Star Wars Battlefront 2 tips: best class, loot crates, Starfighter combat and Star Cards explained

The Star Wars: Battlefront 2 EA / Origin Access trial has kicked off, and the game has officially released for Deluxe Edition owners.

Despite this being the sequel to the 2015 Star Wars: Battlefront, Battlefront 2 is, in many ways, a very different game. The sequel puts a lot more emphasis on class-based combat, and the different roles each class can play on the battlefield. Distinct classes define everything in the game, from the infantry to starfighters – no one thing is good in all situations.

But that’s not all. Battlefront 2, as a shooter, also plays differently from the first game. You now have to pay closer attention to your aim and positioning, making firefights more reliant on player skill, a clear departure from the casual fun of the original.

In the tips to follow, we’ll explore some of the easy-to-miss new additions, the big changes, a few general gameplay quirks, and the many ways you can tailor the experience to your liking. Take a few minutes to read these before jumping in. It’ll save you the frustration.

There may be classes, but this isn’t Battlefield

Battlefield veterans will probably be interested to try out Battlefront 2, and many of them will no doubt appreciate the focus on class-based gameplay. Although, yes, there are four unique classes here, they don’t function the same way they do in Battlefield.

For starters, the HP for each of the four classes is different, with the Heavy having the highest and Specialist the lowest. It will take you a bit of time to get used to enemies not dying in the same number of shots. Trust us, this is something you will notice.

It’s also harder to make out the different classes at a distance. Specialists using a sniper rifle will get a scope glint, but that’s the only way you’ll be able to spot them from a distance. Assault troopers blend in with Heavy troopers. It’s only when you get close do you begin to see how bulky the Heavies are.

This can make it a bit harder to anticipate what your enemy is capable of, and it’s something you need to be mindful of in your first few minutes with the game. The one thing that’s not so different from Battlefield is that weapons and abilities – in this case, Star Cards – are locked to their respective class for the most part.

Play as the Officer

With the new focus on classes comes a big requirement for teamwork. The Officer class is perfect for anyone looking to play support. Their weapons can’t go toe-to-toe with the rest of the classes’ arsenal, but their abilities are what make them great on attack and defence. The two abilities worth highlighting are Battle Command, and Blaster Turret.

Battle Command is a health buff that grants everyone around the Officer increased damage resistance for a short time. You’ll see a radius on the ground showing how far the ability can reach. Depending on the Star Cards you have equipped (more on that in a bit), you can have multiple uses of this ability before it recharges.

The Blaster Turret is as simple as it sounds, letting you place a small turret on the ground that automatically attacks infantry and vehicles. The turret repairs when near you or another Officer. You can also remotely trigger it to self-destruct. All in all, a decent package that focuses mainly on helping teammates rather than going for kills.

Start out in Arcade Mode before jumping into multiplayer

Like we mentioned earlier, there’s more to Battlefront 2 than meets the eye. The way aiming, bullet spread, recoil and all that stuff works is very different from the first game.

We suggest trying out Arcade Mode first to get a feel for the controls. Outside of the tutorial, there are two main ways to play Arcade. The first is called Battle Scenarios. These are missions with specific objectives where you're scored on time and kills.

Then you have Custom Arcade, which lets you jump into a 10v10 AI battle on any of the planets in the game. The only objective is to eliminate all enemy forces. Either will help you quickly get to grips with how the game plays without the pressure of multiplayer, especially where heroes and special classes are concerned.

Arcade is also a great way get used to using the roll move to quickly get out of trouble. All classes have it, and you should definitely familiarise yourself with how it works.

Understand the difference between the two types of Star Cards

Star Cards are everywhere in Battlefront 2, but the game doesn’t do a great job of explaining the different types you get. First of all, you should know that Star Cards are class-based, meaning that they’re designed to boost certain abilities for a specific class.

You may see the same card drop for two different classes, but you can only use it with the class it dropped for. It will say which class it's for on the card.

Now that this is out of the way, the biggest point you should be aware of is that Star Cards come in two types. This has nothing to do with rarity tiers – which control their effectiveness. The first is called Boost Cards. These augment or enhance existing abilities for your class or starfighter. For instance, they can grant extra charges to the Officer’s Battle Command ability.

The second type is the Ability Cards, which replace one of the class abilities with a different one. You can only have three Star Cards equipped at a time, so you can go two and one or all three in one of the two categories.

Boost Cards will be marked by the + icon on the top left, whereas Replacement Cards will have three tiny dots. In general, Star Cards are found in crates, but you can also craft them using Scrap – an in-game currency earned from getting duplicates in said crates. You should also keep note of the rarity, marked by little boxes at the top of each one.

Loot crates offer tangible gameplay advantages, not just cosmetics

In case you missed it, Battlefront 2 has loot crates. You earn these when you clear certain challenges, level up, and you can also buy them using the in-game currency (credits) earned from levelling up and doing well in multiplayer.

In these crates, you’ll find many beneficial items such as Star Cards, unlocks for certain weapons, and of course, cosmetic items like emotes, victory poses etc. You start off with a couple of these crates in your inventory, and even more if you played the beta.

You should open them ASAP and equip whatever you get. Like we pointed out, Boost Cards increase the effectiveness of your abilities, and you definitely want that. Don't go in with an empty card slot if you can help it.

Starfighter combat has completely changed

Just like infantry combat, flying around and shooting in a TIE-Fighter or an X-Wing in Battlefront 2 will feel completely different to how it did in the first game. You’ll no longer hold a button to lock on to an enemy and have most of your shots automatically track them.

Instead, you must now aim and track the target yourself for blaster fire. The game will often show you a white circle in front of the target you’re chasing. This is where you should aim to hit. This circle gets away farther from the target the faster they’re moving. A faster target means you'll have to lead more and vice versa.

Many other air combat games have this feature, so it’s not completely original, but it's definitely new for Battlefront.

The way starfighters move has also changed. You now have complete control over pitch, yaw, and roll. The game doesn’t automate anything for you by default. Under ‘Controls’ you’ll be able to turn advanced flight on or off, disable manual roll, and change how missile lock is handled. You should definitely pay this menu a visit and mess around to see what works best for you.

The same menu also has three sensitivity options that only affect starfighters. These control how far you have to move your mouse/right stick to turn, how precise you need to be and so on.

Back to combat, remember to use the zoom feature to slow the fighter down and improve your aiming precision. Finally, don’t forget that you can also switch between first and third-person in a starfighter.

A lot of players fly in third-person and only go into first-person when they’re chasing a target for better accuracy. You can always switch back to third-person on the fly if you feel lost.

It’s hard to see infantry on the ground when you’re in a starfighter

Following up on the previous point about starfighters, you may have noticed that enemies are very hard to see when you’re in a fighter playing Galactic Assault. Outside of the big objective being highlighted, the infantry are much harder to make out.

To avoid having to go too close to the ground and risk a crash, utilise the same zoom tactic we talked about earlier. It’ll slow you down and help you see where enemies are before you can come back around for a strafing run. Be careful, though, as this makes you an easier target for ground troops.

You want to focus on the choke points, such as in the second phase of Assault on Theed. You’re almost always going to find Separatist droids on the outside entrance trying to get in. If you’re in a fighter as a defender, just aim at this general area and you’re guaranteed to at least get a few hits in.

Another really helpful thing you could do on the same map is aim your starfighter shots at the defenders carrying Ion Disruptors. These do a lot of damage to the big MTT and you ideally don’t want that to happen. The game will highlight Ion Disruptor carriers for you with a red crosshair icon. The splash damage from your fighter blasters should be enough to take them out – they’re regular infantry after all.

Don’t ignore side objectives in Starfighter Assault

Although the focus of a typical Starfighter Assault round is to attack/defend big targets, you should not put 100 percent of your focus into the most obvious. Sometimes, other time-limited objectives will pop up that could hurt you if you don't go for them.

As the Empire, you’ll occasionally see Y-Wing bombers coming in to support the Rebels. They’re usually easy to take out, and you should definitely go for them if no one else is.

Beyond that, there are other non-objective defences that you should take out, such as the turrets protecting the Star Destroyer. They won’t be highlighted with a big red icon, but they will shoot you down if you get close, and taking them out grants you points.

Remember, everything you do that helps your team and earns you points, which you can later spend on Hero ships.

The MTT, LAAT, AT-AT etc are on rails

Every now and then, you’ll get the chance to spawn in the front of the big MTT, AT-AT, or the LAAT Gunship. Their turrets are very powerful, but there are a few things you need to know.

You don't have control over their movements, you can only control the turrets. They're always pushing forward, so anything on your far light or left will be behind you in seconds. Field of view for the turret itself is usually narrow, too, particularly in the MTT.

A lot of the time, you won't be able to reach enemies in your peripheral vision. What you can do, though, is focus on what’s ahead, and in the distance. The LAAT Gunship always circle strafes around targets, so things are easier in there, but the problem is that it's too slow.

Expect to get shot a lot, but don't panic, since your time in the turret seat is limited anyway.

Pick up the Ion Disruptor as a defender

Sometimes, defending in Galactic Assault requires taking down a big thing. Be it the MTT on Theed, the AT-ATs on Hoth, etc. The tactic is the same: pick up the Ion Disruptor and use it.

Ion Disruptors are used to take down the big walkers and prevent the game from reaching the later phases. As a defender, you ideally want to end the attack as early as possible.

Ion Disruptors take down MTT / AT-AT shields and open them up for an attack by conventional weapons. Every hit gives your team a few precious seconds, during which they can do damage to the thing. To maximise this window - assuming you have one of the two Disruptors - wait until shields get back up before firing your shot, as there's no point in firing when the shields are down.

If you miss them and someone else picks them up, stay around to protect them. The game will even flash a nice big ‘protect’ sign on top of their head. The reason being that – outside of the points you earn – they get marked as soon as they pick it up. Your enemies, especially in starfighters, will too have a big red icon to shoot at.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that you only get a limited window every few minutes to fire at the walkers. If you fire at them when they have the lock icon, you won’t do any damage.