When peered at through the Force, Tisto is seen as a jagged scar in the normally fluid energy field. It is unknown how this happened, and unfortunately, prevents Tisto from sensing the Dark Side within himself even as he uses it — and more importantly, as it uses him, and can find his mood and thoughts out of his own control, the Dark Side sometimes stoking his temper or paranoia, feeding his hatred without his notice. Tisto also struggles to use powers that rely purely on emotion, such as Rage or Terror and instead focuses on amplifying his own abilities with the Force. While some other people are unnerved by the Force scar, it does not affect them or their mastery of the Force in any way as it does Tisto.

Tisto walks a fine line between light and dark sides of the Force, especially in combat or dire, high-stress situations. Due to pragmatism, conflicting emotions, and self-doubt, Tisto has found it easy to lose control, slipping too deep into the dark and leading him to acting and fighting like a barbarian, with little regard for who is an ally and who is an enemy, nevermind a particular plan. In order to remain in control, Tisto focuses on a simple goal before allowing the Force to take over, such as ending a fight, protecting someone, or a mission goal. However, because of this, Tisto can seem single-minded when it comes to many things, often ignoring any complex solution, and is often judged as a simpleton as a result, tending to be passed up as a mere grunt or disrespected by those who don't know him.

If growing up on the mean streets of Nar Shadaa taught Tisto anything, it's that often times the best answer to a problem is the simplest. Whether this is trying to sneak into a place, or simply punching someone, he has found that the statement is true far more often than not. This often leads people to believe Tisto is a simpleton, and as a result causing many "high class" folk to view him unkindly, it has served him well all of his life.

Tisto does not enjoy making enemies, preferring to have friends and allies. He tends to be friendly, cheerful, quick with a joke and is known to be quite reliable. This often leads some others to see him as weak, sometimes drawing attempts on his life or his gang. However, this preference for friends ends when someone makes themselves his enemy. Then, he would chase them down and either kill them or make them suffer. When hunting down an enemy, Tisto is cold, calculating, and ruthless, methodically planning their downfall. This has caused problems as these are traits that can frighten the very friends he tries so hard to make, and cause distrust and wariness from allies or superiors.

After several gang wars, Tisto has learned when a fight is necessary and when one can be completely useless. As a result, when he gets the sense that a conflict is driven by what he considers a needless motivation, he will often attempt diplomacy, talking kindly to his opponent and trying to learn more about and diffuse the situation rather than pressing the attack. In doing so, he also tries to persuade people to lower their defenses, allowing him to disarm them and, hopefully, end any resistance. This not only often alienates him from people who think combat is a means to an end or an honorable practice, but worse, it doesn't always work, and a botched attempt can earn him a permanently distrustful enemy as much it can brutal and immediate retaliation. If forced, Tisto combines creative telekinetic mastery, saberwork, and martial arts to survive.

Tisto's time as criminal rabble and as ruthless crew leader taught him several more things than just practicality; they taught him tactics. Tisto has a wide array of distasteful but effective methods of urban warfare, including identifying strategic targets for isolation, elimination, or take over, using any given area as a tool and battlefield all its own, and fighting with small, guerrilla forces against often much larger and well-armed targets. While these experiences give Tisto quite a lot of tricks in his repertoire and the ability to plan around battles and consider his opponents, they are also rather narrowly suited, and when caught off guard or confronted with more traditional combat situations where his techniques cause more harm than good, Tisto can be all but useless. Furthermore, some commanders may find his behavior impertinent or dishonorable, leading Tisto to conflict with his allies.