Let’s face it, we all want to be an ace pilot like Han Solo or Luke Skywalker. The problem? Star Wars Battlefront’s flying mechanics can be hard to get into. This guide will focus on helping you get kills in the air but also enemy combatants fighting on the ground.
The best way to start your ace journey is to check out Star Wars Battlefront’s excellent training mode. In the star fighter mission, the game will help you get accustom to the basics of flying a starship. Learning from this foundation will greatly help any pilot, though you’ll learn the advanced techniques listed in this guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjpId5mGfRs
If you’re playing Walker Assault or Conquest, getting into the air can be a problem. Most of the time, vehicle power-ups are highly sought after. If you’re rushing to find a flying vehicle early in the game, I suggest using the Jetpack Star Card. This will help you beat other players for the power-up and get you into the sky.
In terms of actually flying the airborne vehicles, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial machines of war. Typically, the Empire’s ships are faster but if caught, they will be mercilessly slaughtered. The Rebel Alliance varieties have shields but can’t escape quickly from laser fire. Both the Rebel and the Imperial starships typically have missiles but we’ll go more into detail on them later.
The Fleet
The Imperial TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors’ boost mechanic is useful to get in and out of conflict quickly. It’s better to save the boost for an actual dogfight; otherwise, you could risk having the boost on cool down when you really need it. Make sure not to use the boost ability when targeting ground forces. Boosting significantly raises your top speed and you won’t be able to pull your fighter up from an attack dive.
For the Rebel’s fleet, there’s the A-Wing, X-Wing, and even the T-47 AirSpeeder (aka the Snowspeeder). The A-Wing and X-Wing fighters have the shield ability. This will block all incoming damage from the fighter but doesn’t last long at all. It’s incredibly useful when your fighter has a missile locked onto it. Make sure you don’t activate it too early – otherwise, the projectile will hit you, and you’re going to have a bad time.
As for the T-47 AirSpeeder, that’s a completely different animal. They can’t fly as high as the regular starships but still have incredibly useful abilities. The T-47 has a radar jammer, which won’t allow enemies to lock onto it for a short period of time. They also share the boost ability with the TIE Fighters, which, as said before, can really help you escape a dire situation.
Of course, the most unique ability that AirSpeeder has available to it, is the TOW cable. You can only use this ability in the Walker Assault game type. Check out our guide on how to successfully TOW an AT-AT over here!
That covers it for specific abilities for star fighters but if you want to be an ace pilot, you’ll absolutely have to master the art of dogfighting. It’s highly suggested that, during a dogfight, you use the third-person viewpoint. This will allow you to see all around your ship, which will help you find your foes’ location in the sky.
I Have You Now…
The easiest way to shoot down enemies out of the sky is to make sure you’re using the lock-on targeting mechanics. With a controller, all you need to do is to make sure you’re holding down the left trigger. This will force your reticle on your target and allow all of your laser-fire to hit its mark.
The lock-on ability is the only way to hit your opponents with your ship’s missiles. All fighters, except for the T-47 AirSpeeder, has access to missiles. These weapons are your best bet for blasting foes out of the sky. The cool down for missiles are a bit long, so make sure you’re adept at hitting your mark with your laser fire as well.
Of course, the best way to avoid getting hit with a missile is to use your defensive abilities. You can also dodge missiles or other enemy fire with aerial flips and rolls. On a controller, you can initiate these maneuvers by pressing the D-pad either left, right or up. Aerial dodges will be your most reliable tool for surviving in the air.
Now, if you can manage to avoid getting hit from both the ground and the air, you can rain hellfire on enemy infantry and vehicles on the ground. For this, it’s highly recommended that you go into your first-person cockpit view. When flying into an attack dive, the cockpit view will help you visualize your next target. Sometimes, it’s difficult to see ground troops, so the best way to locate them is to test fire your blaster cannons on the ground. If your reticle goes from yellow to white, you’re hitting something.
Using your cannon fire from you ship’s weapons is the best way to get those pesky enemies on the ground. You can still use your ship’s missiles but they’re not nearly as effective as your lasers. Also, make sure to slow your ship down to its minimum speed so you can have as much time as possible for a strafing run. Most of the time, if you’re playing as the Rebels, you have enough time to take down an enemy AT-ST that’s firing at your teammates.
That about wraps it up for the advanced tactics you can use while in the air in Star Wars Battlefront. If you use these tips, you’ll most likely rule the skies and also rain terror on ground troopers. If you have any more suggestions or tactics, please leave them in the comments below. As always, may the Force be with you!
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