How to Earn Light Side Points in SWTOR

Earning Light Side points can be a bit difficult in Star Wars: The Old Republic – after a recent update to the game, the only way to get alignment points is to run missions that have a Light or Dark side decisions in them, or by running Diplomacy missions. In this video we’ll be going over the most efficient ways to work towards Light Side V.

Updated for 2022!

Light Side Points

There’s a couple reasons you might want to earn Light side points.

  • If you reach Light V on any of your characters on your server, you will unlock the ability to create Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitors who can use the light-side combat fighting styles like the Guardian or Sage, or add one of the Light side styles to an existing Sith character if you are subscribed.
  • Getting Light V on any character will also get you an achievement, a title, and a very useful defensive ability you can use on all your characters on your server called Unity.
  • Lastly, you might just be doing it for story reasons – for example the Sith Inquisitor story has a small unique ending depending on their alignment.

Light Side Tiers / Levels

You can see how many Light Side points you have on your character sheet by pressing C for character, then hovering over the Light and Dark alignment meter. Your character is considered Light side if they have reached at least Light Side Tier I, which is 1,000 or more Light side points. The maximum you can reach is Light Side Tier V, which is 10,000 Light side points.

Rank Points
Tier I 1,000
Tier II 2,000
Tier III 4,000
Tier IV 6,750
Tier V 10,000

Diplomacy

The most efficient way to earn Light side points is by running Diplomacy crew skill missions. You can pick up the Diplomacy crew skill as early as around level 10 – you just need to complete your first planet, and go to the Strongholds & Crew Skills section of the Republic or Imperial Fleet, and find the Diplomacy crew skills trainer. Once you’ve picked up Diplomacy, you can press B on your keyboard to open the crafting menu, choose Diplomacy from there and you can start sending your companions out to gather Diplomacy crafting materials.

Diplomacy is a bit different than other crew skill missions as it can grant Light or Dark points – so make sure not to choose missions that will award you Dark side points if you’re trying to get Light side points. Some missions are also considered neutral and don’t give Light or Dark points. The higher level the mission is, the more Light side points you will get, but the longer it will take to run.

If you have level 700 Diplomacy with access to Grade 11 gathering missions, every time you send out a full round of companions out on the highest-rated Light side missions, you will earn roughly 700 Light Side Points per round. The exact amount you will get will vary by mission, but it averages out to about 90 points per mission, and you get double Light side points if your companion crits, or you get a very small handful of points if your mission fails. If you have a level 50 influence companion, the longest mission will take about 13 minutes and the shortest about 6 minutes if you’re chasing after those high-end missions that also give you valuable crafting materials. If you were starting at 0 Light Side Points, you’d only have to run about 15 rounds of high-level missions, which would only take about 3 hours total.

If you want to follow this plan, run the light-sided Grade 10 and 11 missions called Criminal Interest, Tough Love, The Perils of Greed and Justify the Means, and ignore the rest. If you’re still working on levelling up Diplomacy, just run the Light side missions for whatever tiers you have available.

If you wanted to be crazily efficient, there is technically diplomacy missions that offer better points-per-second than the Grade 10 and 11 ones, but you’d have to dig through each grade to find them, and some of them need to be refreshed every 2 minutes or so, so although they offer much better points per second I don’t really recommend it as it seems more of a pain to keep refreshing.

Rishi – A Crew Of Your Own

Apart from Diplomacy, a really easy way to get a small bundle of Light Side points is to run the “A Crew of Your Own” quest on Rishi. You can run this quest once a day once you have completed the Shadow of Revan expansion – fly to Rishi, walk or quick travel to the Blaster’s Path Cantina in the middle of the map, run downstairs to the basement and pick up the quest there. After choosing either the Light or Dark option from the questgiver, all you need to do is wait 5 minutes on the timer in your quest log and then speak to the questgiver again to get your 50 Light side points.

If you travel to a different map, change characters, or log off, the timer will reset. So if there’s other things you want to go do on your character while the timer is running instead of standing there doing nothing, you can, just travel right away and let the timer finish while you’re in your new area without changing areas until the timer completes itself. Then you can go back to the cantina when you are ready!

Ziost – From Ashes

If you have completed the planet of Ziost, there’s another super short daily quest you can run that’s great to combine with the Rishi Quest. This one’s called “From Ashes” and can be picked up from the terminal in the daily area. All you need to do is run around Ziost and find the glowing blue bodies and right-click them.

Not all of them will count, but they’re pretty quick to find, just travel along the path to the north keeping your eyes open for blue bodies. Map

Heroics

There are also a few heroics you can run very quickly to get Light Side points. Some of these can be very quick and easy especially if you have stealth.

FactionPlanetHeroicDark PointsLight Points
EmpireHutta (Agent & Bounty Hunter Only)The Man with the Steel Voice 50 50
EmpireBalmorraComrades in Arms 50 50
EmpireBalmorraSettling Debts 50 50
EmpireNar ShaddaaBotched Interrogation 50 50
EmpireTatooineCall Down the Thunder 100 100
EmpireHothStatic 100 100
RepublicTython (Jedi Consular & Jedi Knight Only)The Chamber of Speech 50 50
RepublicOrd Mantell (Smuggler & Trooper Only)Buying Loyalty NONE 50
RepublicBalmorraColicoid Massacre BROKEN 50

Flashpoints

Any Flashpoint that has a Light side choice in it will grant you Light side points at the end of the Flashpoint once you’ve fully completed it.

The most commonly run Flashpoint for Light side points is The Esseles on Republic side or Black Talon on Imperial side, as they can be run very early on solo and grant 250 Light Side points per run.

If you don’t want to run Esseles or Black Talon over and over, most of the other Flashpoints also offer Light or Dark points, though almost every other Flashpoint only has one Light or Dark choice, making it less efficient to run compared to Esseles or Black Talon.

If you’re fast, skilled, and stealthy, you could also run Red Reaper or Hammer Station for 100 Light side points at a high level on Veteran mode. This might be a great option to run if you’re also working on gearing up for level 80 as they can be quite quick for experienced players.

FlashpointFactionModeChoices
The Esseles RepublicStory Mode Lvl 10+Conversation with Chief Engineer Salen: We're not killing people. +150 Light / Engineers die, the rest live. +150 Dark

Later on, talking to Ambassador Asara in front of the shuttle, must choose the We need to talk, Asara. option first to unlock the second dark option: No of course not. +100 Light or Yes--you're staying here. +100 Dark. If the player instead chose Let's Go! earlier, +100 Light.
The Black Talon ImperialStory Mode Lvl 10+While speaking to the Captain: You're relieved. [Kill him] +100 Dark or This won't be suicide. +100 Light

While speaking to the General at the end of the flashpoint: You're my prisoner. +100 Light or I'll kill you. +100 Dark
Hammer Station BothVeteran Mode Level 15+While slicing a computer you have the option to Sabotage the power conduits +100 Dark or Disable the power conduits +100 Light
Athiss BothVeteran Mode Level 15+At a console: [Destroy the beacon] +100 Dark or [Activate the beacon] +100 Light
Mandalorian Raiders BothVeteran Mode Level 15+At a console: [Take out the engineers] +100 Dark or [Capture the engineers] +100 Light
Cademimu BothVeteran Mode Level 15+At a console: [Target the Imperial/Republic fleet] +100 Dark or [Target an uninhabited moon] +100 Light
Boarding Party ImperialStory Mode Lvl 29+While talking to Captain Yelto and the Imperial Marines: Yes. all our enemies must die. +100 Dark or No. We don't kill for fun. +100 Light
Taral V RepublicStory Mode Lvl 29+In a conversation with Doctor Narem at the end of the Flashpoint: Call back your civilians now. +150 Light or Imperials die. I'm happy. +150 Dark.

If you choose the dark side option to kill the civilians, you unlock an additional option involving the Doctor who wants to stop you: Don't be a fool. Just leave. +100 Light or Idiot. (Kill Doctor Narem) +100 Dark (Not sure if these are actually granted.)
The Foundry ImperialStory Mode Lvl 29+(I don't think the Foundry has any light or dark options.)
Maelstrom Prison RepublicStory Mode Lvl 29+In a conversation with Oteg as a hologram at a terminal: You need to retreat. +100 Light or Fight and die well, Oteg. +100 Dark
Colicoid War Game BothVeteran Mode Level 37+While using a console before the final challenge: [Leave the console] +100 Light or +100 Dark
The Red Reaper BothVeteran Mode Level 15+At a cryogenics console in front of some blue tanks with Sith Purebloods in them: [Terminate life support] +100 Dark and they die, or [Release the Sith] +100 Light and you have to fight them, or [Leave the Console] +100 Light and you don't have to fight them.
Directive 7 BothStory Mode Lvl 45+(No choices that give dark or light points. How you treat the cyborg does not give light or dark points.)
The Battle of Ilum BothStory Mode Lvl 48+In a converation with Talsa-ko after the final fight: Put them down. [Kill Talsa-ko] / Destroy them all. [Kill Talsa-ko] +100 Dark or Take prisoners, Cantarus. / Take them captive. +100 Light or I'll kill you.

There's also an option before the final fight where instead of asking Darth Srevin questions, you choose You'll pay for this! [Attack] +50 Light, but there's no Dark Side equivalent and it cuts the conversation short and goes straight to battle.
The False Emperor BothStory Mode Lvl 50+In a conversation with Arkis Wode, asking to put in a good word for the Schism Collective: Only if you help us first. / Prove your loyalty and live. +100 Light or You deserve this. [Kill him] / I think not. [Kill Arkis Wode] +100 Dark
Kaon Under Siege BothVeteran Mode Level 50+In a conversation with Major Byzal who is turning into a rakghoul: On IMPERIAL side: [Let him suffer] +100 Dark or [End his suffering] +100 Light -- On REPUBLIC side it is flipped: [Let him live] +100 Light or Kill him] +100 Dark
Lost Island BothVeteran Mode Level 50+(No light or dark options that I know of)
Kuat Drive Yards BothVeteran Mode Level 15+(No light or dark options that I know of)
Czerka Corporate Labs BothVeteran Mode Level 15+(No light or dark options that I know of)
Czerka Core Meltdown BothVeteran Mode Level 15+(No light or dark options that I know of)
Assault on Tython BothStory Mode Lvl 53+In a conversation with Lieutenant Bickell about prisoners: Have them questioned. +150 Light or Execute them. +150 Dark
Korriban Incursion BothStory Mode Lvl 53+In a conversation involving some slaves or apprentices: We're rescuing them. / Get them to safety. +100 Light or They should fight with us. / I'll make them fight. +100 Dark
Depths of Manaan BothStory Mode Lvl 53+While talking to Gorima and the wookiee, Jakarro: Go ahead. / Shoot him. / Go ahead and kill him. +100 Dark or Don't, We may need him. / Show mercy. +100 Light
Legacy of the Rakata BothStory Mode Lvl 53+Speaking to Theron and Lana about the Cyborgs: I want them all dead. / Good thinking. +150 Dark or Smart play. I'm impressed. / That's not how I operate. +150 Light
Blood Hunt BothStory Mode Lvl 55+(No light or dark options that I know of)
Battle of Rishi BothStory Mode Lvl 55+At a console: [Set to fire on opposite faction's ships.] +100 Dark or [Set to fire on Revanite ships. +100 Light
Crisis on Umbara BothStory Mode Lvl 70+(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)
Traitor Among the Chiss BothStory Mode Lvl 70+(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)
The Nathema Conspiracy BothStory Mode Lvl 70+(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)
Objective Meridian BothStory Mode Lvl 75+(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)
Spirit of Vengeance BothStory Mode Lvl 75+(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)
Secrets of the Enclave BothStory Mode Lvl 75+(There is potentially some options but I need to figure out if they are in the repeatable solo version.)
Ruins of Nul BothStory Mode Lvl 57+ (???)(No light or dark options that I know of in the repeatable version.)

Story Cutscenes

On top of Flashpoints and Heroics, any other story quest you can find that has a Light side decision in it will grant you Light side points at the end of the mission. This means that you’ve got some great opportunities to earn Light side points while working on your main class story, the planetary stories, or even the expansions. If you want to be extra efficient, just make sure to be running Diplomacy missions while running whatever other type of story you’re working on!

Alignment Toggle?

The alignment toggle no longer exists in the game. In previous expansions, you could choose to directly support the Dark or the Light side with a toggle that was a part of your UI. Once chosen, almost any activity you participated in, from crafting to defeating random enemies, contributed towards your Dark or Light points, even if it didn’t make a lot of sense thematically. The toggle was removed in 7.0, and in return the amount of points you needed to earn to reach Light 5 was reduced from 100,000 points down to only 10,00 points. Now the only ways to get Light side points are by earning them through Diplomacy or from cutscenes that grant them.

Titles

  • The Respectable: Light I (character title)
  • The Upstanding: Light II (character title)
  • The Honorable: Light III alignment (character title)
  • The Benevolent: Light IV (character title)
  • The Pure: Light V alignment (character title)