{"id":3298,"date":"2019-07-31T19:29:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T23:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/?p=3298"},"modified":"2020-08-29T16:21:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T20:21:05","slug":"lightning-sorcerer-sith-inquisitor-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/lightning-sorcerer-sith-inquisitor-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning Sorcerer Sith Inquisitor Class Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lightning Sorcerer Guide<\/h2>\n

The Dark Side holds dangerous secrets \u2013 and immense power for those who dare to uncover them. The Sorcerer reaches into the darkest corners of the Force to harness volatile energies that can wreak devastation on their enemies, and the air around a Lightning Sorcerer crackles with dark energy.<\/p>\n

In this guide we\u2019ll be going over how to play a Sith Inquisitor Lightning Sorcerer including when and how each ability should be used, tips and tricks, how to be a great sorc in group content, and some basics about gearing up.<\/p>\n

The Lightning Sorcerer Sith Inquisitor’s role is to electrocute their enemies with a powerful combination of Sith lightning attacks and insidious afflictions. As a DPS, the Lightning Sorc will want to focus on casting their abilities at an incredible speed by chaining their lightning attacks in a way that causes them to cast immediately and by taking advantage of their alacrity-increasing Polarity Shift buff.<\/p>\n

\"\"Your master Lightning sorc for this guide is Sion. Click here<\/a> to view Sion’s version of their Lightning guide. If you have questions, you can contact them on discord – but please make sure to read this guide and their own guide in full first! <\/em>
\n\"\" Discord: Sion#7776\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>Abilities<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Rotation<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Utilities<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Gear<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

Abilities<\/h2>\n

The Lightning Sorc’s abilities focus around the use of Force Lightning to do damage to their enemies, but they also have some useful defensive and mechanical abilities.<\/p>\n

Mechanical Abilities<\/h3>\n

The Lightning Sorcerer’s job in a fight is mostly to do as much damage as possible, so a majority of their abilities involve dishing out lightning damage, but they do have a lot of useful abilities they can use to stay alive longer and to help their teammates in a group fight.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by going over the lightning sorc\u2019s mechanical abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability Name<\/th>Level<\/th>Type<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Mark of Power<\/td>1<\/td>Class Buff<\/td>Mark of Power is your class buff \u2013 its gives an hour long boost to damage to your group or to any other character you cast it on.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Seethe<\/td>1<\/td>Regen<\/td>If you're low on health between fights, you can use Seethe to regenerate health - but it only works outside of combat.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Overload<\/td>3<\/td>Push<\/td>Overload is your push. A knockback can be useful when you\u2019re playing solo as it can keep melee enemies away from you if you\u2019re taking too much damage, or you can use it to push enemies off of cliffs. As fun as it is, don\u2019t use it in group fights \u2013 this often frustrates other players who are trying to group enemies up to take them down faster.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Electrocute<\/td>5<\/td>Hard Stun<\/td>Electrocute is your short 4-second hard stun \u2013 you can use it on weaker enemies to stop them from running around, from casting abilities, or just to keep them out of the fight in general.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Whirlwind<\/td>7<\/td>Crowd Control \/ Soft Stun<\/td>Whirlwind is your crowd control soft stun - you can use it to stun weaker enemies for 8 seconds, but it breaks on damage, so only use it on enemies you\u2019re not going to hit soon.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Unbreakable Will<\/td>9<\/td>Stun Breaker<\/td>Unbreakable Will is your stun breaker. If you are stunned and can\u2019t move, you can use this ability to unstun yourself.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Speed<\/td>16<\/td>Speed Boost<\/td>Force Speed is your speed boost. It helps you move faster. You can use it for fun while running around, to get to a strategic location in battle faster, or most importantly to run out of stuff that\u2019s hurting you.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Jolt<\/td>18<\/td>Interrupt<\/td>Jolt is your interrupt. Every class has an interrupt ability that allows them to interrupt an enemy while they are casting. This can be useful when fighting low-level enemies as many abilities can be interrupted, and in some max-level fights interrupts are a mandatory part of combat. Castbars that fill up from left right are called channels and can be interrupted and the ability will be stopped, but castbars that go from right to left deal damage the entire time they are casting.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Slow<\/td>22<\/td>Slow<\/td>Force Slow is your slow, and slows your enemy\u2019s movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds. This can be used to keep Melee enemies away from you as you move farther away, or to slow down enemies who are running away.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Expunge<\/td>Lvl 24+<\/td>Cleanse<\/td>Expunge is your cleanse. Cleanses remove negative debuffs from the target \u2013 so if you are taking damage over time from a debuff ability an enemy has attached to you, you can cleanse yourself \u2013 or a friend! The Sorcerer\u2019s cleanse only works on Mental or Force debuffs, and in difficult fights there are often abilities that are impossible to cleanse.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Extrication<\/td>34<\/td>Pull<\/td>Extrication is your pull, you can use it to pull allies and group members to you. This is for saving allies\/party members from damage if they can\u2019t move, or pulling someone to safety who may not be paying attention, or saving your companion from AOE damage or being overwhelmed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Cloud Mind<\/td>30<\/td>Threat Drop<\/td>Cloud Mind is your threat drop. It will cause enemies to lose interest in you, at least for a short time. This is most useful if you\u2019re getting attacked during group fights when your tank is supposed to be taking the damage, or when your companion is set to tank.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Reanimation<\/td>Lvl 50+<\/td>Revive<\/td>Reanimation is your revive and allows you to bring fallen group members back to life. While in combat, your group can only use revive abilities once every 5 minutes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Phase Walk<\/td>59<\/td>Teleportation<\/td>Phase walk is your teleport. You first stand in the location you want to place your portal, then you can activate it again from up to 60 meters away to be teleported back to your original location. The portal lasts for five minutes, so players often put this down in a strategic location during a difficult fight, or use it to help friends when hunting for datacrons!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Defensive Abilities<\/span><\/h3>\n

The lightning sorcerer also has some nice defensive tricks up their sleeve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Level<\/th>Type<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Force Barrier<\/td>Lvl 51+<\/td>Immunity Shield<\/td>Force Barrier is your special shield, and make you immune to damage and effects for ten seconds \u2013 the only catch is that if you move or break the channel early, your barrier will go away. Once it wears off you will also receive a temporary defensive bonus.
\n

In solo fights, this is great to use when combined with Heroic moment to heal while in your barrier, and in group fights it might give your healer just enough time to keep you alive \u2013 you won\u2019t be able to use any other abilities while channeling Force Barrier. You can only use this ability once every three minutes, so in long fights, use it wisely!<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

<\/td>Static Barrier<\/td>Lvl 14+<\/td>Shield<\/td>Static Barrier is your shield that lasts 30 seconds and absorbs a high amount of damage. You can use this on yourself or another player, and it has a 20 second debuff during which it can not be reapplied.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Cloud Mind (with Suppression utility)<\/td>Lvl 30+<\/td>Shield & Threat Drop<\/td>Cloud Mind is your threat drop, but if you take the Suppression utility ability, it can also act as another defensive ability by increasing damage reduction by 25% for 6 seconds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Unnatural Preservation<\/td>Lvl 18+<\/td>Self-Heal<\/td>Unnatural preservation is your self-heal \u2013 you can only use it to heal yourself.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Dark Heal<\/span><\/td>Lvl 6+<\/td>Heal<\/td>Sorcerer\u2019s have two heals, though they are mainly designed for healers, not for lightning sorcerers. The two bonus heals are Resurgence and Dark Heal, which can be used on yourself or another player.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Resurgence<\/span><\/td>Lvl 12+<\/td>Heal-Over-Time<\/td>Resurgence heals you for less up front, but heals you more over time. Once again, not really for lightning sorcerers.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Damage Abilities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Level<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Affliction<\/td>16<\/td>Affliction does damage to your target for 18 seconds. Your goal is to always have your target afflicted, as not only does it do good damage, but it also makes your target take more damage from your Thundering Blast ability. As a lightning sorc, Affliction's timer is reset by Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning as long as the timer has not already expired, so you do not have spend Force to re-cast Affliction if you are using Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning at the right times.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Crushing Darkness<\/td>10<\/td>Crushing Darkness also does damage over time for 6 seconds. Crushing Darkness makes its targets Vulnerable, which means you'll do more damage to them while Vulnerable is active, and your Shock ability does extra damage while your target is Crushed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Thundering Blast<\/td>26<\/td>Thundering Blast is your most important damage ability - since you cast Affliction on your target earlier, Thundering Blast will now automatically do extra damage as is it crits on targets affected by Affliction.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Lightning Flash<\/td>42<\/td>Lightning Flash is a quick attack which also reduces the activation time of your next Crushing Darkness attack by half a second - you'll get the reduce activation time if you have the Force Flash buff from Lightning Flash.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Chain Lightning<\/td>10<\/td>Chain Lightning, a fun ability that delivers an arc of lightning that deals damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters of the first target, and as a Lightning Sorc it also overwhelms your targets, making them take an additional 10% damage from area attacks, and it also immobilizes all weaker targets for 0.5 seconds and slows all weaker targets by 50% for 6 seconds. Chain lightning is primarily a multi-target attack, but it's also very useful against single targets as it will refresh your Affliction on your target without you having to recast it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Lightning Bolt<\/td>58<\/td>Lightning Bolt is the staple and most common ability for the Lightning Sorcerer. In addition to doing damage, it also increases your force regeneration and increases your damage reduction by giving you stacking buffs.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Storm\t<\/td>4<\/td>Force Storm is large-radius attack that can hit up to 8 targets and deals a bonus stun to weaker enemies. It's great for multiple targets, but unlike chain lightning, it's not useful in single-target fights.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Volt Rush<\/td>72<\/td>Volt Rush is an attack that does damage to your target and gives you a stacking buff. Unfortunately, Volt Rush is not an ability worth using at all as a Lightning Sorc, as you have so many other better abilities available.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Shock<\/td>1<\/td>Lastly, Shock is a simple lightning attack that does bonus damage if the target is Crushed from Crushing Darkness.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

The lightning sorc also has some abilities that help buff their damage abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Level<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Polarity Shift<\/td>28<\/td>Polarity Shift buffs you - you cast it on yourself and it grants you a 20% boost to alacrity for ten seconds. It also gives you immunity to being interrupted for the next 15 seconds which allows you to simply dish out damage. As a Lightning Sorc, while Polarity Shift is active, you're twice as likely to get lucky and have your Chain Lightning, Lightning Flash, or Lightning Bolt abilities do extra damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Recklessness<\/td>8<\/td>The other one is Recklessness, which grants you 2 charges of Recklessness, which increases the critical chance of your attacks by 60%. Each time a direct ability critically hits or each time a channeled ability is activated, 1 charge is consumed. Lasts 20 seconds. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Unlimited Power<\/td>56<\/td>Unlimited Power boosts you and any of your group members stats by 10% for 10 seconds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Speed<\/td>16 (36)<\/td>Force Speed gives 2 stacks of Convection which allows Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt to be activated instantly.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Consuming Darkness<\/td>20<\/td>Consuming Darkness restoring 40 Force, but if you are playing your lightning sorc correctly, you should never run out of Force.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Advanced Kyrprax Critical Adrenal<\/td>75<\/td>(Item) Increases critical rating for 15 seconds on use.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Sha'Tek Relic of the Primeval Fatesealer<\/td>75<\/td>(Item) Increases alacrity for 30 seconds on use.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Rotation \/ Priority System<\/h2>\n

Using your abilities efficiently can help you survive longer, do more damage and gain more threat. This efficiency is gained by using abilities in an order that causes them to amplify each other. This order is sometimes called a rotation or a priority system – what abilities take priority over others.<\/p>\n

Opener<\/h3>\n

Your opener is the ideal set of abilities you will use in order as a Lightning sorc during the beginning of a fight to do the most damage, and to set up your success for the rest of the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
#<\/th>Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1<\/td><\/td>Crushing Darkness<\/td>Your opener starts with Crushing Darkness, which will do damage over six seconds.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td><\/td>Force Speed<\/td>Second is Force Speed which gives 2 stacks of Convection which allows Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt to be activated instantly.
\n
\nBut more importantly, if you have the Gathering Storm set bonus, then you use Polarity Shift immediately after using Force Speed, Polarity Shift lasts an extra 10 seconds. It also makes your next direct Force attack deal 20% increased damage, so we'll combine it with our strongest hitting attack, Thundering Blast, as our next Force attack a few abilities further in our opener.
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td><\/td>Polarity Shift<\/td>Third is your very powerful damage boost Polarity Shift, which grants you a 20% boost to alacrity and immunity to being interrupted. This allows you to cast your abilities a lot quicker.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td><\/td>Sha'Tek Relic of the Primeval Fatesealer\t<\/td>Fourth, this isn't an ability, but if you have a Primeval Fatesealer relic, you'd use it next to increase your alacrity even more.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td><\/td>Affliction<\/td>Next it's time to cast Affliction, which does damage over time. We shouldn't have to re-cast it later, because our Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning abilities will refresh its timer.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td><\/td>Advanced Kyrprax Critical Adrenal<\/td>Next, if you have a Critical Adrenal, you would use it to increase your critical chance so you can do more damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td><\/td>Recklessness<\/td>Next you'll use Recklessness, which drastically increases your critical chance which will help you do more damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td><\/td>Unlimited Power<\/td>Next is your Unlimited Power ability, which increases your stats and the stats of your entire group. You might choose to save this ability for later in a fight where you need to do a lot of damage in a short period of time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td><\/td>Thundering Blast<\/td>Next is your first outright attack - Thundering Blast will now automatically do extra damage as it crits on targets affected by Affliction which you cast earlier.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td><\/td>Lightning Flash<\/td>Next is Lightning Flash, a quick attack that reduces the activation time of your next Crushing Darkness.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11<\/td><\/td>Force Barrier<\/td>Next is Force Barrier - a fun trick you can use: cast it and quickly break it, don't just stand there waiting for your Force Barrier to wear off. When Force Barrier breaks, it will make Force Speed available again if you chose the Surging Speed utility.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12<\/td><\/td>Shock<\/td>Next, Shock does 35% extra damage to targets who are crushed. Your target should still be Crushed at this point, so we'll sneak Shock in while it's still up.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13<\/td><\/td>Chain Lightning<\/td>Next is Chain Lightning. Since we used Thundering Blast earlier, Chain Lightning will be sparkling, which means it can be cast immediately.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14<\/td><\/td>Lightning Bolt<\/td>Next up is Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt as a Lightning Sorc increases your Force regeneration rate by 10% for 10 seconds. This buff is called Charged Reaction and stacks up to 3 times. As a bonus, Lightning Bolt also gives you a buff that increases your damage reduction, called Fulgurous Fortification, which also stacks three times. Knowning about these awesome buffs means we'll use Lightning Bolt three times in a row in our opener.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15<\/td><\/td>Lightning Bolt<\/td>Lightning Bolt 2\/3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16<\/td><\/td>Lightning Bolt<\/td>Lightning Bolt 3\/3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17<\/td><\/td>Force Speed<\/td>Next is your Force Speed ability if you have the Gathering Storm set bonus makes your next Force attack deal 20% more damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18<\/td><\/td>Thundering Blast<\/td>Next is Thundering Blast to do some heavy damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19<\/td><\/td>Chain Lightning<\/td>Next is Chain Lightning, since using Thundering Blast made Chain Lightning cast immediately.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20<\/td><\/td>Crushing Darkness<\/td>Next is Crushing Darkness for some more damage over time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
21<\/td><\/td>Lightning Flash<\/td>Next is your quick Lightning Flash ability.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
22<\/td><\/td>Shock<\/td>Next is Shock, which does 35% extra damage to targets who are crushed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
23<\/td><\/td>Thundering Blast<\/td>Next is Thundering Blast for another dose of heavy damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
24<\/td><\/td>Chain Lightning<\/td>And lastly, Chain Lightning again, since using Thundering Blast made Chain Lightning cast immediately.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Single Target<\/h3>\n

Your single-target rotation \/ priority system is a list of abilities you should use after your opener, and for the rest of the fight. These abilities shouldn’t be used one after another – instead, abilities higher up the list take priority over those at the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
#<\/th>Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Level<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Always<\/td><\/td>Affliction<\/td>Lvl 16+<\/td>Affliction is not part of your priority abilities, but your target should always be afflicted. As long as you are keeping up with your Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning abilities, your enemy will stay afflicted without you having to re-cast Affliction on them.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#1<\/td><\/td>Thundering Blast<\/td>Lvl 26+<\/td>Your first priority ability is Thundering Blast, and it should be used immediately any time it is available, because it has a long cooldown and does a great burst of damage when you cast it on an afflicted target.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#2<\/td><\/td>Crushing Darkness (when procced)<\/td>Level 10+<\/td>Your second priority is Crushing Darkness, but only when it is \u201cprocced\u201d by Force Flash which is triggered after you cast your Lightning Flash ability \u2013 you\u2019ll know it\u2019s procced if Curshing Darkness's icon sparkles on your quickbars.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#3<\/td><\/td>Lightning Flash<\/td>Lvl 42+<\/td>Your third priority is Lightning Flash, since it will grant you Force Flash which helps you cast Crushing Darkness faster.
\n
\n(Important! Once you have the Stormwatch tactical, Lightning Flash actually moves up above Crushing Darkness in the priority list.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#4<\/td><\/td>Shock (when procced)<\/td>Lvl 1 (68+)<\/td>Your fourth priority ability is Shock, but only while Crushing Darkness is applied to your target, as a Lightning Sorc, Shock gains a 35% extra damage boost to targets who are crushed \u2013 the rest of the time, Lightning Bolt does more damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#5<\/td><\/td>Chain Lightning (when procced)<\/td>Lvl 10+<\/td>Your fifth priority is Chain Lightning, as long as it is procced and is sparkling on your quickbars, which it usually is. Chain Lightning is procced when you use Thundering Blast, Lightning Bolt, or Lightning Storm, and these make Chain Lightning cast immediately and cost 50% less Force, so it\u2019s a waste to use it if it\u2019s not procced and sparkling on your quickbars.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
#6<\/td><\/td>Lightning Bolt<\/td>Lvl 58+<\/td>Your final priority is Lightning Bolt, which is your standard filler ability when you aren\u2019t sure what else to use. When you see this procced and it\u2019s sparkling on your quickbars, it means it will be cast immediately. This is from one of your passive abilities called Subversion, which has a chance to trigger any time you take damage \u2013 but since you can\u2019t control that, unlike your other procced abilities, you use it even if it\u2019s not sparkling.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

\u00a0Funnily enough, at high levels, the Lightning Sorcerer doesn\u2019t really need to use the Force Lightning ability they get around level 2 as they end up having so many other better lightning abilities available.<\/p>\n

There are some other abilities you\u2019ll want to keep in mind while dealing out damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Polarity Shift<\/td>Polarity Shift is your strongest attack boost. By itself, it gives you a nice 20% alacrity boost, which means you'll be able to cast your abilities faster, but if you have the Gathering Storm set bonus it becomes even more powerful. The 4-piece bonus causes Force Speed to make your next Force attack deal 20% more damage and Force attacks deal 20% more damage while Polarity Shift is active. With the 6-piece set bonus, activating Force Speed reduces the cooldown of Polarity Shift\u00a0by 10 seconds, and using Polarity Shift\u00a0immediately after adds 10 seconds to its duration. This makes Polarity Shift with the set bonus an ability that you'll want to use whenever it's available, and always worth combining with Force Speed. Having Polarity Shift active as often as possible makes your other abilities flow smoother, faster, and do more damage. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Recklessness<\/td>Recklessness grants you 2 charges of Recklessness, which increases the critical chance of your attacks by 60%. Recklessness can be combined with Polarity Shift for the best results, and the attack abilities you should use with Recklessness are always Thundering Blast and Lightning Flash if possible, if you don't have Lightning Flash available then use it on Chain Lightning.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Unlimited Power<\/td>Unlimited Power, which increases the stats of your entire group, has a long cooldown, so you can either use it at the beginning of a fight, or if you know the fight well, save it for a point where your group needs to do a lot of damage in a short period of time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Speed<\/td>Force Speed gives 2 stacks of Convection which allows Lightning Strike and Lightning Bolt to be activated instantly, and as we talked about before, if you have the 6-piece Gathering Storm set bonus, you'll want to activate Polarity Shift immediately after using Force Speed to make Polarity Shift last longer so you can do more damage.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Consuming Darkness<\/td>Consuming Darkness restoring 40 Force, but it makes you Weary, reducing your Force regeneration rate by 2 for 10 seconds. As long as you are using your lighting abilities well, you shouldn't have to use Consuming Force at all.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Advanced Kyrprax Critical Adrenal<\/td>(Item) You can use an Adrenal to increase your critical rating for 15 seconds on use, and you should be using one any time you have it available during the fight, but it is generally better to save it until you have Polarity Shift active.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Sha'Tek Relic of the Primeval Fatesealer<\/td>(Item) You can use a Primeval Fatesealer relic to increase your alacrity for 30 seconds on use. It's also best to use it when you have Polarity Shift active, and to use it whenever it's available.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Multi Target \/ AOE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t
Icon<\/th>Ability<\/th>Level<\/th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
<\/td>Chain Lightning (when procced)<\/td>Lvl 10+<\/td>Chain lightning delivers an arc of lightning that deals damage to up to 8 targets within 8 meters of the first target, so it\u2019s ideal for fighting many enemies and is one of your AOE (area of affect) priority abilities \u2013 just make sure to only use it after it\u2019s procced and sparkly on your quickbar to take advantage of the immediate cast a reduced Force cost we talked about earlier, which you should be able to easily trigger by using Force Storm..<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>Force Storm<\/td>Lvl 4+<\/td>Your other AOE priority ability is Force storm, a large-radius attack that can hit up to 8 targets and deals a bonus stun to weaker enemies.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

There are a few ways of going about this depending on the priority of the group of adds that are being killed. However, regardless of the scenario you want to prioritize Chain Lightning and Force Storm. If they will die pretty quickly this is all you want to do. If there is a higher health add in among lower health ones, then you can throw in Affliction and Thundering Blast and then continue with Chain Lightning and Force Storm.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For area-of-affect where there are 2 targets that you are cleaving between, maintain Affliction on both, maintain force damage debuff on both, and use Lightning Flash on the target with crushing Darkness on it. If attempting to burn your targets evenly, hard cast Chain Lightning into Thundering Blast and a procced Chain Lightning. You can swap targets every Thundering Blast to keep the damage even. If prioritizing one target and simply cleaving onto the other, focus all of your single target abilities onto the primary target.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As far as hard casting Chain Lightning is concerned, if it will hit 2 or more targets, it is a damage gain, so don\u2019t hesitate to do it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Part of the skill\u00a0 in Lightning is being able to maintain alacrity buffed Affliction on multiple targets throughout a fight. Traditionally this has been done by alternating Crushing Darkness and Chain Lightning between targets to maintain the dot while not wasting GCDs manually reapplying Affliction.<\/em><\/p>\n

Utilities<\/h2>\n

Utilities are a series of abilities that you can choose from for your Advanced Class. On the list below, these utilities have been rated for their use in difficult boss fights in Operations, the most difficult group content in the game. However, if you are playing solo, playing less difficult content, or PvPing, you\u2019ll want to read the descriptions of the utilities carefully and instead either choose ones that sound fun, or choose ones that seem useful for the type of content you like to play. For example, there’s some fun utilities like Backlash that make your static barrier shield explode, or Enfeebling Strike which replaces your basic lightsaber attack – both of these are fun changes to your abilities, and while neither are good for Operations or other difficult content, they could be fun for running Heroics.<\/p>\n