SWTOR: Character Progression Guide

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, you’ll be able to experience some of what the game has to offer in their free-to-play (F2P) model, but to experience all it has to offer, you’ll require a sub. Let’s dive into what to prioritize as you get into character progression in SWTOR.

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Level to cap (75)

• Level character to 70.
  • Plenty of ways to level, but prioritizing the story is recommended (it’s quite good).
  • Alternatively, purchase a “Master’s Datacron” level 70 boost from the Cartel Market.
  • Recommend leveling a stealth character first, we’ll discuss why later.
• Complete Onslaught story.
  • You will reach level 75 before you finish, but complete the story.
  • At the end, you will have a full set of item rating 268 gear.

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Reach Item Rating Cap (306)

• Grind Flashpoints (FPs) to item rating 306.
  • Always equip highest item rating gear, regardless of stats.
  • Fastest to 306 is using a Stealth class and grinding Hammer Station (HS) or Red Reaper (RR) solo and setting your rank 50 companion set to Heal.
    • If you can pull off farming the first boss or two in Master Mode (MM), do that. Else, just default to Veteran Mode (VM).
    • Refer to my MM Red Reaper Solo Guide, if you need some guidance.
  • You can purchase a “Commander’s Compendium” on the Cartel Market to boost a companion to 50 or buy from the Conquest vendor on the Fleet.
• Alternatively, you can just play the game if you’re in no rush and still progress towards the 306 item rating milestone.

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Acquire Specific Gear

• Acquire your Set gear.
  • Sets are a pieces of gear which provide bonuses the more pieces of that set you equip.
  • Some Set gear can be purchased using Tech Fragments, while other gear is only awarded as loot.
• Acquire the proper Tactical items.
  • Tactical items are single pieces of gear you equip, which enhance a particular dynamic of your class in a specific way.
  • You will want to pursue the optimal Tactical items for each situation you find useful (ex: DPS may want one for single target and another for AOE).
• Acquire optimal weapons and accessories.
  • Often referred to as left side gear, accessories includes the Ear, Implants, and Relics slots.
• Reference an updated guide for your class to determine which sets and Tactical items are best in slot (BiS) for your spec. Vulkk has the best class guides at the moment.

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Itemize Gear

• Itemize all gear with proper item modifications.
  • These include Armoring, Mod, and Enhancement for gear and additionally, Hilt and Barrel for weapons.
  • The current highest modifications are 80, with R suffixes being slightly more powerful.
• Augment all pieces of gear.
  • Use Augmentation Kits to add a slot to gear to place Augments in. They can be crafted or purchased on the Galactic Trade Market (GTM).
  • MK-11 w/ 300 (77) is BiS and extremely expensive, however 286 (74) and 276 (73) are much cheaper alternatives, depending on your budget.
• Recalibrate Amplifiers.
  • Amplifiers are just single affixes added to gear or item modifications, broken down into Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary groupings.
  • This is SWTOR’s primary credit sink and you can reroll at any time by clicking “Amplifiers” on the character panel.
  • Only invest in this if you have millions of credits to burn and truly want to min/max.
• Again, with all of these itemizations, refer to an updated guide for your class to determine which are best in slot (BiS).

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Done, Go Enjoy!

You’ll continue to slowly improve your gear mods as you play to min/max as you see fit, but at this point, you’re ready to take on any content the game has to offer. Stock up on consumables, do some research, and go check out some Master Mode Operations, jump into Ranked PvP, or just use that beefy gear to solo farm Master Mode Flashpoints for credits or to gear up another character!

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Concluding Tips

• Join a large social guild for XP bonuses and check out both Swtorista and Vulkk for the best SWTOR content available.
• Most gear and item mods in the game are “Bound to Legacy” and can be transferred between your characters. Once you hit 306, you never really have to do that grind again.
• Tech Fragments are the legacy-wide currency used to purchase both Sets and Tacticals. You accumulate this from many aspects of the game – you can use one character to grind fragments to buy another gear.
• Don’t waste Tech Fragments during your grind to the 306 item rating cap.
• Reach your Conquest cap each week – this is very easy by just playing the game.
• Kai Zykken is a vendor available on the Fleet (Supplies area) every Friday to Monday, who sells discounted end-game gear. Check in each weekend to see if you can get an extra piece of BiS gear.
• Depending on your BiS, you will likely only need 6 pieces of your Set for the bonus. Fill any remaining slots with “Amplified” prefix gear (this just has an extra Amplifier on the gear).

If you have any questions, please reach out in the comments below, ask on Twitter, or jump into my Discord – happy to help and we’ll see you on the Fleet on Star Forge!

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Updated for Patch 6.1.2.