The Scoundrel
This build is quite similar to my Skillmaster, to the point where I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to post this or not. However, after thinking it over, I decided that there were enough differences between the two to warrant posting this. What are they? Well, the concept behind this build is that, with a couple of exceptions, you’re playing a Scoundrel as (my interpretation of how) it’s meant to be played, hence the name. Naturally, this means using a lot of skills like my Skillmaster, yes, but the Scoundrel relies more on sneak attacks, whereas the former is more likely to simply sneak by enemies. Also, the Scoundrel uses Sniper Shot quite a bit to take enemies down. Finally, the Scoundrel is considerably more mundane than the Skillmaster; no fancy robes or lightsaber for this guy!
Class: Scoundrel -> Consular. I’d go all Scoundrel if I could without ever using a Jedi class, but unfortunately that’s not a feasible option. Thus, I chose Consular as my Jedi class since it gives a nice boost to force powers and is the most similar to Scoundrel amongst the Jedi classes. Also, Scoundrel -> Consular is the only class combo in the game that gets to have every skill as a class skill. Don’t bother “saving” levels with this build; get as many levelups in Scoundrel as you can before going Consular.
Alignment: Dark Side. The Scoundrel uses some of the GenoHaradan equipment, which means you’ll be getting quite a few dark side points as is. Besides, the dark side offers a variety of offensive force powers that will be hard for enemies to resist given your abilities as a Consular.
Teammates: None! No, I didn’t do this just to punish myself; I just didn’t want to bring party members along most of the time because they can’t accompany you while you’re in stealth mode. That being said, there are some situations where you may want to bring your party members along (such as Taris or the final level). In those cases, I recommend taking your two most powerful frontliners to keep the heat off of you.
Attributes
STR:8 DEX:12 CON:10 INT:18 WIS:14 CHA:10
That’s what you’ll want your starting stats to look like. Put the first attribute point you get on a levelup into Dexterity and the rest into Wisdom. As this is a blaster build, Strength is useless. On the other hand, Dexterity is quite useful but I chose to keep it somewhat low, opting to boost it via equipment instead. You’ll want a little Constitution, but should primarily focus on other stats. Seeing as it’s the attribute that determines your skill points as well as your chance to stun with Sniper Shot, Intelligence will naturally be your most important stat. The remainder of your attribute points should go into Wisdom and Charisma so you can use your force powers effectively.
Skills
Listed in order of priority. Repair and Computer Use won’t become class skills until you become a Consular, so hold off on putting skill points into them until that happens.
Stealth: You’ll want to either sneak past enemies or ambush them with a sneak attack whenever possible. Definitely put lots of skill points into this.
Demolitions: An effective and readily available strategy is to plant a ton of mines and then lure enemies over them. In fact, it’s one of the few feasible ways that this build can take out the final boss. Unless you plan on fiddling with mines in the midst of combat (I don’t recommend this), you don’t need your total skill amount (as in including equipment/feat/attribute bonuses) to go higher than 20.
Awareness: The easiest way to get mines is to recover them and in order to do that you need to be able to spot planted mines.
Security: Ordinarily, this is a pretty worthless skill since you can just break the lock with brute force, but since bashing locks brings you out of stealth mode, I recommend picking them instead.
Computer Use: Most of the interior areas that you fight your way through have a computer available for slicing that you can use to disable defenses or take out whole groups of enemies. Ultimately though, since all this skill really does is let you slice computers using less computer spikes, it’s one of the lower priority skills.
Repair: Similar to Computer Use, most of the interior areas that you fight your way through have a droid available for fixing that can help you in combat. Ultimately though, since all this skill really does is let you repair droids using less parts, it’s one of the lower priority skills. Well, that and let you repair HK-47, but even if you decide to bring along party members he’s (unfortunately) not a good choice for this build.
Persuade: One of the two skills you shouldn’t bother investing in. While I would’ve loved to invest into it for the Scoundrel roleplay, ultimately I decided to put my skill points elsewhere and use Affect/Dominate Mind instead.
Treat Injury: The other skill you shouldn’t bother investing in. Since you have a very limited amount of health, it doesn’t take many medpacs to heal you and ideally you won’t be getting hit in the first place.
Feats
Listed in order of priority. All of them should be maxed out unless indicated otherwise.
Sniper Shot: Like I said, a big part of this build is using this feat, so max it out ASAP.
Dueling: I chose to go with a single blaster pistol for this build, making this a nice feat to use.
Implants: Remember what I said earlier about using equipment to boost your Dexterity? This is one of the areas where that comes into play.
Weapon Focus – Blaster Pistol: By level 20 you should have maxed out all of the above feats but still have one to spare; I recommend putting it here.
Force Powers
Listed in order of priority. The Scoundrel uses armor instead of robes, unfortunately limiting which force powers you can use. All powers should be maxed out unless indicated otherwise.
Affect/Dominate Mind: Like I said in the Skills section, you’ll want to use this instead of Persuade to get your way with people.
Fear/Horror/Insanity: A great defensive tactic, you can use this to shut down groups of enemies. On top of that, stunned enemies are vulnerable to sneak attacks!
Force Choke: A great single-target force power. Kill disables the target and deals DoT equal to 50% of your target’s vitality, so if you use it twice in a row on the same target and they fail to resist it both times, then they’ll stay paralyzed until the DoT kills them. Well, that’s only if they have an even amount of Vitality. If they have an odd amount then they’ll survive with one point of Vitality left.
Slow/Affliction: Probably the least useful of the dark side powers, but debuffing enemies can be a useful tactic. Note that Plague is restricted by armor, so you’ll only want to pick up Slow and Affliction.
Energy Resistance: This is a weird one. Judging by its name, you’d think it would provide resistance against energy-based attacks, but according to its description, it doesn’t. However, if you actually use it, you’ll see that it does, thus making it a very useful power to grab.
Force Push: Force Push is nice for keeping enemies away from you, while Force Whirlwind can more or less disable them. Lategame, Force Wave is a great power to use if you get surrounded. It’s also, if I recall correctly, one of the few powers that can be used effectively on the final boss.
Equipment
Weapon: The Sith Assassin Pistol (the one that Saul Karath uses, not the regular kind) is the absolute best weapon for this build, so go with that. Until you get it, the strongest blaster pistol in your arsenal will suffice.
Head: There’s a lot of skill-boosting headgear out there, so initially you can go with whatever you find. The absolute best option for this build though is the Advanced Agent Interface. However, that requires access to Yavin Station, so if you don’t have that then you’ll have to settle for the Interface Visor instead.
Body: For most of the game, you can simply go with whatever light armor you find. This build’s endgame armor of choice though is the GenoHaradan Mesh Armor.
Implant: Simply go with whatever you find that gives the highest boost to Dexterity. For those with access to Yavin Station, that would be the Advanced Alacrity Implant. Otherwise, it’s the Gordulan Reaction System.
Belt: You’ll want to go with whatever belt you can find that gives the highest boost to stealth. In that regard, the best belt is the Baragwin Stealth Unit, but that requires access to Yavin Station, so if you don’t have that then you’ll have to settle for the GenoHaradan Stealth Unit instead.
Hands: The Infiltrator Gauntlets are this build’s endgame gloves of choice, but until you get them, the Stabilizer Gauntlets are a nice alternative.
Replies