over 6 years ago - The Battlefront team - Direct link

Today, we’re giving you some insider tips on how to become better in Hero Showdown. If you’ve already played this round-based elimination mode, you’ll know that it’s all about bringing your wits, tactics, and favorite heroes and villains out for two-on-two clashes.

To be on the winning side of your own drama in Hero Showdown, we’ve gathered five pieces of advice to better your chances.

Get to Know the Rules of Hero Showdown

The rules of Hero Showdown are simple. You play as a hero on either the dark or light side in teams of two. To win a round, you must defeat the two heroes on the enemy side. First team to win three rounds get all the glory. That’s the basic premise.

Keep in mind, though, that if a round is won, you’re not allowed to pick the hero that you’ve just played as for the next one. This is more important than it might seem at first glance, and we’ll get back to that in a minute.

Play as the Heroes That You’re Most Comfortable With

We all have our favorite Star Wars heroes and villains. That’s just the way it goes. Booting up Hero Showdown for the first time, you’ll probably be tempted to play as yours. And really, as a beginner, you should!

You’ll be at your best with what you’re comfortable with, and if your teammate beat you to the selection in a winning round, that hero will be unavailable for the rest of the game.

Our advice for newcomers is to make an internal ranking of their personal top three heroes, and play with these as much as possible.

Communicate and Stay Close to Each Other

This might seem like an obvious one, but staying together and communicating really is key in Hero Showdown. Doing so will aid you in coordinating the use of abilities, calling for help, and keeping you from straying apart. Even heroes must work together to come out victorious!

We also recommend using the voice chat function of the platform that you’re playing on. As such, Hero Showdown is the perfect game mode to play with a friend.

Think Strategically About Your Hero Choices

As mentioned above, the constantly narrowing selection of heroes is something to adapt to in Hero Showdown. Once accustomed to the mode and playing as different heroes, this can be worked into one’s game plan.

Ask yourself some questions as you map out your strategy. Which heroes are the enemy likely to pick, and how would I best counter those? Should I start with my strongest hero to get a head start, or save it for later to seal the deal? Are we a mobile or stationary team, or a mix between the two? Is my ally playing as a ranged or melee hero, and how do we complement each other? Can we combine our respective abilities to form powerful combo attacks?

More seasoned players will gain an edge over the competition by asking themselves these types of questions. Reading up on the heroes and their abilities might give you a good idea of which heroes are a good fit for each other.

Consider the Stamina Metagame 

As part of the Hero Starfighters update*, we changed how stamina works for lightsaber-wielding heroes. Each lightsaber user now has unique behaviors in terms of how much they can block and fight, which adds an interesting metagame layer to Hero Showdown. Players will ultimately be rewarded for their in-depth knowledge about each hero.

The new system is continuously tweaked as we gather community feedback, and you can read more about it and the heroes in our recent interview with Star Wars Battlefront II’s Hero Designer, Guillaume Mroz.

–Daniel Steinholtz (Follow Daniel on Twitter @dsteinholtz)

Join the discussion on the official forums to share your own tips and tricks, and watch this space and keep your eyes on EA Star Wars™ on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for more on Star Wars Battlefront II.

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*Requires Star Wars Battlefront II on applicable platform (sold separately), all game updates, internet connection, EA account, and, for console players, Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus membership (each sold separately).