering 6075-6800 health. It doesn’t offer the same health as the warzone medpack which stacks with your health but is a cheaper alternative because it is not consumed on use (I use this in regular warzones and save the medpacks for rateds).

 

NOTE: Warzone consumables are superior to most BioChem consumables, and therefore are worth purchasing if you have the surplus Comms to spend on them.

 

Grenades

All your stuns on cooldown? That’s no problem when you have the V-1 seismic grenade which knocks all targets unconscious in an AOE for 4 seconds. This grenade has a 3 minute cooldown and is invaluable in stopping a team in their tracks. A coordinated team with grenades can be the difference between capping a node and failure. These grenades can be purchased from the GTN or crafted by cybertechs. I prefer these grenades over the freeze grenades because the freeze is only a root as opposed to a hard CC, menaing characters can still attack while frozen but cannot attack while seismic grenaded.

 

"The Bastion" debuff prevents a target from having the effects of another grenade for 3 minutes. What does this mean? If you grenade a target, your ally cannot grenade that target again till the 3 minute debuff has ended. In a 1v1, this does not matter since your grenade cooldown is 3 minutes. However in team fights, you need to be aware of targets that have been recently grenaded because your grenades will be ineffective against them.

 

Buffs:

 

If you want to be serious about PvP, you need to be able to self-apply all four of these buffs every time you die. With all four buffs, you gain +5% critical chance, +5% total endurance, all main stats +5%, internal and elemental damage reduced by 10%, and all bonus damage and healing increased by +5%. This is the best increase in stats you can achieve because it stacks with your character FOREVER! For example, if you have 2000 main stat unbuffed, you will have +100 main stat buffed, and at 3000 your main stat is increased +150. THIS IS HUGE.

 

At launch, you could only self-buff your personal class buff. Thankfully, the 1.2 legacy update enabled players to attach the class specific buffs of other legacy characters to your main character by completing chapter 2 of that class’ storyline. Hardcore PvP’ers should have 1 main character to level 60 and at least three other characters spanning the four different buffs to take full advantage of this.

 

This enables you to demolish anyone who does not have the same amount buffs. For example, if an unbuffed commando faces a fully buffed commando, the buffed commando could facepalm their keyboard and still win the match because his stats and diligence have allowed him better character perks.

 

Rotations / Priorities:

 

Rotations, also known as Priorities--- are the series of actions you take prior, during, and after combat. They often include strings of attacks interwoven with buffs that help enable or empower your maximum damage output and/or DPS (Damage-Per-Second). I highly recommend researching and testing all of your Abilities and/or Skills in order to decide for yourself which order you want to execute them in.

 

It is also highly recommended that you utilize one of the PvP "Training Dummies" to help yourself maximize your rotation effectiveness. You can find free-to-use Training-Dummies on the fleet, or you can purchase one for your Starship via Legacy rewards. This method of testing your rotation order can have drastic effects on improving your overall damage-output.

 

NOTE: Future updates to this section will include useful Rotations for each class.

 

Skill: Taunt

 

Taunt is your friend in PvP. If you have any taunts, (especially AoE taunts) spam them constantly since they are not on the Global Cooldown. This will help your nearby teammates stay protected, which often in turn helps YOU gain more medals. You wouldn't believe how little people use taunts in PvP. They work, really, really well. Learn to love them.

 

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6) The DO's and DON'T's of PvP:

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DO's

a. Work as a team

b. KEY-BINDINGS! Use them!

c. Pick and choose your key-bindings carefully.

d. Use your buffs, they are your friend.

e. Call out incoming enemies BEFORE they reach you or your node.

f. Use grenades, medpacks, and adrenals

g. To be continued...

DON'T's

a. Try to be a lone rambo hero.

b. Ignore your teammates.

c. Ignore nodes and doors.

d. Chase kills when you're supposed to be guarding.

e. Ignore your healer.

f. Call out incoming enemy after its too late, like when you're almost dead.

g. To be continued...

 

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7) Warzone Guides:

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Will update this section soon since the older vids are outdated given two new maps and changes to the existing maps.

 

Civil War Guide

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=452526

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=452640

http://almarsguides.com/swtor/pvp/warzones/civilwar.cfm

 

Huttball Guide

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=54647

http://almarsguides.com/swtor/pvp/warzones/huttball.cfm

 

Voidstar Guide

http://almarsguides.com/swtor/pvp/warzones/voidstar.cfm

 

Ancient Hypergate Guide

 

Novare Coast Guide

 

Want your guide to be displayed here? Let me know down below.

 

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Warzone Objective Tips:

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a. Voidstar Guide

b. Huttball Guide

c. Ancient Hypergate Guide

d. Civil War Guide

e. Novare Coast Guide

 

For those looking to become better PvP players, a few suggestions.. (Disclaimer: Written for the casual pvp player at a general level, exceptions may apply under certain circumstances, such as high level ranked play).

 

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General Cap and Defend Warzones (Written by Killadeuce, main post can be found here)

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"Be aware of the number of enemies you are fighting

6 teammates fighting 1-2 enemies on an objective. Leaves 5-6 enemies heading to your other objective.

Don't wait for an incoming call for help. (All to often in unranked WZ, there is no call or it is made to late).

Take a look and locate the other 5-6 enemies yourself.

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Be aware of the number of your teammates

If someone does call incoming help (unranked WZ, unlikely but it does happen).

see how many are attacking.

see how many teammates respond.

respond accordingly.

4-5 defenders for 2 attackers. Leaves your other objective to fight a 2v5 or worse.

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Capping Objectives

Friendly CC is good for capping.

Damage breaks CC.

Breaking an 8-second mez is letting your team down.

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Defending Objectives, part 1

Stay "near / aware" of the objective

Attackers are attacking the objective(not you). There is no need to move far away from it.

Attackers HAVE to go to the objective. Fight them on it instead.

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Defending Objectives, part 2

Do not make or let your healer guard an objective

They should be healing the main group.

(of course if you have 4+ healers this is not so much an issue.)

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Defending Objectives part, 3

Offense (1 node controlled)

Only "one" defender on the objective for 7v6 advantage.

Defense (2 nodes controlled)

"Two" defenders on each objective minimum

Team should be focused on defending the 2 capped objectives

ONE defender (preferably a stealth class) can attack third uncapped node. Preferred situation if they only have one player defending it.

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Defending Objectives, part 4 (RE: CW, NC and HG WZs)

You do not have to be directly on the objective/node to get defense points. You can be 20-30m from it.

Against a "single" stealth attacker, this allows you to wait out their stealth mez and break their capping without using your CC break ability.

They CC you and have to walk those 20-30m (using up time CC'd) before they can start capping.

 

If anyone has a better more summarized way to explain this please let me know. I also don't know how phase walk works with this. Keep in mind this is intended for general players in Unranked WZs.

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A. Voidstar Warzone

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Watch the respawn door timer.

(offense) Killing blow as it resets = Full respawn time.

(defense) CDs/stealth to hold out if team is all stuck behind respawn door.

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General objective capping (situational)

The first guy to start capping caps the door.

Everyone else there focuses on keeping the enemies away from him. CC's

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Capping the "Next" objective

A few attackers rush forward. 1-2

The rest of the team should be CCing and distracting the defenders in the halls leading to the next room.

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Defending the two objectives

Watch your mini map. Don't wait for help calls.

If there are no defenders on a door guess what?

They are dead so go to the door.

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B. Huttball Warzone

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Be aware of the ball.

Know where the ball is at all times

That is where you should be.

If either team is about to score, you need to be in mid for the ball re-spawn.

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Know when you have the ball.

Every enemy you kill, spawns back in front of your ball carrier.

CC and kill them slowly.

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Passing the ball (offense)

If no one else is, get in front of the ball carrier for passes.

If people are ready for passes, CC/distract enemies on the carrier so they can pass.

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Ballcarriers, know where your teammates are at (offense)

Use your minimap to locate them.

Check if someone is on the enemies ramp.

Check to see which catwalk to travel onto (left/right)

Check to see if someone is in the enemy endzone, if so go into the pit.

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When and what CC on the ball carrier (defense)

Do Not "mez" the ball carrier. Gives a large chunk of resolve and gives them a free run to the endzone.

Roots, slows, pulls and knockbacks are prefered. (Low resolve CCs)

IF they are low health or about to pass up from the pit stun/mez may be acceptable.

 

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C. Ancient Hypergates Warzone

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Are you winning?

Check your teams score... if so

Defend ONE pylon and hold middle.

Minimum TWO defenders on the pylon

Do not attack the second pylon and feed the other team points.

 

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Attacking the enemy Pylon

No more then one (preferable) or two STEALTH classes

No earlier then 45 seconds to portal closing

You should not even be on there side of the map before 1 min to portal closing. (Help in mid til then, kill healers)

If there are 2 defenders do not waste your time and feed kill points to the enemy.

 

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Know your Class

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Tank classes spec'd DPS

You can taunt regardless of the stance you are in.

So do it and keep it on cool down.

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Marauders / Sentinels

Use preditation / transcendence at the start of the battle running in with the team.

Speed boost is a great advantage

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DON'T PANIC

- Douglas Adams"

 

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8) Arena Tips

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Focus fire: the key to killing a target is putting the most damage on a single target in the shortest amount of time. Fighter plane armaments during WWII were commonly categorized by their one-second burst mass. The amount of mass (projectiles) that a plane could unleash on a target within one second. Likewise, arenas are all about how much damage you can inflict in a short window of time before the healer can heal the target and before the tank can switch guard.

 

Guard: guarded targets reduce damage by 5% and redirect 50% of the damage to the tank who can mitigate a lot of that damage. Don't attack guarded targets, you are making your life harder. Attack targets who do not have guard. As a tank, swap your guard constantly to protect targets being attacked and stay within guard range.

 

Crowd Control: A cc'd healer is the same as a dead healer. If you can take a healer out of the game for 8 seconds with a mezz, that gives you 8 seconds to kill a target. Don't break CC!

 

Pulls/Pushes: A tank can only guard within 15 meters, so a guarded target 20 meters from his tank is not guarded at all and is easy prey for the DPS. Use pushbacks and pulls coupled with CC to extend this range to give you more time to kill a target.

 

Line of Sight (LOS): When an ememy is casting an attack on you, LOS him so the attack fails. This gives your healer breathing room to heal other damage while also forcing their DPS to get out of position to pressure your team.

 

Positioning: Try to position yourself in the most favorable situations. These differ with each map and advanced class.

 

Tatooine Canyon

 

Orbital Station

 

Makeb Mesa

 

Corellia

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9) ALL STAR TACTICS: Focus Target, Target of Target

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1) Focus Target

 

Focus target in lets you assign a player window to a friendly player or enemy that is up at all times unless you change your focus target.

 

a. How to Enable:

To enable focus target, go to preferences -> controls -> enable focus target.

To enable targets target you just have to use the default KeyBind or set a new one. The default is Alt+F. From there you can go into the Interface Editor and adjust the options, including location and size.

 

There are also keybinds for Focus Modifier, meaning whenever you hold down the modifier and use an ability, it will apply that ability to the Focus target WITHOUT having to unselect your current target. Example: Your up against a Sith double healer team. Put healer “A” as focus target, and start DPSing healer “B”, using the Focus Modifier you can CC or interrupt healer “A” without letting off DPS on healer “B”

 

b. Uses in PVP:

It depends on your class, your play style and your task in the current WZ. A tank can set his healer so he can react quicker when he is getting smashed, a healer can use it for his pocket tank so he can be more focused on the group. A DPS class might put an enemy healer as Focus so he knows when he is in range and initiate attacks quicker.

 

2) Target of Target

Target of target lets you….. see who your target is targeting.

 

a. How to Enable:

You enable this in the Interface Editor. When the blue interface editor window comes up, there will be a check mark box near the middle that should say Disable Secondary Windows (?), Make sure that is Unchecked. You should now see a red box over your Mini-Map (default locations), that is the Targets Target Window. Click on it and you can Enable it and change some other options including size and postion.

 

There are two keybinds of importance here. There is a Acquire Target of Target and another that is Acquire Target of FOCUS Target. Its pretty straight forward, if I have "A" targeted and he is targeting "B", I can hit the keybind and it will instantly target "B".

 

b. Uses in PVP:

This allows you and your team to do fulfill the most important function of a DPS class, FOCUS FIRE.

 

Example 1:

Let’s say you are running Rated War Zones with 8 guildies and are in Void Star: Attacking Side. You appoint someone as the target caller. You all put him as your Focus Target. The target caller would then rush into one side and alert in voice chat that he has a target, you then all hit Acquire Target of FOCUS Target keybind and use an attack ability. That means in less than 1 global cooldown you could essentially kill 1 player depending on crits before their healers even have a chance to heal. The target caller would then alert “New target” and you would rinse and repeat.

 

Example 2:

Alderran Civil War, If you are going for East and West you could send 3 and 3 (with 2 middle) and have one target caller in each group marked and set as focus. Then you wouldn’t have to wonder which target to attack. It keeps everyone on the same page even when the group is split.

 

 

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10) CONCLUSION:

--------------------------

 

Don't get discouraged when you die a bunch of times, because it's expected to die over and over and over again until you've earned the gear, skill, and prestige to become one of the elite. I know, it sounds silly, it might even sound ridiculous, but it’s true. You need to fail before you can succeed. The PvP mechanics in this game are incredibly fair, competitive, and accessible. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You just need to pave forward, and take the steps necessary to achieve the foundation for a better learning-curve.

 

Also, just so you know, even we great and terrible PvP warlords fall in battle, there is no shame, there is only determination. Pave forward my young PvP padawan newbs, and you too, shall become PvP-Knights!

Edited by ManiacDavis
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A very well writtren guide. :)

 

Honestly, anyone who wants to focus on PvP should make sure that they are capped both WZ and RWZ coms before reaching level 55. The bolster does help undergeared players, but you still drag your team down if you are completely undergeared and wearing your level 50 leveling greens.

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Helpful and exhaustive, and desperately needed! Thanks so much for doing this. :)

 

One suggestion for the augments section ... while ideally people will plop max purple augments in stuff, you don't lose a whole lot of stats by doing blue augments in the meantime. On my server, that's the difference between 125k or 10-15k per augment (for the stuff I use at least) so if you're short on cash, it's a good thing to consider in the meantime.

 

Great, great post!

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Found a typo (or more likely just an bit of old text):

 

1) -> Commendation Management

 

End of the first paragraph:

Ranked Comms will be important later on when you're ready to purchase War Hero gear.

 

Cheers, and thanks for your work in favor of pvp community ;)

 

------- EDIT ------

Found another bit:

In the end of "Level 3: Conqueror" chapter

Another important piece of information that people often forget is to make sure you remove your mods from your Partisan armor before converting the armor into War Hero gear
Edited by glocklB
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Please sticky and replace the outdated ones developers. Also report my post for trolling so they actually read this.

 

Well according to the forum mods they are reading posts often so it shouldn't take to long to replace the outdated thread but then again we get a response here what, every 2-3 months or something like that so I'm not holding my breath.

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as some one who has just come back to this game after a long break this is brilliant. something you could do with putting in there for idiots like me is that your old level 50 warhero stuff you spent so long grinding is worse than useless and should be taken off immediately, personally i had no clue till i saw a post in the forums yesterday
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as some one who has just come back to this game after a long break this is brilliant. something you could do with putting in there for idiots like me is that your old level 50 warhero stuff you spent so long grinding is worse than useless and should be taken off immediately, personally i had no clue till i saw a post in the forums yesterday

 

War hero is not useless at all, I didn't compare it closely to pve stuff, but it's just insignificantly worse then partisan gear.

 

PS: useless gear is all obsolete pvp-gear below war hero, such as battlemaster, recruit, centurion, etc.

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War hero is not useless at all, I didn't compare it closely to pve stuff, but it's just insignificantly worse then partisan gear.

 

PS: useless gear is all obsolete pvp-gear below war hero, such as battlemaster, recruit, centurion, etc.

 

cheers for that i'll swap out any battlemaster stuff i have left and keep warhero then, hopefully by the time i get from 50-55 i'll have loads of stuff to spend

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War hero is not useless at all, I didn't compare it closely to pve stuff, but it's just insignificantly worse then partisan gear.

 

PS: useless gear is all obsolete pvp-gear below war hero, such as battlemaster, recruit, centurion, etc.

 

Yeah. Probably need this right up there in the guide in bold. Seems that there is often confusion about older PvP gear for returning players. Just in general how anything prior to partisan that still has expertise in it fubars your stats.

Edited by TechTheHic
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Perhaps a note in the "1) Daillies, Commendations, and Valor" section as to the different requirements for the dailies at 55 and sub 55. Sub 55 only requires 1 win or 2 losses. Also, no mention of the weekly quests in here. Sub 55 3 wins, @ 55 9 wins. I did see you make mention of it further down in the write-up, but possibly putting up top in the daily section might be a better place for it. Good write up btw :jawa_smile:
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