“You know, you remind me of someone I used to know. Promising young man, great destiny. Breath like a bantha.”—Jolee Bindo

Welcome to our Consular Weekly column, where we talk about all things Jedi Consular, Sage, and Shadow in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Are you new to playing this class? Then our Jedi Consular Newbie Guide can give you lots of helpful hints, too.

The Jedi Consular class has been my favorite ever since playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Sure, the lightsabers were cool. Sending a wave of pure Force power out to throw back an entire group of enemies, though? That just flat-out rocked. My favorite Consular, Jolee Bindo, also had the best quips. When I had the opportunity to try Star Wars: The Old Republic out in beta, I just had to play this class. I was able to test both the Jedi Sage and the Jedi Shadow. If you’re looking for information on playing the Jedi Consular class in TOR, you’ve come to the right place. Every week, I’ll share tips, information, and helpful hints on playing this unique class. Today, let’s take a look at some of the Force powers you learn on Tython and discuss the important attributes that all Consulars need.

The Force is a Powerful Ally

Your First Force Skills
The JC, like the Jedi Knight, starts her journey as a Padawan on Tython. There are core skills that all Consulars learn, including a couple saber attacks and some very fun Force powers—Force Wave, Project and Telekinetic Throw. This allows the JC to play a role either as a ranged damage-dealer or up close and personal as a melee fighter. This class focuses on Force attacks more than pure fighting alone, however. As a result, the JC is limited to light armor only.

If you ever need to know what a skill does, just mouse over your skill bar or the list of skills in your abilities list (default key ‘p’). The tool tips provide a lot of information on each skill, such as the range at which it can activate, the amount of damage it does, how many enemies it affects, and whether it takes effect instantly or is ‘channeled’ over time.

Force Wave is a terrific area-of-effect ability. I start off almost all battles with this skill. First, it knocks the melee fighters back out of range of their melee skills. Melee abilities have a range of four meters, while Force powers have a range of ten meters. So, the enemies can’t pound on me, at least until they run back, but I can still hit them with my ranged Force skills. Second, it stuns all standard and weak enemies for three seconds, which lets you choose who to attack next. Third, it damages them. Every enemy within eight meters takes about 65 damage at rank two, which you gain at level seven.

Sending enemies flying? Good times!

The ability ‘Project’ flings a large object at a single enemy. It will do about 120 points of damage at rank three. Like Force Wave, it also stuns standard and weak enemies for three seconds.

Telekinetic Throw tosses a bunch of pebbles at an enemy. It does 217 points of damage at rank two and slows your enemies down 50%, but it channels that damage over three seconds. If you move or do another attack during that time, it will cancel Telekinetic Throw. It will immobilize standard and weak enemies during the 3 seconds that the skill is in effect, so it’s a good way to stop at least one enemy in his tracks, even if it’s only a short time.

Who knew a bunch of little rocks could do that much damage?

Your Will to Live
The main attributes for a JC to focus on are Endurance and Willpower. Increasing Endurance increases the amount of damage you can take before being defeated. The higher your Endurance, the more health points you have. This is A Good Thing.

Boosting Willpower improves your ability to use Force powers. Not only does it increase the amount of damage you do with your offensive powers, it also improves your chance to get a ‘critical hit’, which does extra damage. For those who choose the Sage advanced class down the road, it also increases the amount of healing done by a healing skill. We’ll cover that in another Consular Weekly.

Many of the quest rewards on Tython give you items that raise both Endurance and Willpower. Equip the ones that increase those attributes as soon as possible.

Want more Force power? Add Willpower!

Try Out Different Skill Rotations
The quests on Tython are designed to give you a taste of both play-styles in anticipation of choosing your advanced class. Experiment with skill placement on your hotbar. I prefer Force powers over melee, so my skill rotation on Tython tends to be Force Wave>Project>Telekinetic Throw from a distance, and then the 2 lightsaber melee skills once the enemies and I are in melee range.

Advanced Classes
When you reach level 10, you’ll be given the option to choose between Jedi Shadow and Jedi Sage. Both are intriguing classes, and you’ll find the play-style of these quite different from the “traditional” roles in other games. For a quick taste of each, check out the exciting Consular progression video BioWare released:

Next week, I’ll go into more detail on how those advanced classes differ and what each can do in game. I look forward to sharing my insights on the Consular with all of you here on TORWars. Send me your questions and comments!