A Message From Us

To our players who have access to Star Wars: Hunters in soft launch, we’ve loved seeing your excitement after each update and now we have even more to bring you! There’s something for everyone to enjoy, including a brand new game mode, awesome new Hunter costumes, and a whole host of changes to Hunter abilities that change the game to be more competitive, fun and strategic! We appreciate all the feedback we have been receiving, and we’re working hard to make Hunters a truly brilliant experience.

To those of you who currently do not have access to Hunters, we want to assure you that more information is coming soon. We are so excited to welcome you to the Arena where we know you will battle to gain galactic fame and glory against the most elite Hunters! 

Rieve - The Dark Side Assassin Makes Her Mark

Menacing, and adorned in gear that inspires the fear and malice of a Sith Lord. As quick on her feet as she is with her wit, she is just as likely to cut you down with her sarcasm as she is with her saber. 

With the 0.20 Arena Pass you will battle as Rieve, the Dark Side Assassin, with 2 Legendary Costumes, and 2 Legendary Weapon wraps, you’ll strike fear into the hearts of your opponents.

You’ll also unlock Legendary Costumes and Wraps for Sentinel and J-3DI. Alongside this, you’ll get access to a whole host of Rare and Epic Poses, Stickers, Avatars, Costumes and Wraps for other Hunters. Plus, piles of in-game currency and Hunter Fame!

Game Modes

Ranked Mode

A new Season means Ranked Mode begins again! Battle hard, as you won’t want to miss out on the Legendary Sentinel Costume you could earn! Make sure to play Ranked Mode events to earn rewards as you continue to make progress.

New Game Mode - Power Control

The new Power Control mode surges into the Arena! Squads must control the majority of Control Points or seize all three to really supercharge their progress and dominate the opposition! There's no prizes for holding just one Control Point, so don't switch to standby.

Power Control and all other Casual Modes will be available as part of the Casual queue, as well as joining the rotation of maps and modes available in Ranked Play. Look out for Power Control on the following maps:

• Death Star Crossfire

• Dune Sea Outpost

• Ewok Village

• Mos Espa Waystation

• Vandor Railyard

Mode Updates

Dynamic Control

Dynamic Control's respawn system has been overhauled to better react to the shifting Control Point location and reduce the chances of players respawning in potentially unfair positions (such as on the active Control Point). Respawn locations are now better calculated so you’ll respawn in locations away from enemies and closer to team members.

The position of the Objective Indicators has also been tweaked to improve readability of the Control Point's location throughout the match.

Queue Selection

All modes within Casual Play have been consolidated into a single "Battle" queue.

Post-Match Flow

We’ve made several updates to streamline the post-match flow experience. Players can now enjoy key statistics across both teams as well as a new and improved Hunter level-up screen.

Events

Play through dozens of new events, including Eggscitable Scavengers and a new Clash event featuring Rieve and J-3DI!

Participate in events throughout the Power of the Dark Side season to earn fantastic rewards in the Fanatic Fanfare event!

Learn more about the matchup between Rieve and J-3DI in the all-new Arena News feature! Stay tuned during the Clash event for more information!

Arena News

What is Arena News, we hear you ask? Well, Arena News is now the place to go for all the Arena gossip, event updates and glimpses into the Hunter's backstories. This will be updated regularly with new stories, and amazing art!

Shop

We have updated the shop with exciting content including a new mega bundle for our Seasonal Hunter, Rieve! We’re introducing a ‘For You’ section to the shop to highlight the content we think you’ll enjoy most based on your Hunters experience.

Hunter Updates

Hunter’s Path

The Hunter’s Path is a brand new way to unlock Hunters in the Arena, and you can get hold of them completely for free! Purchases are available to speed up your process. Play matches to earn Hunter Tokens which progressively unlock each Hunter in sequence. Hunters can now also be purchased at a discount according to how many Hunter tokens you’ve earned!

Hunter’s Ability Rework

We’ve significantly redesigned how abilities evolve with Hunter level. As Hunters level-up they will now unlock ability upgrades which automatically take effect. Each of a Hunter’s three abilities will feature five upgrades to unlock! Because of this change, the variations that could be unlocked for each Hunter have been removed.

Previously all Hunters contained the same amount of abilities (3 Active Abilities, 1 Passive and 1 Ultimate). In this release, multiple Hunters have been updated which moves us away from this convention. 

Going forward abilities will be built to best support the needs of each Hunter. Additionally, for some Hunters the passive ability is now in place of a third active ability and can be upgraded in the same way.

Focused Aim Update

Focused Aim as an ability will now only be applied for Hunters that benefit their intended gameplay. Focused Aim will be removed from all Hunters except Imara Vex and Diago, where it will provide a clear benefit for long range combat.

Z-Targeting Update

Z-Targeting has been removed from Hunters. It has been replaced by a melee aim assist implementation to help guide attacks and abilities. This change was made to reduce the overall amount of buttons required on the screen and to help improve the flow of melee combat

Battle HUD

The Battle HUD has had two significant changes, the color palette of the buttons, and the positioning. The color palette of the buttons has been updated to be black and white. This change has been implemented to allow a greater focus on gameplay and in-world moments.

The positioning of the buttons has been updated to allow for greater visibility during gameplay. We expect this change to take some time to adjust to, and we appreciate your patience and feedback.

Diago

Diago has had a major gameplay overhaul, intended to improve his mobility and reduce the amount of times a reload is required.

• Bullseye has been removed

• Flash Flare has been removed

The ability Bullseye has been removed. The mechanics of Bullseye (firing faster for a short period of time) have been implemented into Diago's main weapon mechanics. Diago's hipfire will now fire at a similar rate to the Bullseye ability, fast firing shots that increase the weapon spread quickly. Focused Aim will now drastically increase Diago's accuracy and damage to benefit his long range capabilities.

Diago’s Passive, Heightened Senses, has now been updated to become an active ability. Diago can now channel his senses to reveal all nearby enemies for a duration.

To replace this, Diago now has a new Passive, Grappling Hook. This can be activated near anchor ledges by pressing the Jump button while already in the air, causing Diago to quickly grapple to higher ledges, allowing him to evade danger at a moments notice.

Diago's Ultimate, Piercing Rounds, has been updated allowing Diago to walk around the Arena while firing. The Damage of this ability has also been increased.

Diago’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Slugthrower Rifle

• Ultimate - Piercing Rounds

• Focused Aim 

• Active Ability -Proximity Mine

• Active Ability - Heightened Senses

• Passive Ability - Grappling Hook

Imara Vex

Imara Vex has seen some iteration on her ability kit in this release, with the intent being to improve her usability and streamline her ability playstyle.

• Enhanced Targeting has been removed.

The Passive ability Enhanced Targeting has been removed. We found the effects of this passive hard to notice, and with the improvements made to Focused Aim, we found that this ability no longer fits with Imara’s playstyle.

To replace this Passive, the active ability Tracking Scan has been moved from an Active ability into the Passive slot. Tracking Scan will operate in a mechanically similar way to Enhanced Targeting, revealing any enemies nearby who are on low health.

Like Diago, Imara Vex will be able to use the Focused Aim ability to gain greater accuracy on her weapon, allowing Imara a greater advantage at long range.

Imara Vex’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Blaster Rifle

• Ultimate - Seeker Salvo

• Focused Aim 

• Active Ability -Grapple

• Active Ability - Missile Launcher

• Passive Ability - Tracking Scan

J-3DI

J-3DI’s ability kit has also seen improvements with this release, primarily to improve the mechanics of lightsaber fighting.

• Overhead Strike has been removed.

We felt this ability didn't fit into J-3DI's playstyle, as it was an ability with a short ranged area of effect and a long windup animation which left J-3DI vulnerable both before and after the ability was cast. 

J-3DI's Faux Pull and Deflect have been improved to make up for this loss of power.

Deflecting Stance has seen a major rework in this release, moving from an ability with a fixed duration, to a stamina based ability which can be activated at any time. Each hit reduces the stamina, and the ability will go on cooldown once all stamina has been depleted. Stamina will regenerate if the ability is not on cooldown and J-3DI is not being attacked. J-3DI can now deflect blaster bolts with greater accuracy, while still being able to block incoming melee attacks and projectiles (fired by Charr and Diago) while in the Deflecting Stance. 

J-3DI’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Lightsaber

• Ultimate - Whirlwind

• Active Ability - Faux Pull

• Active Ability - Deflecting Stance

• Passive Ability - Spare Parts

Rieve

Rieve’s usability has been majorly revised in this milestone, with her ability kit being slightly reshuffled to match our new ability structure.

The Wild Defense Passive has now moved to an active ability, sharing the same stamina based mechanics as J-3DI. Rieve will now be able to enter and exit wild defense at any time, so long as she has stamina remaining.

The Wild Defense ability will be replacing Vicious Leap, which is now a Passive ability with a unique jump button interaction. Where previously players would hold the Vicious Leap ability button to aim and then activate, players will now hold the Jump button to achieve this. Functionally the ability remains the same, with the only exception being that the cooldown for Vicious Leap will be placed on the Jump button itself, preventing constant leaping.

There have also been improvements made to Rieve’s Crushing Will Ultimate, specifically with the timings of the mechanics & animations. Previously the timings of this Ultimate would lead to Rieve players getting eliminated before the effects of the Ultimate could take shape. Now however, enemy players will now be knocked down quicker after the Ultimate has been activated, followed by the Pull effect a short duration later.

Rieve’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Lightsaber

• Ultimate - Crushing Will

• Active Ability - Ruthless Pursuit

• Active Ability - Wild Defense

• Active Ability - Lightsaber Throw

• Passive Ability - Vicious Leap

Skora

Skora’s ability kit has been revised to better suit her playstyle of a long ranged, single target healer/damage Support Hunter.

• Quickfire Reaction has been removed

The Quickfire Reaction Active ability has been removed from Skora, as we felt this ability actively went against her playstyle. This ability had high spread and was liable to miss at longer ranges, meaning that applying healing/damage consistently was hard to accomplish. To compensate for this, Skora’s main weapon has received a buff to both the healing and damage it can apply per tick, and how quickly those ticks are applied to her target. This buff is also reflected in Skora’s Ultimate ability.

As well as this, Adrenal Boost has been given a 2nd charge for players to use. Allowing for easier repositioning and supporting a more in-and-out playstyle.

Skora’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Dart Gun

• Ultimate - Unstable Cocktail

• Active Ability - Adrenal Boost

• Active Ability - Stim-Shot

• Passive Ability - Self-Heal

Sprocket

Most of Sprocket’s ability kit remains unchanged, with the exception of his Passive ability Turbocharged, where the activation of this has been revised. This Passive will now only grant Sprocket a speed boost when he is placed onto critical health.

Zaina

Zaina has also seen her ability kit refined in this release, with her playstyle shifting more into the “Close Follow Support” archetype.

• Time Bomb has been removed.

Whilst Time Bomb was functional as an ability, and fun to use, we felt this ability no longer fit Zaina and the playstyle that we wanted for her character.

In contrast, the Dodge Roll ability has been heavily revised, with additional mechanics added on:

• Dodge Roll will now have two charges at all times.

Using the Dodge Roll ability will now refund Zaina 50% of her weapon heat.

These changes allow Zaina more mobility to get into danger and heal her allies, as well as an avenue to better manage her weapon heat without venting, allowing her to fight enemies for longer.

Zaina’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - Blaster Pistol

• Ultimate - Rallying Cry

• Active Ability - Bacta Bomb

• Active Ability - Dodge Roll

• Passive Ability - Combat Medic

Charr

Charr’s ability kit remains unchanged in this release, with a few minor tweaks to his Regen Booster ability & Ultimate ability, Ferocious Hunt.

While functionally unchanged, the way in which the healing is applied for Regen Booster has been updated. Previously, Charr would still receive damage while the ability was active, and would be healed after the fact based on a percentage of the damage he had taken. This led to players having to do on-the-fly calculations to determine how much they had healed, causing some confusion on the abilities function.

In this release, this has been simplified so Charr no longer takes damage while Regen Booster is active, and converts all damage taken into healing.  To keep the balance of this ability in line, a healing cap has also been introduced. This cap will help with player expectations so they know how much health to expect if they use this ability effectively.

• Unstoppable Status Effect has been removed from Ferocious Hunt.

Unstoppable has now been removed from Ferocious Hunt, as it led to misconceptions from enemy players that their abilities weren't functioning properly, as well as making Ferocious Hunt one of the strongest Ultimates in the game. To make up for this loss, the duration of the Ultimate will be increased.

Sentinel

As a Hunter, Sentinel has received a significant rework in this release.

• Sentinel has moved from the Damage class to the Tank class.

• The Suppressing Fire ability has now become the Suppressing Shot ability

Moving into the Tank class, Sentinel’s model has been scaled up, along with this base health pool.

The Combat shield ability has been reworked, and now has a dedicated health pool, meaning the ability can be activated at any time so long as shield health is available. This change will also improve Sentinel’s Weapon while active, but makes Sentinel himself walk slower while the shield is up.

Suppressing Fire has been reworked into a single shot, high Crowd Control ability, which now applies the Knock Down status effect on impact. Previously this ability was hard to aim, and resulted in an unreliable method of Crowd Control. In its current form, there is far more risk/reward to this ability - rewarding players with good accuracy.

Barrel Slam has also seen some minor improvements, with the cooldown of this ability being drastically reduced.

Sentinel’s new kit is the following:

• Weapon - E-WEB Heavy Repeater

• Ultimate - Empire’s Finest

• Active Ability - Combat Shield

• Active Ability - Suppressing Shot

• Active Ability - Barrel Slamt

Slingshot

With the changes made to the ability upgrade system, Slingshot has received some buffs to his core ability kit in this release, these being:

Protective Shield is now Unstable Shield, bringing the mechanic that allows the shield to be exploded for the Unstable Variant into the core ability. Players will be able to detonate their shield at any time to deal damage to any nearby enemies.

Trickshot is now able to be charged, keeping the functionality of the Energize Variant. Players can hold the ability button to charge up Trickshot. The longer the ability is held for, the more damage it will do.

Additional Gameplay Improvements

• Charr - Tether no longer interrupts the reload mechanic.

• Slingshot - Unstable Shield can now be activated during the Scatterboom ability

• Utooni - The Imploder ability will not move the camera as it is being prepped to throw

• Sentinel - When using Sentinel's Ultimate, the in-game icons that show the positioning of the Stormtroopers on the screen do not pulse anymore

Quality of Life Improvements and Feedback

Player survey requests may appear throughout the Season. Your feedback goes directly to our designers to help us improve.

We have also implemented the ability to sign in with Google, plus bug fixes and a general stability update.