Those star wars aren’t going to win themselves.
Star Wars: Battlefront is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, meaning that digital fights for galactic freedom are happening across the world. However, Battlefront can be a pretty complicated game with all of its special objectives, vehicles, and special characters.
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Above: Ion torpedoes!
Walker Assault: Playing as a Rebel
Your goal is to keep uplink stations online, which in turn will cause more Y-wing bombers to keep the AT-ATs vulnerable for a longer amount of time. For a Rebel soldier, you’ll want to make sure you have the Ion Torpedo equipped. This missile locks onto vehicles and does extra damage against them. Not only does this help you hurt those AT-ATs, but it’ll help you take out AT-STs too.
However, don’t just let that ability sit idle while the AT-ATs’ are invulnerable and the AT-STs are absent. You can also use the Ion Torpedo to lock onto enemy aircraft. Sure, you might not hit them, but you can make them waste their maneuverability and escape cooldowns, making them vulnerable for your friendly ships.
For your other cooldown slot, you can’t go wrong with the versatile Jump Pack. Not only can it help you reach higher terrain, but you can use it to cover distances faster. It’s also great for escaping Orbital Strikes. Plus, it can help you reach those power-up, vehicle, and character tokens before your teammates.
Above: Protect these things.
Walker Assault: Playing as an Imperial
As an Imperial, you’ll only win Walker Assault if you can keep the uplink stations down enough so that the Rebels don’t have enough time to deal serious damage to the AT-ATs. This is why you’ll want the Jump Pack. It’ll help you reach those stations faster and reduce the amount of time you spend running from your spawn point.
You won’t need the Ion Torpedo for most of the match, since the Rebels don’t have any ground vehicles. However, you’ll want to equip it before the last round of vulnerability for your AT-ATs. This is when the Rebels can take out one with a single Snowspeeder using a harpoon. However, you can lock onto those ships with an Ion Torpedo, hit them, and make them disengage their tow-cables.
Above: Vrooooooommmmm.
Playing as an air vehicle
When you’re in the air, your instinct is to resort to dogfighting other airships. However, you can still help out your friends on the ground. Get some height, slow your boosters, and then aim toward the battlefield and looks for swarms of enemies. They’ll usually be hanging around the uplink stations. Use your blasters and missiles to take them out. You can also do a lot of damage against those AT-STs, which can relieve some of the pressure on your grounded friends.
Each ship has evasive maneuvers assigned to the D-pad and at least one defensive cooldown, like a burst of speed that will help you escape an enemy or an increase in shield power. Don’t get stingy with them. If an enemy is locking onto you, use them. It doesn’t take much for another ship to take you down, so don’t save those cooldowns for a rainy day.
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When you’re the Rebels, you’ll gain access to the Snowspeeders in the last wave of Walker Assault. While these ships can take out an AT-AT with one harpoon, they are awful at fighting enemy aircraft. Unlike most ships, they lack homing missiles. Try to avoid the attention of enemy ships by flying around the edges of the map and waiting for the AT-ATs to become vulnerable. Then, fly toward them and prepare to attack. Don’t forget to use your jammer cooldown before engaging your tow-cable. This will make it impossible for enemy missiles to lock for a while.
If you need to practice your flying skills, play the Fighter Squadron mode. It’s just ships, so you’ll you don’t need to worry about hunting down tokens before you can take to the air.
Above: Oh, gawd! Who thought bipedal armor was a good idea!
Playing as a ground vehicle
Inside an AT-AT, you can call down Orbital Strikes, but doing so requires you to wait for a long cooldown before you can use the ability again. You’re only in the AT-AT for a limited time. However, use the Orbital Strike as soon as you enter the vehicle, and you should have enough time to use the ability twice more. In other words, don’t hold onto the Orbital Strike waiting for that perfect moment when the entire team is standing in one spot. It probably won’t happen.
The AT-ST is powerful, but it’s also a big target. It’s weapons all have decent range, so don’t travel too closely to the enemy. If you’re standing right next to an uplink station, you aren’t long for whatever world you’re fighting on.
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Above: Your lighting has a short range, so keep that in mind on the battlefield.
Playing as a hero or villain
Each hero and villain has distinct abilities. When you grab a Hero Token — which spawn randomly among several set locations in each Supremacy and Walker Assault map — you get to decide which one you want to play as (depending on which side you’re fighting for). Keep the strength of each one in mind as you make your decision.
Luke Skywalker
Luke can cover distances quickly and do a large amount of damage with his lightsaber. He becomes an easy target out in the open, so he works better inside enclosed spaces. This also means you’ll be more likely to run into a group of Stormtroopers that you can easily take out with Force Push.
Leia
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Leia can create a bubble shield that protects everyone inside it. She can also drop Power Up tokens for allies. Best of all, a couple of players can spawn on her as Honor Guards. These soldiers get powerful laser rifles, a rocket launcher ability that works off of cooldowns, and a lock-on missile that also has its own cooldown. Leia is the most defensive Hero in the game. Use her when you need to keep a point, like an uplink terminal. Try to stay alive as long as possible, since it means you can spawn more Honor Guards.
Han Solo
Han has powerful ranged attacks, so he’s good for taking out enemies with a lot health. Use him when the AT-ATs are about to become vulnerable or when AT-STs begin to swarm the Battlefield. He’s also good at taking out Villains.
Above: You have a jetpack. Use it.
Darth Vader
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Vader is similar to Luke. He can deal a lot of damage with his lightsaber, but he becomes an easy target when he’s out in the open. Try to stay indoors. He can throw his lightsaber for a ranged attack. You can click in the right analog stick to lock onto an enemy, which makes aiming that ability easier.
Emperor Palpatine
Palpatine is one of the trickier characters to play. Like Leia, he can throw down Power Up tokens and let players spawn on him as powerful soldiers with explosive cooldowns, but his Force Lightning attack has a limited range. You’ll be tempted to try to get into the middle of fights so you can zap people, but try to only do so when you have some friends there to help keep some of the attention away from you. Remember, you want to stay alive as long as possible so you can keep letting players spawn on you. Palpatine also has a dash ability that can help him roll out of danger (or into it). Use it to increase maneuverability.
Boba Fett
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This bounty hunter has a jetpack with rechargeable fuel. Coupled with his standard blaster and rocket launcher, he can fly up into the air, look for enemy infantry, and blow them away. He works better in open spaces, since they let him have an easier time spotting threats from a distance. Stay in the air as much as you can, since it makes it difficult for enemy soldiers to fire at you with standard weapons, especially if you’re far away. You have a flamethrower that can help you deal with nearby opponents, but don’t let that trick you into getting too close to a group of enemies. Pick them off from a distance and you’ll live longer.
If you need practice with any of the characters, play the Hero vs. Villain mode. It starts each round with all of them spawned, so you’ll get to play as them much more often than you would if you just hope to run into tokens during Walker Assault or Supremacy.
Above: Upgrades!
Upgrade your Star Cards
You know that you can unlock Star Cards using credits you earn in matches, which then unlock new abilities and guns. You might not know that you can also upgrade Star Cards. This costs a lot of credits, but it’s worth it. It reduces the cooldown of your abilities, which means you can shoot off more Ion Torpedoes in Walker Assault or get to use your Jump Pack much more often. In fact, those are the two you should upgrade first. Having that extra damage in Walker Assault is a huge help, and having the Jump Pack available more often can help you escape more fights and cover more ground.