"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Han Solo, " Star Wars: A New Hope "

Rifles are long-range weapons designed to attack enemies at the maximum possible combat range in Star Wars Galaxies. The high-damage values and long-firing distance comes at the cost of a slower firing rate.

Currently, bounty hunters' have the best expertise for rifle bonuses, but rifles can be effective for any combat profession. They can be used tactically by group members to lay down cover fire and sniper attacks while group members on the front-line engage the enemy.

Let these technical specs be your guide to find out if rifles are a good choice for your character.

Rifle Basics

Be sure to take a moment and examine the weapons you're interested in using. You can find all a weapon's details by clicking on it in your inventory and "examining" it with the radial menu, or by looking at the details of the item on the bazaar.

Once you have looked over the weapon details, it helps if you take a moment to compare it with the expertise abilities your character has, and the abilities you're considering purchasing in the future through the Profession Expertise System. Things you will want to consider are the amount of damage, damage type, special weapon effects and related expertise abilities.

Here are some additional tips on understanding weapon details in the examine window:

Weapon Categories

Rifles can be found throughout the galaxy in different ways. There are four basic categories: crafted weapons, looted weapons, quest rewards and Galactic Civil War weapons.

• Crafted Weapons: Crafted weapons are hand-made or manufactured by munitions experts. You can purchase them throughout the galaxy by visiting the bazaar. Some are for sale on the open market, but to find the really excellent hardware, click the tab that says "vendor search." You can search vendors throughout the galaxy and find shops with a wide range of available goods, as long as you are willing to travel to buy them.

Each type of crafted weapon varies based on the quality of the item and any modifiers that might be built into the weapon by the crafter. Also, they currently have one socket for item upgrades created through the reverse engineering system.

• Looted Weapons: There are two types of looted weapons. Basic looted weapons have been recovered from your enemies after combat and can be found throughout the galaxy. Special looted weapons are recovered from specific enemies. These are mostly found on Kashyyyk and Mustafar.

• Quest Weapons: Quest weapons are rewards for completing specific quests.

• Galactic Civil War Weapons: Galactic Civil War weapons can be purchased from faction recruiters based on points you have scored in the war. If you've scored enough points, you can visit a faction recruiter and there will be a new dialogue box available so you can purchase these new
  weapons.