For HM TFB you need to be in properly itemized rank 61 mods and armorings, with proper augments in your gear. Check your class forums to see what those numbers would be.

However, playing your class well and having deep understanding of where to be and what to be doing at any given time are what's going to get you through TFB HM. Gear is only about 20% of what you need to be successful there.

What else could you possibly pick up to improve yourself if you are already full BH with augments? Sure you can min/max the mods/armorings/enhancements for the best stats but that is hardly required for at least the first few bosses.

If you play your character right, you should do just fine.

IMHO for Arsenal merc; 20khp+ full 61 , BH implants/ear with 4 set bonus & full augs.

Unbuffed 30% crit, 75% surge, 99.89+% acc.

Was just making sure was turned down by a group because i wasn't campaign geared thanks for the input

If you have BH gear your stats are fine, but your set bonuses may be pretty key for your class. I know for Marauders our 2-set and 4-set are basically a joke. If you need the set bonus though, go run some instances where you can obtain columi or rakata gear and put your 61 mods into those and augment those. Rakata and below retain their set bonus with their shell so sticking BH gear in Rakata or Columi is just the same as wearing Campaign gear, minus the aesthetics.

I believe skill > gear.

Our guild was doing HM TfB in PvP gear, and we were downing the boss way ahead of the hard enrage.

Using a parser, we found DPS who was getting 1300+ on the first boss was golden. If your tanks know what they're doing and your healers do too, it's a fight for anyone above itemized Rakata (most of us were in itemized WH, which is roughly on par).

But, once again, skill > gear. Some players out there can do 1300 on first boss in a mixture of Rakata / Columi, which is perfect for the rest of the operation.

Without properly itemized gear- you will not get 5/5. You will be able to squeak out 4/5 with skill alone, but the last boss is quite the gear/execution check.

For reference to Merc DPS requirements, head over to my guide in my signature.

I believe skill > gear.

 

Our guild was doing HM TfB in PvP gear, and we were downing the boss way ahead of the hard enrage.

 

Using a parser, we found DPS who was getting 1300+ on the first boss was golden. If your tanks know what they're doing and your healers do too, it's a fight for anyone above itemized Rakata (most of us were in itemized WH, which is roughly on par).

 

But, once again, skill > gear. Some players out there can do 1300 on first boss in a mixture of Rakata / Columi, which is perfect for the rest of the operation.

Thanks for the info. Nice to know there are people clearing HM TfB in WH gear. Have you guys cleared 5/5?

My guild has a good mixture of pvp-focus and pve-focus members. So we will like to mix and match and get some pvpers to experience the new content too. Our pve progression group has cleared HM TB 5/5 in augmented campaign gear. The first two bosses should pose no problem. I felt the thrid boss might be a bit of gear check (well we might not be executing the best of strat).

It will be good to know group in WH gear was able to down the third boss. The last two bosses would be more about mechanics and coordinations than gear.

Just a quick question, I'm a mercenary dps in full black hole gear augmented and I was wondering if I could do tfb in full black hole gear?

Optimised campaign/BH with full augments and preferably (class dependant) 4 piece.

It will be good to know group in WH gear was able to down the third boss. The last two bosses would be more about mechanics and coordinations than gear.

I don't understand why you would make it harder on yourselves by not wearing proper PVE gear. It's not like getting campaign equiv is very hard, It might take 3-4 weeks of HM EC farming (class make up dependant)

I can understand doing it deliberately in pvp gear as a challenge but not bothering to gear up properly just reeks of laziness, especially since you've had 4 months to do it in.

What is more important for running HM TfB is not that you have all 61 mods and Augments, but how you are optimized. Certain setups raise a red flag that the person is not on top of their class when picking what shells/mods/augments to use.

While some classes set bonus is weak, some make a huge difference. When I see an Arsenal Merc with no set bonus, I know they will be trouble. Loosing that free Rail Shot on my Merc means I have to use Rapid Shots more often to get rid of heat, thereby loosing DPS. When you see a Jugg tank with 29K HP because all their augments are Endurance, it makes you question their skill as a player.

I certainly does not mean you will be unable to run the op, but the fear is that the rest of the team will have to work harder to make up for your deficiencies. Like my example of the high HP Jugg tank, the healers will have to spend more time healing that person because their mitigation will be less. You heal HP of damage, not percentage of total health. Less mitigation means more HP of damage. Large HP pools defining a tank is EQ1 times.

I don't understand why you would make it harder on yourselves by not wearing proper PVE gear. It's not like getting campaign equiv is very hard, It might take 3-4 weeks of HM EC farming (class make up dependant)

 

I can understand doing it deliberately in pvp gear as a challenge but not bothering to gear up properly just reeks of laziness, especially since you've had 4 months to do it in.

I don't want to speak for anyone; so this is just my perception. A pvper can pvp 12 hours a day but just doesn't enjoy grinding the same pve content for weeks.

Similar can be said for pvers. Not all top raiders obtain the WH relics. It only takes about 30-40 WZs in a week or two.

I respect them all.

Without properly itemized gear- you will not get 5/5. You will be able to squeak out 4/5 with skill alone, but the last boss is quite the gear/execution check.

Aerro is absolutely right if you are talking about 16m HM TFB. There is no way to kill the final boss TFB without the best possible itemized gear and augments. Even with the best gear going into the final boss, you will be hitting enrage every time.

8m HM TFB, specifically the last boss, seems to be tuned easier than 16m so you could probably get away with slightly less than BiS gear to get 5/5.

Aerro is absolutely right if you are talking about 16m HM TFB. There is no way to kill the final boss TFB without the best possible itemized gear and augments. Even with the best gear going into the final boss, you will be hitting enrage every time.

 

8m HM TFB, specifically the last boss, seems to be tuned easier than 16m so you could probably get away with slightly less than BiS gear to get 5/5.

Are you referring to the enrage of each tentacle phase? Or is there a timed hard enrage for the boss?

We will try to tackle 16m when some of our away members return. So good to have an idea going into the fight.

Each tunneling tentacle in P1 and - from what our partner guild told us yesterday -TTFB itself in P2 have an enrage timer.

My group saw neither of them, we either died during the second orb phase or some other silly mistake before that until we kust killed it by surprise.

Just a quick question, I'm a mercenary dps in full black hole gear augmented and I was wondering if I could do tfb in full black hole gear?

As long as the Black Hole Gear is sitting in Tionese/Columi/Rakata shells it's equal to Campaign gear.

What is more important for running HM TfB is not that you have all 61 mods and Augments, but how you are optimized. Certain setups raise a red flag that the person is not on top of their class when picking what shells/mods/augments to use.

While some classes set bonus is weak, some make a huge difference. When I see an Arsenal Merc with no set bonus, I know they will be trouble. Loosing that free Rail Shot on my Merc means I have to use Rapid Shots more often to get rid of heat, thereby loosing DPS. When you see a Jugg tank with 29K HP because all their augments are Endurance, it makes you question their skill as a player.

 

I certainly does not mean you will be unable to run the op, but the fear is that the rest of the team will have to work harder to make up for your deficiencies. Like my example of the high HP Jugg tank, the healers will have to spend more time healing that person because their mitigation will be less. You heal HP of damage, not percentage of total health. Less mitigation means more HP of damage. Large HP pools defining a tank is EQ1 times.

I would totally disaggree on the tank thing. I think its pretty much common sense that primary stats for a tank are 1) damage reduction and 2) HP. There is no better way to mitigate dmg than by those 2 stats. Forget shield and defense chance since they will not mitigate consistently. A tank stacking endurance, thus increasing his HP is doing the exact right thing. Hence your reasoning is pretty much off-base.

I'm talking about the hard enrage of the boss in phase 2. Upon entering phase 2 of the fight in 16m hm you have roughly 8 minutes and 30 seconds to kill TFB. If the boss is not completely dead within that time, he will enrage, regardless of what part of the phase he is in or what tentacles are alive or dead.

"completely dead" Funny!

I would totally disaggree on the tank thing. I think its pretty much common sense that primary stats for a tank are 1) damage reduction and 2) HP. There is no better way to mitigate dmg than by those 2 stats. Forget shield and defense chance since they will not mitigate consistently. A tank stacking endurance, thus increasing his HP is doing the exact right thing. Hence your reasoning is pretty much off-base.

Im sorry but that is wrong. Tanks need to have defense/ shield over endurance. High health means nothing really it's just an extra 5 seconds of survival but High defense/ shield means you take less dmg making a healer's life easier. I've ran ops where the other tank would yell "I have 29k health I'm main tank" then die after 20 seconds where I'd pick up aggro and survive till the end because I was taking less damage and making it easier for the healers

I would totally disaggree on the tank thing. I think its pretty much common sense that primary stats for a tank are 1) damage reduction and 2) HP. There is no better way to mitigate dmg than by those 2 stats. Forget shield and defense chance since they will not mitigate consistently. A tank stacking endurance, thus increasing his HP is doing the exact right thing. Hence your reasoning is pretty much off-base.

Getting off the main topic, but you just agreed with me. Mitigation is #1, Hp is #2 priority. A very nicely done analysis here on MMO Mechanics that shows just how much damage is reduced by shield/absorb.

http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/thread-1134.html

What else could you possibly pick up to improve yourself if you are already full BH with augments? Sure you can min/max the mods/armorings/enhancements for the best stats but that is hardly required for at least the first few bosses.

 

If you play your character right, you should do just fine.

hm tfb you should also have your set bonus's and when they say 'itemizations' they mean swapping mods for best in slot.

if you aren't best in slot before going in you can still do it so long as you are working towards best in slot and have the capped stats you need to run it

http://www.noxxic.com is your friend for finding out what is best in slot and how to max your stats

I'm talking about the hard enrage of the boss in phase 2. Upon entering phase 2 of the fight in 16m hm you have roughly 8 minutes and 30 seconds to kill TFB. If the boss is not completely dead within that time, he will enrage, regardless of what part of the phase he is in or what tentacles are alive or dead.

Thanks for providing the estimate of hard enrage time. Will keep an eye on his hp/time when we tackle 16m.

What is more important for running HM TfB is not that you have all 61 mods and Augments, but how you are optimized. Certain setups raise a red flag that the person is not on top of their class when picking what shells/mods/augments to use.

While some classes set bonus is weak, some make a huge difference. When I see an Arsenal Merc with no set bonus, I know they will be trouble. Loosing that free Rail Shot on my Merc means I have to use Rapid Shots more often to get rid of heat, thereby loosing DPS. When you see a Jugg tank with 29K HP because all their augments are Endurance, it makes you question their skill as a player.

 

I certainly does not mean you will be unable to run the op, but the fear is that the rest of the team will have to work harder to make up for your deficiencies. Like my example of the high HP Jugg tank, the healers will have to spend more time healing that person because their mitigation will be less. You heal HP of damage, not percentage of total health. Less mitigation means more HP of damage. Large HP pools defining a tank is EQ1 times.

It is entirely okay to go all Endurance augments so long as you have selected the right mods to reach the point of diminishing returns in your mitigations.