SWTOR The Black Talon Flashpoint Guide

This guide will tell you how to start and complete the SWTOR Flashpoint The Black Talon in any difficulty mode, what achievements you can unlock, and the rewards you can earn!

How to Start the Flashpoint and its Story

The Black Talon is the introductory flashpoint for Imperial characters in SWTOR. It is designed to be one of two paths you can take to Dromund Kaas after finishing your quests on Korriban or Hutta.

It is also used by players to farm Light and Dark Side alignment points to get titles and/or visual effects for their characters, such as Dark Side corruption.

Republic players have access to a different introductory Flashpoint called The Esseles. The stories are absolutely unique and different for both flashpoints and each faction only has access to one or the other.

As for the story for The Black Talon flashpoint, you’re on your way to Dromund Kaas to carry out your next mission. The ship you board is The Black Talon, a Gage-class transport ship. You receive a surprise call from Grand Moff Rycus Kilran and through classic Imperial coercion, forces you to attack a Republic ship nearby, the Brentaal Star. Your goal is to capture an AWOL Imperial General who defected to the Republic.

This guide covers Story Mode, Veteran Mode, and Master Mode for The Black Talon.

Whether you’re a Sith coming from Korriban or an Agent/Bounty Hunter making their way from Hutta, you’ll want to head to Dromund Kaas after finishing your starter missions there. If you’re new to the game entirely, the Imperial Fleet can be a bit confusing to navigate at first.

The following map shows how to reach the Dromund Kaas Departures on the Imperial Fleet. Dromund Kaas Departures will be on the north side of Vaiken Dock, the main part of the fleet you spawn in.

When you take the elevator down, you have the option to take the direct flight to Dromund Kaas or get there via The Black Talon flashpoint. To start The Black Talon, talk to the Duros Black Talon Valet.

If you’re new to the game and still low level, select Story Mode. You can come back to Veteran and Master Mode when you’re a higher level and properly equipped for the task.

If you’re new to the game, I’ll fill you in on how many of the flashpoint guides on VULKK.com work. These guides primarily show players mechanics of bosses, bonus missions, or anything else noteworthy found in the flashpoints. They assume you know how to navigate an area by using your map and following green markers to objectives. As such, they will not tell you how to navigate the maps unless a shortcut is available as they’re typically very linear.

With that in mind, let us start out with the first thing to note which is a Mini-Boss encounter!

Read our SWTOR Story Progression Guide to learn where this story fits in. The guide will help you experience the game’s narrative in the proper intended order of events and aid and assist you if you are not sure what to do and where to go next.

Mini-Boss: Imperial Lieutenant

The first fight occurs after talking to an Imperial Lieutenant that refuses to let you on the bridge of the ship. This is an easy fight overall, simply take out the Imperial Troopers accompanying him first to reduce their overall damage output. From there, defeat the Lieutenant.

He has two charged attacks, “Power Shot” and “Aimed Shot”, that deal a good chunk of damage on Master Mode. These attacks don’t pose much of a threat on Story or Veteran modes. Use interrupts and stuns to stop him from using these abilities, but prioritize interrupting Aimed Shot.

Light and Dark Choice: Captain Orzik’s Fate

When you reach the bridge, you’ll need to talk to Captain Orzik. Orzik had previously defied Kilran’s orders to attack the Brentaal Star and he can be dealt with.

After a few dialogue choices, you’ll have a pair of answers that decide Orzik’s fate.

• “You’re relieved [Kill him]” will grant Dark Side points. This opens up a route unique to the Dark Side decision.
• “This won’t be suicide” will grant Light Side points. Captain Orzik will live and opens up a route unique to the Light Side decision.

Dark Side Route

If you chose to kill Captain Orzik, you’ll take a path that you’d be unable to take if you chose to let him live. This is seen as the preferred route to speedrun this flashpoint.

You’ll be in a hallway where boarding pods hit the wall. You can mount up and rush to the end of the hallway to skip the mobs that spawn here. If you do this, you’ll miss out on being able to do a bonus mission, but that only grants experience so you’re not missing much if you’re max level.

(Dark Side) Bonus Mission: Engine Trouble

This bonus mission does not lead to the Bonus Boss and is unique to the Dark Side Route. If you’re looking to get some extra XP, you can take on the bonus mission Engine Trouble. This one is simple, you just need to defeat 25 Sabotage Droids. 24 will spawn in the hallways on your path to the boss, and the Dark Side boss will count as 25.

(Dark Side) First Boss: GXR-5 Sabotage Droid

This boss only appears on the Dark Side route gained from killing Captain Orzik. It’s a simple boss but before you fight it, wait a bit. Sabotage droids will break through the doors to the left and right of the boss. Defeat them first then take on the boss.

This boss only has two attacks up its robotic sleeve, basic attacks and a “Full Auto” channeled attack that’ll shoot out a bunch of blaster bolts at a single target. You can use an interrupt to cancel Full Auto. After taking some damage, Sabotage Probe Droids will spawn in and target a random group member. They’ll slowly float towards them and after ten seconds from spawning in, they blow up and deal damage to anyone nearby.

DPS or Healers targeted by the droids can easily kite them as they’re very slow. Alternatively, the tank can aggro them and take the damage instead.

This fight is known as a “Tank and Spank”, the easiest form of boss battle where the tank aggros the boss at all times while everyone damages it without minding any mechanics.

After defeating the boss, you’ll need to return to the bridge to continue the story. This concludes the Dark Side route for The Black Talon.

Veteran Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Veteran Mode. The boss and probe droids are slightly tougher, but not by much.

Master Mode Differences

The GXR-5 Sabotage Droid deals significant damage with its auto attacks and Full Auto ability. The tank needs to maintain aggro on it as this thing’s damage can easily take out a DPS or Healer. Use interrupt on Full Auto to minimize its damage done and be careful of the probe droids as they’ll deal much more damage. Kiting the probe droids is preferable in this difficulty.

Light Side Route

If you do not kill Captain Orzik, you’ll take a path that you wouldn’t have access to had you killed him. While it does take slightly longer to complete when compared to the Dark Side route, it changes what the first boss and first bonus mission are for this flashpoint.

(Light Side) Bonus Mission: Drive Them Back

To complete this bonus mission, you’ll need to defeat 40 Republic Boarders. There are plenty of them spread out all over the place, so completing this shouldn’t be an issue.

(Light Side) First Boss: Republic Boarding Party

The boss fight for the Light Side route is composed of four bosses, a Republic Boarding Party. This fight is to help teach you target priority in instances where you have to fight multiple tough opponents.

Each of these opponents has a different specialization:

• S1-M0, “Doc Simon” is the group’s medic. Defeat them first so you can fight the party without them healing up.
• Private “Crosshairs” Keemos, the Rodian of the group, starts out using a sniper rifle but will switch to a vibrosword. He’s rather weak so you can take him out second.
• Corporal Hattak, the Nautolan, is a melee DPS. He’s your third priority to take out.
• Sergeant Boran is the tank of the group, he has the most HP and takes the most time to defeat. Save him for last as his damage isn’t that great .

There’s nothing very complex about this fight, simple take them out in the order specified above and you should be fine.

After defeating the boarding party, you’ll need to return to the bridge to continue the story. This concludes the Light Side route for The Black Talon.

Veteran Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Veteran Mode, they’re just a bit tougher.

Master Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Master Mode, but they much more bonus hit points.

Bonus Mission: Crippled Defenses Phases 1 and 2

After you board the Brentaal Star, you can start the second bonus mission by defeating anyone on board. This will start a series of bonus missions that lead to an optional bonus boss. For the first phase of this mission, you’ll need to defeat 25 Republic Forces. The second phase will have you defeat another 25, it’s fairly simple to start.

Second Boss: Commander Ghulil

Commander Ghulil is a Mon Calamari that will turn up the heat. To succeed at this boss fight, you’ll need to kite him around the room while being mindful of environmental hazard.

Defeat the two medics accompanying Ghulil so they don’t heal him. The tank needs to maintain aggro on Ghulil which sounds simple enough considering Ghulil is a melee combatant. What makes this fight interesting is that Ghulil will summon Plasma Probes.

The Plasma Probes appear with small, red circles and standing in here will deal damage to anyone inside. Standing in them will build stacks of a burning debuff. If you step out of the circles, this debuff will soon disappear. The more stacks of this debuff you have, the more damage it will do. Fortunately, Ghulil will knock back his primary target which often pushes them out of the AoE.

The probes will linger for a while, but so long as you mind your footing and don’t let the probes get too dispersed, your party should be able to navigate without getting roasted too much.

Veteran Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Veteran Mode, the fight is just tougher.

Master Mode Differences

In Master Mode, Ghulil no longer pushes back his target. This means someone who isn’t paying attention will not be pushed out of the Plasma Probe AoEs. To make matters worse, the Burning debuff inflicted by the probes don’t immediately go away after leaving the AoE. The debuff will linger for 15 seconds, so avoid standing in the AoEs otherwise the multiple stacks will make you more crispy than fried tip-yip.

Bonus Mission: Crippled Defenses Phase 3

This phase takes place in the Brentaal Star’s Engine Deck. You’ll need to disable 4 Munitions Power Consoles on this deck, you can find their locations in the map below:

Once you disable these power consoles, you’ll summon the optional bonus boss.

Optional Bonus Boss: GXR-7 Command Droid

This boss does two things, it shoots you and it smacks you around. Unfortunately it does these two things very well.

This boss will use basic attacks and its “Power Blast” ability where it’ll fire at its primary target repeatedly for 8 seconds. After using Power Blast twice, it’ll then use its “Power Punch” where it stun locks its target, then pushes them back. The target that was pushed back will get the “Ignored” debuff and will not be considered a threat for 5 seconds.

During this time, the tank will lose aggro and the droid will attack a random party member with Power Blast. The tank needs to guard whoever is under attack and taunt the droid so it’ll start attacking them once the Power Blast is done. The tank should stand in the corner as pointed out by the arrow in the image below. This way you don’t get knocked too far and can more quickly get up and regain aggro.

So long as the tank maintains aggro as much as possible and the healer can keep up, your party should be fine. This is a simple tank and spank boss.

Veteran Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Veteran Mode, it’s just tougher.

Master Mode Differences

While there are no mechanical differences in Master Mode, its attacks hurt a lot more and it actually poses a serious threat. The tank HAS to be the one taking the damage otherwise a DPS or Healer can easily get blown to bits.

Final Boss: Yadira Pan, Jedi Padawan

The final boss encounter for The Black Talon is a Jedi Padawan known as Yadira Pan. She’s trying to protect the General who defected and attempts to fend off the Imperial Boarding Party (you).

Yadira will attack with melee attacks and Force Leap to multiple targets in succession. This allows her to root enemies that are far away and damage them. Though her real threatening ability is her Cyclone Nova ability. When casted, she’ll pull in everyone within a 30 meter radius to her and heavily slow them for 5 seconds. After the 5 seconds are up, she’ll unleash an explosion of Force energy that knocks everyone into the air.

If she pulls you in, you need to do your best to get out of the area before she explodes her Cyclone Nova. A good way around this is to use your interrupt to stop her from channeling the ability. That’s about all she does, she’s a two trick pony. Once you defeat her you can begin to wrap up the flashpoint.

Veteran Mode Differences

There are no mechanical differences in Veteran Mode, it’s just tougher.

Master Mode Differences

Yadira is immune to interrupts in Master Mode, so if she pulls you in then you either need to get as far away from her as possible or pop your defensive cooldowns. She will easily take out HALF OF THE TANK’S HIT POINTS with one Cyclone Nova, with this damage being greater on DPS and Healers.

Light and Dark Choice: The General’s Fate

After defeating Yadira, you’ll be able to talk to the General. After hearing him out, you can choose one of the following options:

• “You’re my prisoner” will grant Light Side points and have you arrest him.
• “I’ll kill you” will grant Dark Side points.

There is no real good option here considering the General is either going to be arrested and tortured, or killed. Honestly the Dark Side option is the more merciful option. Moral ambiguities aside, you can now leave the Brentaal Star, return to the Black Talon and report to the bridge.

Depending on your first Light and Dark choice, the command crew will be glad the mission is over or dead. If you chose to kill the captain, the others thought you would kill them for underperforming and a fight broke out, causing everyone to die. Yeah… Nothing unusual for the Empire unfortunately, but at the very least you can choose your final destination.

Your final choice is that you can plot a course to Dromund Kaas or return to the Imperial fleet.

Achievements for The Black Talon

The majority of the achievements for this flashpoint are for defeating the bosses 1 time, 10 times, and 25 times. Though here are two that grant item rewards:

Defeat Yadira Ban (Veteran Mode)

Elite: Taloned (Master Mode)

Decoration Drop

The bosses in The Black Talon have a chance to drop the Power Transformer (Imperial) decoration. If you chose to do story mode of The Black Talon from the Activity Window, you’re guaranteed to get this decoration. This will fit in a Large hook.

It’s a rather mundane decoration but it’s a good start if you lack any decorations. This would look good in the Rishi Stronghold’s ship. The engine room would be a good place to put it but it won’t do much else other than look nice.

This concludes my guide to The Black Talon Flashpoint. You can find more SWTOR Flashpoint Guides here on VULKK.com. For anything else, a great starting point is our SWTOR Guides Master Catalog!