Bolster and PVE gear

[AchillesStark]

What is the maximum rating for pve gear to have max bolster for the less than lv60 pvp bracket?

 

Also do you have to have gear rating near your level to get the most bolster for the slot?

Like will i be given less bolster for a head gear slot if my head gear is only lv 30 rating if im lv 55?

[teclado]

For the best bolster regardless of level, you want the highest rated gear that you can wear, up to 162, and 162/148/148 for MH/OH. Above 162, you start to lose expertise, but gain other stats, which is widely viewed to not be worth it - you really want 2018 expertise. It appears that BW was really trying to not reward players in pvp that have the really high end PVE gear, to the extent where it actually becomes a disadvantage - it's better to wear 162 than 198 or 186 or 178.

[AchillesStark]

so for mh/oh, the mod and enhancements cant be above 148? that seems kinda odd. I have some purple enhancements and mods that are 150 or so. i guess that will hurt bolster?

[phalczen]

so for mh/oh, the mod and enhancements cant be above 148? that seems kinda odd. I have some purple enhancements and mods that are 150 or so. i guess that will hurt bolster?

 

Item Rating of Mod + Enhancement needs to be less than 296. So, you can use 156 mods and 140 enhancements and bolster exactly the same as 148/148 with slightly higher Bonus Damage/Heals but slightly lower secondary stats. If you use the 150 Mods (Dread Guard/Hazmat) you'll need 146 enhancements (Campaign/Black Hole) or vice versa.

 

 

In theory, you could use a couple 172 mods with 156 enhancements and suffer a negligible loss in EXP for a favorable gain in Bonus Damage/Healing. Hottie uses 172 mods with 162 enhancements in the pve set bonus pieces, for 2008 expertise, I use 172 mods with 156 enhancements for 2014 expertise. That is a very specific scenario for very specific set bonus pieces for a medicine operative/sawbones scoundrel which is really the only advanced class I know of that benefits from using a 2-piece pre-SOR pve set bonus with a post SOR pvp 4 piece.

 

[AchillesStark]

wow, thanks. I wish bioware would make this bolster thing a little more transparent. Seems like kinda random caps that we have to be under that they dont tell us about.

[Kyuuu]

wow, thanks. I wish bioware would make this bolster thing a little more transparent. Seems like kinda random caps that we have to be under that they dont tell us about.

 

I wish they removed bolster

[phalczen]

wow, thanks. I wish bioware would make this bolster thing a little more transparent. Seems like kinda random caps that we have to be under that they dont tell us about.

 

When the level cap was 55, the item rating total could not go above 460 (162+156+156). Now, the item rating total cannot exceed 486 on armor pieces and 458 on the MH/OH. I'm sure there is some complicated algorithm for computing the increase in item rating total when the level cap is increased, but it doesn't seem to follow a pattern. Pre 3.0, there were four tiers of end game pve gear above 162 (underworld, kell dragon, dread forged, dread master). This time, its only two (192, 198 resurrect and revanite).

[Volthammer]

Seems different in lowbie PvP (10-29). It seems toons wearing lvl 7 quest greens dish out the most DPS, as long as they fill most of their slots. I'm serious. I've inspected these huge DPS dealers to see what gear they have on and was shocked to find that, usually, they only had two or three modifiable pieces of gear and the rest was lvl 7 quest greens from the starter zone. Maybe an ear piece, too. And they were slaughtering.

 

Then it seems to work a little different for the middle bracket.

[AchillesStark]

Regarding pve relics, I know they cant be activated or proc in PVP but what about bolster.

What is the max rating a pve relic can have to be bolstered to the max? Do relics even get bolster?

[MiaowZedong]

Regarding pve relics, I know they cant be activated or proc in PVP but what about bolster.

What is the max rating a pve relic can have to be bolstered to the max? Do relics even get bolster?

 

Relics get bolstered and follow the same rules as other pieces. Of course, since you can't get any semi-decent PvE relic to work in PvP you should prioritise getting PvP relics as soon as you hit 60.

Edited July 16, 2015 by MiaowZedong

[AchillesStark]

Same rule as in any at or below 162 rating for the relic? Relics only have 1 rating unlike other slots with multiple

[phalczen]

Same rule as in any at or below 162 rating for the relic? Relics only have 1 rating unlike other slots with multiple

 

Yes. You could use Dread Guard (150) or Campaign (146) relics, or the artifact matrix cube (126 maybe?) if you have the proper shards from datacrons, as a holdover until you get the pvp relics. Like MiaowZedong said, your first priority should be getting your relics, then the six pieces that will constitute your set bonus. Dread Guard relics and campaign relics will proc in pvp because that restriction on pve relics proccing was introduced with 2.0.

 

On a somewhat related note, I have some experience using the campaign gear set bonus armorings (or dread guard when applicable) in my characters before they get their pvp pieces. It allows you to use better rating mods to buffer the mainstat loss caused by using the lower tier armoring (your armor rating will always get bolstered to max allowable under bolster regardless of how low the item rating is.) With a campaign armoring, you could use green 168s from Rishi giveaway gear and 172 blues (from the basic comm vendor on Rishi Raiders Cove just after you land) and still bolster to 2018 exp. Not that the level 50 pve set bonuses are hugely beneficial in pvp, but it is possible to gear yourself in a way that makes you effective. I still think a player in 2018 expertise with some set bonus and relics that proc something is at a better starting point than a player simply in straight 162s and Arkanian relics (EDIT: which won't proc) bolstered to 2018 exp. Fortunately, with the changes in 3.3, it will be much easier to gear up and you won't be playing the bolster game for very long.

 

Relics should always be replaced first, followed by set bonus, followed by everything else, for Exhumed. For Dark Reaver though, I went with relics then MH/OH because they increase my effectiveness more than changing out an armor piece.

Edited July 17, 2015 by phalczen

[AchillesStark]

so i just saw someone with full 162 armoring, mod, enhancements on all pieces except mh/oh (which were all 148 hilt, mod, and enchancement) have full 2018 expertise in pvp. i guess its slightly different than what folks are saying in this thread. he also had pretty high hp and base damage stats.

[Kabaal]

so i just saw someone with full 162 armoring, mod, enhancements on all pieces except mh/oh (which were all 148 hilt, mod, and enchancement) have full 2018 expertise in pvp. i guess its slightly different than what folks are saying in this thread. he also had pretty high hp and base damage stats.

 

I have a 58 toon with 162 armoring on armor, 162 on off hand and 156 main hand and also have full 2018 exp, mods and enh are a mix of 148 and 162 depending on whether the bolsterizer added or took away stats swapping between the two. If i could find a 162 main hand i'd test that but i can't for the life of me find one. HP isn't high at single digits under 40k but I was going for tooltip damage.

 

Relics, implants and earpieces are lower though, no matter what i tried in those slots anything close to 162 was lowering damage.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Kabaal

[Psychopyro]

so i just saw someone with full 162 armoring, mod, enhancements on all pieces except mh/oh (which were all 148 hilt, mod, and enchancement) have full 2018 expertise in pvp. i guess its slightly different than what folks are saying in this thread. he also had pretty high hp and base damage stats.

Yes this will work. My shadow is a bit off because I did not have enough comms for relics, so I had to get 168s. Set my expertise at 2k even. Since my shadow is a tank, the 18 expertise loss is not that big a deal.