We begin the SWGoH Squad Arena Guide here at Gaming-fans.com with How to Beat General Skywalker’s 501st Team. Since his (money grab) addition to Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, General Skywalker has slowly worked his way to the top of the game, due in large part to the ridiculous 5-star unlock of GS and the grind to get the Guild Event Tokens to buy his shards. But with that having been said, defeating GS, especially a 7-star version, if no easy task. Below our newest writer, ohpoodoo, evaluates the strategy of battles with GS, or as he so appropriately calls him, G$.

 

The Problem: General Skywalker’s protection has to be cut through before you can attack the other 501st troops. He gets +25% defense, +25% tenacity, and +15% protection for each 501st ally (basically all comps will have 4 501st allies, giving him +100% defense and +60% protection increase which makes it very difficult to get through his protection and it’s essentially impossible to land most debuffs).  His damage ramps up as the fight goes on as well (the team gets +2% stacking damage for every buff added on your team until the fight is over). Each time you hit G$, he counters back (anyone who double attacks takes 2 back, assists and stealthed toons of course don’t suffer counters). If you do manage to get through that protection and get G$ to kneel, you’re faced with getting through the 501st allies before G$ stands back up (very few teams can survive multiple topples). Your choices are to barrel through Fives who counters (and hits pretty hard himself), or to kill another clone ally which triggers his sacrifice (from his Tactical Awareness Zeta) which gives other 501st clone trooper allies his max health, max protection, speed and offense stats in addition to their own for the remainder of the battle (basically means if you kill another first you better not let the other Clones go again). If you do manage to get all of the 501st allies eliminated, you then need to take down a G$ with ramped up damage who can’t be critically hit (he does cleanse when he is crit so at least he won’t cleanse during this) and kill him before he kills you. Plus he gets 35% turn meter every time your team gets a turn once he’s alone.  

Current Meta Composition: For this guide, we are assuming you are facing General Skywalker (G$), Rex, Echo, ARC Trooper and Fives. We are also assuming that the team you are fighting is one of the best of the best; a fully Relic 7 team with amazing mods and all of the Zetas. Most of the testing videos in this guide were done against the 2 MAW flagship teams that my shardmates and I often have to fight each day in arena. They’re the whaliest of the whales from the 2nd largest guild in the world. Their guild has made it a habit of dominating everyone in TW for quite a while. You won’t find many teams that are better than these in the world.

If using a Darth Revan composition, you must answer one important question before proceeding: Can my Darth Revan outrun their G$? G$ gets a 20% speed bonus from Rex unique so take G$ speed x 1.2  and that’s G$’s actual speed. The G$ I have to fight each day is 261 speed currently (261*1.2 = 313.2 so as long as my DR is above 315 I know I’m safe). If you can make your DR faster than your opponent’s G$’s actual speed, proceed to option A. If not, proceed to option B. 

 

• Darth Revan (DR), Bastila (Fallen), Darth Malak, Thrawn, Han Solo 
• success rate is nearly 100% if you know what you’re doing and your DR can outrun their G$ (even with the 20% speed bonus from rex unique, see math above). It requires good modding, gameplay, and damage to win. One potential pitfall is if your opponent has a really, really fast ARC Trooper and your Thrawn is too squishy, it can derail the entire battle.
• Gear Minimums: G13 on all 3 sith empire toons (more helps you do more damage and survive more easily so we suggest at least r3+ to make this work consistently), g12+ Han Solo and g12++ Grand Admiral Thrawn (he needs to survive the initial onslaught even if Fives or another Clone targets him so the medpacs and other survival boosters help). If he dies before he can Fracture, or even after he has Fractured, you no longer stop the G$ counters which is bad news. The stronger the better. One potential pitfall is if your opponent has a really, really fast ARC Trooper and your Thrawn is too squishy, it can derail the entire battle.
• YouTube Video Reference: https://youtu.be/AuX69RATNY8

 

• Mods
  • Darth Revan: Focus on Speed. Mod primaries don’t really matter if it takes away from your speed too much and you can no longer outrun G$. Speed set (last 2 mod sets aren’t consequential). CD triangle is always preferred on sith empire since they crit so often, but don’t give up too much speed for it. You want to be able to get fear up on them as soon as possible. 
  • Bastila (Fallen): Focus on Speed/Offense. Speed set (last 2 mods, again, don’t matter set wise). Speed Arrow, CD/Offense triangle, Offense (or Potency if your offense ones suck) cross while maintaining amazing speed. I focus on getting as much offense and cd on her as is possible while staying above 120 additional speed. 
  • Darth Malak: Health/Defense sets (defense mods are only truly effective if 6 dot). Focus is on protection for primaries. Secondaries you want protection (both raw and % are fine), some speed and defense %. Speed arrow with some extra protection or protection arrow with great secondary speed is preferred. Protection triangle, protection circle, protection cross. He needs to be able to take some serious punches.
  • Grand Admiral Thrawn: Speed Set. Focus on speed and survivability. He needs to be fast (280 speed or higher is preferred) so he can use fracture quickly. Speed arrow is a must. Protection primaries on triangle, cross and circle are preferred to help him survive but don’t give up speed.
  • Han Solo: CC and CD sets. Speed Arrow, CD triangle, Offense Cross. He just needs to put some damage out. He’s really only here for that initial stun on rex. Any extra damage he can do is a bonus

Gameplay:

1. Han should stun Rex to stop him from giving the team 60% turn meter and getting out ahead of you (this is why Han is here).
2. Hitting Rex will feed Fives some turn meter so you likely have to take a few hits, but your DR will get to go pretty quickly. Get Fear up on the team by using the insanity move on G$.
3. For me, Fallen Bastila is up next. You don’t want her to take counters from G$ so you always use her Fear ability on G$ if he isn’t fractured so she survives as long as possible.
4. Thrawn fractures G$. This stops him in his tracks and helps you take him down without having to suffer counters. 
5. Get G$ to kneel.
6. Attack Fives and get him dead asap. DO NOT KILL ANYONE ELSE FIRST! BE CAREFUL!
7. Kill the rest of the clones before G$ gets back up.
8. Now it’s just you and G$ so kill him. Debuffs will stick and he can’t cleanse them any longer when he is critically hit.   

 

 

• Darth Revan (DR), Bastila (Fallen), Darth Malak, Wat Tambor, Han Solo 
• success rate is dependent on DR going before G$ (Weapon Mod gives DR 15% turn meter at the start of each enemies turn). Success rate is 50-60% if you get DR to go before G$ and you have enough speed and damage on your sith empire toons.
• Gear Minimums: Relics on all 3 sith empire toons (more helps you do more damage and survive, we suggest at least r4+), g12 han solo and g11 on Wat Tambor
• YouTube Video Reference: https://youtu.be/zZ1dZTfHVi4
• Mods:
  • Darth Revan: Focus on Speed and Damage (goal is 8k+ special damage). Mod primaries don’t necessarily matter if it significantly takes away from your speed, but CD triangle really helps ramp up damage and offense primary cross is nice as well to help push you above the special damage threshold. Speed set is, of course a must. The final 2 mods don’t matter concerning set. They just need to be fast and maybe provide some extra offense if you can. 
  • Bastila (Fallen): Focus on Speed/Offense. Speed set (last 2 mods, again, don’t matter set wise). Speed Arrow, CD triangle, Offense (or Potency if you have to) cross while maintaining amazing speed. 
  • Darth Malak: Health/Defense sets (defense mods only truly effective if 6 dot). Focus is on protection for primaries. Secondaries you want protection (both raw and % are fine), some speed and defense %. Speed or protection arrow with great secondary speed, protection triangle, protection circle, protection cross. He needs to be able to take some serious punches but he needs enough speed to keep up.
  • Wat Tambor: Speed Set. Focus is solely on speed. He needs to be fast (110 additional speed preferred but we’ve seen less work). Zeta is a requirement.
  • Han Solo: CC and CD sets. Speed (or offense)  Arrow, CD triangle, Offense Cross. He just needs to put some damage out after his initial stun. He will likely die pretty quickly in this fight if he attacks G$ before topple so you want him to be the slowest. Around 225-235 speed is what we have.

 

Gameplay:

1. Stun Rex with Han Solo and use Wat Tambor to give Weapon Mod to DR so he gains 15% turn meter every time the enemy moves.
2. Use DR’s insanity move on G$
3. Now who goes next will be team dependent but it will be a comination of the following to get G$ to Kneel: Use Fallen Bastila’s fear move so she doesn’t take a counter from G$; Malak’s first turn will be torture and his 2nd will be drain life; and DR will use Force Storm. Hopefully G$ is toppled by now. 
4. Next, go straight for fives. Get him down.
5. Kill Rex. Then the other 2
6. Now you have to kill G$ alone. You should try to save Han’s stun for this part of the fight. Try to control G$ with fear and stuns and kill him.
7. YOU WIN!