What are the top 5 DPS classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic?
Star Wars: The Old Republic has been enabling players all over the world to live out their stories in a galaxy far, far away as stalwart Jedi, electrifying Sith, money-hungry Bounty Hunters, noble Republic Troopers, and so much more since 2011.
In this world-class MMO, players can assume a number of classes and advanced disciplines to specialize their character in one of three classes familiar to all MMORPGs: tank, healer, and DPS. With the latest content dropping this month, we’re going to take a look at the top five best DPS classes and quick notes on building them with a focus on survivability!
The classes and their individual paths have an enormous amount of nuance to them to master; this is just a quick and general guide to get you going! Do damage and don’t die! (Note: This is all subjective; you play your favorite DPS class the way you want to!)
5. Sith Warrior - Juggernaut
Have you ever wanted to just slice through your enemy like Darth Vader? The Sith Warrior Juggernaut is all about raw power. Between the Rage and Vengeance paths, players of this class will be able to tear through enemies with a single destructive swing of their lightsaber. A classic build often found as a favorite on lists and forum boards for best DPS in SWTOR.
- Good defensive cooldown abilities for getting some health back
- Great for Burst plus some Area of Effect (AOE) abilities and useful Damage Over Time (DOT) abilities
- Good damage reduction for AOE attacks
- Good balance of high survivability and mobility
- Well balanced in either path for both PVE and PVP
How to build this DPS class
- Invest in Accuracy and Alacrity as your main stats
- Maximize set bonuses in your armor for an increase in Accuracy, Alacrity, and Critical rating
- Keep your gear up to date as you level; recommend checking for new armor back at vendors every 5 or so levels
- For rotation through your abilities, they will vary between the Rage and Vengeance paths so focus instead on maximizing stacked rage
- Use Relic of Serendipitous Assault and Relic of Focused Retribution for Mastery and Power
4. Imperial Agent - Operative
Secret Agent: Take down the enemies of the Empire in secret.
A stellar main story of espionage, betrayal, and secrets, the Imperial Agent provides a wide range of play styles. For maximum damage, the Operative advanced class can inflict damage from the shadows with multiple attacks with the Concealment path or can damage the enemy over time with poison with the Lethality path. All of this accompanied by arguably the best story in the entire game makes the Imperial Agent overall an excellent choice.
- A range of auxiliary role options in both the Lethality and Concealment paths due to the utility of the class overall
- A mix of close-range and long-range damage dealers
- Damage reduction abilities with Kolto pack abilities allowing you to heal during cooldowns
- Flexible rotations of abilities in both paths mean a lot of variety and experimentation
- As class runs off energy, all abilities are instant
How to build this DPS class
- Invest in Accuracy and Alacrity as your main stats
- Maximize set bonuses in your armor for an increase in Accuracy, Alacrity, and Critical rating
- Keep your gear up to date as you level; recommend checking for new armor back at vendors every 5 or so levels
- As there is not exactly a set-in-stone rotation, focus on bursts of attacks that manage your energy levels with abilities that do not require energy use placed in between
- Utilize companion bonus with Scorpio to increase accuracy
- Take advantage of the Exfiltrate rolling ability to escape, close with the enemy, or kite
- Use Relic of Serendipitous Assault and Relic of Focused Retribution for Mastery and Power
3. Imperial Agent - Sniper
Death From Afar: The Imperial sniper removes potential problems from a distance.
An advanced class dedicated solely to DPS, the Imperial Agent Sniper focuses solely on long-range damage dealing in its three paths: Marksmanship, Engineering, and Virulence. With its cover mechanic abilities and high survivability, the Sniper is highly survivable despite appearing immobile. Long-range damage dealing and a number of defensive capabilities make this one powerful package.
- 35m range keeps you alive and out of reach for melee enemies
- The Engineering and Marksmanship paths, in particular, can match some of the highest parsing disciplines with effective burst and AOE damage
- Cover, Entrench, and Imperial Preparation increase defensive capabilities to ridiculous levels
- Covered Escape - A DCD that allows you to roll 18m where you are invulnerable. Key to Sniper survivability
- A simple rotation based on energy management and priority of abilities more than exact rotation allows for flexibility
How to build this DPS class
- Invest in Accuracy and Alacrity as your main stats
- Maximize set bonuses in your armor for an increase in Accuracy, Alacrity, and Critical rating
- Keep your gear up to date as you level; recommend checking for new armor back at vendors every 5 or so levels
- Use and abuse the DCDs and the rolling mechanic mentioned before to keep yourself away from damage and to kite mobs
- Utilize companion bonus with Scorpio to increase accuracy
- Use Relic of Serendipitous Assault and Relic of Focused Retribution for Mastery and Power
2. Sith Inquisitor - Sorcerer
My personal favorite and my main since 2011, the Sith Sorcerer is an Emperor Palpatine power trip. Channel “UNLIMITED POWER” to use the Force to crush and shock your foes into submission. With the Madness and Lightning discipline paths for DOT and Burst DPS respectively, the class is extremely versatile. With some excellent DR available (especially with Lightning), this class is an easy DPS to get into and has enough nuance to master with practice. Also, the story is one of the best out of all the classes. Who doesn’t love an evil rise to power?
- Burst and DOT options between the two discipline paths
- Fairly simple priority with helpful procs makes the rotation very easy to learn
- Modest healing abilities to increase survivability and allows the player to double as an emergency healer
- A number of DCDs and DR abilities add to the survivability along; further reinforced with several options to kite threats
- Excellent AOE options for groups of adds
How to build this DPS class
- Invest in Accuracy and Alacrity as your main stats
- Maximize set bonuses in your armor for an increase in Accuracy, Alacrity, and Critical rating
- Keep your gear up to date as you level; recommend checking for new armor back at vendors every 5 or so levels
- Use your DR abilities like Static Barrier before the fight
- Leadoff with a precast ability and then DOT abilities; use Polarity Shift to increase alacrity and ticks of DOT
- Use Relic of Serendipitous Assault and Relic of Focused Retribution for Mastery and Power
1. Bounty Hunter - Mercenary
After hours of scouring online guides and forum boards, I think it is ubiquitously agreed upon that the Bounty Hunter Mercenary class is the DPS class to beat. No matter your choice in either the Arsenal and Ordnance paths, you will blast your enemies away with a volley of blasters, missiles, explosives, and flamethrowers. Some of the best parsing in-game, some powerful AOE, and the benefits of ranged DPS and medium armor makes the Mercenary anything but squishy. Take all of this and a story that has you galavanting across the galaxy with criminal scum in search of glory and coin and you’ve got the best DPS class in SWTOR.
- Powerful AOEs and the ability to switch between one or more opponents
- Rotations can be composed of small numbers of abilities, making it more based on efficiency and procs than a set in stone rotation
- Ranged abilities and modest DR makes the Mercenary extremely survivable
- Powerful openings that can deal out massive amounts of damage
- Some added levels of self-healing and self-support
How to build this DPS class
- Invest in Accuracy and Critical Rating as your main stats
- Maximize set bonuses in your armor for an increase in Accuracy, CR, and Alacrity rating in that order
- Keep your gear up to date as you level; recommend checking for new armor back at vendors every 5 or so levels
- Open with Tracer Missile and generally try to keep the heat down and take advantage of alacrity procs and ability procs
- Use Relic of Serendipitous Assault and Relic of Focused Retribution for Mastery and Power
No matter what you choose, just remember it’s all personal preference. With each update, abilities change, armor upgrades become available, and none of these guidelines are set in stone. In the current rendition of SWTOR, discipline paths can be changed at any time, so if one style of DPS doesn’t jive with you in a class, try another.
Also, as you probably noticed, all of the DPS classes in the game require the same focus in Accuracy, Alacrity, and Critical Rating being as high as possible. Mod all of your equipment with these stats in mind. Most importantly, just have fun and create and play the character you want. That’s why I’m still playing.
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