I'm having trouble defeating this beastie. I am keeping out of the red targetting circles; I am killing the sentry turrets; I am ignoring Atherna in order to fight the zakuul knights. My armour rating is between 200 and 190. I say that because I had to change it. There is no med droid to repair the armour and so I had to travel to my stronghold, get more armour and I'm still getting trashed. Please help me.

Leave it for the moment. Go off and earn yourself a bunch of data crystals by doing *planetary* heroics, and buy yourself a set of 208 (or even 216 if you have the patience to accumulate that many Glowing crystals) gear from the vendors on Fleet. Do one group finder random tactical FP per day for the daily TFP quest (20 common crystals per day!). All that stuff will accumulate credits. Use them to buy crafted/dropped 208+ gear to fill in the gaps. BUY THE FIELD REPAIR DROID character perk from the Legacy window, and use the skill it gives you to summon a repair droid. (It's just a vendor that sells a crappy piece of fluff, but like all vendors, it can repair your armour.)

 

(I don't remember this fight particularly, but my gear is much stronger than yours, so I didn't notice anything special about it. The advice about grinding heroics is not just me spouting off. I did just that to get my stronger gear.)

 

Apart from that, use all the normal hard-fight mechanics, like interrupts(1), CC(2) skills, not hurting foes your companion has CCed, kiting (running away), not standing in red or yellow or blue or purple targeting circles (green ones are OK because they come from friendly sources), kill weak mobs first to reduce the number of attackers(3) etc.

 

(1) Every class has one skill that interrupts a cast/channel. Stuns, knockbacks, and death also have the effect of interrupting a foe's actions.

 

(2) CC = Crowd Control. Basically refers to stun skills that temporarily prevent a foe from acting. All player characters have at least one skill to cancel CC that is placed on them.

 

(3) This isn't always correct. In round 2 of the EC, where you fight the guy with the Zakuul predator things, it is better to ignore them and make sure that they get included in the AoE poison grenades.

Thanks SteveTheCynic

 

I will do these things. And see how I get on.

BTW my m/smuggler's ship is named the VaVaVoom and my f/smuggler's ship is the Bebopalula.

May I also ask you about the difference between moddable armour and rated armour? Which is better and how do you rank up the adaptable stuff?

Hi. Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with this boss. If you tell us which advance class and discipline your character is in, maybe I can give you some tips and tricks needed to maximize your survival.

 

Remember that sometimes it's easier to put an enemy to sleep with an ability like slice droid or whirlwind, than it is to kill it outright.

Edited June 16, 2016 by HaoZhao

Thanks SteveTheCynic

 

I will do these things. And see how I get on.

BTW my m/smuggler's ship is named the VaVaVoom and my f/smuggler's ship is the Bebopalula.

May I also ask you about the difference between moddable armour and rated armour? Which is better and how do you rank up the adaptable stuff?

Summary: use the modification interface to install the strongest mods you can get your hands on in your moddable gear, both armour and weapons.

 

OK, let's look at this armour thing:

* Armour comes in *four* weights: Light, Medium, Heavy and Adaptive. Adaptive is a synonym for "Behaves like the heaviest your character can wear". When the game uses the word "Adaptive", that is 100% of what it means.

* Armour, independently of weight, comes in a number of different "colours" or "quality levels": grey (starter armour only), white, green, blue, two shades of purple, and orange. Aside from all orange and some purple gear, the colour defines how strong the armour is, relative to its required-level.

* Armour can be fixed-stat or moddable. Fixed-stat armour gives statistic ("stat") bonuses that are fixed, immutable, unable to be modified, etc. Moddable armour, short for "modifiable", can be changed. Each piece has three slots for "mods" that can be added/removed/replaced. Moddable armour's stat bonuses come from the mods, not from the armour.

* Historically, all adaptive armour was orange, and therefore moddable, so "adaptive" grew, in the lingo used by some players, to be a synonym for moddable, but this was never correct. Some moddable gear is NOT adaptive. With the release of 4.0/KotFE, there is now a large amount of adaptive fixed-stat armour as well. Do NOT say "adaptive" when you mean "moddable".

 

About mods:

* Each moddable piece (aside from a very small amount of old gear that can't be found any more) has two or three slots (two for belts and wrist guards, three for all the rest) into which you can place mod objects. The slots are: Armoring, Modification, and Enhancement. Belts and wrists don't have Enhancement slots.

* There are various sources for mod objects:

** Vendors on the Fleet and on the various planets sell mods for common data crystals.

** Different crafting crew skills permit you to make the various sorts of mods.

** Sometimes pieces of gear will drop that contain mods. These can be removed from the piece of gear.

* To install or remove the mods from a piece of gear, open the Modification interface (Hold the Ctrl key while right-clicking the gear in your inventory or character panel).

** Right-click mods in your inventory to install them (will destroy existing an existing mod of the same type in the object).

** Right-click mods in the modification interface to remove them from the gear into your inventory. This costs credits, and the mod is bound to your character. It generally isn't worth extracting and selling them, as the cost of extraction will be higher than what a vendor will pay for the mod.

 

Like fixed-stat armour, mods have a minimum required level and a colour, although there aren't any grey, white or orange mods. Again, the colour defines how strong the mod is (how large its stat bonuses are), relative to its minimum required level.

 

So, to improve your moddable armour (and weapons and off-hand gear), fit stronger mods. That's all there is to it. There are guides (e.g. on dulfy.net) on how to select the best combination of mods for your characters, but:

* Tanks should use mods with any or all of Defense, Absorb, and Shield stats wherever possible, and should prefer mods with more Endurance to mods with more Mastery.

* Non-tanks should avoid those mods in favour of ones with none of those three stats.

 

A mod will have three numbers on it as well as some stat bonuses:

* The minimum character level required to use the mod, i.e. to wear or carry gear that contains it.

* The "rating". All mods of a particular rating are the same strength, no matter what their colour.

* A number which identifies the tier of the mod. This number is in the name of the mod, e.g. 25 in "Versatile Armoring 25".

 

When buying mods, buy the ones with the highest minimum level you can use. These will have a higher tier number as well. Choose blue in preference to green, and magenta in preference to blue.

 

(Ultimately, you are looking for the mods with the highest "rating" number you can get. DPS and healers should use Versatile armorings/barrels/hilts and Lethal Modifications (high mastery, low endurance), and tanks should use the other kind of each (high endurance, low mastery).

 

Which is better, fixed-stat or moddable? Simple: install mods with the same rating as the fixed-stat piece in a moddable piece and, leaving aside questions of the exact stats on both pieces, they will be very close to the same strength.

 

Note that I have not discussed augmentations. These are the fourth (third for wrists and belts) mod object, and can be inserted into any piece of gear, be it armour, weapon, off-hand doodad, earpiece, implant, or relic that has an augmentation kit installed. In general, install only the highest-level ('MK-9') of augmentation kit, so you can install any augmentation in it. Installing augmentation kits is the only way to modify fixed-stat gear, and is also the only remaining use for "Modification Stations".

 

Summary: use the modification interface to install the strongest mods you can get your hands on in your moddable gear, both armour and weapons. The very strongest gear ("224", for items with a "rating" of 224) is moddable, and is only available in exchange for tokens that drop in operations under specific circumstances.

Hi HaoZhao

 

My guy is smuggler/scoundrel. He's at lvl 65 or thereabouts.

 

SteveTheCynic - how do I begin to thank you for all that? Thank you. You are a god. (I tried clicking on your referral link but it wanted me to open a new account or something).

My guy is smuggler/scoundrel.

Healer or dps?

What influence level is your companion?

What role is your companion set to?

Hi HaoZhao

 

My guy is smuggler/scoundrel. He's at lvl 65 or thereabouts.

 

SteveTheCynic - how do I begin to thank you for all that? Thank you. You are a god. (I tried clicking on your referral link but it wanted me to open a new account or something).

Hey, it's cool. I like to share things I know, so knowing that the information is useful to someone pleases me.

 

A scoundrel can be a DPS or a healer, depending on which discipline you picked. All classes with this choice (Sage/Sorcerer, Commando/Mercenary, and Scoundrel/Operative) retain some healing skills even in the DPS disciplines, but the emphasis changes from being mostly intended to support others by healing them to being mostly intended to damage and kill foes with the support ability incidental.

 

In general, while you learn how playing the game works, stick to one of the DPS disciplines (i.e. for a Scoundrel, not Sawbones), and set your companion to heal mode. DPS discipline with DPS companion is possible but harder (before 4.0 came out, a Sith Inquisitor's healer companion didn't show up until Hoth!) and requires you to pause between fights to use your regen skill to heal up. Two healers (you and companion) will have a hard time killing stuff because you will both have low damage output.

 

My main is a Commando set to the Gunnery discipline (heavy-burst single-target ranged DPS), always accompanied by a companion set to heal. These days it's Lana (because ... reasons), but before 4.0 came out, that meant Elara Dorne.

Smuggler is dps. Companion is aric jorgan (I don't think you get a choice here) because you're helping havoc squad. He is on heal. I haven't had so much trouble even in flashpoints and stuff. Because this is no longer swotr but kofte I haven't really checked out my companions stats and stuff.

Hi HaoZhao

 

My guy is smuggler/scoundrel. He's at lvl 65 or thereabouts.

 

Scoundrel is a fun class. I generally don't recommend bringing Sawbones (healing) spec into solo PVE fights, because it just makes things longer and sometimes harder, depending on the enemy.

 

Scrapper and ruffian are both good specs, but I recommend scrapper. Not only is scrapper really fun to play in all situations, but it gives you invincibility while you roll. If you see an enemy charging up a powerful attack, you can roll right before it hits you and avoid all of the damage.

 

Try these utilities as well: http://dulfy.net/2014/10/13/swtor-disciplines-calculator-swtor_miner/?link=dGEAAAFBAQABGAECBBALFRYA I wouldn't recommend this set up all of the time, but if you're really stuck on a single boss, picking utilities to maximize survivability might be what you needed.

 

Remember that slow-release medpack is your best friend as a scoundrel, so always try to keep two stacks of it on you at all times. If you get into trouble, do flash bang and then kolto pack, or roll behind a piece of the environment and do a quick kolto pack. With the surprise comeback utility, pugnacity also becomes a powerful defensive ability. Use pugnacity when you're under pressure.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're using a healing companion, you have to personally defend it. A healer will pick up the aggro from every enemy that you're not attacking. A level 1 Jorgan is going to be eaten alive by focus fire from side turrets if you don't intervene every time. As a scrapper, I personally play with companions in tanking mode, so I can backblast enemies with boss immunity. DPS mode companions also work just fine on any enemy that can be rooted in place by shank shot. Don't bring a healing companion to a tough fight unless you're willing to personally babysit that companion. It will die without support.

Edited June 18, 2016 by HaoZhao

Smuggler is dps. Companion is aric jorgan (I don't think you get a choice here) because you're helping havoc squad. He is on heal. I haven't had so much trouble even in flashpoints and stuff. Because this is no longer swotr but kofte I haven't really checked out my companions stats and stuff.

Just hit N and look at his influence rank. If you haven't done anything but this chapter with him, it's probably still at 1. Use your fleet pass, go to the gifts vendor, and spend 14k on 70 grade 1 "weapon" gifts and give them to him***. That will get him to influence 10, and make him much more effective.

 

Also, you may want to try with him in a different role. If you set him to tank, he can pick up the aggro, and you just kill everything. Likewise, if you set him to dps, he may do enough damge to get the aggro (especially if you give him the command to attack, then wait a second before you join in) and then again, you just help kill everything.

 

But first, get him to influence 10. I have gotten into the habit of doing this whenever I get a "new" companion, whether from the original story line or KotFE. As soon as possible, I go to fleet, buy 70 of the gift type they "love" and get them to rank 10. And then they are much better, in every role.

 

***IMPORTANT: Also hit Y, and spend 90k to unlock all three levels of the Legacy of Altruism (influence) boost for gifts - and another 90k on the Legacy of Persuasion (conversation) boosts, if you haven't already. That will get you an extra 30% to the influence gained with all your companions, for that character. If you don't do this, you will need to buy/use a lot more gifts to get a comp to influence 10. It may seem lot a lot to spend, but in the long run, it's worth it, especially if you are leveling multiple comps, and when you start buying higher grade gifts - or just using the ones from drops - to get them to higher influence ranks.