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[Guide] The Jedi Shadow's Handbook


AstralFire

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THE JEDI SHADOW'S HANDBOOK

v1.1.1b (updated 10-Feb-12)

"A Jedi will always seek the truth... I will expose the dark side's deceit."

 

A Shadow serves the Jedi Order by being a silent observer and, when action is necessary, a subtle hand. To avoid rash decisions on the part of the Council, Shadows go unseen, gathering information and quietly thwarting those who seek to threaten the Jedi Order. Employing Force techniques that cloud enemy minds, Shadows slip into hostile territory, and when necessary, they strike enemies down with deadly efficiency.

 

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[aname=Intro]INTRODUCTION[/aname]

 

First off, a little about me - my name is AstralFire, my main is a Jedi Shadow, and I have played almost every spec that has ever appeared in this guide for at least a day. I am a PvPer first, a Battlemaster before patch 1.1, and a group PvEer last. The guide has a stronger PvP tilt than many play guides for other classes, but I try my best to cover everything for the newbie.

 

This handbook is intended to be a comprehensive guide to gameplay competency with the Jedi Shadow. As such, it will provide data on effective Player-versus-Player gameplay, Player-versus-Environment gameplay, and some general tips on leveling as a Jedi Shadow. It is not intended to be a walkthrough or guide to any specific World, Flashpoint or Operation, and will only contain some brief looks at specific Warzones. Skill Calculator builds are merely my opinion, and though I do my best to learn as much as possible, I cannot know everything. If you have contradictory ideas, please post them here. While this guide will never be perfect, it will be more perfect with each version than the last. We get better through sharing ideas, after all.

 

This guide will also go over the basics of gearing as a Jedi Shadow, and highlight some notable pieces of equipment.

 

The version numbering will correspond with that of the most recent live version of the game, followed by a letter indicating a major revision to the guide's contents. e.g. 1.0.1c would be the third major version of the guide intended to correspond to game version 1.0.1. Minor wording changes and stylistic editing will not be considered.

 

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[aname=ToC]TABLE OF CONTENTS[/aname]

 

01. [[jumpto=Intro]Introduction[/jumpto]]

02. [[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

03. [[jumpto=Basics]Shadow Basics[/jumpto]]

04. [[jumpto=Bugs]Notable Issues[/jumpto]]

05. [[jumpto=Kins]Specialization: Kinetic Combat[/jumpto]]

06. [[jumpto=Infil]Specialization: Infiltration[/jumpto]]

07. [[jumpto=Balance]Specialization: Balance[/jumpto]]

08. [[jumpto=Companions]Shadow Companions[/jumpto]]

09. [[jumpto=Equipment]Equipping a Shadow[/jumpto]]

10. [[jumpto=Crew Skills]Crew Skills[/jumpto]]

11. [[jumpto=AFAQ]Appendix: FAQs[/jumpto]]

12. [[jumpto=Glossary]Appendix: MMO Glossary[/jumpto]]

13. [[jumpto=Binds]Appendix: Keybinds[/jumpto]]

14. [[jumpto=Trans]Appendix: Shadow <-> Assassin Dictionary[/jumpto]]

15. [[jumpto=Hist]Appendix: Changelog[/jumpto]]

16. [[jumpto=Links]Appendix: Advanced Reading[/jumpto]]

 

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[aname=Basics]SHADOW BASICS[/aname]

 

Parent Class: Jedi Consular

Mirrored by: Sith Assassin

Primary Weapon: Double-bladed Lightsaber, Electrostaff

Off-Hand Items: Shield Generator, Force Focus

Armor Class: Light

Aesthetic Inspirations: Darth Maul, Exar Kun, Satele Shan, Bastila Shan

Story Inspiration: Obi-Wan Kenobi. "We wanted to capture the journey of Obi-Wan Kenobi - someone who begins with unusual insight and talent, but who is still growing into those powers."

Skill Trees: Kinetic Combat (Defender), Infiltration (Melee Striker), Balance (Hybrid Striker)

Resource: Force Points. (Base Max: 100; Base Recovery: 8 Pts/Second)

Playable Species: Human, Miraluka, Mirialan, Twi'lek, Zabrak

Voice Actress: Athena Karkanis

Voice Actor: Nolan North

Key Playskills: Understanding your three ranges (4m, 10m, 30m), predicting energy cost and healing needs.

 

The Jedi Shadow does not fear wasting her Force Points early in a fight; she has few long cooldowns, and a steadily refilling resource bar. Unlike Smugglers and Troopers, this resource bar does not regenerate at variable rates. The challenge in playing a Jedi Shadow correctly is careful management of several short-term cooldowns and interspersing low or no-cost abilities with medium and high cost abilities, to avoid missing a vital window of opportunity.

 

The Shadow can access up to three different combat stances, or techniques, which significantly alters her playstyle. Each of these stances adds a chance to affect each of her melee attacks (though no more often than once every 1.5 seconds). Melee attacks which hit multiple times or multiple targets have a better chance of activating the technique once per ability. These stances are off of the global cooldown, but have a high resource cost. It is possible to switch techniques and then immediately benefit from the change, but you can do so only with careful forethought and planning, and at the expense of restricting yourself heavily for several seconds prior.

 

People familiar with Rogues from World of Warcraft will find only some similarities in the Shadow. For the most part, it is far more survivable with fewer hard controls (such as stuns) and more range as well as self-healing. While it will usually be optimal for Shadows to attack from behind, it is by no means expected or necessary for any but an Infiltrator. The Shadow is also more comfortable with range than the Rogue, especially as a Balance specialist.

 

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[aname=Bugs]NOTABLE ISSUES[/aname]

 

- Shadow's Training is not functioning properly and does not increase the damage dealt by Project.

- Project has a travel-time, compared to its completely instantaneous Imperial counterpart, Shock; my personal experience is that with the ability delay bug gone, this issue is minimal compared to just about anything else. The Consular Specialization most dependent on Project rapidly striking its target is Infiltration, which will be fighting its opponent at extremely close range, minimizing the travel time. It is acknowledged as an issue that Georg Zoeller wishes to address at some point.

 

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[aname=Kins]KINETIC COMBAT[/aname]

 

Playstyle: High threat, proactive self-healing defender; melee with some ranged moves.

Technique: Combat Technique

PvE Builds: Standard (31/0/10)

PvP Builds: Slow Upheaval (31/0/10), Slow Stab (31/7/0+3)

Which spec should I pick?: Standard is your best option if you want to both PvE and PvP, as it performs well at both. Slow Upheaval is my recommendation for the hardcore PvPer, and Slow Stab is an experimental build I want to mess around with a bit. Three points are leftover with Slow Stab; I recommend they go in Force Synergy in Balance, or Misdirection in Infiltration.

 

Overview of Recent Changes:

 

v1.1.2 - Particle Acceleration now functions correctly with Force Potency. Harnessed Shadows now has a 30 second buff life, and can be applied via Slow Time. Force Strike and Circling Shadows are now inaccessible in Combat Technique. The overall effect is a significant buff to Kinetic's survivability and damage and a significant nerf to the effectiveness of hybrid specializations that do not take 31 points in Kinetic. There are no hybrid specializations that I consider worth recommending at this juncture now.

v1.1 - A Quality of Life improvement makes it so that tanks can change the recipient of their Guard without first removing it from their previous target, which is a significant boon to Jedi Shadow tanks. Combat Technique has been changed to heal a larger amount, but more infrequently; Battle Readiness increases the rate of the healing. The net effect is an overall moderate buff to the self-healing in the majority of situations. The biggest point of note, however, is the Slow Time buff - the ability now drops a 50% snare on all afflicted targets, and deals 15% more damage than before. This significant increase to AoE threat and utility essentially removes all compelling reasons to play a Hybrid Balance Tank in PvE, and should cause those playing it for PvP to rethink their position.

v1.0 - Discovery that Shielding and Defense are only partially effective in PvP significantly changes gearing approaches for this class in PvP, as well as skill specializations.

 

 

Welcome to our tanking tree. The Kinetic Shadow has the highest single-target threat of the three tank styles available in the Old Republic, and we possess a mix of battlefield control, mobility and range that makes the playstyle a blast. The bulk of a Kinetic's survivability is defined by her high blocking chance, while she has moderate avoidance, stable mitigation, and the unique ability among tanks to self-heal. Though the class's armor rating seems initially low, Combat Technique and several of its specialized skill brings the class armor values on par with the Jedi Guardian, and it has superior damage reduction for Elemental and Internal damage, the two types not covered by armor.

 

ABILITY OVERVIEW

 

Priority List:

1. Kinetic Ward (1 charge or about to expire)

2. Telekinetic Throw (3 stacks of Harnessed Shadows)

3. Spinning Strike (Target at 30% health or less)

4. Slow Time

5. Project (Particle Acceleration)

6. Force Breach (every CD)

7. Double Strike

8. Saber Strike (Conserving Force)

This priority list holds even single-target, as Slow Time and Force Breach have useful side effects, and Force in Balance is good damage for the FP cost.

 

Kinetic Ward: Useless in PvP; shielding is basically unimportant there and it costs Force and splits your attention. In PvE, just keep it up whenever it is about to expire.

 

Spinning Kick: This ability is most notable in PvP; it causes less than half a bar of resolve. Kinetic Shadows will be able to use this ability out of stealth, and should use it before any of their other stuns; it's particularly effective after Force Pulling a target into a hazard in Huttball, or to be focus-fired, thanks to the Nerve-Wracking skill. Do not open with this ability at the start of the fight, but save it to disorient the opponent. In PvE, the tank should use it regularly on the primary non-boss target.

 

Slow Time: This ability generates more single-target threat than your Double Strike, increases your Harnessed Shadows stacking, and deals a comparable amount of damage, while also snaring the target and ignoring defense/accuracy. It also delivers a hefty 5% damage debuff to the target. And it strikes up to five targets at a time within 5 meters of your original target. Use it every cooldown. This ability makes Kinetic Shadows very important for harassing opponents trying to move between objectives, especially in Huttball and Voidstar.

 

Shadow Strike: Only use this ability while Find Weakness is an active buff. If you're not SlowStab specialized, don't use it at all.

 

Force Breach: In Combat Technique, it functions like a cheaper (20 cost versus 30 cost) and weaker version of Slow Time that bypasses standard armor-based damage reduction. It has double the cooldown length, and deals less damage even against heavily armored targets. -5% accuracy is also a significantly weaker debuff than -5% damage in PvP, though it's the other way around in PvE. It's useful and necessary, but not very fun or compelling.

 

Force Stun: It has a much longer CD than Spinning Kick, but is also a much longer stun. In PvP, when used on kill targets it should be reserved for targets who are already near their maximum resolve bar. It's also very handy to use on non-kill targets, of course, to prevent enemy ranged artillery and healers from freecasting. In PvE, it should be used similarly to Spinning Kick.

 

Force Lift: 23/0/18 Hybrids will use this ability a lot due to having it as an instant cast; the two second cast makes it uncommon for use by any other type of Kinetic Shadow. The primary incapacitate basically gives the opponent a full grey resolve bar from nothing. If the target has any grey on their resolve bar prior to casting, they will get a white resolve bar, granting them CC immunity until the bar drains completely. Any damage will break a Lift, but Balance Hybrids will then get a secondary two-second stun. If the target did not already have a white resolve bar, this second stun will trigger and give them one. All in all, Lift is a risky and situational ability and I only recommend using it in PvP on a target you have no intention of killing or can guarantee that you will kill in 2-3 global cooldowns. In PvE, its benefits are slim.

 

Resilience: Any ability that doesn't deal 'weapon damage' in its description is affected by this ability. Use it together with Force Cloak to make a successful escape, use it offensively when you anticipate a cast, use it to remove all healer-removable enemy effects on you... It's on a short cooldown and grants you five seconds of near-immunity. It's particularly useful for running the ball in Huttball, or surviving boss damage traps like those on the final boss of Athiss or Eternity Vault. Resilience is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Jedi Knights and Scoundrels have some immobilizes and snares which Resilience does not grant immunity to.

 

Force Cloak: Obviously, a very useful defensive escape tool - but you cannot be healed while in it. Make sure to keep stealth in a position that's easy to activate immediately following Force Cloak. Worth noting is that Battle Readiness does not break stealth, but medpacs will - so the former would be wasted if you used it within 10 seconds of Cloaking without first breaking stealth, while the latter will immediately break your stealth and heal you. In PvP, I frequently run for the heal power-ups while being chased, cloak, and then immediately destealth right before I run over the heal. Force Cloak is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Infiltration Hybrids do not have the issue of Cloak preventing healing.

 

Mind Maze: A very useful ability - in PvP it can help a partner take an objective, reduce the number of opponents you have to face temporarily, break an opponent's objective taking without revealing your presence. In PvE, the biggest issue is that you risk discovery if you're not careful, and that your AoEs can break your Maze. It's used well in conjunction with Blackout to prevent the former issue, and strategic use of Force Pull can help with keeping your targets far enough away from your Mazed victim.

 

Blackout: For most Kinetics, this ability is only useful to ensure that you can remain hidden for a brief period of time while Mind Mazing or scouting. If you're an Infiltration hybrid, you'll want to avoid using it for that and instead using it to guarantee when you can go all-out against a target. I recommend using it at about 25% to 75% Force. Any higher and you risk wasting some of the energy, and going lower risks having periods where you have insufficient energy anyway; none of the Force would be wasted, but your burst period would be hampered. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Battle Readiness: Use it whenever you need a 10% heal. This ability does not break stealth. The bonus to your healing over time from Combat Technique is notable, but not significant enough to plan around. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Deflection: Amazing survivability CD in PvE. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. In PvP, it's of limited function; it will provide a decent survivability bonus against specializations that rely heavily on weapon damage, such as the Infiltration Shadow, Sentinels and some Gunslingers; it is of less useless against those that primarily rely on tech or force damage, such as the Commando, and completely useless against a Sage. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Force Potency: This ability should work with Particle Acceleration, but as described in the notable issues segment, it does not. That's not a major concern, however; you primarily want to use the ability with Telekinetic Throw as a Kinetic Shadow, as it increases the range to 30m and gives a 60% boosted chance of critical on every single tick. Harnessed Shadows is what you want to save your first Potency charge for. Your second should ideally be spent on Project, as you will almost always have enough Force to activate Project immediately after a full-duration TK Throw. Anything else is a waste for anyone with the Harnessed Shadows skill. If you are Kinetic and don't have Harnessed Shadows, your best bet is to use it with Force in Balance. If you don't have that, either, use it with... whatever, I guess. Note that Projects that activate with the Upheaval skill will consume two charges of Potency, and Force in Balance's heal will also consume a Potency charge. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Telekinetic Throw: Never use this ability as a Kinetic unless you have three stacks of Harnessed Shadows. With three stacks and Potency active, I can guarantee delivering 3.5k damage in 1 second, and another 3.5k damage over 2 seconds. That is a massive amount of single target threat, and a massive amount of burst damage. In a multiple target situation in PvE, this should go towards your secondary target, as it will even up your threat very quickly.

 

Project: Ideally, you should only use Project with the Particle Acceleration buff active, which can be noticed on your buff bar or with a briefly flashed halo of golden light around your character. When opening, however, you may wish to begin with Project to gain a Harnessed Shadow buff; the amount of healing and damage delivered by Harnessed Shadows is too large.

 

Force Pull: In PvE, never start a fight with your primary target using Pull; it has a threat component and a long cooldown, so it's best used to reposition a ranged enemy closer to you mid-fight. In PvP, it's extremely versatile; you can use it to close gaps with a target, pull someone into the fire (where you will then stun them), pull them into your group (where you will focus fire and murder them), or - and this is a personal favorite - sprint about 25 meters away from the group and pull a healer or a tank away from the rest of their group. Pulling the healer away prevents him from healing effectively and you may be able to kill him, especially if you broke a tank's Guard on him. Pulling the tank away prevents him from taunting and again interrupts his Guard on an ally. Use your judgement on which is the best to pull away at a given time; I usually prefer to get the healer, especially if it's a Sage, as a Sage can pull their tank right back to them.

 

Whirling Blow: This move is typically terrible and should only be used when you can guarantee you'll strike at least four targets, or if you like spinning in place like a pretty ballerina. In PvP, it can also be useful for preventing objective caps, but watch out for the Force Cost. However, when paired with Deflection and other defensive cooldowns, the Force cost can briefly become negligible and make its use more compelling when a lot of AoE damage is necessary.

 

Force of Will: Your CC breaker as a Jedi Consular. In PvE, just use it any time you're stunned for more than a second. Your speed should be used for breaking immobilizes and snares instead. In PvP, try to reserve it for when you have a white bar of resolve, unless you absolutely need to break an objective cap by the enemy or something.

 

Force Speed: You can do it every 20 seconds, and it breaks all snares and immobilizations on you. Use it judiciously to avoid hazards (like in Hard Mode Directive 7), sprint right through hazards (in Huttball, but this is risky even when paired with Resilience), close gaps, etc.

 

Guard: Judicious use of Guard is one of the things that separates the good tanks from the bad tanks. In PvE, you'll typically want to Guard your off-tank - in a flashpoint, this refers to your best-geared DPS (melee preferred over ranged.) This will reduce the amount of healing that needs to go to them. Healers should generally not be guarded barring extraordinary circumstance. In PvP, however, the Guard mechanic changes greatly and a Healer should almost always be your main Guard target. But not your only Guard target. Watch people near you and switch Guards as necessary or even turn them off if it's going to get you killed - you'll do more if you survive, heal, and taunt than if you just go down. Keeping Target Nearest Friendly bound in a convenient place as well as Set Focus and Target Focus is essential to maximizing good Guard play in PvP. Also try and keep your Guard target about 10m away from you. 15+ breaks the Guard effect, while <10 makes it too obvious who you're Guarding as well as making you both susceptible to AoEs.

 

Mind Control/Mass Mind Control: PvE, their usage is simple: you don't have threat, you use this ability and get threat. Force Pull is preferable to MC for a ranged enemy, and note MMC's short 15m radius as opposed to MC's long 30m range. In PvP, use Mind Control every CD on someone who's not hitting you (it doesn't trigger a GCD), but I'd reserve Mass Mind Control for the hectic situations. Every now and then I do burn MMC with only a single target around - if a healer is about to go down and they're already guarded and MC is about to end, then I chain in MMC. It's made the difference a few times.

 

Force Wave: There's about a 0.5s delay in activation on this ability, which can make prediction hard unless paired with a target who is already immobile. Force Wave is also the weakest KB in the game, with the least momentum behind it. Aside from the obvious 'knock someone into hazards or down cliffs' component of all knockback abilities, Force Wave should be used judiciously to get your Guard target some breathing room in PvP.

 

GEARING

 

As with all Consulars, Willpower is your primary stat, and you use both physical and Force abilities; Willpower no longer increases the effectiveness of any of your self-healing, however. When gearing in PvE, you will have to balance Shield Rating (chance of a shield effect triggering), Absorption (strength of a shield effect), and Defense. Averaging out these values to provide your maximum survivability has a precise formula. This thread has the related formula you should use if you want to find out what could potentially give you the most survivability out of your upgrade slots. The basic rule is to not try to stack too high on any one stat. In PvE, you will always prefer mods that favor Endurance over Willpower, and you'll never have to make a choice for Endurance versus a secondary stat.

 

For PvE gearing, you can just stick with the Survivor sets.

 

PvP is where the whole thing gets complicated. Avoidance and Shielding (especially shielding) are mostly worthless in PvP, as they will not activate properly on a significant portion of the attacks delivered in PvP. My recommendation for PvP tanks is to slot a balance of power and surge rating in your upgrade slots, along with a bit of critical hit rating. This extends to your relics and adrenals; only your stim is possibly in question, since a higher Endurance translates to a bigger Harnessed Shadow heal. Expertise is, of course, the most important stat - it improves all of your healing - but it's basically a default stat that doesn't need to be factored in. At 50, you'll want to run with two pieces of Survivor PvP gear rather than Stalker PvP gear if you went deep enough to get the Stasis skill - just unslot the Survivor mods and put in Stalker mods. Yes, that means you have to get at least two extra pieces of Centurion, Champion or Battlemaster.

 

Getting the four piece Survivor bonus isn't a big deal in PvP. It's preferable over having two pieces of Stalker and two pieces of Survivor, but the Stalker two-piece bonus is decent enough, so if you want to grab all Stalker pieces initially for the better mods, do so.

 

I do not recommend equipping a Shield Generator in PvP; you'll be better off with a Power Generator.

 

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[aname=Infil]INFILTRATION SHADOWS[/aname]

 

"That place is strong with the dark side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In, you must go."

 

Playstyle: Spike damage striker, harasser; melee skirmisher.

Technique: Shadow Technique

PvE Builds: Upheaval (2/31/8), Armor Piercing (5/33/3)

PvP Builds: PvP Upheaval (0/33/8)

Which spec should I pick?: Honestly, I haven't done the math on whether Upheaval or AP is a better spec and I haven't been able to find any math on that subject. If anyone happens to know where I can find some, please let me know.

 

Overview of Recent Changes:

 

v1.1.2 - Circling Shadows is now only accessible in Shadow Technique, and changing stances costs 100 Force. This essentially prevents the Infiltration Shadow from switching stance mid-fight for a survivability spike.

 

 

ABILITY OVERVIEW

 

Priority List:

1. Spinning Strike (Target at 30% health or less)

2. Shadow Strike (Find Weakness)

3. Force Breach (every CD)

4. Project (2x Circling Shadows)

5. Clairvoyant Strike or Double Strike

6. Saber Strike (Conserving Force)

 

Infiltration is the most martially-based of the three Shadow trees, eventually becoming extremely flashy as a melee combatant. It's the tree the Shadow was built for, and thus levels the most effectively of any Shadow tree early on; where the other trees are grasping for their basics before level 20, the Infiltrator already has most of what he needs. It also is unique, as it is the only spec among all 24 Republic specializations that has no good 30m offensive abilities, and essentially, no method of gap closing beyond Force Speed. In return, it has the most effective control while it is on a target, and the highest damage of any Shadow specialization. The basic conceit of the tree is that you use your martial strikes with a lightsaber to either buy time for your powerful, Force-driven attacks; or that you use those abilities to get into position for a particularly vicious Lightsaber stab in the back.

 

Note that Infiltration is overall considered to be lesser PvE damage than Balance, both for its higher melee dependency and lower sustained damage.

 

Double/Clairvoyant Strike: Clairvoyant is essentially the same ability as Double Strike, dealing slightly more damage, using a new animation, and with an excellent secondary effect. Once you have Clairvoyant Strike, take Double Strike off your bar.

 

Shadow Strike: Generally, try to restrict use of this ability to when Find Weakness has activated, preferably near the end of Find Weakness' buff cycle since it can only trigger once every 10 seconds anyway. It can deal more damage than Spinning Strike for you when it crits. There may be once or twice you'll really need the spike of burst damage and you have the spare Force to use Shadow Strike without the Find Weakness buff active, but it's not going to happen very often, and miscalculated it will cost you more damage than it gives you. You may also sometimes wish to open with this ability in PvP, such as on a weakened target.

 

Spinning Kick: This ability is most notable in PvP; it causes less than half a bar of resolve. Do not open with this ability at the start of the fight, but save it to disorient the opponent after vanishing with Force Cloak, particularly if the opponent is in mid-activation of a non-instant ability. You can also use Spinning Kick to buy you time to set up for a Shadow Strike backstab.

 

Low Slash: This ability has some similarities to Spinning Kick for tanks, but important differences; Low Slash does significantly more damage, almost as much as your normal attack. Low Slash is also a daze and not a stun, which means that it breaks on damage. It also fills the resolve bar less than Force Stun. This opens up several different avenues of approach: Low Slash into a brief run into a Force Lift when you want to escape, Low Slash into Shadow Strike for burst, Spinning Kick into Low Slash into Force Stun to maximize damage uptime and minimize their time to react, Low Slash to break someone's non-instant ability... it has a very fast CD, which only helps. In PvP, this is the most game changing single ability for an Infiltration Shadow; in PvE, however, the only reason you would bother to take it is because it's required for Clairvoyant Strike.

 

Force Slow: Should be spammed on your primary target judiciously in PvP, just about every cooldown. It causes no resolve, does a little bit of damage, and helps you maximize your uptime. It has no PvE usage except on very specific fights.

 

Shadow Technique, Force Breach and Exit Strategy: Since Shadow Technique has a chance to activate on each hit, even though it's capped at a maximum of 1 activation per 1.5s, all of your multiple hit moves get more benefit from Shadow Technique than it appears. Incidentally, you gain.Exit Strategy charges very slowly. You'd need six or seven full cycles to get a stack of five with high certainty - that's around 30 seconds, and Force Breach will be up every 12 to 15 seconds. Exit Strategy should be simply considered a bonus rather than a need in a maximum DPS cycle, and Force Breach should only be held back when you want burst damage.

 

Force Stun: It has a much longer CD than Spinning Kick, but is also a much longer stun. In PvP, when used on kill targets it should be reserved for targets who are already near their maximum resolve bar. It's also very handy to use on non-kill targets, of course, to prevent enemy ranged artillery and healers from freecasting. In PvE, it should be used similarly to Spinning Kick.

 

Force Lift: The two second cast makes this ability uncommonly used. The primary incapacitate basically gives the opponent a full grey resolve bar from nothing. If the target has any grey on their resolve bar prior to casting, they will get a white resolve bar, granting them CC immunity until the bar drains completely. Any damage will break a Lift, but Balance Hybrids will then get a secondary two-second stun. If the target did not already have a white resolve bar, this second stun will trigger and give them one. All in all, Lift is a risky and situational ability and I only recommend using it in PvP on a target you have no intention of killing or can guarantee that you will kill in 2-3 global cooldowns. In PvE, its benefits are slim.

 

Resilience: Any ability that doesn't deal 'weapon damage' in its description is affected by this ability. Use it together with Force Cloak to make a successful escape, use it offensively when you anticipate a cast, use it to remove all healer-removable enemy effects on you... It's on a moderate cooldown and grants you three seconds of near-immunity. It's particularly useful for running the ball in Huttball, or surviving boss damage traps like those on the final boss of Athiss or Eternity Vault. Resilience is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Jedi Knights and Scoundrels have some immobilizes and snares which Resilience does not grant immunity to.

 

Force Cloak: Obviously, a very useful defensive escape tool - but you can use it offensively to lead into a Spinning Kick when it's absolutely vital.

 

Blackout: You'll want to avoid using this ability for improving your stealthiness most times, and instead use it to guarantee when you can go all-out against a target; it increases your Force Regeneration. I recommend using it at about 25% to 75% Force. Any higher and you risk wasting some of the energy, and going lower risks having periods where you have insufficient energy anyway; none of the Force would be wasted, but your burst period would be hampered. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Battle Readiness: The additional damage increase is fairly large - it can easily pan out to an additional 3000 damage while it's active, by itself - and gets even larger when timed with other cooldowns. Use it early, use it often. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Deflection: Amazing survivability CD in PvE. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. In PvP, it's of limited function; it will provide a decent survivability bonus against specializations that rely heavily on weapon damage, such as the Infiltration Shadow, Sentinels and some Gunslingers; it is of less useless against those that primarily rely on tech or force damage, such as the Commando, and completely useless against a Sage. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Force Potency: Note that Projects that activate with the Upheaval skill will consume two charges of Potency. You'll want to use Force Breach first with this, then Force Potency, for maximum ouchies. And trust me, it will be very ouch. In PvP, your four-piece set bonus gives an extra Potency charge, so you can use it in whatever order you like. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Telekinetic Throw: This move is usually terrible as an Infiltration. Potency/Recklessness extends the range and makes every tick have a 60% higher crit chance, making it situationally useful. You may want to bind it if you're really concerned about the lack of a 30m attack and think that there will be sufficient situations where you'll save up Potency to channel from 30 meters away - stranger things have happened. But that will be rare enough that, if you are hurting for keybind space, you won't miss not having this on your bars.

 

Project: Only use it after two Clairvoyant Strikes or Double Strikes. Don't bother using it before you get the Circling Shadows skill. In PvE, Project has a stun effect on some weaker enemies if you're desperate for a chance to backstab.

 

Whirling Blow: This move is terrible and should only be used when you can guarantee you'll strike at least three targets (preferably four or more), or if you like spinning in place like a pretty ballerina. In PvP, it can also be useful for preventing objective caps, but watch out for the Force Cost.

 

Force of Will: Your CC breaker as a Jedi Consular. In PvE, just use it any time you're stunned for more than a second. Your speed should be used for breaking immobilizes and snares instead. In PvP, try to reserve it for when you have a white bar of resolve, unless you absolutely need to break an objective cap by the enemy or something.

 

Force Speed: You can do it every 30 seconds, and it increases speed enough to basically ignore most snares (though not immobilizations.) Use it judiciously to avoid hazards (like in Hard Mode Directive 7), sprint right through hazards (in Huttball, but this is risky even when paired with Resilience), close gaps, etc.

 

Mind Control/Mass Mind Control: PvE, their usage is simple: don't. You're not a tank. In PvP, refer to the Kinetic Shadow overview.

 

Force Wave: There's about a 0.5s delay in activation on this ability, which can make prediction hard unless paired with a target who is already immobile. Force Wave is also the weakest KB in the game, with the least momentum behind it. Aside from the obvious 'knock someone into hazards or down cliffs' component of all knockback abilities, Force Wave should be used judiciously to some breathing room in PvP, such as immediately before a Cloak.

 

GEARING

 

As with all Consulars, Willpower is your primary stat, and you use both physical and Force abilities. The Infiltration Shadow has essentially identical preferences for gearing in both PvE and PvP. You target the Stalker gearsets at 50, and lean heavily on critical hit chance in your passive gear upgrades, while picking up a bit of Surge rating here and there incidentally. Around 5% accuracy from gear is useful - much more and you are subject to diminishing returns that reduce the value of the gear. Your adrenals and active-use relics will prefer to be Surge Rating and Power so that they can be used in conjunction with your Potency. Accuracy Rating is of minimal importance, and I would strive to minimize it in your gear whenever possible. In PvP, Expertise Rating will be your single most important statistic.

 

[[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

 

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Edited by AstralFire
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[aname=Balance]BALANCE SHADOWS[/aname]

 

"The Force is my ally, and a powerful ally it is."

 

Playstyle: Periodic damage, self-healing; versatile range.

Technique: Force Technique

PvE Builds: Standard (7/3/31)

PvP Builds: Survivability (7/2/32), Upheaval (5/0/31+5), Balance Stab (0/10/31)

Which spec should I pick?: For PvE, there is only one choice up there. For PvP, I recommend Survivability, which deals a good amount of AoE pressure damage, can solo annoy at nodes best, and has a strong and easy single target damage. Upheaval is the more traditional Balance PvP and - with 4pForce Master - allows for the best kiting. The last has the highest burst damage available to Balance, but is the hardest to play.

 

Overview of Recent Changes:

 

v1.1.2 - Significant changes. Deep Balance now doubles the healing from earlier in the tree, rather than a 20% increase; Force Focus now removes the cooldown on Force Breach when in Force Technique; Force Strike has been retooled to be significantly easier to activate at lower gear levels, but will deal less damage for a geared Shadow. Force Strike now requires Force Technique, and stance switching now costs 100 Force. Technique Mastery no longer increases the duration of Force Technique, but still increases the critical chance and also increases damage by 18%. The overall effect is that Balance is now limited to Force Technique, but Force Technique is significantly better.

 

 

The Balance Shadow is the only Melee/Range hybrid out of all six Jedi specializations; obviously, Madness Assassins hold the same distinction among their kin. It's notable for being the only type of Jedi Shadow that doesn't want to hurl a big rock or piece of scrap metal at someone every single possible cooldown; as you can see, it uses the largest range of completely unique skills as part of its damage rotation.

 

It's also unbelievably complicated to play compared to the other Shadow specs in PvE; maximizing your damage as a Balance Shadow involves very careful proc watching, managing your Force carefully, timing your cooldowns and a constant game of positioning. If you're familiar with the Wrath of the Lich King simplified feral druid DPS flowchart, it's like that. Especially if you do the Mad-Deception build, which is higher damage than the Standard, but is extremely complicated to play and monitor. By contrast, it's also probably the easiest Shadow specialization in PvP, as several moves are reserved for situational moments or used on CD rather than at specific times to maximize DPS. And no Shadow Strike.

 

ABILITY OVERVIEW

 

Priority List (Standard):

1. Force in Balance (Even single target, every CD)

2. Project (If
is not active, or about to expire)

3. Spinning Strike (Target at 30% health or less)

4. Shadow Strike (Find Weakness, behind target)

5. Mind Crush (Force Strike buff, preferentially on an unafflicted target)

6. Sever Force (On a target not currently afflicted, or about to expire)

7. Force Breach (every CD)

8. Double Strike

9. Saber Strike (Conserving Force)

 

Double Strike: You have the strongest Double Strike of all three specializations, and it's worth noting that your Double Strike is better for you than Project.

 

Spinning Kick: This ability is most notable in PvP; it causes less than half a bar of resolve. Do not open with this ability at the start of the fight, but save it to disorient the opponent after vanishing with Force Cloak, particularly if the opponent is in mid-activation of a non-instant ability. You can also use Spinning Kick to buy you time to set up for a Shadow Strike backstab.

 

Force in Balance: Use it on cooldown. It deals a lot of armor-bypassing damage and heals a moderate amount on each usage. Force Suppression allows it to return Force to you, but you will always lose more Force than you gain on a cast unless you're using a Force Striked Mind Crush. It's particularly effective for breaking enemy attempts at capturing an objective - you can use it to blast someone around a corner - but beware its three person target cap.

 

Force Breach: In Force Technique, it's your strongest damage DoT, and a basic part of your cycle. In Combat Technique, it functions like a cheaper (20 cost versus 30 cost) and weaker version of Slow Time that bypasses standard armor-based damage reduction. It has double the cooldown length, and deals less damage even against heavily armored targets. -5% accuracy is also a significantly weaker debuff than -5% damage in PvP, though it's the other way around in PvE. It's useful and necessary, but not very fun or compelling. Reserve it for cap breaking or very large crowds.

 

Sever Force: In PvE, you simply use this ability on rotation - note that its cooldown is much shorter than its duration, so be careful of over-early reapplication. In PvP, its thirty meter range is your best friend; it can be used to stop opponents for two seconds, and does not respect Resolve; a well-timed Sever Force handles most of your anti-kiting needs and when well-timed, can kill a ball carrier over a fire pit, or prevent successful enemy capture of a point until you're able to return from the dead. However, if you suspect that you will need to use Force Lift on a target soon, do not use this ability on that target.

 

Force Stun: It has a much longer CD than Spinning Kick, but is also a much longer stun. In PvP, when used on kill targets it should be reserved for targets who are already near their maximum resolve bar. It's also very handy to use on non-kill targets, of course, to prevent enemy ranged artillery and healers from freecasting. In PvE, it should be used similarly to Spinning Kick.

 

Force Lift: The primary incapacitate basically gives the opponent a full grey resolve bar from nothing. If the target has any grey on their resolve bar prior to casting, they will get a white resolve bar, granting them CC immunity until the bar drains completely. Any damage will break a Lift, but you will then get a secondary two-second stun. If the target did not already have a white resolve bar, this second stun will trigger and give them one. All in all, Lift is a risky and situational ability and I only recommend using it in PvP on a target you have no intention of killing or can guarantee that you will kill in 2-3 global cooldowns. In PvE, its benefits are slim.

 

Resilience: Any ability that doesn't deal 'weapon damage' in its description is affected by this ability. Use it together with Force Cloak to make a successful escape, use it offensively when you anticipate a cast, use it to remove all healer-removable enemy effects on you... It's on a short cooldown and grants you five seconds of near-immunity. It's particularly useful for running the ball in Huttball, or surviving boss damage traps like those on the final boss of Athiss or Eternity Vault. Resilience is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Jedi Knights and Scoundrels have some immobilizes and snares which Resilience does not grant immunity to.

 

Force Cloak: Obviously, a very useful defensive escape tool - but you cannot be healed while in it. You can use it offensively to lead into a Spinning Kick when it's absolutely vital.

 

Battle Readiness: The additional damage increase is fairly large - it can easily pan out to an additional 2000 damage while it's active, by itself - and gets even larger when timed with other cooldowns. Use it early, use it often. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Deflection: Amazing survivability CD in PvE. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. In PvP, it's of limited function; it will provide a decent survivability bonus against specializations that rely heavily on weapon damage, such as the Infiltration Shadow, Sentinels and some Gunslingers; it is of less useless against those that primarily rely on tech or force damage, such as the Commando, and completely useless against a Sage. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Force Potency: Force in Balance and Telekinetic Throw are your best candidates to maximize the damage done by this ability, especially since in unison they allow you to briefly fight from well beyond the 10 meter range. Project benefits very little for a Balance Shadow.

 

Telekinetic Throw: Most situations where you think you might want to use Project, use Telekinetic Throw instead unless you absolutely need to keep moving, need to refresh Twin Disciplines, or are not likely to get at least one second of channel time with this ability. It is more efficient for damage and can never accidentally consume two Potency charges.

 

Project: Ideally, you should only use Project with Potency or when Twin Disciplines is about to fade. It's Force inefficient and hard to set up with your slow regeneration rate. In PvP, Project should be reserved for dealing with opponents when attempting to kite or gap close - the damage added by Twin Disciplines is unfortunately minor for PvP, as you need very high and consistent melee range uptime to make good use of it.

 

Mind Crush: Only when Force Strike is active. Instant, no-cost Mind Crushes will give you a significant amount of burst, as well as regen from Force Suppression charges. The only bad part is that you'll have to watch your buff bar closely as there is no easily noticed visual indicator of this somewhat rarely activated ability.

 

Whirling Blow: This move is terrible and should only be used when you can guarantee you'll strike at least four targets, or if you like spinning in place like a pretty ballerina. In PvP, it can also be useful for preventing objective caps, but watch out for the Force Cost.

 

Force of Will: Your CC breaker as a Jedi Consular. In PvE, just use it any time you're stunned for more than a second. Your speed should be used for breaking immobilizes and snares instead. In PvP, try to reserve it for when you have a white bar of resolve, unless you absolutely need to break an objective cap by the enemy or something.

 

Force Speed:You can do it every 30 seconds, and it increases speed enough to basically ignore most snares (though not immobilizations.) Use it judiciously to avoid hazards (like in Hard Mode Directive 7), sprint right through hazards (in Huttball, but this is risky even when paired with Resilience), close gaps, etc.

 

Mind Control/Mass Mind Control: PvE, their usage is simple: don't. You're not a tank. In PvP, refer to the Kinetic Shadow overview.

 

Force Wave: There's about a 0.5s delay in activation on this ability, which can make prediction hard unless paired with a target who is already immobile. Force Wave is also the weakest KB in the game, with the least momentum behind it. Aside from the obvious 'knock someone into hazards or down cliffs' component of all knockback abilities, Force Wave should be used judiciously to some breathing room in PvP, such as immediately before a Cloak.

 

GEARING

 

As with all Consulars, Willpower is your primary stat, and you use both physical and Force abilities. Your gear priority in PvE and PvP is identical; you want Critical Rating and Surge Rating until the diminishing returns get too high. (Usually around 400 each.) Around 5% accuracy from gear is useful - much more and you are subject to diminishing returns that reduce the value of the gear. Your adrenals and active-use relics will prefer to be Surge Rating and Power so that they can be used in conjunction with your Potency. In PvP, Expertise Rating will be your single most important statistic.

 

The problem is gearsets. You can simply use the Stalker sets for PvE, but for PvP, you will want to use modified Force-Master item sets, taking out the Alacrity bonuses for Accuracy instead. The 2 piece bonus is immense. Depending on whether you use Project kiting regularly or prefer to slow to melee range more often, you may stick with Force-Master for the 4 piece bonus, or switch to Stalker for its 2 piece bonus.

 

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[aname=Companions]SHADOW COMPANIONS[/aname]

 

To assist you in your missions, you'll build a small team of helpers over time. While they will remain with you regardless of how you treat them, making sure that they like you is important; a companion who likes and respects you will craft faster and perform skill missions more successfully. To avoid accidental spoilers, each companion is listed in a dropdown beneath their planet.

 

TYTHON

 

 

Qyzen Fess (Male Trandoshan)

Location: Tython (Late, approx. L8-L10)

Class: Tech Hunter

Stances: Melee Striker, Melee Defender

Armor: Light through Heavy Armor, Shields, Power Generators

Armaments: Techblade

Crew Skills: +15 Archaeology Efficiency, +5 Bioanalysis Efficiency

Voice Actor: Unknown

 

"Many points gained."

 

Qyzen Fess makes for an excellent companion for a Jedi Consular of any type; even if you're planning to become a Kinetic Combat Shadow in the long run, you're going to be squishy for a while, so someone to trade places with you as a meat shield is very welcome. Qyzen likes trooper gear, as Aim is an important statistic for him. Strength, however, will work just fine for most of Qyzen's abilities (all of them below the late 20s). To keep Qyzen happy, promote an honorable, firm but compassionate strength, helping those who have tried to help themselves and not coddling or sparing the wicked. He deeply appreciates any respect shown to your master. He does not like it when you use Force Persuade on people.

 

Even if you become a tank in the long run, Qyzen can easily switch to a Striker mode. At lower levels, you may find it useful to trade threat with Qyzen in difficult fights.

 

 

CORUSCANT

 

 

C2-N2 (Steward Droid)

Location: Coruscant (Late, approx. L14-L16)

Class: Goldenrod Healbot

Stance: Healer

Armor: Droid Armor Plating, Power Generator

Armaments: None

Crew Skills: None

Voice Actor: Unknown

 

"I take your respiratory health as a top priority, master."

 

Despite his protests, you can take your creepy ship droid out onto the field. He's heavily armored, but brings no offensive abilities, making him only a good partner for a fully realized Jedi Shadow. He does eventually get a Crowd Control ability; however, he cannot even equip a weapon, so his stats will always be at least somewhat subpar.

 

 

 

NAR SHADDAA

 

 

Tharan Cedrex (Male Human)

Location: Nar Shaddaa (Late, right before Shadow Town)

Class: Scoundrel Scientist

Stances: Healer, Ranged Striker

Armor: Light through Medium Armor

Armaments: Blaster Pistols, Scatterguns

Crew Skills: +10 Cybertech Efficiency, +10 Slicing Efficiency

Voice Actor: Jamie Elman

Holiday's Voice Actress: Tara Strong

 

"They never suspect the scientist."

 

A smooth talking scientist, you Lady Shadows might think Tharan is the guy for you, until you remember that he dates a hologram. Living the dream, Cortana fans. I guess. Anyway. Tharan is a pragmatic pacifist, lover of personal liberties, a womanizer, and a brain. He likes it when you show off your intellect - such as with creative insults - and are careful, rather than bloodthirsty, going into a mission. He does not like much mysticism from you, including Force philosophy and Force Persuade. Tharan is pretty much the perfect companion for a Shadow at this level, mechanically; at higher levels, he is even able to summon Holiday as a channeled disorient, which proves extremely useful. Tharan is also a welcome breath of fresh air after twenty-plus levels of Qyzen Fess.

 

Tharan is

 

 

 

BALMORRA

 

 

Zenith (Male Twi'lek)

Location: Balmorra (Late)

Class: Resistance Sniper

Stances: Ranged Striker, Ranged Area Striker

Armor: Light through Heavy Armor

Armaments: Sniper Rifles, Blaster Rifles, Scattergun

Crew Skills: +15 Investigation Efficiency, +1 Underworld Trading Critical Effect

Voice Actor: Troy Baker

 

Brusque and untrusting, this Twi'lek is vital in your efforts to retake Balmorra. He's cynical, manipulative, and probably your single most 'evil' companion (he's still more light than dark, but definitely would be mid-slide on the slippery slope.) However, I did not find much use for him. He doesn't deal as much damage as Nadia, takes damage too quickly to be comfortable, and doesn't contribute to your survivability as a Shadow.

 

 

 

HOTH

 

 

Lt. Felix Iresso (Male Human)

Location: Hoth (Completion)

Class: Vanguard Trooper

Stances: Ranged Defender, Ranged Striker

Armor: Light through Heavy Armor, Shields, Power Generators

Armaments: Blaster Rifles

Crew Skills: +2 Armstech Critical Effect, +2 Scavenging Critical Effect

Voice Actor: Dion Graham

 

Lieutenant Iresso is the love interest for the female Jedi Consular. He's probably the least interesting of your companions, in my opinion; he's a sweet boy, with a little bit of a mystery attached to his companion stories, but I found him kind of forgettable. He's extremely easy to raise affection on, in my opinion - he has affection gains per conversation option about half of what Nadia has, but his favorite items are all of the sort that none of your other companions want - a real boon for those of you working your mission skills hard. Mechanically, he's probably your best tank; he's comfortable from range, allowing him to avoid hazards that get Qyzen stomped, and can deal good damage too.

 

 

 

BELSAVIS

 

 

Nadia Grell (Female Sarkhai)

Location: Belsavis (Post-Completion)

Class: Jedi Padawan

Stances: Melee Striker, Melee Elite Striker

Armor: Light Armor

Armaments: Lightsabers, Double-Bladed Lightsabers, Electrostaves

Crew Skills: +10 Synthweaving Efficiency, +2 Diplomacy Critical Effect

Voice Actress: Holly Fields

 

Nadia Grell is the daughter of the Senator from Sarkhai, a new planet that has just joined the Republic and the Rift Alliance. She eventually becomes the love interest for the male Jedi Consular; you first meet her at the start of Act 2. She eventually becomes your padawan, and is the first of her species known to be force-sensitive. She has a very sweet and gentle personality. I'm not sure that that excuses her having a bonus in tailoring, though...

 

Widely considered to be your most powerful companion in terms of damage, but not particularly good for a Shadow of any kind, I'm afraid. She just takes too much damage too fast, and it doesn't help that she arrives right before a difficult boss fight. Like all companions, she does not come fully equipped, which only complicates matters.

 

 

 

SECRET COMPANION

 

 

HK-51 (Assassin Droid)

Location: Hoth

Class: Hunter-Killer

Stances: Ranged Defender, Ranged Striker

Armor: Droid Armor Plating, Shields, Power Generators

Armaments: Blaster Pistols, Blaster Rifles

Voice Actor: Kris Tabori

 

"Systems failing, Master."

 

Yes, he's back... sort of.

 

 

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[aname=Equipment]EQUIPPING A SHADOW[/aname]

 

Handling your way across your starter world of Tython as a Jedi Consular should be pretty simple, for the most part. However, your masters and lessons do not really explain a lot about gearing, and I feel that it is useful to have a reference list available here. If you're looking for specific gearing instructions per specialization, look back at the final paragraph for each specialization instead. This is general information.

 

All characters use one primary ability score of Aim, Cunning, Strength or Willpower. All four of these abilities has a specialized purpose. Aim will only increase your ranged damage and critical chance, Cunning will only increase your tech damage and critical chance, Strength will only increase your melee damage and critical chance, and Willpower will only increase your Force damage and critical chance. Normally, anyway.

 

Each base class has a different primary ability score. A primary ability score equally improves both of the damage vectors which your class will use. Through the Force, all things are possible; Willpower is the primary score for Consulars and Inquisitors, and grants both Melee Damage and Force Damage, as a result. This holds true for the Shadow and Assassin advanced classes, but the Sage and Sorcerer advanced classes uniquely lose this dual benefit.

 

Presence measures your ability to inspire, lead, and guide your companions. A higher presence score will increase your companion's health, damage and healing. Companions take up the party slot of a player, but are less effective than a player; if you intend to do a lot of content which requires full or nearly full groups, it's not wise to invest much into presence.

 

Endurance, simply enough, improves one's raw health.

 

Secondary stats are available, which add more complexity to the matter.

 

Absorption Rating: Increases the amount of damage blocked by a successful shield reaction. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Accuracy Rating: Grants additional hit, and then reduces the opponent's defense once past 100%. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels. Generally not a very good stat for Shadows.

 

Alacrity Rating: A secondary stat which improves the speed of activation time for non-instant abilities. It does not affect the Global Cooldown for instant abilities. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Critical Rating: Improves the chance of a critical hit. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Defense Rating: Improves the chance of a avoiding an attack. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Expertise Rating: Increases damage and healing done, and reduces damage taken, but only in PvP. A maximum of 20% effectiveness. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Force Power: A secondary stat which improves Force Ability damage and healing only.

 

Power: A secondary stat which improves damage and healing from all sources.

 

Shield Rating: Increases the chance that a shield reaction is triggered against an attack. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Surge Rating: Improves the effect of a critical hit. Base Surge is +50%. More rating is required to achieve the same percentage bonus at higher character levels.

 

Tech Power: A secondary stat which improves Tech Ability damage and healing only.

 

[[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

 

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[aname=Crew Skills]CREW SKILLS[/aname]

 

Money can get you everything.

 

Those of you coming from World of Warcraft post-Classic are familiar with the skill layout of that game, where every single craft skill had to have a mechanically advantageous thing that it 'owned' (each of them being roughly as good as the others). Several of the crafting skills in that game effectively were worthless to anyone besides the wielder, to boot.

 

That is not how this game works, mechanically. Every single crew skill mechanical perk originates from the fact that you're getting the benefit cheaper or earlier than someone who does not have your craft skill. For example, anyone can use medpacks; only a Biochem producer can get a reusable medpack, which costs more to craft but will never get used up. You do not need to be an artificer to upgrade your lightsaber; artificers make the upgrades, you just buy them and insert them into the lightsaber yourself. Etc. The other thing is that all of the crafting skills have some sort of aesthetic option which is unique to them, and these are among the rare bind-on-pickup items that cannot be given to anyone else.

 

Therefore, there are three approaches to take when choosing your Crew Skill layout: Do I want to get something that will save me money on a reusable I want a lot of, do I want to get something that will make me a lot of money, or do I want to get something that will give me a unique visual perk? It cannot be stressed enough that crafting of any kind while leveling up will only be of limited use; you will always end up ahead in credits while leveling by not crafting anything. It becomes a question of time and money spent now, versus time and money spent later to either level up your own craft skill or constantly purchasing everything you need.

 

To make your decision, you need to have a good grasp of what can be made by each craft skill. You have access to three crew skills per character; a maximum of one may be a craft skill, and it's recommended that the other two be a gathering skill and a mission skill which support that craft skill. Everything is oriented around the crafting skills; mission skills provide a nice little bit of flavor, but are essentially a second gathering skill oriented around the rarer materials that cannot be obtained through direct gathering.

 

It's important to note that you will not automatically get all of the important recipes for Craft Skills from the skill itself, even by reverse-engineering; you will need to get some of these schematics from the Galactic Trade Network. It's also important to note that you will always lose money by sending crew members to do missions, as the point is more to raise your skill and gain materials while not being out in the field yourself. If it was strictly superior to self-gathering, no one would ever do it.

 

I'll go over each of the Crew Skills in brief - each section will contain the Crew Skill's codex entry, followed by my input.

 

CRAFTING SKILLS

You may only have one of these skills on your character. If you take one of these, it is your most important skill. As noted above, once you get to endgame, you are not getting unique mechanical perks from what you make via these skills; you're just getting it cheaper, easier, prettier, faster, or reusable. For leveling content, they do create some unique stuff for lower levels, so rich rerollers will make purchases from dedicated crafters a lot.

 

 

ARMORMECH

Recommended Skills: Scavenging. Underworld Trading (Underworld Metals).

 

Codex: Armormech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to construct armor for non-Force users. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the armor creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Armormechs can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armormech.

 

Comments: Armormech is not your typical choice for a force user, because it provides no mechanical benefits to the Jedi or Sith whatsoever. It also has no aesthetic benefit to the Shadow or Assassin, who cannot wear its armor. I do not recommend it for you for any reason; it is a good craft skill, but not for the class you are reading about in this guide. The materials from its Gathering skill will be in high demand, and non-Force users are going to be a smaller clientele than Force users in this game, I can guarantee that. There is potentially some money to be made off of Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior ACs who want an unconventional look for their character, but that's not a compelling enough reason on its own to take this skill. For both making money and saving you money, this flunks the test.

 

Rating: :mon_trap:

 

ARMSTECH

Recommended Skills: Scavenging, Investigation (Compounds)

 

Codex: Armstech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to craft blasters, blaster modifications and melee weapons. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the weapon creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Crafted blasters include blaster pistols, blaster rifles, sniper rifles, assault cannons and shotguns. Blaster modifications include blaster barrels. Melee weapons include vibroblades and electrostaves. Armstechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armstech.

 

Comments: What it does not tell you is that everything it makes sucks, except for the blaster specific mod (the gun barrel), and the many, many unique models of blaster that it can make. Endgame Vibroswords and Electrostaves (if they ever intend to make the latter useful to a player rather than a companion) are obtained via vendors, to prevent this from being the potentially most universal skill ever. Instead, it's possibly the only thing worse than Armormech, unless you really, really need to make sure that keeping Qyzen equipped is easy. Since, hooray, it can make Techblades.

 

Rating: :mon_trap:

 

ARTIFICE

Recommended Skills: Archaeology, Treasure Hunting (Gemstones)

 

Codex: Artifice is the delicate skill of constructing lightsaber modifications, enhancements, generators and focii. Lightsaber modifications include color crystals and hilts that augment a Force user's combat attributes. Color crystals determine beam and bolt color for lightsabers and blasters. Enhancements are modification upgrades for weapons and armor. Artificers can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Artifice.

 

Comments: An important skill, as it creates the color crystals used by every weapon in the game, upgrades your personal weapon, creates multiple slots (force-user off-hands, shield generators), creates endgame relics, lightsaber hilt mods, and the enhancement mod which can go on all major body parts and weapons. They can also create their own lightsabers at maximum skill, though the lightsaber hilt model is usually not as important to players as the blade color. The relics, along with the unique lightsabers, are their 'self only' perk, as these relics can also be bought from stores. Until everyone is geared up, the BoE relics are likely to sell well for the people who can get their skill up high enough quickly. Because it is 'exciting', I expect this skill will be picked up by many players, including many non-Force Users. It may suffer from market dilution, and does not have a consumable to keep it useful once the economy settles, so I tentatively rate it well.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

BIOCHEM

Recommended Skills: Bioanalysis, Diplomacy (Medical Supplies)

 

Codex: Biochem is the skill involved in crafting medical supplies, performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants. Biochemists can create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. Biochemists can reverse engineer their crafted implants and possibly discover new ways to improve implant creation. The gathering skill Bioanalysis provides crafting resources for Biochem.

 

Comments: Medkits, Stims, Adrenals, and the only skill that can make implants. Similar to Artifice's relics, these can be obtained without being a Biochemist, but it will be easier for them. Until everyone is geared up, the BoE implants are likely to sell well for the people who can get their skill up high enough quickly. The real prizes for the biochemist for self-use are the reusable stims and adrenals. They will be expensive as anything to manufacture, but once they are, you'll be set for life.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

CYBERTECH

Recommended Skills: Scavenging, Underworld Trading (Underworld Metals)

 

Codex: Cybertech is the skill to assemble droid armor, earpieces, grenades, armoring, mods and miscellaneous gadgets. Armoring and mods are upgrade modifications that augment combat ability. Earpieces are external mini-computers that are worn on or near the ear. They enhance combat prowess by giving audio and visual feedback to the wearer or through direct neural feedback via an external nerve relay. Cybertechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Cybertech.

 

Comments: As with Artifice and Biochem, it has exclusive crafter access to improving your ship, as well as two item slots (earpieces) - both of which can be obtained in other ways for more money. Until everyone is geared up, the BoE earpieces are likely to sell well for the people who can get their skill up high enough quickly. What makes Cybertech decent is that it crafts the two of the most common upgrade items - Mod and Armoring, which can go on nearly every piece in the game - as well as five different consumable grenades. And these grenades can be made in reusable varieties for the Cybertech.

 

That's right, you gain access to moderate to low damage ranged AoE attacks, which each carry a useful secondary effect: A slow, a stun, an immobilize, an immobilize, and a damage-over-time effect - periodic damage can ruin capturing objectives in PvP as well as attempts to use Force Cloak. That's pretty huge in PvP, and even in PvE, as AoE abilities which do not sap you of precious, precious Force? They're pretty awesome.

 

...And if that wasn't good enough, Cybertech can make you a custom speeder bike, too.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

SYNTHWEAVING

Recommended Skills: Archaeology, Underworld Trading (Luxury Fabrics, Underworld Metals)

 

Codex: Synthweaving is the process of fabricating synthetic materials out of crystals, various chemicals and artifact fragments to construct armor for Force users. Vendors provide premade solutions, suspensions and composites that are used during the Synthweaving process. Synthweavers can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Synthweaving.

 

Comments: There are three ways to benefit from Synthweaving: aesthetically, you can get orange gear. While leveling, you can critically craft certain armor pieces to get an extra upgrade slot on them, and people who do operations can obtain high level schematics to get some of the best equipment in the game when those are critically crafted. This makes it a great profession for PvE players.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

 

 

GATHERING SKILLS

Gathering skills are skills which you or your companion may employ in the field, when you see an appropriate resource. They supply the basic materials used in crafting skills. You may send your companions on gathering missions which cost money, but provide you with skill-point appropriate resources. There is a chance for your companion to fail when deployed on missions (I believe it is related to their affection), but it will always give you a skill point even if they fail. Out of your maximum of three crew skills, all three may be gathering skills.

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGY

Recommended Skills: Artifice, Synthweaving

 

Codex: Archaeology is the study of crystal formations and archaeological finds. Crystal formations contain crystals that an Artificer can use to construct lightsaber modifications and armor for Force users. Archaeological finds contain artifact fragments of Force-imbued technology. These valuable items contain ancient formulas and algorithms used in the crafting skills Artifice and Synthweaving. Archaeologists can send their companions on missions to gather resources.

 

Comments: Archaeology is an essential skill for Artifice - the craft skill that everyone wants - and is easy to level up. Synthweaving will be high in demand as well. My personal experience is that you get Archaeology materials faster than needed to keep up with your mission skills if you're going at a good clip of leveling speed, so it may be a less satisfactory choice for a pure gatherer.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

BIOANALYSIS

Recommended Skills: Biochem

 

Codex: Bioanalysis is the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and vegetation. Genetic materials include cell fibers, bacterial strains, toxic extracts and medicinal fluids. Biochemists use these materials to create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. The crafting skill Biochem utilizes Bioanalysis resources. Bioanalysts can send their companions on missions to gather resources.

 

Comments: Let's be clear right now: Biochemistry is going to be very important, so even though this is only tied to one skill, gatherers may wish to take it anyway, to either sell their goods or trade the materials to a Biochemist in return for manufacture of goods. Also, Bioanalysis can be performed by you or your companion on many dead creatures, so while you won't get to use this skill much on your capital, it'll catch up pretty quick on Taris.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

SCAVENGING

Recommended Skills: Armormech, Armstech, Cybertech

 

Codex: Scavenging is the art of salvaging useful parts and base materials such as metals, alloys and synthetic compounds from potential technological resources--junk piles, fallen droids, abandoned cargo and broken-down vehicles. The crafting skills Armormech, Armstech and Cybertech utilize Scavenging resources. Scavengers can send their companions on missions to gather resources.

 

Comments: You can easily progress your scavenging by killing everything in sight when you see droids - which dovetails nicely with roleplay for lightsiders, who are more hesitant to kill fleshies, and the fact that stealthing through droid missions is slightly more difficult and annoying since Mind Maze won't work on droids. Along with Diplomacy, Slicing, Investigation and Underworld Trading, it makes a solid choice for someone not interested in personally crafting and instead making money off of crafters. It also fuels one extremely critical and two useful tradeskills, so it's a strong recommendation.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

SLICING

Recommended Skills: Cybertech

 

Codex: Slicing is not a skill required for crafting. Slicing is the art of accessing secure computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable items, credits and rare tech schematics. Common slicing targets include electronic safes, data stations, security mainframes and biometric footlockers. These targets contain credits, rare tech schematics used to construct Cybertech gadgets, vehicles and space upgrades, and mission discovery objects that unlock challenging missions that can potentially yield great rewards. Slicers can send their companions on missions to retrieve these valuable items. Other possible mission rewards include augments that can be slotted into exceptionally crafted items.

 

Comments: It's Investigation's cousin, more or less. Getting schematics from slicing missions is a rarer occurrence than in Investigation, so I wouldn't worry about taking Slicing as part of a normal set of three as a crafter, but it's basically an essential for people just looking to make a buck. You still have a net loss of money by sending companions on Slicing missions, as the point is to raise your skill without doing any work for it.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

 

MISSION SKILLS

Mission skills function identical to Gathering skills which cannot be personally collected; you need your companion to do them. They provide the rare resources used in crafting skills as well as providing a host of other benefits, such as giving you companion gifts to raise their affection, rare schematics, and sometimes rare equipment. Out of your maximum of three crew skills, all three may be mission skills.

 

 

DIPLOMACY

Recommended Skills: Biochem

 

Codex: Diplomacy is the art of conducting and managing negotiations. Sending your companions on diplomatic missions can influence your light side or dark side standing. In addition to light side and dark side influence, possible Diplomacy rewards include medical supplies used to construct prototype and artifact implants, medpacs, stimulants, adrenals and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.

 

Comments: Gets you materials for one of the two most important skills in the game, gives you Light Side/Dark Side farm points, and can still be used to get gifts. What else do you need? Along with Investigation, Slicing, Scavenging and Underworld Trading, it makes a solid choice for someone not interested in personally crafting and instead making money off of crafters.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

INVESTIGATION

Recommended Skills: Armstech

 

Codex: Investigation is the skill of researching, gathering, analyzing and decoding secret information. Sending your companions on Investigation missions can yield valuable items in the form of researched compounds used to construct prototype and artifact weapons and blaster barrels, prototype schematics for all crafts, and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.

 

Comments: Investigation finds rare schematics for every single type of crafting skill, as well as materials for Armstech. Along with Diplomacy, Slicing, Scavenging and Underworld Trading, it makes a solid choice for someone not interested in personally crafting and instead making money off of crafters. It could substitute for a normal mission skill, since you rarely need the normal mission skill to simply level up your craft, or a gathering skill if you're willing to purchase those materials off of the Galactic Trade Network.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

TREASURE HUNTING

Recommended Skills: Artifice

 

Codex: Treasure Hunting is the ability to track down and recover valuable items by following a series of clues. Companions sent on Treasure Hunting missions can return with rare gemstones used to construct prototype and artifact enhancements, hilts, color crystals, focii and generators. Other possible rewards include lockboxes that can contain valuable items or credits and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.

 

Comments: It only goes with one craft skill, and everything that it is used to make is pretty much reusable. Great if you're going with Artifice, I wouldn't bother otherwise. It can be fun to randomly receive relics or other rare items from this skill, but it's a constant gamble.

 

Rating: :jawa_confused:

 

UNDERWORLD TRADING

Recommended Skills: Armormech, Cybertech, Synthweaving

 

Codex: Underworld Trading entails the exchange of goods and services on the galactic black market. Sending your companions on Underworld Trading missions can yield luxury fabrics and underworld metals used to construct prototype and artifact armor, earpieces, grenades, space upgrades, and weapon and armor modifications. Other possible rewards include gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.

 

Comments: Covering both armor creating professions as well as one of the two best professions in the game, it makes a solid choice for someone not interested in personally crafting and instead making money off of crafters. Diplomacy, Slicing, Investigation and Scavenging are good partners for that.

 

Rating: :sy_star:

 

 

If you read all that and are confused still - or didn't read all of that, because it's a lot to chew through, that's okay. You just want the bottom line on which three crew skills I recommend, right? I've arranged them into sets of three based on what your main selling market is.

 

PvE Endgame: Synthweaving, Artifice, Treasure Hunting

PvP Endgame: Biochem, Bioanalysis, Diplomacy == Cybertech, Scavenging, Underworld Trading

Self-Leveling: Biochem, Bioanalysis, Diplomacy == Cybertech, Scavenging, Underworld Trading >> Artifice, Archaeology, Treasure-Hunting

Simple Money-Making: Pick any three: Slicing, Investigation, Diplomacy, Bioanalysis, Scavenging, Biochem

 

Do not pick: Armstech

 

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Edited by AstralFire
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[aname=AFAQ]APPENDIX: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS[/aname]

 

Q: How do I become a Jedi Shadow?

A: Reach level 10 as a Jedi Consular, and find Master Ostar-Gal in the Republic Fleet or on Coruscant. He'll give you a mission that will further your class training.

 

Q: I just became a Jedi Shadow. When do I get a Double-Bladed Lightsaber?

A: You should already have one. Look in your inventory for a bag item that contains a small starter kit full of things any growing Shadow needs. Be forewarned: The shield generator is useless (does not offer a shield chance) unless you are in your tanking stance, Combat Technique, which is not available until level 14.

 

Q: I just became a Jedi Shadow. Where do I train my Shadow skills?

A: Same trainer as your base class. Click the tab at the bottom to select your list of trainable Adv. Class abilities.

 

Q: Where can I respecialize my character?

A: There is a respecialization trainer standing in the banking area of Coruscant, as well as in the Class Trainer area of the Republic Fleet. In both locations, he's a Rodian by the name of Leuro-Khian, and is titled as <Skill Mentor>. He's near the person who accepts Guild Charters.

 

Q: When can I get my speeder?

A: After turning level 25, purchase Speeder Piloting from your trainer for 25,000 credits, then go to your fleet. Barik, the Speeder Vendor, is located in the Northeast-most room in the fleet's main deck. (Part of the Galactic Trade Market area.) You can also purchase them on Tatooine. Your first speeder will cost you 8,000 credits; you can get upgrades at level 40 and 50.

 

Q: I'm coming from WoW. Do these skill specializations have any resemblance to stuff from there?

A: The Kinetic Combat tree resembles Paladin or Bear tanking, loosely. Infiltration is somewhat similar to a Mutilate Rogue. Balance Shadow is a cross between an Affliction Warlock and an Enhancement Shaman. None of them are identical, but these should help to give you an idea of whether or not you'll like the playstyles.

 

Q: I'm coming from Star Wars Galaxies/other MMO. Do these skill specializations have any resemblance to stuff from there?

A: I am not sufficiently familiar with most of those games to say. If someone would like to suggest things for me, I'd appreciate it. Games like City of Heroes are too different from your average MMO, and thus don't really bear comparison well.

 

Q: Do I have to use a Double-Bladed Lightsaber?

A: If you want a lightsaber, yes. Not all of your abilities require it - most don't, in fact. But your Techniques and Force Breach do, and every single spec relies heavily on its techniques. Sorry to break it to you. The Electrostaff is an alternate weapon intended for Jedi Shadows and their Imperial mirror, the Sith Assassin; however, it faces the exact same issues as the single-bladed Lightsaber. So yes, you are stuck with a DBLS.

 

Q: Do we have to wear robes? Can we wear pants?

A: Pants are rare, but exist. If you want to keep the pants look, find a moddable pair and you'll be able to keep them all the way up into endgame. Currently, endgame gear is not significantly moddable; that is due to change in March, however.

 

Q: Can we really keep stuff the whole game and just keep modding it?

A: Yes and no. As soon as you find a chestpiece, pants, hat, weapon, gloves, and shoes - the most important stuff - with four upgrade slots, you can keep modding it for the whole level up game. It is rumored that Endgame, however, starts getting items with extra slots, and PvP gear has its expertise as a built-in, rather than a mod granted, stat. So you can keep it for most of the game. Endgame is where you will have more difficulties.

 

Q: Do the lightsaber animations ever look better?

A: Yes, at higher levels, particularly as Infiltration.

 

Q: What's the best Skill Specialization for leveling?

A: Infiltration is, without question, the best Skill Specialization until about level 22 or so. Particle Acceleration and Kinetic Ward for Kinetic Combat, and Force in Balance for Balance Specialization, are lynchpin skills. Infiltration is good right off the bat. Balance is the weak link until you're in your 30s, in my opinion, though it's still quite tolerable to level with.

 

Q: What's the difference between Jedi Sage and Jedi Shadow in the Balance tree?

A: They are both proc-heavy, DoT self-healing builds. It's a question of whether you want to use your lightsaber and Project, or Telekinetic Throw and Disturbance. The Shadow gets better procs to compensate for its lower range and smaller Force Pool.

 

Q: Is the Jedi Shadow a main tank or an off-tank?

A: The Jedi Shadow is a main tank; it can off-tank, but there are no skill specializations devoted towards becoming an off-tank among any class. Fully developed, it has roughly the same standard survivability as a Jedi Guardian or Vanguard who was specialized to tank. The only guild in the general beta to test endgame operations used a Jedi Shadow main tank, however, and are quite happy with the Jedi Shadow's performance there.

 

Q: What's the difference between the three types of tanks?

A: Jedi Guardian tanks have the most survivability cooldowns, and once they get rolling, they have the most forgiving resource mechanic. They have the most issue generating threat, especially in ranged or AoE situations. Jedi Shadows have the fewest and weakest survivability cooldowns, but have the ability to self-heal regularly, a very high block chance, strong AoE threat and okay ranged threat. Shield Specialist Vanguards have a moderate amount of survivability cooldowns, okay AoE threat, great ranged threat/battlefield mobility, and the best straight mitigation. Their resource mechanic is very punishing if mishandled. The two force-users have more apparent flaws at lower levels, but grow into the role fully later.

 

Q: Should I play a Jedi Sentinel or a Jedi Shadow?

A: I assume that if you're asking this question, tanking is not seriously on the table as a primary interest for you, in PvE or PvP. The Sentinel offers the three different types of specializations: the ability to play a survivable, elite-killer melee damage, an erratic high-burst melee damage specialization, and the ability to increase its battlefield control and mobility as a melee damage dealer. In comparison, the Shadow's damage trees offer a steady pressure melee/range hybrid with minor erratic burst, or a controllable burst melee class with target lockdown options, along with both Shadow specializations having minor tanking options.

 

Q: Should I play a Scoundrel or a Jedi Shadow?

A: That depends. The Scoundrel is a more stealth-dependent class - while they both have multiple Stealth abilities, the Scoundrel is flatout dependent on Stealth for specific tactical openers, while the Shadow is more willing to engage in straight-up combat. The Scoundrel has more control, the Shadow has more survivability under fire. Someone seeking more traditional Rogue control-and-combo-based play may prefer the Scoundrel. Also, the Scoundrel has the ability to respecialize as a healer or throw out tactical support as a striker, while the Shadow has the ability to respecialize as a defender or throw out tactical control as a striker.

 

Q: I'm going to do PvE. Does the Balance or Infiltration tree do higher max DPS?

A: Until we have damage meters or extensive theorycrafting of some kind, we cannot actually say with too much certainty which is the higher damage spec. Generally, they're accepted to be competitive with one another in PvE. In PvP, they perform different roles - Balance is a steady pressure build, and Infiltration is a burst kill build.

 

Q: What's the difference between an Assassin and a Shadow?

A: There are the obvious ones - different stories, companions, and titles. Visually, an Assassin's Force Powers are centered around violet lightning, while a Shadow is reliant on golden energy and rocks or other environmental elements. Late game, the Shadow obtains Unity, which works great for Balance and Kinetic, while the Assassin gets Sacrifice, which is more suited to Kinetic and Infiltration.

 

Q: I want to play a Movie Jedi; is this the class for me?

A: You will not, despite promises of being 'iconic', be able to get everything about the Cinematic Jedi - Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jin, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, etc - in any one class. The closest are the Jedi Guardian (wears heavy armor, however), Jedi Shadow (wields a double-bladed lightsaber), and a Jedi Sage (barely uses its lightsaber.) You'll have to decide what you're most willing to compromise on out of the three of them.

 

Q: What's the story like?

A: Prologue is decent, Act 1 is weak, Act 2 is good, Act 3 is very good.

 

Q: Why don't tanks take the Shadowy Veil skill?

A: That passive skill does not apply when a Shadow is in Combat Technique, which is our defender stance; it's meant to improve the durability of a Shadow in Force Technique or Shadow Technique, our striker stances.

 

Q: Who is the best target to Guard, as a tank?

A: Pretty much anyone who's going to get focused. This is usually the healer or a ball carrier in PvP; in PvE, the healer is probably the wiser option at low level, but as you get more AoE threat tools, you should instead be guarding the most effective DPS, in order to give them a higher threat ceiling while damaging. An AoE focused DPS is often a good choice.

 

Q: Do we get any evil companions?

A: Not really. Zenith comes closest, but he's a well-intentioned extremist.

 

Q: Which abilities are off of the Global Cooldown?

A: Force Potency, Battle Readiness, Kinetic Ward, Mind Snap, Force Speed, Blackout, both taunts, possibly others. Need to test more later.

 

Q: Does Telekinetic Throw qualify as a periodic damage ability?

A: No.

 

More questions to be added as needed later.

 

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[aname=Glossary]APPENDIX: MMO GLOSSARY[/aname]

 

Activation Time: The amount of time used before an ability finishes its animations and triggers. Generally, being attacked during an activation causes pushback, and movement will cancel the activation.

 

AoE: Area-of-Effect ability. Refers to an ability that strikes an area, hitting all targets within that space. AoE abilities which only affect targets in melee range of the user are called Point-Blank Area-of-Effect, or PBAoE.

 

CC: Crowd Control. In the MMORPG context, it is used to refer to abilities which can reduce the number of opponents being faced at a given moment, without actually defeating one of them. Several abilities have crowd control effects which only trigger on Weak and Standard enemies, and will not work on Strong, Elite or Boss NPCs, or enemy players.

 

Channeled Ability: An ability of this kind begins triggering immediately, but does not finish until the activation bar is entirely depleted. If this ability is ended early for any reason, then you will not get the full effect of the ability, even though you have paid the full cost. Pushback on a channeled ability will cause the ability to end early. Moving, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, will always end a channeled ability prematurely. Alacrity does not affect channeled abilities.

 

Defender: See TANK.

 

DOT: Damage-over-time. See PERIODIC DAMAGE.

 

DPS: Literally, damage-per-second. It is also commonly used to refer to those characters who have damage-dealing as their primary mechanical mission. See STRIKER.

 

Global Cooldown: A 1.5 second delay after activating any instant ability, preventing you from activating the majority of other abilities. Successfully triggered non-instant abilities do not induce a global cooldown (or if they do, they generate one that is too low to reach via current alacrity values.) A rare few abilities are not affected by the Global Cooldown.

 

Interrupt: Broadly, any reason that an ability with an activation or channeling time is suddenly cancelled. More specifically, an ability that always causes cancellation of the target's non-instant ability, and adds a cooldown before the target can attempt that ability again. They are sometimes sorted into the mutually exclusive categories of Soft Interrupt (which does not add a cooldown to the targeted ability) and Hard Interrupt. Mind Snap is a Jedi Shadow's interrupt, and Jolt is a Sith Assassin's.

 

Kiting: Using abilities and careful positioning to force a melee-primary opponent to follow another person at a distance like a kite - a successful example of kiting minimizes the amount of close-range time the melee-primary character is able to get.

 

Knockback: Not the same as pushback, knockback refers to a character being forcibly moved by another character (usually backwards).

 

OOF: Out of Force (points.) When you've exhausted your resource bar.

 

Periodic Damage: An effect which causes damage over time on a regular basis, such as every second or every three seconds, without further input from the user.

 

Proc: A "Programmed Random Occurence." Essentially, a proc is any ability which activates randomly. If you have an ability which has a 10% chance to heal you in addition to its primary effect, that heal effect would be considered a proc.

 

Pushback: Not the same as knockback, pushback refers to an unexpected delay during the activation of a non-instant ability, or causing a pulse on a channeled ability to fail. Pushback is caused by taking damage from any hostile source during the activation of the ability. Several skills mitigate or remove pushback on specific abilities.

 

Resolve: A bar which fills up whenever a character is incapacitated or moved against their will in anyway by another player. It slowly depletes when not recently increased. When the bar is completely filled, the character becomes immune to all player stuns, pulls, knockdowns and knockbacks for the next eight seconds, before the bar drains entirely. Snares and roots ignore Resolve completely.

 

Root: An ability which forces a character to remain stationary.

 

Snare: An ability which slows down a character's movement speed, but they are still capable of moving.

 

Striker: A character whose primary role in a group setting is to deal damage to the opponents. See DPS.

 

Tank: A character whose primary role in a group setting is to attract the enemy's attention and keep harmful damage away from other squad members.

 

Utility: Reference to abilities which do not directly relate to healing, damage dealing, or tanking but are combat-useful nonetheless.

 

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[aname=Binds]KEYBINDS[/aname]

 

ASTRALFIRE'S BINDS

 

Warning: I have a Razer Naga mouse, which has a NumPad on the side of the mouse, so my bind layouts will not be that useful to someone without the same mouse. If someone would like to offer their own bindmaps with common mice (incl. the standard two-button), I might post them.

 

These binds were designed for a PvP Kinetic Shadow.

 

 

[W] Forward

[A] Left Strafe

[D] Right Strafe

Mind Snap

[Q] Target Nearest Enemy

[Tab] Target Next Enemy

[Z] Acquire Target of Target

[`] Set Focus Target

[C] Target Nearest Friend

[V] Guard

[F] Whirling Blow

[E] Relic

[R] Adrenal

[T] Force Potency

[G] Telekinetic Throw

Force of Will

[X] Meditation

 

[1] Medpac

[2] Battle Readiness

[3] Misc.

[4] Misc.

[5] Misc.

[6] Misc.

 

[Num1] Double Strike

> [+Shift] Saber Strike

[Num2] Spinning Strike

[Num3] Spinning Kick

[Num4] Slow Time

[Num5] Force Breach

> [+Shift] Force Wave

[Num6] Force Stun

> [+Shift] Force Lift

[Num7] Resilience

[Num8] Force Cloak

> [+Shift] Pass the Huttball

[Num9] Stealth

[Num0] Mind Maze

> [+Shift] Sprint

[Num-] Blackout

> [+Shift] Force Valor

[Num+] Speeder

> [+Shift] Speeder 2

 

[Wheel Up] Project

> [+Shift] Mass Mind Control

[Wheel Dn] Force Pull

> [+Shift] Mind Control

[Wheel Click] Force Speed

[Mouse Button Four] Deflection

> [+Shift] Will Stim

[Mouse Button Five] Heroic Moment

> [+Shift] Fort Stim

 

[shift+Space] Autorun

 

[Alt+Wheel Up] Zoom In

[Alt+Wheel Dn] Zoom Out

 

 

 

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[aname=Trans]SHADOW <-> ASSASSIN DICTIONARY[/aname]

 

If an ability name isn't included, it is identically named across the two classes. Some of the more common skills are included as well.

 

Shadow to Assassin

 

Balance: Madness

Battle Readiness: Overcharge Saber

Circling Shadows: Induction

Clairvoyant Strike: Voltaic Slash

Combat Technique: Dark Charge

Double Strike: Thrash

Exit Strategy: Static Charge

Find Weakness: Exploit Weakness

Force Breach: Discharge

Force in Balance: Death Field

Force Lift: Whirlwind

Force of Will: Unbreakable Will

Force Potency: Recklessness

Force Strike: Raze

Force Stun: Electrocute

Force Suppression: Deathmark

Force Synergy: Exploitive Strikes

Force Technique: Lightning Charge

Force Valor: Mark of Power

Force Wave: Overload

Harnessed Shadows: Harnessed Darkness

Infiltration: Deception

Kinetic Combat: Darkness

Kinetic Ward: Dark Ward

Masked Assault: Darkswell

Meditation: Seethe

Mind Crush: Crushing Darkness

Mind Maze: Mind Trap

Mind over Matter: Disjunction

Mind Snap: Jolt

Particle Acceleration: Energize

Project: Shock

Psychokinesis: Torment

Shadow's Respite: Dark Embrace

Shadow Strike: Maul

Shadow Technique: Surging Charge

Slow Time: Wither

Spinning Kick: Spike

Spinning Strike: Assassinate

Stasis: Eye of the Storm

Telekinetic Throw: Force Lightning

Twin Disciplines: Unearthed Knowledge

Unity: No direct analogue, but closest is Sacrifice.

Upheaval: Chain Shock

Whirling Blow: Lacerate

 

 

 

Assassin to Shadow

 

Assassinate: Spinning Strike

Chain Shock: Upheaval

Creeping Terror: Sever Force

Crushing Darkness: Mind Crush

Dark Charge: Combat Technique

Dark Embrace: Shadow's Respite

Dark Ward: Kinetic Ward

Darkness: Kinetic Combat

Darkswell: Masked Assault

Death Field: Force in Balance

Deathmark: Force Suppression

Deception: Infiltration

Discharge: Force Breach

Disjunction: Mind over Matter

Electrocute: Force Stun

Energize: Particle Acceleration

Exploit Weakness: Find Weakness

Exploitive Strikes: Force Synergy

Eye of the Storm: Stasis

Force Lightning: Telekinetic Throw

Force Shroud: Resilience

Harnessed Darkness: Harnessed Shadows

Induction: Circling Shadows

Jolt: Mind Snap

Lacerate: Whirling Blow

Lightning Charge: Force Technique

Madness: Balance

Mark of Power: Force Valor

Maul: Shadow Strike

Mind Trap: Mind Maze

Overcharge Saber: Battle Readiness

Overload: Force Wave

Raze: Force Strike

Recklessness: Force Potency

Sacrifice: No direct analogue, but closest is Unity.

Seethe: Meditation

Shock: Project

Spike: Spinning Kick

Static Charge: Exit Strategy

Surging Charge: Shadow Technique

Torment: Psychokinesis

Thrash: Double Strike

Unbreakable Will: Force of Will

Unearthed Knowledge: Twin Disciplines

Voltaic Slash: Clairvoyant Strike

Whirlwind: Force Lift

Wither: Slow Time

 

 

[[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

 

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

 

[aname=Hist]CHANGELOG[/aname]

 

v1.1.2b: Major overhaul to Balance/Madness that better reflects the reality of current data.

v1.1.2a: Updated Crew Skills section. Deleted hybrid specs and addressed the significant buffs to Balance and Kinetic.

v1.1.1b: Fixed numerous small issues, updated the introduction, added the 0/13/28 DPS build.

v1.1.1a: Major overhaul to all specs to reflect current realities and such. Will remirror Sith version soon.

v1.0.0a: Minor fixes throughout; added a new spec to the Balance tree.

v0.0.0h: Cleared up some clutter in the tanking guide segment. Added a blurb at the top explaining about reproduction. 12/6/2011.

v0.0.0g: Accuracy stat corrected, as it no longer gives armor penetration. Crew Skill information overhauled. Minor PvP updates to gearing guides. 12/1/2011 || Added voice actor information. 12/2/2011 || Reorganized and summarized Crew Skill stuff for clarity. Updated the PvP tank builds to reflect new thoughts on Harnessed Shadows. 12/3/2011

v0.0.0f: Major overhaul of all spec analysis, as it was pretty cluttered with a bunch of useless babbling on my part, as well as some outright incorrect information. More companion data added. Changelog added. 11/29/2011

v0.0.0e: Prettified and cleaned up formatting. 11/25/2011

v0.0.0d: Translated to Sith Assassin equivalent and posted. 11/20/2011

v0.0.0a: Original versions up to v0.0.0c. Very rough internal documents in beta. Unknown date.

 

[[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

 

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

 

[aname=Links]ADVANCED READING[/aname]

 

Tanking: A Primer is an essential guide to the comparative abilities of tanks. End-game PvE tanks should consider this a must-read.

The Sith Assassin's Codex, the Imperial version of this guide.

MainTankasin.net is a Jedi Shadow and Sith Assassin-oriented tank discussion site.

Sith Warrior is quickly turning into the numbers place for Star Wars: the Old Republic, if you want the people who do the real hardcore thinking I can only paw at.

The Consular's Codex is a resource for Jedi Sage Healers run by a friend of mine, if you're looking to run another Consular or find that the Shadow isn't for you.

CitizenSnipe has a useful channel that contains a lot of video of infiltration PvP, some balance hybrid PvE, and some tank hybrid PvP.

TORHead is always full of good information.

Powerr's Jedi Shadow PvP Tanking Guide.

Powerr's Infiltration Burst Damage Guide.

 

More to come later.

 

[[jumpto=ToC]Table of Contents[/jumpto]]

Edited by AstralFire
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Q: I want to play a Movie Jedi; is this the class for me?

A: You will not, despite promises of being 'iconic', be able to get everything about the Cinematic Jedi - Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jin, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, etc - in any one class. The closest are the Jedi Guardian (wears heavy armor, however), Jedi Shadow (wields a double-bladed lightsaber), and a Jedi Sage (barely uses its lightsaber.) You'll have to decide what you're most willing to compromise on out of the three of them.

 

I don't know if thats 100% true! Haha, Yoda = Sage, Obiwan = Guardian, Late Anakin = Sentinel, Luke = Guardian, no Iconic Jedi in the movies used Double Blades IIRC? Although I admit I don't watch Episodes 1-3 much..

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I don't know if thats 100% true! Haha, Yoda = Sage, Obiwan = Guardian, Late Anakin = Sentinel, Luke = Guardian, no Iconic Jedi in the movies used Double Blades IIRC? Although I admit I don't watch Episodes 1-3 much..

 

Yeah but Yoda was great with a lightsaber, something Sages won't be.

 

ObiWan didn't have to wear armor except during the Clone Wars.

 

Anakin never depended on dual wielding.

 

The list goes on. Not trying to flame or be annoying, but Astral's talking about all the people who want to be a Jedi that wields both Force and a lightsaber, wearing no armor, and essentially, being good at everything.

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