How to Make Dantooine Crash Site Easier in SWTOR

The Crash Site on Dantooine in SWTOR is a challenging area, and the Master Orbital Core especially so, but there are numerous special objects on the planet that offer powerful buffs.

Ecotone Buffs

At the direct connections where Glacial Trespass transitions to both Sporefall and Geothermal Disruption (these are called ecotones), you can sometimes find little frozen flora and geological phenomena.

Clicking on them can give you a powerful buff for 30 mins and encountering all of them gives you the secret achievement Expansive Research.

Once you reach Hero rank, you can buy Maintenance Tunnel Access Passes from the Reputation Vendor for 60k a pop. These tunnels are basically secondary taxi points and two of them, Ecotone Access GS and 2G, send you right outside their respective ecotones.

The ecotone buffs initially appear as timed dynamic encounters after the first biome transitions to Levels 2 and 3. Which biome levels up determines which DE and subsequent buff you get access to for the remainder of the Orbital Core cycle.

There seems to be another factor governing their appearance since they don’t always spawn. If it isn’t random, it probably has something to do with the lost scientists.

This remains unverified, but it’s likely that which ecotone buff appears determines which scientists can get lost since specific ones can appear to survey each DE.

Frozen Vents and Crystalized Toxins (Glacial ◀▶ Geothermal)

Frozen Vents and Crystalized Toxins are clickable objects that can show up in the transitional area between the Geothermal Disruption and Glacial Trespass biomes. You can get here quickly by using Maintenance Tunnel Access Pass to go to Ecotone Access 2G (the 2 “G’s” are Glacial and Geothermal).

Clicking on the ice in the little volcano grants the Volcanic Residue buff, which increases your defense/resist chance just like the Mysterious Stimpack does, and it stacks. This buff is by far the most important thing to get before you fight the Orbital Core.

Frozen Vents and Crystalized Toxins can spawn as part of timed Dynamic Encounters (like the kind you’d find on other planets) called Natural Coolant and Toxin Trouble, respectively.

The Crystallized Toxins buff is MUCH less common. It’s taken for me to get to Hero rank before I’ve seen them at all.

I strongly suspect that which one ends up spawning is determined by the order in which you level up the biomes, which Crystallized Toxins likely requiring Geothermal Disruption to get leveled up first or second.

At least on Satele Shan, Geothermal Disruption is consistently the last one to level up, but this time, all 3 were in transition at the exact same time and Geothermal was not the last to get pushed.

If this turns out to be true, there’s likely an optimal order for leveling up biomes to guarantee that you get both Frozen Vents (the best buff) and either Infected Flora or Crystallized Toxins.

Frozen Flora and Infected Flora (Glacial ◀▶ Sporefall)

Frozen Flora are clickable objects that exist in the ecotone (transitional area) connecting Sporefall to Glacial Trespass. You can get here quickly by using Maintenance Tunnel Access Pass to go to Ecotone Access GS (the “GS” stands for Glacial and Geothermal).

There are two types of flora you can click on, both look very similar, and each gives a different buff.

Frozen Flora

The flora with blue glow above the bulb grants the Benign Spores buff, which increases your HP and movement speed. The HP boosting effect is minor and stacks with the same effect provided by the Mysterious Stimpack.

Infected Flora

The flora with pink glowing spores grants the Altered Flora buff, increases your Alacrity and movement speed, the former of which is part of the effect of the Unknown Adrenal.

You can pick up both buffs, assuming they’re both available, so don’t agonize over picking a specific flower. The Alacrity boost from Altered Flora does stack with the effects of the Unknown Adrenal for a whopping +40% Alacrity.

Frozen Spores can spawn as part of a timed Dynamic Encounter (like the kind you’d find on other planets) called Petals in the Snow. Infected Flora can spawn as part of

Frozen Spores and Altered Flora can spawn as part of timed Dynamic Encounters (like the kind you’d find on other planets) called Frozen Spores and Petals in the Snow, respectively.

It’s worthwhile to go out of your way to grab the Altered Flora buff for Orbital Core, but the more common Benign Spores don’t provide enough of a benefit to be worth picking up every single time you wipe.

Mysterious Stimpacks

Mysterious Stimpacks are one of the Special Objects scattered around the biomes at the Jannimak Crash Site on Dantooine, released with Update 7.8. They boost your Defense/Resist Chance and improve your Endurance. They do not require you to purchase the Research Notes from the Reputation Vendor.

Mysterious Stimpacks spawn in set locations in each biome, and they disappear as soon as someone clicks on one. It seems that each has a long respawn timer, but we have yet to confirm this is how they reappear.

If you die or enter a loading screen, the effect is removed. Since they’re in short supply, please consider leaving the Unknown Stimpack for someone else if you don’t plan to stay on Dantooine for very long.

For the Orbital Core, it is valuable that everyone has a Mysterious Stimpack, but it’s especially important that the tank gets one.

Unknown Adrenals

Unknown Adrenals are one of the Special Objects scattered around the biomes at the Jannimak Crash Site on Dantooine, released with Update 7.8. They boost your Critical Chance, Alacrity, and eliminates ability activation pushback. They do not require you to purchase the Research Notes from the Reputation Vendor.

Unknown Adrenals spawn in set locations in each biome, and they disappear as soon as someone clicks on one. It seems that each has a long respawn timer, but we have yet to confirm this mechanic.

If you die or enter a loading screen, the effect is removed. Since they’re in short supply, please consider leaving the Unknown Adrenal for someone else if you don’t plan to stay on Dantooine for very long.

For the Orbital Core, it is more important that the healer and DPS get Unknown Adrenals. Tanks can benefit, but not as much.

Regional Research Notes Buffs

Each region has its own Special Object that offers another buff, but you can only click on them once you have the Research Notes for the associated region. Temporary Research Notes require Friend rank with the GSI, and permanent Research Notes require Legend rank.

Location	Buff	Special Object
Sporefall		Spore-Coated Mass
Geothermal Disruption		Ejected Sludge Container
Glacial Trespass		Supercooled Crystaline Shards

Each of these buffs is pretty overcomplicated, though the in-game descriptions do a nice job of summarizing how they work. They all offer pretty powerful chance-based effects, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile to go out of your way to pick them all up unless you’re struggling or have Legend rank.

Just grab the one for the zone you plan to focus on or as you happen across them once you reach Legend rank.

It’s hard to fully benefit from these buffs as a ranged DPS or healer since some of the effects require you to be in melee range of your enemies on a continuous basis. I think this is good because playing ranged offers numerous other innate advantages throughout the zone.

These buffs do persist through defeat, but the Research Notes buff does fall off. Research Notes are also incompatible with Stims, so if you buy a Research Note, your Stim gets removed, and if you use your Stim, the Research Notes get removed.

Spore-Coated Mass

While you have the Research Note: Sporefall buff active, you can click on Spore-Coated Masses in Sporefall to gain the Spore-Spangled buff, which improves your movement speed and survivability for the next half hour.

Spore-Coated Masses can be found all over Sporefall. Once you click on one, it disappears.

Ejected Sludge Container

While you have the Research Note: Geothermal Disruption buff active, you can click on Ejected Sludge Containers in Geothermal Disruption to gain the Weaponized Runoff buff, which gives you a chance to deal damage over time to non-Champion enemies and automatically finish off weaker enemies at low HP for the next half hour.

You can find Ejected Sludge Containers all over the place in Geothermal Disruption. Once you click on one, it disappears.

Weaponized Runoff can defeat Unruly Cryo-Nesters before their immunity kicks in at 25%, but the window is very small (only 5% of their HP). There is no secret achievement for doing this, at least at the time of publishing.

Supercooled Crystaline Shards

While you have the Research Note: Glacial Trespass buff active, you can click on Supercooled Crystals in Glacial Tresspass to gain the Icy Infusion buff, which grants a chance to stun nearby non-Champion enemies for the next half hour.

You can find Supercooled Crystaline Shards all over the place in Glacial Trespass. Once you click on one, it disappears.

Contained Spore Bomb

Once you reach Hero rank with the GSI, you can purchase Contained Spore Bombs from the reputation vendor for 50k a pop. They work like Cybertech grenades and make the affected target take more damage for a minute.

Guild Flagship Orbital Support

Ask your guild leadership to move the Flagship to the Crash Site Outpost and apply Orbital Support, which grants a 5% boost to your damage, healing, HP, and survivability. You get 10% instead if your guild conquered the planet last week, but at the time of publishing, this location is not a conquest target.

Landing Zones are treated as separate planets within the Flagship Command Console Interface, so you’ll want to set the Travel Destination to Crash Site Outpost, not Dantooine. Don’t forget to enable Orbital Support as well!

Orbital Core Hazard Mitigation Module

There’s a separate terminal near the entrance to the Orbital Core that supplies buffs that only function within the Orbital Core and require at least Friend or Hero reputation rank to use.

Hazard Mitigations (Friend+)

Regular Hazard Mitigation that protects you from the harsh effects of each biome doesn’t work inside the Orbital Core.

Each offers immunity to one of the main debuffs from one of the droids. Each lasts only 30 mins and costs 200k credits but does persist through defeat. You can’t have more than one active at a time and they all require Friend+ rank to use.

Regulated Adrenals (Hero+)

Regulated Adrenals are also available from the Hazard Mitigation Module near the entrance to the Orbital Core. They require Hero or Champion reputation rank and come in both an offensive and defensive flavor.

The fact that these buffs increase baseline stats makes them akin to temporary gear upgrades or Biochem stims. The benefit of the stat value provided varies by stat and role. For example, +1,200 Endurance is only a ~5% boost whereas +1,200 Critical Rating is more like a ~33% boost.

Basics and Convenience

We’re going to quickly go through the basics just so we have our bases covered. Broadly, improving your Reputation removes a lot of the friction involved exploring the Jannimak Crash Site.

• The Hazard Mitigation Module provides increasing immunity to environmental debuffs for longer periods of time, and you unlock the ability to use ones at the Forward Camps in each biome as your Reputation rank increases.
• You can eventually unlock the ability to buy passes to use the G.S.I. Speeders to travel quickly between camps.
• You can eventually unlock the ability to buy Maintenance Access Codes, which can be used to gain access to the tunnels connecting different parts of the biomes together, some of which put you next to the ecotones.
• You can eventually unlock the ability to buy Sliced Security Cards, which let you break into Jannimak Security Terminals that let you increase the progress towards leveling up the biome.