Welcome to the Best Mods for BB-8, the latest article in our series about the popular game Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes where we take a look at the best mods for specific SWGoH characters. While I do not claim to have all of the answers in this game, I do my research and have used every toon I write about extensively. These are mod recommendations based on the character’s kit and actual gameplay to help you in your quest to dominate the Galaxy of Heroes holotables.
Today’s character to review mods for is BB-8, a character I have been using daily since his initial release and has, as I predicted, become “a major player in SWGoH moving forward.” Made available in the Pieces & Plans BB-8 Legendary Event, “He’s a BB unit. One of a kind. Orange and white. Utterly unique and utterly invaluable.” When this was written in September 2017 I stated, “I suggest you take modding BB-8 very seriously. Given it takes a Legendary event to unlock him, BB-8 will undoubtedly become an important player in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes moving forward.” This obviously was true as Rey (Jedi Training) with BB-8 by her side were META for some time and continue to have a very important place in SWGoH to this day. Now a required character for the Galactic Legends event to unlock the 2020 version of Rey, BB-8’s value is almost as high as ever, so let’s take a look at the best mods to maximize his kit.
Main Focus: Like everyone in the game, Speed is a heavy focus. With a 182 base Speed, BB-8 is one of the fastest in the game, so build on that and annoy the heck out of your enemies with a 300+ Speed for BB-8 if you are a serious player and investing heavily into this droid. Having BB-8 go first and place his Secret Intel buff on RJT grants her 8% TM, so combined with a fast RJT this little droid can be a handful to deal with.
Additional Areas to Focus: Critical Chance, Potency and survivability. Higher Critical Chance makes sense given BB-8’s Illuminated Destiny special has its cooldown reduced by 1 every time a droid scores a critical hit, but CC is even more important under an Rey (Jedi Training) lead given the TM boost from critical hits. Potency will help make his basic, Arc Welder, be more well, potent, to inflict the Tenacity Down debuff which, if already on the enemy, results in a Daze the next time around. It will also help land the Expose debuffs on the Illuminated Destiny special, which, in a long battle, can be used multiple times despite the 70 cooldown. Since BB-8 has a solid amount of Health to start and can taunt in an all-droid squad, look to build his survivability – defense, health and especially protection – to keep him alive longer to hopefully get to use that very powerful Illuminated Destiny special. The survivability is especially important if you plan to use him in an all-droid lineup where he taunts and, with a Zeta, can regain health and protection for all droids.
In-game Mod Recommendations: Speed & Tenacity. Speed is a no-brainer with BB-8 but I find Tenacity a bit surprising. While I see the value in Tenacity and you do want BB-8 to be able to use his specials and avoid Ability Block, etc., I feel that a Health or Potency set with very high speed secondaries is a better investment.
Ideal Mod Setup for SWGoH BB-8:
As Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes continues to evolve, one thing the dev team does well is matching up the strengths of new characters with their faction. BB-8 was a fantastic add to the Resistance when he was released and remains a major piece to anyone using the Resistance in today’s game. He also has value in an all-droid lineup. With all of this in mind, here is my recommended mod approach for BB-8:
- Transmitter (Square) – Speed mod with a primary focus on offense and a secondary focus on speed, potency, critical chance and protection
- Receiver (Arrow) – Speed mod with a primary focus on speed and a secondary focus on potency, health critical chance and protection or tenacity
- Processor (Diamond) – Speed mod with a primary focus on defense and a secondary focus on speed, health, critical chance and protection
- Holo-Array (Triangle) – Potency/Health mod with a primary focus on critical chance and a secondary focus on speed, critical chance, health and defense
- Data-Bus (Circle) – Potency/Health mod with a primary focus on protection and a secondary focus on speed, health, defense/protection and critical chance
- Multiplexer (Plus) – Speed mod with a primary focus on health, defense, tenacity or protection – whichever has the largest speed secondary you can find
Image courtesy of SWGOH.gg
That’s very similar to what I would have come up with. Some people may say to run a crit damage set and triangle on him under an HK lead. I would not. I would still run a speed set and a crit chance set on him, but I would probably go protection instead of crit chance on his triangle. I would also avoid omegaing Covert Data Transfer at all costs. He’s a little too squishy for that taunt to not kill him and I’d rather he stick around for illuminated destiny that die early on for a few meager heals.
I like your assessment and agree on the protection on the triangle, assuming an all-droid team is your setup. I run him with Resistance and he makes great even better. Thanks for the input!
“Potency will help make his basic, Arc Welder, be more well, potent, to inflict the Tenacity Down and Daze debuffs”
This is nonsense. Tenacity Down can never be resisted, and once an enemy has Tenacity Down you don’t need potency anymore (except if they also happen to have Tenacity Up). Potency does help with Illuminated Destiny yes, but only with exposing those that don’t have Tenacity Down.
Agree, same thing on my mind. So far, I haven’t noticed my BB8 missed a Tenacity Down.
For BB-8s multiplexer, you said a primary focus on defense protection. Which one do you mean?
I clarified it a bit – I hope this helps.