Lots of young jedi and soon-to-be jedi
have come to the board curious about
their options and the advantages of
different templates. I've written this
short overview of key skills and popular
templates, revised to include input from
many other members of the jedi
community, to offer some guidance to
those who must make the big choice. As I
have unfortunately learned, retemplating
a jedi can be extremely tedious, so it's
important to make sure you're picking up
a template you'll be happy with for
awhile. There is a brief discussion of
Force Sensitive skills at the end, too,
for those who want to know how FS skills
work with a jedi template.
This is by no
means a complete guide, nor am I
particularly wise about jedi templating.
In fact, I made a huge templating
mistake after the revamp (my initial
template is listed below as a cautionary
tale). If you disagree with me or have
a new template idea, please post your
objection. I'm particularly interested
in hearing about the Powers tree.
Thanks to all the
jedi who have contributed their ideas
and experiences, particularly Yo'ho and
Renairdor who shed some light on how to
take advantage of some of the more
difficult-to-play templates. I'd also
like to thank everyone who took the time
to read my guide; I just saw there have
been over 10,000 views. I hope it's
been helpful.
Four Key Skills
Heal All
Self 2 (Healing 4xxx) (alternatively,
Heal Health Self 2, Heal Action Self 2,
Heal Mind Self 2 (Healing 3xxx):
Heal All Self 2
will heal 1500 points of damage in each
of your HAM bars; the individual bar
heals will also heal 1500, and for
slightly less force cost. The big
difference is that with Heal All Self 2
you only suffer several seconds of
healing delay, while with the individual
heals you must sit through the delay for
each bar you want to heal. If you are
being hit across multiple bars, this
reduces your DPS (Damage Per Second) and
costs more force, so most jedi choose to
get Heal All Self 2. In some hybrid
templates the extra 2 skill points are
required elsewhere, so a few people give
up Heal All Self 2, but this should not
be done lightly.
Heal
States Self (Healing xxx4):
This clears stun,
dizzy, blind, and initimdate, even if
you're lying on the ground. Jedi get hit
hard when they get hit because of the
lack of armor; when a jedi's on the
ground, melee damage against him gets a
multiplier, and on top of things he
cannot fight back or run away. Dizzy/kd
was the death of many pre-revamp jedi.
If you go out to PvP without Heal States
Self, you cannot expect to survive
unless you have a competent and
dedicated support group. A bonus to this
skill is that its prereqs include Force
Cure Poison and Force Cure Disease, both
very important to have given the
continuing danger posed by DoT weapons.
Force
Run 2 (Enhance 4xxx):
Jedi often get into hairy situations.
Force run 2 lets you get the heck out of
dodge, outrunning your enemies and
escaping to safety. While its offensive
uses have been decimated in the post-gank
& run era, force run 2 (or 3) is still a
very strong skill. Given the penalties
for dying, both in jedi xp and FRS xp, a
skill that lets you stay alive in a
great many situations where not having
it would lead to death is a skill that
many jedi appreciate. Some jedi have
dropped to enhancer 2xxx for Force Run 1
since Force Run 2 no longer offers the
offensive advantage, but Force Run 1 is
less effective for getaways since you
only move at about the speed of a burst
running player.
Channel
Force (Enhance xxx2):
Even at knight
level, a jedi can burn through force
extremely quickly. Channel force lets
you take a temporary hit to your maximum
HAM stats in order to regenerate some
force instantly. Handy when leveling,
handy in prolonged fights, and a virtual
necessity in one-on-one duels, Channel
is also widely appreciated by the vast
majority of the jedi population. While
it can sometimes be risky to use,
intelligent use of channel gives you
access to far more force power per hour
than a non-channeling jedi. As a bonus,
you get Transfer Force and Force Shield
I; the latter will take some of the bite
out of Force Drain attacks against you
in jedi on jedi action. Channel is also
a prereq for Force Drain and Meditate,
which many jedi view as essential and
which are unquestionably useful skills
to have.
A Note on Master Lightsaber
Master Lightsaber is unquestionably
the most desireable master box in the
jedi profession. It offers radically
higher DPS than that of a nonmaster and
gives better defense than the defender
tree. In jedi on jedi fights, the jedi
without Master Lightsaber will lose,
period, because saber toughness protects
against saber damage while jedi
toughness does not. A jedi with Master
Lightsaber is the bane of all ranged
professions because of the high saber
block. Therefore, most of the templates
discussed below have master saber.
People, including myself, have tried
templates without master saber and
usually found them wanting. If you want
to try a build without master saber, go
for it, do not be discouraged, just know
that you'll be giving up a lot to try
it.
Some Templates and Analysis
Popular Double Mastery Templates
With two trees mastered, a jedi
maximizes his force power and force
regeneration.
The Old Flavor
of the Month: Master Lightsaber, Master
Enhancer, 4004 Healer
In the days of gank & run this
template was the undisputed king. Now
that a jedi's offensive capabilities are
severely curtailed when using Force Run
2 or 3, it has lost some of its luster,
and some people spoiled by its former
supremacy have called it useless. But
Master Lightsaber offers a great
combination of powerful offense and
unparalleled defense vs. ranged, with
saber toughness adding decent melee
defense to the mix.
Master Enhancer gives you the ability
to self resurrect for a minimal xp hit,
50k as opposed to the 200k you lose if
you clone, as well as Force Run 3, which
*will* save your life at some point.
Channel and Meditate give an enhancer
unparalleled control over his force
pool. Force Armor, while not a
sustainable defense because of its big
drain on your force pool, can be thrown
up to keep you alive in the hairiest
situations and dropped when you don't
need it anymore. Force Armor is also
extremely effective in jedi vs. jedi
situations, since it absorbs saber
damage where jedi toughness does not.
Force Resist States is not terribly
effective when used without the 0004
defender state line, but Force Resist
Poison and Force Resist Disease give you
+100 to poison and disease resistance; I
believe they still absorb 25% of the
tick of the poison or disease, as well.
And, as discussed above, Healing 4004 is
a crucial part of almost every jedi
template.
The New Flavor
of the Month: Master Lightsaber, Master
Healer, 4004 Enhancer
This is not as clearly dominant as
the old FotM, but many jedi are picking
up this template because of its
effectiveness in larger battles (which
jedi often enter, given the gank squad
mentality that dominates jedi PvP).
Master Healer lets a jedi heal not only
his own damage, states, wounds, and
battle fatigue, but also his ally's.
While the force cost is high, when a few
jedi with this template work together,
it dramatically improves their side's
chances in a battle. The jedi can heal
mind damage without any adverse effects
to themselves and can even heal mind
wounds. The jedi also gains an
advantage: by healing all his damage,
clearing all his states, and curing all
of his DoTs in one healing delay, the
jedi spends more of his time fighting
and thus has a higher DPS. This
coincides nicely with the damage
potential of Master Lightsaber. The
ability to negate fire DoTs should also
not overlooked; fire is the weapon of
choice for killing jedi. And while the
jedi loses force armor and the resist
line (the latter often viewd as the
weakest of the enhancer lines), he
retains Force Run 2 for quick escapes
and Channel and Meditate to control his
force bar.
Rapid Response
Variant: 4004 (or 0044) Lightsaber,
Master Healer, Master Enhancer
I don't know of anybody who has this
yet but it's been discussed at length as
a good support build. The jedi gives up
the offense and defense of Master
Lightsaber for Force Run 3, Force Armor
2, and the Force Resist line, and
focuses on moving quickly around the
battlefield keeping his teammates healed
and generally avoiding contact with the
enemy. The difference between Force Run
2 and Force Run 3 is negligible, and
Force Armor 2 and the Force Resist line
are probably not worth giving up Master
Lightsaber, so I doubt we'll see too
many of these.
Another
Variant on MLS/Master Healer: Master
Lightsaber, Master Healer, 4004 Defender
Some have opted to pick up the
Defender melee and states lines with
Master Lightsaber and Master Healer.
Healer is fairly force-intensive,
though, so losing Channel and Meditate
is rough.
Another Popular
Template: Master Lightsaber, Master
Defender, 4004 Healer
When Force Run 2 and 3 were nerfed,
the initila buzz was that this would be
the new FotM. Several serious flaws with
the template kept this from coming
about, but it is still a popular
aspiration among up-and-coming jedi.
Master Defender does not offer as much
defensive bang for the buck as the
Lightsaber Tree, but the two in
conjunction make for a much tougher jedi
and this template is not vulnerable to
non-jedi melee templates in the way that
most other jedi templates are. Master
Defender gives a jedi 45% jedi
toughness, which reduces ranged damaged
by 45% and stacks with saber toughness
to reduce melee damage by about 75%. In
addition, Master Defender plus the force
sensitive ranged and melee defense give
a jedi high (though not capped) ranged
and melee defense. The melee defense
means another jedi will miss over a
third of the time, although most
non-jedi meleers have high enough
accuracy that the miss rate is far
lower. Saber block will protect you from
so many ranged attacks that the ranged
defense is almost redundant, but it goes
a long way.
One notable bonus to this build is
that the Defender tree is almost
entirely passive, meaning you'll have
more force for healing and saber
specials. Avoid Incap costs a lot of
force, but frankly it's not generally
that useful and you will not be using it
much except to have fun or die
gloriously. There are some tactical uses
for it, but none aside from base
shutdowns are practical once your
opponents have seen them done once or
twice.
This Master Defender build is also
the most effective PvE jedi template. It
is not as effective a tank as an elite
melee master in good armor, but it works
very well against everything but the
top-end mobs. If you don't plan on
pursuing PvP with your jedi, this build
will be much more attractive to you than
it is to an PvP-focused jedi.
The number one weakness with this
template is the lack of force run. Even
a Master Defender is relatively
vulnerable, and the inability to escape
when the situation gets nasty means many
Master Defenders had a very hard time
under the old Force Ranking System. Lack
of any method of supplementing force
regeneration is also a problem, although
with the new function of holocrons rich
players can afford to play this tepmlate
without worrying about that.
A Variant of
the MLS/Defender Template: Master
Lightsaber, Master Defender, 4004
Enhancer
One of the most notable contributors
to the Jedi board chose this template
and has apparently enjoyed quite a bit
of success with it. While he retains the
benefits of Force Run, Channel, and
Meditate, he loses out on 4004 Healer.
Master Lightsaber/Master Defender may be
the best jedi tanking template, but it
still tends to lean heavily on healing
to last the fight. With this variant, a
jedi hits Avoid Incap and runs to safety
when things get rough, then Meditates up
his force and lets his HAMs regenerate,
then hurries back into action. This
template can be quite effective if a
jedi has CMs, docs, and Master Healers
backing him up.
Another
Variant of the MLS/Defender Template:
Master Lightsaber, Master Defender, 0404
Enhancer
Renairdor is considering this
template; I think it probably won't work
well in the long term, but for as long
as the jedi's force bar can hold out he
will make a formidable tank. Without the
ability to run or heal, though, the
outcome seems pretty inevitable.
Another
Variant of the MLS/Defender Template:
Master Lightsaber, Master Defender, 0044
Enhancer
I can speak from experience on this:
you will be extraordinarily hard to
stun, dizzy, or blind when Force Resist
States is stacked with a Master
Defender's jedi state defense. That
being said, this template suffers the
same problem as the above variant:
without the ability to run or heal, the
outcome seems pretty inevitable. That
said, this will not suck a jedi's force
bar down as quickly as the 0404 Enhancer
variant, and with decent healers backing
him up this could make an effective
group template.
The
Rarely-Seen Glass Cannon Template:
Master Lightsaber, Master Powers,
Healing 4004
Those few brave jedi who pick up
Master Wielder tend to take a lot of
verbal abuse for their choice;
conventional wisdom is that the Powers
tree is broken beyond the point of
utility. I bought into this view myself
until some Master Wielders, Yo'ho in
particular, convinced me otherwise.
Against most jedi this template could
run into trouble, since your opponent
will have Force Shield 1 or 2 or, less
likely, force defense from the Defender
tree. But the DPS from this build is
higher than that of any other jedi
template, because of Force Choke's DoT
and Force Weaken 1 & 2's effect on your
opponent's stats. Force Intimidate 2,
Mind Blast 2, and Force Knockdown 2 make
Master Powers terrific for harrying your
foes on the battlefield. The downside
to this template is that you are very
vulnerable to attacks (no Force Armor,
no jedi toughness) and if things get
rough you cannot escape since there is
no room for Force Run. Because of these
limitations, at this point in the tree's
evolution Master Powers may be better
adopted by picking it up as a single
mastery and focusing on using the jedi
to supplement a larger force. As one
Master Wielder has analogized, Master
Powers is a lot like Carbineer: you have
the ability to inflict all kinds of
states and kd, and can be immensely
useful to a group.
Single Mastery Templates
While a jedi with a single mastered
tree loses some force regeneration and
force power, diversifying a template can
allow for more flexibility and the
ability to more effectively react to
different situations.
A Popular
Single-Mastery Template: Master
Lightsaber, 4004 Enhancer, 4004 Healer,
4001 Defender
While this template sacrifices some
of the force power and force regen
available to a dual-mastered jedi, it
offers enhanced flexibility. The
Defender lines help offset some of a
jedi's vulnerability to melee and also
provide some helpful jedi toughness to
supplement the saber toughness. In
addition, the two key lines from
Enhancer and Healer are present.
A Clever
Variant on the Single-Mastery Template:
Master Lightsaber, 4004 Healer, 4004
Defender, 2003 Enhancer
This template gives a jedi the melee
and states defense lines of the Defender
tree, including a fair amount of jedi
toughness, without sacrificing the two
key healing lines or Force Run 1 or
Channel. The more I look at this
template, the more I think it will be
one of the most effective under the
current publish. It covers all the bases
while giving a jedi decent additional
defense.
A Variant on
the Single-Mastery Template: Master
Lightsaber, 4002 Enhancer, 4004 Healer,
4003 Defender
Adds some additional jedi toughness
and state defense at the cost of
Meditate and Drain Force.
A Variant on
the Single-Mastery Template: Master
Lightsaber, 4402 Enhancer, 4000
Defender, 3004 Healer
This template retains Channel and
Force Run while keeping the melee line
of Defender and picking up Force Armor
2. The big visible downside is the lack
of Heal All Self 2, but with the melee
line of Defender, Master Lightsaber, and
Force Armor all up in conjunction with
synthsteak, you won't need to heal all
that much for as long as you have the
force to keep the armor up. This has
been reported extremely effective
against stackers.
An Anti-Stacker
Variant on the Single-Mastery Template:
Master Lightsaber, 4200 Enhancer, 4004
Healer, 4003 Defender
Similar to the above, but trades
Channel for Force Armor I. Reported to
be very effective in one-on-one PvP,
including against a stacker.
An Anti-Stacker
Variant on the Single Mastery Template:
Master Lightsaber, 4204 Healer, 3004
Defender, 0004 Enhancer
This template seems to be designed
for protracted duels. It sacrifices
Force Run to pick up added Defender
boxes for jedi toughness and some decent
melee and state defense, and it has x2xx
in Healer to take care of wounds and
battle fatigue that result from disease
and fire DoTs and make further DoT
attacks more effective. The Enhancer
line gives the template good force
management skills to help keep the force
pool under control through a battle.
A
Single-Mastery Variant suited to
Large-Scale Battles: Master Lightsaber,
4404 Enhancer, 4404 Healer
This template covers all the basics
(Heal All Self 2, Force Remove States,
Force Run, Channel) and includes Force
Armor and wound and battle fatigue
healing. Force Armor will provide
short-term protection for the
particularly hairy situations, while the
x4xx Healer line will take off wounds
and battle fatigue and let a jedi remain
fresh throughout a lengthy battle (low
BF also reduces the bite of DoTs, a
major advantage on a large and busy
battlefield).
A
Single-Mastery Variant with Force
Intimidate: Master Lightsaber, Powers
1040, 4004 Enhancer, 4004 Healer
Some jedi substitute Force Intimidate
for the jedi toughness and melee defense
of the Defender tree. The upside is
that, if you can keep the intimidate on
your opponent, he will do less damage to
you than he would if you had the
defender build. The downside is that
doing so is force intensive and the
defense in the earlier template is
passive.
A Variant with
Force Intimidate I: Master Lightsaber,
Powere 0030, Healer 4214, Enhancer 2003
This build appears well suited as a
combination fighter/support jedi for
large scale combat. The wound and BF
healing in x2xx Healer will keep a jedi
from being worn down in the fight,
Healer xx1x lets the jedi heal his
teammate's wounds at a very low
skillpoint cost, he has Force Run 1 to
navigate the battlefield, and keeps
Channel. The big cost here appears to be
force power, which will take quite a hit
from the diversified template and the
large number of low-tier skills. Channel
will help offset this. It may be
advisable to try Enhancer 2002 instead
so you can pick up Powers 0040 and get
acces to Force Intimidate 2; depending
on how many opposing jedi you face, that
may be more effective than Force Drain.
The Brawler
Variant: Master Lighstaber, 4003
Enhancer, 4004 Healer, 4000 Defender,
Novice Brawler
This is pretty popular; novice
brawler lets you intimidate and warcry
to your heart's content without using
any force, and for the time being it
works - you can be a jedi knight and
still have the non-jedi novice brawler
skill. The devs said before that knights
would not be able to have non-jedi
skills, so don't be surprised if this
gets fixed someday.
Another Brawler
Variant: Master Lightsaber, 4004
Defender, 4004 Healer, 0003 Enhancer,
Novice Brawler
A brawler variant with more defense
but no Force Run or Meditate. This has
been reported to be extremely effective
against stackers as well as in PvE and
PvP. The warcry and intimidate skills
let you shut down an opponents offense
while leaving you all your force to
devote to offense and the occasional
heal.
A Pure PvE
Single-Mastry Jedi Template: 0404
Lightsaber, Master Defender, 3204
Healer, 0040 Powers
While not well-suited to PvP, this
template will make a jedi a PvE monster.
The AoE (Area of Effect) health attack
in the two-handed saber tree allows for
efficient killing of groups of enemies.
Master Defender gives ample toughness,
especially in conjunction with stun and
blind applied by the saber and the AoE
intimidate from Powers xx4x. Wound and
BF healing allows for long,
uninterrupted loot sessions, and
according to one user the individual HAM
pool healing is not a significant
problem.
My Old
Ineffective Variant of the Defender
Template: Lightsaber 4004, Master
Defender, 0042 Enhancer, 3004 Healer
I thought this template would be
useful for staying alive in the 100+ to
a side battles that tend to rage across
Bloodfin. It did not work so well. The
upside was that I was very difficult to
land states on, and in one-on-one duels
I crushed almost all non-jedi without
much trouble. The DoT defense provided
by xx4x Enhancer was not enough to make
up for the lack of the substantially
increased saber block and saber
toughness of master saber, and having to
heal each of my pools individually cut
severely into my already gimped DPS.
The Yo'ho
Build: 4004 Lightsaber, Master Powers,
3002 Enhancer, 4004 Healing
This template
gives you all the state and KD goodness
Master Powers has to offer, but instead
of focusing on pure DPS like with the
Master Lightsaber build discussed above,
this template includes Force Run 1,
Force Speed 2 (which will up your saber
DPS on Flurry 1), and Channel to offset
the high force costs. According to
Yo'ho, the template is very effective in
PvP as long as you play smart, know when
to run, know who to Force Choke and
Force Weaken, and how long you can spam
Force Intimidate 2 and Force Knockdown
2.
Powers
Variants
Because so few jedi have mastered the
powers tree, it's hard to say how well
different variants work. Aside from the
above single mastery build and Master
Lightsaber/Master Powers/Healing 4004, I
have not heard of any other Master
Powers variants, so if anybody knows of
any others and how they've worked out
please feel free to share.
Force Sensitive Skills
As a jedi, you will forver have 24
skill points tied up in your force
sensitive skills. Once you get Initiate,
you cannot change those skills. These
skills continue to affect your character
when you are a jedi; whatever bonuses
they give, you keep.
A lot of people want to know which
skills they should pick, and I think the
best answer is, get the Ranged Defense
and Melee Defense lines of Enhanced
Reflexes, which will give you at least
some ranged and melee defense if you're
a non-Defender or supplement your
defense if you are; the Melee Speed and
Melee Accuracy lines from Combat
Prowess, which will improve your
effectiveness with a Lightsaber (though
once you hit Master Lightsaber you're
speed capped even without the FS line),
and whichever other two skills are easy
and convenient to get depending on your
template and the Phases of the Village.
I have Luck and Assembly myself, and
Experimentation and Vehicle Handling
also seem useful. But really, aside from
the first four lines I mentioned, they
do not seem to make a particularly big
difference. Friends with Master
Lightsaber, Assembly, and
Experimentation have noted little
difference in the quality of sabers made
with the same materials as those made by
Lightsaber Masters with neither crafting
FS line.
So, to reiterate, I'd say grab Melee
Defense, Ranged Defense, Melee Accuracy,
Melee Speed, and then whichever two are
convenient for your Village Phases and
current template. |