Swtor PvP Gear Guide
Of course you already know that there is PvP gear in Swtor, but the one thing you probably don't know is how to get it, where to get it, what levels it is available and how much it costs. That's what this guide is for! First things first, some Warzone basics. The first level you are able to enter Warzones is level 10 and you can queue for them by clicking your factions symbol on the minimap. Participating in Warzones will reward you with Experience, Credits, Valor Points and Warzone Commendations. To learn more about each of these things click on their appropriate links.
The only one out of all those rewards that I will be going over in this guide is the Warzone Commendations, as they are the PvP currency in Swtor. Each Warzone, win or lose will reward you with Warzone Commendations. Of course if you win you will get more commendations than if you lost, but hey, that's pretty much common sense! Now, the Warzone Commendations can be used to purchase many different PvP rewards but the main one that I will be going over here is the gear, of course.
Now there are three different sets of PvP gear that you can buy which all come at different levels, the first being level 20 followed by level 40 and then the final set is at level 50. You can buy the entire level 20 and 40 set with about 1,200 Warzone Commendations (you can only have 2000 at a time but I will explain a bit how to get around this if you want to save up even more). In addition to these PvP sets there is an additional way for you to get some gear through PvP, more information about that is below. First let's take a look at the Warzone Commendations.
How Long Will It Take For Me To Gear Up Through PvP?
Warzone Commendations
For every Warzone that you participate in you will be rewarded Warzone Commendations. Warzone Commendations can be turned in for gear as well as other consumable items that you can use during PvP. Depending on your performance during each Warzone will determine how many commendations you are going to receive. Players are only able to hold 2000 Warzone Commendations at once.
Black Market Premium PvP Box - Requires level 44 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Gilded Premium PvP Box - Requires level 30 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Heal Consumable - A PvP only medpac. It heals for a "great deal" and can only be used in PvP combat.
Jeweled Premium PvP Box - Requires level 40 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Mercenary Commendation - Mercenary Commendations are like the World PvP Warzone Commendations.
Ornate Premium PvP Box - Requires level 36 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Overcharge Consumable - A PvP only consumable that increases your Expertise bonus by 15% for 25 seconds
Korrealis Sovereign - It's a mount! (No longer obtainable past patch 1.2)
Longspur Recon - It's a mount too!
Rudimentary Premium PvP Box - Requires level 10 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Standard Premium PvP Case - Requires level 20 to open and contains green gear for players around that level as well as two types of stims that can be used in PvP.
Warzone Commendation - Can trade Mercenary Commendations for Warzone Commendations. (30 Mercenary for 10 Warzone)
How Does Max Level PvP Gear Work In Swtor?
Probably the most common question amongst people just hitting level 50. In SWTOR max level pvp gear is bought in your factions fleet station in the Combat Training section. There is a full set of Recruits PvP Gear which can be purchased from the Recruit PvP Gear vendor with credits and is pretty much only there to give you some Expertise before you get started in the Warzones. The Recruit PvP Gear is pretty crappy and is, as aforementioned, just a starter pvp set. Grab this if you're just hitting 50 so you don't get totally run over in Warzones.
The second set of gear above Recruits is Battlemaster. All of the Battlemaster PvP gear is purchased from the Battlemaster PvP Gear Vendor for Warzone Commendations. The "off-pieces" do not require any valor rank at all so they can be purchased and used once you have enough Warzone Commendations. The main set pieces for Battlemaster are crafted through whatever main armor profession is for your class or purchased with a lot of Warzone Commendations. So if you're a Jedi it will be Synthweaving and if you're a non-jedi it will be Armormech if you are looking to make the gear.
The Battlemaster gear is quite expensive if you are going to be buying it with just Warzone Commendations but as you could probably guess highly worth it. The only gear above Battlemaster is War Hero PvP Gear. War Hero PvP Gear is acquired by doing Rated Warzones and is the best PvP gear a player can get in the game. I have dedicated a whole section to this type of PvP gear below.
Note: The best Battlemaster gear is crafted as when a crafted piece of Battlemaster gear crits it will have an Augment slot. This will allow you to further increase the strength of your already powerful gear. More information on Battlemaster gear and Augments will be added below.
Crafted PvP Gear
With Patch 1.2 players are now able to craft Battlemaster and War Hero PvP gear. When you craft it there will be no Mods, Armorings or anything like that in it but you will be able to add them later as you see fit. At first glance the crafted PvP gear looks exactly the same as the gear you would be able to buy from the vendor for Warzone Commendations. Worse in fact considering you'd have to buy the other gear anyway for the mods/armoring etc etc. However if you inspect it closely you will notice it isn't worse at all to craft it. In fact it is much, much better.
If you at all familiar with crafting items you will know about critting a crafted item which adds an Augment slot into the outcome. This Augment slot isn't available to you from just buying the PvP gear which means the only way you will be able to get it is by critting a crafted piece of PvP gear. Are you catching on now? Of course the PvP gear you get from the vendor is still great and extremely powerful but if you really want to maximize your character's stats getting a piece of gear with an Augment slot in it will be a must.
Only the set pieces of PvP Gear can be crafted so you won't have to worry about going out of your way to get every single piece ever crafted, just 5. If you don't have the required crew skill to craft them yourself don't worry as they can be purchased from the Auction House. However, depending on your server buying these items could be extremely expensive.