SWTOR - The Low Level Jedi Consular

Each week, the Symposium helps your Jedi Consular see more clearly the voice of wisdom. From Tython to Tatooine, whether scholar or shadow, alien or human, your Jedi draws on a variety of talents and abilities that allow him to take on any role in the game. Solo or stiff, here's a new side to your favorite character ...

Many players come to Star Wars: The Old Republic simply because it is the last "Star Wars" game and they believe they can finally play * the * Jedi they have dreamed of for centuries. Well let's face it, It's a very good choice.

Not only can each player embody in SWTOR any of the Jedi specialties discovered over time in movies, books and games, KotOR in particular, but it is also * finally * possible for them to develop a psychology for their character. all to him that reminds us of the glory days of the original role-playing games when we spent hours and hours arguing under the dim light of a smoky kitchen, a beer in hand and a pair of dice in hand: yes, I'm talking about the original role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons and, oh well .... Star Wars from 1987 ^^

What about the Jedi consular?

After meeting a few players during the last beta test, I repeatedly collected testimonials from people who were very motivated at the base by the Jedi Consular and who ultimately turned out to be a little disappointed with their weekend experience. According to them, the Jedi consular would be at a low level a "one-touch" class, you know, that kind of character where you only need to spam one key to be effective.

I rebel ^^

The great thing about MMOs in general, and apparently Star Wars: The Old Republic as well, is that despite any group's inherent desire to simplify their internal differences to the extreme, it is still possible. , and often even viable, for a player, to take a less well-defined path but more adapted to his own experience of the game. In other words: not to be like everyone else. While many a few players felt that they only needed 2 or 3 abilities to get through the first levels, I personally got rather worried when I found thatat every level or almost another ability came to take place in my shortcut bars.

And what capacities!

The abilities of the Jedi consular.

Abilities to produce melee damage, others from a distance, regeneration abilities, control abilities, debuff abilities, etc. and the best, all a paraphernalia allowing the Jedi Consular to get out of any situation, even solo (but I'll come back to that). My beta experience was limited to level 20, so let's see below with what tools I was able to advance my character from Tython to Nar Shaddaa, including solo heroic areas.

The image above represents my skill bar at level 20 when my Jedi consular arrived on Nar Shaddaa (you can even see some of my keyboard shortcuts ^^). These are all the skills that I used on a regular basis and we will describe them below with their context.

Care skills:

• kindness (2) is a quick little heal to stabilize peaks of intense damage (before fully recovering our target's health points with the next skill). I mainly used it in emergency situations to keep my partner alive when tanking an elite while dealing with weaker adds.
• Délivrance (3), * the * great care available to the low-level Jedi Consular. This is the healing skill that I quickly saw myself using most often while leveling. A skill a bit long to implement but the "Immutable Force" talent allows you to reduce your cast time and make it usable even in case of stress on the tank.
• New youth is a lifelong heal that comes a bit later in the development of the Jedi Consular. This handy skill is especially useful for supporting a tank by allowing it to quickly absorb constant damage. I've hardly ever used this on myself, but Qyzen Fess, my tank partner, wouldn't have liked to be without it ^^
• Channeled force is a CD (a skill whose reuse is limited by a very long time: "CoolDown" in English) of 20 minutes for group hard knocks. Almost useless in solo, this skill can however do wonders to help raise a group that has suffered large mass damage. And since it also resets the Force Stun reuse timeout (see below), well ... why not. Finally I admit, not very necessary at low level.

Utility skills:

• Force armor (1) is an energy shield (Force) that can be placed on oneself or on an ally (including on the partner). It absorbs part of the damage that we receive and thus better resist the assaults of our opponents. I would routinely place him on top of my partner in a multi-target combat situation, just before ordering him to start the fight (as a Jedi Consular, our first partner, Qyzen Fess, acts as a tank). As the shield lasts for 20 seconds, it gave me plenty of time to place another shield on me afterwards and hold the entire fight (against normal targets).
• Muddled mind (4) is the skill that allows our character to interrupt his opponent. I imagine this will be very practical at a higher level. Between levels 1 and 20 I didn't really have to use it because the game, overall, is still very easy and the Jedi consular has several other tools anyway that allow him to control his fights well.
• Strength Content (5) is a powerful temporary buff (20 sec every 1.30 min) to increase the critical chance of our damage and healing. I was using it as soon as "up" constantly, not to mention. A good ol 'extra review doesn't hurt, does it? Especially when you face a nasty Mandalorian, and I swear it happens!
• Force flow (A) is one of those prestige skills that give the Jedi Consular their spectacular aura. This skill allows our character to push back all the opponents present in a radius of 8m around him, and even to knock down some of them. Magic ! And very practical for example against this filth of Rakghouls on Taris. I didn't use it very often during beta, but it felt good to know that this skill was there for when I needed it. Essential ! ^^
• Lift by Force (G), * the * control skill (or "CC" as an acronym for "Crowd Control" in English) of the Jedi Consular and which allows him to go through all the fights without flinching. Finally, without flinching ... Imagine: 4 opponents in front of you, 1 less with Lifting Force, remainder 3. Your partner takes care of the "biggest", remainder 2. You will soon get rid of the 2 others all the more so if your partner "tank" manages to keep the aggro on it. From the lowest levels, the consular can thus manage packs of mobs groups of opponents without flinching (I insist) thanks to this control which lasts, which lasts, and which lasts ... endlessly.
• Force Stun (Q) is a handy skill that I have used extensively in each of my fights. It is about a mini CC of 4 seconds which gave me each time enough time to recoil in order to set up my combat tactics (see below: solitary combat). Not an absolutely essential skill but having it is a "plus" which allows the Jedi consular to give himself some leeway which can sometimes make the difference between a return to the cemetery (well, the arrival of a resurrection probe) and a strategic advance on the ground ...
• Bravery of Strength, here is * the * buff of the Jedi Consular. Nothing special to say about it except that it must be present at all times. + 5% willpower and -10% damage, you can't refuse it in solo or in a group. Especially not in a group in fact ^^

Combat skills:

• Double attack (W) is * the * large melee attack of the Jedi Consular. Two beautiful, well-felt lightsaber shots for delicate moments. I mainly used it to finish off my opponents because, remember, low-level play is often very easy to access.
  
• Disturbance (R), a powerful ranged attack popularized by the "Hope" cutscene in which the irresistible Satele Shan can be seen valiantly pushing and throwing Darth Malgus against a cliff, causing an epic "Knights of the Zodiac" "mold" ( yeah, I have references in literature). In practice, it is a blast of kinetic energy that takes its place in the DPS cycle.
• Projection (T), the other big skill of ranged damage, one of those which make the prestige of the Jedi consular (see here, 23rd second) from the first levels and throughout his evolution. By activating this skill, we unearth any debris, adapted to the surrounding environment most of the time, and we throw it violently on our opponent. Heavy damage + stun = essential. Slurp.
• Telekinetic throw (Y), another major skill causing kinetic damage. Here, the Jedi Consular channels a pile of tiny debris onto his opponent, causing great damage over time (channeling time) in addition to slowing or even stopping some enemies.
• Weakened mind is a DOT (Damage Over Time), which is a damage over time skill. Instead of causing a big immediate damage, the damage is distributed in a regular way during a given period of time, in this case 15 seconds. Its usefulness will therefore be reserved for fights that will last more than 15 seconds, or against certain elites only. I haven't had to use Spirit Debuff often for two reasons: one, because this skill comes a bit late, and two because, well, mobs ("mobiles", enemies, monsters , opponents) which last more than 15 seconds between levels 1 and 20 ... it does not run the streets before Taris ^^
• Mental crush is meant to be an "original" skill since it first causes a fixed damage then some collateral damage over time (6 seconds). I imagine it's a good alternative to Weak Mind for short fights but ... with a cast time of 2 seconds I mostly found using it to be mostly a way of doing it. 'excessively increase the duration of the fights. Each his own ! Naaaaan I exaggerate, but to reserve for the "long" fights against elites and / or bosses.

 

Managing Battles: Engagement Tactics and DPS Cycle.

If I calculate correctly, that is at level 20 no less than 17 skills which all find (and I insist: all) their usefulness at one time or another of the fights. Some will obviously be more useful in certain circumstances than others but it seems obvious, the fact remains that we are far from the reduced account announced by the disappointed Jedi Consular I mentioned in the introduction. And we are a fortiori also very far from the "one-touch class" announced by its detractors.

On the contrary !

We are with the Jedi consular in the presence ofa super versatile "all terrain" character which conceals, from what I could see, a huge potential in terms of usefulness in groups (there are good raids) and omnipotence in solo. I would not put my hand in the fire but I feel this class of character become a specialist in soloing.

Leveling and solitaire.

In most cases, when playing SWTOR alone and following the normal course of the quests, the fights represent in my opinion a more tactical challenge than brutal. The Force ™, we have it. We have strength too. But as the mobs rarely arrive on their own, it is rather shovelful of 4 or 5 at a time that we have to tackle them and chain them. Suddenly, if you are not careful, you can quickly find yourself overwhelmed and miserably perish. It is therefore necessary to engage the combat as it should and to determine how to use our skills to optimize our damage per second and thus reduce the risk of losing.

I'm not going to hide it from you, I'm a longtime World of Warcraft player and I especially love the idea of ​​being able to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. without needing to relearn a game mechanic full. Since SWTOR is in the same line as WoW, my combat adjustment reflexes quickly surface and I quickly find myself in the position of someone looking for an order in which to use their skills in order to be as efficient as possible (yeah , that's a lot of words for a simple idea, but that's how it is, I'm complicated ^^).

Take the following textbook case: I arrive with my tank partner in the middle of an expanse full of Rakghouls. How to start the fight? As simply as possible: by rushing into the heap of course! Not without laughing, it's not these puny Rakghouls that will prevent us from sleeping for a long time, eh ...

Other case. As we chirped hand in hand, my partner and I, on the edge of a dark devastated expanse of northern Taris, an elite commando of 5 bloodthirsty Mandalorians came upon us with shortened, determined arms Abraracourcix. that they were sweeping us away with a gesture like vermin that we were in their eyes of millennial warriors. In fact, my partner and I entered the fight thinking that taking the initiative would give us a decisive advantage. Instinctively, we saw ourselves establishing the following tactic:

1. I order my partner to go for the strongest Mandalorian (# 1)
2. I throw the Force armor on the partner
3. I cast Lift for Force on an opponent (# 2) far from # 1
4. the partner comes into contact, I let him take the aggro on nearby opponents.
5. I give one or two small treatments if necessary
6. I DPS the opponent # 3
7. then # 4
8. then # 5
9. then # 1
10. then # 2

Kaput, the Mandalorian commando (history of coming back to Earth. Well ... it's an expression).

Throughout the fight I kept a close eye on the presence of the Force Shield, essential on the partner-tank, and I also did not hesitate to maintain it with a New Youth as soon as I focused on the DPS of another opponent. When the tank seemed to be struggling to resist the damage taken, I would stop DPS and heal it as it should (mostly at Deliverance). And the rest was just a matter of time and timing of healing (so as not to waste my Force, the resource used to fuel the active skills of the Jedi Consular).

And the DPS cycle in all of this?

As we've been together for a long time and I'm starting to tire a little, let's keep it simple, otherwise we will set off again on a lyrical flight that is refined but completely irrelevant.

• Combat engagement: AE - EM - PRO
• Current fight: PRO - THE - LT 
• Optional: refresh AE, place EF tactically to help manage the fight
• After that ? place all the useful skills at the right time in order to weaken, control and injure the opponent.

AE = Weakened Mind, EM = Mental Crush, PRO = Throw, DER = Disturbance, LT = Telekinetic Throw, EF = Force Stun

Talents, optimization of the tree structure.

Difficult to properly assess the most viable and effective "build" or "template" with a character of barely 20 levels. 

32 / 7 / 2

From what I've seen, it looks like a good little template and I can't wait to be able to test it at a high level in raid with my guild starting December 20th. When I have been able to play my Consular Jedi up to level 50 myself and have him raided several times, I will update this link to * my * optimized template.

The Jedi Order having vocation to manage the users of the Force for the Republic, it is appropriate to the young Padawans having proven themselves to choose their "specialization" once reached level 10 in the game: either "Shadow" (DPS, Tank ) or Scholar (DPS, Heal). But that will be the subject of future articles. So on that ...

 

...Good game ! ^^