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Several Guides to Starting Ranked PvP


septru

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Season 14 has ended. The ranked season is currently in preseason. The best time to try out ranked for the first time is during preseason because rating (ELO) is not tracked. If you are thinking about trying ranked, now is the time.

 

Although this guide was last updated on October 28th, 2021 (Patch 6.3.2), all of the guides are still relevent. Obviously for specific class guides you will want to find specific 7.0 guides.

 

Ranked PvP is on one of the most competitive and advanced forms of PvP in SWTOR. While valor level 25 and item level 306 are the only requirements to que for and compete in ranked, these requirements are not enough. In order to actually compete, succeed, and achieve your goals in ranked you should take basic measures of preparedness such as specifically gearing for ranked, learning your rotation and defenses, and surviving under pressure BEFORE queing for ranked PvP. No one is expecting you to be perfect, but your teammates expect you to be prepared so you don't let down your team.

 

Several very talented PvPers and authors have made very in-depth guides about everything ranked. These guides will help new players prepare, compete, and succeed in ranked. I do not take credit for any of this work. It is not my own. I am just linking to others works. All of the following guides are extremely informative and useful for new and interested ranked players.

 

This is not a beginner's guide to PvP. Before you que for ranked, you are already expected to know basics of PvP. If you are still new to the basics of PvP feel free to check out beginner's guides like ones made by Swtorista or

.

 

 

The Basics to Preparing for Ranked


  •  
  • - Biggs
    This guide is intended for new PvPers but is also great for new ranked PvPers.
     
  • - Kogass
     
  • - Cease
    Cease makes the most in-depth and informative content. While his videos may be a bit boring or unentertaining, they are some of the best guides out there.

 

Gearing Specifically For Ranked

  • - Biggs
     
  • - Cease
     
  • - Cease

 

What to Expect in Ranked

  • - Biggs
     
  • You can also find streams of various players playing ranked PvP. Watching experienced ranked players is one of the best ways to experiencing, understanding, and learning ranked before diving head first. Some of the best players in ranked frequently stream their ranked games during prime time hours (18:00GMT for DM, 7pmPST for SS/SF) on Twitch's SWTOR page.

 

Advanced Skills and Mechanics

  • - Biggs
     
  • - NoblePlays
     
  • Cleansing - Rambol
     
  • Tanking - Hottie
     
  • - Krea
  • - Kogass
  • - Biggs
  • - Krea
     
  • - Krea
    With the exception of engineering sniper's exfiltrate root, roots cannot be applied to whitebarred players. However, all roots provide a 50% slow to a whitebarred player with the exception of concealment operative's crippling slice which provides a 75% slow to a whitebarred target.
     
  • Various PvP specific class guides offer more in-depth information about how each class works in ranked. New players can use these class guides to get a better understanding of not only their own class, but other classes too. If you're having trouble finding good ones, just ask. Many can be found on Vulkk's Class Guides page.

 

If anyone knows of other ranked specific guides that should be added, please let me know in the comments.

Edited by septru
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Cease's first video has a google doc with notes related to the video, haven't checked the rest yet. It's got some great info/discussion/analysis re the game in addition to the notes, so a nice bonus if you prefer to read.

 

Thanks for putting this up, Prum. Great info.

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Such a shame they are all video, especially the gearing part. Not everyone likes watching video to refer to basics.

 

I thought most ppl would prefer videos caus visual. But if you know of written guides feel free to post them and I can edit the main post to include them.

Edited by septru
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Sorta hijack of your thread here but.... Didn't 'swtorista' already take care of the written part? --> https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=989463

 

Swtorista to my knowledge doesn't have a list of ranked guides. I believe she has a list of pvp guides that specifically cover unranked warzones.

 

And not in an egotistical sense... but as a pretty successful ranked player myself, I can vouch for the information and content of each of the guides. I cannot say the same for other guides.

Edited by septru
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I thought most ppl would prefer videos caus visual. But if you know of written guides feel free to post them and I can edit the main post to include them.

 

it's an age thing.

 

and curse you for making step out of character!

Edited by CheesyEZ
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I thought most ppl would prefer videos caus visual. But if you know of written guides feel free to post them and I can edit the main post to include them.

 

I’m not complaining that they’re made in video, kudos to the people who took the time.

All I’m saying is it’s harder to refer back to videos than taking a screen shot of a web page or having a quick link to it.

Having both would be more helpful, but I understand that takes time for someone to do and I don’t hold that against the guys who already took the time to make the vids.

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This is good information but basically pointless. Few people look at the forums. Even fewer at the PVP section. People queuing ranked to get globaled for their GS rewards or whatever have no interest nor desire to learn how to even PVP at the most basic level. Most people starting this game now are not coming because the PVP is better then most other MMO PVP they are just here for the Star Wars. Personally I couldn't care less about Star Wars. Especially whatever Star Wars this game is supposed to represent. I lost track of what was going on with the story after SOR. I just prefer the PVP in this game to other MMOs. If this was just some random space MMO with the same animations and PVP I would still play it.
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This is good information but basically pointless. Few people look at the forums. Even fewer at the PVP section. People queuing ranked to get globaled for their GS rewards or whatever have no interest nor desire to learn how to even PVP at the most basic level. Most people starting this game now are not coming because the PVP is better then most other MMO PVP they are just here for the Star Wars. Personally I couldn't care less about Star Wars. Especially whatever Star Wars this game is supposed to represent. I lost track of what was going on with the story after SOR. I just prefer the PVP in this game to other MMOs. If this was just some random space MMO with the same animations and PVP I would still play it.

 

eh? this is prolly the worst platform for pvp I've ever played. horrible engine. horrible balance (just lack of generic updates to balance). horrible administration from failed ranked 8v8 to taking 8 seasons to figure out basic rules for mixed factions and queue management.

 

this game's pvp is easy. i'll grant you that. and along with being sw is why I play it. but having a hard time seeing "good" in this otherwise.

Edited by CheesyEZ
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This is good information but basically pointless. Few people look at the forums. Even fewer at the PVP section.

 

Probably true, but you can link this thread to help others who might not look at the forums. And either way, it's nice to have all of these guides in one place.

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Just looking for some feedback from someone who has actually used the set bonuses Descent of the Fearless and Force Bound. Is the DPS drop for Force Bound that much more powerful? I'm assuming there's not that much difference between the two in regs, where wiping out the other squad's DPS every 45 seconds or so is not as big of a game changer.
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Just looking for some feedback from someone who has actually used the set bonuses Descent of the Fearless and Force Bound. Is the DPS drop for Force Bound that much more powerful? I'm assuming there's not that much difference between the two in regs, where wiping out the other squad's DPS every 45 seconds or so is not as big of a game changer.

 

(Assuming you're talking about ranked)

 

It really depends. I've estimated descent to give about a 2k dps increase over forcebound...

 

As a tank I will take forcebound 90% of the time. The 10% when I take descent comes from games where there's literally nothing to forcebound: snipers, fury/carn marauders, decep assassin. Your job as a tank is to keep people alive. While your damage is necessary, it is secondary.

 

As a dps jugg most of the time I'm running forcebound, and if not forcebound then nimble master. That's because you don't have a lot of survivability on dps jugg. If you feel like the enemy team does not have that much dps, and you and your team are not under a lot of pressure... go ahead and use descent. But otherwise, forcebound on dps jugg is also a good option.

 

I don't play marauder in ranked so I won't comment on it. But from what I've seen 60% take descent, 40% take forcebound. So it could go either way.

Edited by septru
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I actually have a guide on

that actually goes into more depth on this topic. (I also have commentary over in Solos, though I have not been playing solos lately so no new ones coming anytime soon.)

But generally, you take force bound to take a slightly more supportive role for your team, you take a hit in damage but you can still do a lot. There are often times I do the most damage consistently with force bound compared to another marauder with descent, but it is my main class.

The biggest example is a yellow damage-heavy team you should likely use force bound to shut down their damage.

Even more so important is PT vs PT, if they're both good, having a force bound to shutdown the enemies' PT opener is huge giving your PT a massive advantage which will likely spiral into a win.

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Thanks for the further info. Your guides are awesome, especially the discussion of relative strengths of the classes and strategies against them, etc. I'm back after a long break, so for my first set I'm going with something I can pick up off a vendor (gotta save some money for augs), but I'll aim for FB once I can.
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(gotta save some money for augs)

 

You actually don't need augments in bolstered PvP. Bolster provides you with the stats from 228 augments. So unless you want to min/max or looking for gold augs, buying augs isn't necessary.

 

With that said, if you go into ranked with no augs most people will assume you are bad and tunnel you. But that's not the end of the world if you can handle pressure.

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You actually don't need augments in bolstered PvP. Bolster provides you with the stats from 228 augments. So unless you want to min/max or looking for gold augs, buying augs isn't necessary.

 

With that said, if you go into ranked with no augs most people will assume you are bad and tunnel you. But that's not the end of the world if you can handle pressure.

 

I was planning on augs after I had 306 and set bonus. But now I realize that FB only needs 4 pieces for full set bonus. What do you run with it? 3 pieces of amplified champion? 2 pieces of descent and 1 piece of amplified champion?

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