Hello,

I just returned to SWTOR after a couple of years off. I am really enjoying the Knights of the Eternal Throne story. But now I am stuck on this mission to defeat Aries. I am a Jedi Sentinal. Aries keep killing Vette. How do I get aggro so Aries will attack me? I read that Bioware changed the fight to make it harder by making Aries go after Vette. Any help will be appreciated.

It's been a while, but as I recall, a big part of the fight as a channeled attack called "Laser Barrage" which drops a series of red circles on the ground that cause area damage to anyone standing in it.

 

If Aries is targeting Vette with these attacks, try putting her on Passive when you see the red circles (default is CTRL-2) and she will keep to your side instead of standing wherever she is. Keep moving around the room as the red circles are dropped, and neither of you should take any damage from that particular attack.

 

When the Laser Barrage is finished, take her off passive (default is CTRL-1) for her to resume healing / attacking, etc. and continue the fight.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Edited November 14, 2018 by Khevar

I haven't done this one on a Sentinel (or a Marauder), but you need to beat hard on him when he's not using the Laser Barrage so you have lots of aggro built up, and you need to get rid of the yellow-name power cells as quickly as possible when they appear.

 

Oh, and feed Vette gifts to get her Influence up, which will make her lots tougher. Cultural, Imperial, Republic, Underworld and Weapons, I believe.

 

And in a pinch level a human to level 50 in any class for a +100 Presence bonus on all your characters. (Normal levelling from 1 is required for this, but it can be done by any XP-gaining method e.g. warzones, heroics, flashpoints, ...)

Can this ability be interrupted?

ARIES can be interrupted, but it's not really needed.

 

It sounds like you're having problems with his channelled ability called Laser Barrage. Now, you can interrupt it, but in my experience, he uses it more often than your interrupt is available (at least, he did for me anyway).

 

But the best way that I've found to deal with it is to stand right on top of him when he starts to cast it, put Vette on passive if he's targeting her so she runs to you. If ARIES is inside the red circle when the laser hits it will stun him for a few seconds. Yes, you will eat a tick of damage, but you get some breathing room to whale on him and heal up a bit.

Edited November 14, 2018 by tuulem

Thanks to everyone for your help. But no matter what I do Aries keep going after Vette and ignores me (he punches her to death). Perhaps Bioware changed the fight since you guys did it?

Perhaps Bioware changed the fight since you guys did it?

It's possible, but I think I last did it only a few weeks ago, on a Juggernaut. I have a Marauder who's currently in KotET Chapter I (Voss), so I can try to crank him through, probably over the weekend.

One thing that may help is sending Vette to attack the power cells once the lasers start. Then she's moving and you can get the laser sequence ended sooner.

try putting her on Passive when you see the red circles (default is CTRL-2)

 

...

 

When the Laser Barrage is finished, take her off passive (default is CTRL-1)

Just to clarify, here.

 

CTRL+2 toggles your companion's "passive" mode. Hitting CTRL+2 once will turn it on. Hitting CTRL+2 again will turn it off.

 

CTRL+1 commands the companion to attack your target. Which will take her off of passive mode, yes, but if the goal is to have her not pick up aggro, it will be counter-productive. Using CTRL+2 to simply toggle passive mode off may set her right back to attacking anyway, depending on the role you have selected for her, but if you have her set to Heal mode, she will likely start doing that when you take her off passive, rather than immediately attack. Of course, healing does generate aggro, but not as much as direct attacks, at least not initially.

 

 

Which brings up the next question:

What role do you have Vette set to? Have you tried setting her to a different role?

 

 

And then the followup:

What is her Influence rank? Increasing her influence will help, a lot.

 

She likes Underwold gifts best. Second best is Cultural. The others Steve mentioned, along with Courting, Luxury, and Technology will give a little Influence, but it's probably best to save anything but Underworld for your other companions who like that other stuff best.

 

My SOP is to go straight to Fleet when I get a new companion and buy a stack of Grade 1 gifts from the Companinon Gifts vendor, and get them to Influence 10 right away. (After that, I just give them whatever I pick up as random drops, and only the kind they like best). If you've unlocked all 3 levels of Legacy boost for companion gifts, this will take 70 Grade 1 gifts, and cost 14000 credits. If you haven't unlocked it at all, it will take 92 Grade 1 gifts, and cost 18400 credits. Don't bother buying the Grade 2 gifts, as they cost 3 times as much, but only give 2 times as much Influence.

 

 

Another thing to consider is setting her to passive right at the start, so you pick up aggro initially, insteaed of her. Then take her off passive, once you've built up aggro. And then if you can keep up your damage and keep the boss focused on you, she won't be taking all the hits. I'm not sure if it applies to this particular boss, but some of them have a sort of "aggro lock" and will always focus on whatever opponent aggros them first, and never switch till that target is dead.

AAARRRGHH. It was set to veteran mode. I am supposed to have it set to story mode. I got Aries down now (it was easy in story mode). Sorry for wasting everyones' time. My bad.

AAARRRGHH. It was set to veteran mode. I am supposed to have it set to story mode. I got Aries down now (it was easy in story mode). Sorry for wasting everyones' time. My bad.

No worries. You aren't the first person to have that problem, and you won't be the last, either. And yes, veteran mode in chapters is *significantly* harder, and master mode is harder still.

 

In passing, I'd like to offer a small apology for not thinking of the difficulty mode previously. And thanks for letting us know what the problem was. Good luck with the rest of the story, and may the Force ever serve you.