Jedi Template Guide

Lightsabers

You really have one decision to make here. Do I go master lightsaber or do I pick one saber type to specialize in? If you're picking to specialize, then you need to pick which one you like best.

    The conventional wisdom behind going master lightsaber is the incredible bonuses given in the master box for speed, blocking, accuracy, and experimentation (among other things). The result is making you significantly better with the lightsaber than a dabbler and giving you a leg up in pvp or jvj.

    The chief downside, however, is the large number of skill points tied up in one profession (89 of your precious 226 total Jedi points or almost 40 percent of the total), limiting what you can do in other areas. this is why some folks decide to concentrate on one saber type. If you're in this boat, you have one of three sabers to choose from. The polearm saber is a favorite because of its high damage and dervish. If you use this for grinding you also get a spin attack quicker than other sabers (something some folks consider a big deal - honestly I didn't use a spin attack until i went saber xx44 because I thought taking them one at a time was quicker). the one-hander is great because of its ability to target the mind pool and its speed (although the higher you get the less this becomes an advantage). Some folks also prefer the one-hand flurry special to dervish. The two-hander is also an option. its a good middle of the road saber type, and most folks I know who pick it do so because its the lesser used of the sabers.

    Also if I had to break it down, I'd say for jvj and pve the polearm is the best bet, with the one-hander being the best bet for pvp. also, keep in mind the upcoming combat revamp. most likely this will change the way HAM works in game, so the one-hander might not be as attractive.

    Regardless you really don't have a choice about the techniques branch. if you want to be a saber wielding Jedi you need this branch because of the saber block and also saber experimentation, which leads to better lightsaber.


Powers

An interesting tree. By many accounts this has the most "Jedi-like" skills in the game, but is also considered to be gimped or broken by many in Jedi circles and almost completely shunned by many FOTM template builders. I will say I know a few very successful Jedi that incorporate powers skills into their mix, or are master powers Jedi, which in my mind at least leaves the talk of it being less desirable than other professions a bit overblown. so here's the breakdown:

Lightning:    Perhaps the most Jedi like skill in the game. Force lightning comes in four different varieties, with two single attacks and two cone attacks. The knock on lightning is that its slow, so a Jedi with master saber will do more damage per second than somebody using lightning, and also that most composite armor out there is 65 to 80 percent effective against lightning. The caveat to that is, however, that lightning isn't beholden to the 75 percent pvp reduction, so in a lot of ways its a wash. Lightning can also be very effective against an opponent who is knocked down, with some reports of it doing as high as 1,200 damage. It also also considered a great finishing skill both against Jedi and players. get a guy close to dying, knock him down and blast him with lightning - a case where the delay doesn't matter as much.

Subjugate:    Interesting branch here because of the animal skills here. Animal calm allows you to calm an animal and get it to no longer attack you, while animal attack lets you turn an animal on somebody else or its master. I know one Jedi who credits these skills to him finishing the knight trials. he was in small guild with a little bit of support, and these skills let him kill several nasty creatures. Mind blast is pretty commonly considered broken and a waste of points, which is part of the reason powers is frowned upon (along with an entirely useless fourth branch). For a dabbler this branch probably isn't worth the points. Only way I see somebody getting this branch is if they're going master powers for the specials (see a bit later).

Diminsh:    At the beginning of the post patch Jedi days, and during TC testing, force weaken 2 was considered the must have skill. slowly more and more folks decided against getting this in favor of FOTM templates out there because they were more effective on the whole. With that said, both Force Weakens are great skills that suck away a portion of each of a person's HAM bars. So while it doesn't do damage in the traditional sense, it does lower their HAM. Some think this isn't a big deal in the buffing age, but I still think this skill has a place if used smartly. How many times have you come 300 points from killing somebody? well with good timing this can help. Force intimidate is also a great skill that I think will become more desireable when/if the devs nerf intimidate and let Jedi not use it. The first one is just as effective as brawler intimidate, IMO, with intimidate 2 being an area attack and a great support skill to have. Not to mention it has quite possibly the greatest Combat Log entry in the game ... "You use the force to invade So-and-So's mind and intimidate them!" Classic!.

Psychokenisis:    By almost every account this branch sucks. No two ways about it. Force Knockdown doesn't knock down players. Force throw sends debris at them that does very little damage. Just a waste of points if you're not going for Master Powers.

Master: Force Knockdown 3? Blah! Jedi Mind Trick? Honestly I don't even know what that does. If you're getting this box you're doing so for the force choke. anybody who's been fighting nightsisters knows how nasty this move is, with is possibly being the best non-saber special you have available to you. Force Choke is basically a ticking damage special against a player's HAM bar that just reeks havoc with them. Effective for pretty much any kind of combat and a favorite of those who have it. But the question is ... is one great powers branch, one good powers branch, one pretty crappy powers branch and one completely useless powers branch worth the price to get this skill with other options out there? Those who decide is are rewarded by the skill, but it begs the question "is this the best use of my limited Jedi skill points?"


Enhance

Overall a great tree. A lot of Jedi abandoned it after they changed the ability to use FR2 and FR3 with offensive moves effectively, but it still has a nice mix of offensive and defensive skills, with some I'd deem essential.

Celerity:    Two very good skills categories available here. For new Jedi, I maintain that Force Run 1 is a must have, especially if you're already on the terminals. If that means grinding the two Celerity boxes only to give them up down the road because they don't match your template - so be it. But my guess is for most Jedi out there you'll save more than the 600k xp cost by having force run 1. Force Run 1 is basically the same speed as a scouts burst run and also has some terrain negotiation built in. For lower level Jedi, this skill is essential for getting away from bounty hunters (or animals that are about to kill you - which happens more than you might think). The key difference is force run 1 lasts longer, so a BH behind you will fall behind before you're done, usually after about 1 km of running. Also, as long as you have force available, you can keep hitting force run 1, unlike burst run which tired out the BH. For higher Jedi its more of an offensive skill, allowing you to fly over hills and bumpy terrain, and to catch up on kiting ranged players while still doing the same amount of damage you would otherwise. FR2 at this point is strictly just for quicker travel or as an escape mechanism. At about the speed or a Speeder, you can really take off and a BH on foot, or other enemy, doesn't have much chance of catching up. The force speed skills are also nice. While you can barely see the difference when using force speed 1, force speed 2 is very noticeable. Basically this lowers the amount of idle time between Jedi skills, increasing your damage per second. Great tool for a Powers Jedi, since many of the longer idle times for Jedi are in that tree.

Protection:    The key in this tree is the force armor. Many Jedi out there live and die by their force armor - pretty much literally. basically armor creates a protective force shield around you and lessens any damage coming through it. But the catch here is that you lose force every time you absorb some damage. The result is a great tool for shorter fights, but as a fight carries on you're bleeding away your precious force. And as any Jedi will tell you - once that force bar is done you're going to have serious issues. Force Armor 1 absorbs 25 percent of damage while Armor 2 does 45 percent. The force feedback skills act as a counter to powers Jedi, basically reflecting back any force attacks on the attacker. So if a Jedi shoots you with lightning, you'll redirect that lightning back at your opponent (think of Yoda during Episode II).

Resistance:    Pretty simple concept for this branch. Anytime another player tries to put a bleed, poison, disease or other state on you, you have a greater chance of resisting it. And should the state stick, a portion of its effectiveness is taken away. Good skills to have for pretty much all phases of Jedi combat (pvp, pve and jvj). The knock against this branch, however, is that its redundant with the Heal xxx4 branch. While they do different things, the end result is different. And most Jedi would rather take off a state should it be applied than have resists to it. Your decision here will probably go along with whether you decide to go master enhance or not. if so you might save the points from the heal branch, instead of spending 40 points on two branches that do essentially the same thing.

Synergy:    Two words: Force Channel. In this day and age of buffs, force channel is an incredible tool. It allows you to take 200 to 300 off your HAM bar and apply it to your force bar, with your HAM slowly regenerating over time. Used smartly this skill can allow you to almost constantly grind without long breaks in the action, and also is a key in allowing Jedi to abandon their robes and +10 regen in favor of BE melee enhanced clothing. on the flip side, however, many Jedi have been killed by using this skill unwisely, lowering their HAM too much and gotten killed in the process. The other skills are nice as well. Transfer Force lets you give some of your force to another Jedi. Drain Force is a jvj skill that takes away 100 force points from your opponent - if timed right this is a great skill in a prolonged fight with a Jedi, allowing you to take some of his force away perhaps unexpectedly and have him run out of force quicker than he had anticipated. the end game is either him being gimped by no force or him force channeling and lowering his HAM. Force meditate also allows you to quickly regenerate your force at a rate of three times your current ability. Unlike Force Channel that can be used any time, however, meditate can only be done when you're at peace.

Master:    Honestly the desirability of FR3 has lessened since a nerf a few months back. But it is still the ultimate escape hatch, allowing you to run incredibly fast and pretty much outpace anything that might be following you. Regain consciousness is also a great skill, allowing you to resurrect yourself from the dead. There is also no time limit on using this skill, unlike a doctor rez which needs to take place approximately 5 minutes from your death for you to avoid your cloner. you can lie there for as long as you want and then rez yourself.


Healing

The desire to heal yourself is obviously very apparent, and a lot of Jedi's power in this game comes from their ability to heal each of their HAM with the click of a button (one of the reasons Mind is the red-headed step child of the HAM is no other profession can heal it on the fly, except with the use of chef products or spice, which have downsides). Take this ability away and Jedi are a lot less powerful, especially against groups.

Rejuvenation:    Pretty self explanatory - this branch allows you to heal yourself. Think Stimpacks for Jedi. In it there are two kinds of heals - HAM specific heals that target one of the three pools, and then one skill that heals all of them at once. The first level skills heal for 500. The second level skills heal for 1500. These are the life blood of Jedi, allowing them to go from on their death bed to right back in the fight in a moments notice. One suggestion - use each of these in a macro that clears the combat queue. So when you hit the hotkey its the next thing that happens.

Restoration:    These skills heal your wounds and battle fatigue in varying degrees. Depending on how your guild is and your hunting patterns this is a good skill to have for some, but not necessary for others. Basically - what kind of access do you have to dancers and doctors, and in what kind of locations. If you're on the terms the last thing you want to do is sit in Coronet in the medical center or cantina getting healed. But if you do have dancers and docs in private areas that you can go to, this skill might be one to not go after. Another point, however, is as a Jedi you're going to take a beating. With no armor you generate a TON of wounds and as a result, battle fatigue. it isn't uncommon after just one buff session to have more than 200 battle fatigue and substantial wounds to each of your HAM.

Assist:    For the nice Jedi out there who like to help others :-) This is an interesting branch because unlike most it deals entirely with helping out other Jedi or players, and is a great support branch to have for those Jedi who are going to be hunting or pvping entirely in groups. Skills here allow you to heal other players wounds, heal other players HAM, heal other players battle fatigue and clear other players states.

Purification:    The sister branch to Enhances Resistance. This branch allows you to clear states that have stuck to you, including poison and disease. In a nicety from the SOE folks, the heals in the first three boxes can be used on either yourself or another player. Much like the rejuvenation branch, you might want to think about making macros here that not only clear the queue so you can clear on the fly, but also that add a /target self for stop bleeding, cure poison and cure disease, since you need to have a target selected to use them. The last box can only be used on yourself, with its counterpart for others in the Assist branch. As was mentioned earlier, you might want to think twice about getting both Heal Purification and Enhance Resistance, since they both have the same goal - keeping states off you.

Master:    The master box has two skills - one that lets you heal everything and remove all states including fire from yourself, and one that lets you do the same for another player. Is it worth it to get here? Honestly depends on your style, how nice you are and your particular circumstance. While these skills are nice, I'm not sure if you grind this whole tree just for them.


Defender

Defender is certainly the least sexy of the Jedi trees. You don't get any new toys to play with. Its hard to show somebody something you've gained from this tree. And all of your progress is going on behind the scenes. But that doesn't mean it should be overlooked.

The biggest underlying advantage to this tree is the increase in Jedi toughness, allowing less and less damage to be inflicted upon you as you go up. For each of the branches the toughness increases 1 for tier one and two boxes, 2 for a tier three and 4 for a tier four.

Melee Defense:    All told getting this branch increases your melee defense +70 (with the novice box included). Combined with force sensitive melee defense you're at +90. Throw in some nice BE melee defense clothing and you're at 102, which is very nice and good to have for pvp against those pesky TKMs and d-stackers.

Ranged Defense:    Same deal here as with melee. Getting this whole branch gives you +55 ranged defense making you harder to hit. Add the +20 from the FS skills and you're at +75. The big question here is - is this worth it? Melee defense is a bit difference from ranged for Jedi since we're more vulnerable  to the melee classes. With one saber tree and the techniques tree, a ranged player is going to be hard pressed to hit you anyway, and if you're a master he might as well not even try. So is it worth spending the points here to go from a guy hitting you once every 5 to 7 times and make it once every 7 to 10?

Force Defense:    This skill makes it harder for other Jedi to use force powers on you (read - Powers Jedi). With the fourth tier box you're at +70 force defense.

Preternatural Defense: This increases your ability to resist states. The difference between this and the Enhance states resist is in this case it isn't a special. its always on, always in the background and can more accurately be depicted as your ability to have states miss you. But if they stick, they're there at full force. The resist branch will absorb some of the state should it stick, which is why its a special and not behind the scenes.

Master:    You're only hotkey addition comes in this box. It allows you to avoid becoming incapacitated for a period of time. if used wisely this is the ultimate turn of the tables move, taking you from almost incapped and then deathblowed to right back in the game. most Master Defenders will use this, let them regen their force, bounce up, heal and then commence with the asskicking. There are also some very nice skill additions here: +25 melee defense and force defense, +20 ranged defense (making you pretty much unhittable), and a +8 Jedi toughness. Against players you're just nasty at this level and as long as you're not dumb, dang near invincible. Because of your toughness, even if folks are hitting you (which they're not doing a lot) its barely causing a scratch. But the question as always - is it worth spending 20 points on ranged defense that you really can do without? Powers Jedi are in the minority in this game so do you need 20 points on force defense? better resist defense IMO can be found in two other threes. Tough choices.


Conclusion

     Well there you go. A pretty high level look at each branch, the skills there and some of the reasoning for or against getting them. Like I said the answers here are different for every player out there. Some enjoy being a support-role Jedi and healing others wounds and HAM in between kicking ass with their saber. Some folks like the idea of a more defensive Jedi over a more offensive one. Some want love the idea of shooting a kiting ranged BH with a bolt of lightning. And others like to play the game as a loner sort who is almost completely self-sufficiency (if only we could buff ourselves). The answers to the question of "how should I spend my points" are different for everybody, and hopefully the info above arms you with the information you need to make the best decision for yourself.

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Mnemon Kain - Corbantis Jedi