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I am a returning player who doesn't have the time to invest in multiple characters. I have searched most of the recommended class guides and they are either not up to date or do not seem to cover the survivability aspect. I know any class can beat story content with ease, however, is there a DPS class that can solo more content than others without cheesing mechanics?

There are many, if not most. I'll only mention one (and its mirror), I'm sure others will add more suggestions. The fastest way to go through Solo Story content is to go with a ranged DPS character (or a Stealther) and have the companion stance/role change depending on the actual fight.

 

- Jedi Consular -> Sage -> Telekinetics

- Sith Inquisitor -> Sorcerer -> Lightning

 

Reasons: Good DPS, Mobility, Defensive Cooldowns, Self-Heals

Edited December 22, 2020 by mike_carton

Thanks for the reply, hopefully a few more people chime in soon. I almost miss the days where you would get 15 replies in the first few minutes, 14 of which would be elitists or trolls and one person actually trying to help... almost.

If you are patient, I think you will find that playing as a tank class with an influence rank 50 dual pistol companion in heal stance is pretty much unkillable. To that end any tank class will do along with any dual pistol wielding comp. All characters (eventually) have access to

 

 

But you may have to wait and depending on the chapter or your choices could go away for a while.

Technically speaking, the droid Z0-OM is the best healer even above dual pistol wielders, but dual wielders will do slightly more off dps which can help speed things along, and at this point Z0-OM requires a purchase from the cartel market using cartel coins which you may or may not want to spend.

 

If you are completely anti tank then probably guardians/juggernauts and vanguards/powertechs in their dps stances are decent choices since they wear heavy armor and have good DCDs. From a strict parsing leaderboard perspective I hear that VG/PT is considered one of the best DPS disciplines.

 

I would say that along with Telekinetic Sages/Lightning Sorcs mentioned above, I find commandos/mercs to be pretty survivable. They have self heals and great DCDs and they wear heavy armor which cuts down on some of the damage especially from trash, whereas consulars/inquisitors are light armor users.

 

You’re going to encounter a lot of trash in solo content and much of it will have a harder time against a heavy armor wearer. Of course, the easiest fight is the one you never have to do, so stealthers are always decent, but I’m not sure if you consider that to be “cheesing everything.”

 

EDIT: If you are coming back to the game after a long time, and/or you want to experience the story again, I think your best bet is a Guardian or Juggernaut.

Edited December 23, 2020 by phalczen

Generally speaking, the classes trade off for more or less of survivability versus maximum DPS. So the more damage you can take, the less damage you can do.

Also different classes have different skill caps, so it may not simply be a straight trade-off (Marauder/Sentinel, I am looking at you... very good DPS potential across all 3 disciplines, but maximizing the DPS is very hard so you will typically find your effective DPS is lower, making it a sub-optimal choice).

Also something to consider, is that most classes are either good at AOE/group damage, OR single-target damage. So you will find that some fights or sections you blow through with one class but are noticably slower on another class, while other fights will see the situation reversed.

As others have said, running with a companion whose Influence level you have maxed at 50 is going to be much quicker and easier than with a companion at lower levels. For min-maxing, Z0-0M is the best healer and Shae Vizla is the best DPS, but it is hard to notice the differences in live play so I would personally not recommend investing in either of them specifically because of their status. However, that is your money/Cartel Coins, and your choice.

Ranged classes and ranged companions have a slightly easier time, because of the reduced complexity of ranged control. If you are within 30m of the target, you can hit it unless you cannot "see" it. For a melee range (4m) or short-range (10m) class, range control makes it a little more complicated, but certainly not impossible.

On that basis, the ranged class I would suggest are either a Gunslinger/Sniper, and try the different disciplines but Sharpshooter/Marksman is probably the go-to for clearing stuff quickly and easily. Either way, your class is a glass cannon, but with a high Influence companion in DPS mode (switch pre-fight to Heals for tough fights/Heroic missions), you should be ripping through the content as quickly as anyone else.

The melee class I would look at is Guardian/Juggernaut, probably with a Focus/Rage discipline for the shortest time-to-kill/DPS. I personally prefer running DOT specs as the DPS reduction is not that great, and I have much less chance of snatching aggro from a tank in group settings, which may not be as relevant for you. But for easy solo play, Focus/Rage is great and you still benefit from the Guardian/Juggernaut's inherent survivability. Again, DPS companion swapping out to heals for the majorly tough fights/heroics.

I have no idea how nobody's mentioned this yet, or how lightning sorc (one of the squishier classes with higher damage) is the one specific suggestion, but jugg and mercernary take the cake here.

 

Any jugg spec is good, especially solo, the rotations are not hard to get into, you've got a ton of defensive cooldowns (I think it's like 6?) one of which is literally a heal to full, one of which reflects damage, on of which stops weapon damage which most npcs deal, and reduces the rest, one which acts like a temporary medpac, etc.

 

I would also recommend arsenal merc, it's literally a 6 button rotation with 3 heal to full buttons, plus it can offheal itself. Top tier for literally every kind of content in this game and almost braindead easy to play. Very hard to go wrong.

 

Honorable mention here is concealment operative, which is literally unkillable if played well but it's somewhat hard to time your rolls correctly. 4 button rotation (not an exaggeration: backstab, volatile, veiled strike, and laceration), passive self heals, an AOE mezz, stealth + the ability to sap NPCs, group stealth, a total resist to all damage every time you roll... also very hard to go wrong with this class in solo play.

I know any class can beat story content with ease, however, is there a DPS class that can solo more content than others without cheesing mechanics?

Short answer: No.

 

Longer answer: The only difference I have in doing solo content with a Gunslinger, Guardian, Sentinel, or Marauder has to do with their relative level of gear and stats. (I have all classes, but I mainly play Gunslinger and a bit of the other 3.)

Having soloed my way through all the class stories, I've found the most survivability and fun classes to be balance sage/madness sorc and infiltration shadow/deception assassin with telekinetics sage/lightning sorc and vigilance guardian/vengeance juggernaut both a close second. Ultimately, it's what you like best...the more you know the class, the more damage you will do and the more survivable you will become. Have fun!

I have no idea how nobody's mentioned this yet, or how lightning sorc (one of the squishier classes with higher damage) is the one specific suggestion, but jugg and mercernary take the cake here.

 

Any jugg spec is good, especially solo, the rotations are not hard to get into, you've got a ton of defensive cooldowns (I think it's like 6?) one of which is literally a heal to full, one of which reflects damage, on of which stops weapon damage which most npcs deal, and reduces the rest, one which acts like a temporary medpac, etc.

 

I would also recommend arsenal merc, it's literally a 6 button rotation with 3 heal to full buttons, plus it can offheal itself. Top tier for literally every kind of content in this game and almost braindead easy to play. Very hard to go wrong.

 

Honorable mention here is concealment operative, which is literally unkillable if played well but it's somewhat hard to time your rolls correctly. 4 button rotation (not an exaggeration: backstab, volatile, veiled strike, and laceration), passive self heals, an AOE mezz, stealth + the ability to sap NPCs, group stealth, a total resist to all damage every time you roll... also very hard to go wrong with this class in solo play.

 

If you know what you do lightning sorc is one of the tankiest classes in the game with how straight up dmg reduc they have, almost nothing compars to that while have rly good single and aoe target dmg, no ressource management at all and selfheal without gcd or cost

For daily heroics:

Nothing beats Pyrotech. I love how I can gather 15 or more mobs in tattooing heroics and melt them.The high aoe damage and carbon stun results in everything being killed before Kontor overload is finished.