During my time at Gaming-fans.com I started the “best mods” series of articles which turned out to be what put the site on the radar of the community and with EA Capital Games. While I enjoyed our brief time with a communicative Capital Games consistently working with myself and the other SWGoH GameChangers, there was an inability to support that level of community engagement from within CG, so I became just another member of the community, only with a bit more of a public voice. Now that my days with Gaming-fans.com are behind me, I am working to keep the same kind of content going as I resume with the best SWGoH mods of 2024 series today with a much more recent version of the Best Mods for Emperor Palpatine.
I have been using Emperor Palpatine since minutes after he became available in Galaxy of Heroes on August 18, 2016, unlocking him the first time around as he was a Squad Arena staple in his early days. Lucky for us all, EA Capital Games has kept him relevant throughout the years in SWGoH and despite the continues power creep of the game, the current team with Starkiller and Mara Jade continues to be an effective counter to many strong teams in the Grand Arena Championships in both 3v3 and 5v5. Personally, I use the EP/SK team as a Rey counter depending on the Datacrons in play and the strength of my opponent’s Rey. He also has some value in the Rise of the Empire Territory Battle for some battles where his Turn Meter gain and ability to apply debuffs comes in quite handy. But with all of this having been said, what are the best ways to mod Emperor Palpatine in SWGoH in 2024?
Main Mod Stats to focus on…
Speed is the necessary evil of Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, but Emperor Palpatine needs much more than Speed. Potency is very, very important with Palpatine and “he’s no good to me dead,” so keeping him alive with Health and Protection are key as well. Personally, I had a Speed set on Emperor Palpatine for years and never changed anything because it was pretty effective. But I became comfortable and took a few losses in the GAC because of this lack of following up on my modding strategy, and when increased Relics were not enough I decided to start changing the way I thought about mods for Palpatine.
Today, my new-look Emperor Palpatine has kept two Potency mods that I have had on him for years (and I have kept him near 100% Potency), but I have since replaced the four Speed mods with four Health mods and boosted his Max Health and Max Protection as a result. Yes, I lost some very good Speed, but a Zeta on his Crackling Doom special grants him +50% Max Protection, and because I use him as a leader he gets +35% Max Health from that ability. While it would make since to consider more Defense, but I did not want to waste resources on Defense given I use him the most against Rey, a character with high Defense Penetration who can slice through that Defense more easily than most in SWGoH.
Which Mod Sets to use & Dev Recommendations
The developers did not give mod recommendations until the game was several years old, then they went through their entire lineup of 150+ characters and made mod recommendations. When that happened, due to the mass number of characters they had to review, they got sloppy (in my opinion). I will follow that by saying I think almost every new character added in SWGoH since that time has been much, much better and I rarely disagree with the mod recommendations now, due in large part to the fact that they can give these new characters individualized attention.
For Emperor Palpatine, the dev recommendations are Speed and Potency, and as I said above, I followed along with this for years. For Emperor Palpatine I am switching things up with a strong focus on Health, Protection, Potency and Speed. Note that if you cannot find the perfect mod, a little added Offense is a great backup plan for these secondary stats. As a result, here is what I am recommending for the best mods for Emperor Palpatine:
- Transmitter (Square) – The Transmitter mod always has a primary focus on offense. For Emperor Palpatine you want to normally use a HEALTH mod here and be sure to closely look at the secondary stats to ensure that you get a heavy secondary focus on speed, health, potency and protection.
- Receiver (Arrow) – The Receiver mod can have a primary focus on several stats including speed, critical avoidance, accuracy, health, protection, defense and offense. For Emperor Palpatine, you want to use a HEALTH mod here with a primary focus on speed and a secondary focus on potency, health, offense and protection.
- Processor (Diamond) – The Processor is always going to have a primary focus on defense. For Emperor Palpatine, you want to use a HEALTH mod here with a secondary focus on speed, health, potency and protection or offense.
- Holo-Array (Triangle) – The Holo-Array is a very specialized mod that can have a primary focus on critical chance, critical damage, health, protection, offense and defense. For Emperor Palpatine, you want to use a HEALTH mod here with a primary focus on critical damage and a secondary focus on speed, potency, health and protection.
- Data-Bus (Circle) – The Data-bus mod always has a primary focus on either health or protection, and Emperor Palpatine benefits more from a high Health stat, so use a POTENCY mod with a Health or Protection primary. The secondary focus stats should be speed, health, potency and protection.
- Multiplexer (Plus) – The Multiplexer (plus or cross) mod can have a primary focus on potency, tenacity, health, protection, defense offense. For Emperor Palpatine, you want to use a POTENCY mod here with a Potency or Protection focus, making sure to have your mod sets complete. For the secondary stats, look to add speed, health, potency and offense or protection.