There is no “I” in “Team”: Do NOT, under any circumstances, do anything before all members of the Group are ready. Charging ahead before planning is done is one of the fastest ways for an Operation to wipe out.

Always ask if people are new: Before any Boss, ask if anyone hasn’t done it before (specify it isn’t a problem, you just need to explain the fight if they are). If someone has not done the battle before, give them a brief rundown of the fight, or refer them to a guide.

Someone has to do the dirty jobs: In Operations, not everyone gets a glamorous role. But everyone (read: that means you too) must play by the rules in order to succeed. If you have to stand behind the boss while you kill it, you will. If you have to run from an attack, you will. If you have to stop hitting a boss before something terrible happens (like in Hardmode Dread Palace’s Final Boss), then you will. This is important.

Always be polite: Nobody likes a quitter. If you absolutely must leave, then explain why and wish them good luck before you log out.

Pulling is for Tanks: If you are a DPS or Healer, always let the Tank attack first. This way, the mobs or boss will go for the high-hitpoint Tank, rather than the squishier Healers and DPS.

Interrupt whenever possible: If the boss or mob is channeling an ability, and you can interrupt it, do so. Do not let them hit when you can stop them.

Raid: Operations

Tank: A role players fulfill where they keep a bosses attention. Can be a Vanguard, Powertech, Shadow, Assassin, Juggernaut, or Guardian.

DPS: Damage per second. Also the role of damage dealer, which any class can fulfill. Specific DPS classes are Sentinel, Marauder, Gunslinger, and Sniper

Healer: A Role players fulfill that revolves around keeping everyone else alive. Can be a Sage, Sorcerer, Commando, Mercenary, Scoundrel, or Operative.

Cleave: Any attack that hits everything in front of the boss.

AoE: Area of Effect attack, hits multiple targets.

Channel: Ability that takes a while to charge up/perform. Some may be interrupted by abilities like Force Kick.

Enrage: A 200% damage increase bosses get if you take too long to kill them.

69/72/78: Numbers like these indicate the item level of the Mods a player is using. 78s are currently the best possible type of Mod.

Mumble/Ventrillo(or Vent)/Teamspeak: Voice Chat servers. Many Ops groups enjoy using these so they don’t have to type mid-battle. I personally prefer Mumble.

Pull: Attacking a boss/mob, refers to pulling their aggro.

Aggro: The aggression of a Mob towards a given player. The more of a boss’s aggro a player has, the more likely they are to attack that player. It is the job of a Tank to keep the aggro of everything they fight.

Wipe: Short for a wipeout, which happens when a team fails fighting a boss.

Pug: Acronym for Pick-Up Group, a team comprised of players from multiple Guilds, instead of a Guild-Only run. Generally viewed as more difficult than Guild runs.

EV/KP/EC/TfB/SnV/DF/DP/TC: Acronyms of all Operations: Eternity Vault, Karagga’s Palace, Explosive Conflict, Terror from Beyond, Scum and Villainy, Dread Fortress, Dread Palace, and Toborro’s Courtyard (which is just one boss), respectively. Note that some refer to Scum and Villainy as Darvannis, the planet that it is set in.

Stacking: Can refer to players grouping close to each other, or a buff or debuff whose effects grow the more it is used.

If you are reading this, you have most likely entered or will soon enter the Eternity Vault, or EV as us PvE vets prefer to call it. This also means that this is most likely your first venture into SWTOR’s PvE. So, welcome aboard. Don’t forget to pick up the Eternity Vault Weekly mission from the Operations Terminal in the Fleet Supplies Section before entering, as well as the Classic Operations Weekly if you are eligible and attempting Hardmode (not advisable until you have some decent PvE gear). There will also be a one-time mission you can pick up before entering. There should be someone with a Quest marker over their head in the Belsavis Operations hangar, be sure to talk to them if you haven’t already.

Now, when you first arrive, you will be treated to a cutscene of your capital ship coming under fire. You will spawn in the ship’s Escape Pod bay, just right click on the first one that lets you. You will crash land in the pod down in a heavy snowstorm, but you should be able to get through by looking out for your team’s nametags, and using your map and minimap. You should be heading for a ramp made of ice that leads up to two turrets. Wait for everyone to be ready, and let a Tank attack, or just start the fight if you are one.

The turrets are your top priority for this pre-boss warmup. If you are a Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, use Force Leap/Force Charge to jump onto the top of the turrets (ignore the power batteries, as most groups will tell you). From there, damage it normally. Everyone else, use any ranged attack possible. After both turrets and the droids they spawn are down (droids should die fairly quickly), run back to the ice ramp, and the first boss of the Operation will spawn.

This metal behemoth is the first boss of the Op, and introduces you to some fairly simple mechanics. Melee DPS and Tanks (Jedi/Sith characters, as well as Vanguards/Powertechs) should be advised that the boss has a stun/knockback combo that will send you as far as forty meters away from the boss. Try and stay behind him, this helps in my experience. The boss will usually say something along the lines of “Proximity Breached!” before this happens. When the boss calls out “I have been armed with over twenty-four distinct weapons technologies!”, it will fire an uninterruptible channeled barrage of missiles at the group, and it will kill most members fairly quickly. The best way to avoid this is to bring a Jedi Sage Healer, as they can cast a powerful AoE heal. Have everyone huddle together (referred to as “stacking” by many), and let the Sage cast the heal into the midst of the crowd. This should let you survive. The boss will also call out “Enemy tactics analyzed. Engaging STORM Protocols.”. This is your cue to start running. The boss will start spawning red target reticules at your feet, and fires a missile at each one that does heavy damage. It is best to run from these, and be careful to avoid the escape routes of other players. Additionally, if a large red target is painted onto you, run away from everyone else. You’ll take damage, but nobody else will, and your Healers will top your health back up you shortly. Once the boss is down, collect his loot and start right clicking the charges on the door behind him. Proceed to the next phase. Congratulations.

There will be some long bridges and large flying droids. No special mechanics here, really, just interrupt their every move. There will also be some released Flesh Raider-type prisoners, just kill them and keep moving. You will eventually come to a portion of the vault where a door has been torn away, revealing a lava cave full of Firestalker hounds. Some teams like to run through and kill them all at the end, others like to fight the hounds one at a time, so ask the other members how they want to proceed. You will come to a point where you drop down into a large cavern full of lava, which is home to the second boss in the Op.

Gharj is a rancor-like monster who loves to make shock waves. DPS and Healers stay behind him at all times, Tanks should try to keep him facing away from any non-Tank teammates. Healers should keep the Tanks alive for as long as possible, and heal any DPS who need it. The boss will occasionally jump and create a powerful knockback, so you should try to angle yourself so that being flung backwards won’t toss you into lava. This will be marked by red lettering on the screen saying: “Gharj is preparing to pounce!” and a brief channel. Some players might prefer to run when this happens. Eventually, you will see the words “Gharj is entering a Frenzy!” which means that he is about to destroy the island. The edges of the rock platform you are standing are will start to shake, and large stalactites will fall into the magma, creating a pathway to the next island. Repeat the process here. Eventually, some Firestalker mobs will spawn when he Frenzies, ignore them until you arrive at the next platform, and then fight them off. Just keep repeating these steps until Gharj collapses, then loot him and head outside:

Now you enter the jungle. You will see a lot of animals out there that haven’t had a decent bite to eat in ages, but you can avoid them if you follow the ledge off to your left (using a mount is advised for this part of the Op). Stay out of a fight, and you’ll arrive at a river of magma, so aim your camera down and make a small jump onto a ledge inside the river. Proceed to climb up a narrow incline on the edge of the river and you will arrive in a sort of courtyard.

This boss is a puzzle. You will arrive at a courtyard containing two pillars, so be sure to have four players go to each Pylon. Each pillar has four rings of holocrons in them. You must make the middle ring match the two outside rings by using the left and right-hand buttons to rotate the wheel in the Pylon containing the holocron. You may try to wing it by just pressing one button, but there is also an app you can download for an Android phone that will tell you the combination (it is legitimate, Bioware has not complained about its usage). Every time you rotate, either Rakata soldiers or Proto-Acklay mobs will spawn, but they will die easily enough. Press the Confirm button on the Pylon console when the Holocrons match, and it will move on to the next row. In Hardmode, whoever uses a button gets a brief Debuff that prevents them from using it again for a minute or so, meaning you will have to take turns. Once both Pylons have been entirely solved, the loot chest and doorway to the next boss will unlock. Gather your loot and proceed to the next stage.

You will enter a room full of eight Sith lords. The fight is simple: You must choose one Sith to battle, and you cannot, in anyway, help the other members of the group. No healing, no buffs. No Zen or whatever the Marauder equivalent is, and no AoE hits while another boss is in range. You will receive a harsh debuff if this happens, and will basically be unable to win. Each boss will have a Guild tag under their name. Some will say Infernal Marauders, others Infernal Assassins, and others still Infernal Lords. DPS characters should go up against a Marauder, Tanks should fight an Assassin, and Healers should only go toe-to-toe with an Infernal Lord. If one teammate is still having trouble after everyone else has killed their Sith, feel free to jump in then. After all Sith have died, grab your loot from the chest, and drop down into the final boss chamber.

You will drop down into a round, tower-like room. A giant Rakata will be chained by a stasis field in the middle. Do NOT use any powerful abilities to open the fight with, as he will be invulnerable for the first 15 seconds while he rambles on about Korriban and how things were different back in the day (YOUR ANCESTORS CALLED ME SOA, WRATH AND POWER, AND KNEW FEAR!). If you happen to be a Warrior/Knight, feel free to build Rage or Focus by hitting him with any attacks that will build resources during this time. Once he is free, start pounding him. He will call out a name (two, if in Hardmode), and send balls of lightning out after those people. If your name is called, run away from your teammates and let the lightning ball come at you (referred to as “eating it” by many), to avoid having your teammates damaged by the explosion that occurs when it finds you. After you hit him enough, he will yell “I have waited twenty thousand years, but I will wait…NO LONGER!”. The minute he starts to yell these words, run as fast as you can back in the direction you came (left or west on the minimap), as he will destroy the floor everywhere but where you first dropped down into the arena. The pieces of the floor will fall slowly, conveniently letting you and your team run down the paused-in-midair pieces to a lower floor. Keep your camera aimed down for this stage, so it will be easier to find the next platform. Healers should be very quick to heal anyone who takes fall damage during this stage, as large amounts of it are inevitable.

After you land on the next story, Soa will arrive shortly, so Healers, heal your comrades quickly, if they aren’t at full Health. Soa will now start creating Mind Traps, which will suck a teammate into an alternate dimension. Free them by destroying the mind trap. You might also be sent flying around the arena, but you’ll land on a platform you can drop down from safely. Keep damaging him when you can (be sure to kill Mind Traps, though). Once his health is down enough, the floor-destruction will repeat, so run back to the left hand side of the arena again. Repeat the floor-dropping stage, and this time it will not happen again once you land. Soa will arrive, yell at you, and turn invincible. This is where the tricky part happens. Pillars will levitate from the walls and slowly float in midair, eventually dropping. Tanks must try to drag Soa under these pillars before they fall so he loses his invincibility for a brief time. DPS should focus on freeing everyone they can from Mind Traps, but once Soa can be hit, drop everything and hit him as hard as humanly possible. If you are stuck in a Mind Trap, don’t be annoyed when the person freeing you leaves for a bit, he’s just killing Soa. You’ll be freed from any Trap once Soa dies, anyway. Repeat this process until Soa falls, then take your well-earned loot. You’ve beaten your first Operation, and vanquished a great evil. Congratulations. Your work isn’t done yet, though. This is only the beginning.