gear/stats advice needed

[adlerauge]

Hi,

 

i seek your advice how to improve my Trooper Commando (level 50), which i play as a DD. I mostly do PvE (on rare occasions some PvP) and would like to do some HM flashpoints and operations as the next step.

 

I have moddable orange gear with augments in the slots for head, chest, legs, feet, weapon and hands (mostly crafted by myself). The mods are all at least from the daily quests or better. Then i have two rakata pieces (bracers and belt, crafted by myself) with augments. And i have three columi pieces (2ximplants, earpiece, bought from GTN) with augments. I think the worst gear item i have is one of my relics. Its a light IV relic you can buy from the light side vendor. I am trying to buy a campaign relic via GTN or daily commendations and then want to augment it.

 

I am a little confused with all the different gear sets (rakata, columi, tionese, campaign). Which is the best and which should i target now to get?

 

My current stats are (with class buff):

aim: 1831

endurance: 1618

health: 18866

armor rating: 4434

damage: 744-994

bonus damage: 451,9

accuracy: 103,28%

critical chance: 34,69%

critical multiplier: 58,55%

 

Which stats should i try to improve? Still always aim or it is better to improve accuracy and critical from this point on? For example i could use an reflex augment (with +aim) or an accuracy augment when i get a new relic. What is your advice?

 

And am i already good enough equipped for HM flashpoints and operations? I have done two HM flashpoints and it seemed to be OK. What gear do i need to do tier 2 flashpoints and operations?

 

thx in advance for your advice!

[ArchangelLBC]

Get 4 Tionese/Columni/Rakata Body Piece shells. It doesn't matter how you mix/match it since they all have the same set bonuses.

 

 

Then do the PVE Group Finder Daily every day, the BH weekly, and if possible the HM FP Weekly that requires clears of HM LI and Kaon. Note that just doing these HM FPs every day will get you the Tionese Crystals/Commendations, and very likely a gear token, just from doing them, especially if you're grabbing they dailies/weeklies associated with completing HM Flashpoints, so doing the HM FP daily accomplishes both goals.

 

With Tionese/Columni/Rakata shells for the set bonuses, and BH mods for the stats you can essentially get BiS, or near enough it doesn't matter, in all but your weapon (can't get a barrel. Get the Tionese weapon if you haven't already, or get the Columni weapon if you have a group that can do Story Mode KP/Hard Mode or higher EV/HM LI.

 

Rakata trooper mainhand doesn't exist. Anyone presenting screenshots as evidence to the contrary will be assumed to be photoshopping.

[oaceen]

the gear stacks up in this order: tionese < columi < rakata / black hole (they are mostly comparable with some rakata and some black hole pieces being better than their counterparts) < campaign

 

you can get gear in a few ways: tionese gear has a chance of dropping in hard mode flashpoint chests, unassembled columi / rakata / campaign gear can drop in the appropriate level encounter that must be traded in on the fleet for the piece you want, and you can buy tionese / columi / black hole gear with crystals and commendations that you obtain doing flashpoints, operations, weekly/daily quests, etc.

 

 

 

just run flashpoints and operations for tionese crystals / commendations (and loot from the chests) until you can start getting some tionese pieces. an unassembled columi piece drops at the end of every HM FP

 

story mode operations Eternity Vault (EV) and Karagga's Palace (KP) drop columi pieces for each boss as well as tionese crystals / commendations, and there's a weekly quest to defeat the second boss for more columi commendations.

 

once you have a decent amount of columi gear, start doing Hard Mode operations EV and KP and story mode Denova / Explosive Conflict (EC)

each boss will drop rakata gear and black hole commendations.

 

 

starting right now before you get any gear, start doing the weeklies in the Black Hole on Corellia and queue every day for the HM FP using the group finder tool (and twice a week you can find a story mode EV/KP). this will get you a lot of black hole commendations which you should be using to get black hole gear as you level up.

as the above poster said, pull the mods out and placing them into tionese/columi/rakata will preserve your set bonus.

 

 

the end-game goal is to have a full set of rakata gear plus some black hole mods and do Hard Mode EC for campaign gear drops

 

 

i know it's all a bit complicated, but it'll start to sink in eventually. just start slow with daily flashpoints using the group finder and story mode EV/KP and you should pick it up pretty quickly.

Edited July 17, 2012 by oaceen

[Flying-Brian]

Rakata trooper mainhand doesn't exist. Anyone presenting screenshots as evidence to the contrary will be assumed to be photoshopping.

 

They aren't that good anyway. I gave the 2 I have to my companions.

[adlerauge]

Ok, thanks a lot for your advice! So my next target is to get Columi gear. Yesterday night i did Kaon Under Siege HM and was lucky to get the Columi head piece and exotech gloves.

 

What about my stat questions? With the current stats

aim: 1831

endurance: 1618

health: 18866

armor rating: 4434

damage: 744-994

bonus damage: 451,9

accuracy: 103,28%

critical chance: 34,69%

critical multiplier: 58,55%

is it better to still focus on increasing aim or better increase accuracy and critical?

 

thx in advance

adlerauge

[LagunaD]

Ok, thanks a lot for your advice! So my next target is to get Columi gear. Yesterday night i did Kaon Under Siege HM and was lucky to get the Columi head piece and exotech gloves.

 

What about my stat questions? With the current stats

aim: 1831

endurance: 1618

health: 18866

armor rating: 4434

damage: 744-994

bonus damage: 451,9

accuracy: 103,28%

critical chance: 34,69%

critical multiplier: 58,55%

is it better to still focus on increasing aim or better increase accuracy and critical?

 

thx in advance

adlerauge

 

I think you should increase aim, power and surge. They are not mutually exclusive. Your accuracy stat is ambiguous (see below).

 

1) If you augment your gear, get Aim mods. General gear upgrades will also increase your Aim.

2) Shed critical rating and pick up power whenever possible. Power is more effective than critical rating at increasing the damage of your abilities.

3) If the accuracy you list is for tech or "ranged special" attacks, it is quite low. If it is for "standard" ranged attacks, it is too high. You want 110% accuracy for "ranged special", and 100% accuracy for "ranged standard". If you have > 100+% accuracy for "ranged standard" (which shows up on your character display by default), reduce it to 100% and put the difference into Surge Rating. There is almost no benefit to having "ranged standard" accuracy over 100%, and your critical damage bonus is very low.

[ArchangelLBC]

Ok, thanks a lot for your advice! So my next target is to get Columi gear. Yesterday night i did Kaon Under Siege HM and was lucky to get the Columi head piece and exotech gloves.

 

What about my stat questions? With the current stats

aim: 1831

endurance: 1618

health: 18866

armor rating: 4434

damage: 744-994

bonus damage: 451,9

accuracy: 103,28%

critical chance: 34,69%

critical multiplier: 58,55%

is it better to still focus on increasing aim or better increase accuracy and critical?

 

thx in advance

adlerauge

 

Here's my Mr. Robot profile as a point of comparison so you know where I'm coming from. Note that with the exception of the armorings in the Chest Piece, the Belt, and the Bracers, all of it can be easily gotten without ever setting foot in a hard or nightmare operation, and even then you can buy those armorings from the GTN. They go for 500k to 750k for the 25s (Rakata Level) and in the millions for the 26s (Campaign level) on my server, and doing the ops for the drops is half the fun.

 

I am going to assume that all your stats come from the ranged column in your character sheet, in particular your accuracy stat is for ranged accuracy. If this assumption is wrong, please correct me.

 

That being said, I would guess you're using a lot of enhancements with accuracy. Replace those with enhancements containing surge with the other secondary stat unchanged as soon as possible. (You can get enhancements with power/surge or crit/surge from BH gear). I would sacrifice at least 3% accuracy. I currently sit at 99.89% ranged accuracy, and I don't plan to increase it any more until a new tier of gear comes out and I can replace my current power/accuracy enhancements with the next level.

 

Your crit rate is fine as is and is a good target to hit, but your bonus damage is actually pretty low given how much aim you have. I would consider dropping some crit for some power asap. Can you make an Ask Mr. Robot profile and show us exactly what your gear is? It's easier to recommend specific changes than it is to make general statements because I just don't know what your stat balance is at the moment. Yes you have 34.69% crit rating but where is that coming from? If it's coming from your implants than you should replace those with BH as soon as possible. Same if its coming from your offhand.

 

In the meantime I would say buy Black Hole Med-Tech boots for power/surge enhancements as those two stats are your two biggest red flags for me. Increase power/surge, though use only aim augments since at the end of the day I feel 18 aim is better than 18 power.

[adlerauge]

Here's my Mr. Robot profile...

 

I created an Mr. Robot profile (didn't know this site before i saw your link) to show you my current gear, stats and skill tree. There were some changes since yesterday morning, because in the afternoon i was lucky to find a experienced and good organized op group and join them for a EV story mode run. In this run i received some Columi gear pieces and have 4/5 Columi gear now.

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/853420ee-e5ff-4f20-b46f-b60a241b82a2

 

What should be my next goals? I think i should try to get the missing Columi chest. And then i can start getting BH mods with my BH commendations (currently i have 20). Where does rakata gear drop? Only in tier 2 HM flash points?

 

And am i well enough equipped now to do tier 2 HM flash points and HM ops (EV)? Until now the tier 1 HM flash points were no problem with good groups, even without having the Columi set pieces before.

 

And where can i get a better barrel for my assault gun?

Edited July 18, 2012 by adlerauge

[adlerauge]

Update:

 

I have made some progress in the last weeks with my gear, you can see the current stats and gear im my updated profile http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/853420ee-e5ff-4f20-b46f-b60a241b82a2

 

The most important stats are:

primary:

aim: 2040.5

endurance: 1790.3

secondary:

power: 409

accuracy: 357

crit: 257

surge: 162

ranged:

damage: 844.3-1116..3

bonus damage: 527.3

accuracy: 101.68%

critcal chance: 31.38%

critical multiplier: 69.95%

tech:

bonus damage: 857.4

accuracy: 111.68%

critcal chance: 32.42%

critical multiplier: 69.95%

activation speed: 4.00%

 

My questions are:

• What is the secondary stat i should increase first? Surge?
  
• Shall i still keep all the reflex augments with +aim or shall i exchange some with +surge? Shall the target still be getting as much aim as possible or is there a cap (hard or soft) and i should better increase secondary stats as surge or critical?
  
• What else is important to increase or change?
  

 

thx in advance

adlerauge

[ArchangelLBC]

Update:

 

I have made some progress in the last weeks with my gear, you can see the current stats and gear im my updated profile http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/853420ee-e5ff-4f20-b46f-b60a241b82a2

 

The most important stats are:

primary:

aim: 2040.5

endurance: 1790.3

secondary:

power: 409

accuracy: 357

crit: 257

surge: 162

ranged:

damage: 844.3-1116..3

bonus damage: 527.3

accuracy: 101.68%

critcal chance: 31.38%

critical multiplier: 69.95%

tech:

bonus damage: 857.4

accuracy: 111.68%

critcal chance: 32.42%

critical multiplier: 69.95%

activation speed: 4.00%

 

My questions are:

• What is the secondary stat i should increase first? Surge?
  
• Shall i still keep all the reflex augments with +aim or shall i exchange some with +surge? Shall the target still be getting as much aim as possible or is there a cap (hard or soft) and i should better increase secondary stats as surge or critical?
  
• What else is important to increase or change?
  

 

thx in advance

adlerauge

 

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier.

 

1) Yes absolutely start trading out some accuracy for surge.

2) Keep all aim augments. They're just better overall. To my knowledge if there is a soft cap it's so high that it's far beyond the attainable amount for the forseeable future.

 

3) Ok I'm going to go by the AMR profile you posted. It seems that most of your gear is using base mods that the gear came with and some of that itemization is pretty terrible. The Commando Armorings (heavy on endurance) should be replaced with Reflex armorings (Heavy on AIM) which you can easily get from appropriate pieces of Black Hold gear in every slot but Chest and obviously Belt/Bracers, but you already have a DPS armoring in your Rakata chest piece so that's good.

 

Ok so your next 4 Black Hole Purchases should be the DPS (I think it's Boltblaster's or Annihilator's) Black Hole Legs, Hands, and Helmet, and then the Black Hole Med-Tech boots. (Buy them in the cheapest order). Not only will they give you great DPS armorings and excellent mods but they'll give you top tier Enhancements which are MUCH better than the current ones.

 

I would replace your enhancements in the following order:

Mainhand (replace with a power/surge), Helmet (replace with a Crit/Surge from your helmet or a power/surge), Hands, boots (this enhancement is the best of the 4 and should be replaced last).

 

The reasoning is that the first three pieces I listed are using high endurance low power/crit enhancements which is frankly a waste of stats.

 

I would say you can stand to replace three of those enhancements that have accuracy can be replaced with enhancements that have surge, and getting your second BH implant will counteract the accuracy loss a little bit, but don't be afraid to dip below 100% ranged accuracy a little if it can push you closer to 75% surge.

 

Put the mods from the BH pieces (they all have 53 Aim/41 Secondary stat) where ever they'll make the most difference (so replace columi mods first, then rakata).

 

Keep an eye out when raiding for Unslotted armorings to drop from the final bosses of each of the operations. On Hard Mode EV/KP and Story Mode EC they drop rakata level. A rakata armoring combined with a BH mod and an Augment in an orange belt or bracer will be better than even campaign belt/bracers. You can buy orange belts/bracers for relatively cheap on the GTN or buy them from 75k a piece from the Legacy Vendor on Coruscant.

 

Start doing some PVP. Use the Champion Relic of Boundless ages over your current Columi one, and eventually replace both relics with War Hero Relic of Boundless Ages (get two of them). I also recommend grinding out a War Hero weapon and then taking the barrel out of it and putting it in your gun. You'll be greatly impressed in the upgraded damage you'll get to your High Impact Bolt and Full Auto hits, and it will still make your grav rounds and demo rounds slightly better as well since the tech power gain will outweigh the loss to Aim.

 

Once you get those high endurance enhancements replaced with proper DPS enhancements (you can use spare rakata drops as well while you wait to get more BH comms), and get that second BH implant, figure out how you want to spread your enhancements to get 75% surge and as close to 100% ranged accuracy as possible as well as how much crit vs power you want (I like to have close to 35% crit unbuffed, I wouldn't go much lower than 30% crit unbuffed) and then buy BH pieces for the mods.

 

All I can think of for now but all that should keep you busy for awhile. Good luck and keep it up! I've basically gone through this process and now that I'm done with it I'm VERY pleased at the results.

[adlerauge]

Sorry for not getting back to you earlier.

 

1) Yes absolutely start trading out some accuracy for surge.

2) Keep all aim augments. They're just better overall. To my knowledge if there is a soft cap it's so high that it's far beyond the attainable amount for the forseeable future.

 

3) Ok I'm going to go by the AMR profile you posted. It seems that most of your gear is using base mods that the gear came with and some of that itemization is pretty terrible. The Commando Armorings (heavy on endurance) should be replaced with Reflex armorings (Heavy on AIM) which you can easily get from appropriate pieces of Black Hold gear in every slot but Chest and obviously Belt/Bracers, but you already have a DPS armoring in your Rakata chest piece so that's good.

 

Ok so your next 4 Black Hole Purchases should be the DPS (I think it's Boltblaster's or Annihilator's) Black Hole Legs, Hands, and Helmet, and then the Black Hole Med-Tech boots. (Buy them in the cheapest order). Not only will they give you great DPS armorings and excellent mods but they'll give you top tier Enhancements which are MUCH better than the current ones.

 

I would replace your enhancements in the following order:

Mainhand (replace with a power/surge), Helmet (replace with a Crit/Surge from your helmet or a power/surge), Hands, boots (this enhancement is the best of the 4 and should be replaced last).

 

The reasoning is that the first three pieces I listed are using high endurance low power/crit enhancements which is frankly a waste of stats.

 

I would say you can stand to replace three of those enhancements that have accuracy can be replaced with enhancements that have surge, and getting your second BH implant will counteract the accuracy loss a little bit, but don't be afraid to dip below 100% ranged accuracy a little if it can push you closer to 75% surge.

 

Put the mods from the BH pieces (they all have 53 Aim/41 Secondary stat) where ever they'll make the most difference (so replace columi mods first, then rakata).

 

Keep an eye out when raiding for Unslotted armorings to drop from the final bosses of each of the operations. On Hard Mode EV/KP and Story Mode EC they drop rakata level. A rakata armoring combined with a BH mod and an Augment in an orange belt or bracer will be better than even campaign belt/bracers. You can buy orange belts/bracers for relatively cheap on the GTN or buy them from 75k a piece from the Legacy Vendor on Coruscant.

 

Start doing some PVP. Use the Champion Relic of Boundless ages over your current Columi one, and eventually replace both relics with War Hero Relic of Boundless Ages (get two of them). I also recommend grinding out a War Hero weapon and then taking the barrel out of it and putting it in your gun. You'll be greatly impressed in the upgraded damage you'll get to your High Impact Bolt and Full Auto hits, and it will still make your grav rounds and demo rounds slightly better as well since the tech power gain will outweigh the loss to Aim.

 

Once you get those high endurance enhancements replaced with proper DPS enhancements (you can use spare rakata drops as well while you wait to get more BH comms), and get that second BH implant, figure out how you want to spread your enhancements to get 75% surge and as close to 100% ranged accuracy as possible as well as how much crit vs power you want (I like to have close to 35% crit unbuffed, I wouldn't go much lower than 30% crit unbuffed) and then buy BH pieces for the mods.

 

All I can think of for now but all that should keep you busy for awhile. Good luck and keep it up! I've basically gone through this process and now that I'm done with it I'm VERY pleased at the results.

 

Wow, thats a detailed guide specially for me! Thanks a lot ! I will try to go this way, but i guess it will take a while!

 

best wishes

adlerauge