Star Wars: Force Arena Tips and Tricks

So you've got the game, you've read through our Beginner's Guide, and you're working to upgrading your favorite cards. Now it's time to talk a little strategy!

We've got some tips and tricks that will help you to go from a young Padawan to a legendary Jedi Master — or a Sith Lord if that's more your thing.

It all starts with picking the right Leader

Each Deck you build is based around a Leader, so it's important to pick ones that fit the play style you're most comfortable with. At the most basic level, you'll be choosing between a Leader that focuses on melee attacks or one with a ranged weapon. Whichever you choose will greatly affect how you build your deck and plan your attacks.

Leaders like Luke Skywalker, Ezra Bridger, Darth Vader, and The Grand Inquisitor all use a lightsaber as a weapon, meaning you'll need to be right in the fray to use them effectively on offence. To balance that out, they also have higher health than most other leaders, making them great for taking the enemy's focus and absorbing some damage while your troops work on the turrets. Once they get in close, these melee leaders can deal out some serious damage quick, making them ideal for rushing in to take out a damaged turret for the win.

Meanwhile, Leaders like Princess Leia, Han Solo, Boba Fett, and Dengar are better for players who would rather sit back behind their wave of troops and deal out damage with ranged attacks. Ideally when attacking a turret, you'll want to send in some troops to take the turret's (and any defending troops') attention, then come in and deal damage from afar with your leader.

You'll also want to consider each Leader's special ability and skill. A special ability typically gives the Leader a stat boost in certain game scenarios — for example, Emperor Palpatine gets a 15% power boost for 14 seconds whenever an enemy or ally Leader is defeated, which can be a decisive edge in a 2 vs. 2 match. Other special abilities might affect troop cards such as Captain Cassian Andor, who increases the attack range of his ranged troops.

Unique cards make the difference

As you progress through the Tiers and continue to unlock and open card packs, you'll start to unlock Unique cards. These are super-charged troops that are linked to a specific leader, meaning that if you want to use them, you'll need to have and use the Leader they're associated with.

Not only are they total game-changers when you've got them in your deck, but on the flip-side if you don't have one in your deck and your opponent does, you're in for a bad time. Having said that, once you get into Tier 3, you're absolutely going to need to roll with a Leader with a Unique card linked to it. Unique cards have higher health and typically deal out much more damage in more ways than your average troop, so you'll also want to play them strategically as part of a larger attack rather than potentially wasting them by throwing them down a lane all by themselves.

Managing your energy

Just like other PvP card casting games, like Clash Royale, finding success in Force Arena is all about spending your energy wisely. This starts with building a balanced deck that keep the average energy cost relatively low. It's always important to have a couple low-cost cards in your deck so that you can both throw something down if you need a quick counter or are looking to cycle through your deck to find the perfect card for the situation you're in.

When you're in the heat of the battle, you'll also want to avoid foolishly burning energy such as wasting an X-Wing or Tie Fighter attack to take out only a couple of low-level troops that would have been taken out by your turret anyways. Also, if your opponent is overwhelming you with powerful troops, resist the urge to spam out as many low-level troops before your Leader is defeated. All that will do is temporarily slow down your opponent.

Instead, take your lumps, let your Leader fall, and use the cool-down period to build up more energy so you can come back fresh with a full energy bar and ready to mount a proper counter.

Sneak attacks with a long-range troop

This one is just a classic strategy that can be absolutely devastating for your opponent when executed to perfection.

The idea here is to draw all of your opponent's attention to one lane by mounting an all-out assault on their turret ... while sneakily placing a long-range troop on the other lane to quietly deal damage to their other lane turret. This strategy works best while playing as the Empire with the Rocket Stormtrooper, as they can make short work of a turret if left unnoticed.

Ideally, you're going to want to wait until you've got an army of troops working away at the first turret. Once your opponent has been alerted that their turret is taking damage, they'll likely rush over to counter your attack. That's when you spring the trap and place your Rocket Stormtrooper (or Dressellian Sniper if you're fighting for the Rebels) just outside the range of the other turret. Now you can actually let up a bit and let your opponent counter and push down towards your turret, as long as they keep their focus on you and away from the other lane.

This is a frequently used strategy, and the best counter for it is to make a habit of checking the map in the top-right corner. If you see a solitary red dot working its way up the opposite turret, you'll want to drop a troop to counter, or run over their yourself to cut them off before too much damage is dealt.

Steal your opponent's health when the opportunity arises

This might be categorized as a dick move, but all is fair in love and Star Wars. Health boosts are located behind turrets on both sides of the arena, and can be grabbed by either player in the heat of the battle. When you've got momentum on your side and have taken down one of your opponents lane turrets and are moving on towards their base, take a quick detour and take their health boost. They take forever to respawn and stealing them will make it harder for your opponent to fight back as you make your final push.

It's even more effective if the base turret's focus is already locked onto another one of your troops, as you'll actually replenish your own health, but grabbing the health while taking a hit from one turret is still a net-gain.