Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes Guide and Tips – Crystals, Data Cards, Shards

EA’s Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is the ultimate mash-up game where you create teams of light and dark side characters to compete against rivals in turn-based combat.  It’s the only game where Luke Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn and a Jawa combine forces to defeat Geonosian soldiers or Stormtroopers; alternatively you’re free to pair Darth Vader with Count Dooku and Greedo.

While battles are short and provide near instant gratification, you’ll need to master basic strategy to keep these villains and heroes alive. Unlock new characters, get more virtual currency and level up with our Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes tips and tricks. 

Tip: Dark Side battles unlock once you reach Level 12. 

Understanding the Battle System 

Similar to most role-playing games, Galaxy of Heroes features turn-based combat where you attack and then the opposing team receives the opportunity to counter-attack. Deplete each opponent’s health bar and your team wins. 

You cannot choose which light side hero or dark side villain attacks first; the game makes this selection automatically. 

First, select the intended target by tapping this character. Now decide whether to use a Basic Attack or Special Ability, both of which appear on the bottom right corner of the screen.  The Basic Attack inflicts a certain amount of damage, usually to one enemy at a time. The Special Ability, on the other hand, comes in the form of a more powerful attack, an attack that inflicts damage to multiple enemies at once or provides a buff to your team. For example, the Jedi Consular’s Healing ability gives everyone a small health boost, while the Clone Trooper Sergeant lays down Suppressive Fire that hits all of the enemies on the screen. 

Unfortunately you cannot use Special Abilities all the time, and will need to wait a certain number of turns before they become available again. For this reason, consider saving these attacks and buffs for when the situation calls for it; when you’re low on health or need to deliver a powerful strike to finish a battle. Furthermore, Attacks and Abilities can be upgraded when you reach certain levels, and you will unlock new maneuvers over time.

Should one of your characters get knocked out, you won’t be able to use this person or creature until the current series of battles conclude. Furthermore, you don’t fully replenish health automatically from one fight to the next.

Tip: During a battle, press the Auto button on the left and your characters will attack or heal on their own. Tap the Auto button again to turn this off and resume making all of the decisions. Auto speeds up battles but you relinquish control. We sometimes use it when battling difficult opponents, and the computer makes smart choices for the most part. 

Status Effects 

During a battle you may see red or green square-shaped icon’s above a character’s head. This means the hero or villain currently has a Status Effect. Green means the effect benefits the team, while red negatively impacts it in some way. The former may result in a health boost, while the latter could tack on additional damage when the affected character gets attacked. 

Status Effects impact both sides, and it’s important to know what you’re up against. To learn more about a Status Effect, press and hold the green or red icon and a brief description will appear; it vanishes when you release your finger from the screen.

It’s possible for a character to have more than one active Status Effect at one time. We often target this enemy first to quickly remove it from the action. 

Train Your Characters 

Win battles and complete daily quests to earn all sorts of rewards, chief among them Training Droids. Use these little robots to level up your characters individually and make them stronger.

To train, press the Characters icon on the left side of the screen, then the Train button along the bottom. Pick a character and press the Training Droid icon if you have them on hand. Adjust the slider (the number represents the amount of Training Droids you want to use) and press Assign. Now tap the Train button on the lower right.

In some cases you can burn through all of the available Training Droids on a single character, while in other instances you will only be able to use a specific number. Additionally, you must spend Credits to complete the training process. Thankfully credits are easy to come by from simply playing Galaxy of Heroes.

Complete Achievements for Rewards 

Galaxy of Heroes comes with a long list of in-game objectives. Collect 11 Light Side characters, login every day for one month and beat all Stage 1 Hard Battles (among other tasks) to earn loot. 

This also applies to Daily Activities. Press the green button on the bottom right while at the hub to see the current list and your progress for each activity. Rewards vary, from XP and credits to shards and Arena Tokens. 

Tip: You may need to check your inbox to claim rewards. 

Equip Gear

Leveling up will make characters more efficient on the battlefield, but you also need to fill gear slots to gain an edge.  Press the Characters icon and then make a selection. When the character appears on screen, make note of the six gear icons surrounding him or her. 

If you see a green cross inside of a box, tap it and then choose a piece of gear, be it an Mk 1 BlasTech Weapon Mod for +6 physical damage or an Mk 1 TaggeCo Holo Lens for +2 Speed, among other gadgets. 

If there’s a magnifying glass icon inside of the box, you need to find a necessary piece of gear. Tap the icon and you’ll see a list of battles where if you win, the game will put this gear in your inventory.

You need to spend Energy to take part in these battles. You can buy more Energy using Crystals, but since Energy refreshes by 1 point every six minutes, play the waiting game. 

Fill all six of a character’s slots to upgrade to a new gear level! 

Get More Crystals

You need Crystals to purchase Chromium Data Cards and Credit Packs. The game awards you a low amount over time, but you can earn more by reviewing Galaxy of Heroes on the App Store and logging into Facebook when prompted. 

Alternatively you can buy Crystals using real world currency. 

Bronzium Data Cards 

Spend Ally Points to buy Bronzium Data Cards, which may include a new character, piece of gear, character shards and other items. The game chooses Data Cards at random and you can see a list of characters you may receive. If you don’t want to part with your precious Ally Points, wait until the timer on the Bronzium Data Card icon expires so you can get one for free. 

Chromium Cards work in a similar randomized fashion, except you spend Crystals. 

Use Sim Tickets 

Reach Level 9 and you gain the ability to use Sim Tickets. After winning a battle and earning three gold stars (no one from your team died), you can then spend a Sim Ticket to instantly replay and win this battle to collect more loot. Easiest way to stock up on Training Droids, XP, Credits and other valuable items without going through a battle. 

Tip: If you’re OK with spending actual money, be on the lookout for special deals where you’re guaranteed to receive a specific character and rewards. 

Finding Shards 

To activate certain characters like Darth Vader, you will need to earn a set number of shards. The best way to do this is to play battles on Hard, although you’ll need to complete every mission in a particular stage on Normal to unlock Hard battles. 

Based on our experience you can only play on Hard per stage one time. We imagine EA did this to prevent users from cheating. 

This Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes guide is a work in progress. We’ll post more tips soon! 

If you need the game, download Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes from the App Store and Google Play.