Companions are a core part of the SWTOR experience, aiding you in combat and crafting. Gifting is a key way to strengthen them, boosting their efficiency. This guide explores companion gifts, revealing the best ones for each companion. Maximize your companion’s potential with the right presents!
In Star Wars: The Old Republic, companion gifts serve as a primary mechanism for enhancing your companions’ influence, directly impacting their combat prowess and crafting efficiency. Understanding the nuances of these gifts is crucial for players aiming to optimize their gameplay experience. These gifts aren’t merely tokens; they’re strategic tools for character progression.
Companions are integral to SWTOR, following you on missions, engaging in combat, and contributing to crafting endeavors. Their effectiveness is heavily influenced by their influence level, which is significantly boosted through the thoughtful gifting of items they favor. The better the gift, the higher the influence gain, enabling faster progression.
This guide delves into the intricacies of companion gifts, offering insights into selecting the most appropriate gifts for each companion. This will help you understand how to acquire them, and how to utilize legacy perks to maximize their impact. By mastering the art of gifting, players can forge stronger bonds with their companions and unlock their full potential.
Effectively managing companion influence can dramatically alter the dynamics of gameplay. A well-geared and highly influential companion can easily turn the tide of battle, streamline crafting processes, and provide invaluable support throughout your adventures in the Old Republic. So start gifting!
Understanding Companion Influence
Companion Influence in Star Wars: The Old Republic is a crucial stat that directly impacts your companion’s effectiveness in both combat and crafting. A higher influence rank translates to improved performance across various activities, making it a worthwhile investment for any player seeking to optimize their gameplay.
Influence affects several key areas. In combat, companions with higher influence deal more damage, heal more effectively, and can withstand greater punishment. This makes them invaluable allies in challenging encounters, allowing you to tackle difficult content with greater ease. Furthermore, higher influence levels unlock new abilities and passive bonuses for your companions, further enhancing their combat capabilities.
Beyond combat, influence also plays a significant role in crafting. Companions with high influence levels have a higher chance of successfully completing crafting missions and can even learn rare or exclusive crafting schematics. This can be a lucrative way to generate income or acquire powerful gear for your character.
Raising your companion’s influence is primarily achieved through gifting; Understanding their preferences and strategically using gifts is key to maximizing influence gains. Different companions respond favorably to different types of gifts, so it’s essential to research their individual tastes.
Gift Ranks and Rarity
In SWTOR, companion gifts are categorized by both rank and rarity, both of which significantly influence the amount of influence gained when given to a companion. Understanding these factors is crucial for efficient companion leveling.
Gift ranks range from 1 to 6, with higher ranks yielding greater influence gains. As a general rule, always aim to use the highest rank gifts available to you, as lower-rank gifts become less effective as your companion’s influence increases. This is especially true at higher influence brackets, where lower-rank gifts may provide negligible gains.
Gift rarity, on the other hand, determines the base influence value of a gift within a specific rank. Rarity levels typically include common (white), uncommon (green), rare (blue), epic (purple), and legendary (gold). Legendary gifts, being the rarest, provide the most influence.
Ideally, you should strive to acquire rank 6 legendary gifts for maximum efficiency. However, these gifts can be expensive or difficult to obtain, especially for newer players. In such cases, prioritize using the highest rank and rarity gifts you can reasonably acquire. Remember that a higher rank blue or purple gift will generally be more effective than a lower rank gold gift.
Combining knowledge of both gift rank and rarity allows you to make informed decisions about which gifts to use, optimizing your companion leveling process and saving valuable credits and resources.
Companion Gift Preferences: Love, Favorite, Like
Companions in Star Wars: The Old Republic have distinct preferences for different types of gifts, categorized as Love, Favorite, and Like. These preferences significantly affect the amount of influence gained when a companion receives a gift.
A “Love” preference indicates that a companion highly values a specific gift type. Giving a companion a gift they love yields the highest possible influence gain. Identifying and utilizing these “Love” gifts is the most efficient way to increase a companion’s influence.
“Favorite” gifts are the second-best option. While they don’t provide as much influence as “Love” gifts, they still offer a substantial boost. If “Love” gifts are unavailable or too expensive, “Favorite” gifts are a viable alternative.
“Like” gifts offer the smallest influence gain among the positive preferences. While better than giving a gift a companion is indifferent to, “Like” gifts are generally not recommended for efficient leveling, especially at higher influence ranks.
It’s crucial to avoid giving gifts that a companion is indifferent to, as these provide no influence gain whatsoever. Furthermore, certain companions may have unique preferences or aversions based on their personality and backstory. Consulting a companion gift chart is essential to determine the optimal gift types for each companion.
Understanding and exploiting these preferences is key to maximizing the effectiveness of your gifts and rapidly increasing your companions’ influence levels, making them more potent allies in combat and crafting.
Best Gifts for Each Companion Type
Optimizing your companion’s influence requires understanding their individual gift preferences; While broad categories exist, the “best” gift varies significantly from companion to companion.
For companions who favor Military Gear, items like weapon modifications and armor plating are ideal. These companions often have a strong sense of duty or a background in military service.
Luxury gifts, such as expensive wines or rare artifacts, appeal to companions with refined tastes or a penchant for the finer things in life. Giving these companions opulent items will significantly boost their influence.
Companions who appreciate Republic/Imperial Memorabilia respond well to historical artifacts and symbols of their respective factions. These gifts resonate with their loyalty and sense of belonging.
Technology gifts, including advanced gadgets and data modules, are favored by tech-savvy companions or those with a strong interest in innovation. Giving them cutting-edge technology will greatly increase their influence.
Underworld Goods, such as illicit substances and stolen treasures, appeal to companions with a darker side or a history in the criminal underworld. These gifts resonate with their rebellious nature and unconventional values.
Cultural Artifacts are best suited for companions who appreciate history and culture. These characters respond positively to unique items with historical significance.
Trophies are ideal for companions who enjoy competition and victory. These companions are often warriors or leaders who appreciate tangible rewards.
Courting Gifts are typically for romanceable companions and should be given to them only once you want to move the relationship forward. Giving a courting gift to a companion that you are not attempting to romance will not improve your influence with them.
Consulting a comprehensive companion gift guide is essential to pinpoint the precise “Love” gifts for each individual, ensuring maximum influence gain.
Where to Acquire Companion Gifts
Acquiring companion gifts in SWTOR is a multifaceted endeavor, offering players diverse avenues to strengthen their bonds with their allies. One of the most accessible methods is through the Galactic Trade Network (GTN), where players can purchase gifts from others seeking to offload their surplus. Prices fluctuate based on rarity and demand, so shrewd shopping is essential.
Companion gift vendors located on the fleet offer a reliable source of lower-rank gifts, typically Rank 5, available for purchase with credits. These vendors provide a consistent supply for those seeking to gradually increase influence.
Smuggled Supplies Vendor located at the Odessen Cantina offer a reliable source of the highest-ranking gifts, typically Rank 6.
Certain missions, particularly those related to crew skills like Treasure Hunting, can yield companion gifts as rewards. These missions offer a chance to acquire gifts while simultaneously leveling your crew skills.
Participating in events can also grant opportunities to obtain unique or high-quality companion gifts; These events often feature special vendors or reward structures that include gifts as prizes.
Crafting through crew skills like Diplomacy can also produce companion gifts, allowing players to create their own supply. This method requires investment in crafting materials and skill training but provides a sustainable source of gifts.
Keep an eye out for vendors that sell gifts for 200 credits. By hovering your mouse over the gifts, you can see which ones your companion likes. This is a very cheap way to test what gifts your companion loves.
Legacy Perks for Companion Gifts
The Legacy system in SWTOR provides valuable perks that directly enhance the effectiveness of companion gifting, allowing players to maximize their influence gains and streamline the gifting process. These perks, once unlocked, apply account-wide, benefiting all characters and companions.
One of the most significant perks is the “Legacy of Altruism,” which increases the amount of companion influence gained from giving gifts. This perk has multiple tiers, each further boosting the influence gain percentage, up to a maximum of 30% at the highest tier. Unlocking this perk significantly accelerates the companion leveling process, requiring fewer gifts to reach desired influence ranks.
Another useful perk is “Legacy of Promptness,” which reduces the time it takes to give a companion a gift by up to 60%. This perk speeds up the gifting process, allowing players to quickly administer multiple gifts without tedious delays; This is particularly beneficial when using large quantities of gifts to rapidly level a companion.
To unlock these perks, players must reach a certain Legacy level and spend credits. The “Legacy of Altruism” requires Legacy Level 8 and 90,000 credits for all three tiers. Investing in these perks is a worthwhile endeavor, providing long-term benefits for all your characters and companions.
By strategically utilizing these Legacy perks, players can optimize their companion gifting strategy, making the process more efficient and rewarding.
Leveling Companion Influence Efficiently
Efficiently leveling companion influence in SWTOR requires a strategic approach, combining the right gifts with knowledge of companion preferences and available bonuses. The goal is to maximize influence gains while minimizing resource expenditure.
Prioritize giving companions gifts they “love” as these yield the highest influence boost. Consult companion gift charts to determine each companion’s preferred gift types. Utilizing Rank 5 gifts, purchasable from vendors on the fleet, offers a cost-effective way to quickly boost influence, especially in the early stages.
Take advantage of Legacy perks such as “Legacy of Altruism” to increase influence gains from gifts and “Legacy of Promptness” to reduce gifting time. These perks significantly accelerate the leveling process.
Be mindful that gift effectiveness decreases as a companion’s influence rank increases. Higher-rank gifts become more necessary at later stages. Consider using Rank 6 gifts, obtainable from the Odessen Cantina vendor, for maximum influence gains at higher levels.
While crafting Dark Project MK-1s is an option, purchasing Commander’s Compendiums from the Conquest Rewards vendor offers an alternative route to instant level 50 influence. This method requires a significant credit investment but saves time and crafting materials.
Avoid giving companions gifts they dislike, as this yields no influence gain. Focusing on preferred gifts and utilizing available bonuses will drastically reduce the number of gifts needed to reach desired influence levels.
Companion Gift Chart and Resources
Navigating the world of SWTOR companion gifts can be daunting without the proper resources. A comprehensive companion gift chart is essential for determining each companion’s preferred gift types, maximizing influence gains, and minimizing wasted resources. These charts typically list each companion and their corresponding “love,” “favorite,” and “like” gift categories.
Several online resources offer detailed companion gift charts, including fan-made websites and guides. These resources are invaluable for quickly identifying the best gifts for each companion, streamlining the leveling process.
When using these charts, it’s important to note that some companions may have unique preferences or variations based on their storyline or romance status. Consult multiple sources to ensure accuracy and account for any specific companion quirks.
In addition to gift charts, online guides often provide information on where to acquire companion gifts, optimal leveling strategies, and the benefits of companion influence. These resources can help players make informed decisions and optimize their companion leveling efforts.
Furthermore, consider utilizing in-game resources such as the 200-credit gift vendor on the fleet. Hovering over the gifts with your companion summoned will reveal their reaction, providing immediate feedback on their preferences.
By combining the use of comprehensive gift charts with other online resources and in-game tools, players can efficiently level their companions and unlock their full potential in SWTOR.
