How To Plan Your Future As An Imperial Agent

How You Play An Imperial Agent: First of all, you need to wipe any notions of “fair play” from your mind. Choosing this class means a future of espionage and backstabbery. Many of the Agent’s abilities play off this theme, allowing him to strike from a distance, plant unseen explosives, or even disappear. While the Sith may constantly seek out new battles to test their mettle, the Agent only sees those in his way as obstacles to be removed as quickly as possible. Take ’em down quick. Take ’em down clean.

This class receives some of the foremost training in the Imperial military, and the Advanced Class options for the Agent are proof enough. As an Operative, the Agent can act as either healer or infiltration specialist, and as a Sniper, he can become a master of ranged, burst DPS and de-buffs. Let’s take a look at the Sniper first.

As a Sniper, the Agent has familiarized himself with the rifles with which he is trained, and subsequently found them lacking. To get the most bang for his buck, he moves up to sniper rifles, allowing for unparalleled distance in attack. He is not quite as battle-hardened as the Operative, so he will continue to rely on cover, much as he ought to for levels 1-10. He can also further define his role with these skill trees:

1.Marksmanship, which will expand the Agent’s long-range abilities, particularly those performed from cover.
2.Engineering, a tree that improves the Agent’s droids and probes, giving him a wealth of de-buff options.
3.Lethality, the shared tree, which for this class focuses on damage over time abilities via the Agent’s poisons.

The Operative could be considered the Sniper’s more bloodthirsty cousin, though this Advanced Class for the Agent can also spec as a healer. The Operative’s abilities will change the Agent class from a cover-based killer to that of a stealth-based assassin or back-of-the-battle healer. He also gets a totally freakin’ suh-weet energy blade. The Operative skill trees are:

1. Concealment, which does what you could probably guess by the name: conceals the Operative and gives him stealth abilities.
2.Medic, which not only heals, but also doubles as a pretty good buff class. No sense keeping allies alive if they’re ineffective, right?
3. Lethality, the shared DPS tree, spilling out some nice, gradual damage from afar with poison.

Alright, I know you’re getting tired of it, so this is the last time I say it: Choosing either of the Imperial Agent Advanced Classes in Star Wars: The Old Republic will not change your story. You are still an Imperial, you are still an Agent, you are still serving the Empire. Some tasks may be better suited to one playstyle than the other, but that’s entirely personal; you aren’t missing out on plot by choosing the class you want.