by Doc – Owner, Founder, Has Spent More Time On BFII than on all Smash Bros games combined

The Battlefront Classic Collection has just been announced, and while information on it is currently sparse there is confirmation that the Xbox DLC will be included in all versions of the game, that graphics upgrades will be present, that online multiplayer will be present (though no confirmation of cross-console play) and that Hero Assault will be included on all ground-based maps. This is pretty awesome!

Given this information and my experiences with the PC mods recreating the Xbox DLC content and several hundred hours playing Hero Assault both online and offline, I’ve compiled this rough tier list. While I expect that a future competitive community would find this tier list pretty laughable, it’s my best guess as of February 2024 while not being aware of any Hero Assault competitive communities that might currently exist. Think of it as an artifact of opinion.

The Premises

I’m assuming:

• All ground-based maps can have Hero Assault played on them (though likely not all stages will be legal in a competitive setting due to balance issues – looking at you, Polis Massa and your unbalanced spawns at CPs 3 and 4)
• The PC mods recreating Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress are identical in every way to how the Battlefront Classic Collection will balance those characters, so my experiences with them are valid for consideration
• Only characters expected to be in BCC will be referenced. No “Lando Calrissian” or “Starkiller” mods of the original game will be considered as they won’t appear in BCC
• No balance patches will occur in BCC that modify the Heroes from how they played in BFII
• Teams are 6v6, with each player required to select their hero at the beginning of the match and unable to change it. There may only be a maximum one of each hero on each team (to prevent teams from devolving into Darth Vader v. Kit Fisto matches)
• Force Push is banned (online play often had a gentleman’s agreement that Force Pushes would be limited), no other Force actions are banned
• Friendly Fire is on, allowing teammates to be damaged by stray lightsaber throws and explosions
• Player-specific bonuses are up to the person making the rules (presumably everyone would have a profile with all bonuses, which would only serve to make each character even more of a glass cannon if allowed)

Small Note:

In a game like BFII, everyone’s a glass cannon when they’re vulnerable – an opponent that gets one single opening often ends up taking the kill due to the lengthy endlag animation that comes from being hit with a lightsaber. Most characters are viable as a result.

Heroes

S Tier

Kit Fisto

This character is technically from an Xbox DLC recreation mod. I cannot guarantee that the mod is accurate to the Xbox DLC, as I have not played the original Xbox DLC. There is also some speculation at the moment that the BCC update used a fanmade Kit Fisto mod that made him a Ki-Adi-Mundi clone. Take this with a grain of salt. You can view some footage of Kit Fisto in the Xbox DLC here.

In my experiences with the DLC recreation mods, Kit Fisto is far and away the most effective hero in the game. The linked footage demonstrates Kit’s sprint and aerial attack, which appear to one-hit kill opponents at point-blank range. If BCC includes this, then Kit will be much riskier to play but with a much higher reward.

That’s not why he’s so effective, though. In the recreation mods that I’ve played, Kit’s Force Orb is basically an explosive that travels in a straight direction at high speeds and explodes on contact unless blocked. This basically turns Kit into a potent sniper with the abilities of a normal Jedi. The Force Orb can one-shot some of the weaker villains (namely The Emperor) when a headshot is connected and player-specific bonuses are allowed, and has a wide enough blast radius that one can still kill a villain through a lightsaber block by simply shooting the ground next to the villain with two or three orbs. Force Orb is the best ability in the game bar none and it is exclusive to Kit Fisto.

Its downside is that Kit only has enough stamina to use two Force Orbs in quick succession, or three with a second of downtime between each. When he’s warming up the orbs he’s unable to block, so shooter characters can take easy aim without worrying about being blocked or without Kit running anywhere. Shooter characters should make for a useful check on Kit’s otherwise uninhibited ability to rain death on opponents. It would be wise for the Fetts to prioritize Kit Fisto over all other characters.

The player using Kit on his team needs to be a hell of a marksman, as he runs the risk of killing his own teammates with the blast radius when it connects with the target. He’ll also be targeted by the Fetts who are downright tricky to connect with at a distance due to their high mobility in the air, so practice as a sniper without a scope may be necessary.

Please be reminded that there is no guarantee that BCC will not balance Kit Fisto’s Force Orb, or that the mod’s recreation of Force Orb is accurate to the original Xbox DLC.

A+ Tier

Mace Windu

Unskilled players often rank Mace Windu far lower than A+ tier due to Mace’s potential being difficult to spot. Mace Windu’s grounded moveset is fairly normal: his three-hit combo comes out quickly and stutters the opponent if used from their side, it can KO with the second and third attacks if the first misses, and he has the typical Jedi abilities of Force Push + Saber Throw. His sprint attack is mediocre and produces a small hitbox that is easily rolled away from.

At first glance this reads like a subpar Jedi, but Mace Windu’s potential comes from his aerial attack. A skilled player knows that his aerial attack has two hitboxes: the first is placed at the exact moment when the attack is input in the air, and the hitbox appears to be at the hilt of his lightsaber. The second hitbox is the shockwave created when he hits the ground. This shockwave is strongest at its center.

A player than can combine these two hitboxes by using the aerial attack just above the ground can instantly kill any hero/villain in the game*. This effectively means that a Windu player can input a quick sprint + short jump, line himself up with the head of an opponent and immediately kill them with the aerial attack.I call this the “Take a Seat”.

*assuming the target is not blocking

Make no mistake: the Take a Seat requires a lot of practice to line up consistently, and it requires a player who is very precise in their movement to make it a boon to the team. Mace Windu is also vulnerable after using it, as he goes through the lengthy animation of pulling his lightsaber out of the ground. It’s a high-risk and high-reward tactic.

Han Solo

Han Solo is possibly the best shooter character due to the lack of Force Pull in the enemy team’s moveset (save for Asajj Ventress). Han’s blaster is a toned-down version of the Elite Rifle from the main game, using a cooldown instead of an ammo count and with slightly more accuracy than the Elite Rifle. If each shot connects as a headshot, Han can often one-hit kill a villain taken by surprise.

Han’s Detpack is one of the more effective tools in the game when properly used. Detpack throwing is a weirdly useful technique that allows Detpack wielders to place the detpack far away from them with relative ease. Han can use this method and a tight corner to kill opponents coming around the corner or out of spawn with ease. To make matters worse, the explosion bypasses even a perfect block.

Han also serves as a vital ally in maps where Princess Leia is not available (Coruscant). His Rally provides a 2x defense increase to everyone in his vicinity for the next 20 seconds and can be replenished at an ammo droid. If the Heroes are properly coordinated, Han’s Rally is the lynchpin of the team’s effectiveness.

Despite this, Han’s movement is very limited and he is reliant on his teammates for protection. His best option when approached up close is simply to place a Detpack and try to trap the opponent. Pair Han up with a Force Pull user to maximize his longevity.

Oh, and the PS2 and PC versions of the original game (and probably the other ones too) have a glitch where Han Solo cannot switch back to his blaster after switching to his fusion cutter. The only remedy to this is to switch classes at a CP.

A Tier

The Jedi are all pretty kosher past this point, and have similar power levels. There’s not much that a skilled player can do with one that isn’t available to the others.

Obi-Wan

Mr. Kenobi is the quintessential Jedi. His three-hit combo is good but not great. His aerial attack sets itself up into a three-hit combo if used low enough to the ground to knock down the opponent. He has the default Jedi Force Push and Saber Throw abilities. He’s not particularly special save for one thing.

Kenobi’s sprint attack is phenomenal for surprising groups of enemies. It covers a wide horizontal area, can be steered while the animation is active, and can one-hit kill an opponent if Kenobi steers the attack around properly. A good Kenobi can spring a sprint attack on a set of opponents, knock them down with the initial hits and finish them off before they can respond.

Ki-Adi-Mundi

Mundi is a typical Jedi character with a rather silly sprint attack that can be used in repeated succession but to minimal effect. Try it sometime!

Ki-Adi-Mundi’s real strength comes from a tactic he’ll share with Yoda and Aayla Secura: using his Force Pull to yank an opponent towards him and then killing them midair with his aerial attack. A particularly skillful Mundi can time it right so that his aerial attack will be extended by landing partway through, which extends the animation and duration of the hitbox somewhat. Good Mundis can use this to quickly kill an opponent in one fell swoop.

Mundi’s lightsaber skills outside of his aerial attacks are otherwise lacking. He shares a three-hit combo with Luke Skywalker, which is a perfectly acceptable combo but comes out a bit slower than others. He’s left vulnerable during most of his lightsaber swings which is where he usually gets into trouble.

Luke Skywalker

Luke has one thing going for him over the other A tier Jedi, and that’s his aerial attack. Luke can sprint, low jump into an aerial attack against a grounded opponent as he’s descending, land partway through the attack animation as the opponent is knocked down and use the first hit of his three-hit combo as the killing blow before the opponent stands up. It’s quick, clean and efficient if not blocked.

If it’s blocked… he’s toast.

Luke is otherwise acceptably good at drive-by attacks where he can sprint attack the opponent and escape before being pursued. His sprint attack covers a wide horizontal area and often stutters the opponent before they can respond.

B+ Tier

Characters in B+ tier aren’t bad, just situational.

Aayla Secura

Aayla uses almost exactly the same strategy as Ki-Adi-Mundi and Luke: Force Pull the opponent and use her aerial attack’s multiple hits to kill them before they stand up. She relies heavily on her aerial attack for consistent kills that don’t leave her vulnerable and also relies heavily on her opponents being young men.

Newer players often rank Aayla rather high on their tier lists because of her very wide sprint attack and its long chain of consecutive hits. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a good attack when it connects. If she can get that first hit and knock down the opponent, she’s guaranteed the kill. But if she doesn’t get it…

Well, Aayla’s ranked as B+ tier instead of A tier because her lightsaber attacks leave her very vulnerable. Her sprint attack is excellent for one-on-one fights where the opponent is taken by surprise. But if she’s blocked or fails to knock down the opponent, she has a full five seconds of attack animation to finish or to interrupt with a roll away before she can respond. A skilled opponent can take easy advantage of her vulnerability and go in for a quick kill with Saber Throw.

Her use of Force Pull and aerial prowess does make her a good check against the Fetts, though not as good as Yoda.

Chewbacca

Chewbacca is like if Rocky Balboa came at you with a shotgun that only fired noodles. You’d think that he’d pack tons of damage and annihilate opponents standing in his way, but in reality he just takes damage instead of giving it. Chewbacca has a few weapons at his disposal:

• Bowcaster
• Remote Rockets
• Time Bomb
• (Rage’s effect is neutralized by player bonuses, as they would have Rage active all the time)

Bowcaster is Chewbacca’s sniper rifle/shotgun. Unlike the actual sniper rifle used by the infantry classes, Chewbacca’s rifle is a projectile weapon. This means that the bullet has travel time and may miss as a result. Despite this, Chewbacca is still useful as a sniper when the player is familiar with the wonkiness of head hitboxes in BFII and can work around them. Chewie can sometimes take one-shot kills with his sniper rifle when it’s fully charged and lands a headshot, so the Chewie player should keep an eye out for turned backs, players who aren’t moving and flying Fetts.

Chewie’s Time Bomb is a great troll weapon. Place it outside an enemy spawn and hope for the best. It’s not otherwise a useful tool, as human opponents fighting at close range will see you drop it and sprint away.

Chewie’s Remote Rockets are generally unnavigable in small maps, but parking him next to an ammo droid on a map like Bespin can give him some breathing room with the remotes. While the remotes often fly too fast to be consistently accurate, a direct hit on a rocket that is “sprinting” is a one-hit kill on any opponent. Remote Rockets are typically high-risk, low reward so I don’t use them often, but they can be helpful for scouting enemy positions and for destroying the enemy team’s ammo and medical droids. Remember: only heroes have a fusion cutter!

If player bonuses are off, Chewie should be deploying Rage as often as possible for his teammates. Rage is especially helpful for teammates with projectiles as it makes every shot count just a little bit more.

B Tier

B for Bad.

Princess Leia

Princess Leia has precisely three options at any given point in time:

1. Shoot pistol
2. Throw thermal detonator
3. Die

She can grant herself and her team temporary invincibility to prolong her life a moment, but she is otherwise so weak, slow and unable to defend herself that her Invincibility is her only contribution to a team. I suppose a Princess Leia that was truly intent on helping out could go for headshots with her pistol/sniper rifle, but if she’s attacked she has no real way of defending herself besides throwing a TD at her feet and hoping it catches the opponent. That’s not a joke – she really only has that.

Leia’s big problem is the fact that her pistol is a clone of the Beam Rifle, which is the award version of the sniper rifle in the base game. The Beam Rifle is glitched so the scoped-in reticule does not actually line up with where the laser goes, so aiming the Beam Rifle is next to impossible. Leia’s pistol inherits this glitch. As a result, all her aiming has to be manual.

If Leia gets lucky and the entirety of her pistol’s laser makes contact with the enemy head, she’ll get a one-hit kill out of it. That generally requires an enemy to be standing perfectly still for at least two seconds. Good luck.

Yoda Tier

Yoda

“Size matters not” – Yoda, the only character whose viability relies solely on his size

Yoda has very little going for him. His three-hit combo is by far the worst in the game, requiring a full second to start up with almost no range and severe endlag with no reward. It’s nearly impossible for him to stutter his opponent. His sprint attack has no width, and his force abilities are the worst or are banned. (Not that legalizing Force Push would help him at all anyway).

Yoda serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose only. He is the womp rat that scurries along the ground hunting for flying Fetts, and kills and eats them like some kind of reverse hawk. Yoda’s armed with Force Pull, which yanks Fetts out of the air, and also armed with a halfway-decent aerial attack. He can combine these to pull on a Fett, take half his HP with a precisely-placed aerial attack and then take the rest of the HP with the first few hits of his three-hit combo.

Why use Yoda for this task and not Aayla Secura, who has fewer downsides and can take on non-Fett opponents, you ask?

Yoda’s small. Like really small. If he’s blocking, there’s almost nothing a Fett can do besides blast a rocket next to him that will take a small portion of his HP or put down an easily-avoidable detpack. Boba Fett could try to detpack throw but an attentive Yoda can easily spot that animation partway through and use it as an opportunity to attack – and detpack throwing is hard to do unless you’re standing still or hovering without movement. Even if he’s not blocking, it’s nearly impossible to hit Yoda with a headshot consistently so he’ll end up tanking a few hits before getting killed.

Yoda’s just a turtle that happens to keep the Fetts in check really effectively so everyone else can focus on fighting the lightsaber villains.

Villains

S Tier

There’s really no villains that are at an S tier level. Darth Vader is the best villain but Kit Fisto outpaces Vader by so much distance that it would be unfair to consider them in the same tier. Darth Vader can win any one-on-one battle, but Fisto takes out groups of opponents at a time.

A+ Tier

Darth Vader

Darth Vader is in the same boat as Mace Windu: his potential is hard to spot, but the ability to use his precise and tricky aerial attack makes him incredibly potent.

Darth Vader has several incredibly useful tools to rely on. He has a wickedly fast sprint that goes from 0-60 in one second flat. He has Force Choke which can break through even a perfect block. He has an aerial attack that comes out quickly and deals massive damage. If you combine these, you can simply tap the right click button to Force Choke an opponent for a half-second, forcing them into a lengthy choke-and-unchoke animation. While the opponent goes through this animation Vader can simply short hop and aerial attack straight down onto the opponent, taking away most of their health and tripping them. Then Vader can finish them off with the first hit or two of his three-hit combo before they can stand up. Basically, Vader can just hit Right Click -> Spacebar -> Left Click -> Left Click and kill a player with ease. I call this the “Aspirations” attack, because one must be careful not to choke on their aspirations.

There is no way to avoid Aspirations. Once you’ve been caught in the Force Choke there’s nothing you can realistically do besides mash roll and pray something comes to help you. It probably won’t.

Aside from this jerry-rigged combo, Vader also has an effective but somewhat slow three-hit combo. It tends to leave him vulnerable, so I try to mix it up with a Force Choke tap partway through. He also has a uniquely effective sprint attack that can surprise opponents and cover a precise and large horizontal area. He’s a tad vulnerable after using it but has the option to roll out of it as soon as the animation begins. A skilled Vader will use the sprint attack, roll and immediately turn around to Saber Throw to finish off the opponent before they can stand up.

Overall Darth Vader is far and away the best villain. The Vader player had better be the best at precise movement and timing of the group.

Jango Fett

The Fetts are hugely impactful on the meta and have a notably large number of differences between their loadouts. Their character attributes are otherwise identical (they’re literally clones).

Jango has:

• Blaster (a clone of the Precision Pistol from the infantry classes)
• Flamethrower
• Time Bomb
• Wrist Rocket (a clone of the Super Battle Droid’s Wrist Rocket)

Here’s the thing: Jango’s loadout isn’t great except for his Blaster, and his Blaster deals tremendous damage when it a headshot. Jango can just place his reticule over an opponent and empty a clip into them in less than a second, and they’re dead by the twelfth shot. Because it’s basically the precision pistol, there’s no travel time for the projectile (I believe the term is “hitscan”) and the blaster automatically gets less accurate as the clip is emptied so at least one shot is likely to be a headshot if the Jango is somewhat accurate.

Quality Jango players can hit headshots from pretty far away, and that’s where Jango gets really good. A good Jango player puts him in B tier, but a great one makes him A+ tier. The dividing line is the player’s ability to snipe.

Aside from his Blaster, Jango can put pressure on blocking Jedi with his wrist rockets and set traps at spawns with his Time Bomb. His flight ability is great for getting away from opponents and appearing in places that human players wouldn’t expect to see him, but it makes him a hugely vulnerable target to anyone armed with Force Pull.

Anakin Skywalker

First, see the above description of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin is an identical clone of Kenobi save for the inclusion of Force Choke instead of Force Push, which is a straight upgrade from Kenobi.

What makes Anakin really special is that he has the same Force Choke options that Vader has. He can tap Force Choke to freeze an opponent into the choke and unchoke animation for a second or two and go in for the kill with minimal difficulty. Unlike Vader, Anakin’s animations are fast enough and cover enough distance that he can handle being attacked by more than one opponent at a time but don’t trip the opponent. As a result, the trade-off between Anakin and Vader is that Vader is nearly unbeatable in one-on-one combat due to his lightsaber animations tripping his prey, but Anakin fares pretty well against multiple opponents due to his movement speed.

A Tier

Darth Maul

Saber Throw is the great equalizer of the lightsaber users, but Darth Maul is more equal than all the rest. His Saber Throw covers a much wider area in flight and can lock down a wider portion of the map as a result. Maul is lethal on maps with hallways and corridors like Tantive IV and Polis Massa. If you’re more reliant on Saber Throw than on lightsaber skills, Maul is a good choice.

His sprint attack is pretty good, often knocking down an opponent and giving him free reign to get a kill. It also covers quite a distance after activation and can be steered much like Kenobi’s/Anakin’s sprint attack. It’s a great drive-by tool for when a teammate needs backup or a lone player is spotted, but the Maul player has to be pretty precise with his spacing or he’ll kill his teammate too.

Maul also has an above-average aerial attack. If he uses it just above the ground it can stutter the opponent long enough to connect the first and second of his three-hit combo for a kill. Use this to your advantage the same way that most other lightsaber users do.

Boba Fett

Boba’s big difference from Jango is their choice of primary weapon. Boba’s weapon is a toned-down version of the Elite Rifle (though it seems to me – and this could be incorrect – that it doesn’t benefit from player attack bonuses like the Elite Rifle does). Unlike Jango’s hitscan Blaster, Boba’s Rifle uses projectiles. Due to that and its built-in inaccuracy, Boba is far less effective at long distances than Jango.

Boba does have a higher reward ceiling than Jango. If two of Boba’s rifle “bolts” are headshots, it’s an immediate kill on any opponent in the game. The built-in inaccuracy in the rifle only makes a significant difference at long range, so at medium range Boba Fett can go for the head and get some headshot kills.

Aside from his rifle, Boba’s other difference is that he replaces Jango’s Time Bomb with the Detpack. Boba benefits from Detpack throwing to bypass a lightsaber block (Wrist Rocket also accomplishes this goal), but its main use is really just spawn camping the hell out of the other team.

B+ Tier

Asajj Ventress

This character is technically from an Xbox DLC recreation mod. I cannot guarantee that the mod is accurate to the Xbox DLC, as I have not played the original Xbox DLC. There is also some speculation at the moment that the BCC update used a fanmade Kit Fisto mod that made him a Ki-Adi-Mundi clone. Take this with a grain of salt. You can view footage of Asajj Ventress on the original Xbox DLC here.

Ventress is really hard to play right, and her lightsaber moveset does not lend itself to any real success in one-on-one combat. Her lightsaber animations are lengthy, slow and do little damage, and are counterintuitive at best. They also have minimal range and tend to leave her vulnerable. It’s really a travesty compared to how broken her DLC counterpart Kit Fisto is.

Her only saving grace is her Starblades, which are five shurikens quickly thrown from her front in a wide pattern. If two or three shurikens make contact with the opponent’s head then they do extra damage and can kill, but the shurikens are thrown at such a horizontal distance from one another that they’ll likely never achieve that. Most of the time when someone gets a one-hit kill with Ventress it’s because they were standing at point-blank range so most or all of the five shurikens connected.

The upside to shurikens is that they bypass perfect blocking, so they do enable Ventress to play like a ghost: hide, surprise the opponent when not expected and get a kill off your opponent before they can blink. Think of her like Spy from Team Fortress 2.

The downside to shurikens is that they cost a lot of stamina, limiting Ventress’ ability to escape, and bounce off walls so they may hurt her teammates too.

B Tier

General Grievous

General Grievous is unique as the only lightsaber user with no force abilities or Saber Throw. He also lacks the very fast Force Sprint ability and the ability to jump more than once. His lightsaber attacks are of moderate range and overall have pretty long endlag.

He’s… not great.

Grievous’ two upsides are that his sprint attack and his equivalent of the three-hit combo is perfect for taking on multiple opponents at once, as he is able to knock them down with wide-reaching horizontal attacks and alternate between opponents with high ground maneuverability before they can respond properly. Good Grievous players will mash A and D on their keyboard as they knock down one opponent who is standing up, then knock down the other opponent who is standing up, then go back to the first one. If he’s interrupted by an opponent he can short jump and use his aerial attack to cut them down quickly.

Grievous’ role in a team is to be the tank in front keeping the enemy crowd occupied as his teammates flank on the sides to pick off whoever is being harassed by Grievous. He’s taking the brunt of the force while holding his own in a 2-on-1 fight.

His other upside plays into this very well: at the cost of all his stamina*, Grievous can inflict Rage on his teammates, boosting their attack by 50% for 15 seconds. This is a powerful boost if playing in a ruleset that does not enable profile bonuses (otherwise everyone will have Rage active all the time, so it won’t do anything). Grievous can drop a Rage on his teammates before making a move against a roaming group of opponents to even the playing field.

*all versions of the game use Grievous’ stamina bar except the PSP version which treats it like ammunition. BCC will likely use the stamina bar approach.

Grievous players tend to die more often than others due to their position as the tip of the spear and lack of defensive capabilities. It’s actually a good thing if Grievouses are dying more than the others: it means he’s doing his job.

C Tier

Count Dooku

Count Dooku is inagile, a wide target and so slow he can’t take advantage of the fact that he has two of the best attacks in the game. Dooku is equipped with a clone of Darth Vader’s aerial attack and Force Choke. One would imagine that he could use the same Aspirations attack that Vader has, right?

No. Count Dooku’s three-hit combo is so slow he can’t hit his victim fast enough to kill them before they stand back up. He can try the Aspirations again, but the cost of stamina leaves him so vulnerable that he has no defense if anyone in the vicinity decides to defend their teammate. He can try to Force Choke or sprint attack them again, but that runs into the same problems as Aspirations does. Count Dooku is just vulnerable all the time and his ability to make someone choke on their Aspirations doesn’t make up for it at all.

D Tier

The Emperor

The Emperor is proof that retirement kills the sedentary. The Emperor has nothing going for him: he has less HP than the other villains, his lightsaber attacks are slower than even Dooku’s, he lacks an aerial attack without initiating his hover animation first (and the aerial attack isn’t that good either), his sprint is possibly the slowest in the game, Force Lightning doesn’t stun opponents to any real degree and will just get your teammates killed, and Force Choke is actually a hindrance to him because he has no real follow-ups.

If someone on your team insists on playing as The Emperor, I recommend bullying him in teamchat.

Miscellaneous Information on the Meta

A Note on Perfect Blocking as Maul, Vader and Dooku

According to this Steam thread, the three aforementioned Sith are programmed to have a harder time perfect blocking. I have not personally tested this but find the information useful to know for villains players.

Saber Throw – “The Great Equalizer”

I don’t discuss Saber Throw much in the character-by-character placements in the tier list above, but that’s not to say that Saber Throw isn’t important. I’d go so far as to say that Saber Throw is the second most important secondary attack in the game, behind Force Choke. It’s so ubiquitous that it doesn’t need to be mentioned. It’s basically a given.

Saber Throw is pretty straightforward to use: aim above the knees of your target and throw your saber. The first hit will go through them, and the saber will bounce off the portion of floor you were aiming at and go back through them. New players don’t aim for the knees, instead aiming for the chest and letting the saber complete its full distance before returning. Not only does this leave the user vulnerable for longer than necessary, it leaves a longer time window for the target to realize he’s in danger and roll away from the second hit. It also doesn’t look as cool.

Saber Throw tends to equalize the balance between shooter characters and lightsaber wielders because using Saber Throw requires the wielder to stop blocking, and the shooter character can get in a headshot in that moment. Good shooter players should watch for flying lightsabers to pinpoint and kill their source.

Why is Force Push Banned?

Online play typically has a gentleman’s agreement that Force Push is banned. I won’t argue with the reasoning for it, as that’s simply the way it is.

I don’t believe that Force Push is good enough to ban universally, but I do see the reasoning for it. Legalizing Force Push would give every Force Push user an immediate advantage over anyone who doesn’t have it, because the only way to avoid being Pushed is lightsaber blocking. Shooter characters would immediately become bottom tier as they’d have no way to avoid being the victim of a Saber Throw after they were shoved around.

It’s better to have Force Pull legalized and Force Push not legalized as Pull has a smaller hitbox, doesn’t push the opponent as far and doesn’t always result in the target having to stand up after being attacked. It’s also not distributed to as many Jedi, so the Fetts don’t have to be harassed all the time.