EA Confirms Han Solo, Leia Organa & Emperor Palpatine as Star Wars Battlefront Heroes and Villains

Following some leaks, EA and DICE have officially confirmed that Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Emperor Palpatine will be joining Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Boba Fett as playable Heroes and Villains.

DICE detailed each of these three new playable characters:

Han Solo

Gameplay-wise, Han Solo is a gunslinger mainly designed for lone wolves and, echoing the beginning of the original Star Wars trilogy, he’s not very dependent on others. Similar to a Rebel trooper, but with a greatly boosted arsenal, Han Solo might be the easiest Hero character to get into. Offensive output, damage, and mobility – that’s what this guy’s about.

Abilities

• Rapid Fire – Active for a few seconds, this lets Han fire his Blaster as fast you can pull the trigger, without having to worry about overheating. Try this out when taking on compact groups and mow down those stormtroopers! Rapid Fire is also really good for when villains like Darth Vader approaches. Use it at the right time and you’ll lay down a ton of damage.
• Lucky Shot – Han Solo has an element of fortune around him and that’s where Lucky Shot, Han’s second power, originates from. This is a “build up and release” power that hits really hard and is effective against vehicles. Lucky Shot works for infantry as well and is mighty enough to break Darth Vader’s block.
• Shoulder Charge – Remember the Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope scene where Han charges into a group of stormtroopers? Then you’ll know what to expect. Shoulder Charge is both an offensive and defensive move and can be used to quickly get in to battles – but also out of them.

Leia Organa

It’s clear that Leia is a leader, so in Star Wars Battlefront she’s very much about support play, buffing team members, and holding positions. Furthermore, players spawning close to her will spawn as Alderaan Honor Guards.

Abilities

• Trooper Bane – A hard-hitting, boosted blaster shot, Trooper Bane is designed to be fired in single bursts. Now, this packs a real punch if you hit your target. A stormtrooper will get killed in one blast by Trooper Bane, and against Villains it will both deal a lot of damage and temporarily stun them.
• Enhanced Squad Shield – This works like the regular Squad Shield Power Card but is far stronger: it can stop some Force abilities and Leia can even shoot out of it with Trooper Bane active, which ground troopers cannot. The Enhanced Squad Shield is ideal if you want to own a certain area of the map, such as an Uplink Station in Walker Assault. Simply deploy the shield and you can securely hold these key areas as a group thanks to Leia’s cover.
• Supply Drop – Activate this ability to drop a variety of power ups for ground troopers, or health boosts for other Hero characters. This can really help your team out, so make sure to use it as often as you can.

Emperor Palpatine

We wanted many different things with the Emperor. We wanted him to be very mobile, but also about deception and fooling people that he’s fragile and weak. As you’ve seen in the original Star Wars trilogy, Palpatine pretends to be a weak old man, when he in fact is extremely powerful. That two-faced side was something we wanted to convey in gameplay and the Emperor’s abilities.

Abilities

• Force Lightning – Palatine’s main attack is the iconic Force Lightning, which does a lot of damage to troops within reach. The lightning also comes in the more powerful Chain Lightning form, which is an area of effect ability dealing damage to enemies around you in all directions.
• Force Dash – When Palpatine activates Force Dash he’ll move extremely fast in his current direction, which can be a real nasty surprise for Rebel soldiers. We’ve seen some players get really startled when they have been aiming down the sights at Palpatine and suddenly see him right up close.
• Imperial Resources – In contrast to these abilities, Palpatine is also the Empire team’s support Villain, capable of providing powerups for others and himself. Thanks to his command of the Empire, Palpatine can use the Imperial Resources ability to hand out powerups to team mates and health boosts to other Villains.

You can check out a full list of Battlefront’s modes over here.

Star Wars Battlefront launches on November 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, with a $49.99 Season Pass adding four expansion packs at a later date.

[Source: EA Star Wars (1), (2), (3)]