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Heroic Star Fortress - soloable?


americanaussie

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Hey all - I did manage to solo a couple heroic star fortresses on an old JK sent when KOTFE was released. I've created an alt Jedi Knight (I'm desperately wanting those exarch boots as I lost my last ones either sold or hiding on one of my characters)

 

So, my char is level 75, 280 gear give or take, Lana is level 50 influence. If I get my alliance up to level 20, will I be able to solo these heroics or am I screwed because she's level 75?

 

Any advice? Thoughts/feelings?

 

I'm in Australia so grouping up doesn't happen very often, it's rare for me to even see people in my guild so soloing them is pretty much my only option.

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Yes and no.

 

Is it doable? Heck yeah, I did 2 on my Operative, and I'm relatively average as a player. I did have to self heal quite a bit though, so I have 2 concerns about you doing it on a Knight/Warrior:

 

1. You'll have to constantly kite and either kill trash mobs quickly, or apply some sort of stun on them while you beat the actual boss down. You also need to keep looking down at your feet to avoid AoEs.

 

2. Will you be able to use enough defensives and in a way that won't have you dead due to burning through them too quickly?

 

Probably my biggest issue is gonna be your companion though. Without a single doubt, melee companions are doomed in the Star Fortresses because they run into enemies, and a lot of them have AoEs that will kill them off insanely quickly if you don't keep a constant eye on them. I had to switch from a rank 50 Lana to rank 43 Kaliyo simply because Lana kept suiciding against bosses and healing herself instead of me.

 

You could also stand to get a bit better gear, the Heroic version was definitely intended for lvl 75 characters. But honestly, just give it a try (and definitely bring a ranged companion).

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

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Ranged Healing Comp (2 weapons pref), Vette is who I usually use) at influence 50

ranged DPS class with AOE, self heals, and good defensives (Merc/Com, Sorc/sage) seems to work best, but spreadable DoTs might be effective as well... your biggest challenge is taking out large groups quickly

 

for the fights leading up to the end (ring around the sun reactor) make sure to focus down the adds, be ready to pop your heroic moment, and force the console to reset as fast as you can... it's a dps race to advance to the next fight

 

make sure to be ready to open your inventory to the mission items tab.... there's a bug that causes one of the key dropped items to not go on your heroic/optional bar, and without it you're dead.

 

Final fight is actually easier than some of the ring fights, it's just longer..... having the turret item will shorten it considerably (place it at fight start, then lay into the boss while they're distracted by the turret)

 

ETA:

Having your alliance contacts at level 10 each give you buffs that make it much easier as well

Edited by Void_Singer
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Definitely possible. I've done quite a few. Most were on tank class with healing companions. Takes longer, but no real risk of death. I haven't specifically done a sent / mara, but have done a few Fortresses with an AP Powertech and it's pretty easy. Tank PC / Heal Comp is the easiest combo, then DPS PC / Heal comp and the worst is Heal PC / Tank comp. For Heal / Tank, you really have to micromanage your comp all while dealing with heal aggro because tank comps are poorly designed.

 

I personally would use a healing class that is like you, if you are melee, pick a melee healing comp. That way they will most likely be next to you and you can kill the melee crap they may get aggro on.

 

I find the only real alliance bonus items that are useful are the boost right as you board and then the turret item. I rarely use the others.

 

The trash mobs are pretty easy throughout, just kill the weaker stuff first.

 

For the first boss, pull the 3 adds behind the container to the immediate left. Then pull the boss to the same place. That way you don't need to deal with the adds he spawns. If you fight him on the semi-transparent floor area, you'll get adds.

 

For the last boss, the only one that sucks is the one that heals if you don't interrupt. If you get that one, just make sure you interrupt as often as you can. Otherwise, just deploy your turret, use Heroic Moment, and don't stand in stupid.

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  • 11 months later...

I've tried the first one (Alderaan) about 10 times now on my Sage. He's my best equipped, most experienced character, around 276-280 gear. The basic, minion level enemies are as tough as strong enemies. The strong enemies are like elites and the elites are stronger than champion level enemies. ONE Knight of Zakuul will slaughter my companion AND nearly kill me, unless I'm VERY careful.

 

And these missions are setting me into fights with SEVERAL of them at once... plus around 6-10 minions... PLUS a champion level enemy spamming instant kill aoe attacks.

 

As far as I'm concerned, they're unplayable in anything less than a raid. It's frankly not much fun. I get that it's group content, but EVERY other Heroic I've played has been more or less doable, if I'm careful. This... Putting me up against as many as 20 foes, all of them insanely strong... it's just not anything like any other Heroic mission.

 

As I say, just not much fun.

 

(Whoops, sorry for the necro, I did a seardh for the topic and didn't notice the date)

Edited by Vego_Mohenjo
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Update below for "Planetary Heroics".

 

I like necros; it means that a thread that was started a long time ago is still relevant today. Reflects well on the original poster. And on the necromancer who is reusing the thread instead of starting a new one.

I've tried the first one (Alderaan) about 10 times now on my Sage. He's my best equipped, most experienced character, around 276-280 gear. The basic, minion level enemies are as tough as strong enemies. The strong enemies are like elites and the elites are stronger than champion level enemies. ONE Knight of Zakuul will slaughter my companion AND nearly kill me, unless I'm VERY careful.

 

And these missions are setting me into fights with SEVERAL of them at once... plus around 6-10 minions... PLUS a champion level enemy spamming instant kill aoe attacks.

 

As far as I'm concerned, they're unplayable in anything less than a raid. It's frankly not much fun. I get that it's group content, but EVERY other Heroic I've played has been more or less doable, if I'm careful. This... Putting me up against as many as 20 foes, all of them insanely strong... it's just not anything like any other Heroic mission.

Despite sharing the "Heroic" descriptive, the following are of increasing difficulty levels:

 

- Planetary Heroics - Very easy now, can be done solo. Not much required by way of gear. Heroics have become truly group missions since the Ossus (Jedi Under Siege) update.

 

- Star Fortress Heroics - Easy in a group. Easy enough with the Alliance Specialist help. Challenging to solo; will need good gear and decent understanding of the character's Discipline and how to play it, will need a high-influence companion to solo. Experienced players with good gear and high-influence companion can solo these without the help of Alliance Specialists (there's an achievement for that)

 

- PvE Space Combat Heroics - These are solo missions, there is no group option. VM Ops level challenge or higher and need the best Starship equipment (Grade 7), lot of player experience and expertise needed.

 

I did solo Heroic SFs (all of them, for the achievements) on a TK Sage. It took BiS gear, level 50 influence companion, patience, and time. 276-280 gear - even if it works against the rest of the mobs - will not be adequate against the final boss (or even against the sets of adds in the rooms just before the final boss.) Under all gearing conditions and with all experience levels, it is required to know and use one's CCs, Interrupts, and DCDs.

 

All of the above is from my experience. Note that I'm not saying it should remain like this or that players should "get gud" or any such "leet" stuff.

Edited by mike_carton
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I've tried the first one (Alderaan) about 10 times now on my Sage. He's my best equipped, most experienced character, around 276-280 gear. The basic, minion level enemies are as tough as strong enemies. The strong enemies are like elites and the elites are stronger than champion level enemies. ONE Knight of Zakuul will slaughter my companion AND nearly kill me, unless I'm VERY careful.

 

And these missions are setting me into fights with SEVERAL of them at once... plus around 6-10 minions... PLUS a champion level enemy spamming instant kill aoe attacks.

 

As far as I'm concerned, they're unplayable in anything less than a raid. It's frankly not much fun. I get that it's group content, but EVERY other Heroic I've played has been more or less doable, if I'm careful. This... Putting me up against as many as 20 foes, all of them insanely strong... it's just not anything like any other Heroic mission.

 

As I say, just not much fun.

 

(Whoops, sorry for the necro, I did a seardh for the topic and didn't notice the date)

 

Heroic ones were meant for at least 2 players. You can solo them with 306 gear and a influence 25 companion healer as long as you have the 4 buffs from Alliance Specialists (requires influence 10). Of course, high than 25 is better, but I've finished one with as low as influence 20. Most of the mobs are easy to beat, it just takes time bringing their health down. Avoid AoE, focus one at a time. This forces the enemies to spread their attacks between you and your companion.

 

For the gold enemies, the ones to watch out for are the single saber knights. They do massive damage compared to the duel-wield and double-bladed saber knights. Make sure your defensive cooldowns are ready. Use them early, so they can cool down and let you use them a second time during the fight (for some of them.) Unity legacy cooldown is also great (reduce damage taken by 50%). Heroic moment drastically increases DPS which combined with defensive cooldowns can help you take out the knights before you die.

 

The ending parts are much the same. Use a long crowd control ability if available (e.g. Whirlwind or Mind Maze) on one gold knight. Then take out the two gold knights asap with the Heroic Moment (wait before each fight for it to come off cooldown). Then AoE remaining enemies (exception to what I wrote earlier) and use mission item on boss to activate terminal. Final boss is more of the same. Use defensive cooldowns early (not all at once, chain them one after another) with Heroic Moment. If you have to, run away from the boss to give your companion time to heal. You should be avoiding most, if not all of the dodge-able attacks this fight as well. If you have Telekinetics Sage, you have good mobility too. You can do quite a few attacks on the move; make sure to have the utility to let you cast your most powerful attack on the move.

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Hey all - I did manage to solo a couple heroic star fortresses on an old JK sent when KOTFE was released. I've created an alt Jedi Knight (I'm desperately wanting those exarch boots as I lost my last ones either sold or hiding on one of my characters)

 

So, my char is level 75, 280 gear give or take, Lana is level 50 influence. If I get my alliance up to level 20, will I be able to solo these heroics or am I screwed because she's level 75?

 

Any advice? Thoughts/feelings?

 

I'm in Australia so grouping up doesn't happen very often, it's rare for me to even see people in my guild so soloing them is pretty much my only option.

 

Also an Aussie.

 

Yes, it is soloable, but it will be tough without set bonuse gear and tacticals. The actual gear rating isn’t as big an issue because power, mastery and endurance are scaled back to lvl 70 cap. Secondary stats like alacrity, crit and accuracy aren’t affected by the cap and you can have as many as your gear stat pool has.

 

The trick is to get your BiS set bonus Armor shells for your class and tactical (You can mostly get these from the tech frag vendors on the fleet if you want to speed up the grind process).

Then add grade 11 augment kits (to save credits later on) or grade 10 if you’re strapped for creds. Then use 228 augments (Or 274+ if you have the creds) to increase secondary for any deficiencies in them.

 

As long as you can hit close to 110% accuracy, 1.4 GCD of alacrity and stack the rest in crit, by using the augments the 280 gear lvl will be sufficient to solo Heroic Star Fortress.

 

Only other bit of advice is use ranged companion for healing (so Lana’s not the best choice for healing). A melee companion will stand in the damage too much. It also helps if you are playing a dps class with a taunt or self healing.

 

Edit: didn’t realise this was a necro. But the advice given is still relevant for any new or returning players in this situation.

Edited by TrixxieTriss
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Probably my biggest issue is gonna be your companion though. Without a single doubt, melee companions are doomed in the Star Fortresses because they run into enemies, and a lot of them have AoEs that will kill them off insanely quickly if you don't keep a constant eye on them. I had to switch from a rank 50 Lana to rank 43 Kaliyo simply because Lana kept suiciding against bosses and healing herself instead of me.

Do I have to post this picture *again*?

 

https://i.imgur.com/TZh9uQu.jpg

 

Level 75 TK Sage in 304s, accompanied by a rank 23 Nadia, definitely a melee companion. She was not even close to doomed.

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Do I have to post this picture *again*?

 

https://i.imgur.com/TZh9uQu.jpg

 

Level 75 TK Sage in 304s, accompanied by a rank 23 Nadia, definitely a melee companion. She was not even close to doomed.

 

It’s definitely doable. Except it definitely helps that as a sage you can self heal or heal your Comp.

But for most classes, especially melee classes, the last thing you want is a melee healer as they take too much damage and it’s hard to seperate them from the bosses special attacks.

On the flip side, I’ve also done it on my Lightning Sorc using Lana as a Tank and then off healing as needed.

Comes down to your class as much as the lvl of Comp or what type of Comp they are. Trying to do the same thing on my Sent with Lana would have been near impossible IMO.

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Absolutely, Ive done it heaps of times with a variety of characters and builds. I am not a raider or PvP champion or anything neither.

 

However, I did that in 306 gear everytime (without set bonus) though my companions level ranged from 20 to 40.

 

It was not always easy, granted, but the only times I died was either by a bug or with HK-51 as a companion. Tank builds or self-heal builds have a lot easier time. Also don't forget Heroic moment and Unity and such.

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Unfortunately, it seems they're not going to be soloable for me. As a relatively casual player, I've been able to get through pretty well all the content in the game up til this, and if I'm not going to be able to do it with the gear and companions I have (highest influence on any companion is 12, I think).

 

What I'm hearing is that these are kind of mini-raids, where you more or less have to have the specific powers at the specific levels, used at the specific times... or you're going to be effectively unable to play it. That's unfortunate... especially because it kind of stalls all story progress, as these missions are part of the story.

 

I guess I'll have to wait around until I can find a group. Oh well, it IS group content, after all.

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I was able to solo it with my concentration sentinel (lv75 306 gear) with Scourge (lv20 something) but not with my sniper (same gear and comp status). I wonder if I'll have an easier time now that I have lv50 comp... I also have a tank now so time to try the SF again I guess.
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I gave up somewhere in the middle of the first one (Lightning Sorcerer). Fortunately, I'd already completed them on another character.

The picture I posted on page 1 is of a TK Sage, which is the Pub mirror of Lightning Sorc, so yes, it's possible. (The companion is Nadia, at Influence Rank 23. My character is wearing 304s.)

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I hadn't tried it since 6.0, but this thread made me curious, so I ran the Tatooine SF on my TK sage. This is definitely a case where you can use gear and Alliance buffs to compensate for not being a great player. I was in 306 gear with a set bonus, used L50 Z0-0M on heals, had all Alliance buffs and picked up all 4 Alliance special abilities. A better player would certainly not have needed all that, but it was very helpful for me.

 

I was able to finish with no real problems, but it took a long time and felt tedious rather than fun. (The same was true for me before 6.0, so it's nothing new.) If I really want the Star Fortress companions on another character, I'd probably ask on the fleet if anyone was interested in running one; I had pretty good luck with that back in the day.

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Unfortunately, it seems they're not going to be soloable for me. As a relatively casual player, I've been able to get through pretty well all the content in the game up til this, and if I'm not going to be able to do it with the gear and companions I have (highest influence on any companion is 12, I think).

 

What I'm hearing is that these are kind of mini-raids, where you more or less have to have the specific powers at the specific levels, used at the specific times... or you're going to be effectively unable to play it. That's unfortunate... especially because it kind of stalls all story progress, as these missions are part of the story.

 

I guess I'll have to wait around until I can find a group. Oh well, it IS group content, after all.

 

It has been mentioned in the thread but it possibly got buried: Heroic version is group content. It is not meant to be done solo. There are Solo versions of each Star Fortress that are significantly easier and are meant to be done solo. What's more, despite what anybody claims, Star Fortress (either Solo or Heroic mode) does not impact story progress; there's no story component in them in any meaningful way.

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The SF heroics are more like veteran flashpoints. So group content, but solable if you know what you are doing. (There is an achievement for doing a heroic SF solo and not using any of the alliance experts buffs).

 

I've been solo'ing the heroics just to get the weekly done faster. Howerver, I only solo on my dps stealth classes since they can skip most of the annoying trash. The boss fights are not overly hard, but they are tedious and not-so-fun on mdps since there are frequent knockbacks.

 

The worst part is that the heroic SF have no deco drops, so basically you end up doing more work for less rewards. There is no real reason to run the heroic SF version instead of the solo SF version unless you really want the SF companions.

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I was able to solo it with my concentration sentinel (lv75 306 gear) with Scourge (lv20 something) but not with my sniper (same gear and comp status). I wonder if I'll have an easier time now that I have lv50 comp... I also have a tank now so time to try the SF again I guess.

 

The Heroic version might present some additional challenges to a Sniper, especially in the final boss fight. As you already know from doing it on other Disciplines, mobility helps in that fight.

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Perhaps, but it *is* meant to be doable solo.

 

And it *is* doable solo. I've never done them any way *but* solo.

 

As I wrote above, I've done them solo, myself. I was responding to a poster who seemed to believe that Heroic version should be solo-able by him and seemed disappointed that he was not able to do that.

 

IMO Heroic SF is meant to be a tougher challenge and nobody should be beating themselves up for not being able to solo it.

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I've tried the first one (Alderaan) about 10 times now on my Sage. He's my best equipped, most experienced character, around 276-280 gear. The basic, minion level enemies are as tough as strong enemies. The strong enemies are like elites and the elites are stronger than champion level enemies. ONE Knight of Zakuul will slaughter my companion AND nearly kill me, unless I'm VERY careful.

 

And these missions are setting me into fights with SEVERAL of them at once... plus around 6-10 minions... PLUS a champion level enemy spamming instant kill aoe attacks.

 

As far as I'm concerned, they're unplayable in anything less than a raid. It's frankly not much fun. I get that it's group content, but EVERY other Heroic I've played has been more or less doable, if I'm careful. This... Putting me up against as many as 20 foes, all of them insanely strong... it's just not anything like any other Heroic mission.

 

As I say, just not much fun.

 

(Whoops, sorry for the necro, I did a seardh for the topic and didn't notice the date)

 

I like soloing heroic SFs - they offer a challenge that doesn't otherwise exist for solo/story players like me. I did some heroic Star Fortresses on my Sith Inq (lightning) last night for the weekly quest (fancied doing something different for the conquest points). They are definitely soloable with that class and I don't find them any harder than I did at 70. Knowing the tactics when you fight the groups towards the end of the instance is a huge help. Someone's probably linked it, however Dulfy's archived SF guide is useful for understanding the tactics in heroic (when I first tried heroic SFs I didn't know the tactic guide existed and worked it out by trial/error/death): http://dulfy.net/2015/10/21/swtor-star-fortresses-guide/

Your gear level should be fine. I do have some tips:

  • CC helps a lot as the knights can be lethal. Any CC ability you have, use it on the elite (yellow) mobs when there are more than two of them
  • Level 50 influence companion in heal spec (unless you're a healer) - can't stress this enough. In addition, use a ranged companion. I tried with both ranged and melee companions and ended up wanting to shove my melee ones out the SF's airlock!
  • Use the buff terminal at the start of the fortress*
  • Level your alliance specialists - I think you need to get them to level 10 - which then unlocks 4 equipment boxes hidden around the fortress that give you extra abilities in heroics. These boxes are usually near a paladin (champion) or a knight (elite) or a bonus objective area. The abilities you get from them are very useful (they include a heal probe and a turret with threat and damage).*
  • Use Heroic moment (if you have all 8 class stories complete to unlock all the heroic abilities) is a godsend

 

It's worth dying once just to do the jail break :D

*there is an achievement to compete a heroic SF without any buffs or extras. You only need to do that once for the achievement though.

Edited by Sarova
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