Games

Star Wars: Squadrons Tips & Tricks

Star Wars: Squadrons is barely a week old, and fighter pilots on both sides are already tearing it up.  Throughout single-player and online battles, the action can be ridiculously fast and furious.  Sometimes trusting in the Force (or the power of the Dark Side) just isn’t enough to see you through a dogfight.  That’s why we’ve put together some tips and tricks to make sure your next mission doesn’t end up as your last.

Squad Up

While it can be tempting to fly solo and try to be the hero for your side, this will almost certainly lead to your demise.  Equally as bad, it could put your entire squad into jeopardy.  Instead of barreling off into the great unknown on your own, stick with your team.  You’re a much greater threat when working together, making you a bigger problem for the opposition.  Picking off a lone X-Wing can be simple, but taking down a full squad is an entirely different thing.


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Drift, You Must

Star Wars: Squadrons allows you to take numerous evasive maneuvers, but none may be more important than drifting.  Drifting allows you to skirt around objects and enemies when you’re going at high speeds.  It can be a make or break moment in a battle, letting you dip out of trouble at the last second.  You can even take things a step further with Micro-Drifting, which maximizes your ship’s speed while making the most of maneuverability.  Mastering the multiple aspects of drifting will make you an incredibly hard target to take down.

Find Your Ship

Depending on whether you’re playing Alliance or Empire, you’ll have a number of different ship options to choose from.  It’s important to give them all a run through to see which best suits your style of play.  The ships available in Star Wars: Squadrons vary wildly in terms of size, speed, weaponry, and more.  Don’t brute force your way through battles with a Y-Wing just because you recognize it from the Clone Wars series.  See how each ship feels when you take them out for a spin and settle into whatever helps you do your best work. From A-Wings to Tie Bombers, you will find your role and it may vary from mission to mission.

Play the Tutorials

It’s going to be tempting to crack open Star Wars: Squadrons and jump right into online battles.  If you do that, chances are you’ll be Bantha dung in no time flat.  As much as you might think they’re unneeded, take time to complete the various tutorials.  These run-throughs are going to give you extremely important information that’s crucial to surviving the cockpit in space.  The tutorials also let you familiarize yourself with controls and ship movement, which is the kind of stuff you definitely don’t want to learn in the heat of battle. (Oh, THAT’S the fire button and that one is the kill me instantly and let the enemy team win button. Good to know)

Power Management

Star Wars: Squadrons allows you to divert power in your ship to areas that need it most.  While on a mission, you can shift the energy flow to areas like engines, lasers, or shields.  Depending on the kind of situation you’re in or the objective you’re trying to tackle, diverting energy can make a big difference.  If you need some extra firepower, juice up those lasers.  If you need to make a hasty retreat, give the ship’s engines everything you can.  Staying on top of power management can clear a path to victory when all hope seems lost. Knowing when to run, and when to juice up the shields and hold the line will take a bit of in-game work, but keep at it. Don’t just leave those power levels alone, they can give you the edge you need.

Practice, Practice, Practice

If you’re having trouble holding your own on missions, it might be time to run through the basics one more time.  Star Wars: Squadrons includes a Practice Mode that gives you a chance to bone up on the fundamentals.  Amongst the wreckage of a Star Destroyer, you can do a bit of target practice, race against the clock in an obstacle course, and just wrap your head around the different types of ships that are at your disposal.  Don’t be ashamed of spending time honing your skills here.  As they say, practice makes perfect.


Read More: Star Wars Squadrons’ Single Player Mode Revealed

While online play puts battling against others at the heart of the action, Star Wars Squadrons’ single player gives you the rich story you’d expect from a Star Wars game.  Instead of letting the story play out from a single perspective, Star Wars Squadrons lets players see things from two different sides.


Kevin Cassidy has been covering all things Nintendo for over 15 years now and has been leading the weekly GoNintendo Podcast for just as long. Kevin is also quite passionate about pro wrestling, anime, comic books, and more! Follow Kevin on Twitter via @GoNintendoTweet.