Level 10 - Bounty Hunter

Progression Guide: Level 10 - Bounty Hunter

Skip to: Advanced Class, Flashpoints, Crew Skills, Warzones

Congratulations on reaching level 10!

You’ve reached a significant milestone in your journey through Star Wars™ The Old Republic™. By now, you’ve probably faced the many dangers that rose against you on Hutta, gained the sponsorship of Nem’ro the Hutt, and entered the Great Hunt. You’ve come a long way, but the real adventure is just beginning!

If you haven’t already, you will soon travel to the Imperial capital world of Dromund Kaas to seek the Huntmaster regarding the Great Hunt. While this is an important mission and a cornerstone of your story, this is also a moment where many new opportunities open up for you in the game, and we want to make sure you’re aware of all the new gameplay experiences available.

Choosing your Advanced Class top

First and foremost, upon reaching level 10 you will be prompted to choose your Advanced Class. Having already chosen to be a Bounty Hunter when you began your journey, you now get to decide on what your specialization will be. This determines your combat tactics and what role you’re best suited for in a group dynamic, so consider carefully before making your selection.

Rally Master Merrk Kelborn, located outside the Combat Training area of Vaiken Station, as well as inside the Mandalorian Enclave on Dromund Kaas, will direct you to Braum Bourne. Before you make any decision on what type of Advanced Class you want to play, you should first ask yourself a few key questions. If you want to play the “tank” of your group and defend your allies then the Powertech is your choice. However don’t let the use of a single pistol fool you, Powertechs are still capable of doing copious amounts of damage and have paths that focus on damage as well as damage mitigation. Mercenaries are dual pistol wielding Bounty Hunters who have a focus on unleashing enormous amounts of damage or providing healing for themselves and their allies. The choice is yours.

If you choose the Powertech specialization, one of the first abilities you’ll get is “Armor Proficiency: Shield Generator” which is a passive ability that allows you to equip personal shield generators in your off-hand equipment slot that helps reduce the damage you receive. Over the next several levels you will receive the “Ion Gas Cylinder” and “Guard” abilities which further increase your proficiency in protecting your allies and absorb damage.

If you choose the Mercenary specialization, one of the first new abilities you’ll get is ‘Dual Wield’, which is a passive ability that allows you to equip and attack with two pistols at once. You will also receive the “Lesser Healing Scan” ability which allows you to heal yourself or your allies. Over the next several levels you will receive the “High Velocity Gas Cylinder” ability which increases your armor penetration.

For more information on the Powertech and Mercenary, check out the advanced class page.

Once you have made your decision, you will want to visit your Advanced Class trainer, Braum “Zakkeg” Bourne, and make the decision official. Braum “Zakkeg” Bourne can be found on Vaiken Station or Dromund Kaas. Your mission log will guide you to Braum “Zakkeg” Bourne when the time comes, but for future reference he can be found here:

After you’ve made your selection, you’ll find the new abilities mentioned above will make you significantly more effective in combat. From now on, in addition to training new abilities, when you level up you’ll want to further customize your character’s tactics by choosing specific options from your skill tree. Your Skill Tree can be opened at any time by pressing “K”, or clicking on the appropriate icon on the interface. The selections you make here can be reversed later, so though you’ll want to consider them carefully, know that you have room to explore the different options.

The Black Talon Flashpoint top

If you enjoy playing with others, or if you haven’t spent much time playing in a group and want to give it a try, you’ll find a rewarding challenge in taking on the ‘The Black Talon’ Flashpoint.

Flashpoints are group-based adventures where you and your teammates progress through a series of missions tied together through an interactive storyline. These missions also generally lead to superior equipment than what you may find elsewhere.

You’re first given the opportunity to undertake ‘The Black Talon’ mission when you take the shuttle from Hutta to Dromund Kaas. The mission is offered by a Valet on the Vaiken Spacedock.

Before you embark on the ‘Black Talon’, however, we strongly recommend you select your Advanced Class, as that will make you far more effective in combat, and will make tackling this Flashpoint considerably less difficult.

If you passed up this Flashpoint when you first left Hutta, or you want to experience it again while making different choices than before, you can go back to Vaiken Station at any time and play through this Flashpoint and others as you progress through your adventure. ‘The Black Talon’ is an experience you shouldn’t miss.

Light Side & Dark Side Points The Black Talon Flashpoint features moral choices that will give you light or dark side points depending on your decisions. You probably already acquired some light side and/or dark side points during earlier missions. It’s important to note that building up these points will affect certain events in your storyline; the points can also give you access to unique appearances and even some custom pieces of equipment.

Your First Companion Character:

Mako

If you’ve completed all of your class missions on Hutta, you have already picked up your first Companion Character; the hacking genius, Mako. When Mako first joined your character on their journey, you probably noticed that a Quickbar for your Companion Character appeared at the bottom-left corner of your screen. This is a smaller version of your Quickbar which shows your Companion Character’s level, health and four basic abilities and commands that you can control.

In combat, Mako can either use her blaster pistols at a distance, or rush into the fight with her vibro knife. Mako also has the ability to tend to your injuries, staying back and replenishing your health during battle. How you have Mako play will depend on your personal style of combat, and while Mako is more than able to act on her own, you also have the ability to take a more active role in her commands.

By clicking the plus-sign icon next to the shown abilities, you can expand your Companion Character’s ability’s bar, giving you more control over what attacks and abilities Mako uses. This way you can manually set her priorities to either attack your enemies by your side, or stay back and heal you during each fight.

Selecting Your Crew Skills top

Mako is certainly helpful in a fight, but you may not have yet discovered that Mako, along with your other Companions in Star Wars™: The Old Republic™, can also help with another aspect of the gameplay experience: Crew Skills. Crew Skills are special non-combat abilities that allow you to harvest resources from around the galaxy, craft useful items, and/or access special missions for credits and other rewards. Now is a great time to train some Crew Skills, as you’ll soon be discovering resources as you explore Dromund Kaas, and you may want to take advantage of them. While you do not have to take up Crew Skills right away, you’ll find it much easier to harvest resources on planets that you visit later in the game if you begin on planets like Dromund Kaas and build up your skills as you progress.

You might also find you don’t need Mako to tag along everywhere you go. Rather than simply dismiss her, you can make good use of Mako’s time by sending her out on her own to perform certain Crew Skills missions. Because of her personality and skill sets, Mako is best suited for taking on Underworld Trading and Slicing missions, but Companion Characters that you meet later on may have skills better suited for other mission types. You will be able to select up to three Crew Skills for your team to train. The skills come in three categories: Gathering, Crafting, and Mission Skills. To fill your three slots, there are no restrictions on Gathering and Mission skills, but you are permitted to train only one Crafting skill.

As a Bounty Hunter, the Crafting skills that are going to be most useful for you are:

• Armormech:This is the Crew Skill for constructing personal armor for various classes including Bounty Hunters.
• Armstech:This is the Crew Skill for creating various weapons including Blaster Pistols which are key features in Bounty Hunter combat.
• Biochem:This is the Crew Skill to create consumable items that instantly restore health or boost other stats.

You may not be interested in Crafting at all, in which case, you may want to focus entirely on Gathering and Mission Skills, depending on your interests. For more information on all these, check the Crew Skills page.

After you’ve given some thought to which Crew Skills you might be interested in, visit the Crew Skills area of Vaiken Station or either the Galactic Trade Center or Nexus Room Cantina on Dromund Kaas to find trainers for each of the different disciplines.

After you’ve trained your Crew Skills, you can access the Crew Skills panel by pressing “N” or clicking on the diamond-shaped icon on your top menu bar. From here you send your Companions on Crew Skill missions and monitor their progress. You can also see whatever Crafting Recipes you’ve unlocked and what resources are required to craft each item.

Warzones top

Another exciting new dynamic that opens up for you at level 10 is opportunity to jump into player-vs-player Warzones. These are competitive, timed matches pitting two teams against each other in specialized areas where you will battle against other players and race to complete opposing objectives. Playing in Warzones will earn you valor points and commendations that you can use to purchase special items. You will also earn experience in Warzones, so don’t feel like it’s detracting from your progress in the rest of the gameplay experience.

Back to the Story

After you’ve selected your Advanced Class and Crew Skills and checked out Flashpoints and Warzones, it’ll eventually be time to get back to performing the tasks Keeper requires of you. You may have already begun exploring Dromund Kaas and progressed further in your story. If so, you’ve already seen hints of the epic saga in which you are destined to play a critical role. The events that occur on Dromund Kaas will set cycles into motion that you’ll be dealing with long after leaving this world.

Make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to pick up other missions as you explore Dromund Kaas as well. There are many interesting characters to meet and surprising things you can learn by taking part in these missions, and you can often complete them in the same areas you’ll be visiting in your personal storyline.

Did you know? You can find vendors who sell special light side and dark side equipment on certain planets. Social points earned during multiplayer conversations allow you to equip special equipment.

Take particular note of Heroic Missions you may come across. These are more challenging than regular missions, usually requiring groups of 2 or more players, but they also usually offer better equipment and rewards. You can begin one such mission, “Friends of Old”, by speaking with Major Shellaster on your way to the Dark Temple.

The Greater Galaxy

After you’ve completed your storyline on Dromund Kaas, you can look forward to acquiring your own personal starship. From there, a much wider galaxy will open up to you. You’ll visit more than a dozen worlds, be joined by more companions, and you’ll make countless decisions to determine your ultimate destiny. We hope you continue to enjoy your experience.

May the Force be with you.

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