Alacrity Guide

As discussed above, alacrity increases your “speed” by reducing your ability activation/channel time and reducing ability cooldowns. Alacrity also affects the global cooldown (GCD) to similarly accelerate your usage of abilities with an instant activation.

Alacrity is expressed as a percentage in your character bar. The Alacrity Rating in your gear increases your Alacrity and reduces your ability activation time by the Alacrity percentage. For example, Alacrity of 10% means that ability activation time and cooldown should be 100% / (100% + 10%) = 90.9% of the default time prior to rounding.

Please note some ability effects and cooldowns are not affected by Alacrity.

The formula to determine how many points of Alacrity Rating are necessary to achieve a given Alacrity percentage is not linear. As such, Alacrity is subject to diminishing returns like many stats in SWTOR, so the more Alacrity Rating points added to your gear will provide less incremental improvement in Alacrity.

As outlined below, some classes get additional Alacrity via passive skills. Players may also equip the Relic of the Primeval Fatesealer that when activated grants 2,314 additional Alacrity Rating.

The Global Cooldown (“GCD”) governs how abilities that activate instantly interact with abilities with an activation or channel time. Activating an instant ability triggers the GCD, which enforces a global cooldown on most instant abilities that are “on the GCD”.

The GCD primarily governs instant activation abilities. However, many cast abilities have their activation time linked to the GCD so interact with alacrity in a roughly similar manner, though as discussed below there are some key differences.

It is important to understand the GCD and why it is important to game balance. Melee DPS disciplines have primarily instant activation abilities. If not for the GCD, melee DPS could spam abilities far faster than ranged DPS that primarily cast or channel abilities. This would break the game’s balance so thus the GCD exists to normalize ability activation speed.

Please note that some abilities do not trigger the GCD and thus are considered “off the GCD”. Some examples include taunts, guards, many (but not all) defensive cooldowns, interrupts, stun breaks, etc. Using an “off the GCD” ability will still generally interrupt cast and channeled abilities, however.

The Alacrity you receive depends on the class, as some classes get additional bonus Alacrity from passive skills. To reach a given GCD target of either 1.3 seconds or 1.4 seconds, the key is getting at least to the “breakpoint” of Alacrity Rating per below:

• 1.3 second GCD: 15.38% or higher Alacrity

• 1.4 second GCD: 7.14% or higher Alacrity

Classes that get bonus Alacrity via passive skills have the same target but only need enough Alacrity Rating points to reach the target Alacrity minus the “free Alacrity”.

Alacrity reduces the GCD just as it reduces the activation time and cooldown for most abilities. However, the game system rounds these effects and does so via rounding up. Also, the game system rounds differently for how alacrity affects the GCD versus how it affects cast/channel times. As such, this leads to gearing “breakpoints” where additional points of Alacrity are theoretically wasted because of the system’s rounding.

Theorycrafting and testing of the game’s calculations for GCD usage indicates that in many cases the game rounds to one decimal place and always rounds up. For example, if your alacrity reduces the GCD from a default 1.5 seconds to 1.36 seconds, the game rounds your GCD up to 1.4 seconds. As such, the alacrity points we have in gear that serve to reduce our GCD from 1.5 seconds to 1.4 seconds are useful and beneficial, but any excess beyond the “breakpoint” to reach the 1.4 seconds GCD are wasted due to the game’s rounding.

It is important to note that abilities with an activation or channel time, especially abilities with a base activation/channel time greater than the GCD, often round to two decimal places instead of one decimal place. For example, if your alacrity rating reduces the cast time of an ability from 1.5 seconds to 1.358 seconds, the actual cast time should be 1.36 seconds.

My testing methodology consisted of parsing on the Rishi operation dummy for various classes with the 6.5 million health modifier. I gathered testing data for nearly every DPS class and some data on tanks and healers as well.

My parses varied somewhat by class but in general attempted to come as close as possible to a normal rotation while avoiding any abilities with an activation time longer than 1 GCD (1.5 seconds prior to alacrity).

Here is a brief summary of the testing approach by discipline. No abilities were used in parsing that affected alacrity.

• Combat Sentinel / Carnage Marauder: Spamming Blade Rush / Massacre with the Fanged God Form tactical

• Concentration Sentinel / Fury Marauder: Not tested yet

• Watchman Sentinel / Annihilation Marauder: Full rotation

• Defense Guardian / Immortal Juggernaut: Full rotation

• Focus Guardian / Rage Juggernaut: Full rotation

• Vigilance Guardian / Vengeance Juggernaut: Full rotation

• Balance Sage / Madness Sorcerer: Spamming Telekinetic Throw / Force Lightning

• Seer Sage / Corruption Sorcerer: Full "rotation" (Healing Trance / Innervate and Deliverance / Dark Infusion are not considered for calculating average GCD herein)

• Telekinetics Sage / Lightning Sorcerer: Spamming Telekinetic Burst / Lightning Bolt

• Infiltration Shadow / Deception Assassin: Full rotation

• Kinetic Combat Shadow / Darkness Assassin: Full rotation but ignoring Cascading Debris / Depredating Volts

• Serenity Shadow / Hatred Assassin: Full rotation

• Dirty Fighting Gunslinger / Virulence Sniper: Full rotation but excluding Wounding Shots / Cull

• Saboteur Gunslinger / Engineering Sniper: Not tested yet

• Sharpshooter Gunslinger / Marksman Sniper: Full rotation but excluding Penetrating Rounds / Penetrating Blasts

• Ruffian Scoundrel / Lethality Operative: Full rotation

• Sawbones Scoundrel / Medicine Operative: Not tested yet

• Scrapper Scoundrel / Concealment Operative: Full rotation

• Plasmatech Vanguard / Pyrotech Powertech: Full rotation

• Shield Specialist Vanguard / Shieldtech Powertech: Full rotation

• Tactics Vanguard / Advanced Prototype Powertech: Full rotation

• Assault Specialist Commando / Innovative Ordnance Mercenary: Full rotation but excluding Full Auto / Unload

• Combat Medic Commando / Bodyguard Mercenary: Full rotation but excluding Healing Scan when not proceed to be instant and Successive Treatment / Progressive Scan

• Gunnery Commando / Arsenal Mercenary: Full rotation but excluding Boltstorm / Blazing Bolts

As of the most recent update, the data gathered includes over 57,000 ability activations.

Defense Guardian / Immortal Juggernaut

• (Primary) 0 Alacrity Rating - Tanks should generally only equip Shield or Absorb tertiary stats in their gear. I do not recommend less experienced tanks utilize an offensive gearing approach for unfamiliar or challenging content.

• (Secondary) 1,350 Alacrity Rating - Tanks running less challenging content or content with which they are already familiar may want to gear offensively. If so, I recommend running around 1,350 or so. Most melee classes need around 100-150 extra Alacrity Rating to get a consistent 1.4 second GCD.

Focus Guardian / Rage Juggernaut

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Vigilance Guardian / Rage Juggernaut

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Combat Sentinel / Carnage Marauder

• (Primary) 2,500 Alacrity Rating - With the 3% Alacrity buff, my experience was that Combat / Carnage achieved a very consistent sub-1.31 second GCD by around 2,500 Alacrity Rating. This build should be optimal in all capped level 70 content and is a playstyle preference in uncapped level 75 content. Since I prefer to only run one gear set for Combat / Carnage I use this build for all content.

• (Secondary) 950 Alacrity Rating - With the 3% Alacrity buff, my experience was that Combat / Carnage achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 950 Alacrity Rating. This build will not perform as well in capped level 70 content since it results in a lot more Critical Rating that suffers from diminishing returns. The build will be much more competitive in uncapped level 75 content if selecting lower tertiary stat enhancements to allocate more stats to Power, but will significantly underperform in level 70 content where Power is fixed.

Concentration Sentinel / Fury Marauder

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Watchman Sentinel / Annihilation Marauder

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Balance Sage / Madness Sorcerer

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - Balance / Madness was tough to test given that its rotation primarily alternates between a >1 GCD channel of TK Throw / Force Lightning and several instant abilities. My results were that 1,400 Alacrity Rating saw a consistent 1.41s or better GCD for all instant abilities just like for melee DPS and that it resulted in a relatively consistent channel time for TK Throw / Force Lightning.

Seer Sage / Corruption Sorcerer

• (Primary) 3,400 Alacrity Rating - My testing found that Seer / Corruption benefited from around 200 extra Alacrity Rating past the breakpoint to get a consistent 1.3 second GCD. Overall the discipline gets a lower than average GCD at most levels of Alacrity Rating due to the increase in Alacrity applied to abilities procced to be instant cast. Since Seer / Corruption can instant cast Benevolence / Dark Heal every 10 seconds via the Altruism / Dark Concentration passive skill, they get a reduced GCD a lot. This build will be more efficient for most players since it avoids high diminishing returns from too many points in Critical Rating, which will range from 2,600 and up depending on which enhancements and augments are being utilized.

• (Secondary) 1,450 Alacrity Rating - Similar to the 1.3s GCD testing, 200 or so Alacrity Rating extra helped get a consistent 1.4 second GCD. Running a 1.4s GCD will be sub-optimal for most players given their available stat budget of at least 6,000 tertiary points, which leaves 4,550 budget after Alacrity. Diminishing returns for Critical Rating usually begins around 3,000 points so running 4,550 is very inefficient. This build is only recommended for newer players who struggle with maintaining high APMs or healers who are running up to 1,590 Accuracy Rating to have more consistent DPS and/or interrupts. With 1,450 Alacrity Rating and 1,590 Accuracy Rating, most players will have 3,000 or more Critical Rating and relatively little diminishing returns.

Telekinetics Sage / Lightning Sorcerer

• (Primary) 2,300 Alacrity Rating - With the 5% Alacrity buff, 2,300 Alacrity Rating resulted in a very consistent 1.3 second GCD and a 1.1 second GCD under Mental Alacrity / Polarity Shift.

• (Secondary) 2,100-2,600 Alacrity Rating - Anecdotal evidence from posts in theorycrafting and my own individual experience has been that TK / Lightning can perform reasonably well anywhere between 1,900 and 2,600 Alacrity Rating. However, my testing of TK / Lightning found that I frequently saw an average GCD of 1.33-1.38 seconds until I got to at least 2,100 Alacrity Rating, so would suggest that as a minimum gearing target.

Infiltration Shadow / Deception Assassin

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Kinetic Combat Shadow / Darkness Assassin

• (Primary) 0 Alacrity Rating - Tanks should generally only equip Shield or Absorb tertiary stats in their gear. I do not recommend less experienced tanks utilize an offensive gearing approach for unfamiliar or challenging content.

• (Secondary) 1,350 Alacrity Rating - Tanks running less challenging content or content with which they are already familiar may want to gear offensively. If so, I recommend running around 1,350 or so. Most melee classes need around 100-150 extra Alacrity Rating to get a consistent 1.4 second GCD.

Serenity Shadow / Hatred Assassin

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Dirty Fighting Gunslinger / Virulence Sniper

• (Primary) 2,350 Alacrity Rating - I run this higher Alacrity build as a primary option with the Exploited Weakness tactical item since it shortens the cooldown of Wounding Shots / Cull sufficiently to let 1-2 ticks of a second channel fit inside the duration of Hemorrhaging Blast / Weakening Blast.

• (Secondary) 1,500 Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1.4 second GCD around 1,500 Alacrity Rating. I do not prefer this rotation when running Exploited Weakness since it sacrifices extra ticks of damage available under higher Alacrity builds. I would prefer this build if running Ultraviolet Blast, however, and would change gearing by swapping two ear/implant/enhancements between Alacrity and Critical.

Saboteur Gunslinger / Engineering Sniper

• 1,600 Alacrity Rating - Saboteur / Engineering had fairly high average GCDs primarily due to delays on activation for Incendiary Grenade / Plasma Probe. The ability is a manually controlled AoE ability and needs to be double-clicked to be activated immediately, which together with the animation causes it to consistently be above the expected GCD target. The lowest average GCD was around 1.425-1.430 seconds with 1,550 - 1,650 Alacrity Rating. I did manage to get down to 1.409 seconds with 2,776 Alacrity Rating but that gives up far too much Critical Rating. As such, I recommend 1,600 or so and a minimum of 1,500 should be a reasonable target for most players.

Sharpshooter Gunslinger / Marksman Sniper

• 1,600 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that Sharpshooter / Marksman had higher than average GCDs due to animation delays on Aimed Shot / Ambush. 1,600 Alacrity Rating consistently resulted in an average GCD of 1.43 seconds and was not meaningfully improved without jumping up to 2,000 or more. I dislike giving up that much Critical Rating so feel like this is the optimal build.

Ruffian Scoundrel / Lethality Operative

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Sawbones Scoundrel / Medicine Operative

• (Primary) TBD Alacrity Rating - Testing still underway, will be updated soon!

• (Secondary) TBD Alacrity Rating - Testing still underway, will be updated soon!

Scrapper Scoundrel / Concealment Operative

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Plasmatech Vanguard / Pyrotech Powertech

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Shield Specialist Vanguard / Shield Tech Powertech

• (Primary) 0 Alacrity Rating - Tanks should generally only equip Shield or Absorb tertiary stats in their gear. I do not recommend less experienced tanks utilize an offensive gearing approach for unfamiliar or challenging content.

• (Secondary) 1,350 Alacrity Rating - Tanks running less challenging content or content with which they are already familiar may want to gear offensively. If so, I recommend running around 1,350 or so. Most melee classes need around 100-150 extra Alacrity Rating to get a consistent 1.4 second GCD.

Tactics Vanguard / Advanced Prototype Powertech

• 1,400 Alacrity Rating - My experience was that melee classes achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 1,400 Alacrity Rating. Some improvement was possible with another 150-200 points but was very marginal in my testing.

Assault Specialist Commando / Innovative Ordnance Mercenary

My testing indicated that AS / IO achieved a stable 1.4 second GCD around 1,500 Alacrity Rating. However, I do not recommend that as a gearing target due to how the discipline's abilities and passive skills interact.

I strongly recommend Rekui's IO Guide as a resource that goes much deeper into the rotation and particularly gearing than my AS or IO guides. Section VII towards the end discussed how Alacrity works for the discipline. I have note tested as many builds in detail as Rekui, so list below the primary builds I run with strong results.

• (Primary) 1,800 Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1.4 second GCD around 1,500 Alacrity Rating but prefer around 1,800 Alacrity Rating since the energy management is slightly easier and the rotation and its procs align smoothly without sacrificing too much Critical Rating.

• (Secondary) 2,150 Alacrity Rating - This slightly higher Alacrity Rating build is intend to reach the 5.6 heat/second energy regeneration tier instead of the 5.5 heat/second at 1,800 Alacrity Rating or 5.4 heat/second at 1,213 Alacrity Rating, which makes the rotation a little bit easier on energy management at this level.

Combat Medic Commando / Bodyguard Mercenary

• (Primary) 2,200 Alacrity Rating - I found a consistent 1.42 second GCD around 1,600 Alacrity Rating but prefer around 2,200 Alacrity Rating since that gets you to another energy regeneration breakpoint. As long as you aren't gearing Accuracy then you still have a lot of Critical Rating so sacrificing a few hundred points is not that noticeable to me in exchange for smoother energy management.

• (Secondary) 3,500 Alacrity Rating - The high Alacrity build aims for as smooth a 1.3 second GCD as possible. Commando / Mercenary healer struggled somewhat to get to a flat GCD in my experience due to some animation delays. I found that 3,500 Alacrity Rating was the minimum to get meaningful GCD improvement. Several NiM healers I play with prefer this build but run closer to 3,250-3,300 Alacrity Rating. The trade-off between 3,300 and 3,500 is that you begin to lose meaningful Critical Rating that is important to the discipline. My testing indicates you get a significant increase in GCD for those 200 points so it should be optimal, though more testing is needed.

• (Tertiary) 1,600 Alacrity Rating - I only mention this build as an option for fights where the healer needs to build a full 1,590 Accuracy Rating for mechanics, such as getting an interrupt on Veteran Mode Revan in Temple of Sacrifice. Running 1,600 Alacrity Rating resulted in a fairly consistent 1.42 second GCD but sacrifices some energy regeneration but in exchange gives you back meaningful Critical Rating due to the loss of points to Accuracy. I normally run around 2,200 and would just swap an implant/earpiece and two augments from Alacrity to Critical for these select fights.

Gunnery Commando / Arsenal Mercenary

• (Primary) 2,550 Alacrity Rating - With the 3% Alacrity buff, my experience was that Gunnery / Arsenal achieved a very consistent sub-1.31 second GCD by around 2,500 Alacrity Rating. This build should be optimal in content unless the player struggles with APMs. This build still leaves a reasonable stat pool for Critical Rating and the 1.3 second GCD significantly improves the uptime of the Primed Ignition DoT applied by Vortex Bolt / Priming Shot.

• (Secondary) 850 Alacrity Rating - With the 3% Alacrity buff, my experience was that Gunnery / Arsenal achieved a very consistent sub-1.41 second GCD by around 850 Alacrity Rating. I do not recommend this build since it results in a lot of excess Critical Rating with diminishing returns or requires a second gear set for capped and uncapped to use different lower tertiary stat enhancements to shift stats to Power for uncapped. I also do not recommend the low alacrity build due to how it interacts with the Primed Ignition tactical and it does not realize the benefits discussed above for high alacrity. I always run and recommend running higher Alacrity Rating unless maintaining high APMs is a very large struggle.