SWTOR Level 55 endgame gearing guide

A guide to the SWTOR Level 55 endgame gearing process with a detailed look at every commendation system and all the dallies and weeklies. Updated for patch 2.4.

Last Updated: October 13, 2013

Navigation

• How do I gear up at 55?
• Planetary/Classic Commendations and L50 Gear
• Artifact Gear
• Black Market/Arkanian Gear
• Verpine/Underworld Gear
• Kell Dragon/Shadowed/Gear
• Oricon/Dread Forged Gear
• Daily/Weekly Rewards
• Additional Resources

Abbreviations used in this guide.

How do I gear up at 55?

This section attempts to answer this question in a very basic format. For more info regarding the various gear tiers, you have to consult the sections below.

Artifact Level

Ideally, if you leveled up from Makeb, you should at Hero reputation standing or close. This allow you to grab the Artifact level mainhand for 80 basic commendations from Makeb Reputation vendor. For Artifact level armor, you can do the Oricon storyline which should provide you with a full 5 piece set when you complete it. For the remaining pieces (offhand/implants/ear/bracers/belt) you can either buy them on the GTN from crafters (search for Artifact on the GTN) or save up your Basic Commendations to buy them at the Black Market level

Black Market/Arkanian Level

Do hardmode L55 flashpoints, dallies, etc to get your Basic Commendations so you can purchase Black Market gear from the Basic vendor for commendations. If you need set bonus, plan on pugging some storymode operations to get the Arkanian gear.

You can either save up 350 Elite Commendations for a mainhand from CZ-198 reputation vendor or save up some credits to buy a 31 barrel/hilt from a crafter. That is the best barrel/hilt you can get without doing any operations.

Underworld/Verpine Level

Getting this tier of gear can be donable with just pugging but you have to get lucky with a good PuG as the Underworld/Verpine stuff only drops off Tier 1 hardmode Operations (TFB/S&V/Golden Fury) or from the last two bosses of the Tier 2 storymode operations (DF/DP). From this point on, you will need to really get into a guild to get better drops.

Augments

Always augment your gear if possible. You don’t have to use the purple augments (28) right away but can use blue augments for now as the stats difference is fairly minimal. For augments search for Augment 28 on the GTN or make them youself). Each Augment also need a MK-9 Augment Kit (search for MK-9 kit on the GTN or make them yourself).

Planetary/Classic Commendations and L50 gear

Storage cap for Classic Commendations: 1000

Gear Situation for new 50s in patch 2.0-2.4

New 50s will no longer receive a free set of Tionese gear or any sort of free gear handout. Instead, they must gear themselves with a combination of planetary commendations and classic commendations.

You can use your planetary commendations to purchase rating 58 amoring, mods, and enhancements at the Makeb Commendation vendor on the fleet or in Makeb. These are pretty much Rakata level mods. Armoring/Barrel/Hilts cost 10 Planetary Commendations while mods and enhancements cost 4 Planetary Commendations. You have a storage cap of 100 planetary commendations but no weekly cap.

If you need a bit more gear,  you can do some dallies in Ilum, Belsavis, Black Hole, Section X for classic commendations. Those looking for grouping action can also queue up for L50 hardmode flashpoints or L50 operations to get Black Hole and Hazmat gear (rating 61 and 63 respectively).

• L50 Hardmode flashpoints have a chance to drop a Black Hole piece each boss.
• Storymode Karagga’s Palace and Eternity Vault drop 2 random Black Hole pieces per boss.
• Hardmode Karagga’s Palace/Eternity Vault and storymode Explosive conflict drops 2 random Hazmat pieces per boss.
• Hard and Nightmare Explosive Conflict drops Dread Guard tokens in addition to Hazmat. 

Classic Commendations are used to purchase Campaign gear at the Classic Gear vendor on the fleet. These Campaign gear do have set bonus but they do not stack with the set bonus on the L55 gear.

Getting Classic Commendations

• Solo dallies in Ilum, Belsavis, Black Hole, and Section X reward 1 Classic Commendations per daily.
• Heroic dallies in those locations reward 3 Classic Commendations per daily.
• Weekly for Black Hole dallies provide you with 15 Classic Commendations and 10 Basic Commendations
• Weekly for Section X dallies provide you with 10 Classic Commendations and 15 Basic Commendations
• L50 Hardmode flashpoint bosses drop 2 Classic Commendations per boss and you get 10 Classic Commendations for doing [DAILY] Galactic Conflicts.
• L50 storymode operation bosses drop 3 Classic Commendations per boss and you get 20 Classic Commendations for finishing KP/EV weekly and 40 Classic Commendations for finishing EC weekly.
• L50 players can also get the Group Finder daily for L50 HM flashpoints which rewards 10 Classic Commendations per day or the Group Finder weekly for KP/EV/EC that rewards 25 Classic Commendations per operation. These rewards are for L50 players only and changes to Basic Commendations as soon as you reach L51 or above. 
• Weekly Priority Targets (kill 3 world bosses) also rewards 12 Classic Commendations.

Artifact Gear (Level 53) 

Rating: Rating 156 with 66 mods

Helm/Chest/Gloves/Legs/Boots

New in Patch 2.4, players who complete the Oricon storyline (level 55) can expect getting a full set of the Artifact quality armor, which are rating 156 with 66 mods.

Bracers/Belts/Implants/Ear/Offhand

Artifact quality Bracers/Belts/Offhand/Implants/Ear can also be crafted by crafters who can purchase the relevant recipes at the Basic Commendation Schematic vendor on the fleet (Crew Skills section). These recipes requires Hero standing with the Makeb faction and costs 60 Basic Commendations each except for the Belt/Bracers which costs 15 Basic Commendations each. The resulting product is BoE and can be find on the GTN (search for Artifact).

Mainhand

Mainhand weapons can be purchased from the Makeb reputation vendors for 80 Basic Commendations each. They also require Hero standing with the reputation vendors to use (takes two weeks to gain the reputation if you are just starting out).

Black Market/Arkanian (Level 55)

Rating: Rating 162 with 69 mods (Q30).

Difference Between Arkanian & Black Market

Black Market and Arkanian are L55 gear and they are rating 162 with 69 mods (Q30). The difference between them is like the difference between Black Hole and Campaign in previous tiers. Black Market gear have no set bonus and can be obtained from hardmode L55 flashpoints or purchased with Basic Commendations while Arkanian gear have set bonus and is obtained exclusively from storymode L55 operations (ear/implant can also drop from last boss of Hardmode Czerka Core Meltdown Flashpoint). In addition to the set bonus, they have slightly different stat allocations.

Black Market Gear

Drops: (L55 Hardmode Flashpoints)

L55 HM flashpoints can be easily completed by players in Dread Guard/Hazmat gear. Players in Black Hole/Campaign gear or less may consider getting a few pieces of the Basic Commendation gear if they want to play it safe.

The four L55 hardmode flashpoints have two bosses inside them that drops Black Market items. The bonus boss (usually require you to kill 80-85 mobs in the flashpoint to unlock) drops a random Black Market item while the final boss drops a fixed set of items. The exception is the Czerka Core Meltdown Flashpoint which doesn’t have a bonus boss but drops Arkanian Ear or Implant.

• Athiss – Prophet of Vodal: Black Market Chest or Black Market Belt
• Cademimu – General Ortol: Black Market Helm or Black Market Implant
• Hammer Station – Battlelord Kreshan: Black Market Legs or Black Market Ear
• Mandalorian Raiders – Mavrix Varad: Black Market Boots or Black Market Gloves
• Czerka Core Meltdown – The Vigilant: Arkanian Ear or Implant

Since these Black Market pieces contain no set bonus, it is advised to rip out the mods and enhancement.

Purchased

Basic Commendations can be used to purchase Black Market gear the the Basic Vendors on the fleet, Makeb Orbital Station or Gravity Hook Seven/Avesta Plantation, and various level 55 daily areas (CZ-198, Oricon)  starting at Level 55. The gear you purchase with Basic Commendations do not come with any set bonuses. They are rating 162 with 69 mods.

Crafting

Q30 mods from Arkanian/Black Market gear can be crafted by crafters. Schematics will need to be learned by REing the existing mods on Arkanian/Black Market gear.

Arkanian Gear

Keep in mind that the set bonus on your Arkanian gear does not stack with your old set bonus from L50 gear.

L55 Storymode Operations & Arkanian tokens

Tier 1 Level 55 operations: TFB/S&V/Golden Fury

• Tier 1 L55 storymode operations can be easily completed by players in Dread Guard/Hazmat gear. Players in Black Hole/Campaign gear or less may consider getting a few pieces of the Black Market gear.

• All bosses have a chance to drop one or two Black Market pieces. There is no pattern and is purely random what they drop. The first two bosses of storymode TFB and the first three bosses of storymode S&V will drop only Black Market pieces. The bosses after them will start dropping Arkanian tokens.

• Note that Golden Fury, an operation boss in Makeb, is a bit of wildcard and may have a chance to drop any of the Arkanian pieces on storymode.

Tier 2 Level 55 operations: DF/DP

• You should have full Artifact gear or better to attempt Tier 2 Level 55 operations on storymode. Getting some pieces of Black Market gear will improve your chances as well.
• The first boss of both operations drop one of two possible loot tokens so you may not always get what you want on the first run.

• Also, the last two bosses of Dread Fortress and Dread Palace storymode operations drops a random Underworld Token and random Verpine piece instead of the usual random Black Market piece.

Earning Basic Commendations

You receive Basic Commendations from one time Makeb story missions, one time Macrobinocular/Seeker Droid missions one time Oricon story missions, and repeatables. Repeatables includes Makeb, GSI, Section X, CZ-198, Oricon dallies; Group Finder daily for L50 hardmode flashpoints and L50 storymode operations; heroic Space Mission dallies; weekly quests and staged weeklies.

• Storage cap for Basic Commendations is 1000, with a 500 weekly limit.

1) One time missions

• Makeb story (49 Basic Commendations) – Level 50 to 55

• Macrobinocular/Seeker Droid Missions (78 Basic Commendations) – Level 52+
• Doing the entire questline for Seeker Droid offers 35 Basic Commendations while the entire questline for Macrobinoculars offer 43 Basic Commendations for a total of 78 Basic Commendations.

• Oricon story missions – Level 55 (35 Basic Commendations)

• Basic Gear (20 Basic Commendations)
• Requires you to have done Section X weekly, Black Hole weekly and Makeb Staged Weekly once.

2) Repeatable (Daily)

*Except Sunday where you get 6.

• Section X (11 Basic Commendations)

• Makeb (16 Basic Commendations)

• GSI Dallies (32 Basic Commendations)

• CZ-198 Dallies (8 Basic Commendations)

• Oricon Dallies (22 Basic Commendations)

3) Repeatable (Weekly)

*You have a choice for Makeb Stage weekly missions and heroic ones tend to reward more Basic Commendations. You get a minimum of 6 or a maximum of 19 for doing 6 missions required for the staged weekly.

4) Summary

• 49 + 78 + 20 + 35  = 182 Basic Commendations as one time mission rewards
• A maximum of 104 Basic Commendations per day or 728 Basic Commendations per week if you do dallies for all 7 days.
• A maximum of 117-130 Basic Commendations from the weeklies at L55.
• Remember that there is a weekly cap of 500 and a total storage cap of 1000 for Basic Commendations.

Verpine/Underworld Gear (level 55)

Rating: Rating 168 with 72 mods (Q31).

Verpine vs Underworld

Verpine and Underworld gear are 168 rating with 72 mods (Q31). Much like the difference between Black Market and Arkanian gear, Verpine gear does not come with set bonuses and can be purchased with Elite Commendations or as random drops from Tier 1 hardmode operations while Underworld gear comes exclusively from Tier 1 hardmode L55 operations (TFB & SV)

Keep in mind that the set bonus on your Underworld gear does not stack with your old set bonus from L50 gear but does stack with the set bonus on your Arkanian gear.

Verpine Gear

Purchased with Elite Commendations

These items can be found on the Elite Vendor in the supplies section of the fleet. Mainhand can be purchased from the CZ-198 reputation vendor.

*The mainhand you purchase here is only rating 162 (Arkanian) level and requires Champion reputation with CZ-198.

Underworld Gear

Tier 1 L55 Hardmode Operations and Underworld tokens

Tier 1 Level 55 Hardmode operations (TFB, S&V, Golden Fury)  can be attempted by players in full Dread Guard but you may need a few Black Market/Arkanian upgrades to succeed against the enrage timer. Terror from Beyond hardmode is much easier than Scum and Villainy and players are encouraged to do TFB HM first to gear up a bit before attempting S&V. Golden Fury in Toborro’s Courtyard on the other hand is slightly more difficult than most hardmode operation bosses due to tight enrage and low tolerance for mistakes.

Note that Golden Fury is a bit of a wildcard and might be able to drop any of the Underworld pieces.

Tier 2 hardmode operations (Dread Fortress and Dread Palace) do not drop Underworld Tokens. Instead, they drop Dread Forged Tokens. However, the last two bosses of the storymode version of these operations will drop random Underworld Tokens.

Crafting

Q31 mods from Underworld/Verpine gear can be crafted by crafters. Schematics will need to be learned by REing the existing mods on Underworld/Verpine gear.

Getting Elite Commendations

You receive Elite Commendations from L55 HM Flashpoints bosses, Group Finder/Bonus Boss daily, operation bosses and their associated weeklies. Note that 16m operations drops 2 more Elite Commendations per boss compared to 8m on all difficulties. In addition, 16m storymode operations also drop ultimate commendations, which is covered in the section below.

• Storage cap for Elite Commendations is 400, with a 200 weekly cap.

*Every boss other than the bonus boss drops 2 Elite Commendations each. You also get 1 Elite Commendation for finishing the flashpoint.

Kell Dragon/Shadowed (level 55)

Rating: Rating 174 with 75 mods (Q33).

Patch 2.2 introduced Nightmare modes for both Terror from Beyond and Scum and Villainy. In addition to Elite and Ultimate Commendations, these operations drop Kell Dragon token gear and Shadowed gear (Kell Dragon stats without set bonus). These gear are 174 rating with 75 mods (Q33) and cannot be purchased with any commendations or crafted.

• Kell Dragon gear and Q33/75 mods cannot be crafted.

Oriconian/Dread Forged

Rating: Rating 180 with 78 mods (Q34)

Oriconian vs Dread Forged

Oriconian gear does not have set bonus and can be obtained as random drops off Tier 2 hardmode operations or purchased with Ultimate Commendations. Dread Forged gear have set bonus and is exclusive to Tier 2 hardmode operations (Dread Fortress and Dread Palace).

Oriconian Gear

Purchased with Ultimate Commendations

Dread Forged Gear

Tier 2 Hardmode operations and Dread Forged Tokens

Tier 2 Hardmode operations requires at least Underworld/Verpine gear to start off. Kell Dragon/Shadowd gear will make things a bit easier. Note that the first boss of each operation and Grob’thok drops one of two possible loot tokens.

Getting Ultimate Commendations

Ultimate Commendations are only earned as loot drops from hardmode operations bosses, 16m storymode operation bosses, or weeklies. There are also one time reward for completing TFB or S&V the first time that rewards 5 Ultimate Commendations each and one time reward for completing DF or DP the first time that rewards 12 Ultimate Commendations each.

Note that 16m operations drop 2 more Ultimate Commendations per boss compared to 8m on hardmode and 16m storymode also drops 4 Ultimate Commendations per boss.

Daily/Weekly Rewards

With so many dallies and weeklies all all offering half a dozen different  commendations it can be a nightmare to keep track of them all.

Additional Resources

• Patch 2.0 Operation loot list
• Nightmare TFB operation guide
• Scum and Villainy Operation guide
• Terror from Beyond Operation guide
• Dread Fortress guide
• Dread Palace guide 
• L55 Hardmode Flashpoints guide: Athiss, Cademimu, Hammer Station, Mandalorian Raiders