Star Wars: The Old Republic is massive and most of you may already know about the countless ways you can progress through the story while exploring the seemingly infinite stretches of the galaxy.
Good thing is that you won’t be alone in this journey since you will have a crew to share your adventures and battles. Which makes you bound to improve your Crew’s Skills.
Crew Skill System in Star Wars: The Old Republic is made up of three types of skills – Gathering Skills, Crafting Skills and Mission Skills.
To improve your crew’s skills you can assign them different tasks while you are away fighting your cause or the your master’s. You can relay orders back to your base (Starship) and assign different tasks like gathering resources or even send the members to complete the missions on their own.
You will need to analyze their background and the skill system first as all the members in the squad won’t have the same attributes.
If you are new to MMO or Star Wars series and find it difficult to manage your Crew or are confused which skills you should give priority to then this guide should get you going in the right direction and even help you level up fast. Let’s start by dissecting each type of Skill separately.
For more help on Star Wars: The Old Republic, read our Datacrons Guide, Skill Tree and Gear Guide.
Gathering Skills
There are plenty of resources to harvest in SWTOR including some precious items and useful information. With the appropriate training, you and your crew members can track down these resources. What will you do with these resources? You can either sell them in the market to make some profit or you can use them for crafting schematics.
The choice is yours! You can fill all three available skill slots for your team with this option if you want to gather more resources in short time. There are four gathering skills as we speak:
Archaeology Gathering Skill
This skill enables you to find items like Crystals which can be used for Lightsaber modifications for Artificers and armor for the force users.
These items also include the precious artifact fragments (powered by the force). One can use the concealed rare datacron components in these artifacts to craft matrix cubes which have the attribute enhancing capability.
One can use these resources in Artifice and Synthweaving Crafting. Archaeologists also have the ability to send their companions on the resource hunt separately.
Bioanalysis Gathering Skill
The resources gathered by this skill can be used by the biochemists for different biological enhancements like the health restoration (Med Packs), physical attributes boost (Stimulants) or the improvement in the combat skills (biological implants). They can also send the companions to other missions to gather more resources.
Scavenging Gathering Skill
Scavenging involves retrieving the potential resources like metals and parts and other synthetic compounds usually from the scrap like fallen ships, Junk pile or abandoned cargo posts. You can then use these resources in Armormech, Armstech and Cybertech Crafting.
Slicing Gathering Skill
Slicing is mainly hacking (unlocking) different secured electronic devices to gather precious items, credits or rare tech schematics. These resources then can be used construct different cybertech devices and space upgrades. You can explore data stations, electronic safes and security mainframes etc to find these resources.
Crafting Skills
The gathered resources can be put into good use by crafting different items and gear. Items you craft will depend the on specialization of the members. Another way is that you can sell these items in market to generate some cash.
You can do the gathering and crafting task simultaneously as you will receive the reports about the activity of your crew members while you are away on your own mission. For example if someone collects the schematics, you can right away put other team member to utilize the resource.
You will have to be careful here as you can select only one crafting skill for each crew member. SWTOR offers you following crafting skills:
Armormech Crafting Skill
With this skill, members will be able to use hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to craft armor (non-force users). You can purchase fluxes from vendors to refine these raw materials.
Once the armor has been created, Armomechs has the ability to redefine it with better components later or may be undo it depending on the need. Scavenged resources are needed for this crafting skill.
Armstech Crafting Skill
You can use this crafting skill to make blasters and melee weapons. The blasters you can craft include blaster pistols, blaster rifles, sniper rifles, assault guns and shotguns.
To refine the raw material which is usually metals, alloys or the synthetic compounds, you can get the fluxes from the vendors. Armstechs also have the ability to modify the created crafts and upgrade them.
Artifice Crafting Skill
Through this crafting skill, you can construct lightsabers, modify them or use different enhancements, generators and focii. You can use the color crystals (collected through Archaeology) in different ways to tweak your lightsabers to make it more deadly. Members using this skill can reverse the created tools and modify them for further improvement.
Biochem Crafting Skill
Biochemists have the ability to craft biological enhancing tools like the stimulators, med packs or the biological implants. All you need are the resources from the Bioanalysis gathering skills to play with this skill.
Cybertech Crafting Skill
This crafting skill lets you create different cyber tools beneficial in different ways like droid armor, earpieces, grenades, mods and other random gadgets. You will require the resources gathered through scavenging for this skill. If you want to use this crafting skill then underworld trading mission skills can be useful.
Synthweaving Crafting Skill
You can create synthetic tools using the resources gathered like crystals, artifacts and chemicals etc. You can craft armor for force users but you will need the help of the vendors to refine the raw materials.
Mission Skills
You can send out your crew members on different missions to gather the loot and information or complete miscellaneous objectives. They will complete the assigned task and return with the reward. You can fill your crew skills slots with multiple Mission Skills so yes, you can give it a full go.
Diplomacy Mission Skill
Members with this skill can be sent on the diplomatic missions to increase the PR (with the dark side or the light side) and collect rare items to craft prototype and artifact light armor. You can also get some gifts as a reward which you can give to your companions to win their affection.
Investigation Mission Skill
Investigation skill will enable you to gather precious intel and information which can render you rare medium armor crafting materials to make prototype items including weapons and schematics for all the crafts. You can also earn gifts for your companions to win their affection.
Treasure Hunting Mission Skill
Treasure Hunting missions can get you a variety of valuable items like the gemstones which then can be used to construct different prototypes.
You can also get some lockboxes which will provide you some precious items and gifts for your companions. These missions usually include a series of clues needed to be followed till one reaches the treasure.
Underworld Trading Mission Skill
Underworld trading can be pretty useful which actually can provide you important resources for making Biochem, armor and weapon prototypes. The galactic black market is the place you or your squad members need to visit for these mission.
How To Rare Craft Gear and Find Rare Schematics
You will learn green quality crafting recipes from your trainer – they will enable you to craft green color gear which is good.
After level 50 or so, you will find some purple color artifacts on vendors – These are some of the rarest schematics and you can get them only through slicing and investigation.
The easiest possible way to get blue and purple recipes is through reverse engineering. For that you will have to level up the appropriate skill first and then you will be able to break these items and learn may be new rare recipe.
There is a chance that you will learn, it isn’t given that you will always something rare so go for it if you feel so.
These rare recipes basically add a modification slot which helps you craft the item of the same stat that you reverse engineered plus a bonus modification slot making the new item better than the one you broke.
Reverse engineering can be done fast, which gives us another reason to learn the new schematics/recipes following this method.
For example, if you have five items you want to reverse engineer, you can do so with a single click.
How To Modify Items
Crafting new gear isn’t everything, sometimes you will have to settle with modifications to your old item, because getting good salvage in the World full of profession whores is really difficult, so if you have any idea what I am talking about, you will agree with me.
Crafted modifications go into specific slots (Modification Slots) in some gear and change the stats of that gear. It’s like introducing new stats to the items that it wasn’t supporting to start with, similar to what gems do in WOW added that you can introduce stats instead of increasing stats.
To understand it fully, let’s analyze lightsaber, it’s really a metal case if you remove all the modifications like hilts, color crystals, focus lenses, emitter matrix and power crystals.
Each of these item can change the stat of our lightsaber and adding new item in the new slot will add new stat to our light saber.
Modifications are removable but are bound to you (as of now) – If that doesn’t go really well with you, use them on your companions.
Modifications also allow you to exploit the system by removing them all and then installing them into a new set of armor – like when you want to wear the Jedi Robe but you are Bounty Hunter, so by doing that, you will end up as Bounty Hunter in Jedi Robe – ofcourse you will have to transfer your heavy armor into the modification slots of the robe.
Professions For Credits
When it comes to choosing a profession everyone wants to choose the one that is most profitable, so let’s just move our discussion to this important aspect of crafting.
- Armormech – At level 50 you will be able to craft many purple quality items (BoP).
- Slicing – Very profitable profession for now – Since the lockboxes you gather from the nodes often contain large sums of credits with minimal effort.
- Armstech – Not really sure about this so if you find something, share.
- Artiface – You will get level 50 relics that are 1 slot modable and have high demand.
- Biochem – You will get BoP Craftable implants which are 1 slot modable at lvl 50. Add to that craftable versions of medpacks and stims.
- Cybertech – They get grenades/bombs and BoP epic earpieces. They can also craft ship upgrades and mounts (BoP).
- Synthweaving – They can craft epic BoP items at level 50.
How To Pair Skills
Finally, we are left with how to pair Crafting/Gathering/Mission skills to create the most profitable profession hybrid in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Now, if you are not interested in blue or purple items crafting when leveling up, you can drop Mission Skills for Slicing or take 3 gathering professions for maximum profits. If that doesn’t cut, here are some of the suggested pairings:
- Synthweaving / Archeology / Underworld Trading
- Armormech / Scavenging / Underworld Trading
- Artiface / Archeology / Treasure Hunting
- Biochem / Bioanalysis / Diplomacy
- Armstech / Scavenging / Investigation
- Cybertech / Scavenging / Underworld Trading
Now, go and hunt for salvage. May the Force or a turret/cannon guide you!
