How to easily tell what secondary stats you should stack on any class.

[Chinua]

It's a very common thing for people to be confused as to what Secondary Stats they should stack on their class.

"Should I stack Power? Crit? Lolcats? Surge?"

In most cases, the answer is "Yes". Because of diminishing returns, if you're a DPS class you'll want some of all the DPS secondary stats, and if you're a Tank class you'll want some of all the tank secondar stats.

However, there's still a ratio to be had there. So the real question becomes "Should I have more Power than Crit, or more Crit than Power, or more Funny Babies than Lolcats on my [Insert Class Here]"?

You'll get several different answers from several different people on that, but here's a quick and easy way to get a warm fuzzy feeling that you'll at least be in the ballpark on what stats you should have.

-Go the Imperial or Republic fleet

-Go to the "Supplies" area. This is where you can obtain End Game set gear by turning in tokens that you'll get during raids and stuff.

-Find the appropriate End Game gear vendor. There are 4 sets of these vendors, one set per Basic Class. There are 3 Vendors in each of these sets, one for Rakata, one for Columi, and one for Tionese. It doesn't matter which of those 3 you choose, just make sure you're talking to one of the vendors for your class. You can usually tell by their physical appearance, and if not, you'll be able to tell by the details i'm about to give.

-Look over the armor that the End Game gear vendor is selling. What you'll find is several different sets, each with their own suffix.

For instance, if you're a Bounty Hunter (like me!) and you're talking to the vendor that sells Tionese quality Bounty Hunter gear, you'll see gear with suffixes like "Combat Tech", "Combat Medic", "Eliminator", and "Supercommando".

-Find the suffix that is right for your build. The easiest way to do this is to look at the Set Bonuses. You'll see that one of those set bonuses gives a boost to a particular skill, and you'll be like "OMG that's something I use a lot!".

For instance (I for instance a lot), when looking at that same Tionese quality Bounter Hunter gear vendor, I see that Eliminator gear boosts Power Shot and Tracer Missle. My Powertech Tank doesn't use either of those, so that's not the set I care about. However, Supercommand boosts Oil Slick, which is one of my bread-and-butter defensive cooldowns. So now I know that's the set that Bioware intended for my Powertech Tank to go after.

-Look at the stats on that set that you've identified as yours. This gives you an idea of the ratio of stats Bioware intended for your AC and build to be using. It's not perfect, but it's what the developers intended, so it's going to be at least in the ballpark, and good enough for you to be successful.

Some more for instancing:

Here's my Tionese Supercommando Set:

Tionese Supercommando's Body Armor - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Legplates - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Boots - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Bracers - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Gauntlets - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Helmet - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Belt - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Shield Generator - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Implant - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database
Tionese Supercommando's Module - Items - Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) Database

(Ignore the Glance Rating on that Shield Generator...Torhead has some outdated info there)

So if I look at those, I can see the ratio of Absorption and Defense used in that gear, and I can try to mimic that with gear I use while i'm leveling up.

For you DPS and Heals, you'll probably find that most of your gear stacks either Power or Surge, with a few of the pieces stacking whichever stat the majority lacks.

This will give you an idea of what ratios to mimic with your leveling gear until you actually earn your raid gear.

Important Note: Avoid stacking Alacrity in large amounts at the present time, regardless of what your high level set pieces show, its benefit is currently marginal.

Good luck

[gadgetkk]

Good info thanks. Can't wait till I get high enough to use this info. =)

Gadget

[moopy]

I'm not completely comfortable with this advice, it's a bit misleading. Some of the end game sets are poorly itemised, it's not uncommon for people to swap the mods from their Columi into their Rakata, because Rakata is far too alacrity-heavy.

A simpler approach is just to pick up gear with the right primary stat for your class/role while levelling. The levelling content is tuned to be facerollable by a sedated mollusc, so there's no need to min/max at all. When you start hitting endgame content which is progression for your guild and you're having trouble (at whatever level proves to be problematic for you), that is the time to really worry about min/maxing and optimisation. You can then look at theorycrafting sites to find ways to tune your tier gear and rotations to perform even better (as they are hopefully approximately right by then anyway).

Prior to that, just avoid stuff that is actively wrong and don't worry.

[Chinua]

I'm not completely comfortable with this advice, it's a bit misleading. Some of the end game sets are poorly itemised, it's not uncommon for people to swap the mods from their Columi into their Rakata, because Rakata is far too alacrity-heavy.

A simpler approach is just to pick up gear with the right primary stat for your class/role while levelling. The levelling content is tuned to be facerollable by a sedated mollusc, so there's no need to min/max at all. When you start hitting endgame content which is progression for your guild and you're having trouble (at whatever level proves to be problematic for you), that is the time to really worry about min/maxing and optimise. Prior to that, just avoid stuff that is actively wrong.

You'll note that i said it's not perfect, but will get you in the ballpark. This advice was presented as a way to compare gear while found during the leveling process with the gear set up for you at end game. I didn't mention Alacrity simply because it's not found at lower levels and doesn't matter. The basic of query of "Does my AC typically use more Surge or Power" can still be answered using this method.

In short, I think you mistook the purpose of this device.

I definitely agree with you about the lack of a need to min max while leveling. The period when this information is actually most useful is in your late 40s, when you're trying to figure out how to get set up for those first few Hardmodes and start collecting your end game gear. Prior to that, secondary stats are of very little importance in most cases.

However, if people are going to do it anyway and ask this question anyway, might as well give them some advice that will put them well on the way to being able to figure it out for themselves. Give a man a fish and all that.

[moopy]

I didn't mention Alacrity simply because it's not found at lower levels and doesn't matter.

http://www.torhead.com/items/catg/2/...l,-basequality

[Chinua]

Ok, I should have said "Not Found Frequently at Lower levels"...and if you're smart enough and knowledgeable enough to split hairs with me on the subject, you know that exactly. There is some Alacrity found at lower levels, but enough for it to be a major concern.

To appease Moopy, i'll add a little note that says "Avoid stacking Alacrity in large amounts at the present time, regardless of what your high level set pieces show, it's benefit is marginal at the current time".

Occam's Razor Moopy, i'm not trying to write a perfect all out guide for min-maxers here. I'm offering a quick and easy solution for someone trying to answer a basic question.

[SoulBender]

UGH....

Thanks Chinua for your work, despite the peanut gallery. This is a very good guide for your intended purpose, to give a little direction.

I hope someone will come along and take this principle and go the whole route and develop a table of preferred stats for all ACs and sub trees.

Thanks again.

[Styg]

Yep Chinua, really helpful. I'm almost 47, so I'm just starting to think about this stuff as I hadn't really needed to before. So, having a roadmap as to which direction to go is great! Thanks for putting this together and I'll probably start delving more into the stats needed on my Operative this weekend as I *really* start to get near 50.

[Ky'lyr]

this is helpful for me too...i'm always wanting to know which i should be focusing on at this time (i'm lvl30)...crit or power...so confusing. i try to keep it somewhat balanced. no clue if that's the correct way to go though..lol. i'm still learning. thanks for putting this together!