Choosing a Champion

In Lego Star Wars Battles (LSWB), every light side and dark side deck is equipped with a champion. Champions are the most expensive unit in the game, however each champion is equipped with a unique ability that costs no energy to use. Using a champion effectively is a key to winning games and gaining base kills (5 medal, max win). This guide will compare the strengths and weaknesses of each champion so that as you progress through the different planets, you can effectively choose your champion and use resources to level them. For discussion on champions, check out the LSWB Discord!

## Champions

(Detailed strategies, videos, and card analysis can be found on each individual champion page.)

### Investing in Champions

Champions are one of the most vital cards in a deck. Having a leveled champion is key. *The best strategy is to focus on leveling up one champion at a time.* The champion token is available in the shop every 3 days for 1,000 Crystals. Typically 1 event per season offer a champion token as a reward and you receive a champion token from season rewards. Otherwise, receiving a champion from a scan is incredibly rare. See more on the Crystals page for more strategies regarding champions. As much as possible, avoid pivoting between champions often due to how long it takes to level up champions. You will be much more effective focusing on one champion at a time. An active player will typically receive 10-13 champion tokens in a season (4 weeks).

## Champions Ranked

Each faction's deck can contain only one champion at a time and each deck MUST have a champion. Games can be won or lost without ever playing a champion. At this time, same-faction champions can never face each other since LSWB matches Light Side versus Dark Side.

### **Light Side**

1. Luke Skywalker
2. Yoda
3. Obi-Wan Kenobi / Ahsoka Tano
4. Din Djarin (Mando) - NERF'D
5. Princess Leia
6. Han Solo / Mace Windu
7. Rey

#### Luke Skywalker

Luke is ~~at~~ near the top of the list for several reasons. (Mando dethroned the king. But with the coming nerf to both Mando and Klatoonian raider, Luke will shine again!) First, he is the champion you start with first in the game, so you already have an advantage to leveling him up as you progress in trophies. Second, Luke has SO MUCH health. Luke's health allows him to act as a tank for other units while advancing forward. His "Force Push" special move will damage and knock back opponents (land and air) with a stun effect (units and towers).

Luke's two downsides are that he cannot target air units (with his lightsaber) and his special affects only 180 degrees in the direction he is facing. Early in the game, DS's Probe Droid is fairly commonly used however this unit becomes less effective at levels higher than 8 (easy to counter). Buzz droids are becoming more common as they are getting leveled up and often used for mynock counter. Additionally, Luke's special WILL affect aerial units by giving knock back damage and stun. This is the only time Luke can affect air units. Luke's first downside is more like a half downside since DS does not have many (good) aerial units. However, Luke's second drawback can cause some problems against a skillful opponent. Dark Side's particle beam (available from Hoth) can eat away at Luke's health rather quickly. Without a BB-8 unit or booma balls to stun the tower, Luke will need to use his "force push" to reset the particle beam. Skilled players will distract Luke by making him face away from the tower so that Force Push will not reset particle beam. Once Luke is distracted by locking onto one target, it is easier for an opponent to place units behind Luke to chip away damage or place a BB-9E to stun-lock Luke from moving or attacking. Being aware of these situations will help you use Luke more effectively and give him support he needs. One final note about Luke, he's *really* slow. Sometimes you can give him a little push with other units, but it will give you time to build up a swarm to go against a tower or base (just be cautious of seismic charge and Tie Bomber strikes). Luke's relaxed speed is one main reason many players transition away from Luke as it doesn't fit their play preference or style.

#### Yoda

Yoda is higher on this list solely because of his special ability. Yoda's health gain per level is mediocre but when you add a 4 second shield to Yoda and any nearby units, a lot of damage can happen in those few seconds from supporting units (especially Ewoks). A lot of high-level players use Yoda over Luke to be more offensive focused because he runs fast and carries a lightsaber. Stunning a Yoda who is currently attacking a unit with a BB-9E is difficult, but not impossible, due to Yoda’s 360 degree lightsaber swing. So, BB-9E has to reach Yoda before he swings. Battle Droids can do a lot of damage if another unit is keeping Yoda out of range. Otherwise, you can start your scrap metal fund. Yoda is very versatile and can be a challenge to defend. He works well with nearly any other LS unit because of his shield. He can tank or provide the shield to tank. Shielded Tauntaun, Mynocks, or Ewoks will cause tons of damage, or even defensively with porgs or commandos. A great option, Yoda is.

#### Obi-Wan Kenobi

Kenobi's confuse is just fun to use. The surprising feature of OWK is that the duration of "Confuse" increases by one second for every upgrade level (7 seconds at Level 13). What is more fun than watching your opponent fight themselves for several seconds? Obi-Wan struggles against stun, so a skilled player will have to time the confuse between seismic charge or other stunning cards. Because of the shorter confuse time at lower levels, he really only becomes useful at higher levels (11+). This can be difficult for newer players verses Luke or Yoda that are unlocked early in the game. The best feature of "Confuse" is that while the chaos is taking place, the ability cooldown timer is ticking away. So at level 13, OWK has 7 seconds of confuse then only 3 seconds before it's ready to use again.One downside to confuse is that the animation takes a long time, so stunning OWK is rather easy to prevent confuse. But if the timing if off, confusion will lead to frustrating for the opponent. This could get interesting making your opponent get a bad feeling about this.

#### Ahsoka Tano

Ahsoka is incredibly fast. Just watch those sabers fly She is best to be played behind other units as she catches up and uses her special with destructive force. Her special, Saber Storm, makes her do circular damage while spinning in a circle. The size of her circle changes by the positioning of enemy units around her. Spread out units means a wider circle, but just a few units or tower in the way will cause her to focus her attack mainly on that one target. Her attack is also incredibly fast and chops away at battle droids (Corellian hounds can be a challenge but her special will wipe them out). One drawback of Ahsoka is that her special will not reset a particle beam. Klatoonian Raider and other stunning units will mess up her special (though BB-9E will not stun her while her special is active.) Her strengths is that she is fast and can deal a lot of damage quickly even though her health is mediocre (think Yoda/Solo). If your play style if fast and furious, Ahsoka may be your champion.

#### Din Djarin (Mando) - GOT NERF'D!

(Old Info) Mando broke the game day 1. The devs took way too long (*MONTHS*) to eliminate his infinite pierce (i.e. shooting the base through middle tower) but Mando still destroyed the game. Imagine Admiral Akbar drinking tea and that's what you'll be doing. Literally the easiest champ to get wins with and requires little-to-no skill. Mando sits at the back of his range shooting laser pellets. If anything gets close, whistling birds practically annihilates anything that gets too close (including champions). Missile launcher is the only tower that will reach Mando, but that's a slow process. The launcher would have to be L12 to make anything worthwhile and then when DS thinks Mando is cornered, enter mynocks. Forget Luke's health. Forget Yoda's shield. Forget OWK's confuse and Ahsoka's speed. None of this matters when you have an OP sniper on the field that can *shoot through stuff*. Protected behind barriers and by other units, being a champion, you simply can't get to Mando fast enough and he just doesn't die. L9 Mando is destroying L12 and L13 decks. This guy is a monster and is a Godzilla-kill-mode at higher levels. There is just no easy way to stop Mando and he rules the field making n00bs feel like someone special when they have no skill. Step aside Luke, Mando is your father now.

(New Info) Since the nerf to Mando, castration of his stats by 50% have greatly hindered Mando's usefulness. Mando is now just a slow burn with a pea-shooter causing occasional damage. Mando's Whistling Birds have also been cut in half in regards to damage, so he will need much more support to survive. The game plan with Mando is simply to *slowly* move forward and protect the towers, hopefully winning 3-2 or 2-1. Do not expect many base kills coming from Mando's gun. The gameplay feels very similar to Mace Windu where the champ simply causes distraction most of the game while other units do the work of damage. I personally feel that Leia is more of a threat as an opponent, but because a well-placed Mando can be difficult to eliminate as a sniper, Mando only slightly edges out the princess.

#### Princess Leia

Leia's usefulness comes down to her special ability "inspire". Inspire makes each unit in her radius move and attack twice as fast. This is another unit (like Phasma) that demolishes opponents with lower level cards and gives the wrong impression of her usefulness. However, a skilled player learns to counter the princess with ease using an opposing champion and/or seismic charge. Unlike Phasma who sits at the bottom of the list, Leia can deal quick and deadly damage to opponents who are unprepared. This is why she sits higher on the list than Han Solo and Rey. A prepared opponent will mirror a champion like Vader to use "force slam" to stun/kill the swarm, Boba Fett's rockets to kill the swarm, or Maul's stun leap and 360 damage to clear out support units. Seismic Charge is also deadly to Leia's inspire because it stuns all units in a large radius, possibly killing Ewoks and porgs allowing any nearby towers to finish off remaining units. BB-9E can also stun an inspired tauntaun. Battle Droids can shoot inspired mynocks out of the sky. Dark Side has lots of options for countering Leia making her much less effective against experienced players. Don't be fooled and use your resources elsewhere.

#### Han Solo

Han Solo shoots with his blaster, so he can target ground and air units. Han’s special is an air strike from the Millennium Falcon that covers a large area in front of him. Han seems to be the LS version of Boba Fett, though not as effective. He is only available on later planets and his special targets forward unlike Boba's 360 rockets. The targeting computer in the Millennium Falcon must be broken because there is no good way to aim its attack. Han's special shoots a spread and doesn't do well against a single target. His stats are mediocre but Han may surpass his future bride once he gets a few laps around the outer rim. Han is considered a "meme champion" because LS has better options for reaching the highest trophy count.

#### Mace Windu

Mr. Samuel L himself in the form of Mace Windu is an interesting mix to the game. Mace's stats are mediocre and the special isn't that great. He is definitely a meme champion and can catch some players off guard, but Mace entirely relies on support units to make any ground, otherwise you'll just keep doing the backflips no one asked for in the game and waste time. Honestly, there are better LS champs to invest in. Don't bother.

#### Rey

Rey is by far the worst LS champion. She has low health and deals low damage. Her special is “Mystical Mending”, which is a healing power. Her healing special ability does not heal herself and she doesn't have enough health to survive long in battle. Until Rey gets a rework, you should avoid using champion tokens or studs for Rey.

### **Dark Side**

1. Darth Vader
2. Darth Maul / Boba Fett
3. Count Dooku / Asajj Ventress
4. General Grievous
5. Moff Gideon
6. Kylo Ren
7. Captain Phasma

#### Darth Vader

Lord Vader himself tops the dark side as the best Dark Side champion. Like Luke, Vader has insane health at higher levels which gives tankiness a whole new meaning. In addition, his "force slam" ability stuns everything close by while dealing tons of damage. It resets Particle Beam, which is the main way to eat through Vader’s health. Vader cannot attack air units, even with his special. Ewoks have enough range to get in a fair bit of damage before Vader can reach them, assuming his special has already been used. Pairing Vader's Force Slam with seismic charge in succession can only leave your opponent staring at their screen in bewilderment. Vader is the most difficult champion to stop in LSWB, even for experienced players. Vader is lord of Lego Star Wars Battles.

#### Boba Fett

Everyone's favorite bounty hunter is a solid meta choice for your deck. He has good range and his special can spread out quite a distance depending on the number of targets. He can one-shot Ewoks and some porgs or just rocket blast them to lego pieces. Unlike Vader and Dooku, Boba can target air units (specifically mynocks) aiding in the defense of the health suckers. It's also a lot of fun to "jump" over booma balls while using his Rocket Barrage special. (Note, if Boba is near a barrier that is struck or a ground unit, he will get stunned and interrupt his special.) Boba isn't quite as powerful as Vader but is a solid DS champion option.

#### Darth Maul

Darth Maul is very fast with a Yoda-like 360 area of effect killing porgs like no one else and his special can stun and even leap across lanes. That stun is what sets Maul apart. This unit requires some practice and skill to use effectively but has a lot of potential. Maul is one of the last champions a player can receive, so he will likely be a champion that is leveled up after other champions. He's got great health stats and is does well even at Level 11. Having him at higher levels only helps him survive longer and take off lots of damage of units and towers while occasionally stunning them.

#### Count Dooku

Dooku is the tower destruction king. His special ability not only stuns the tower/units (Particle Beam, specifically) but does extra tower damage compared to other units. Dooku's DPS is literally off the charts (which is semi-expected to get reduced later) making him incredibly strong. One of the drawbacks for Dooku is the special can take some learning to adjust to and use effectively. Like Luke, he can get distracted and his special not hit the right target. Dooku is likely the only champion that could solo a particle beam. For that reason, Dooku sits higher on the list, but DS has so many good champions, it can be hard to pick Dooku unless it's your play style.

#### Asajj Ventress

From some initial messing around, Asajj seems like a faster-but-weaker Vader. She attacks and moves fast dealing a good amount of damage though doesn't have the health to compare to Vader. Asajj and Vader's special are actually quite similar. Force Slam and Force Clash work similar to stun everything around. The main difference is that Asajj will pull units close to her before dealing the damage where Vader just force body-slams everything. Asajj seems to do a good amount of damage still and with some key support units, could really take out some towers. Asajj may be at the same level as Maul and possibly Boba, but time will tell where Asajj falls in effectiveness. It's hard to beat Maul's lane jumping ability with the stun. Vader, Boba, and Dooku are the slower champs while Maul and Asajj are the faster pace champions. If that's you're style, try out the Witch Sith.

#### General Grievous

Grievous didn't break any records when he entered the game, but some mid-level players have found success early on with Grievous. His shielding makes a great distraction for support units to clear out a base or other units and health scales decently at higher levels. The main strategy with Grievous is a side rush to get a special released on the base and then bomb-cycle the rest of the game. If it works, great. If not, you will probably lose. He struggles a bit against middle tower as he can be distracted away as the special is activated. He's a strong unit but hard to make the case that he is the best.

#### Moff Gideon

Keeper of the dark saber, Moff Gideon added Season 12 (August 2022) and hasn't been impressive in terms of abilities. He is a decent champ, but it is hard to match him up against kings like Vader, Maul, and Boba Fett and their over effectiveness. He does increasing damage with his special which can be helpful on higher-health units/towers and even seems to do more damage against higher level units. However, the special only aims where he is looking and cannot hit middle tower or base until he turns into it. His best use cases are 2-tower standoffs where he can use his special to take a chunk of damage from a tower or against oncoming mynocks. Right now, he is a high-skill unit that only has special use cases. He also needs to be higher levels to be useful against Mando and/or Mynocks. Interesting off-meta unit but you would do best to place priority elsewhere.

#### Kylo Ren

Kylo is the meme deck champion. Kylo has mediocre health but his strength comes from his friends, literally. Kylo's special: "Enrage" allows surrounding units to do double damage which can clear out a locker room faster than Adam Driver's last workout session. Kylo is dependent on support units which requires some planning and buildup which makes him weaker as a defensive unit. Because of this challenge, Kylo ends up lower on the list because it is a higher-skill card. Star Wars Dad, the Nooch himself, has pioneered this card and has made Kylo rather effective at high trophy levels. Check out those videos to see Kylo destroy some towers (How to Kylo / Kylo Level 12). Kylo isn't available until later planets, making him a weaker choice earlier in a player's development.

#### Captain Phasma

This placement might actually surprise you. A lot of newer players to the game get demolished by Phasma and the swarm she creates. This makes new players incorrectly think that Phasma is the Champion to choose. But do not let this fool you. Phasma is only effective when facing opponents who have lower levels. She gets demolished by opponents who has equal or higher level cards. An opponent with a Y-Wing one level higher than Phasma will immediately destroy the two support units she spawns. Booma Balls can stun her deployment as well (and any other units around her) allowing for commandos or porgs to feast like piranhas. If she is in range of a LS Particle Beam (Kamino) while stunned, you can say good night. (Even Ewoks can finish out a stunned Phasma with relative efficiency.)

Phasma is only useful against inexperienced or lower level players. High-level players smile when encountering Phasma because they know exactly what to do to win. For this reason, Phasma is at the bottom of the list. There are better champions that are much more effective at equal and higher levels. Use your resources elsewhere.

## Which Champion Should I Use?

Ultimately, the choice is up to you. It's your game; play it however you want. The relative rankings of champions above are opinions based on discussion with other players, gameplay, and stats.

The best champion you should choose is one that you will stick with and invest tokens in every 5 days from the shop. Commit to a champion, learn it's strengths and how to navigate that champion's weaknesses to be more effective in battle. Learn when to use a champion, when to not use a champion, when to use a champion's ability. Each champion plays slightly differently. Practice will help make you more efficient in your champion and their abilities in various situations.

Champions work best when used strategically with other cards, either as a single push or two pushes in different lanes. Although such a push requires more energy, it can often decide the fate of a game. You can win and lose games both with and without champions.

**For Dark Side:** You can't go wrong with Vader, he is a solid option with long-term usefulness. Other than that, Boba Fett, Dooku, and Maul are good options that can put you in winning situations. Some have found success with General Grievous, but not considered top tier for the highest rankings. Avoid wasting resources on Phasma and Kylo. It's not worth it. High-skilled players will melt that helmet.

**For Light Side:** Luke is the solid option but his play style doesn't fit every player. Otherwise, look to Yoda and a good time you will have. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are newer options but are shaping up to be a decent choices if you want to take on that challenge. Mando is a lower choice simply because his stats are dismal thanks to the nerf. If you really want to, you can have Leia as your champion, but you will eventually get to the point where high-skilled players will counter her every time with minimal success.

Make sure to have fun. Choose a champion that fits your play style and that you can do well with. Focus on leveling only that champion for the best efficiency of limited resources. Go join the discord to share in your victories and struggles and remember, it’s just a game.

Check out the Decks page to see some example decks for each champion.