All 5 Datacrons are accessible by both factions and the rewards are the same.

SWTOR Hoth Datacron Locations List – Video Walkthrough

SWTOR Hoth Datacron Locations Guide – Coordinates & Rewards List

Before starting, buy the Hydrothinner in town at your faction’s cantina vendor. This is needed for Datacron 4.

• Datacron 1 - (X: 1039, Y: -1244). Reward: Presence +4. Start at the cave northeast of The Starship Graveyard at (X: 1053, Y: -1034). Go through the cave, then follow along with the video and its pretty easy (long, but no difficult jumps required).

• Datacron 2 - (X: 2837, Y: -375). Reward: Endurance +4. Head to the northeast corner of the map, north of the Star of Coruscant Wreckage. Head to (X: 2561, Y: -825) and climb the ice there and then follow the video. It is a very long trip to the Datacron’s final location.

• Datacron 3 - (X: 3143, Y: 476). Reward: Cunning +4. Start by entering the Star of Coruscant through its southern entrance at (X: 2983, Y: 469). Go to the back and get on the elevator at (X: 3274, Y: 463). From here, jump on the Fork Lift at (X: 3248, Y: 495) and get over to the box as shown in the video at. Wait until the first container slowly makes its way across the room, and jump on it. Ride if across the room and jump on the boxes at around 3204, 415. Alternatively, you can actually skip the first crate ride by climbing on the circles on the box, then jumping up on top of them. This is shown in the video, but both approaches are included in case it is ever fixed in a future patch. Climb on top of the boxes to 3187, 414 and await the arrival of the next crate. Hop on the second crate and from here you can see there is only one crate left to jump onto. Wait until the very last second to jump here, so that the crate you are jumping onto is at its lowest position. Wait until this crate rises to its maximum height, then jump over to the Datacron at (X: 3143, Y: 476).

• Datacron 4 - (X: -737, Y: 1706). Reward: Red Matrix Shard. The datacron is simply out in the open at the location listed. The thing is it is stuck in an Ice Block; you need to by the Hydrothinner from your main base’s cantina vendor in order to melt the ice block and get the Datacron inside. Once that is in your inventory you can right click on the ice to get the Datacron.

• Datacron 5 - (X: 2991, Y: -92). Reward: Strength +4. Start at around (X: -4022, Y: 251). Head in a long, counter-clockwise oval to find the Ancient Probe (I move my mouse in the general path it runs at 10:53 into the video – I found it within 2 minutes moving in that general area). This is a pretty tough enemy unless you are level 50 to solo, and even then you might want decent gear. The trick to beating it solo is to use a healing companion and avoid standing in its AoE attack (and not letting your companion stand in it either). The rest of its attacks barely deal any damage. Kill the droid and loot the depleted datacron. Note that if you do this in a group, only 1 group member needs the Datacron (and only one drops, so be sure to stick with the group). Next, go to the northern entrance to the Star of Coruscant at (X: 2915, Y: -52). Climb the pipe as shown to the video starting at 11:06 and run to the Datacron.

SWTOR Hoth Datacron Locations List

The Hoth Datacrons are definitely involved as you often have to travel quite far from the start of the Datacron obstacles to where you actually get the reward. If you are getting frustrated with the Ancient Probe for Datacron 5, you can always stand still where I did in the video and wait for the Probe to come to you – it seems to move pretty quick compared to normal enemy patrols.

We will start with the video guide showing each of the 5 Datacron’s resting locations and then go over coordinates below.

Note that all 3 Datacrons here are accessible and the same for both factions.

SWTOR Quesh Datacron Locations List – Video Walkthrough

SWTOR Quesh Datacron Locations List – Coordinates, Rewards, and Guide

• Datacron 1 - (X: 425, Y: -131). Reward: Cunning +4. Start just outside the entrance to the Three Families Palace at (X: 720, Y: -345). The opposite of Datacron 3, you have to head up the western north/south road to get to the start location. The eastern north/south road dead-ends at the Republic base. You can cross over from east to west on this map at the road that runs east to west at around Y: 830. Once you get in position hug the wall and head south over the small hill, then hang out on the high ground as you move counter clockwise up on the ledge of the cliff. Follow the wall until you see the jump off to the fenced in area. Jump down there and hug the fence wall until you see the hole at (X: 409, Y: -183). The datacron is inside this fenced in area. You can also get to this area via some jumping, but the method above is easier and faster.

• Datacron 2 - (207, 776). Reward: Endurance +4. Enter the cave at (-7, 713). Note the console near the entrance to the central room. Scoot just inside the door and activate it. Then, rush to the two consoles straight ahead and hit both. Easier if you have a partner, but not required. You have to be fast as poison damage will hit you until you activate both consoles. Once you do that, head out the south door. If you head out the east door, the door will shut behind you and you will miss the Datacron. The Datacron is inside this same cave at the end of the South tunnel. Once you pick up the Datacron, players should head out to east side as this puts you relatively close to the start location of Datacron 3.

• Datacron 3 - (X: 556, Y: 1421). Reward: Strength +4. Start just outside of Broga’s Palace at (X: 504, Y: 1802). As a note to Imperial players, it seems you cannot get to this area from the Imperial base despite it being right next to it on the map. You have to cut across the map just south of the Imperial Outpost. Once you reach the road in the east that runs north to south, you can follow that to this Datacron’s start location. Ride along the edge of the wall, following it around two right turns. You will end up on top of the building labeled “Three Families War Camp”; you should see the Datacron from here up on a hill – you can simply run to it from this point. Be sure to run around the second tree you see once you are on the ledge – if you try to jump over it you have a really high chance of getting stuck.

SWTOR Quesh Datacron Locations List

Since Quesh is so small and there are only 3 Datacrons, getting these three Datacrons is pretty easy. You should be able to get all 3 in under a half hour by following the video guide.

We will start with the video walkthroughs and then follow that up with our text-based guide. The text can be helpful if you are not sure where the entrance is to the specific areas where the Datacron puzzles and obstacles begin.

SWTOR Taris Datacron Locations – Video Walkthroughs

Note that on Taris, there are 5 Datacrons for each faction. However, each faction has 2 unique Datacrons that only they can get access to, whereas there are three shared Datacrons.

As a result, our first video covers all 5 datacrons for Imperial players in order:

The first two are Imperial only, whereas the last three are available to both factions. As a result, Republic players can start the video at 4:05 into the video, as from here to the end of the video, we cover the shared datacrons.

Below, you will find two additional videos, one for each of the Republic Datacrons not covered in our first video. These are listed as Datacron 1 and 2 on the sheet below, respectively. These are the ones only available to Republic players:

Datacron 1:

Datacron 2:

SWTOR Taris Datacron Locations Guide – Coordinates and Rewards

To refresh what was said above, Datacron 1 (Empire) and Datacron 2 (Empire) on the list below cover the first two datacrons (from 0:00-4:05) in the first video. Datacron 1 (Republic) and Datacron 2 (Republic) cover the Datacrons shown in the second and third video, respectively. Datacrons 3-5 are available to both factions and covered from 4:05 until the end of the first video guide.

Additionally, the rewards for all 5 Datacrons are different based on faction. This is because Taris is a low-level planet for Republic players and a mid-level planet for Imperial players.

• Datacron 1 (Empire Only) – (X: 444, Y: -772). Willpower +4. Head to Forward Outpost Alpha and then go north into The Sinking City. This is a heroic area with level 33-34 elites, but you should be able to dodge most of them. Head to (X: 371, Y: -907) and notice there are multiple fallen columns. Climb up the one you see when facing west at this location and then follow along with the video.
• Datacron 1 (Republic Only) – (X: -360, Y: -227). Willpower +2. Found in the Dynamet General Hospital. Follow the first video for a walkthrough specific to this Datacron.
• Datacron 2 (Empire Only) – (X: 643, Y: 1607). Cunning +4. Start at the entrance to the Abandoned Pirate Cave at (X: -756, Y: 1192). Head to the back and go down into the Republic Mines. Head to the Bulldozer at (X: -639, Y: 1537). Climb this and follow along with the video to get to the Datacron’s final location. For the jumps, make sure sprint is on. Some people like to turn Sprint off to make the jumps easier, but on this datacron some of them require it so you can make the long jumps.
• Datacron 2 (Republic Only) – (X: -1058, Y: 1040). Green Matrix Shard. Found in the abandoned power plant. This requires 2 players to unlock, so bring a friend. This Datacron is a bit hard to explain via text, so check the second video for a video walkthrough.
• Datacron 3 (Both Factions) – (X: 1187, Y: -575). Strength +2 (Republic) or Presence +4 (Empire). This Datacron is found in Transport Station 5, which is a pain to find. The entrance is at (X: 389, Y: -182), which is quite a bit aways from the datacron’s final resting location. Once you enter Transport Station 5, it is all the way in the north east corner in the big open room.
• Datacron 4 (Both Factions) – (X: 1048, Y:453). +2 Cunning (Republic) or +4 Aim (Empire). Start by climbing the pipe at (X: 1182, Y: 259). The video shows you where to go from there; I recommend staying mounted for a few of the longer jumps in the video, but be sure to drop your mount near the end, as there is a jump which is hard to make while mounted and a spot where you have to hug the wall that you can easily fall off if you try and stay mounted.
• Datacron 5 (Both Factions) – (X: -1513, Y:-255). Cunning +2 (Republic) or Endurance +3 (Empire). Found in the Republic Resettlement Zone, a heroic area in the far northwest side of the map. It is not too far north of the Republic spaceport (or Tower Command for Imperial players if you picked up that Taxi during your stay here). Head to (X: -1365, Y: -209), and jump up on the lip of the pillar here. Follow this (via the video) to the Datacron’s final resting spot, as it is a very long ride.

SWTOR Taris Datacron Locations Guide

By following the videos and descriptions above, you can unlock 5 fairly easy to get Datacrons on Taris. The real trick here is simply finding out exactly where the area where the Datacron obstacles begin, which should be easy when you use the coordinates in our text guides and the global map views in our video.

Note that on Alderaan, players of both factions actually are able to get the same 5 datacrons; there are no unique datacrons or strategies based on your faction here. This means that if you are on a PvP server, you might want to bring a friend or two, as you are likely to run into an enemy player at any given time of the day when chasing these.

We will start with the video guide and then go into a text-based guide with coordinates, rewards, and tips.

SWTOR Alderaan Datacron Locations – Video Walkthrough

Datacron 1 starts at 0:00 (video time), Datacron 2 at 1:10, Datacron 3 at 4:09, Datacron 4 at 4:58, and Datacron 5 at 5:24.

SWTOR Alderaan Datacron Guide – Coordinates, Rewards, Strategies

• Datacron 1 – (X: 1105, Y: 81). Aim +4. Head to the Organa Compound west of House Alde. At (X:1176, Y:-89) you will see thin snow-covered path which you can take back to a small platform. On this platform, there is a broken lift which you can jump on and ride down to the little island where you will find the datacron.
• Datacron 2 – (X: 2721, Y: 2497). Endurance +3. Go to the vendor at (X:1867, Y:1090) and buy a Red Detonite Actuator (2000 credits). You should pick up the MGGS while you are here, as this is needed not only for this Datacron but also for the +10 stats datacron you get at the end of the game. Once you buy the actuator, go to the Ruur Killik Burrows entrance at (X: 2365, Y:2449), way south of the King’s Pass lettering on the world map in the heroic King’s Pass area. Go straight until you hit a dead end, and you will see a small detonator on the wall. With the actuator in hand, you can blow up the wall to reveal a hidden area where the Datacron rests.
• Datacron 3 – (X: -81, Y:-267). Presence +3. Head to the Saddled Thranta at (X: -418, Y:200) near Outpost Ghrent. Click on it and you fly to the Datacron.
• Datacron 4 – (X: 2190, Y:-2018). Strength +4. Head to the Lerantha Dam near the Datacron’s coordinates. If you bought the MGGS earlier, simply click on the glowing thing above the Datacron and you will get pulled to it. Technically you can get this Datacron through clever jumping, but you need the MGGS later, so you might as well get it. You can buy the MGGS at the same vendor that you did for Datacron 2 (X: 1867, Y:1090) on Alderaan.
• Datacron 5 – (X: -2375, Y: -424). Willpower +3. Head to Castle Panteer at (X: -2305, Y: -413). Go to the fake door at (-2489, -372). You can move through this door to the side to get to a hidden stairway. At the top of the steps, you can go around the  balcony counter-clockwise to get to the Datacron. Players with “big” frames (i.e. not the skinniest character frames) have reported not being able to fit through the crack in the door. You can get around this by bringing a friend with you with a pulling ability like Extricate to pull you to the balcony (while you are standing in the open area on the first floor). Alternatively, sometimes you can lag through the door by pressing “c” and “p” and space bar at the same time while trying to move through the crack. This tries to open two panes at once and with jumping it will let you sneak through the crack. This is not an exploit since you are supposed to be able to fit through this crack but due to not considering large frames, it does not work.

SWTOR Alderaan Datacron Locations Video Guide

By following the video guide and using the coordinates and tactics outlined above, you can unlock all 5 Datacrons on Alderaan in a very short time. All of these Datacrons are pretty easy to get and are not nearly as difficult or complicated as Nar Shaddaa or Tatooine.

SWTOR Tatooine Datacron Locations Guide – Video Walkthrough

Finding the Tatooine datacrons is a lot easier when watching a video. Here is the video walkthrough:

Note that on Tatooine, 4 of the 5 Datacrons are able to be found by the same faction, but each faction also has 1 datacron that only they can get. In the video above, all 5 Empire datacrons are shown.

Republic players are not able to get the second Datacron shown in the video above (shown from 0:22 – 1:55). Republic players can view the video below to check out their own Datacron in place of Datacron 2:

SWTOR Tatooine Datacron Locations List – Rewards & Coordinates

• Datacron 1: (X:-621, Y:-25). Aim +3. Start from Mos Anek and head to the heroic crash site area. Head towards (X:-600, Y:-55), moving to the ledge of the cliff there. Look over the ledge and you will see the Datacron sitting on the wreckage of a ship crashed into the side of the cliff. Jump down and grab the Datacron, then jump off and you will end up in The Dune Sea.
• Datacron 2 (Empire): (X:727, Y:3132). Cunning +3. Found in Mos Ila. Start at (X: 441, Y:3142), and follow the rocks around the edge of the house. You will see a big red tent covering that you can jump onto and run across to get onto the set of buildings. From here, it is very hard to describe, so just watch the video starting at 0:22.
• Datacron 2 (Republic): (X: 2140, Y: -3670). Cunning +3. The second video details this Datacron’s location in detail. It is found in Anchorhead (your starting town) and is cleary shown in the video.
• Datacron 3: (X: -2390, Y: -1394). Blue Matrix Shard. Both Datacron 3 and 4 are unlocked at the same time, so make sure you read the info and watch the video for 3 and 4 before going after Datacron 3. Start by going to the southwest corner of the Dune Sea, heading to (X: -2336, Y:1). Climb on top of the wreckage here. About once an hour, a Jawa Balloon (i.e. a hot air balloon) will float nearby. You can jump on it from the wreckage. It moves incredibly slow. You can usually see it 5-10 minutes in advance before it gets there, and this is no exaggeration. Once you get on it, you have to ride it for about 30-40 minutes. After awhile, you will spot the wreckage of another ship (a lot like the first one you started on) in the distance. This has a visible Datacron on it. You have to make a small jump from the ship to the Datacron, though wait until you get right over top of it just in case (watch the video). Missing the jump would be devastating given how long this takes to find.
• Datacron 4: (X: -2393, -1391). +3 Strength. Once you get Datacron 3, if you are you will notice that on the side of the ship there is a small platform. Walk off the edge (I recommend walking backwards, since you move slower when walking backwards) to drop down on this small platform. There is another Datacron here. Check the video, because if you fall off and miss you have to do the whole thing over again.
• Datacron 5: (X: 2074, Y: -577). +3 Willpower. From the Mos Anek taxi (Republic players probably have something closer), move to (X: 2080, Y: -438). Here, climb up on the ledge and look down. You will see a projection which you can jump down onto. There is a cave here in the side of the cliff that you can take to the datacron’s final location. You do have to fight level 28 elites to get this datacron, so you might want to bring a friend or wait until you are a higher level to get this one.

SWTOR Tatooine Datacron Locations Guide

By following the videos above, you can easily get all of the Tatooine Datacrons. While Tatooine has a lot less tough jumps to make than the other planets, waiting for the Jawa hot air balloon can take a very long time, so be patient!

These datacrons are very difficult to explain how to get, so it is much easier if you watch the video. As a result, you will find a video below with the exact details of how to get each datacron. Below, you will find a relevant text guide with the information on taxis and actually getting to the Datacron locations as well as any relevant troubleshooting.

SWTOR Nar Shaddaa Datacron Locations – Empire Video Walkthrough

SWTOR Nar Shaddaa Imperial Datacrons Guide – Datacron List

There are 5 Datacrons available on Nar Shaddaa for Empire players:

• Datacron 1: (X:3701, Y:-1692). +3 Aim. Take the taxi to the Corellian Sector. Start by climbing up the shelves at (X: -3788, Y:-1669) to jump on the small structure (looks like the roof over a bus station) and wait for this incredibly slow decoration to float by. Jump on it and ride it to the datacron. This thing takes an incredibly long time to float around, so be patient.
• Datacron 2: (X:1958, Y:3278) +3 Cunning. Take the taxi to the Upper Industrial Sector. Head east to enter the Republic Research Division. Take elevator in the SE corner which is marked Systech West Elevator (location -1683, 2881). Take the elevator to the Network Security District. Head south until you reach the south central end of the map. Here, you will find an entrance to the High Security Lockdown area. Here, go to the boxes/ramp at (X:2037, Y:3386). The password is 326:3827, which will stop the fire damage. Input it quick. Pick up the slot decoder while you are here, as you need this for Datacron 3.
• Datacron 3: (X:1783, Y:3092). Yellow Matrix Shard. Head back to the Network Security District (Upper Industrial Sector –> Republic Research Division –> Systech West Elevator). Start climbing the boxes at (X: 1706, Y: 3092). Jump onto the nearby pipes, and climb these until you get to the next set of boxes. Your goal is to get on top of the wall you are next to. The Datacron is up here, held by a slot machine. The Slot Decoder you pick up from Datacron 2 will let you get this. Technically, this is “Datacron 4″ based on the codex entry order, but it is in the same area as Datacron 2 so you might as well get it while you are here.
• Datacron 4: (X:2929, Y:400). +3 Presence. Head to the Duros sector. Enter the Duros Sector Slums at (X: 1649, Y: -2650). Start climbing the crates at (X: 1600, Y: -2667). Once on top, jump onto the beam, and then jump onto the beam at the north, and then climb onto a third beam directly perpendicular to that one (if you are confused, watch the video). This will let you jump onto a catwalk area. You will see some boxes from here next to a fake elevator. Jump on these and then onto the canvas, following this over to another, higher catwalk. Here, the second elevator with green around it will take you to a new level. Take it. From here, to your left you will see a thin pipe you can jump on. Do this, and then follow it around to its end. Once you reach a dead end, you will see a canvas with a Datacron at its end.
• Datacron 5: (X:2017, Y:2441). +3 Strength. Head to the Network Access taxi station (different from the Network Security Division). Head out and hug the right wall, heading to the small catwalk at (X: 1951, Y: 2481). From here, you can jump off the north wall onto a pipe. Heal up. Jump onto the next pipe from the north. Make sure you are at full health then jump on the taxi pad below. This taxi will then take you to the datacron. If you do not jump on both pipes and heal up you will die. There is a scanner you can click to warp back to the top.

SWTOR Nar Shaddaa Empire Datacron Locations Walkthrough

The video is essential here in learning how to not only get access to all the Datacrons but also how to actually find the starting areas. Nar Shaddaa has a lot of individual areas like the High Security Lockdown which are very hard to get to as an Empire player, so this should help.

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions Guide – Affection & Gifts

Before we jump into the Sith Inquisitor companions guide, we should first talk about the way companion gifts and affection work, as that is what most people want to know about.

There are four reactions your companion will have to a gift: they will love it (big affection gain – often deemed), they will like it a lot (about half the affection gain of a “love”), they will like it a little (1/4 the affection gain of a “love” gift), or they will hate it (no faction gain or loss).

Now let’s be clear about something: if your companion does not love it or at least like it a lot, it is not worth giving. The “like” gifts are just not worth it – are much better of selling these on the GTN and then using those credits to buy gifts your companion actually likes. There is no sense giving a rank 5 artifact-level technology gift to Talos Drellik when you could just sell it for 5000 credits and buy a culture artifact for a similar price and get four times the affection gain.

A blue (prototype) gift of the same class will give twice as much faction as its green version, and a purple (artifact) will give four times as much as its green version; sometimes people will sell blues and purples for less than twice as much or four times as much as the green versions, making the high quality stuff a more efficient buy from an affection per credit perspective.

Selecting the Right Conversation for Faction Gain

Another thing you should know is that during cutscenes when you are talking and want affection gain, you can hit escape if you make a bad decision and start over. Sometimes the text you select is vague or completely different from what your character says, which can get you in trouble with some of your companions. Quickly hit escape and re-start the conversation for best results.

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions List: Khem Val

Race: Dashade
Class: Melee Tank
Weapon: Vibrosword Mainhand / Shield Generator Offhand
Armor: Heavy
Primary Stat: Strength
Strengths: +15 Artifice Efficiency & +5 Investigation Efficiency (Efficiency reduces the amount of time it takes to complete a task).
Courting: No

Khem Val is the first Sith Inquisitor Companion you get and is the source of frustration for many players for one reason: he does not seem like much of anything. Compared to other companions, Khem Val just seems to like less things than other companions. Additionally, when you finally do something he likes, you typically only gain +15 affection points where your other companions give more.

You can earn favor with Khem Val by selecting conversation choices that involve killing, destruction, and gloating, particularly when it comes to attacking Jedi or Sith. The killing and destroying options are obvious, but sometimes Khem also likes when you remark about your own power.In short, be as rude as possible, but never to Khem himself – he does not like being talked down to. Favor points are not easy to earn no matter what you select when interacting with Khem directly, at least until later levels.

Here are how gifts work for Khem Val:

Cultural Artifact: Love
Weapon: Good (half the gain the “Love”)
Trophy: Okay (1/4 the gain of “Love”)
Technology: Okay
Imperial Memorabilia:
Military Gear: Hate
Courting: Hate
Luxury: Hate
Underworld Goods: Hate
Republic Memorabilia: Hate

As you can see, Khem does not like much of anything except Cultural Artifacts (which are conveniently Talos’ best item as well) and Weapons (which are both Xalek’s and Andronikus’ best item).

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions: Andronikus Revel

Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: Ranged DPS
Weapon: Blaster Pistol in both slots
Armor: Medium
Primary Stat: Cunning
Strengths: +2 Slicing Critical, +2 Underworld Trading Critical
Courting: Andronikus is courtable by female players.

Andronikus Revel joins your group on Tatooine as your second companion. He is a ranged DPS class and seems to have the highest single-target damage ability that you can get. As a result, many players (especially tank-oriented Sith Assassins) seem to prefer this companion if they are looking for some additional DPS.

As far as conversation goes, Andronikus tends to like most of the same things as Khem Val. He likes destruction and killing and his faction gains are more reliable as than Khem’s. Like Khem, he does not particularly like showing mercy on others, but he does like to “keep promises”. He also usually gains +27 faction points for good choices, which make earning faction with Andronikus easier than with Khem.

As a side bonus, Andronikus Revel will ask to become your pilot after you earn some affection with him. You will then hear his voice in Space Combat missions.

Below, you will find his response to the different gifts in-game. Note: If you are a female player and court Andronikus, he will change his reactions to gifts once you start that to what is listed on the right. For male players, his gifts remain as mentioned on the left. Additionally, I have seen people suggest that Andronikus likes Trophies. I have tested this out in game and he does not like them. Perhaps he goes from hating them to liking them after opening the courting option. Either way do not waste your trophies on him – far easier to sell them on the GTN since none of your companions love them.

Weapon: Love
Trophy: Hate
Technology: Hate
Military Gear: Good (half the gain of “Love”), Love
Cultural Artifact: Hate
Courting: Hate, Okay
Luxury: Okay (1/4 the gain the “Love”)
Underworld Goods: Good, Love
Imperial Memorabilia: Hate
Republic Memorabilia: Hate

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions List: Ashara Zavros

Race: Togruta
Class: Melee DPS
Weapon: Dual Wields Lightsabers
Armor: Medium
Primary Stat: Strength
Strengths: +10 Diplomacy Efficiency & +10 Synthweaving Efficiency
Courting: Ashara Zavros is courtable by male players.

Ashara is the third companion to join your party and is actual a former Jedi Padawan. She joins the group on Taris and becomes your mock-apprentice. She is a melee DPS class with moderate but steady damage. Andronikus seems to deal slightly more damage, though Ashara’s damage was buffed slightly post-release.

As far as affection gain goes, Ashara tends to gain +40 from conversation rolls. She tends to like not only Light Side choices, but being nice and respectful in general and allowing people to live. You can easily pick Dark Side options and still gain favor with Ashara as +40 affection gains on non-alignment conversation roles will erase any negatives she may have from your dark side choices.

This may make her seem easier to gain affection with than Andronikus and Khem, but she does not warm up to you via gifts right away and is a pain the whole time for female players to level up due to the way her gifts work.

Initially, she is capped at “okay” gifts – she has no gifts which give big or moderate affection gains. Once you reach 2000 affection, you can start the courting option (Flirt with her on the ship), at which point you can give her all sorts of gifts. Females cannot have her like courting gifts, which makes her harder to level up.

Note: On the gifts where there are two responses, the left side is before courting and the right side is after courting.

Cultural Artifact: Okay, Good
Weapon: Okay, Good (half the gain the “Love”)
Trophy: Okay (1/4 the gain of “Love”)
Technology: Hate, Okay
Military Gear: Okay, Good
Courting: Hate, Love
Luxury: Hate, Okay
Underworld Goods: Hate
Imperial Memorabilia: Hate, Okay
Republic Memorabilia: Okay, Love

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions List: Talos Drellik

Race: Human
Class: Ranged Healer
Weapon: Blaster Pistol mainhand / Vibroknife offhand
Armor: Medium
Primary Stat: Cunning
Strengths: +5 Treasure Hunting efficiency, +5 Archaeology critical
Courting: No

Talos Drellik is your first and only healing-type Companion. He joins the party on Hoth. He is my favorite companion to use since he heals, which for a casual companion user like myself is ideal (my gear is a lot better than my companions). He is ideal in my opinion for leveling up as a Sorcerer as he lets heals you while you use AoE spells like Force Storm on packs of weak enemies. On elite enemies, Talos rarely pulls hate, so you can kite around enemies while Talos heals you, using line of sight to avoid your opponents but remaining in view of Talos. Talos does do a little bit of damage, but focuses on healing first.

Talos tends to be a stationary character, which leaves him susceptible to AoE damage, especially versus Darth Thanaton in some of the later battles. What I recommend doing is not going anywhere near Talos in those instances; dodge Force Storm, Death Field, and similar spells by not running near Talos Drellik and AoE will never be a problem.

Talos gains +55 faction by default for positive conversation choices and can gain a few hundred easily in some of the side quests on your ship, which makes him easy to level up. To earn these points, Talos typically enjoys light side choices, pro-empire sentiments (convo choices like “For the Empire” or “It is my duty to the Empire” are sure-fire ways to get points with Talos. Let people go when possible and never kill anyone and Talos will generate positive responses.

The most interesting thing about Talos is that on many quests when you can extend the quest conversation by asking various questions and gathering information, Talos will give extra faction. Whenever it is an option, always select the typical “more info” options such as: :What can you tell me about quest [NPC/objective]?” and “Tell me more about [NPC/objective]“. When it comes to priority, Talos seems to place knowledge above anything else as inquiry will typically yield more affection than praise or anything else really.

Cultural Artifact: Love
Weapon: Hate
Trophy: Hate
Technology: Okay
Military Gear: Hate
Courting: Okay (male/female – works for both, he is not courtable though)
Luxury: Okay (1/4 the gain of “Love”)
Underworld Goods: Hate
Imperial Memorabilia: Good (half the gain the “Love”)
Republic Memorabilia: Hate

Talos, along with Khem, has Cultural Artifacts as his favorite gift type.

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions List: Xalek

Race: Kaleesh
Class: Ranged Tank
Weapon: Lightsaber Main Hand / Shield Generator Off-Hand
Armor: Light
Primary Stat: Willpower
Strengths: +10 Bioanalysis Efficiency & +2 Scavenging Efficiency
Courting: No

Xalek is your first real apprentice and joins the party on one of your various missions to Korriban. He is the last companion you get access to, not coming in until after Voss. He is a ranged tank. When it becomes necessary, you can turn off his threat generating abilities, but he does do noticeably less damage than Andronikus Revel. Xalek is a tank, not a DPS companion.

Xalek talks very little and does not respond to very much. When he does, you do gain a lot of affection. He tends to like a lot of the same things as Khem Val; he has a strong sense of pride, dislikes mercy, and likes killing and shows of strength. Since he gains so much affection, you might want to use him as soon as you get him just to get some quick faction gains. Of course, I would recommend buying 21 rank 1 companion weapons (only 200 credits a piece at the Imperial Fleet companions vendor) to get the first 2000 affection out of the way (since it is cheap to complete).

Here are the gifts you should get Xalek:

Cultural Artifact: Hate
Weapon: Love
Trophy: Okay (1/4 the gain of “Love”)
Technology: Hate
Military Gear: Love
Courting: Hate
Luxury: Hate
Underworld Goods: Okay
Imperial Memorabilia: Hate
Republic Memorabilia: Hate

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions List – Gifts Overview

Here is a quick list of each gift type and what companions get max faction gain from each type:

Cultural Artifact: Khem Val, Talos Drellik
Weapon: Andronikus Revel, Xalek
Trophy: None
Technology: None
Military Gear: Xalek
Courting: Ashara Zavros (once courted at 2000 affection)
Luxury: None
Underworld Goods: None (perhaps Andronikus Revel after courting?)
Imperial Memorabilia: None (note: Talos gets moderate faction gain from these)
Republic Memorabilia: Ashara Zavros

I found it easiest to level up all my companions to max affection by giving cultural artifacts to Khem Val (hard to get faction with from quests), weapons to Andronikus Revel (his only favorite without courting), Military Gear to Xalek, Republic Memorabilia to Ashara Zavros, and Imperial Memorabilia to Talos Drellik. I then sold everything else I got.

This was from doing Diplomacy missions to earn alignment points and gifts at the same time of course. If you are not doing missions, you will want to just buy the gifts that your companions get max affection gain from (96 from an appropriate-level uncommon-quality gift).

Do not give your companions trophies, technology, luxuries, or underworld goods! These are easily sold on the GTN for the same price as practically any gift, which will give 2-4 times as much affection for the same price.

SWTOR Sith Inquisitor Companions Guide

Just remember that for affection, you can max out each companion’s affection just by spending around 50,000 credits on the gift vendor / GTN per companion. When it comes to effectiveness, Talos is the only healer, Andronikus does the most damage, and for tanking I personally prefer Xalek (though I would not consider him a massive advantage over Khem Val).

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are the best crew professions for the Sorcerer?

A. Biochem, hands down. You should also get Diplomacy and Bioanalysis to support Biochem. You can only pick 1 craft, so do not think you can just buy the materials and pick multiple crafts. No other crew skill comes close to what Biochem does for the Sorcerer.

While all 400-level crafts get relatively easy make Rakata items, Biochems are the best. Really! Biochem gets three items: a”Resolve Stim” which boosts your Willpower by 136 and your Power by 56. This persists through death and is reusable and has no cooldown. This is practically like getting an extra gear slot in its own right.

Additionally, you can get a reusable Rakata Adrenal with a 3 minute cooldown which you can get to boost one of your secondary stats by 565 (!) for 15 seconds. This is like getting an extra relic slot (except better, since it stacks with your Relics). You can get this in all sorts of stats, such as +Power, +Alacrity, and even +Surge Rating (great for picking up the 5k healing medal in Warzones)!

Finally, you get a reusable Rakata medpac, which is like the Ultimate Medpac, but better. This means you not only get a better Medpac then non-Biochem users but you also never have to spend money on Medpacs.

This is so much better then the self-crafted Lightsabers or Armor that Artificers and Synthweavers respectively get. While this gear is slightly better than normal end-game drops, it is completely useless in PvP and is not better than Battlemaster/Hard Operations gear.

While the enhancements/mods/crystals/etc may be viable items, these are very small upgrades. For example, the Magenta crystal might have a few more power compared to standard items. This is nothing compared to the +136 Willpower / +56 Power stim that you can have up permanently with Biochem.

In short, Biochem is not only great, but every other profession does nothing for you. Even if Biochem was not as good, it will still be better than the lack of bonus you get from other crew skills.

Q. What is the best DPS spec?

A. The best DPS spec is actually 28 Madness/13 Lightning for most encounters and situations. It simply does more damage outright than full Lightning specs in both PvE and PvP. The only downside to this spec is that it cannot deal damage forever, so in an all-out intense fight with no periods of force recovery, full Lightning may edge it out due to lack of Force. This would have to be a very long DPS battle though for this to occur.

Q. Who is the best companion for the Sith Sorcerer?

At least for leveling up, I recommend Talos Drellik for DPS specs (since he will heal you while you stand there and AoE), whereas healing specs can use Andronikos Revel, who seems to do the most damage out of all the classes. I do not find the two tanking classes to be very useful while leveling, as their default gear is not good enough for them to absorb much more damage than you do and keeping their gear up to date is a real pain.

This of course may change at level 50 when you can start to collect high-end gear for your companions and get access to Presence, but at that point your companions are restricted from most game areas.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Tips – What You Should Know

Earn Extra Medals in Warzones

You can earn extra medals in Warzones by healing yourself after using Consumption during breaks in the action. This is particularly useful at Alderaan when you are guarding a turret and the action is either elsewhere on the map or you just wiped the enemy team.

It works even better when you are out of combat since you are not afflicted by the trauma debuff. During this time, you can use a +Surge Rating trinket or adrenal along with Recklessness to earn the 5k in a single heal medal (does require some decent level 50 PvP gear and 300+ Expertise to pull off for non-Corruption specced players).

Full Corruption players have no easy way to grab the 2.5k damage dealt medal. Lightning players can do it easily via Thundering Blast or Chain Lightning whereas Death Field is an easy 2.5k damage dealer when your gear gets decent. +Surge Rating trinkets and Recklessness work as well here.

Use Extricate Regularly in PvP

Extricate lets you pull friendly players to you in PvP and it is an incredible talent. You can pull players to you in Huttball and works well for grabbing a friendly ball carrier and pulling them to you in the endzone. If your target is not in line of sight, jumping and using this ability at the peak of your jump is often enough to be a difference maker.

You can use this outside of Huttball to protect friendly players, especially healers. If a healer is getting focus fired and is about to die, you can use Extricate to pull them back to a safe place. This does not have to be just for healers and can be used on anyone that needs help. Be sure not to wait until they are almost dead, as Extricate will interrupt the person’s cast, which may result in their death if they only have 5% health when you pull them.

Use Overload to Push Players Around

There are a lot of great ways to use the knockback on Overload and it is useful in all Warzones. In particular, look for situations where you can use the knockback to seriously interfere with the enemy. This could be knocking a player off a ledge in Huttball or Alderaan or knocking them into an obstacle in Huttball or off the bridge in The Voidstar. Get good at timing Overload and you will be able to kill several players per game of Huttball by simply knocking them into the fire.

Static Barrier Is Extremely Powerful

Static Barrier, your self shield, is very, very good. It has a high coefficient; each bonus point to healing (visible in the character sheet under the “Force” tab) results in 3.27 extra damage absorbed for Static Barrier (3.924 if you have the Force Barrier talent, which nearly all specs do). Top-geared players can have +500 bonus to healing, which results in Static Barrier absorbing an additional 2000 damage on top of its base absorption of 1162, resulting in over 3000 damage absorbed. This is as much health as Dark Infusion, minus the cast time. It can also be used while moving, making it a great ability. Use it constantly in PvP.

Resurgence + Innervate is Not the Most Effect Force Regeneration Tool

Some Corruption players mistakenly think that using Resurgence + Innervate + using a free Consumption from the Innervate critical hit is the ultimate tool to restore Force. While this is an efficient healing process and will restore some force while healing, this is not your ideal move if you have a few seconds and want to regenerate some Force in that quick downtime.

The first thing to consider is that most healers should have 30% critical hit rating if they have decent gear (25%+ 5% from talents). Innervate ticks 4 times. This means that you will get an Innervate critical his 76% of the time without getting the Force Bending buff from Resurgence. In other words, you get a critical hit with innervate on average 3 times out of every 4 times you use it without activating Force Bending. With Force Bending up, you will get a critical hit with Innervate average 96% of the time. This is a net gain of 20%.

Since Consumption restores 48 Force, a free Consumption 20% of the time more often is actually only the equivalent of 9.6 Force. Resurgence on the other hand costs 30 Force (you recover 12 of that during the global cooldown, for a net of 18 Force loss, but if you stood there doing nothing, it is still 30 Force you are not getting back).

This means that using Resurgence + Innervate with 30% critical hit rate on your gear will actually cost you about 20 more Force on average then just standing there for 1.5 seconds and using Innervate. In fact, if you actually had a quick break, you could use Consumption, use Innervate to heal yourself back up, and then use a free Consumption (should it proc) and generate nearly 50 more Force in that 6 second window then if you had used Resurgence + Innervate + Consumption.

This process is indeed more effective than standing still for 6 seconds, which nets 48 Force from regeneration. Using Consumption, Innervate on yourself, and then a Consumption again (if you get a Force Surge proc) will average 72.5 Force regenerated with no health lost, a significant improvement over standing there.

Math on this process: 48 Force from regeneration + 48 from Consumption – 20 Force from Consumption regeneration penalty over 10 seconds – 40 Force from using Innervate + (48 from free consumption * .76 chance of proccing with 30% crit rate).

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Tips Guide – Conclusion

There you have it – be sure to get Biochem as a crew skill, use Madness spec for DPS, and Innervate already usually crits for well -geared healers without Force Bending.

This section will be split into Warzones, as viable builds and strategies change based on which Warzone you participate in.

Note that throughout this Sorcerer PvP guide we may reference a variety of builds. If you are not sure what skill points these builds include, every build mentioned in this guide is detailed in our SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Builds list.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer PvP Guide – Huttball

The Sorcerer was built for Huttball, and when you apply the strategies below, Huttball can quickly go from being a dreaded Warzone to one of your favorites. Here are some things you should know about Huttball:

• Extricate is one of the best abilities you get access to in Huttball for offense. You can use it to pull players carrying the ball into the endzone to score as well as pull players that got knocked down up to the high platforms. When pulling players up a level, do not stand right on the edge, as they will likely fall down if they have no room to get pulled to (players get pulled a step in front of you). In order to gain vision of players on the low ground without standing on the very edge, you can jump and use Extricate at the peak of your jump.
• Force Speed is another one of your abilities which makes the Sith Sorcerer a Huttball pro. If you carry the Huttball in combat, you suffer a -50% movement speed penalty. Force Sprint increases your movement speed by 150%. Both of these effects are additive, so if you use Force Sprint while carrying the Huttball and while in combat, you will still move 100% faster than a normal player. This is useful for sprinting into the endzone as well as using it to catch back up on defense after scoring (if you scored in the endzone, it is often faster to stand in the fire pit until you die so you can respawn at your endzone).
• Unbreakable Will allows you to break any stuns or roots, making scoring in Huttball that much easier. Be sure to save it until the last possible second. If you have to use Unbreakable Will to get across the first fire pit from the center, odds are you are not going to make it to the endzone anyway unless you have someone you can pass to.
• Overload is the fourth and final key Huttball ability which makes you the best possible class to in this Warzone. You can use it to knock players off the edge (stymieing the ball carrier by knocking him on to the low ground) or to knock players into the Fire Pit or acid pool. With Electric Bindings, players knocked into obstacles will often die by default. You can also follow this up with Electrocute to keep players stuck in the fire pit and acid pool longer to guarantee a kill.

Since the goal of Huttball is to score and prevent the other team from scoring, your build should support these objectives. Since offense is accomplished primarily through passing, pulling (via Extricate) and carrying (via Force Speed) and defense is done via knocking players off platforms and into obstacles, you really do not need much offensive capabilities to be a successful Huttball player.

As a result, we have created two Hybrid builds you can use to either get access to solid single-target healing and solid single-target damage (good for escorting your ball carrier and bursting down the opponent’s ball carrier) as well as a build which emphasizes control (good for organized Huttball teams) that you can use in addition to the typical healing and DPS cookie cutter builds.

These builds are available on our SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Builds list and work well for players on servers that rarely see Warzones aside from Huttball.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer PvP Guide – The Voidstar

While many of the Sith Sorcerer’s specialty abilities mentioned above have little use for in The Voidstar, the Sith Sorcerer is still a great class to use here. If you are on a more balanced server that gets a lot of non-Huttball queues, I recommend either going a full 28 Madness/13 Lightning spec for DPS or a full Corruption spec (again, check out our builds guide for details), as both of these builds are great at The Voidstar.

The Voidstar is incredibly straight-forward: there are three sets of two doors which you can place bombs on. One team is on offense and one team is on defense. If these bombs are successfully planted (via a 8 second channel which is interrupted by damage), the offense gets to move on to the next stage.

As a result, your goal on defense is to simply interrupt players on offense from placing bombs, whereas your goal on offense is to wipe the other team, plant the bomb, use crowd control on any respawns until your bomb can land, and then finally protect your bomb for 20 seconds until it blows up.

As you can see, playing offense is a lot more difficult than playing defense. Regardless, we will offer strategies for both below:

• On offense, odds are you are not going to get a clean plant of the bomb without completing wiping the other team. Sometimes you can sneak off a cap, but that is for stealth classes, not the Sith Sorcerer. The Sorcerer should focus in on what it does best: damage or healing. For damage, killing players off quickly is key. You do not necessarily have to focus on healers, but rather you need to do heavy damage, particularly focus-firing a target. I recommend picking any enemy that your teammate is on and using Force Lightning/Death Field/Affliction as per usual. Force Lightning will proc Wrath, which can be used to regularly produce free powerful chain lightnings. This will make healers for the other team opt for AoE heals, yet still deal very high burst damage to a single target. If you are attacking the same target as someone else (better if 3+ are focus firing), then you will quickly burst down that player. You can also toss up Whirlwind, Jolt, and Electrocute on healers rather than let them heal interrupted. This works much better than trying to focus healers, which tend to often have Guard on them and be very slippery. It is much easier to take out soft DPS via focus fire (unless your team is focusing healers).
• Healers should focus on keeping people alive. You can rack up a lot of healing my making sure Revivification is active at all times just in front of the bomb spot. Healers can also very effectively interrupt and harass the other team’s healing.
• Once you kill 1 person, you can very quickly focus-fire your way through an entire group. A 4v3 ends quickly, especially with a smart Whirlwind and regular Jolts.
• Once your team wipes the enemy’s side, you need to sprint towards the respawn area. Throw Force Storm down on the box where players jump down to get a bit of a snare going, and then when players finally get off the box, use Overload to knock them back. Stun or Whirlwind anyone who gets too close. This can often buy your team 5+ seconds, which is more than enough to get a cap.
• Once your team has the bomb planted, sprint away to a safe distance and channel Force Storm around the door area. This will interrupt anyone that tries to diffuse the bomb. Disarming the bomb on defense only takes 3 seconds, so you have to have constant damage up or they might sneak a diffuse off.
• On defense, things are simple. Just stay alive and keep an eye on the door and the minimap. At the first set of doors, enemy players respawn instantly so wiping the enemy team does no
• The key thing to know about defense is that on the first objective, there is no respawn timer for offense. This means players will re-pop as soon as they die and there is no gate preventing them from rejoining the fight right away. The implication of this is that if you notice on defense that your team significantly outnumbers the enemy team at one door, your team is absolutely outnumbered at the other door and you should use Force Sprint right away to get over there.
• Since Offense is a lot harder than defense, typically the only way players score is by trading a few kills with the other team, respawning instantly, and then changing the door they are hitting. Too often there are 6 players on defense at the west door fighting 3 players on offense, while the other 5 offensive players get a free ride to the next door.
• The only real trick the Sith Sorcerer has here is that they can use Overload to knock people to their deaths that try to cross the bridge in between the first and second sets of doors. This is an instant death for whoever falls off.

Star Wars The Old Republic Sith Sorcerer PvP Guide – Alderaan

Alderaan is another Warzone which the Sith Sorcerer is good at (really the Sorcerer is a strong PvP class all around). However, it does have some limitations. First off, you either want to roll with a pure healing or a pure DPS spec, as the hybrid Huttball specs mentioned in our builds guide are not strong here.

Here are some tips for success on Alderaan:

• Between Force Sprint, Overload, the small ledges, Whirlwind, and Electrocute, you should always be the last one to die. Make sure to not get pulled too far forward – always stay in the back. The Sorcerer does wear light armor so you can easily get focus-fired down in the tight fighting grounds. The ride back to a turret after dying is very long since you have to ride the vehicle, the Warzone is big, and there are no mounts.
• Along with point number one, you should always stick with the larger group here. The Sorcerer dishes out tons of damage in the battle over the central turret and can reinforce the side turrets very quickly thanks to Force Speed. However, the Sorcerer’s light armor makes it a lame defending class for the side turrets. A well-geared and highly skilled Scoundrel or Jedi Knight (especially in a 2v1) can make very quick work of you. You cannot kite here, especially in a 2v1, because if you get too far from the Turret, one class will chase you and one will stay behind and cap the turret. It is better to leave turret guarding for tank classes which can live long enough and use timers to stall for long enough while help arrives.
• When guarding a turret and doing nothing, particularly around that point about 2/3 through a winning game where the other team gives up, you can get bonus commendations by using Consumption and then healing yourself. This is good for the 2.5k heal, 5k heal, 75k healed, 1k defender points, and 3k defender points medal. Healing yourself near a turret speeds up your Defender point gain, so there is no reason not to rack up 5 medals when you are just standing around doing nothing anyway. Corruption players can even try for the 300k healed medal, particularly if you healed a lot earlier in the game. This might get patched eventually, but until then, no reason to not grab that extra Valor!
• In regards to the last point, don’t be the moron that is guarding a turret solo and uses Consumption down to almost no health and gets gibbed by a stealth class and then loses the turret. Never pull this stunt when you are alone or even only with one other person at a turret.
• On offense, Death Field / Chain Lightning combos from 28 Madness/13 Lightning deal a ridiculous amount of damage. It is hard for interrupted healers to heal through. In one match, I had earned my 300k damage with this spec before any team claimed the central turret.
• On defense, you still want to try to wipe the enemy team since running back to a turret to cap it is a long journey (especially a side turret – defense can take a vehicle straight to the side turrets, it takes offense about a full minute to get back). Death Field and Force Storm work well to keep enemies off the turret if you are losing the fight and they try to cap.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer PvP Guide – Conclusion

By following the tips and strategies outlined in this PvP guide, you can become a more effective SWTOR Sith Sorcerer in each Warzone. Full Madness/Lightning or full Corruption specs work best if you are on a balanced server, but you can try some specialty specs if most of your Warzones end up being Huttball.

For the best leveling build for the Sith Sorcerer, check out our SWTOR Sith Sorcerer leveling guide. This guide focuses on level 50 builds for PvE and PvP.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Builds List – PvE & PvP Healing

For PvE healing, there is really only 1 viable build for the Sith Sorcerer, so explanations will be quite simple. I recommend going 32 Corruption/7 Lightning/2 Madness.

In Corruption, you will max out every talent except Conspiring Force (snares on Affliction are useless in PvE), Fadeout (also a PvP talent, unless a kiting encounter makes it into the game), and going either 1/2 in Dark Resilience or Empty Body. Whether you want an extra 1% health reduction off of Consumption versus an extra 4% self healing is really personal preference. It is really inconsequential; if you use Consumption a lot, get that, if not, get Empty Body. Don’t lose sleep over it.

In Lightning, you should max out Reserves (makes Consumption regenerate 8 more Force), Efficacious Currents (reduces healing cost by 9%), and Force Barrier (increases the strength of Static Barrier). In Madness, you should pick up two points in Will of the Sith. This is maxing out each talent.

For full PvP healing specs, I would literally take use the exact same spec except move one point from Dark Resilience into Defiance (tier 1 Madness). I do not think the 20% snare on Affliction is worth it in PvP (rather use Force Slow) and the 20% 3-second movement speed bonus on Static Barrier from Fadeout is not worth the 4 skill points needed to get it.

However, you do not have to spec completely into Corruption to be a viable PvP healer. There are a variety of viable hybrid builds that do not go a full 31 points into Corruption which we will discuss in the hybrids section at the end of this SWTOR Sith Sorcerer builds list.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Builds List – Madness/Lightning PvE & PvP DPS

For pure DPS in PvE and PvP, the best DPS spec for the majority of encounters is actually a 28 Madness/13 Lightning hybrid, not full Lightning. Here is the build:

This gives you unlimited Force Lightning, the most powerful Affliction and Crushing Darkness talent combinations (plus instant Crushing Darkness via Wrath), Death Field, faster Force Lightnings through Lightning Barrage, and instant high-powered Chain Lightnings (via Wrath).

This build simply does noticeably more damage than Lightning. Force Lightning is more powerful than Lightning Strike, you do not have to rely on Lightning Strike for Force regeneration, your Affliction and Crushing Darkness do more damage than Lightning spec, and you get Death Field (which is similar in damage per second and damage per Force to Thundering Blast, if not better).

Your PvE DPS priority or rotation for single targets with this spec is as follows:

• Death Field
• Affliction
• Crushing Darkness (if Wrath is up)
• Force Lightning (if Lightning Barrage is up)
• Chain Lightning (if Wrath is up and Crushing Darkness is on cooldown)
• Force Lightning when everything else is on cooldown or otherwise taken care of

For 3+ targets, your priority list would be similar, except you would use all Wrath procs on Chain Lightning and not worry about Crushing Darkness.

In PvP, especially against multiple targets, I recommend using Death Field, using Affliction on two targets which cannot purge themselves (just enough to regularly proc Lightning Barrage), then use Force Lightning to proc Wrath to use Chain Lightning over and over again. Chain Lightning + Wrath does massive damage to multiple targets.

Additionally, for PvP, you may consider moving the two points in Electric Bindings, particularly if your server ends up getting Huttball frequently.

Sith Sorcerer Builds – Lightning PvE/PvP DPS

Right now, the only advantage Lightning has is being more Force efficient. For Lightning specs, I recommend going 2/32/7 for PvP. For PvP, put two points in Corruption to get .5 seconds off of the cast time of Dark Infusion. There is no reason not to pick up this faster heal for PvP. In Lightning, grab everything except Suppression, Lightning Spire (Jolt/Affliction/Crushing Darkness/Shock do not benefit from this ability, making it worthless in PvP), and Electric Induction.

You can move two points into Suppression, but I do not find it worth it for how Warzones are currently set up. It could be useful if they ever implemented some type of rated arenas. Both PvE and PvP Lightning players should pick up Will of the Sith and Calcify as well as Disintegration in Madness. I do not think Defiance is worthwhile for full Lightning players; Electric Bindings, Backlash, and Force Speed, will do much more to save you than -2% damage taken ever could.

SWTOR PvP Builds – Hybrid Specs

There are two Hybrid specs which I find to be particularly strong. These are great to use if you are either part of a dedicated group of players that play together or if you are a fresh 50 without any expertise. Fresh 50s generally cannot deal enough damage to be effective as DPS until they get geared up, but these hybrid specs are a great way to bridge the gap.

>Sith Sorcerer Build #1 – Madness/Corruption Hybrid

This build involves going 13 Corruption/28 Madness. It is extremely effective utility spec as you get as much single-target healing per second as a healing Sorcerer (no AoE heals and weaker Static Barrier, but still good) and nearly as much single-target DPS as a full DPS Sorcerer.

You can do solid damage via Death Field + Force Lightning + Crushing Darkness on Wrath procs. You also get instant Whirlwinds, reduced cooldowns on Electrocute, and a 1.5 second Dark Infusion thanks to Force Bending. This is a great fit for Huttball as it lets you heal the ball carrier and help get them get near the endzone (at which point you can sprint ahead and use Extrication to pull them in), but still allows you to do damage when your team is on defense so you can take out the ball carrier.

This was the spec I used when doing pick-up groups in Warzones until I got good enough gear to be an effective DPS player, at which point I moved over to 28 Madness / 13 Lightning. A side benefit of this hybrid build is that it allows you to easily pick up 4 fast medals (2.5k heal, 75k healed, 2.5k damage in 1 hit, 75k damage dealt)

Utility Spec for Huttball

For the build above, I recommend only going into this if you are on a server with severe faction imbalances that leads to getting constant games of Huttball, as this spec is only good in matches of Huttball.

Electric Bindings is an incredible ability in PvP, since it roots players at no additional Resolve increase over just using Overload. You can use it to root the ball carrier as well as push players constantly into fire pits. Thanks to the 5 second root, any player near the fire pit or acid pool is practically guaranteed to get instantly killed when you knock them into these obstacles. You can even follow it up with Electrocute to make sure they are finished off. Backlash also works well for in Huttball.

At the same time, you get Innervate and Sith Purity. This means that you have practically the same healing output on a single target as a full Corruption-spec Sorcerer and you can use Purge to remove roots on the flag carrier. Combined with Force Speed and Extricate, this makes you the ultimate support class in Huttball.

If you have a good tank player to queue with, this works even better. You can keep them healed and remove any roots they may get with Purge. You can also pull them back up to the platform if they got knocked off with Extricate. If they get knocked off twice, they can always throw you the Huttball so you can sprint it in for the score. It is very hard to stop this assault if you are both coordinated, especially when you use Backlash and Electric Bindings to keep the defense snared.

SWTOR Sith Sorcerer Builds List and Guide

You now have access to a variety of Sith Sorcerer builds you can try out in Star Wars The Old Republic. Whether you want to heal, do damage, or play utility in PvP or PvE, there is a build here for you to use.