I still play a ton of Star Wars Battlefront II. Yes, I’ve been as frustrated as anybody with the controversies, the bugs, and the radio silence. I understand the doubts, but now hope is on the horizon. Even if it weren’t, I’d keep coming back for two simple words:

Starfighter Assault.

Strong space battles are few and far between in video games. While there are only six maps at present (played back to back with alternating factions), I find most skirmishes intense and balanced. No two pilots fly the same way, making each battle as fresh as possible. Not only are the dogfights a ton of fun, but I’m also pretty damn good at them. Admittedly, it’s easier to play the same maps on repeat when you’re always near the top of the leaderboard.

Now DICE has released the new 4v4 Hero Starfighter mode. It’s incredibly fun, which means that perfecting your Hero ships is essential. A number of my fellow wannabe Poe Damerons ask which Star Cards I prefer to use. I experimented with many combinations before settling on my top picks. Before I get to the big list, please take note of a few stipulations.

• Playing Starfighter Assault and Hero Starfighter modes often require different Star Cards. Darth Vader’s Focused Anger works wonders with a dozen targets to pick from. When there are only four, however, you can sub in something more practical. I’ll specify when I can.
• Some of these Star Cards need to be maxed out before they are worthwhile. Focused Anger is phenomenal when it lasts eight seconds; when it lasts one, it’s basically worthless.
• Also, you may want to use different Star Cards for offense rather than defense. My rankings generally represent a well-balanced build for any map or mission.
• With those facts in mind, you should upgrade more than three Star Cards for every ship. Some take longer to unlock, so you need to beef up your builds as much as you can. Plus, your play style may not match mine. You may find a combo that works far better for you!
• I’m not including my top Fighter/Interceptor/Bomber builds. Ask me in the comments (or on Twitter) if you’re curious.

With all of that in mind, here is DFTG’s official guide to Hero Ship Star Cards!

TIE Silencer (Kylo Ren)

• Regenerative Subsystems
• Reinforced Hull
• Elite Pilot
  • If Reinforced Hull and/or Elite Pilot are options, I’m using them. (That will save you some time reading this article.) The hardest thing to do is shake someone on your six. Extra health means friendlies have more time to save you, and better turning leads to perfect angles for kill shots. This is especially true for Hero ships, which become instant targets the second they arrive out of hyperspace. Kylo’s Regenerative Subsystems allows you to regain health on kills, keeping you in the skies and on the hunt longer.
  • For Hero Starfighter mode, I swap out Regenerative Subsystems for Tuned Lasers. You won’t get enough kills to make the former worthwhile. His missiles aren’t quite as strong as Luke’s, but Advanced MAG-Pulse Torpedoes can wipe out the weaker Rebel ships with ease, too.

Millenium Falcon (Han + Chewie)

• Reinforced Hull
• Engine Upgrade
• Gunslinger Accuracy (Defensive Maps)
• Repair Systems (Offensive Maps)
  • Build a tank and hope that your teammates are kind enough to keep the inevitable pursuers off your back. (They’re easy kills, help a brother out!) Gunslinger Accuracy will help you notch huge kill streaks and is better on defensive maps to thin out the enemy. Repair Systems gives you a fighting chance to recoup all of that lost health. This ship cannot break Kessel Run records without Engine Upgrade; every bit of speed helps when you’re the easiest target.
  • If turning into a heavy hitter is more your style, perhaps I could interest you in some overpowered laser cannons. Beefing up your Special Modifications via Wookie Engineering will help you deal serious damage to objectives and therefore rack up serious point totals.
  • For Hero Starfighter mode, I go with Gunslinger Accuracy/Wookie Engineering/Tuned Lasers. Let ’em have it.
  • A lot of Battlefront II players hate this ship because it’s slow, maneuvers like a potato, and lacks health regeneration. Count me among the reformed; I hated this ship for quite some time. After some practice, I started tallying 15-20 kill streaks regularly, plus loads of objective points. You can definitely make this ship work.

Millenium Falcon (Rey + Chewie)

• Reinforced Hull
• Wookie Co-Pilot
• Experienced Scavenger
  • Instead of doing extra damage and hoping to heal, why not heal yourself? This is arguably the most useful ship in Battlefront II for winning Starfighter Assault. Half of the enemy squad will do nothing but try to kill you. That will leave your teammates free to bomb away at the objectives and, possibly, take out your pursuers. Wookie Co-Pilot will give you enough small boosts of health to keep you flying until you can trigger Auxiliary Power again. With a top tier Experienced Scavenger Star Card, even a dying Falcon can get back to max HP.
  • I tend not to use this ship for Hero Starfighter. If I do, I stick with the above build. I don’t tend to get a lot of kills against other hero ships, but I stay alive long enough for my teammates to finish off our opponents. It really is a battle-winning build.

Millenium Falcon (Lando & L3-37)

• Engine Upgrade
• Elite Pilot
• Reinforced Hull
  • This is the most fun of the three Battlefront II Falcons. Nobody wanted this ship, but now everyone plays with it. It has all the best of the other Falcons (high health and damage), plus something extra (teammate boosts, actual speed and agility). The turn rate on this ship skyrockets with Elite Pilot, and you’ll still do plenty of damage with your twin canons and damage boost.
  • I really wanted to find room for Back Online. Increasing support for your teammates can lead to huge point totals and victory. Overall though, the listed build is too much fun for me to change.
  • A lot of people prefer Repair Systems to Reinforced Hull. It works with this ship because of its high maneuverability. Still, I’m a firm believer that having extra health helps more than regaining it quicker, at least against other skilled pilots.

Scimitar (Darth Maul)

• Deadly Ambusher
• Furious Attacker
• Engine Upgrade
  • Deadly Ambusher and Furious Attacker are essential; no comparable combination exists in Battlefront II. I tried playing without them a couple of times and it didn’t go well; with them, this is arguably the best ship in the game. When you max out both abilities, you can destroy a Falcon in a single maneuver, or wipe out huge percentages of objectives. Absolutely vicious. Engine Upgrade allows you to quickly get behind enemies while cloaked before unleashing hell.
  • If you substitute in Fire Control Cycler for Engine Upgrade, those attacks add even more destruction. I think it’s a bit of overkill given how OP the ship already is, but man, is it a blast.
  • A recent nerf made healing while cloaked obsolete. A real bummer there. Repair Systems can help in place of Engine Upgrade.

Slave I (Boba Fett)

• Heavy Seismic Charge
• Relentless Pursuer
• Reinforced Hull
  • You have two goals as Slave I: drop a Heavy Seismic Charge, and stay alive long enough to drop another. It clears the field and racks up massive scores, but it also makes you an immediate target. Don’t overthink it. Relentless Pursuer and Reinforced Hull make you a nuke-dropping machine.
  • All that being said, Heavy Seismic Charge isn’t necessarily the best bet for Hero Starfighter. You only have four targets at any time; death totals will be low. Using No Escape or Marked Target to increase your Ion Cannon or aim assist, respectively, may work better for some Battlefront II players.

TIE Advanced X1 (Darth Vader)

• Elite Pilot
• Reinforced Hull
• Focused Anger
  • It took me a while to figure out what third Star Card I wanted on this ship, until I used Focused Anger. Moving from target to target with ease drastically increases both damage and score. Again, this card needs to be maxed out for it to be efficient.
  • For Hero Starfighter, I’d recommend Advanced Capacitors or Overcharged Barrage as replacements for Focused Anger. If you line it up right, the latter can really rack up the damage.
  • If you’re more likely to play objectives than targets, Repair Systems can really save your skin. Vader’s ship is already pretty tough to hit, and with extra health, turning, and healing, you should survive long into any round.

T-65B X-Wing (Luke Skywalker)

• Reinforced Hull
• Experienced Astromech
• Bush Pilot
  • I tend to avoid cool down reduction Star Cards because the difference in time isn’t usually worth it. Trust Your Feelings is more or less the only Star Card I’d consider. Luke’s missiles do extra damage, are super accurate, and fire instantly. I just wouldn’t go that route personally. The problem is that this ship is made out of paper and wishes. Reinforced Hull and Experienced Astromech are musts. You need to increase your health and R2’s repair strength, so you’d be losing Bush Pilot to drop more missiles. I’m not willing to make that sacrifice, but I wouldn’t blame you for doing so. I will, however, make that change in Hero Starfighter.

T-70 X-Wing (Poe Dameron)

• Reinforced Hull
• Trusty Companion
• Ace Pilot
  • For my money, this is the best ship in Battlefront II. You can increase damage via Black Leader, your missiles pack a punch, and the Pod Booster allows you to escape enemies and missiles alike. By increasing your health, healing ability, and accuracy, you’re as balanced as it gets.
  • I had previously been using Experienced Leader and getting tons of points from teammates’ scores. With Ace Pilot, however, I’ve been racking up 30+ kill streaks on a consistent basis. If you want to truly play as Poe, Ace Pilot is the path. For Hero Starfighter, though, I would probably use Experienced Leader for the extra team damage.
  • There’s a case to be made for a Tuned Lasers/Advanced Capacitors/Ace Pilot build. You practically melt anything you look at, just like Oscar Isaac. No complaints if this is more your style.

ACTIS-Class Light Interceptor (Yoda)

• Charged Ion Capacitors
• Elite Pilot
• Engine Upgrade
  • I want this thing to duck and dart around as much as possible, lay down the Ion Charge to stun enemy ships, and open fire. No other build approaches that model like this one. Charged Ion Capacitors will leave your enemies floating helplessly in space.
  • I’ve seen players use Fire Control Cycler and Advanced Capacitors along with Elite Pilot. It doesn’t feel right here to me, perhaps in part because of Yoda’s character. I want agility and defense for the Jedi Master, not offense. Damn canonical knowledge! It’s still an incredibly fun build and one you should give a chance.
  • The passive health regeneration of Kuat Engineering can help a lot. However, Yoda already seems to regenerate health faster than everyone else. I don’t consider it necessary in the same way I do for Rey’s Falcon.

RZ-2 A-Wing (Tallie Lintra)

• Elite Pilot
• Engine Upgrade
• Inspiring Presence
  • Speaking of zipping around the map, Tallie’s ship feels like the fastest in the game already. Engine Upgrade brings the ship to ludicrous speed, and Elite Pilot gives her double the turning rate reduction of every other maxed out ship. Inspiring Presence helps heal your fragile ship and your fellow Rebels. You won’t tally a lot of kills, but you’ll be a vital asset to any battle.
  • That “pew pew pew” is about right, unfortunately. I have previously played with Advanced Capacitors and Tuned Lasers over Engine Upgrade and Inspiring Presence. I won’t fight you on that build; you’ll rack up way more kills. However, making the quickest ship in Battlefront II even quicker is basically cheating. I take advantage of sanctioned cheating every time. You should too.

TIE/LN Fighter (Iden Versio)

• Reinforced Hull
• Elite Pilot
• Flight Commander
  • Flight Commander makes this ship excellent for solid teamplay, especially when focusing on the enemy ships.
  • I’ve tried out a few different builds with this ship. The one listed above is my favorite, but I also enjoy a pair of others. Elite Pilot/Engine Upgrade/Repair Systems essentially turns Iden’s TIE into an interceptor. You can zip around the map and escape trouble fairly quickly, then get behind foes for easy kills.
  • Conversely, Advanced Capacitors/Vengeful Barrage/Tuned Lasers can devastate objectives. If you’re looking to bring your team to gold and you know how to handle the ship, this may be the build you’re looking for.