Sep 9, 2011

Posted by in Fully Operational | 11 Comments

Fully Operational: The Republic’s Damage Dealers

“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!” — There is no better example of damage in the Star Wars galaxy than the scene attached to that quote. Each week in Fully Operational, join Kray as he takes a look at the damage dealing role in Star Wars: The Old Republic. And yes, we’ll blow up a planet if we get the chance. 

Hoo doggy, it”s been a while hasn’t it! The past few weeks have been a blur with conventions and beta and updates, but we’re finally back on track to bringing Fully Operational to you every Friday, barring any orbital space station attacks on my house.

Last time in the column we went over the  basics of Advanced Classes and jumped into the damage dealers for the Empire, so let’s not dilly dally any longer and show the Republic some love. As always, listening music is provided.

Jedi Knight

Style: Force User – Melee

Jedi Knights are probably the most iconic of all the Advanced Classes in The Old Republic, home to such names as Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi. These Jedi tap into the force to enhance their physical abilities, whether that be stamina or strength, and charge into battle, lightsaber in hand. Though the class does have a few flashy “spell-like” force moves, most of what you’ll see here is varying saber strikes and acrobatics.

Guardian

Weapons: Single Lightsaber
DPS Style: Melee – High Survivability
Offspec: Tanking

The Guardian takes his or her strength from the serenity of the Force, focusing their power into a single lightsaber. Donning heavy armor, this class has very high survivability due to the possibility of a pure tanking spec. As a Jedi Guardian, you’ll assume one of a few different lighstaber forms, similar to ‘stances’ from Warriors in World of Warcraft. There’s not a ton of information available on Jedi Knights, but what we do know is that Guardians will focus on sustained damage with a combination of debuffs and resource-refunding talents. The Vigilance tree will improve your damaging abilities and even give you a new lightsaber form, while the Defense tree focuses on — duh — your defense, allowing you to tank. The shared Focus tree adds some more force-based abilities and form buffs.

Sentinel

Weapons: Dual Lightsabers
DPS Style: Melee – Burst or Sustained
Offspec: More DPS!

If the Guardian is a stone wall of Force, the Sentinel is an avalanche. Instead of focusing on survivability, Jedi Sentinels let loose a little and let the Force flow through them in the form of a lightsaber in each hand. Attacking with both weapons at once means a lot of damage potential, and the Sentinel has a few options available. If you’re looking for a more sustained, build up approach, the Watchman tree focuses on the Juyo lightsaber form which, according to Star Wars lore, essentially means each strike will be more powerful than the last. The Combat tree believes in burst and flurries of strikes, allowing the Ataru form which triggers additional strikes and create large spikes of damage at a time. Focus, as with the Guardian, gives general upgrades and a couple force goodies.

Jedi Consular

Style: Heavy Force User – Melee or Ranged

Jedi Consulars are the Republic’s answer to the lightning-y doom of the Sith Inquisitor. Keepers of ancient knowledge, consulars have studied texts and vids thousands of years old to achieve better unison with the force. This power manifests itself in strong kinetic blasts, mind control, and even stealth. As with the Inquisitor, the Consular is an extremely versatile class.

Shadow

Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
DPS Style: Melee – Burst
Offspec: Tanking

The Shadow is the rogue-like advanced class for the Consulars, utilizing stealth and melee attacks to dispatch foes. As a Shadow, you can sneak up behind an enemy and unleash a barrage of attacks, debuffing and incapacitating along the way in between your strikes. You’ll use light, cheap attacks to build up to devastating finishers, leaving opponents on the ground before they even realize you’re there. With Infiltration, your Shadow will hone his or her damaging skills, creating even larger bursts of damage. As a Kinetic Combat Shadow, you can choose to forego some of that damage for survivability, granting you the ability to tank with a flurry of kicks and saber attacks. The shared Balance tree buffs up your Force abilities and grants instant cast procs and the like.

Sage

Weapons: Single Lightsaber
DPS Style: Ranged
Offspec: Healing

The Sage takes all that knowledge gained from years of study and training and puts it to use – from a distance. Shying away from the unpredictable lightning associated with the Sith, the Jedi Sage feels the Force all around them and uses it turn the world against his or her enemies, assaulting them with rocks, boulders, and even other enemies. With such strong connection to the world around them, the Sage can even infuse others with healing abilities by specializing in the Seer tree. If damage dealing is your thing (and I know it is!) you’ll want to lean towards Telekinetics, granting a slew of free attacks and damage buffs to all your force abilities. The Balance tree acts as a companion tree and allows general upgrades and even more instant casts.

Trooper

Style: Tech User – Ranged

These aren’t your daddies Stormtroopers… the Republic Trooper is a battle-hardened veteran of heavy armor and heavier weaponry. Running around the battlefield equipped with shields, grenades, and HUGE guns, the Trooper is one  power to be reckoned with, be it at long or short range.

Vanguard

Weapons: Carbines/Rifles
DPS Style: Ranged – (Close to Mid) High Survivability
Offspec: Tanking

The Vanguards are the heaviest of the heavy troopers, donning the best technology money can buy to protect themselves and unleash havoc on their enemies. Equipped with a rifle and a shield generator, the Vanguard isn’t afraid to get into an enemies face and mess ’em up. Instead of relying solely on their gun, the Vanguard has a variety of physical attacks to choose from if things get a little personal. The Tactics tree focuses on these attacks and combines them with rifle bursts to demolish enemies. If you want to tank, look into the Shield Specialist tree to amp up your survivability and grant yourself some defensive cooldowns. The shared Assault Specialist brings a whole lot of grenades and area-effect damage to the table.

Commando

Weapons: Heavy Assault Cannon
DPS Style: Ranged – Sustained
Offspec: Healing

The Commando doesn’t bother with all the defenses of a Vanguard, because let’s be honest, having a giant gun in between you and an enemy is a pretty good defense. As a Commando you’ll know your weapons inside and out, swapping out ammo types depending on the situation and utilizing every tool available. The Gunnery tree gives new abilities like a gravity round (so cool!) and buffs to your gun attacks. Work down the Combat Medic tree if you’re interested in healing your allies during combat. As before, Assault Specialist will slap a ton of explosions in there along with your gunfire.

Smuggler

Style: Tech User – Close or Long Range

Smugglers are typically thought of as resourceful, charming, and devilishly handsome (thaaank you Han Solo). I say “thought of” because, well, nobody has really ever captured one long enough to get much out of them. The Smugglers are the black market of the galaxy, spurred into action by the threat of the Empire taking out their markets. Users of the brand new ‘cover’ mechanic from BioWare, you’ll be able to scope out a battle from the safety of a nook, cranny, or a portable shield generator and aid your allies or obliterate your foes.

Scoundrel

Weapons: Scatter Gun
DPS Style: Ranged – Close to Mid
Offspec: Healing

The Scoundrel is used to hanging out in rough parts of the galaxy, and it shows in their combat style. Expect to be just as comfortable with a baddie at arm’s length as you are sniping away at them from a distance. Scoundrels have stealth mechanics that they exploit allowing them to launch pinpoint attacks without ever being noticed. As a Scrapper you’ll build on that stealth generator to kick and blast your way through opponents with high burst, while the Sawbones tree makes use of years of patching yourself up after barfights to heal others. The shared Dirty Fighting tree focuses on debuffs and damage-over-time effects, granting general upgrades to all your abilities.

Gunslinger

Weapons: Dual Blaster Pistols
DPS Style: Ranged – Sustained or Burst
Offspec: DPS!!!

As one of only 4 DPS-only Advanced Classes in the game, the Gunslinger has a whole lot of options at their disposal. Instead of going with a stealth generator, the Gunslinger grabs a couple of pistols and goes to town. Though much more reliant on using cover as a basis for their attacks, you’ll find that once you find a spot to dig in, your targets will melt like butter. The Sharpshooter will work on improving their burst, granting extra attacks after critical hits and giving bonuses to attacks made from cover. Saboteurs take a different approach, relying less on cover and more on technology to deliver high damage over time, harassing enemies with bombs and shock charges. Dirty Fighting, as with Scoundrels, further increases those damage-over-time attacks and debuffs.

Well that does it, at least for the information we have right now. I hope this was helpful in getting a handle on all the Republic options for damage dealing out there. Tune in next Friday for another edition of Fully Operational!

  1. Oh well I guess you have to show the evil side here just to be fair. Personally prefer Empire only but I’ll let this slide.

  2. Love these articles! I’ve been following the game pretty closely but still have a lot to learn about all the AC’s. Thanks for the help clearing things up!

  3. “As one of only 4 DPS-only Advanced Classes in the game” Might want to double check this statement.

  4. Very nice article. I missed the Empire one with Two a days practices it was nice also. I am really up in the air on which dps class I want to have as an alt.

  5. Nice post! Thanks for the good work.

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  1. Damage Dealers of the Republic | TORWars - [...] a Republic damage dealing class, this may be of interest: over at Ask a Jedi, they’ve got a great…

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