Play the story · practical starting information
How to jump into this adventure
Where you begin
Start on Hutta while trying to establish a reputation through contracts and access to the Great Hunt. Follow the class missions before you move into Imperial space and to Dromund Kaas. Mako is central to the early Bounty Hunter crew.
What you actually play
Expect target tracking, rival hunters, paid contracts and an extended look at Mandalorian affiliations. The story emphasizes reputation and personal loyalties more than allegiance to the Empire, even though the campaign begins on the Imperial side.
Worth knowing
Play this if you like independent antiheroes and Mandalorian stories. Your character can use eligible Tech Combat Styles beyond the original Mercenary and Powertech associations. Don't mistake optional bounty-event activities for the original class story.
For the exact next mission on your character, open the Eras Window introduced in Game Update 7.7. Official Eras Window and Mission Log details · Official story missions. Current UI, availability, and chapter requirements can differ from the original expansion launches.
01 · Position within the galaxy
The story and the institutions it reveals
The Bounty Hunter story shows the Republic–Empire conflict through a contractor who can neither be reduced to a government employee nor detached from state violence. Money, employer demands, professional prestige and Mandalorian affiliations compete as standards for evaluating a successful life. It is a useful starting point for the anthropology of work, reputation and professional ethics.
Braden mentors the newcomer before Tarro Blood's attack turns the Great Hunt into a personal and professional contest. Entry requires sponsorship by Nem'ro the Hutt, making even a fiercely independent occupation dependent on powerful gatekeepers.
The protagonist enters the conflict in the position of Contractor, competitor and potential Mandalorian affiliate. Beginning on Hutta, this narrative unfolds alongside the same Republic–Sith struggle explored by the other seven Origin Stories. A single storyline does not give a complete survey of the galaxy. Its conflicts and choices reveal the assumptions and restrictions facing this particular character, including who issues orders, controls travel, assigns rank, provides knowledge, and defines a mission's success.
02 · Main class narrative
Prologue and the three original chapters
The prologue begins on Hutta. Follow your purple Origin Story missions, then read the three chapter sections below for story direction, important characters and the complete recap. Your current Mission Log and Eras Window, rather than a historical mission coordinate, provide the precise next objective.
I · Blood and Credits
What you will play
Chapter I — Complete Great Hunt targets across successive worlds. Mako and later crew members support the hunt, while named bounty contracts inside the class story are distinct from repeatable bounty-week activities.
Story recap
The Great Hunt sends competitors after difficult targets, culminating in conflict with Tarro Blood and Jedi Master Kellian Jarro. A victory brings recognition from Mandalore and a possible connection to clan society.
World and character context
Public recognition can act like a credential in a competitive profession. Mandalorian affiliation offers a different source of status from contract income, revealing that economic success and social belonging are not identical.
II · Price of Fame
What you will play
Chapter II — Contracts lead into a more public reputation struggle. Expect powerful targets, rival hunters and decisions about professional loyalty; check the mission log if you are pulled into optional faction quests.
Story recap
The newly recognized champion gains access to Blacklist bounties, but the Republic's investigation and retaliation threaten the hunter's growing network and standing.
World and character context
The story distinguishes private contractual liability from public classification as an outlaw. Governments may deploy reputational sanctions and police power when a contractor's earlier work becomes politically intolerable.
III · Business Gets Personal
What you will play
Chapter III — The Hunter's personal conflicts escalate toward the original campaign's climax. You may cooperate with Imperial figures, but the protagonist's goals remain distinct from a Sith Warrior or Imperial Agent plot.
Story recap
The hunter works with Darth Tormen while targeting those responsible for the manhunt. The ultimate commission places the hunter before Supreme Chancellor Janarus and a choice about the meaning of the original contract.
World and character context
The finale reveals a clash between obligation to an employer and judgment about wider civilian consequences. Professional honor cannot be defined only as following instructions; it also requires considering whom the work harms.
03 · Recruit your crew
Where your five original companions join
As you progress the purple Bounty Hunter storyline, the crew expands. The five linked recruitment cards below show where each companion joins the original adventure and what to follow next. These are not Alliance Alerts or modern combat-build rankings.
Since Game Update 4.0, original class companion conversations unlock through class story progress, not an affection threshold. Companions can fill healing, damage and tank roles, with their gear serving a cosmetic purpose. Speak with them aboard your ship between planets.
Returning after an expansion? Since Game Update 7.9 (June 2026), Companions & Contacts has an Ineligible for Story tab. It lets you use narratively unavailable companions in gameplay without changing their story status. The older Companion Locator Terminal is disabled. Official 7.9 companion changes
MakoHuttaEarly class storyMako assists the Hunter's entry into the Great Hunt from the start.Companion story and recruitment →
Gault RennowTatooineClass storyA Great Hunt contract on Tatooine leads to the unusual decision to keep Gault around.Companion story and recruitment →
Torian CaderaTarisClass storyThe Great Hunt takes the Bounty Hunter into a Mandalorian storyline on Taris.Companion story and recruitment →
BlizzHothClass storyMeet the Jawa scavenger amid Hoth's wartime wreckage.Companion story and recruitment →
SkadgeBelsavisClass storyThe Belsavis underworld storyline introduces the Houk enforcer.Companion story and recruitment →Connected companion research
Explore Mako beyond combat
Mako's technical expertise and childhood in Nar Shaddaa's underworld are inseparable. Her place in the Bounty Hunter crew offers a view of professional trust that cannot be measured by credits or contracts alone.
04 · Practical gameplay orientation
How to play this story without confusing it with a Combat Style
Choose this Origin Story if you want a ground-level view of the Empire's contracted violence, the Great Hunt and Mandalorian identity. Mercenary and Powertech describe the original fighting archetypes; modern Tech Combat Styles allow additional combinations.
Starting world: Hutta. Class-story ship: D5-Mantis patrol craft. Original Advanced Class associations: Mercenary and Powertech. Those associations describe the game's historical class presentation, not exclusive 2026 fighting options.
For all 16 fighting options, weapons, and disciplines: See the full Combat Styles guide →
Open the navigation-first mission walkthrough →
As of the 7.0 system, you choose the narrative Origin Story and your Combat Style as distinct character-creation decisions. Force-based stories select from eligible Force styles and tech-based stories from eligible Tech styles. Further eligibility, switching and additional styles depend on game unlocks, character status and current rules. For precise combat mechanics, compare the official 7.0 rules with the newest published patch notes; avoid using pre-7.0 ability lists as current build advice.
For a first playthrough, preserve your original class missions and speak with companions between major planets. Story decisions may change dialogue and relationships, while later shared expansions can converge on the same broader galactic events. Use the Eras Window to find the next main mission when returning after a long break.
05 · IDS anthropology dossier
Bounty Hunter: social meaning of the playable career
Bounty hunting illustrates the institutional ambiguity of freelance violence. A hunter is independent in formal rank yet embedded in employer networks, client jurisdictions, clan codes and competition rules. The Great Hunt is not simply a tournament; it is a system that produces credentials and defines who may claim occupational prestige.
Each Origin Story establishes a particular social location rather than an unbiased historical perspective. The character's access to knowledge, legitimacy, patronage and mobility depends on institutional context. For this class, the most productive themes are contracts and reputations, Mandalorian identity, professional honor. These themes are analytical questions applied to fictional material. They should not be mistaken for official authorial explanations, nor should outcomes chosen by one player be presented as the only possible version of the narrative.
An ethnographic analogy requires restraint. The game designs situations in which missions, dialogue menus and reward structures shape action. It cannot supply observations of real communities or evidence that a political theory is true. Its educational value lies in asking how a player learns to act within a social institution, what actions the mechanics reward, and whose experiences remain outside the story's field of view.
Follow the story
Where will you travel next?
Meet the companions, revisit the eight Origin Stories, or discover the expansions that continue these adventures.
06 · Source trail
Sources and continuity
- Bounty Hunter complete class story overview · official SWTOR Encyclopedia excerpt
- Bounty Hunter · official SWTOR Holonet class overview
- Official 7.0 patch notes · Origin Stories and Combat Styles
- Imperial Dark Sector Old Republic chronology
All storyline details are Legends material; the game's possible decisions cannot all describe one single character's history. The independent analysis on this page is clearly labeled and should be read in conjunction with primary story material.