Hello, this is Starr from MMO-Mechanics. Today I am going to give an overview of how to optimize your gear for PvP.
I. INTRODUCTION
Patch 1.2 brought a great many lovely changes to PvP gear. Namely, the itemisation of the new War Hero gear. However, the itemisation of Battlemaster gear — while now better — still leaves much to be desired. Add to this the fact that even the lowest-cost War Hero pieces necessitate around 1,400 ranked and 200 regular Warzone Commendations (4,400 regular Commendations or ≈44 winning Warzones played) and one finds that there will be a considerable time investment whilst wearing mediocre Battlemaster gear (as itemisation is concerned) to get the new War Hero gear. Therefore, it seems logical that one should take a comparatively small amount of time to optimise their Battlemaster PvP set to make long War Hero grind a bit more bearable.
To that end, I have created the following guides for optimising Battlemaster PvP gear for each basic class in SWTOR. But, before you run off and spend your hard-earned commendations on pieces of gear only to rip-and-replace modifications and enhancements to augment your current set, there are a few caveats that must be observed.
II. CAVEATS OF OPTIMISING PVP GEAR
First and foremost, the stat priorities for PvP are (despite what most believe) fairly homogeneous. Therefore, I will be providing only one stat priority progression. However, before we get started: regardless of which path you choose, there are a few universal truths concerning PvP gearing. They are as follows.
- Tank gear is two shades shy of useless in PvP (and has been omitted from this guide).
- More endurance is always better than less.
- Stack power if there’s nothing left to stack.
III. PHASES OF OPTIMISATION FOR PVP GEAR
- PHASE I: SURGE RATING < 300
Surge Rating > Critical Rating > Power > Alacrity/Accuracy
- PHASE II: CRITICAL RATING < 450
Critical Rating > Power > Critical/Accuracy > QQ PvP Forum Posts > Surge Rating
- PHASE III: SURGE ≥ 300 AND CRITICAL ≥ 450
Power > Critical/Accuracy > QQ PvP Forum Posts > Critical Rating > Surge Rating
III a. GEARING PHASE BREAKDOWN
In Phase I, Surge is the most important thing that you can put into your gear because of the significant boost it will have on your Burst DPS/Healing. Additionally, the only reason that Critical Rating is placed ahead of Power in this phase is because, assuming you’re following in sequence, critical would be <450 and therefore be more valuable than power at that point.
Phase II assumes that you’re Surge Rating is now ≥300. At this point it is very nearly useless to add any more of it to your gear set. Therefore, we move on to Critical Rating because it now has the most significant potential impact on your burst DPS/Healing. Whether you use mods or enhancements to improve your Critical Rating is a matter of choice. But, plan ahead since all enhancements have either Critical or Power combined with Alacrity or Accuracy, but not both, and modifications have only one of the four. I prefer to stack enhancements with +40 Endurance, Critical Rating, and Accuracy/Alacrity; leaving my mods open to pile on more Endurance main stat, and power.
Phase III the “cleanup” phase. Your Surge Rating is ≥ 300 and your Critical Rating is ≥ 450. There’s nothing left to do except pile on as much Endurance, main stat, and Power as you possibly can. Or, you can call the job done and start the long grind for your War Hero set.
IV. CONCLUSION
All in all, I find it worthwhile to spend a bit of time getting your Battlemaster gear set in its best shape possible before starting the long grind to War Hero. Because, if I’m going to have to spend a ton of time in Warzones in my Battlemaster gear before I can get my War Hero gear, I want to make sure that I’m blasting away at maximum effectiveness.
Now, what are you waiting for!? Get into the table below to find your base class, figure out where you can get which mods and enhancements, and start planning how you’re going to optimise your gear set! Until next time, PvP’ers: keep your powder dry and your seals tight.
–Starr
V. LINKS TO BASE CLASS MOD LISTS
Below you will find a list of pvp specific mods for your class as well as enhancements for all. This will show you where to get the mods you’ll need to optimize your gear.
Republic
Jedi Consular
Jedi Knight
Trooper
Smuggler
Empire
Sith Inquisitor
Sith Warrior
Bounty Hunter
Imperial Agent
Neutral
Enhancments
.