Crew skills

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I haven't seen any guides about this, so I thought I'd contribute a guide since I've done some research into this. This guide will go over the (current) companion bonuses and have several charts to help you decide what the best crew skills you can get for your class, and what you want to do.

Please keep in mind that I will be listing the names of all the companion characters, which will be minor spoilers. You'll likely run across these characters anyways so I don't think it will be a big deal, but that is up to you. If you don't want to see them, do not read on.

I will not be mentioning the ship droid in any area -- he is always 0 affection and has no crew bonuses. He is useful for grey, green, and yellow missions, as well as crafting slowly, but I never use him for anything important as he tends to fail and do poorly.


Table of Contents:

1. What these bonuses mean
2. Crew Skills -- What they are
3. Crafting skill Charts
4. Miscellaneous Tips

1. What these bonuses mean

This is going to be a relatively short section. I am still learning a bit about these myself, this is not at all complete information. If anyone has anything to add I will confirm it and add it here.

There are two bonuses that companions currently have: efficiency and critical.

First is efficiency. It comes in +5, +10, and on occasion, +15. This is simply a speed bonus to crafting. From my understanding these are 5%, 10%, and 15% faster crafting speed and mission completing speed. I have not tested gathering skills much in the open world, but it does not appear to effect them.

Second is critical. It comes in +1, +2, and +5. At first glance you may look at these and think they are weaker because they are smaller numbers, but this is not the case.

Critical in crafting means that you will either craft additional items, or if you are making gear, it will come with an augment slot, which you can fill with augments. These are obtained by slicing, but are generally dirt cheap on the auction house. Critical in missions will net you additional items, and rare rewards (such as epic crafting materials or rare schematics). Again, critical does not appear to effect gathering skills in the open world. I have yet to 'crit' on a node. All crew missions can 'crit'.

I am unsure the exact effect of these bonuses, but I am assuming they are +1%, +2%, and +5% additional chance to 'crit' a craft or mission.

Generally speaking, critical will be better than efficiency, because, ironically, critical is more efficient with your money and materials. For crafting specifically, criticals are especially valuable. Critical armstech, armormech, and synthweaving will provide augment slots and make gear better than any other (even if only slightly). For biochem consumables, it will provide you with extra items. It does not appear to effect item modifications. Efficiency on the other hand just lets you craft items faster, which doesn't matter much. Quality over quantity is best here. Cybertech and artifice however do not currently have any critical bonuses available, so keep that in mind.

Whether you want to have mission skills running faster (and pumping out more materials) or having a higher chance of critically succeeding missions for extra materials is up to you, but most people seem to prefer critical here as well. My thoughts is that both can be viable -- faster missions means you can push out more of them faster and get materials quicker, while criticals can occasionally go off and net you bigger rewards. Which you choose is up to you.


2. Crew Skills -- What they are

I am going to be listing crafting skills with their corresponding mission and gathering skill. These are the following:

Armormech > Scavenging > Underworld Trading

Armormech is simply the crafting of cunning (medium) and aim armor (heavy). You cannot craft strength or willpower gear with this, see Synthweaving for that. Offhand items are crafted by artifice.

Scavenging allows you to acquire metals for basic (premium) crafting for armormech, armstech, and cybertech. These basic materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Underworld Trading will allow you to obtain underworld metals needed to make prototype and artifact armor and cybertech items, as well as other useful items such as companion gifts. (Armormech uses only metal)

Armstech > Scavenging > Investigation

Armstech is a versatile crafting skill that provides barrels (for modifiable guns of all types) and every type of weapon except lightsabers (including blaster pistols, blaster rifles, blaster cannons, sniper rifles, scatter guns, vibroswords, vibroknives, techblades, techstaves, and electrostaves).

Scavenging allows you to acquire metals for basic (premium) crafting for armormech, armstech, and cybertech. These basic materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Investigation allows you to acquire researched compounds needed to make prototype and artifact barrels and weapons, as well as other useful items such as companion gifts.

Synthweaving > Archeology > Underworld Trading

Synthweaving is the crafting skill for strength and willpower armor. It will craft all levels of armor for these, including heavy strength armor. For aim and cunning gear, see armormech. Offhand items are crafted by artifice.

Archeology is used to gather power crystals and artifacts needed for basic (premium) crafting for artifice and synthweaving. These basic materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Underworld Trading will allow you to obtain luxury cloth and underworld metals needed to make prototype and artifact armor and cybertech items, as well as other useful items such as companion gifts. (Synthweaving uses both cloth and metal)

Artifice > Archeology > Treasure Hunting

Artifice is a versatile crafting skill used for weapon hilts (strength and willpower weapon modification), enhancements (used in all armors and weapons for modification), offhand items, color crystals (used for lightsaber blade and blaster bolt colors and stats, only yellow, green, blue, and red is available through crafting) and even lightsabers much later in the game.

Archeology is used to gather power crystals and artifacts needed for basic (premium) crafting for artifice and synthweaving. These basic materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Treasure hunting will allow you to obtain gemstones needed for prototype and artifact recipes -- including yellow color crystals -- as well as other useful items such as companion gifts and lockboxes.

Cybertech > Scavenging > Underworld Trading or Slicing

Cybertech is one of the most versatile crew skills in the game, there are all sorts of items you can craft with this crew skill. Ship parts, droid parts, mods (used in all modifiable armor and weapons), armoring (used in modifiable armor), earpieces, cybertech-only speeders and more.

Scavenging allows you to acquire metals for basic (premium) crafting for armormech, armstech, and cybertech. These basic materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Underworld Trading will allow you to obtain luxury cloth and underworld metals needed to make prototype and artifact armor and cybertech items, as well as other useful items such as companion gifts. (Cybertech ONLY uses metal)

Slicing allows you to collect credits from missions as well as nodes in the open world. You can also obtain augments (used on modifiable critically crafted weapons and armor) and rare schematics with this skill. It does not provide materials for any crafting skill, and as such stands out on its own for the most part. However, it does provide cybertech schematics and mission items for other gathering/mission skills. (I mention this since Underworld Trading only uses half of the items, the metals, and since this provides Cybertech schematics. Decide for yourself which to pick)

Biochem > Bioanalysis > Diplomacy

Biochem is the consumable item crafting skill. It is used to make med pacs (healing for the player), med units (healing for the player and companion), stims (long term buffs), adrenals (short term buffs), and implants.

Bioanalysis allows you to collect the basic (premium) materials needed for biochem from plants and animals. These materials are also needed for crafting prototype and artifact schematics in addition to other materials.

Diplomacy will allow you to obtain medical supplies needed to make prototype and artifact (reusable, biochemist only) consumables in addition to prototype and artifact implants. You can also obtain companion gifts and lightside/darkside points from this crew skill.

Slicing > Gathering/Mission Skill > Gathering/Mission Skill

If you are going after pure profit, this is a good set up. Alternatively, you can replace slicing with a different skill, or replace a crafting's gathering or mission skill with slicing, but I do not recommend it. I recommend slicing + 2 mission skills, as the materials from the latter tend to be more valuable than gathering skills.

Slicing allows you to collect credits from missions as well as nodes in the open world. You can also obtain augments (used on modifiable critically crafted weapons and armor) and rare schematics with this skill. It does not provide materials for any crafting skill, and as such stands out on its own for the most part. However, it does provide cybertech schematics and mission items for other gathering/mission skills.

3. Crafting skill Charts

(eff = efficiency, crit = critical)

+15 efficiency and +5 critical bonuses will be in itallics.

I will also give each crew skill combo a rating, 1 point for +1 crit and +5 eff, 2 points for +2 crit and +10 eff, and 3 points for +5 crit and +15 eff. For profits, I will assume slicing + the 2 highest mission/gathering skills, but feel free to use any combo you like. If the rating is bolded, that class has the highest rating for it in the game.

For profiteering, I will underline the highest bonuses that make for the maximum rating.

I'll also give my biased opinion and thoughts about each class on their strengths and weaknesses. Take this as you will!

a. Jedi Knight

T7-01: +10 eff bioanalysis, +2 crit slicing
Kira Carsen: +5 crit synthweaving, +1 crit treasure hunting
Doc: +5 eff underworld trading, +5 crit biochem
Sergeant Rusk: +10 eff scavenging, +10 eff armstech
Lord Scourge: +10 eff artifice, +10 eff archeology

Artifice: +10 eff artifice (Scourge), +10 eff archeology (Scourge), +1 crit treasure hunting (Kira) (Rating: 5)
Synthweaving: +5 crit (Kira Carsen), +10 eff archeology (Scourge), +5 eff Underword Trading (Doc) (Rating: 6)
Armstech: +10 eff armstech (Rusk), +10 eff scavenging (Rusk) (Rating: 4)
Armormech: +10 eff scavenging (Rusk), +5 eff underworld trading (Doc) (Rating: 3)
Cybertech: +10 eff scavenging (Rusk), +5 eff underworld trading (Doc), +2 crit slicing (T7-01) (Rating: 3 or 4)
Biochem: +5 crit biochem (Doc), +10 eff bioanalysis (T7-01) (Rating: 5)
Profit: +2 crit slicing (T7-01), +10 eff scavenging (Rusk), +10 eff archeology (Scourge), +5 underworld trading (Doc), +1 crit treasure hunting (Kira) (Rating: 6)

Bowser's thoughts:

The jedi knight is really a mixed bag. Profiteering and artifice are fair bets, but I would go with either biochem or synthweaving for the +5 critical bonuses.

Biochem is useful thanks to Doc and T7, but there are no diplomacy bonuses. However, this is the only class with +5 crit biochem which largely makes up for that weakness.

This is also the only Republic class with any bonuses for Artifice. The only other class in the game with Artifice bonuses would be the Sith Inquisitor (with a whopping +15 efficiency!).

Personally I went with Biochem to have that skill on Republic side, but I was also torn between Synthweaving or Artifice.

b. Jedi Consular

Qyzen Fess: +15 eff archeology, +5 eff bioanalysis
Tharan Cedrax: +10 eff cybertech, +10 eff slicing
Zenith: +1 crit underworld trading, +15 eff Treasure hunting
Lieutenant Iresso: +2 crit armstech, +2 crit scavenging
Nadia Grell: +10 eff synthweaving, +2 crit diplomacy

Artifice: +15 eff archeology (Qyzen), +15 eff Treasure hunting (Zenith) (Rating: 6)
Synthweaving: +10 eff synthweaving (Nadia), +15 eff archeology (Qyzen), +1 crit underworld trading (Zenith) (Rating: 6)
Armstech: +2 crit armstech (Iresso), +2 crit scavenging (Iresso) (Rating: 4)
Armormech: +2 crit scavenging (Iresso), +1 crit underworld trading (Zenith) (Rating: 3)
Cybertech: +10 eff cybertech (Tharan), +2 crit scavenging (Iresso), +1 crit underworld trading (Zenith), +10 eff slicing (Tharan) (Rating: 5-6)
Biochem: +5 eff bioanalysis (Qyzen), +2 crit diplomacy (Nadia) (Rating: 3)
Profiteering: +10 eff slicing (Tharan), +15 treasure hunting (Zenith), +2 crit diplomacy (Nadia), +1 crit underworld trading (Zenith), +5 eff bioanalysis (Qyzen) (Rating: 7)

Bowser's thoughts:
Your best bet will be profiteering, synthweaving, cybertech, or artifice.

The consular has outstandingly high archeology and treasure hunting! Unfortunately, you do not get any artifice bonuses... if only!

Cybertech is also viable thanks to Tharan, especially if you decide to go with slicing instead of underworld trading.

Synthweaving isn't a bad choice either, still taking advantage of Qyzen's outstanding archeology bonus.

Personally I took cybertech, since the consular has no critical crafting bonuses (besides armstech) and its cybertech is on par with the other options as the highest in the game (+10 efficiency), and the bonus slicing is also great. I almost took synthweaving, or even artifice -- even without any direct artifice bonuses, two massive bonuses like that are hard to pass up!

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Aric Jorgan: +10 eff armstech, +2 crit diplomacy
Elara Dorne: +10 eff biochem, +10 eff bioanalysis
M1-4X: +5 crit scavenging, +5 eff cybertech
Tanno Vik: +5 crit armormech, +1 crit underworld trading
Yuun: +10 eff slicing, +10 eff Investigation

Artifice: Nothing. (Rating: 0)
Synthweaving: +1 crit underworld trading (Tanno) (Rating: 1)
Armstech: +10 eff armstech (Aric), +5 crit scavenging (M1-4X), +10 eff Investigation (Yuun) (Rating: 7)
Armormech: +5 crit armormech (Tanno), +5 crit scavenging (M1-4X), +1 crit underworld trading (Tanno) (Rating: 7)
Cybertech: +5 eff cybertech (M1-4X), +5 crit scavenging (M1-4X), +1 crit underworld trading (Tanno), +10 eff slicing (Yuun) (Rating: 5-6)
Biochem: +10 eff biochem (Elara), +10 eff bioanalysis (Elara), +2 crit diplomacy (Aric) (Rating: 6)
Profiteering: +10 eff slicing (Yuun), +5 crit scavenging (M1-4X), +10 eff bioanalysis (Elara), +2 crit diplomacy (Aric), +10 eff investigation (Yuun), +1 crit underworld trading (Tanno) (Rating: 7)

Bowser's thoughts:

WOW. That is all I can say looking at these amazing stats. Troopers pretty much can take any crew skill combo in the game besides artifice and synthweaving and kick ***. Out of all of these choices, armormech, profiteering, and armstech are by far your best choices.

It really feels like this class was made for armormech. Not only do they get amazing bonuses for it, every companion you have wears the same armor type (besides the droid): heavy aim armor. Unlock rares on that type and you can outfit everyone!

Not only that, but the armormech bonus is +5 critical which many people (including myself) consider better for crafting skills, and the scavenging bonus is +5 critical too, with Underworld trading also being +1 critical just for good measure. Seriously, does it get any better than this?

Profiteering is viable and you have a great deal of choices. Yuun has great slicing, M1-4X has his amazing scavenging skills, and you have a great choice of either diplomacy or bioanalysis. You can't go wrong here!

Armstech is also, again, just flat out amazing. Whether you go for armstech or armormech, you are going to be kicking *** with troopers. That said, the armstech is efficiency instead of critical, so you may want to consider going with the smuggler on armstech instead.

If these 3 skills aren't what you want, biochem is a close runner up with cybertech not far behind. Just don't take Artifice or synthweaving... you have no business taking them anyways, as they are useless to you and your companions both.

Personally, I went with armormech. You just can't go wrong with all of those critical bonuses!

d. Smuggler

Corso Riggs: +5 crit armstech, +5 eff underworld trading
Bowdaar: +10 eff scavenging, +10 eff cybertech
Risha: +15 eff diplomacy, +1 crit slicing
Akaavi Spar: +10 eff armormech, +2 crit bioanalysis
Guss Tuno: +10 eff underworld trading, +2 crit investigation

Artifice: None. (Rating: 0)
Synthweaving: +5 eff underworld trading (Corso), +10 eff Underworld Trading (Guss) (Rating: 3)
Armstech: +5 crit armstech (Corso), +10 eff scavenging (Bowdaar), +2 crit investigation (Guss) (Rating: 7)
Armormech: +10 eff armormech (Akaavi), +10 eff scavenging (Bowdaar), +5 eff underworld trading (Corso), +10 eff Underworld Trading (Guss) (Rating: 7)
Cybertech: +10 eff cybertech (Bowdaar), +10 scavenging (Bowdaar), +5 eff underworld trading (Corso), +10 eff Underworld trading (Guss), +1 crit slicing (Risha) (Rating: 5-7)
Biochem: +2 crit bioanalysis (Akaavi), +15 diplomacy (Risha) (Rating: 5)
Profit: +1 crit slicing (Risha), +15 diplomacy (Risha), +2 crit bioanalysis (Akaavi), +10 scavenging (Bowdaar), +5 eff underworld trading (Corso), +10 eff underworld trading (Guss), +2 crit investigation (Guss) (Rating: 7) (Take Underworld trading and Diplomacy for 7, Take investigation, scavenging, or bioanalysis instead of slicing for 8)

Bowser's thoughts:

New information on the smuggler has changed everything. And it's all thanks to Guss! This class now has the 100%, official, best bonuses in the game for armstech thanks to Guss's +2 crit investigation in addition to +5 crit armstech (which by itself is amazing) and topped off with +10 efficiency scavenging.

But this is not the most interesting part! As far as I know, this is the only class in the game with two companions with the same tradeskill. Guss has +10 efficiency Underworld trading, Corso has +5 efficiency underworld trading. For this reason, this class is the best option in the game for Cybertech also, and is a decent choice for armormech.

All in all you have a great deal of amazing choices for this class. Armstech, Profiteering, Armormech, and Cybertech are all top notch, and biochem is also viable (with a +15 efficiency diplomacy bonus too). Just don't take artifice or synthweaving, which a smuggler has no business taking.

Still, I recommend going with Armstech, +5 crit and the other great bonuses are too good to pass up. This is where I went.

e. Republic Side Summary

Best at crew skill combos:

Artifice: Jedi Consular (6)
Synthweaving: Jedi Knight & Jedi Consular (6)
Armstech: Trooper & Smuggler (7)
Armormech: Trooper (7)
Biochem: Trooper (6)
Cybertech: Smuggler (7)
Profit: Trooper & Smuggler (7)

Best at Crew Skills:

Artifice: Jedi Knight (+10 eff) (only option)
Synthweaving: Jedi Knight (+5 crit)
Armstech: Smuggler (+5 crit)
Armormech: Trooper (+5 crit)
Cybertech: Jedi Consular (+10 eff) and Smuggler (+10 eff)
Biochem: Jedi Knight (+5 crit)
Archeology: Jedi Consular (+15 eff)
Scavenging: Trooper (+5 crit)
Bioanalysis: Jedi Knight (+10 eff), Trooper (+10 eff), & Smuggler (+2 crit)
Slicing: Jedi Knight (+2 crit), Jedi Consular (+10 eff), & Trooper (+10 eff)
Treasure Hunting: Jedi Consular (+15 eff)
Underworld Trading: Smuggler (+5 eff & +10 eff)
Investigation: Trooper (+10 eff) & Smuggler (+2 crit)
Diplomacy: Smuggler (+15 eff)

Critical Crafting Skills:

Artifice: None.
Synthweaving: Jedi Knight (+5)
Armstech: Smuggler (+5)
Armormech: Trooper (+5)
Cybertech: None.
Biochem: Jedi Knight (+5)

f. Sith Warrior

Vette: +5 eff Underworld Trading, +5 Crit Treasure Hunting
Malavai Quinn: +10 eff Diplomacy, +10 eff Armstech
Jaesa Willsaam: +5 eff Archaeology, +5 Crit Synthweaving
Lieutenant Pierce: +10 eff Cybertech, +2 crit investigation
Broonmark: +10 eff Scavenging, +2 Crit Bioanalysis

Artifice: +5 eff archeology (Jaesa), +5 crit treasure hunting (Vette) (Rating: 4)
Synthweaving: +5 crit synthweaving (Jaesa), +5 eff archeology (Jaesa), +5 eff underworld trading (Vette) (Rating: 5)
Armstech: +10 eff Armstech (Malavai), +10 eff scavenging (Broon), +2 crit investigation (Pierce) (Rating: 6)
Armormech: +10 eff scavenging (Broon), +5 eff underworld trading (Vette) (Rating: 3)
Cybertech: +10 eff cybertech (Pierce), +10 eff scavenging (Broon), +5 eff Underworld Trading (Vette) (Rating: 5)
Biochem: +2 crit bioanalysis (Broon), +10 eff Diplomacy (Malavai) (Rating: 4)
Profit: +5 crit treasure hunting (Vette), +10 eff Diplomacy (Malavai), +2 crit investigation (Pierce), +10 eff scavenging (Broon), +5 eff Underworld Trading (Vette) (Rating: 5)

Bowser's thoughts:

Okay, I am just going to flat out say it: the Sith warrior's companions suck at crafting. Every crafting skill combo is mismatched badly. The only crafting skill that stands out at all is Synthweaving because of its +5 critical bonuses, but really, take anything but armormech and you're good...

That said, critical crafting is always great, and since this class sucks at crafting anything else specifically, you may as well take it if you're looking for bonuses. +5 critical on a crafting skill is just about as good as you can get, so it will make up for the weaknesses.

Ironically, the armstech is probably higher on this class than others on the Empire side and one of its best combo, but I wouldn't take that on a sith warrior.

Personally, I just went ahead and took +5 crit synthweaving. Feels like the best choice out of the options available, and again, you can't go wrong with +5 critical crafting.

g. Sith Inquisitor

Khem Val: +15 eff artifice, +5 eff investigation
Andronikos Revel: +2 Crit Underworld Trading, +2 Crit Slicing
Ashara Zavros: +10 eff Synthweaving, +10 eff Diplomacy
Talos Drellik: +5 eff Treasure Hunting, +5 Crit Archaeology
Xalek: +10 eff Bioanalysis, +2 Crit Scavenging

Artifice: +15 eff artifice (Khem), +5 Crit Archaeology (Talos) , +5 eff Treasure Hunting (Talos) (Rating: 7)
Synthweaving: +10 eff Synthweaving (Ashara), +5 Crit Archaeology (Talos) , +2 Crit Underworld Trading (Andronikos) (Rating: 7)
Armstech: +2 crit scavenging (Xalek), +5 eff investigation (Khem) (Rating: 3)
Armormech: +2 crit scavenging (Xalek), +2 Crit Underworld Trading (Andronikos) (Rating: 4)
Cybertech: +2 crit scavenging (Xalek), +2 Crit Underworld Trading (Andronikos), +2 Crit Slicing (Andronikos) (Rating: 4)
Biochem: +10 eff Bioanalysis (Xalek), +10 eff Diplomacy (Ashara) (Rating: 4)
Profit: +2 Crit Slicing (Andronikos), +5 Crit Archaeology (Talos) , +2 Crit Underworld Trading (Andronikos), +10 eff Diplomacy (Ashara), +2 crit scavenging (Xalek), +5 eff investigation (Khem), +5 eff Treasure Hunting (Talos) (Rating: 7)

Bowser's thoughts:

The inquisitor has some pretty amazing crew skills. Both Artifice and Synthweaving are going to be extremely good choices. Profiteering is also acceptable. Unfortunately, everything else is lacking.

Artifice especially stands out, no one else in the entire game is anywhere near this level, and the inquisitor is one of only two classes in the game that even have it at all -- and it has +15 effieciency! It's supported by a +5 critical archeology and +5 efficiency treasure hunting which makes it all the better.

Synthweaving is also the best in the game, and profiteering is a very good option also. Everything other choice is weak, however.

Yeah, I took artifice. Khem Val and Talos just feels destined to craft lightsaber parts. I didn't resist it.

h. Imperial Agent

Kaliyo: +10 eff Armstech, +2 crit underworld trading
Vector: +5 eff Bioanalysis, +5 Crit Diplomacy
Doctor Lokin: +15 eff Biochem, +10 eff investigation
Ensign Temple: +10 eff Scavenging, +2 Crit Armormech
SCORPIO: +10 eff Cybertech, +2 Crit Slicing

Artifice: Nothing. (Rating: 0)
Synthweaving: +2 crit underworld trading (Kaliyo) (Rating: 2)
Armstech: +10 eff Armstech (Kaliyo), +10 eff Scavenging (Temple), +10 eff investigation (Lokin) (Rating: 6)
Armormech: +2 Crit Armormech (Temple), +10 eff Scavenging (Temple), +2 crit underworld trading (Kaliyo) (Rating: 6)
Cybertech: +10 eff Cybertech (SCORPIO), +10 eff Scavenging (Temple), +2 crit underworld trading (Kaliyo), +2 Crit Slicing (SCORPIO) (Rating: 6)
Biochem: +15 eff Biochem (Lokin), +5 eff Bioanalysis (Vector), +5 Crit Diplomacy (Vector) (Rating: 7)
Profit: +2 Crit Slicing (SCORPIO), +5 Crit Diplomacy (Vector), +2 crit underworld trading (Kaliyo), +10 eff Scavenging (Temple), +10 eff investigation (Lokin), +5 eff Bioanalysis (Vector) (Rating: 7)

Bowser's thoughts:

The agent is nearly as amazing as the trooper is in crew skill bonuses, and follows the same kind of reasoning. There are no wasted bonuses for artifice or synthweaving, and Dr. Lokin is unlike any other companion in the game in that he gives a +15 and a +10 -- everyone else would give +15 and +5. All this added together means that you have a great variety of options available.

Now, both big bonuses are for biochem, so that is my opinion on what to take. It is very good. +15 efficiency biochem and +5 critical diplomacy with an extra +5 efficiency bioanalysis thrown on the side, what's not to love?

Profiteering is also great. Cybertech, armormech, and armstech are all very good and viable also. Just don't take artifice or synthweaving... not that an agent would anyways.

Personally I went with Biochem. It just feels like the natural choice for this class.

i. Bounty Hunter

Mako: +15 eff Slicing, +5 eff cybertech
Gault: +10 eff Underworld Trading, +2 Crit Biochem
Torian Cadera: +2 Crit Bioanalysis, +10 eff investigation
Blizz: +15 eff Armormech, +1 Crit Armstech
Skadge: +10 eff Scavenging, +2 Crit Treasure Hunting

Artifice: +2 crit treasure hunting (Skadge) (Rating: 2)
Synthweaving: +10 eff Underworld Trading (Gault) (Rating: 2)
Armstech: +1 Crit Armstech (Blizz), +10 eff Scavenging (Skadge), +10 eff investigation (Torian) (Rating: 5)
Armormech: +15 eff Armormech (Blizz), +10 eff Scavenging (Skadge), +10 eff Underworld Trading (Gault) (Rating: 7)
Cybertech: +5 eff cybertech (Mako), +10 eff Scavenging (Skadge), +10 eff Underworld Trading (Gault), +15 eff Slicing (Mako) (Rating: 5-6)
Biochem: +2 Crit Biochem (Gault), +2 Crit Bioanalysis (Torian) (Rating: 4)
Profit: +15 eff Slicing (Mako), +2 Crit Bioanalysis (Torian), +10 eff Scavenging (Skadge), +10 eff Underworld Trading (Gault), +10 eff investigation (Torian), +2 crit treasure hunting (Skadge) (Rating: 7)

Bowser's thoughts:

The bounty hunter has a pretty good crew skill lineup. Your best bets are armormech or profiteering, but armstech and cybertech are good too if you would prefer them. Unfortunately, biochem is lacking, and unsurprisingly artifice and synthweaving are, too.

It's worth noting that Mako has the highest slicing in the game, and you get her early on. So if you are going for profiteering, you will have great success from early in the game.

Cybertech provides excellent bonuses and can take advantage of Mako's incredible slicing skill should you decide to go that route. Unfortunately the cybertech bonus itself is only +5 efficiency, but that's only 5 less than the best any other class has to offer.

Personally, I went with cybertech, but I've made a PVP alt with profiteering (slicing, underworld, treasure hunting), too. Armormech was tempting, but efficiency only does so much for crafting.

j. Imperial Side Summary

Best at crew skill combos:

Artifice: Sith Inquisitor (7)
Synthweaving: Sith Inquisitor (7)
Armstech: Sith Warrior & Imperial Agent (6)
Armormech: Bounty Hunter (7)
Biochem: Imperial Agent (7)
Cybertech: Imperial Agent & Bounty Hunter (6)
Profit: Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent, & Bounty Hunter (7)

Best at Crew Skills:

Artifice: Sith Inquisitor (+15 eff) (only option)
Synthweaving: Sith Warrior (+5 crit)
Armstech: Sith Warrior (+10 eff) & Imperial Agent (+10 eff)
Armormech: Bounty Hunter (+15 eff)
Cybertech: Sith Warrior (+10 eff) and Imperial Agent (+10 eff)
Biochem: Imperial Agent (+15 eff)
Archeology: Sith Inquisitor (+5 crit)
Scavenging: Sith Warrior (+10 eff), Sith Inquisitor (+2 crit), Imperial Agent (+10 eff), & Bounty Hunter (+10 eff)
Bioanalysis: Sith Warrior (+2 crit), Sith Inqusitor (+10 eff), & Bounty Hunter (+2 crit)
Slicing: Bounty Hunter (+15 eff)
Treasure Hunting: Sith Warrior (+5 crit)
Underworld Trading: Sith Inquisitor (+2 crit), Imperial Agent (+2 crit), & Bounty Hunter (+10 eff)
Investigation: Sith Warrior (+2 crit), Imperial Agent (+10 eff), & Bounty Hunter (+10 eff)
Diplomacy: Imperial Agent (+5 crit)

Critical Crafting Skills:

Artifice: None.
Synthweaving: Sith Warrior (+5)
Armstech: Bounty Hunter (+1)
Armormech: Imperial Agent (+2)
Cybertech: None.
Biochem: Bounty Hunter (+2)

k. Overall Summary

Best at crew skill combos:

Artifice: Sith Inquisitor (7)
Synthweaving: Sith Inquisitor (7)
Armstech: Trooper & Smuggler (7)
Armormech: Trooper & Bounty Hunter (7)
Biochem: Imperial Agent (7)
Cybertech: Smuggler (7)
Profit: Trooper, Smuggler, Sith Inquisitor, Imperial Agent, & Bounty Hunter (7)

Best at Crew Skills:

Artifice: Sith Inquisitor (+15 eff)
Synthweaving: Jedi Knight (+5 crit) & Sith Warrior (+5 crit)
Armstech: Smuggler (+5 crit)
Armormech: Trooper (+5 crit) & Bounty Hunter (+15 eff)
Cybertech: Jedi Consular (+10 eff), Smuggler (+10 eff), Sith Warrior (+10 eff) and Imperial Agent (+10 eff)
Biochem: Jedi Knight (+5 crit) & Imperial Agent (+15 eff)
Bioanalysis: Jedi Knight (+10 eff), Trooper (+10 eff), Smuggler (+2 crit), Sith Warrior (+2 crit), Sith Inqusitor (+10 eff), & Bounty Hunter (+2 crit)
Slicing: Bounty Hunter (+15 eff)
Treasure Hunting: Sith Warrior (+5 crit)
Underworld Trading: Smuggler (+5 eff & +10 eff)
Investigation: Trooper (+10 eff), Smuggler (+2 crit), Sith Warrior (+2 crit), Imperial Agent (+10 eff), & Bounty Hunter (+10 eff)
Diplomacy: Smuggler (+15 eff) & Imperial Agent (+5 crit)

+5 Critical Crafting Skills:

Artifice: None.
Synthweaving: Jedi Knight & Sith Warrior
Armstech: Smuggler
Armormech: Trooper
Cybertech: None.
Biochem: Jedi Knight

4. Miscellaneous Tips
Place all your crafting materials in your cargo hold. You will still be able to craft with them.


<ul><li>You can cancel items and missions and get a complete refund. All you lose is the time you spent crafting the item.</li><li>HK-51 is not available to obtain in the game. If you have seen him on database websites and are wondering how to get an extra companion with his bonuses to crafting, do not bother ... he was removed after the beta and is no longer available. If he ever is available, he'd be given to everyone and have +2 crit artifice, and +2 crit cybertech, the only crits available for these crew skills, and you would able to have an additional specialized crew member working with them.</li><li>Mission skills tend to be more valuable for making money than gathering skills are. Prototype and Artifact materials sell very well. Slicing will net you only a small profit in credits, but gathering nodes out in the world will make you money. Whether it is better than the mission skills is up to you, but if you go pure profits you may want to including slicing... just for gathering nodes.</li><li>Slicing is not connected to any crafting skill. It is only used to make money, and to obtain augments. I will not be covering the value of this skill in detail, but it is generally not more useful than a corresponding gathering or mission skill.</li><li>Many items require vendor-bought materials. If you ever see white quality items needed for crafting, they are available on crew skill vendors which are on practically every planet in the game. You can also do gathering missions for them if you feel like saving a small amount of money, or would like some without heading to an outpost.</li><li>Reverse engineering items has a chance to unlock better items as well as return materials for cheap skill ups. Reverse engineer premium items to unlock prototype schematics of the same item, and reverse engineer prototype items to unlock artifact schematics. You are not guaranteed to unlock them, it may take a while.</li><li>Consider carefully whether you want to unlock artifact items. They are better than prototypes, but they are very expensive to unlock and rarely will the gain be worth the money spent (except in the case of biochem). They tend to be quickly leveled out of and only briefly advantageous. This may not deter you but be sure before you waste materials (and credits spent to obtain them).</li><li>Biochem is an exception. Their items tend to be very cheap to reverse engineer, and the artifact items are reusable versions of prototype quality consumables. However, keep in mind that these items are not bind in pickup and can be purchased from/crafted by someone who already unlocked them -- you may want to ask around before you go to the trouble, especially for med pacs.</li><li>Diplomacy is an excellent skill to use if you plan on making a grey (neutral) alignment character. If you find yourself going too heavily towards light or dark, you can counteract these gains with diplomacy, and are free to go after rich+ lightside/darkside missions without fear of being pushed in the wrong direction.</li></ul>

 

Critical Crafting

The basic premise of critical crafting is this: You have a small chance upon crafting an item to "Critically craft" said item. This has differing effects based on whether the item is non-equippable and thus follows the linear path, or equippable and thus follows the prefix path.

I'll start with the linear path, as it's easier to understand.

Consumable items like Stims and Medkits make duplicate items when critically crafted, giving you two for the price of one. If it's possible for grenades to be critically crafted, I assume they do this as well.

Modifications apparently cannot be critically crafted, sorry Cybertechs.

For equippable items, the basic rule is simple: Critically crafting an equippable item gives it an open Item Mod slot for a mod of the type "Augment." Augments are found via slicing missions.

The prefix system, as usual, is where things get complicated. Let's go over the basics one more time: The recipe for a base item is learned from a schematic or trainer, upon being Reverse Engineered, it teaches a Tier 1 Prefix schematic, and when you RE that, it teaches a Tier 2 Prefix schematic.

No matter whether the item is a base item, A tier 1 Prefix, or a Tier 2 Prefix, the effect is the same. It gains an Augment slot. There is no effective difference. However, how the game displays the fact that the item has been critically crafted changes based on tier.

Base items (learned from schematics or trainers) gain the suffix [Exceptional] when critically crafted.

Tier 1 Prefix items (learned from RE'ing a base item) gain the suffix [Advanced] when critically crafted.

Tier 2 Prefix items (learned from RE'ing a Tier 1 Prefix item) already have a suffix when they are not critically crafted. This suffix is [Superior] and while it looks like a critical craft tag, it is not. It merely indicates that the item is a Tier 2 Prefix item. When one of these items is critically crafted, the [Superior] suffix is replaced with [Mastercraft].