Many Star Wars saga fans will remember the moderate, yet important role a young actor named Julian Glover (Game Of Thrones, Indiana Jones The Last Crusade) portrayed of General Maximilian Veers in The Empire Strikes Back, where he met his unfortunate demise inside of an AT-AT. This, after commanding his Imperial Troopers to prepare for invasion and giving the order to destroy the main generator of the secret Rebel base on the planet Hoth.
General Veers is one of the original characters in the mobile app game Star Wars Galaxy Of Heroes (SWGoH). I still remember battling through the STR (strength) gear challenge and trying to beat it. The final battle out of three, I would have so much difficulty staying alive from both bosses Grand Moff Tarkin and General Veers bombarding my entire team with just one of their devastating aerial AOE (area of effect) special attacks. If I could survive one attack, I would not survive the second. It was near impossible to survive, even at full strength from just one of those attacks. The key was always to defeat Veers (and Tarkin) before they had a chance to use their aoe attack. Ideally, strengthening my own squad was the only way to finally beat this stage so I could ultimately simulate future STR challenges.
Once I could get enough shards to activate Veers to my roster and build his character stats, I remember being slightly underwhelmed, as I’m sure other elder players felt during this particular time period. He was a forgotten toon that virtually nobody used. However, any negative feelings towards Veers changed after the 2017 Imperial Trooper rework, and even more so recently, since becoming a required toon (character) along with other Imperial Troopers in DS TB (Dark Side Territory Battles). Now, General Veers is popular once again, and thus this SWGoH Zeta review.
His unique ability at level 7 reads: “Whenever an enemy is defeated while Veers is active, Imperial Trooper allies have an 80% chance to gain Offense Up for 2 turns, and a 40% chance to gain 50% Turn Meter. While Veers is active, Imperial Trooper allies have +15% Critical Chance.” The Zeta on his unique adds: “Recover 10% Protection whenever an enemy is defeated, +20% Offense Up chance, and 60% Turn Meter Chance.”
Adding the Zeta means that whenever an enemy is defeated while Veers is active, all Imperial Troopers will have 100% Offense up for 2 turns, and 100% chance to gain 50% Turn Meter…all this, and recover 10% Protection.
After the defeat of an opponent, from the Turn Meter, all Troopers will be going faster to take a turn, so more of a chance to defeat multiple opponents again and again, each time gaining Offense Up, 50% Turn Meter, and more Protection. If you have a strongly geared, and correctly modded Imperial Trooper faction, your protection will remain close to the 50-100% range, I would imagine, as I have experienced this myself at gear 12.
*For example, imagine a scenario where Imperial Trooper (eg Shoretrooper) is taking all the hits while he is your taunting tank. Without Veers Zeta, Shoretrooper could possibly be on the verge of death from an assault onslaught coming from multiple opponents, relying only on his health regeneration taunts. His chances of survival are still good but not great, especially if it is not his turn yet to taunt.
With Veers’ Zeta, however, now imagine the same scenario, but the damage from your own Trooper attacks defeat an opponent just before Shoretrooper’s impending death happens, giving him back some protection. A little protection could possibly end up saving the battle for your win, as Shoretrooper’s chances for survival are now great. It can completely turn the tide of the battle!
In this Zeta Veers scenario, Shoretrooper and all the other tagged Imperial Trooper allies would gain back 1/10th of their protection from defeat of an enemy. This can stack up if defeating multiple opponents at once from AoE attacks by your Troopers, and is how most of your Troopers can remain in the 50-100% range for protection.
This protection regeneration, coupled with Shoretrooper’s health regeneration for all allies, and you have the foundation for a very formidable Imperial Trooper faction that can be used in many facets of the game.
Health and Protection are defensive stats, so Imperial Troopers will be great defensively. Offense Up and Turn Meter can help defeat an opponent for the offensive side.
Every advantage in this game helps, and having General Veers Zeta is definitely an advantage against all opponents.
General Veers Zeta Review
The following is where I have used Imperial Troopers offensively and defensively in the game to maximize their Empire dominance.
Squad Arena: I use Nightsisters in arena, and many more of these Nightsister factions are popping up in top 50 arena shards, as I also hear from my guildmates and see it for myself. Supposedly, Imperial Troopers are one of the anti-Nightsister squads that have an easier path than other teams when it comes to handling difficulty with Nightsisters. As a result, I see zeta Veers Troopers factions popping up as well to defend and defeat the Nightsister squads. After all, Nightsisters are supposed to die often as they get stronger once they die. Their deaths feed right into zeta Veers strengths though, in that whenever an enemy is defeated while Veers is active, all Imperial Troopers will have 100% Offense up for 2 turns, and 100% chance to gain 50% Turn Meter…all this, and recover 10% Protection.
So one can see how Nightsisters, in theory, will have a very good chance to be defeated by a strong Imperial Trooper squad and their AOE attacks.
The downside to this, is it leaves Imperial Trooper squads vulnerable to other meta squads that can more easily handle Imperial Troopers on AI defense.
Rancor: I have not tried using Imperial Troopers for Rancor raids as you need teams that provide turn meter reduction, and the Imperial Troopers mechanics do not allow for that.
AAT/HAAT: The Zeta Veers Imperial Troopers squad works really well, I have found! I have attempted using Troopers in Phase 3, and scored 750k, which is decent. Another fellow guild mate posted over 1 million in this phase. Since the B1 Battle Droids die often, this regenerates your team’s protection and your squad gains buffs plus turn meter, allowing you to focus your efforts towards the B2 Rocket Trooper. Phase 2 also works really well, it has been reported, with one guildmate of mine posting a 3.3 million score and another posting over 2 million in Phase 4.
Finally, it is rumored that Zeta Veers and his Troopers also works well in Phase 4 of the Tank raid, but have not tried it personally. I presume it is because of the buffs gained on offense that would allow your team to survive the air strikes.
Territory Battles: As a required unit in DS TB, General Veers lead Imperial Troopers proves their worth versus Hoth elite squad Rebels. For the special mission, General Veers and Colonel Starck are required toons that if successful, rewards highly sought after Imperial Probe Droid shards. However, a very tough battle awaits with the win requiring a fight against Rebel Officer Leia Organa, Captain Han Solo, and Commander Luke Skywalker. A Zeta on General Veers is not required, but does allow this battle to be far less difficult. This battle would be extremely difficult to win without a Zeta on General Veers, but it is possible to do so with good RNG or high gear. But, for any reason if not having Veers Zeta, be prepared to have at least gear level 10 and great mods. From my experience, having high Gear (Gear 10/11 required on all 5 toons without a Zeta on Veers) and very good to great mods would be exceptional to have nonetheless, with or without theZeta, because this battle is very tough overall. A Zeta alone will not win you this battle, but it will help immensely.
Territory Wars: I personally use my Zeta General Veers and Imperial Troopers squad mostly on offense, and they normally defeat a well matched squad for me. I have also faced a tough Zeta General Veers Imperial Trooper squad on defense, so this zeta helps Imperial Troopers with their versatility on the battlefield where winning the most team banners are the goal of your guild.
My Rating of Zeta General Veers: I would give General Veers zeta a rating of 7/10 since a strong Imperial Troopers squad can be used in many facets of the game and makes for an enjoyable experience for a seasoned SWGOH player that meets the minimal requirements for obtaining zetas.
When defeating an opponent, it does not get much better than a squad receiving 10% Protection Recovery, 100% chance of gaining Offense up for 2 turns, and 100% chance to gain 50% Turn Meter. These are tremendous gains and helps to pack a very strong punch for the Empire and the Dark Side!
By Cowboy4974 of Descendants of the Empire
Images courtesy of SWGOH.gg
