PvP Guide

[ManiacDavis]

Here's Part 1 of a work in progress

 

Maniac’s PvP Guide

1.) Pregame

 

Before the match even starts, there are multiple things you can do to give yourself the best odds in any engagement. Failure to do these things not only puts you at a huge disadvantage but your team as well.

 

A.) Buffs

 

If you want to be serious about PvP, you need to be able to self-apply all four of these buffs every time you die. With all four buffs, you gain +5% critical chance, +5% total endurance, all main stats +5%, internal and elemental damage reduced by 10%, and all bonus damage and healing increased by +5%. This is the single largest increase in stats you can achieve because it stacks with your character FOREVER! For example, if you have 2000 main stat unbuffed, you will have +100 main stat buffed, and at 3000 your main stat is increased +150. THIS IS HUGE.

 

At launch, you could only self-buff your personal class buff. Thankfully, the 1.2 legacy update enabled players to attach the class specific buffs of other legacy characters to your main character by completing chapter 2 of that class’ storyline. Hardcore PvP’ers should have 1 main character to level 55 and at least three other characters spanning the four different buffs to take full advantage of this.

 

This enables you to demolish anyone who does not have the same amount buffs. For example, if an unbuffed commando faces a fully buffed commando, the buffed commando could facepalm their keyboard and still win the match because his stats and diligence have allowed him better character perks.

 

B.) Gear/Augments/Stims/Medpacks/Adrenals/Grenades

 

Gear

 

Among equally skilled players, gear is by far the easiest way to tell who will win an engagement. Keep in mind that after 2.0, Expertise has NO diminishing returns and is capped at 2018. This means that for every point of expertise, your PvP bonus damage/healing/defense increases point for point whether you’re at 1 point or 2017 points. Having 2018 expertise gives a 60% damage boost, 37.5% damage reduction, and a 20.38% healing boost. It is easy to see from these numbers that a PvE player in a warzone without this bonus would be at a significant disadvantage.

 

Augments

 

Augments are a cost intensive way to bolster your stats. You can accomplish this by buying an MK-9 kit from the GTN or crafting it whereby you then install it via a crafting table located on the fleet in the crew skills area. Afterwards you can add augments such as the Advanced Augment 28 which increases the main stat of that piece of gear by 32 and endurance by 20. You can do this a total of 14 times to all your gear pieces increasing your main stat by 448 and endurance by 280.

 

Stims

 

Stims are an easy way to boost your stats. My stim of choice is the new reusable nano-infused stim which persists through death but is only available for Biochemists level 450 offering +154 mainstat and 63 Power. For non biochemists, the Prototype Nano-infused stim offers +169 mainstat and 70 power, however this stim is consumed on use and must be reapplied after two hours. When the cost of the prototype comes down in price on the GTN, I will most likely start using the prototype more regularly since it offers better stats.

 

Medpacks/Adrenals

 

Medpacks and adrenals are invaluable in the middle of a fight because they can increase your health by 35% and decrease damage by 15% with a 90 second cooldown. A highly geared tank at 40,000 hp using a medpack would recover 14,000 hp!!! It is also important to note that they stack with class specific abilities such as enure which increases total health. Unfortunately, these medpacks can only be acquired by doing the PvP daily, trading warzone coms with the PvP vendor, or direct trade with other players. They cannot be bought or sold on the GTN. If you don’t have the credits or commendations to spare, a cheaper alternative is a reusable impeccable medpack offering 5575-6800 health. It doesn’t offer the same health as the warzone medpack which stacks with your health but is a cheaper alternative because it is not consumed on use (I use this in regular warzones and save the medpacks for rateds).

 

Grenades

 

All your stuns on cooldown? That’s no problem when you have the V-1 seismic grenade which knocks all targets unconscious in an AOE for 4 seconds. This grenade has a 3 minute cooldown and is invaluable in stopping a team in their tracks. A coordinated team with grenades can be the difference between capping a node and failure. These grenades can be purchased from the GTN or crafted by cybertechs. I prefer these grenades over the freeze grenades because the freeze is only a root as opposed to a hard CC, meaning characters can still attack while frozen but cannot attack while seismic grenaded.

 

C.) Knowledge

 

Before the game starts, familiarize yourself with your class and all other classes to see the strengths and weaknesses of each class so that you can exploit your strengths and your enemies weaknesses. For example, a Commando is dog food when a Juggernaught is within 10 meters. Thus, a Commando should always keep a melee class at range by using pushbacks, slows, stuns, and kiting.

 

D.) Companion Affection and Datacrons

 

A true mid-maxer will max out their companion affection for one character and find all datacrons. Note that the companion affection bonuses are percentages and stack as you get more, whereas datacron bonuses are static and the value of getting them diminishes as Bioware releases new content.

 

Companion Affection

 

Upon gaining max affection with a companion you will get a +5 critical and +15 efficiency bonus to all crafting done by that companion. Max affection will also unlock stat bonuses for the first companion of each type and a +10 presence boost for each companion, even if they are of the same type. The total stat bonus for all companions is +1% accuracy, +1% Max HP, +1% Crit, +1% Surge, and +2% Healing Received.

 

Datacrons

 

The galaxy is full of datacrons that give minimal stat bonuses. I suggest you only spend your time getting your main stat, endurance, and lastly other stats that effect your secondary stats. For example, a sage has no need for strength because a sage should never be using melee attacks. However, it is beneficial for a Trooper to get cunning datacrons because they increase a Trooper's critical chance. If you find all planet datacrons, you will have +30 to all main stats and +40 to endurance (makeb has a +10 endurance datacron). In addition, there is a +10 datacron for all stats on the fleet which can only be reached with a minimum of four people. All together, the massive amount of time and effort required to get the total stat bonus of +40 main stats and +50 endurance should only be attempted after completing the previous steps.

 

Be on the lookout for part 2 detailing positioning, rotations, and other helpful tidbits while in game.

[TheronFett]

Because we needed another one of these.

 

The players who need to read this stuff the most, won't.

[ManiacDavis]

All of the prior posts on this topic are super old and pertain to pre 2.0 content. The main reason I wrote this was because I got sick of seeing people not buff themselves in regular warzones. It is like painting a target on yourself and screaming "please kill me i'm a noob."

[sauerkraut]

Just get as much stun, heal, interrupt as much u can, thats SWTOR PvP is all about.

[MidichIorian]

The gist of what's said under "knowledge" is something a lot of people could benefit from reading. It also relates to knowing your role in warzones. I've lost track of the times I've told people that they should look at the damn roster before going on side-quests such as off-node on CW. So you will have what many would consider your best classes branch off for a node while they leave the commandos and sages in mid. Atleast tell those people where you are going because up against 6 enemies they're just going to die in vain. Same thing with node guards. Do people even look at who they're forcing to guard? In basically every game I'm forced to type "is it really a good idea to put the 22K sage on guard duty when we have three shadows or *insert other preferred guard class*".

[Vasagi]

I appreciate the effort...but this is all you need to know atm.

 

1. Bootlick to the "uber" players.

2. Roll a healer or tank for a guaranteed PUG vs Premade spot.

3. Proclaim arrogantly that you are better than the "baddies" because your guild only runs teams with optimal comps.

[ManiacDavis]

The bads will always be bad, those who take the time will rise to the top.

[Zunayson]

Because we needed another one of these.

 

The players who need to read this stuff the most, won't.

 

This. It's the same stuff at school they told you; The people who read it don't need it and vice versa.

[ManiacDavis]

This. It's the same stuff at school they told you; The people who read it don't need it and vice versa.

 

Then lets spread the word, if I can change one bad to a pro, then it was worth it.

[Philastra]

You also forgot to add another thing about augments, once you get into a WZ remove them and put them back in, it will increase your stats twice.

[ManiacDavis]

You also forgot to add another thing about augments, once you get into a WZ remove them and put them back in, it will increase your stats twice.

 

I wrote it assuming Bioware would fix bolster....

[ManiacDavis]

The gist of what's said under "knowledge" is something a lot of people could benefit from reading. It also relates to knowing your role in warzones. I've lost track of the times I've told people that they should look at the damn roster before going on side-quests such as off-node on CW. So you will have what many would consider your best classes branch off for a node while they leave the commandos and sages in mid. Atleast tell those people where you are going because up against 6 enemies they're just going to die in vain. Same thing with node guards. Do people even look at who they're forcing to guard? In basically every game I'm forced to type "is it really a good idea to put the 22K sage on guard duty when we have three shadows or *insert other preferred guard class*".

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[galadimana]

The most awesome thing about this post? While killing other players and surviving is important in PvP,

 

it only directly contributes to a win in one warzone, and it's only a minor contributor in that case. (blatant self plug).

 

So as important as gear is, Strategy, situational awareness, goal-oriented play, and persistence win every time.

[ManiacDavis]

The most awesome thing about this post? While killing other players and surviving is important in PvP,

 

it only directly contributes to a win in one warzone, and it's only a minor contributor in that case. (blatant self plug).

 

So as important as gear is, Strategy, situational awareness, goal-oriented play, and persistence win every time.

 

No plugs allowed