In the vibrant universe of “Star Wars: The Old Republic” (SWTOR), your character’s prowess, survivability, and overall in-game experience are heavily influenced by the gear they don. This comprehensive guide explores the intricacies of gearing up, wending through the vast array of gear stats, the process of gear modification, various avenues for gear appropriation, and the pivotal role of endgame gear, set bonuses, and tactical items. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the Galactic Republic or Sith Empire or a newcomer eager to make your mark, this manual offers valuable insights and strategies to enrich your journey across the galaxy.

Understanding Gear Stats#

Deploying into the fray with the right equipment is crucial in SWTOR. Gear stats are the backbone of your character’s combat capabilities. They are primarily classified into primary, secondary, and tertiary categories.

• Primary Stats include Mastery, Endurance, and Power. Mastery increases your overall effectiveness in battle, be it dealing damage or healing allies. Endurance boosts your health pool, making you tougher to take down. Power augments the potency of your abilities, contributing to higher damage or more robust heals.
• Secondary Stats play a vital role in refining your character’s performance. Critical Rating boosts your chance to land critical hits, dealing significantly more damage or healing. Alacrity Rating reduces ability cooldowns and cast times, enabling quicker actions. Accuracy ensures your attacks hit the target, bypassing their defenses, while Defense increases your chance to dodge or parry incoming attacks.
• Tertiary Stats such as Shield Rating and Absorption are mainly for tanks, enhancing their ability to mitigate incoming damage. Understanding the optimal balance of these stats is critical to maximizing your character’s capabilities, depending on your class and role within the team.

Modifying Gear#

The versatility of SWTOR’s gear system lies in its modifiability. Most pieces of equipment come with mod slots – Armoring, Mod, and Enhancement – allowing for customization according to your specific needs or preferences.

• Armoring provides the primary stat for the gear piece and contributes to your armor rating.
• Mods offer a mix of primary and secondary stats, with no impact on armor rating.
• Enhancements grant secondary stats and are key to fine-tuning your character’s performance.

Optimizing the combination of these components can dramatically influence your gameplay, tailoring gear to complement your combat style. For instance, a player focusing on high burst damage might prioritize mods and enhancements that boost Critical Rating and Alacrity.

Gear Procurement#

Gearing up in SWTOR is an adventure in its own right, with multiple channels to obtain gear, catering to different playstyles and preferences.

Flashpoints and Operations#

Engaging in Flashpoints (4-player instances) and Operations (8 to 16-player instances) not only provides a thrilling saga experience but also rewards participants with gear drops. Difficulty level plays a significant role, with higher tiers offering more powerful equipment.

PvP and Galactic Starfighter#

Competing in Player vs. Player (PvP) matches or Galactic Starfighter (space PvP) engagements is another avenue to acquire gear. These activities reward commendations that can be exchanged for equipment tailored to withstand the rigors of combat against fellow players.

Conquests and Galactic Command#

Participating in weekly conquests or progressing through the Galactic Command system (for players at level cap) rewards gear crates. These contain random pieces of equipment, including potentially high-quality items suitable for endgame content.

Crafting and Vendors#

In “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” crafting is a practical way to get gear. Artisans make equipment, modifications, and augmentations to improve gear. There are vendors across the galaxy who sell gear for credits, commendations, or special tokens to improve your game.

Endgame Gear#

As your character approaches the coveted level cap, climbing the summit of endgame content becomes the primary focus of your SWTOR saga. In this stage, the pursuit of gear subtly shifts towards optimizing your character to face and conquer the toughest challenges that the galaxy has to offer.

Item Rating#

Gear at this critical stage is uniquely distinguished by its item rating. This is a numerical indication of the quality of the gear, with higher item ratings correlating directly with better stats and performance. Ascending through the endgame tiers becomes a strategic play of acquiring gear with progressively higher item ratings, thereby bolstering your character’s capabilities and increasing their prowess.

Amplifiers#

Amplifiers, a new feature introduced in recent updates, provide another layer of customization. These offer bonuses to specific aspects of your character’s abilities or performance. These bonuses can vary widely, from increased damage against certain types of enemies to enhanced crafting yields, adding an extra level of depth to the game mechanics.

Set Bonus and Tacticals#

Two critical components of endgame gearing are Set Bonuses and Tactical items. Both of these elements significantly impact your character’s effectiveness and playstyle, offering unique advantages that can tip the balance in your favor.

Set Bonus#

Set Bonuses are additional perks that get unlocked when your character wears multiple pieces from the same gear set. These bonuses can grant new abilities, reduce cooldowns, or offer other combat enhancements. Tailoring a set to your playstyle or role can drastically augment your character’s strengths, giving you an edge in battle.

Tactical Items#

Tactical items serve to further specialize your character’s abilities. They often alter how specific skills function, which can lead to new, more efficient rotations or even enable entirely new strategies in combat. These tactical items epitomize the depth of SWTOR’s customization, allowing for highly specialized and individualized builds.

PvE and PvP#

In “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, both Player vs. Environment (PvE) and Player vs. Player (PvP) modes offer unique opportunities for gear attainment and character progression.

PvE#

In PvE, players battle against the game’s environment, tackling an array of challenges from questing and flashpoints to operations and world bosses. These activities not only reward players with experience, but also with a variety of gear depending on the difficulty and type of the engagement. It is important to gear up appropriately for these challenges, as each encounter might require a different set of stats, depending on your role within the team - be it a tank, healer or damage dealer.

PvP#

PvP, on the other hand, pits players against each other in exhilarating matches that test their combat prowess, strategic thinking, and teamwork. PvP matches reward players with commendations that can be exchanged for gear tailored to PvP combat. The gear obtained from PvP usually has stats that are beneficial for surviving and thriving in these intense player vs. player confrontations. Just like in PvE, the right gear can greatly influence the outcome of a match, making gearing an essential part of PvP strategy.