One of the stars of the Star Wars Rebels series is the Twi’lek leader of the Phoenix Squadron, Hera Syndulla. Later a general in the Rebellion who fought at the Battle of Endor, Syndulla is the lone leader of the Phoenix characters in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes and was released in-game in April 2017. 
A Light Side member of the Rebel and Phoenix factions, Hera got a mini-rework in October 2017 (just before the start of the final season of Star Wars Rebels) which added a Zeta Ability and improved effectiveness and cohesion with her Phoenix allies as a result. While the Phoenix Squadron started off as completely FTP, the need for them in the Grand Admiral Thrawn legendary event to unlock and upgrade him, and later in Territory Battles: Rebel Assault sparked some heated debate and strong opinions about SWGoH. However much of that has been forgotten as the game has continued to grow and evolve.
Hera’s Zeta is on her special attack, Play To Strengths, which already called an ally to assist with added Potency. However the addition of the Zeta adds the following: “+25% Potency, if the target is Phoenix Dispel all debuffs and reduce their cooldowns by 1 and grant them 50% Turn Meter.” In a nutshell, Hera can clear all debuffs from the selected Phoenix ally while giving them +50% Potency on the attack and having it hit 35% harder. In addition, the -1 cooldown is a huge value given it will help that ally use their stronger attacks more frequently and give them 50% Turn Meter.
Hera Syndulla Zeta Review & Gameplay
PvP (Squad Arena & Territory Wars): The value of the Phoenix Rebels has continued to change since the start of the Territory Wars feature in-game, but many high-end guilds still use the Phoenix Squadron in their back few rows of defense. Without a Zeta on multiple Phoenix characters, the value of this team on defense is much lower of course, but a Gear 12 Phoenix team with 2-3+ Zetas can be very tough to stop. In the Squad Arena, the Phoenix toons have no place in the Summer/Fall 2018 META, with the exception of Ezra Bridger on Bastila-led Jedi teams, but I am sure many earlier players utilize the entire Phoenix squad to remain competitive at lower ranks.
In-battle, the value from the Zeta comes from the added offense on the specific attack and the -1 cooldowns. Using Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren or Kanan Jarrus with this could prove quite valuable in any type of battle to get Ezra closer to his dispel, get Sabine to use the Darksaber more often or allow Kanan to use his Total Defense Zeta ability to dispel all debuffs and help the team.
PvE (Raids & Territory Battles): The area where Hera’s Zeta shines the brightest is likely Phase 2 of the Sith Triumvirate Raid against Darth Sion. Using a full Phoenix squad (minus Chopper), this team is able to put 1-2 million damage up against Sion and his minions, and while the Kanan Jarrus Zeta is the first choice on this team in terms of priority, the value of Hera’s Zeta cannot be overlooked. As mentioned above, using Hera’s Zeta ability and the -1 cooldown that comes with it helps Ezra use his dispel faster, gets Sabine to use the Darksaber more often or can allow Kanan to use his Total Defense ability to dispel all debuffs on the team. Given the mechanics of the STR and raids in general, the goal is to attack as often as possible to do the maximum damage in the time you have before the boss gets to enrage. Thus, the extra cooldowns lead to more attacks and additional uses of the special attacks.
In the Rancor Raid and AAT/HAAT the Zeta is sure to be helpful as well, but it is not really relevant to endgame players in Galaxy of Heroes. While regenerating Protection and Survivability is the team’s strength, they are not a Turn Meter removal team and as a result will not perform as well as other character combinations against the Rancor, and the damage output is not significant enough for the AAT/HAAT in today’s Raid META.
Where the Phoenix squad can also be a big difference-maker is in Territory Battles: Rebel Assault (Light Side Territory Battles). Despite several Gear 12 characters on my roster I was not able to score a perfect Light Side Territory Battles mark by defeating every wave of the Combat Missions until I finally added the Zetas to Sabine Wren and Kanan Jarrus and had multiple Gear 12 Phoenix characters in mid-2018. Add in a Hera Zeta and this is sure to make them even stronger, especially when you need Ezra to dispel often in Territory Battles. A well-constructed and geared Phoenix team can really make a player looking for Territory Battles dominance look like a champion.
My Rating of zHera Syndulla: A Zeta on Hera Syndulla is not a game changer, and it is not the best in the Phoenix Squadron in my opinion, but it would classify as a nice one to have. I used to save my Zetas for Legendary and above characters, but as Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes has evolved it is necessary to use them on other toons in the game as well to remain competitive in all areas of the game as I feel I must. For the Heroic Sith Raid, if you plan to use a Phoenix team in Phase 2 the Zeta on Hera will certainly boost your team’s score and be helpful in Territory Battles, but in other areas of the game it is not as valuable. As a result I give Hera’s Zeta a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 simply because you can live without it and still put up very nice scores even though it is an effective Zeta.
Images courtesy of SWGOH.gg
