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Complete Imperial Agent Operative CONCEALMENT Guide, suitable for both beginner players and more advanced and experienced veterans, who seek to improve their performance!

THIS GUIDE IS WRITTEN BY AWETGOMK & TAILORJU

More Class Guides available here

Awetgomk’s Guides: Marksman, Engineering, Saboteur, Sharpshooter, Dirty Fighting, Virulence, Scrapper

INTRO

Hey there, Awetgomk here returning with yet another guide. I’m a semi-hardcore Hungarian raider who loves SWTOR and wants to keep the game running for a long time. I’m not claiming to be the best, so I asked one of my friends to team up with me, another Hungarian guy, Tailorju. He’s the one who taught me how to use this spec, he’s raiding regularly and has a ton of experience with the class – so we’ve agreed on writing this guide together.

This guide will be focused on the Concealment Operative, its strengths and weaknesses, gearing, utilities, rotation, as well as some tips and tricks you can use to become a better player. I’m focused more towards PvE, but I had my share of PvP experience as well, long hours of dueling vs all classes.

THE OPERATIVE IN GENERAL

We’re considered a melee class (even Lethality has 2 of its main abilities at a 4m range), with access to stealth and the chance to become either a healer or a DPS. We deal high damage, have a lot of burst, and all of our abilities are instant cast. We have the Mercenary/Commando raid buff on a 2min CD, can off heal with Kolto Probe and Kolto Infusion, can Rez and Stealth Rez, have group stealth and Sleep Dart… A lot of group utility here. Our raid buff grants 10% Critical Chance. In addition, Medium Armor paired with our defensive capabilities grants us a lot of survivability, and high mobility.

WHAT IS CONCEALMENT GOOD FOR

Concealment excels at single target burst damage. With our sustained damage falling behind slightly against a Lethality operative, we’re more than ready for anything a raid can throw at us. This spec is definitely viable for progression, however some restrictions may apply. Our AoE damage is rather low, Lethality clearly outshines us in that regard, and off-healing capabilities are limited by energy cost and Tactical Advantages. I’d definitely recommend playing Concealment for leveling, it’s just easier and more comfortable. So why choose Concealment over Lethality? Read on and find out.

PATCH CHANGES

This section is managed by Vulkk with raw information about class changes each time Bioware tweaks something for the Discipline. The text is usually taken from the patch notes or the forum posts, made by Bioware developers.

CHANGES IN UPDATE 5.0

Take Cover is now Sniper exclusive.

Snipe is now Sniper exclusive.

Shiv is now Operative exclusive.

Overload Shot is now Operative exclusive.

Debilitate is now Operative exclusive.

Slice Droid has been removed.

Entering stealth now additionally increases your stealth level by 15.

Sneak has been removed.

New Active Ability: Noxious Knives. Hurl envenomed knives in a 10-meter cone in front of you, damaging up to 8 targets for kinetic and internal poison damage.

Carbine Burst has been removed.

New Active Ability: Toxic Haze. Executes your Tactical Advantage to drop a canister that fills the vicinity with poisonous gas, dealing internal damage to up to 8 enemy targets within 8 meters over 6 seconds. The haze stuns standard and weak enemies for 6 seconds. Requires and consumes a Tactical Advantage.

Imperial Ammunition has been renamed Deadly Toxins and updated. Deadly Toxins: Increases the critical chance of Noxious Knives by 15% and its critical damage bonus by 30%.

Ghost (Redesign): Activating Countermeasures increases movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.

New Passive Ability: Revealing Weakness. Damage dealt by Volatile Substance marks the target with Revealing Weakness, allowing your next Backstab against the target to be useable while face-to-face with the target and treated as though you attacked from stealth.

Imperial Weaponry (Update): Noxious Knives deals 25% more damage.

Curbing Shots has been renamed Curbing Strategies and combined with effects of Flash Powder. Curbing Strategies (Update): Overload Shot and Noxious Knives reduce the movement speed of targets they damage by 40% for 6 seconds. In addition, when Flash Bang ends it leaves behind Flash Powder that reduces the target’s accuracy by 20% for 8 seconds.

Flash Powder has been removed.

Precision Instruments has been combined with effects of Pin Down.

Pin Down has been removed.

Advanced Cloaking (Update): Reduces the cooldown of Cloaking Screen by 30 seconds and activating Cloaking Screen increases movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.

Counterstrike has been renamed Cunning Competencies and combined with effects of Sedatives.

Sedatives has been removed.

Jarring Strike (Redesign): When used from stealth, Backstab and Lethal Strike interrupt and knock down the target for 3 seconds. Player targets are immobilized for 3 seconds, rather than being knocked down.

Circumvention (Redesign): Reduces the cooldown of Holotraverse by 10 seconds and allows it to be used while immobilized. When activated it purges movement-impairing effects and grants a Tactical Advantage.

New Utility: Mobile Strategies. Exfiltrate grants a charge of Mobile Strategies, reducing the energy cost of your next Overload Shot by 100%, increasing its maximum range by 20 meters, and making it knock the target back. Each use of Overload Shot consumes a charge of Mobile Strategies and grants 10 energy.

New Utility: Curative Agent. Countermeasures grants Curative Agent, causing your next Kolto Probe to immediately grant two stacks. Additionally, Countermeasures heals you for 1% of your maximum health every second for 10 seconds and Kolto Infusion delivers its heal instantly, no longer healing the target over time.

New Utility: Blow for Blow. Activating Evasion grants Blow for Blow, returning 150% of direct single target tech and Force damage taken back to the attacker while Evasion is active.

SOURCE ► SWTOR Update 5.0 Patch Notes

CHANGES IN PATCH 5.3

Concealment Operatives will no longer appear to be in-combat / holding their weapon when they log into the game.

SOURCE ► SWTOR Update 5.3 Patch Notes

CHANGES IN PATCH 5.4

Acid Blade’s damage has been reduced by 27.78%

Collateral Strike’s damage has been reduced by 27.68%

SOURCE ► SWTOR Update 5.4 Patch Notes

STATS AND GEARING TIPS

This section explains the gearing methods and recommendations for stats management.

STATS PRIORITIES

Priority goes from top to bottom. Below you can find a few additional thoughts for each stat.

ACCURACY

Your role as a DPS in 5 words: Do Damage And Don’t Die. When you miss an attack (it happens when your accuracy is lower than intended), you deal 0 damage and waste a GCD. This lowers your overall DPS and hurt you quite a lot in the long run. For every gear bracket from 230 to 248, reaching the 110% Accuracy (To complement for the 10% Dodge/Resist chance of endgame bosses) is absolutely mandatory. For a build focused on PvP, Accuracy is not as important, you may as well just go for power instead. Also, Alacrity in PvP is not so valuable, so after reaching about 1100-1200 I’d just go for more power, and a little more (1800) Critical Rating.

Reaching the Accuracy cap: it’s pretty straightforward when gearing up, we have Accuracy Enhancement in our boots and gloves. Either use an augment and stim, or more augments, but always stay as close to 735 as possible. For 248 Item Rating, the easiest (and most common) way to do this is 5 x Accuracy Augment + Accuracy Stim.

RELATED ► SWTOR Update 5.9 New Augments Details

ALACRITY

Alacrity compresses the time between attacks (GCD), CDs, DoT timers, it makes everything happen a lot faster. Ideally, 1% Alacrity translates into 1% more DPS, but due to uptime not always being 100%, it’s not always applicable. It’s an amazing stat, gives a good boost to the player. For beginners and people with poor connection, lower alacrity (1600) and higher Crit (1800-1900) may bring better performance. Feel free to deviate from the ideal to personalize your character. As mentioned above, Alacrity is not so beneficial for PvP players, go for 1200 and put the rest into Crit and Power.

CRIT RATING

Since it was reworked to increase both Critical Chance and Damage, this has become a viable tertiary stat. The set bonus gives us 100% Crit chance on one of our main damaging skills, the excess Crit Chance is not wasted, however, part of it is converted into Crit Damage, making it hit a lot harder. The “soft cap” for Crit rating is 1633 (the ideal stat), the hard cap – in my opinion – is 1900. Above that, the Diminishing Return effect really starts to kick in, and believe me when I say you don’t want to waste stats.

MASTERY AND POWER

Power strictly increases damage, Mastery increases damage and Crit Chance (but gives less raw damage than power). It can be increased by Datacrons, and the difference is still noticeable, even though stat pools have been increased by a lot since vanilla.

OPTIMAL STATS

In a nutshell, the optimal stats for 248 are:

Accuracy: 735

Alacrity: 1881

Critical Rating: 1633

Mastery: 6880

Power: 4510

ABILITIES, PRIORITIES, UTILITIES

This section will guide you through the Concealment Operative’s abilities, a range of passives and actives vital to our rotation or survival. The Rotation is also included at the end of this section.

Note: All CDs are listed with 0% Alacrity, their “default CD”.

PASSIVES

ICON ABILITY DESCRIPTION Tactical Advantage (TA) Think of this as your second “resource”, as generating, and using up TAs is the heart of the class - not just Concealment.

Deadly Toxins Increases the Crit chance of Noxious Knives by 15% and their Crit damage by 30%

Collateral Strike Laceration triggers Collateral Strike, dealing extra kinetic damage, and stunning weak / standard targets.

Tactical Opportunity Collateral Strike regrants TA when striking a poisoned target once every 10s.

Scouting Increases Stealth dedection level by 5 and dodge chance by 2%

Culling Increases damage dealt by Laceration and Collateral Strike by 5%, and Collateral Strike grants 2 energy.

Ghost Countermeasures grant 50% movement speed for 6s.

Acid Blade Backstab puts a 6s internal DoT on the target, and increases armor penetration by 30% for 15s.

Waylay Backstab deals 5% more damage and costs 5 less energy.

Enhanced Chemicals Increases damage and Crit Chance of Volatile Substance by 5%

Prey on the Weak Laceration deals 5% more damage to targets affected by Acid Blade.

Shadow Operative Elite Increases effective stealth level by 2. Using Exfiltrate will make you invulnerable for 1.5s. This is the ultimate defensive ability of Concealment, one that Lethality has no access to. Operative Tanking confirmed.

Meticulously Kept Blades Increases Critical Damage of Veiled Strike, Backstab, Volatile Substance, and Laceration by 10%.

Calculated Frenzy Backstab grants 5% ranged and tech Crit Chance for 15s. Veiled Strike makes the target take 5% more damage from tech attacks for 45s.

Surgical Strikes Increases damage dealt by Veiled Strike and Overload Shot by 5%

Revealing Weakness After Volatile Substance deals damage, the next Backstab agains the target has no positional requirement, grants a TA and deals damage as if it was used from stealth.



DEFENSIVE ABILITIES

IOCON ABILITY DESCRIPTION Shield Probe Grants a shield for 10s, absorbing moderate damage, 30s CD. Used to mitigate low / medium amounts of damage.

Evasion Increases Dodge chance by 200% for 3s. Can be upgraded with a utility to reflect as well. 60s CD.

Exfiltrate Our ultimate Defense ability, rolls forward 12m and resists/dodges everything for 1.5s. Once used, it can be used again for 10s, this puts the ability on a 10s CD however. More on that later.

Kolto Probe Heals the target over 18s, can be stacked on the target twice. Costs 10 energy. A nice little off heal, it can make a difference, really.

Kolto Infusion Uses up a TA and 20 energy to heal the target, and has a 9s CD. This is our main heal, one I like to use on Tanks / myself when catching a break.

Cloaking Screen This is listed as a defensive ability because it takes you out of combat, resetting your aggro. In PvP, entering stealth enables you to surprise your opponent and strike from unexpected angles at unexpected targets. This is what makes the class exceptionally fun at PvP, and PvE. You’re the last one standing in the group? Peace out and save yourself the repair costs.

Holotraverse A good escaping ability, especially when used after stealthing out from a fight in PvP. The movement speed increase is great as well.



OFFENSIVE ABILITIES

ICON ABILITY DESCRIPTION Backstab Deals kinetic damage to the target, only usable from behind the target. Deals more damage when used from stealth and also grants a TA. High damage ability, should be used on CD. Costs 10 energy, 12s CD, 4m range.

Veiled Strike Our main TA generator, dealing moderate kinetic damage. 15 energy, 6s CD, 4m range.

Rifle Shot Rarely used filler, dealing low weapon damage. No energy cost, no CD, 30m range.

Laceration Main damaging ability, deals a high percentage of our damage. Consumes a TA, and 10 energy, no CD, 4m range.

Crippling Slice As it’s 100% free, this is our priority one filler for when we’re either low on energy or TA and can’t use Laceration. No energy cost, 15s CD, 4m range.

Volatile Substance After a short “priming” time (3s), the target will take huge internal damage the next time it takes damage from a poison effect. Also applies the Assailable debuff, making the target take 7% increased damage from internal and elemental attacks. 15 energy, 18s CD, 10m range.

Corrosive Dart 18s Dot, we rarely use. Can be utilized to trigger Volatile Substance. 15 energy, no CD, 30m range.

Fragmentation Grenade Rarely used filler, probably only applicable in situations where you need some AoE. 20 energy, 6s CD, 30m range.

Overload Shot Filler ability, used when you’re out of TAs, and Crippling Slice is on CD. 15 energy, 10m range.

Noxious Knives Our spammable AoE ability dealing low kinetic and internal damage. Can trigger Volatile Substance. Costs 15 energy.

Toxic Haze No.1 AoE ability, dealing internal damage over 6s around you. Consumes 1 TA, 15 energy, and has a 15s CD.

Sever Tendon Slows the target by 50% for 12s and deals low kinetic damage. More of a PvP ability. Costs 10 energy, 12s CD, 10m range.

Debilitate Hard Stuns the target for 4s, deals low kinetic damage. 45s (30s with utility) CD, 10 energy, 4m range.

Stim Boost Grants a TA and 10% Alacrity for 15s. Has a lengthy 2min CD. Grants additional damage reduction and healing if the utility is taken.

Flash Bang 8s soft CC, affecting everyone within 5m of the target. Mostly a PvP ability. With the correct utility, also reduces accuracy of affected targets by 20% for 8s after the stun ends. Has a 1min CD and 10m range.



UTILITIES

SKILLFUL

Nanotech Suit (Good for PvE) : 30% AoE damage reduction. Mandatory for most PvE encounters and endgame content.

: 30% AoE damage reduction. Mandatory for most PvE encounters and endgame content. Chem-resistant Inlays (Good for PvE and PvP / Mandatory) : 5% damage reduction. Pretty self explanatory, good for both PvE and PvP.

: 5% damage reduction. Pretty self explanatory, good for both PvE and PvP. Imperial Weaponry : 25% extra damage to Noxious Knives. This is pretty worthless, and a waste of a skill point in my opinion. If the fight is AoE intensive, you shouldn’t play Concealment in the first place.

: 25% extra damage to Noxious Knives. This is pretty worthless, and a waste of a skill point in my opinion. If the fight is AoE intensive, you shouldn’t play Concealment in the first place. Hit and Run : Veiled Strike grants 50% movement speed for 3s. Could be useful in PvE for something like Xeno HM where you need to keep up with the Rancor. As for PvP, it helps avoid getting kited all the time, but I haven’t really used it much, there are better alternatives.

: Veiled Strike grants 50% movement speed for 3s. Could be useful in PvE for something like Xeno HM where you need to keep up with the Rancor. As for PvP, it helps avoid getting kited all the time, but I haven’t really used it much, there are better alternatives. Slip Away (Good for PvP) : Debilitate CD reduced by 15s. This is huge for PvP, especially dueling, as controlling your opponent is key. For PvE, I wouldn’t take it – Boss Immunity cancels this out, making it a wasted skill point.

: Debilitate CD reduced by 15s. This is huge for PvP, especially dueling, as controlling your opponent is key. For PvE, I wouldn’t take it – Boss Immunity cancels this out, making it a wasted skill point. Infiltrator: 15% extra movement speed and +3 to stealth level. Well, I guess it could help sap-cap a node or something, but otherwise? Just don’t take it, it’s worse than it sounds.

MASTERFUL

Curbing Stategies ( Good for PvP) : Overload Shot and Noxious Knives slow the target, and Flash Bang reduces accuracy by 20% for 8s after it ends. I’d say it’s usable in PvP, for both kiting and getting kited. The accuracy reduction isn’t huge, but it may just be the thing that saves your life when getting targeted by multiple players. Worthless in PvE.

: Overload Shot and Noxious Knives slow the target, and Flash Bang reduces accuracy by 20% for 8s after it ends. I’d say it’s usable in PvP, for both kiting and getting kited. The accuracy reduction isn’t huge, but it may just be the thing that saves your life when getting targeted by multiple players. Worthless in PvE. Precision Instruments (Good for PvP) : Debilitate and Sever Tendon costs 5 less energy, and Sever Tendon immobilizes the target for 2s. Again, good for and agains kiting, but not much else.

: Debilitate and Sever Tendon costs 5 less energy, and Sever Tendon immobilizes the target for 2s. Again, good for and agains kiting, but not much else. Advanced Cloaking (Good for PvE) : This is probably down to personal preference when it comes to PvP, some people like to misdirect enemies by disappearing more frequently. However, you rarely have the chance to use it more than once per fight. As for PvE, stealth + Backstab combo can be utilized for more damage, and more TA-s without sacrificing a GCD.

: This is probably down to personal preference when it comes to PvP, some people like to misdirect enemies by disappearing more frequently. However, you rarely have the chance to use it more than once per fight. As for PvE, stealth + Backstab combo can be utilized for more damage, and more TA-s without sacrificing a GCD. Med Shield (Good for PvE) : Shield Probe heals for 5% when it ends. This is great for PvE, but not really going to help you in PvP (unless dueling).

: Shield Probe heals for 5% when it ends. This is great for PvE, but not really going to help you in PvP (unless dueling). Endorphin Rush : Adrenaline Probe grants 15 additional energy. I have never – ever – been in a situation where this was needed to ensure a stable rotation, Adrenaline Probe in itself is good enough. If you feel like you’re energy starved, you’re probably doing something wrong. The only use I’d find for it is when you die and get resurrected, you’ll have your energy back faster, but hey, who plans on dying anyways?

: Adrenaline Probe grants 15 additional energy. I have never – ever – been in a situation where this was needed to ensure a stable rotation, Adrenaline Probe in itself is good enough. If you feel like you’re energy starved, you’re probably doing something wrong. The only use I’d find for it is when you die and get resurrected, you’ll have your energy back faster, but hey, who plans on dying anyways? Fortified Kolto (Good for PvP) : Each Kolto Probe stack grants 3% damage reduction. In PvE you’re not going to pay too much attention to these, as DPS-ing will take up most of your GCDs, in PvP however, the player needs the extra Damage Reduction

HEROIC

Imperial Tactics : Sever Tendon Grants a TA. This hurts more than it helps, as it sacrifices a GCD for that extra TA. There are other and better ways to generate them, without wasting a GCD for such low damage. Don’t take it.

: Sever Tendon Grants a TA. This hurts more than it helps, as it sacrifices a GCD for that extra TA. There are other and better ways to generate them, without wasting a GCD for such low damage. Don’t take it. Evasive Screen (Good for PvP) : Cloaking Screen grants 2s of Evasion. Good for an additional self-cleanse, especially in PvP / dueling, when you have loads of DoTs on yourself and need to vanish, but don’t have Evasion up. This utility will ensure that you stay in stealth no matter what. Unfortunately, this can’t be used for reflecting, what a shame.

: Cloaking Screen grants 2s of Evasion. Good for an additional self-cleanse, especially in PvP / dueling, when you have loads of DoTs on yourself and need to vanish, but don’t have Evasion up. This utility will ensure that you stay in stealth no matter what. Unfortunately, this can’t be used for reflecting, what a shame. Evasive Imperative (Good for PvE and PvP / Mandatory) : Getting attacked reduces Evasion CD by 3s, can happen once every 1.5s. This utility is amazing, it can force Evasion’s CD down to 20-is seconds! I consider this an absolute beast of a utility and always take it. I like combining it with either Escape Plan or Cunning Competencies. Keep in mind that DoTs proc this as well.

: Getting attacked reduces Evasion CD by 3s, can happen once every 1.5s. This utility is amazing, it can force Evasion’s CD down to 20-is seconds! I consider this an absolute beast of a utility and always take it. I like combining it with either Escape Plan or Cunning Competencies. Keep in mind that DoTs proc this as well. Cunning Competencies (Good for PvP) : Countermeasures becomes a root breaker, and Sleep Dart reduces the damage of the target by 50% for 10s. Sadly you can’t sap bosses, but this utility is amazing for PvP – especially dueling. The damage dealt reduction is huge, and it can make or break a team fight.

: Countermeasures becomes a root breaker, and Sleep Dart reduces the damage of the target by 50% for 10s. Sadly you can’t sap bosses, but this utility is amazing for PvP – especially dueling. The damage dealt reduction is huge, and it can make or break a team fight. Escape Plan (Good for PvE and PvP / Mandatory) : Reduces CD of Escape by 30s, Shield Probe by 5s and Infiltrate by 60s. Apart from the Infiltrate, this is rather useful in both PvE and PvP. I’d take it for most fights.

: Reduces CD of Escape by 30s, Shield Probe by 5s and Infiltrate by 60s. Apart from the Infiltrate, this is rather useful in both PvE and PvP. I’d take it for most fights. Jarring Strike: When used from Stealth, Backstab interrupts and knocks down the target. Players are rooted for 3s instead of getting knocked down. This is an interesting utility, and works very well with Revealing Weakness. I still wouldn’t take it for endgame, nor PvP, but it’s pretty fun against mobs or farming those master mode Chapter achievements. I always take this when the opponent can be CC-d.

LEGENDARY

Circumvention (Good for PvE) : Another TA generating utility, which also reduces Holotraverse CD by 10s and upgrades it into a root breaker. This is my personal preference when it comes to needing a TA desperately in PvE for another Laceration or to get it back after a Toxic Haze. Wouldn’t take it for PvP though, you most likely already have a root breaker.

: Another TA generating utility, which also reduces Holotraverse CD by 10s and upgrades it into a root breaker. This is my personal preference when it comes to needing a TA desperately in PvE for another Laceration or to get it back after a Toxic Haze. Wouldn’t take it for PvP though, you most likely already have a root breaker. Mobile Strategies : Exfiltrate makes the next Overload Shot grant 10 energy (instead of consuming any), knock back the target and have its range extended to 30m. I haven’t really found a way to use this effectively, it’s fun and everything but the knock back is small, and requires us to waste our roll. Could be used for kiting opponents, but usually you’re the one being kited as an operative. The other usage would be interrupting casts. I wouldn’t recommend taking it.

: Exfiltrate makes the next Overload Shot grant 10 energy (instead of consuming any), knock back the target and have its range extended to 30m. I haven’t really found a way to use this effectively, it’s fun and everything but the knock back is small, and requires us to waste our roll. Could be used for kiting opponents, but usually you’re the one being kited as an operative. The other usage would be interrupting casts. I wouldn’t recommend taking it. Revitalizers (Good for PvE and PvP / Mandatory) : Stim Boost restores 5% HP every 3 seconds, and increases damage reduction by 20% for the duration. Great utility, gives you another – rather strong – defensive CD.

: Stim Boost restores 5% HP every 3 seconds, and increases damage reduction by 20% for the duration. Great utility, gives you another – rather strong – defensive CD. Curative Agent : Kolto Infusion gets a HoT effect, Countermeasures heals you for 10% over 10s, and makes the next Kolto Probe apply 2 stacks instantly. More of a healer utility in my opinion.

Augmented Shields: strengthens Shield Probe by 30%, which is a bit of a letdown for a legendary utility. I don’t think it’s worth it.

: Kolto Infusion gets a HoT effect, Countermeasures heals you for 10% over 10s, and makes the next Kolto Probe apply 2 stacks instantly. More of a healer utility in my opinion. Augmented Shields: strengthens Shield Probe by 30%, which is a bit of a letdown for a legendary utility. I don’t think it’s worth it. Blow for Blow (Good for PvE and PvP / Mandatory) : This is mandatory for PvP and dueling, situational for PvE (see Reflect section), it makes Evasion reflect 150% of all single target Force / Tech damage to the attacker. Paired with Evasive Imperative, this is really strong.

COMBINATIONS

Raiding

Nanotech Suit, Chem-resistant Inlays, Med Shield, Advanced Cloaking, Evasive Imperative, Escape Plan, Circumvention, Revitalizers (For fights where you’re going to reflect, replace Circumvention / Revitalizers with Blow for Blow)

Standard PvP

Chem-resistant Inlays, Slip Away, Fortified Kolto, Precision Instruments, Evasive Imperative, Escape Plan, Revitalizers, Blow for Blow

Dueling

Chem-resistant Inlays, Slip Away, Fortified Kolto, Med Shield, Evasive Imperative, Cunning Competencies, Revitalizers, Blow for Blow

EXFILTRATE

Exfiltrate is the bread and butter ability of the class. Using it only for repositioning is a waste, you have other abilities for that. (specifically: see Ghost passive, and Holotraverse both work well in emergency situations.) You want to have a roll available to you at all times, so unless you’re in a really tight spot, never put Exfiltrate on a 10s CD. You’ll do it sometimes unintentionally until you get used to the 10s internal CD.

Being a good raider isn’t about doing everything absolutely perfect, rather counting on and counter playing your and other’s mistakes. They happen, accept it, and be ready to save yourself from trouble by rolling. You’ll need to experiment in progression, to see how far the animations go before the damage tick applies, in order to be able to predict and avoid it. Rolling too soon or too late wastes time and a CD you might need later. There are also a lot of things you can resist this way, i.e. the timed red AoE of Bestia, the white grenade or Mega Blast of the Revanite Walkers (ToS), and loads of other things. Pay attention to the debuffs, and mechanics. Healing on progression can be tight sometimes – even when everyone does their job right – and when they can, healers will also put in some DPS. This requires them to be able to do damage without letting a teammate die. So resist those attacks and the fights will go down much easier.

As for PvP, this ability makes dueling Operatives hard. They can dodge your hardest hitting abilities, and believe me when I say even that’s better than if they reflected it. Beware that if your opponent knows you’re going to roll, they will try to confuse you by fake casting. Waiting until the last possible tenth of a second before walking away from melee range to prepare for Exfiltrating is hard on the nerves but very rewarding. Our response to fake casting can be “fake rolling” which is pretty risky, but works if the enemy doesn’t know what you’re up to. Basically, you waste your roll intentionally, and then if you see them casting the ability (for real), Holotraverse back up and activate Evasion to reflect it. (This then goes into Debilitate, Backstab, Volatile Substance…) Works very well against Mercenaries, even better if they launch both Tracer Missile and Heatseekers at you.

There is a mandalorian tactic called bas’lan shev’la, where the warrior(s) would disappear, (regroup,) and strike at an unexpected place. As an Operative, you have the best tools for that. A good tactic in PvP when in a tight spot, is running away in a straight line, activating Cloaking Screen, turning around 180 degrees and roll right through the enemy. (If you get and DoTs on you, you may have to use Evasion as well, or the utility which grants 2s of Evasion upon combat stealthing.)

REFLECT IN PVE

The Operative’s reflect is sadly the shortest reflect in the game – but it hits the hardest, reflecting 150% of the damage received. Even if constant damage is going to reduce its CD to about 25s, we have to be picky about using it. It’s not as universal as a juggernaut / guardian reflect, since that also redirects ranged attacks, while during Evasion we dodge all “white” damage. Keep in mind that Evasion won’t absorb any damage, you’re still going to take all of it, but it hurts the other person much more. In PvE, however, it’s not as simple as it first seems. You’ll need to do the same as with Exfiltrate, and that’s experimenting. You’ll find that you’re going to dodge most attacks, and only reflect some. It’s hard to determine what you’re able to reflect, but worth wasting a defensive CD for science, you never know when it’ll come in handy next. Word of advice though: reflecting the Ops Chief’s Terminate (SnV) is going to generate a massive amount of threat. Be ready to use Cloaking Screen.

Note: Refleced damage ignores all forms of damage reduction, such as armor or Undying Rage, and even shields. Damage you absorb with a shield, i.e. Static Barrier is also reflected as if the shield wasn’t there. However, any dodge or resist seems to cancel out all damage redirection.

A few tips on what you can reflect in operations:

Karagga: butt-fire, knockup, fire circles

SnV: Ops Chief: Terminate, explosive probe

DF: Brontes supremacy attack (very hard to predict, more about luck)

Ravagers: Master’s Overpowered Ion Cutter, sometimes Ruugar’s Corrosive Dart

DP: Death Mark (possibly a bug, but it didn’t deal damage at all), Calphayus read AoE

EC: walker damage (stand under it to damage it while it’s immune), first boss all circles

ToS: Revan Heave, Core pulses.

Useful resource: Numy

REFLECT IN PVP

After dueling a lot against different classes and specs, we’ve compiled a list of reflect tips for you guys. You can reflect a lot of things, but should always aim for the highest hitting ability (preferably one that has 100% crit chance. Here are the ones you should look for, note their CDs, wind-up animations, animations and required buffs. (i.e. In order for a Concentration Sentinel to hit real hard first he needs 2 buffs: One gives him 100% Crit chance on Focused Burst, the other makes it deal 15% extra damage. If you see both on him and haven’t been hit with the ability yet it’s a safe bet that it’s coming)

Sentinel / Marauder:

Watchman / Annihilation: Nothing to reflect here sadly, but it’s a good idea to use Evasion to cleanse DoTs and dodge Mercilass Slash / Annihilation

Combat / Carnage: Watch for the Precision / Ferocity stacks and expect a huge incoming yellow hit. Make sure they take it as well.

Concentration / Fury: Look for the 2 buffs affecting Focused / Raging burst, and expect the hit after Concentrated Slice / Furious Slice.

Guardian / Juggernaut:

Defense / Immortal: Nothing much here, try to predict Blade Storm / Force Scream, but don’t expect wonders.

Focus / Rage: same as Fury Marauder

Vigilance / Vengeance: Count on them using Blade Storm / Force Scream almost on CD, look for the 2 stacks that increase its crit chance. Your priority here should be evading their insane AoE.

GS / Sniper:

Sharpshooter / Marksmanship: None

Saboteur / Engineering: None, except if they try to blow up Sabotage Charge / Explosive Probe with a grenade. Very unlikely.

Dirty Fighting / Virulence: None

Scoundrel / Operative:

Scrapper / Concealment: If they use the PvP combo that you can see below, break the hard stun after Veiled Strike and pop reflect to give them both Backstab and Volatile Substance while DPS-ing them with your own skills.

Ruffian / Lethality: Nothing much here, save it for cleansing DoTs.

Sage / Sorcerer:

Telekinetics / Lightning: Turbulence / Thundering Blast can be reflected, as well as their spammable ability. Doesn’t include Telekinetic Wave / Chain Lightning.

Balance / Madness: You can see the Force Leech cast, and when they have 4 stacks of their lightning, they’re going to use their big DoT on you, time right and they have no chance.

Shadow / Assassin:

Kinetic Combat / Darkness: It’s most likely going to be a skank, reflect their big hitting channeled ability, or if you can watch for the autocrit buff on Project / Shock, that’s a nice hit as well.

Infiltration / Deception: This one is hard, should aim for reflecting Force Breach / Discharge simply because it hits the hardest. Force Potency / Recklessness is a good indicator that they’re going to use it.

Serenity / Hatred: The only thing you can reflect here really is the big hitting DoT. Watch for the buff.

Vanguard / Powertech:

Shield Specialist / Shield Tech: Nothing

Tactics / Advanced Prototype: Assault Plastique / Thermal Detonator and Energy Burst (especially if they have the autocrit) hit really hard. Listen for the sound it makes, reflect at 1s left on timer.

Plasmatech / Pyrotech: They’re most likely going to use Plasma Flare / Immolate after their strong AoE cone attack,

Mercenary / Commando:

Assault / Innovative Ordnance: Assault Plastic / Thermal Detonator is the main thing you’re looking for, but it’s tricky because Mag Bolt / Shot makes it explode instantly. As a counterplay, activate Evasion 1s in advance.

Gunnery / Arsenal: This one is pretty easy in terms of reflecting, you’re looking for the heatseekers. When you think the opponent might cast it, try to get some distance so you have time to activate it in case it’s cast.

ROTATTION

Precast: + +

Stim Boost + Tactical Superiority + Adrenal (+ Relic if usable) // We use everything to buff up the first Volatile Substance. There is about 99% chance that your relics are going to proc, which boosts damage further. So far this: +10% Alacrity +10% Crit Chance //

Backstab Volatile Substance // The last tick of Acid Blade is going to trigger it // Veiled Strike // This gives Volatile Substance a 100% Crit Chance because of our set bonus // Laceration // To trigger 2pc set bonus, which is +2% damage. Volatile Substance is going to deal damage at this point, threat dump is highly advised, or you are going to pull aggro. // Laceration Laceration Veiled Strike Laceration Backstab Laceration Veiled Strike Laceration Laceration Volatile Substance Veiled Strike Laceration + Stealth + Backstab Laceration Veiled Strike Laceration Laceration + Holotraverse + Laceration Veiled Strike Laceration

Note: Waiting about 3s for all the raid buffs to be activated (and the tank to have a chance of building some threat) might seem like a few wasted seconds, but probably worth it. Mercenary raid buff can mock up the rotation if it’s activated between Backstab and Volatile Substance

DUELING OPENER

Sleep Dart // For that 50% damage dealt reduction // Volatile Substance 2 x Kolto Probe // To ensure relic procs // Debilitate Veiled Strike Backstab

This duel combo will most likely take away 40-80% of their health, depending on their armor and your crits.

PRIORITY SYSTEM

This all comes down to how you can manage your TAs and energy at the same time. Difficult? At first maybe. Lethal? Absolutely.

Backstab absolutely on CD, the only time you should delay it is to match it with Volatile Substance (max 1 GCD). The buffs it provides even overrules the “don’t overstack TAs” rule.

Volatile Substance also on CD, and directly after Backstab. It’s easy to forget as it deals no immediate damage, but keeping it on CD grants us a big chunk of damage.

Veiled Strike to generate TAs. Using this ability while on 2 TAs is a waste, delay it in that case

Crippling Slice (only below 75-80 energy or when out of TA with all TA generators on CD)

Laceration

Overload Shot when you have no TAs for Laceration OR you need to be out of melee range OR you need to save the 6pc bonus for an upcoming burst phase

Rifle Shot when low on energy

You’ll soon find out that sustaining the rotation for a longer period of time will slowly pull you below 60 energy, use Adrenaline Probe at the same time as the ability that takes you below 60.

Veiled Strike generates the majority of TAs, but there are a few other abilities which you’re going to use. Backstab also grants a TA when used from stealth or against someone with the Revealing Weakness debuff, Holotraverse (with Circumvention utility taken), and Stim Boost. The one you’re going to want to use for an emergency TA in PvE is Holotraverse, since it’s off the GCD and mobility isn’t as much of an issue (in PvP you’d waste a gap closer). The whole rotational cycle is 24 GCDs, as seen above, but you’ll rarely pull it off during a raid, following the priority system will get you as close to it as possible.

AOE ROTATION

As Concealment, our AoE is way behind Lethality, that spec is simply better at handling multiple targets. Our AoE consists of Toxic Haze, Fragmentation Grenade and Noxious Knives. Neither of them are going to skyrocket your DPS, but hey, our burst is unreal so we have to have some downside. In addition to the damage being really low, it’s quite energy straining, utilize Rifle Shot to keep it from eating up all your resources.

CONCLUSIONS

A few final words from the author and Vulkk + sources and references used in this guide.

FROM AWETGOMK & TAILORJU

Thanks to Vulkk for hosting our guide, we had a breeze putting it together. Thanks to everyone who supported us in making this guide by dueling with us endlessly for the sake of science. Your sacrifice won’t be forgotten. Special thanks to Arlandrea for all the (mostly inappropriate) jokes that kept me from losing my mind from boredom :D And at last but not least, thanks to Fincsi for the quality laughs he provided when reassuring me that I have nothing to fear in a story flashpoint as long as he’s with me. He’s the real MVP

FROM VULKK

I would like to thank Awetgomk and Tailorju for their hard work on this guide and all the research and testing they did. I myself lack the extensive knowledge and experience with this discipline and would likely not be able to provide any commentary, but if you have questions or want to share your thoughts about any segment of this guide, please, use the comments section below. The authors are usually nearby and ready to help.

Sources and References

In this article I have used TORCommunity.com’s database for the abilities icons and the Utilities builds.

Any and all class changes listed in the “Patch Changes” section of the guide are written by me (Vulkk) and are usually taken from the official patch notes.

Alacrity values spreadsheet is located here.

The Ideal Stats spreadsheet can be seen here.



If you want to offer the community your knowledge and experience through a guide here on VULKK.com for a class and discipline that is not yet covered, please, contact me on [email protected].