How to Create Morgan Elsbeth and the Blade of Talzin in SWTOR: Full Build Guide (2024)

This SWTOR Morgan Elsbeth Build Guide is designed to be as faithful to the lore and authentic as possible within the constraints of the game.

You’ll find everything you need to know to create a toon in SWTOR and play like Morgan Elsbeth. Her appearance is based on Diana Lee Inosanto’s portrayal during the first season of Ahsoka and her fight with Ahsoka in the first season’s finale, where she wielded the Blade of Talzin.

The guide is up-to-date for Patch 7.5

Note: This build is not optimal for endgame content and should only be used when playing alone or role-playing with friends. It is beginner-friendly and does not require you to be at level cap to play it.

Physical Appearance

Before we begin, I want to apologize to Diana Lee Inosanto for speaking so clinically about her physical appearance. I mean no offense or disrespect.

Morgan Elsbeth is a middle-aged human woman with silvery-brown hair tied in a bun and braids, with a few loose strands here and there. She wears minimal makeup and reddish-purple lipstick that matches her robes. Her eyes are normally green, but when she receives the Blade of Talzin and enchantments of the Great Mothers, her eyes turn inky black.

The character creator in SWTOR is limited. It only lets you make younger-looking people because the protagonist of each origin story is meant to be young, having just finished their training or still trying to find their place in the galaxy.

Face paint and tattoos are also restricted, though none exist that match the tattoo on her forehead, nor the black ritualistic markings that appear after the Great Mothers enchanted her on Peridea.

Sex: Female
Species: Human
Body Type: 2
Head: 9 (or 11 or 18)
Scars: 1
Complexion: 33
Eye Color: 4 (or 3)
Cosmetics: 13
Hair: 40 (or 39)
Hair Color: ~14 (or 10-14)
Skin Color: ~13

Outfit and Weapon

Since the Blade of Talzin is special and there are several strong alternative candidates for the outfit, I opted to divide this section into several parts.

Garb of a Nightsister

Slot	Icon	Item Name
Head		Nothing
Chest		Steadfast Master’s Robes
Bracers		Steadfast Master’s Wraps
Gloves		Steadfast Master’s Gloves
Belt		Steadfast Master’s Belt
Pants		Exiled Master’s Lower Robes
Boots		Steadfast Master’s Boots
Chest Dye		Deep Red and Black Dye Module
Gloves Dye		Secondary Deep Red Dye Module
Regen Toy		Ancient Star Map
Mount		Koensayr Monocycle
Flair		Green Force Crystal

I actually opted to use the Mandalorian Scout Dye for the photos, but it’s several orders of magnitude more expensive than the Deep Red and Black dye. Since it’s really only noticeable if you compare them side-by-side or your knees get weak at the sight of the color maroon like mine do, I only suggest using it as an alternative.

The Koensayr Monocycle is by no means essential. It just reminds me a lot of the Eye of Sion, which is the name of the hyperspace ring that Morgan Elsbeth uses to cross intergalactic space and transport Thrawn’s Star Destroyer back to Dathomir. The Flair: Green Force Crystal isn’t strictly necessary either, but it really compliments the color of the Blade of Talzin. Speaking of which…

Forging the Blade of Talzin

You can compile cosmetic items into something that has a very similar appearance to the Blade of Talzin given to Morgan Elsbeth by the Great Mothers on Peridea. She used it in her duel against Ahsoka on Peridea to prevent them from stopping Thrawn’s escape.

Component	Icon	Item Name
Mainhand Weapon		Ancient Force-Imbued Blade
Crystal		Mint Green Crystal
Tuning		Overcharged Weapon Tuning

Sadly, the Overcharged Weapon Tuning only produces fire at the base of the blade, though ancient Jedi writing runs along the entire length of the sword and glows green. Still, I think it looks pretty fantastic from a distance.

Alternatives

There are some alternatives to several of the items recommended for this build. Fidelity-wise, they’re all pretty similar to my main recommendations. Even the individual pieces I chose have limitations.

Slot	Icon	Item Name
Chest Dye		Mandalorian Scout Dye Module
Mainhand		Ceremonial Beskar Spear
Chest		Imperial Advisor’s Robes
Chest		Loyal Adherent’s Robes
Belt		Onderonian Guard’s Girdle
Pants		Jedi Knight Revan’s Lower Robes
Pants		Dark Interrogator’s Greaves

The Steadfast Master’s Robes are cheaper since you need so much of the rest of the set, and they look great until you realize the “skirt” below the belt is attached to them.

Morgan’s top only extends like an inch below her belt. The Imperial Advisor Robes have those pesky, brown, undyable shoulder pads, and there isn’t a dye in the game that can make the Loyal Adherent’s Robes match the rest of the outfit.

The pants and belt suffer from clipping and cost issues, but I’m pretty sensitive to that sort of thing, so you might find that those work better. I encourage you to try them out!

The Ceremonial Beskar Spear does not have the same sort of fidelity issues. Instead, it just requires you to use a different Combat Style than the one I recommend because it’s considered a Double-Bladed Vibrosword.

Combat Style and Gearing Choices

This section will focus on key choices you’ll have to make in order to end up with a playstyle that matches Morgan Elsbeth’s character.

Normally, I include a recommended origin story, but none of them are a good match for Morgan Elsbeth’s arc. The Sith Inquisitor is probably the closest match as the story focuses on gathering power and finding success in the face of stronger opposition, but that’s not saying much. Don’t try to force a connection where there isn’t one.

Combat Styles, Disciplines, and Ability Tree Choices

Morgan Elsbeth employed the Blade of Talzin to combine faster flurries with heavier slashes in an attempt to break through Ahsoka Tano’s twin sabers and keep her opponent on the back foot to prevent her from having to defend against two sabers.

Sometimes, Morgan would use her other arm to support her sword in order to put more leverage and power behind her swings and get more stability when blocking, allowing her to last longer against a Jedi. Sadly, no discipline in SWTOR has an ability like this, but that’s because you can’t do such a thing with a lightsaber!

Since her main goal was to stay behind to stall Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra so that all of her living allies could escape, and she emphasized melee combat, I think it makes the most sense for Morgan Elsbeth to be a Defense Guardian.

Yes, this is the light-side version of the combat style (the dark-side version is Immortal Juggernaut), but I still recommend it because the visuals line up better. Morgan didn’t use the Force overtly while fighting, and Defense Guardian has less pronounced visuals that blend in better with the green color of the Blade of Talzin.

Build Essentials:

Defensive Assault
Debilitating Slashes
Critical Slash
Marked Focus
Through Peace

The build essentials I recommend to match Morgan Elsbeth’s fighting style are focused on improving personal survivability, allowing her to survive and subsequently stall her adversaries for a longer period of time. I also tried to avoid effects that buffed more Force-centric abilities because she isn’t shown actively using the Force in combat.

Legendary Implants and Tactical Item

Since Morgan focused on stalling and defense, I recommend using tank implants and a tactical item that boosts your survivability. You gain access to legendary implants at level 80 and tactical items at level 75.

Retaliator Package

The Retaliator Package removes the cooldown on Riposte, enabling you to use it after dodging an attack a lot more often instead of mostly after Guardian Slash, turning Riposte into a proper counter-attack. It comes with tank stats.

Force Resistance Package

The Force Resistance Package slightly increases your damage reduction at all times and also comes with tank stats. Make sure to get the dark blue one because the light blue version doesn’t work for Guardians (or Juggernauts).

Grit Teeth

The Grit Teeth tactical lowers the cooldown on Saber Ward when you take damage, increasing the overall uptime. It can only be crafted by Biochem, and you can purchase the schematic from S3T-BNS in the supplies section of the fleet if you have that crafting skill or buy it from someone else on the GTN.

For more information on gearing, check out my guide on Which Mods to Buy from Hyde and Zeek. For Morgan Elsbeth, I recommend gearing like a Mitigation Tank, which is focused on increasing stats that boost damage mitigation, like Shield Rating, Absorb Rating, Defense Chance, and Endurance.

Key Abilities

In this section, I’ll be going over specific Defense Guardian abilities that match Morgan Elsbeth’s fighting style, including sword swings and defensive maneuvers. To be clear, this is not a complete list of all Defense Guardian abilities. I am only shining a spotlight on the ones that are either visually or thematically reminiscent of Morgan.

Offensive Abilities

These are attacks that deal damage to one or more enemies. Typically, they cannot be used at the same time as one another. Some of them cost Focus, which is the Guardian’s class resource and most of them have short cooldowns that prevent them from being spammed.

Warding Strike

Unlocked at level 15
Warding Strike is a sword swing that deals a moderate amount of damage to a single enemy, generates 6 Focus, and grants buffs that increase your damage reduction and improve the effectiveness of your shield generator.

Guardian Slash

Unlocked at level 35
Guardian Slash is your heaviest hitter. If you have used Warding Strike at all recently, you’ll also deal damage to multiple targets. Morgan didn’t ever fight more than one person at a time, so that part isn’t as relevant, but the animation is on point.

Riposte

Unlocked at level 4
Riposte can only be activated if you recently used Guardian Slash, dodged an attack completely, or one of your attacks missed. Riposte also slightly increases your defense chance (meaning it will be more likely for you to dodge future attacks and be able to use Riposte again). In addition, Riposte can be activated at the same time as your other attacks, so make sure to use it as soon as it becomes available.

Strike and Slash

Unlocked at level 1
Strike and Slash are your most basic sword swings. Neither is very flashy or powerful, but they also lack a cooldown. Strike is significantly weaker but builds a few Focus. Slash is stronger, though still not as strong as your abilities with cooldowns, and it costs Focus to use. The idea is to alternate them.

Blade Barrage

Unlocked at level 10
Blade Barrage combines the best of both worlds. It’s quite a bit stronger than Slash, but doesn’t cost any Focus. Like Warding Strike, it matches well with the slashing acrobatics and fast swing speed we see from Morgan in her final duel. Thanks to a specific talent, it will also stop your target from moving for a moment and even build 1 Focus.

Taunt, Challenging Call, and Threatening Focus

Unlocked at levels 10, 31, and 15 respectively
Taunt and Challenging Call force enemies to attack you specifically for a short period. Taunt affects your target while Challenging Call attracts the attention of nearby enemies. Threatening Focus deals damage to enemies you have Taunted (both abilities apply Taunt) and lowers the cooldown of those abilities.

All 3 of these abilities are best used preemptively to make sure enemies are hitting you, but you should absolutely use them reactively to get the attention of something that’s attacking an ally.

There is no visual link to anything Morgan has done, and thankfully, they’re off the GCD, so you won’t see the animations very often. I think they’re essential to include because of the thematic connection. Thrawn asked Morgan Elsbet to stay behind to slow down Ahsoka and co. so that everyone else could escape. She slowed them down by forcing them to fight her, and these abilities do the exact same thing.

Guard, Guardian Leap, and Force Leap

Unlocked at levels 1, 39, and 1 again, respectively
Guard, Guardian Leap, and Force Leap are similar to the taunt abilities I mentioned earlier in that they have a thematic link rather than a visual one. I’m not gonna get into as much detail, but suffice to say that the abilities all have something to do with protecting allies over a great distance. They’re reminiscent of Morgan’s extraordinary efforts to rescue Thrawn and the Nightsisters from another galaxy.

Defensive Abilities

All of these abilities can be activated at the same time as other attacks and offer some sort of temporary boost to your survivability. Their cooldowns are significantly longer than that of most attacks.

Force Kick

Unlocked at level 19
Force Kick doesn’t deal any damage, but interrupts your opponent by kicking them. Ahsoka did a whole lot more kicking during their duel, but Fmr. Magistrate Elsbeth still managed to stick her feet all up in Lady Tano’s business. Like Riposte, you can use it while doing another attack, and you should use it whenever you see your opponent cast something.

Enure

Unlocked at level 43
Enure cleanses some negative effects and increases your max health significantly for a short period, though you lose it when the effect ends. This ability’s visual effect covers your body with a green aura that looks identical to the Nightsister magicks that cause Morgan’s Blade of Talzin to burn.

No other Force discipline has anything like it, and the effect is fitting as well. The idea is you’re going past your limit where you just endure the pain, hopefully buying enough time for the Eye of Sion and her crew to escape Peridea.

Saber Ward

Unlocked at level 15
Saber Ward is a defensive ability that makes it easier for you to block lightsaber swings and dodge blasterfire. It also makes you take less damage from attacks that don’t originate from weapons. Basically, this ability is meant to express how lightsaber duels are depicted outside of the game where it only takes one hit to end it all, so you use it and you basically go into that mode.

Warding Call and Focused Defense

Unlocked at levels 60 and 56 respectively
Warding Call and Focused Defense a weaker visual connection to Morgan compared to Enure and Saber Ward, but they have the same type of functionality in that they allow you to survive (and subsequently stall) for a longer period of time.

If you want more information on how to play and gear this discipline for group PvE content, like Flashpoints and Operations, check out Dongo’s 7.0 Defense Guardian PvE Guide.

Alternative Combat Styles

If you want to use the Ceremonial Beskar Spear like Morgan did as Magistrate of Caloban on Corvus, I recommend using one of the Shadow DPS specs. They feature less flashy abilities than Assassin DPS and a lot of weapon swings.

Don’t get me wrong, the light shows that most classes put on are really cool, and Shadows put them on too. The issue is just that Morgan doesn’t do anything like that.

If you’re shooting for actual Nightsister magick, unfortunately, it doesn’t exist in SWTOR. Somehow, the Nightsisters and Dathomir haven’t been mentioned at all in any story. Visually, the closest you can get is Corruption Sorcerer.

It’s a healer spec, and the Nightsisters are known for enchanting others and raising the dead. The only thing missing is the bright green color associated with their use of the Force. All of the Corruption Sorcerer abilities are dark purple.

This concludes the Morgan Elsbeth Build Guide. If you have recommendations for tweaks or slight variations in appearance or other abilities that might fit well, or if you have a favorite character you’d like to get a build for, leave a comment.

If you want to play as another famous Nightsister, I recommend checking out my Asajj Ventress Build Guide. As the most prominent dark side dual-wielding saber user, her abilities are connected more strongly to SWTOR.