SWTOR Crafting: Crew Skill Combos & More
In our last look at Crafting, we examined how Reverse Engineering adds a new layer of refinement to SWTOR’s crafting. Today, we’re going to take a look at how the current skills interface with one another. Even if you had a chance to play with an earlier revision, some changes have been introduced resulting in certain skill pairings that were not previously in place. Fret not though, for we’re here to explain how things are implemented in the current build!
One thing to bear in mind is that, while certain Crew Skills benefit each other greatly (e.g., self-sufficient Armormech crafters would likely take Scavenging to provide their own materials), there is nothing that forces you to do so. On the contrary, if one were so inclined, they could take 3 Gathering skills, or 3 Mission Skills. The only limit to the system is that you can only take one Crafting Skill. Other than that, it’s completely up to you.
In this same vein, it is entirely possible to create a number of alts specifically for crafting, etc. The only catch would be the amount of time it would take to invest into the process. You can begin crafting as soon as you complete your home world, and move onto the next areas. This usually is at around level 9. You’ll have one Companion at your disposal, one and only one, until you receive your ship (and the Droid that comes with it). Depending on how quickly you burn through the class quests, this can occur at around 15 or 16 (in the current beta builds. Your experience may vary). You can send companions out on missions and log into another character. But, this will be time intensive at first due to the short completion time on the initial missions. Bear in mind also, that as of this current build, Missions are gated by character level. Previously, Missions were gated by your actual skill, but players were finding that they were out-leveling one skill or mission over their main crafting skill, making it difficult to obtain the materials they required. Currently, mission ranges are:
10 – 16
17 – 24
25 – 32
33 – 40
41 – 48
49 – 50
Now, let’s take a look at the suggested combinations, as described by the current in-game Codex entries:
Archaeology: For Crafting, Artifice & Synthweaving.
Armormech: For Gathering, Scavenging (for Scavenged Metals and Compounds). For Mission skills, Underworld Trading (for Underworld Metals).
Armstech: For Gathering, Scavenging (for Scavenged Metals and Compounds). For Mission Skills, Investigation (for Researched Compounds).
Artifice: For Gathering, Archaeology (for Power Crystals, Color Crystals and Artifact Fragments). For Mission Skills, Treasure Hunting (for Gemstones).
Bioanalysis: For Crafting, Biochem.
Biochem: For Gathering, Bioanalysis (for Biochemical Samples and Compounds). For Mission Skills, Diplomacy (for Medical Supplies).
Cybertech: For Gathering, Scavenging (for Scavenged Metals and Compounds). For Mission skills, Underworld Trading (for Underworld Metals).
Diplomacy: For Crafting, Biochem. Also, can yield Companion Gifts. Moreover, missions yield Dark or Light Side points.
Investigation: For Crafting, Armstech (for Researched Compounds). Investigation however, is an interesting one. It also offers prototype schematics for all crafts, and Companion Gifts.
Scavenging: For Crafting, Armormech, Armstech or Cybertech are suggested.
Slicing: For Crafting, Cybertech is actually a nice one to pair up with, but like Investigation before it, Slicing also offers a nice side benefit of allowing you to discover additional missions. These are one-time missions that cost more to run, but have a higher chance at yielding better materials. For Cybertech, Slicing can yield rare tech schematics (gadgets, vehicles, and spaceship upgrades). This skill has been tweaked quite a bit with regards to how many credits one can get from the “skillboxes,” but it still ends up being a pretty lucrative skill. Slicing also yields Augments that can be slotted into your gear.
Synthweaving: For Gathering, Archaeology. For Mission Skills, Underworld Trading (for Luxury Fabrics and Underworld Metals).
Treasure Hunting: For Crafting, Artifice. Also yields Companion Gifts.
Underworld Trading: For Crafting, Armormech, Cybertech and Synthweaving, as Underworld Trading can yield both Luxury Fabrics and Underworld Metals, in addition to Companion Gifts.
This list has changed a few times so far as we’ve progressed in Beta, but as of right now, this is what is accurate. Keep an eye on SWTOR-Spy’s Crew Skill page for updated data as well, should things change again!
7 Responses to “SWTOR Crafting: Crew Skill Combos & More”
Still so many questions about how SWToR crafting works…
Cybertech can get schematics from both Slicing and Investigation?
Would those be the same set of schematics or different?
Are such schematics BoP or at least tradeable between alts?
Do you need the pertinent Crafting skill on a toon in order for the Mission/Gathering skills to yield schematics for that Crafting skill ?
I read and understood your article but for future reference, the use of colons would be much appreciated. They tend to show what should be a good gathering, crafting, or mission skills. Very good article very well done! Vor’e!
@ Athunt I’ll answer these in-line:
1 & 2.) I haven’t had a chance to max out Investigation myself, but that is how it is worded in the current build, regarding the prototype schematics for all crafting professions. Due to the way that Slicing emphasizes its connection to Cybertech, I’m actually expecting that tooltip to be clarified eventually. Vehicle schematics, for example, are clearly stated to come from Slicing, so my guess is that if Investigation yields anything, it’ll be schematics for Gadgets, etc.
Hopefully they’ll clarify this on the next pass.
3.) The Schematics that I’ve gotten so far have all been BoE, and there usually seems to be a fair amount of them up on the GTN (SWTOR’s auction house) for purchase. There are some BoP Schematics in the game, that are said to drop from bosses, etc.
4.) The Schematics that you get are completely random, from my experience. You’ll get Schematics that you won’t be able to use yourself, and you’ll be able to either punt them off to an alt, or sell them on the GTN.
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@Marev I’m guessing you mean Colors? 🙂 I was going to try and figure out a system to color code these, but I wanted to get the information posted as quickly as possible. I’ll definitely keep it in mind for the next time this comes up! Cheers for reading!
Nice article and thanks for the breakdown as i said on the reverse engineering post i wanted to make my tanking BH scavenging and armormech but couldnt decided what to make the third skill althou I still cant decide youve helped me narrow it down to 2 slicing (more for the amount of credits you get and sellable patterns) or underworld trading for the rarer matts.
The Companions also receive bonuses to specific crafting & crew skills, so for example K-Val get’s +15 to Artificing and +5 to Investigation. I presume these bonuses can contribute to the success and/or quality of the craft/mission so it’s something to keep in mind.
good and fresh info
As an update to the “gating” by level, I’m happy to report that as of right now in the latest build, my level 17 crafter is able to send companions out on 25-32 level missions also. It’s unclear how many levels ahead this extends (maybe all the way), but it gives some hope to not needing to level 2 characters side by side just for crafting (i.e., at launch, there’s a chance we can get an alt to max crafting regardless of its level).
Hopefully this will be the case.