Fastest Way to Gear Up at Level 80 in SWTOR

Getting the very best gear in Star Wars: The Old Republic is no easy fea! This guide covers all the steps and options you have for gearing up quickly in SWTOR. Update for 7.8.1 and Rakata 344 gear.

How does gear work?

If you’d prefer to learn how gearing works in my a general way, and what all the different currencies, tiers and types are, visit the Gearing Up at Level 80 in SWTOR Guide. This guide below will go over how to gear efficiently and quickly, but may skip over some of the basic concepts.

SWTOR Level 80 Gearing Guide

Solo

If you are a pure solo player, and only like to play alone, you can still get the best gear in the game, it will just take longer! I’ve got a whole different guide called Fastest Level 80 Solo Gearing in SWTOR that will lead you step-by-step on how to gear up efficiently as a solo players, and what options you have!

Fastest Level 80 Solo Gearing in SWTOR

Goals

Your goal will be to get an almost full set of item-rating 340 gear, which once you are done will be a mix of blues and purples. To do this is quite easy, because you will only need to earn ONE item level 340 blue piece, and ONE item-rating 340 purple piece to turn into a special quest giver – you do not need to earn a full set which saves you a ton of time! This method is called the Hyde and Zeek method, and is a really great goal for all players who enjoy playing at Level 80. Once you do this, you’ll actually be able to get unlimited copies for credits for your other characters on your server!

If you play really often and enjoy chasing down gear, or are doing the hardest content in the game, your goal will be to earn a full set of item-rating 344 Purple Rakata gear. Unlike the Hyde and Zeek method, you will need to manually earn and upgrade each Rakata purple-bordered piece in your equipment up to 344, which can be a long process, but is accessible even to casual players over time. Players looking for full Rakata gear often do the Hyde and Zeek method first, so that they have some decent gear for all their characters available as they chase down their longer-term Rakata set.

1. Get a Basic Set of Level 80 Gear

Legendary Implants Quest

As soon as you hit level 80, the very first thing you should do is head to the Supplies section of the Fleet and speak to the big Blue Twi’lek quest giver twice, which will give you the Technological Advancements quest. This will eventually allow you to buy some of the best Implants for your character in the game. Right now though, we’re just picking up the quest. Legendary Implants Guide. Your Legendary Implants are part of a different gearing path altogether, which I don’t cover directly in this guide. Ideally you’d want to simultaneously buy and upgrade your Legendary Implants overtime using the Tech Fragments currency, while equipping the green implants mentioned in this guide to help you more easily get your other pieces of gear.

Starter Set

Your next step is to complete a Conquest while at Level 80. Conquest is a weekly set of rotating objectives, and your goal is to earn 100,000 points within the week. You can see the Conquest panel by opening your Missions windows and pressing the Conquest tab. Completing a Conquest at level 80 will give you enough endgame currency to buy your first basic level 80 gear set.  Conquest Guide

Once you’ve completed a single conquest, Go to the Supplies section of the Fleet and find the Conquest Gear Vendor.

Buy one of each armor piece, a main hand, and an offhand, two yellow implants, a yellow earpiece, and two different red relics. This will give you a full set of basic “324 green” gear starter set.

2. Play

Once you have a basic set of level 80 gear, it’s time to start earning as much end-game currency as you can, of any type, from almost any type of level 80 content – but group content tends to reward more currency than solo content. Some great options include:

• Operations, especially fast story mode ones like Karagga’s Palace
• Flashpoints, especially through the Groupfinder
• PvP, if you work on completing the weekly
• Heroics, Dailies, Dynamic Encounters if you feel like doing solo content
• Conquest completed across multiple characters
• Easy Master Mode Operation bosses, like Nefra and Dash

Equip any gear you happen to pick up that is an upgrade with a green up arrow in your inventory, but save the currencies you get! 

3. Acquire 1 purple piece & 1 blue piece

Your goal is to obtain a single item that is item-rating 340 with a blue border and a single item that is item-rating 340 with a purple.

This will allow you to get an almost full set of 340 blue/purple gear for all your characters on your server which is a fantastic set and above and beyond what you’d need for almost any type of content, including harder content. This is called the Hyde and Zeek method, and you’ll want to shoot for this gear even if you later plan on getting the best gear in the game.

While playing, you will want to get and keep 1 blue piece and 1 purple piece of any kind, ideally an earpiece, implant or relic – though we tend to call this the ‘earpiece trick’. So if either of these drop while playing, hold on to one!

Blue items drop automatically from Master Mode Flashpoints, or can be a lucky drop from Veteran Mode Flashpoints.

Purple items drop automatically from Master Mode Operations, or can be a lucky drop from Master Mode Flashpoints.

Both purple and blue items can also be bought directly from the vendors in the Supplies section of the fleet – so if you don’t get lucky in your first few Flashpoints or Operations, don’t worry, you can just go buy them with currency you earned! (See more about currencies below.)

Blue Piece Flashpoint Vendors

Purple Piece Operation Vendor

Any other pieces that are not your specific blue piece, specific purple piece, or upgrades to your existing gear, should be deconstructed. You may also want to hold on to any purple pieces of gear you get, saving them for later. Deconstructing gear gives you more currency.

4. Upgrade your blue piece and ear piece

Once you have a blue piece and/or a purple piece, your goal is to start upgrading them to item-rating 340. You’ll be doing this by using currency you earn from Flashpoints, Operations, Conquest, or any other type of content you are doing at level 80. For Supreme Decurion gear, go to the Flashpoint vendor, for Columi and Rakata gear, go to the Operation vendor.

Flashpoint Upgrade Vendor

Operation Upgrade Vendor

5. Earn & Exchange currencies

You will mainly need these currencies:

FP-1 Stabilizers to upgrade your blue piece

OP-1 Catalysts to upgrade your purple piece

Tech Fragments to separately upgrade your legendary implants

Warzone Currency  and Conquest Commendations can mostly be exchanged for those other currencies you need

Here are the ways to exchange currency for other currencies in the Supplies section of the fleet:

You have...	For	You want...	Exchange
400	for	100	Exchange 400 Conquest Commendations for 100 FP-1 Stabilizers at the Conquest Gear Vendor
2,000	for	175	Exchange 2,000 Conquest Commendations for 175 OP-1 Catalysts at the Conquest Gear Vendor
500	for	175	Exchange 500 FP-1 Stabilizers for 175 OP-1 Catalysts at the Flashpoint Gear Vendor
200	for	200	Exchange 200 WZ-1 Accelerants for 200 Tech Fragments at the PvP Gear Vendor in the Combat section of the Fleet
200	for	200	Exchange 200 Conquest Commendations for 200 Tech Fragments at the Conquest Gear Vendor
200	for	200	Exchange 200 FP-1 Stabilizers for 200 Tech Fragments at the Flashpoint Gear Vendor
200	for	200	Exchange 200 OP-1 Catalysts for 200 Tech Fragments at the Operations Gear Vendor

Conquest Gear Vendor Exchange

Flashpoint Gear Vendor Exchange

Operation Gear Vendor Exchange

6. Unlock Hyde & Zeek

Once you have your blue and/or purple 340 piece, you can unlock Hyde & Zeek and complete their quest to unlock some awesome 340 gear!

Speak to Hyde & Zeek in the Supplies section of the Fleet, pick up the blue 340 Prototype quest, then deconstruct your precious blue 340 piece once you’ve confirmed you are on the right quest. After you speak to Hyde & Zeek again, you’ll be able to turn in the quest and a vendor will become available.

You’ll then over time do the same for your purple piece, for the 340 Artifact quest, and deconstruct your precious purple 340 piece once you’ve confirmed you are on the right quest.

8. Create Your Armor Set

After you have Hyde and Zeek unlocked you can start making your blue and/or purple modded set! If you are a Damage player, you can use the Hyde and Zeek guide to learn what pieces to buy and how to put together a set.

9. Get Full Rakata Gear

Once you’ve gotten both 340 blue and purple mods unlocked from Hyde and Zeek, you’ve accomplished a lot and will have some of the best gear in the game. Now it’s time to get the very best.

If you want to keep going, simply keep playing more content and acquiring currencies! This will allow you to buy and upgrade a full set of Rakata gear from the Operations vendor, and augmenting that with any lucky Rakata drops you get from Master Mode Flashpoints or Veteran Mode Operations. Use currencies you earn from any type of content and exchange them to OP-1 Catalysts to upgrade and buy Rakata gear until you have full 344 Rakata gear!

Most players start by working on their earpieces and relics, since you can’t get those from Hyde & Zeek. You can either buy them directly from the Operations vendor, and work on upgrading it on the Operations Upgrade vendor, or you can hope you get a lucky drop from Master Mode Flashpoints or Veteran Mode Operations. When you get drops, they are based off of your currently equipped item’s item-rating, so make sure you are equipping any higher item-rating items you find along the way. See the Recommend Gear Chart for relics recommendations, and what stats you are shooting for with your earpiece.

Rakata Gear Vendor

Rakata Upgrade Vendor

Good luck! Rakata 344 is a long road, but can be fun to chase down, especially since it can be shared between your characters.