Welcome to the Best Mods for Darth Vader article, the latest in my series of “best mods in SWGoH” articles which put my old site on the radar of the community and with EA Capital Games. Over the years I have written literally hundreds of mod guides, including almost all of the original best mods guides over at Gaming-fans.com. Now that my days with Gaming Fans are behind me, I am working to keep the same kind of content going as I resume the “best mods” series today covering one of the most well-know Star Wars characters of all-time with the Best Mods for Darth Vader.
Once one of the toughest characters to unlock in the game, Darth Vader has seen his value in Galaxy of Heroes ebb and flow over the years. Multiple reworks have helped his value increase, but he has never been irrelevant. As we wrap up 2024 and head into 2025, Darth Vader on my roster is currently relegated to the Doctor Aphra team in Territory Battles and sometimes in the GAC. In certain situations Darth Vader can be used under a Lord Vader lead, and I and rarely use him in at all Territory Wars. In-game, Darth Vader is a Dark Side Attacker and a member of the Sith and Empire factions and he pilots the TIE Advanced x1. Let’s take a look at how to mod Darth Vader to make him more effective in Galaxy of Heroes.
Note that I have been told that I can get a bit long-winded when writing these mod guides. As a result, if you simply want the TL;DR on how to mod Darth Vader, it is below.
Main Mod Stats to focus on…
As I mentioned above, Darth Vader gets a lot of play in my game in the RoTE Territory Battle, some use in the Grand Arena Championship and sometimes in events like Galactic Challenges, but not a lot more than that. As one of the biggest names in the Star Wars universe, it is a shame that his value to endgame players is so low, but he does continue to hold value for newer players to SWGoH and mid-game players alike. Darth Vader’s Force Crush is key to his kit, as it inflicts Speed Down and 3 Damage Over Time debuffs when used, and cannot be countered. Strategically, having Vader use Merciless Massacre and then use Force Crush to start and attack can spell trouble for many opponents in the game, and his Culling Blade special is best used within Merciless Massacre and when the enemy has a lot of debuffs as it deals 50% more damage per debuff on the enemy, and has +25% Critical Chance. As a result of all of this, you want very high Potency on Darth Vader and it is wise to build up his CC and CD stats. A Gear 13 Darth Vader has just over 37% CC, so it is easy to see that he needs a lot more CC to land crits with any regularity. At Relic 7 this increases to just over 55% CC, so getting more CC from the secondary mod stats is “critical.” With all characters who rely on crits, raising the base Offense is a good idea, and almost every Attacker in SWGoH needs Speed. Vader gains +8 speed until the end of the encounter for each Empire ally, Sith ally, Jedi enemy and Rebel enemy, so starting him off well over 250 speed is recommended. For reference, my Relic 8 Darth Vader (at the time of this writing) has 289 speed, 222% CD, 108.99% potency, 79.31% CC and 8,283 physical damage. Finally, on the survivability side, Darth Vader recovers 5% health whenever a DoT expires and has 15% Health Steal, so health is the best option.
Which Mod Sets to use & Dev Recommendations
While the developers at EA Capital Games are recommending Speed and Critical Chance mods, I have had a Critical Damage set along with a Potency set on my Darth Vader for 3-4 years now. Many high-end guilds give their members target stats to achieve for more effective counters in Territory Wars, and I was instructed to hit many of the targets mentioned above years ago, and have kept my Darth Vader the same due to the high level of effectiveness for this character in-game. While I am recommending the use of a CD and Potency set, I caution players to not ignore Speed, CC and Offense from the secondary stats. With all of this in mind, here is what I am recommending for the best mods for Darth Vader:
- Transmitter (Square) – The Transmitter mod always has a primary focus on offense. For Darth Vader, you want to use a POTENCY mod here and be sure to closely look at the secondary stats to ensure that you get a heavy secondary focus on speed, offense, potency, and critical chance or health.
- Receiver (Arrow) – The Receiver mod can have a primary focus on several stats including speed, critical avoidance, accuracy, health, protection, defense and offense. For Darth Vader, you want to use a CRITICAL DAMAGE mod here with a primary focus on speed and a secondary focus on offense, potency, critical chance and health.
- Processor (Diamond) – The Processor is always going to have a primary focus on defense. For Darth Vader, you want to use a CRITICAL DAMAGE mod here with a secondary focus on speed, offense, critical chance and potency or health.
- 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 Darth Vader, you want to use a POTENCY mod here with a primary focus on Critical Damage and a secondary focus on speed, critical chance, potency and offense or health.
- Data-Bus (Circle) – The Data-bus mod always has a primary focus on either health or protection, so use a CRITICAL DAMAGE mod with a focus on Health. The secondary focus stats should be speed, offense, critical chance and potency or health.
- Multiplexer (Plus) – The Multiplexer (plus or cross) mod can have a primary focus on potency, tenacity, health, protection, defense offense. For Darth Vader, you want to use a CRITICAL DAMAGE mod here with a Potency focus, making sure to have your mod sets complete. For the secondary stats, look to add speed, offense, critical chance and health.
Best Mods for Darth Vader TL;DR
- Square – Potency mod with speed & offense/CC
- Arrow – CD mod, Speed focus with offense & potency
- Diamond – CD mod with speed & offense/CC
- Triangle – Potency mod, Critical Damage focus with speed & CC
- Circle – CD mod, Health focus with speed & potency
- Plus – CD mod, Potency focus with speed & offense/CC