SWTOR Odessen Proving Grounds Warzone PvP Guide

Odessen Proving Grounds is a player-vs-player Warzone in Star Wars The Old Republic. In this guide we’ll be going over how to gain points in this type of PvP map, how the map works, and what the powerups do.

Video

This is a very old video – one of my first ones! It’s not entirely correct and is very different than this more comprehensive written guide, but may help you “see” the match. – Swtorista

Watch Video

Map

The Odessan warzone map is the most complicated of the objective maps, as the objective locations change often throughout the match, and there are many different passages, grapple points and walkways you can use to get around.

On the map, you will see different symbols. These represent potential objective points – Hangar (west), Defense Cannon (north), Tech Lab (east), Artifact Chamber (south), and Cantina (center). The actual symbols don’t matter – you just need to know that these are potential objective points.

Objectives

In the Odessan Proving Grounds player versus player match type, your goals are to capture as many of the objectives as possible when they are active.

You can see which objectives are active on the scoreboard – objectives that are faded out are not active, objectives that are flashing white are available to be captured and are not captured yet, and objectives in yellow or purple are currently captured by a team. Your team’s color is clearly indicated by the words “Your Team” on the left of the scoreboard.

The objectives on the scoreboard match up with where they are located in the map – north, south, east, west and center. At the beginning of the match, there’s no objectives available, but soon afterwards 2 or 3 will become available. You can see which control points are active by looking at the scoreboard, and the active ones will be glowing white, and the inactive ones faded out.

Above: Turret in the north, Ship in the west, and Artifact in the south are active as they are lit up in white on the scoreboard.

Capturing an Objective

To capture an active objective, you need to stand within its glowing box shape in the ground for 4 seconds without any enemies in the square with you – you can move and attack within the square, but you can’t be pushed out, walk out, or be in stealth.

The glowing box will be white if no one has captured it yet, the opposite team’s color if they have it, and your team’s color if your team has it.

You can also re-capture an enemy’s control point, by killing them, pushing them out, or pulling them out, then standing in their control point for 4 seconds without them in it.

When an objective becomes active, it has a 1 minute and 30 second timer attached it it – after that amount of time, it will disappear, and no teams can gain any more points from it. You can see how much time is left an on active objective’s timer on the scoreboard – the outer ring of an objective represents the timer.

Above: The timer for Ship and Artifact are ticking down in the bottom and left of the scoreboard – they only have 3/4 of their time left.

After that timer runs out, all of the control points will reset, and either 2 or 3 new control points will become active. These could be the same ones again, or totally different – you just have to watch the scoreboard to see which ones light up in white as which become active are random.

Defending an Objective

Once an objective point has been captured, it is very important that your team defends it. It is harder to capture an objective than it is to protect one you already have.

To defend an objective, at least one of your team mates must stay within the colored square until the timer for that objective runs out. Enemies will try and push, pull or lure you out, so its useful to have multiple team mates in a square you have captured if there’s an active battle going on. You can not defend an objective if you are stealthed, so do not stealth out while defending. If the enemy successfully removes you from your captured square for 4 seconds, you will lose the objective, and if they have a team-mate in there, they will gain the objective.

There is no visual indication on the character’s body that an enemy is trying to steal your objective unlike the other matches… if there’s an enemy nearby, they’re probably trying to steal it by pulling you out or killing you!

The other part of defending an objective is simply killing enemy team members who are trying to capture it – they can’t capture it, or push you out, if they’re dead.

All of the objectives are in different rooms, and you can’t see more than one at once, so it can be hard to see which objectives need help being defended. Because the rounds are so fast, players don’t tend to call out for help in chat in this map compared to every other objective map, but if you see a call out, try to get there and help. One way to see if an objective is being contested is it will flash purple and yellow on the scoreboard. Another way is if you are with your team mates at an objective that is not being attacked… there is a good chance a different objective it under attack so head over there.

Guarding an Objective

During a match, at least one player should always stay behind to guard a captured objective point. This player is often someone who is familiar with how to guard an objective, and keep it safe long enough for reinforcements to arrive. There are lots of different tips and tricks to guarding the objective square, but they all depend on what class you are playing.

Unlike other objective matches, you can not be stealthed while guarding an Odessan warzone objective, so don’t stealth out. You also can’t leave the glowing square, or you will lose the capture point, if none of your team mates are standing in it.

The hardest part of guarding an objective is dealing with enemies in stealth who are attacking – an unprepared player can get double stunned with no way to stop the enemy from capturing after they unstealth if they aren’t familiar with their class and their abilities.

If you do wind up defending an objective alone and aren’t ready yet, you can ask in chat if anyone else can guard the objective because you are new, and another player will likely come take your place, allowing you to run off. Make sure to say which point you are at.

One of the most important parts of guarding the objective is to call out in chat if you see any enemies running towards it, or if you get get stunned by a stealther, or get any hint that there is an enemy nearby. That way, your team knows to come back you up. All you can do is try and hold the objective long enough for your team mates to hopefully show up!

In Odessan, when guarding, you especially want to put your back to a “wall” if you can – so you don’t get pushed out of the square. Enemy players running in will absolutely try and push, pull, or drag you out in addition to trying to kill you!

Getting Around

Odessan’s layout is very confusing and there are many different ways to get to each room.

You can easily run along the ground floor to get to each of the rooms, but you can move even faster if you know where the catwalks go and how to get up to them.

Grapple Points & Catwalk

To get up to the catwalks, you can either go up the ramps in the north, or you can use either of the two grapple points in the south.

The Grapple points to go up in the south are small glowing blue boxes up high, which will let you jump up to the catwalks. These two grapple points are also where the southern battle mods spawn.

In the center of the map, there is also two horizontal grapples you can use to jump across the center of the cantina – you can only do this if you’re already up high, you can’t jump up from the floor of the cantina.

Outside

There’s also a whole area outside to the north. There’s lot of walkways and platforms to climb along. Outside on the bigger platforms near the doors leading inside are where the northern -battle mods spawn.

Respawn

When you die, you will randomly respawn at one of four locations around the map, which makes learning this map very confusing!

Your team will usually respawn with you in the same spot until the round resets, and then a new random location will be chosen.

Battle Mods

The battle mods hidden around the map are what makes the Odessan match type even more confusing.

There are battle mods hidden around four locations of the map, and respawn shortly after the next wave of objectives. When you find one, it will be rotating between different types and colors. Each color represents a different battle mod type, and you can technically time the battle modes when you go to pick them up – you pick them up by walking through them.

Each color of battle mod gives you a different special power related to capturing or defending objectives.

Battle mods do not have a timer – you can hold on to it until a useful opportunity presents itself, or until you die.

 Blue Battle Mod  – Slice: Multiply

Use while inside an active control point to multiply the score gained at the location for the remaining duration of the round. Double points. 3 second uninterrupted cast.

If you have this blue battle mod, go find a control point your team has that still has lots of time on its timer, and use it while inside the glowing square. Do not use it on an enemy’s control point or you’ll be helping them.

 Orange/Yellow Battle Mod – Slice: Speed Up

Use while inside an active control point to increase the rate at which score is granted from that location. This does not increase the total score of the control point, only the speed at which it is given. – 3 second uninterrupted cast. (it goes twice as fast)

You can see when when this battle mod is currently active on a control point on the scoreboard – it looks like an icon of three little orange fast-forward arrows.

 Red Battle Mod – Slice: Deactivate

Use while inside an active control point to deactivate it for the remaining duration of the round. 3 second uninterrupted cast.

If you have this red battle mod, go find an control point that still has lots of time on its timer, and try to use it while inside the glowing square. Do not use it on your own team’s control point or they will hate you forever.

 Green Battle Mod – Slice: Activate

Use while inside an inactive control point to activate it for the remaining duration of the round. – 3 second uninterrupted cast.

If you have this green battle mod, go find a control point that is not currently active (has no glowing square at all) and use it to activate the point, and then you can sit there to capture it and get its points.

 Use Battle Mod

To actually use your battle mod, go to the appropriate control point (enemy’s control point for red, your team’s control point for blue and orange, and an un-activated control point for green), be fully inside of the glowing square, then click the left-side temporary ability that shows up in the center of the screen. You’ll need to be able to cast it for 3 seconds without being stopped by the enemy.

Pass Battle Mod

You can pass the battle mod to another team member by using the “Handoff battle mod” button on the right of the temporary ability bar. (Select another player up to 10 m away and it will transfer them the battle mod.)

When you kill someone with a battle mod, you get it when they die. If you are already holding one, theirs will replace your previous one.

Don’t confuse the battle mods with the speed boosts (green) or the power boosts (red) or health packs (aqua). These kind of look similar and are more common on the map, but are just temporary boosts for your character.

Points

You can see the points for the match on the scoreboard in the top right. One team is yellow, and one team is purple, and you can easily see which color your team is with the “Your Team” and “Enemy” labels on the scoreboard. Whichever team has the most points when the timer runs out wins!

You gain points by capturing a control point and keeping it, and the longer you can keep it before its timer runs out, the more points you get. Points are scored per control point, so if you capture more control points, you’ll get more points. Battle mods can allow you to gain double points, or gain points faster from the control point they are used on. Killing enemies is not worth any points, but you can stop your enemy from gaining points by stopping them from capturing, or by prematurely ending their control of their capture point after they’ve gotten it.

Medals

You can learn more about earning medals in the Odessen Warzone in my Medals guide!

PvP Medals List

Buffs

In addition to the Battle Mods, which are unique to Odessen Warzone, there are also three types of warzone buffs hidden around the map you can take advantage of.

Health (aqua colored, above) – Walk over it to heal 75% of your health.

Damage Boost (red, above) – 15% bonus to damage and healing, while fighting other players for 25 seconds.

Speed Boost (green, above) – Run at 200% speed for 15 seconds.

More Info

• The full match is about 12 minutes 45 seconds. So you’ll have about eight and a half rounds.
• If you capture a control point right away, without any battle mods, it is worth about 80 points. You can watch the points tick by as you’ve captured it on the scoreboard.
• If you stealth out while guarding an objective, you won’t lose it right away, but you will lose it if you stay in stealth for more than 4 seconds.
• If you manage to get in a square, and are stunned, it is still counted as capturing/captured while you are stunned.
• You can not “steal” an enemy’s points. If they have a capture point, and you steal it from them, all that happens is that they stop earning points from it and your team starts gaining points. You do not get the points they earned earlier in the round. You also won’t lose any points you had already earned if the enemy steals your control point – all points already earned are permanent.
• Unlike some other warzones, you can still “win” even very late in the game – you just need to prevent the enemy from getting any more capture points. If you managed to quickly capture all three capture points during a round, your team would get 200+ points and your enemy would get none.
• The proper names for the turrets are:
  • Hangar: “Ship/Hangar/ West/Left”
  • Defense Cannon: “Cannon/Turret/North/Top”
  • Tech Lab: “Science/Tech/ East/Right”
  • Artifact Chamber: “Artifact/Pillar/South/Bottom”
  • Cantina: “Cantina/Credit/ Center/Mid”
  • There’s a huge variety of names for the different capture points, but most people don’t tend to call out in this warzone anyway.
• The Odessan map is a capture-the-objective type of match, but works very differently than all the other capture-the-ojective types of matches with its randomized objectives and lack of needing to click/interrupt to capture an objective.
• Want to learn more about tactics for Odessen? Here’s some guides by other players:
  • PvP Odessen Proving Grounds Map Guide by Vulkk on vulkk.com
  • Odessen Proving Grounds Warzone Guide by Xam Xam on mmobits.com
  • Blog: Proving Ground Tactics by Shintar on Going Commando Blog

Warzone Guides

Want to learn about the other warzone maps? Take a look at these guides!

• SWTOR Yavin Ruins Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Voidstar Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Ancient Hypergate Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Huttball Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Novare Coast Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Odessen Proving Grounds Warzone PvP Guide
• SWTOR Alderaan Civil War Warzone PvP Guide