Combat Styles Guide

Combat Styles are a new way of being able to choose how you fight with your character in combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

What are Combat Styles?

Before the Combat Styles update, you were limited to two Advanced Classes depending on which Class you picked – for example, if you chose the Jedi Knight as your Class, you could only choose to fight as a Guardian or Sentinel as your Advanced Class. Combat Styles changed these restrictions by separating your story from the way you fight in-game. For example, you can now play a Jedi Knight as a Shadow with a double-bladed lightsaber, or even as a Sorcerer, and use Force Lightning, all while playing the Jedi Knight origin story. Force users are restricted to Force-using Combat Styles, and Tech users are restricted to tech-using Combat Styles.

There’s also an additional restriction when it comes to dark-side and light-side Combat Styles for  Jedi and Sith Origin Stories – when creating a character, you won’t be able to pick up dark-side combat style as a Jedi unless you have also unlocked the Dark V unlock through your legacy, and you’ll need the Light V unlock if you want to choose a light-side combat style for your Sith character. Tech users are able to choose from all eight tech Combat Styles right away – for example, you can easily play as a Trooper Sniper from level 1.

You will have all the combat abilities of your chosen Combat Style – for example, if you choose to play the Sith Inquisitor Origin Story but choose the Juggernaut Combat Style, you won’t actually have any Force Lightning when you go into combat, even if you use it in cutscenes in the story, because you’ll be fighting like a Juggernaut.

Creating a Character

When you create a character, you’ll first choose your Faction, then your Origin Story, and then your Combat Style.

When creating a character like a Jedi Knight, a new character would have the ability to choose between four Combat Styles: Guardian, Sentinel, Sage and Shadow, who all fight with Lightsabers and the light-side of the Force, but who each have very different ways of approaching combat.

Your Combat Style choice is a permanent choice, so choose wisely.

   

If you have earned the Dark V achievement on any of your characters on your server, you will also be able to choose from the dark-sided Combat Styles as well, and the Juggernaut, Marauder, Sorcerer or Assassin will be added to the list you can choose from when creating a level 1 Jedi Knight character.

   

If you’re a newer player, and didn’t have Dark V unlocked and didn’t have the option to choose a dark-side Combat Style when you created a character… while you are playing the story, if you make dark-sided decisions and your character has turned towards the dark side by moving their character Alignment bar into the Dark, you will have the option to flip your chosen Combat Style to its dark-sided counterpart, the Juggernaut, Marauder, Sorcerer or Assassin, while remaining a Jedi Knight. This choice to flip happens after you reach Chapter 3 of your Jedi Knight origin story.

If you are an experienced player and have already earned the Dark V achievement on any of your characters on your server, you won’t get this option to flip, since you had the option to choose a dark-side combat style when you were creating your character.

(And here’s an important note for players who had characters that existed before the expansion. If you already have a Jedi Knight created but you haven’t logged into them since the Legacy of the Sith expansion came out, the first time you log into your Jedi Knight, if their alignment is even 1 Dark Side point away from 0, you’ll be given the option to flip your current combat style. This is kind of like a one-time gift from the developers, to give us the option to flip an existing character since the option didn’t exist until the expansion launched.)

All this special info was just for Force Users – Tech Users, like the Scoundrel, are a lot easier, because they do not have any type of alignment restrictions when it comes to dark or light. Tech user characters will be able to pick up a second combat style from any of the eight tech user options.

Second Combat Style

In addition to all that, as a newer player, when you complete Chapter 3 of your Origin Story, subscribers will be able to pick up a second Combat Style. This second Combat Style choice is permanent, but you will be able to swap between your first and second choice while playing.

If you are an experienced player and have already completed Chapter 3 of your Origin Story for any characters on your server, subscribers will be able to choose your second Combat Style immediately after your create your character at level 1, and you won’t have to wait to complete your Origin Story to pick up your second style.

(So that means, if you have existing characters who have finished their class story, you’ll be able to just log in and pick your second combat style for them right away if you are a subscriber.)

SWTOR Second Combat Style Guide

Disciplines

Once you have chosen your Jedi Knight’s Combat Style and finished creating your character, you can then choose your Discipline. Your Discipline is your specialized way of fighting, and each Combat Style has three options to choose from. Your Discipline is not a permanent choice, and you can easily switch between the three discipline options tied to your Combat Style. If you are a subscriber who has a second Combat Style chosen, you’ll have six total Disciplines you can choose from at any given time.

You will be able to easily switch between your saved settings for each of your Disciplines using the new Loadouts feature.

Which Combat Style should I choose?

The choice is yours! There is no “best” Combat Style, instead you want to choose one that seems like it will be the most fun for you to play. All Combat Styles are viable for all types of content in the game.

  • Do you want to play a Force-user, like a Sith or Jedi, or do you want to play a Tech-user?
  • Do you want to use a lightsaber or a blaster weapon?
  • Do you want to play as a tank, healer, or dps?
  • Do you want to be close-range, or long-range?
  • Do you want to be able to stealth?
  • Do you want to

Learn more in the Choose a Class page!