This section is intended for new players because if you've played almost any other MMO in any extent you know what the roles are. Now that that's said, if you're still reading, welcome to SW:TOR! The purpose of this section is to explain the purposes of the 3 roles in this game.

Tank: You're the best at taking damage. You take hits so others don't have to. You don't often deal high damage and you do best when paired with a healer.

Healer: Your main goal is to keep your buddies from experiencing the sweet, blissful relief of the void. They haven't earned that privilege yet.

Damage Per Second (DPS): You hit things more gooder than everyone else because you're the bestest.

Everyone loves the tanks, your BDSM fetish keeps your team from taking the punishment that you so crave so they can stay in the fight longer. Here's your list of tanks and playstyles. NOTE: All tanks are close-quarters and have some mechanically similar abilities.


Immortal Sith Juggernaut and Defense Jedi Guardian:

They're the most straightforward tank classes and a force to be reckoned with. They can take quite a beating and come with everything good about a simple tank class, but with the added bonus of a lightsaber. What's not to love?

Shield Tech Powertech and Shield Specialist Vanguard:

The key difference here as opposed to the Juggernaut/Guardian is that these classes are more focused on damage mitigation through passive buffs/abilities.

Darkness Sith Assassin and Kinetic Combat Jedi Shadow:

Yeah. These guys. The skank tanks of SW:TOR. With the lowest base survivability of all the tanks, they're the hardest to play because they're the least straightforward. Their strengths are through stealth and defensive cooldowns (DCD's) to mitigate damage and keep them in the fight. In the hands of someone very experienced in this class and SW:TOR, you can cheese boss fights with this guy.

The healers. Everybody needs them, everybody wants them, everybody hates them when the healers let them die because they're just one of the billion dps's while there are tanks to focus on keeping alive. Now that that's out of the way, YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE WHO LIVES AND WHO DIES MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Please note that you're the most important people on the team and don't let any mean, salty little dps tell you otherwise. NOTE: All healers are ranged.


Corruption Sith Sorcerer and Seer Jedi Sage:

If you want to learn a healer, this is the easiest class in the game to pick up. Between excellent class energy pools, basically no necessary ability rotation, a good balance between single-target and AoE heals, and good mobility you can get to and heal whoever needs it most as they need it.

Bodyguard Mercenary and Combat Medic Commando:

Massive. Single-Target. Healing. Oh, the tank is at 3% health? Gimme 2 seconds and they'll be full again. Seriously, that's what it feels like. There's nothing wrong with this classes mobility, but there's nothing really special they have either.

Medicine Operative and Sawbones Scoundrel:

"Okay children, everyone get close and hold hands so i can heal your dumb asses!" That's what it feels like playing this class. Ridiculous AoE heals and some pretty good single target heals sound great at keeping the masses alive right? Hell yeah. Plus, you also have high mobility and full stealth. Can someone say stealth revive?

Warning: You will never rage harder at F*$&ING IDIOTS than you will playing one of these bad boys.

Your bread and butter, the dime-a-dozen basic white girl of mmos. The DPS. You do it all, if "it all" is a boatload of damage and pretty much nothing more (with exceptions). NOTE: DPS comes in all shapes and sizes, all classes come with at least 2 DPS oriented subclasses. DPS can be ranged or CQC.

Instead of doing this category how I've done the last two, I'm gonna dumb it down a lot more because there's a total of 22 different flavors of DPS between all the classes FOR EACH SIDE.

And if you want the best DPS, look up a current Starparse list or compare Vulkk guides.


Brute Force: If you wanna run in shouting "LEEEROOOYYYY JEEENKIIINSSSSS!!1!!1!!1!1!" then these are the classes for you-

Sith Juggernaut DPS and Jedi Guardian DPS. <CQC>
Powertech DPS and Vanguard DPS. <CQC>

Finesse: Maybe you're not so keen on running in and blowing things up. That's fine and that's what I'm gonna cover here-

Sith Marauder and Jedi Sentinel. <CQC>
Mercenary DPS and Commando DPS. <Ranged>

Stealth: Silent but deadly, and so are they-

Sith Assassin DPS and Jedi Shadow DPS. <CQC>
Operative DPS and Scoundrel DPS. <CQC>

Glass Cannons: Maximum damage, maximum effort just to stay alive-

Sith Sorcerer DPS and Jedi Sage DPS. <Ranged>

Strategy: This is a category just because the Sniper/Gunslinger is so different-

Sniper and Gunslinger. <Ranged>

Well, just like my mother said about me, BioWare said these classes are special.

Sniper and Gunslinger:

Where to start on these magnificent forms of damage. The tank that tanks are jealous of, even though this class doesn't have a tank spec. The sniper has the least mobility in the game, however it gets a huge trade-off. The cover mechanic. This is the only class in game that utilizes it, and for good reason. They feature longer range capabilities, insane AoE damage, and the ability to completely avoid direct damage while using cover. They're a harder class to learn, but the capabilities of this class are incredible. Very nice.

Annihilation Sith Marauder and Watchman Jedi Sentinel:

There is no class harder to manage than this one right here in my opinion. Currently on top of the DPS rosters for Nightmare Mode Raids (Update 6.x), it deals some of the highest damage in the game. This class is all about managing short-timed Damage Over Time (DOT) abilities on enemies. Unless you completely understand and master this class and stick to it's rotation, you wont see the damage its capable of dishing out, plain and simple. That fact makes this class a hit or miss for me, and since I don't have the skill or patience, it's a miss for me. If you're interested in this class, I wish you the best.

Edit for 7.0: They nerfed it's damage capabilities pretty bad, and it's still as difficult to play. Sorry force bros.

Some of us wanna be the very best, like no one ever was. Some wanna know the best spec for each role. Good luck with that, thanks to BioWare being more bipolar than a 14 year old Taylor Swift fan, your class wont stay where it is for too long. The trend I've noticed is whenever a Major Update (6.0, 7.0, etc.) comes out, they COMPLETELY f*ck with the classes; and when a Minor Update (7.1, 7.2, etc) hits, they tweak things from there. I sh*t you not, I've watched the Sorcerer/Sage go from indisputable top of the pack DPS all the way down to doo doo status and then end up in the middle of the stack.

So basically, f*ck you and your class ranking, Google knows and I probably don't. Cheers!

Thank you for reading my guide! Please don't forget that every class is fun to play and give whatever class you want a try! Although I hate being *that* guy, if you'd like some free swag, my friend code is http://www.swtor.com/r/JjZNfD and go listen to my mixtape on SoundCloud. Don't actually, I don't have a mixtape. But if you do, let me know what search results my name brings, I'm morbidly curious. Hay the horse betwitch you, or whatever Space Jesus said.