As a player in Star Wars: The Old Republic, you’re likely aware that leveling up your gear is crucial to progressing through the game. While many methods rely on group content or participation in PvP matches, this guide will show you how to level up your gear solo using the Adaptive (moddable) gear method.
This method is fully viable for both PvP and solo-focused players, and allows you to stay competitive without relying on RNG gear drops or group content.
Why This Method Works
The advantage of moddable gear is that you only need to upgrade the modifications inside the gear, not replace entire pieces. This keeps your stats consistent and gives you full control over your character’s progression.
Getting Started
Assuming your character is at least level 10, it’s time to start manually outfitting your gear.
This method requires credits, so be prepared for some investment. If you choose to pursue augmentation later, it will require:
- Additional credits
- Crew skills
- Crafting materials
- (Optional) Alternate characters for efficiency
Important
Not all gear is moddable. While most gear can be augmented, only specific gear pieces allow you to manually insert modifications (Armoring, Mods, Enhancements, etc.).
For example, an earpiece cannot be modified beyond adding an augment.
The Method
Play the Game (PvP or Solo Content)
As you play PvP or other solo-friendly content, you will receive random gear drops. These can occasionally replace individual pieces, but they are inconsistent.
This guide focuses on maintaining consistent, upgradeable gear using moddable equipment instead of relying on drops.
Adaptive Gear Vendors
Find the Adaptive Gear Vendor on your faction’s fleet.
Purchase Adaptive Gear
Once at the vendor, purchase a full set of gear that fits your desired appearance.
Note
The appearance of the gear does not matter—only the modifications inside it determine your stats.
A full set of gear includes:
- Main Hand Weapon
- Off Hand Weapon
- Headpiece
- Chest Piece
- Gloves
- Pants
- Boots
- Belt
- Bracers
As you progress through the Introduction to PvP questline, you will earn most of your remaining gear pieces.
Tactical Item (Level 75)
Tactical items become available at level 75 and can significantly alter how your abilities behave, often changing your playstyle in meaningful ways.
Upgrades Vendor
Once you have a full set of moddable gear, you’ll need to fill each piece with appropriate modifications.
Find your level-appropriate upgrade vendor and purchase mods for every slot.
How to Modify Gear
To see what each piece of gear needs:
CTRL + Right Click a piece of moddable gear
This opens the modification window, where you can insert:
- Armoring
- Mods
- Enhancements
- Augments
Free-to-Play Players
You will need to use a Modification Station, which can be found throughout the fleet.
Item Compatibility
Each piece of gear has specific compatible modification types.
Examples:
- Lightsabers use Hilts
- Blaster Rifles use Barrels
Always verify compatibility before purchasing.
Each Combat Style and Combat Proficiency have similar but unique stats that can be achieved. In lower levels it's harder to work from the raw value. It's easier to work from the percentages. Purchasing upgrades of one kind or the other will add points to some or other stats such as your Power Level, or Alacrity.
What a Full Gear Set Requires
Each moddable gear piece requires specific components. In total, a full set will use approximately:
- 2 Barrels / Hilts
- 5 Armorings
- 9 Mods
- 7 Enhancements
- 2 Color Crystals
- 14 Augmentation Kits
- 14 Augments
Character Stats
Character stats determine how effectively your character performs in combat.
At lower levels, it is often easier to evaluate stats based on percentages rather than raw values.
Key stats include:
- Mastery
- Endurance
- Power
- Critical
- Alacrity
- Accuracy
- Defense
- Absorb
- Shield
- Presence
Armor and modifications provide these stats. By swapping mods, you can directly control your build.
Pro Tip
Moddable gear allows you to fine-tune your stats per slot, instead of being locked into whatever a dropped item provides.
Example (Armor Scaling)
When no armor is equipped, your armor rating is 0.
Equipping a base armor piece (even without modifications) increases this value—for example, to 13 armor.
As you add modifications, this value scales significantly.
Color Crystals
Color crystals go in Main hand & Offhand Weapons. There are 4 types, each one only providing 1 kind of stat. Each crystal provides a specific stat bonus:
- Indestructible – Endurance
- Hawkeye – Power
- War Hero – Mastery
- Eviscerating – Critical
They can be:
- Crafted
- Purchased on the GTN
- Obtained via the Cartel Market
Pro Tip
Color crystals are one of the easiest early stat boosts you can get—don’t skip them.
Augments
When you’ve filled all modification slots, augments provide additional stat increases.
To use augments:
- Install an Augmentation Kit into your gear
- Insert an augment into the new slot
Important
Augmentation Kits permanently add a slot to gear.
Augments themselves can be replaced, but doing so will destroy the previous augment.
For best compatibility, use:
- MK-11 Augmentation Kits (work across all augment tiers)
Cost Note
Installing an Augmentation Kit has a credit cost.
Inserting an augment does not.
Introduction to PvP Quest
For new players, completing the Introduction to PvP questline provides most remaining gear pieces.
This includes:
- 1 Earpiece
- 2 Implants
- 2 Relics
At this point, every slot except your Tactical should be filled.
Advanced Optimization (Optional)
Higher-quality modifications and augments (blue, purple, and gold) can further improve your stats.
Unlike older systems, most high-tier items are not unlocked through reverse engineering. Instead, they are obtained through:
- Crafting schematics
- The GTN
Common Mistake
Reverse engineering is no longer a reliable method for unlocking top-tier gear and should not be relied on for progression.
Because of this, deep crafting optimization is outside the scope of this guide.
Final Thoughts
This method allows you to maintain consistent, scalable gear without relying on group content or random drops.
By upgrading modifications instead of replacing gear, you:
- Save credits over time
- Maintain stat control
- Scale smoothly as you level
As you progress, you can further optimize through augments, stat tuning, and high-end modifications—but even without those, this method provides a strong and reliable foundation.