The second Marquee of the Era of The Mandalorian and Grogu in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes has arrived with Mercenary Guard Droid (B1), and it is time to review mods for this new Era unit. During my time with Gaming Fans I started the “best mods” series of articles, which turned out to be what put the site on the radar of the community and of EA Capital Games. While my days with Gaming Fans are well behind me, I have been writing mod guides like this one since the early days of mods when they were added to SWGoH in 2018. Fortunately, writing these mod guides continues to be a way for me to enjoy Galaxy of Heroes now that I have been playing this game for over a decade. I will seek to keep the same high-quality content going as I continue the “best mods in SWGoH” series today with the Best Mods for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1).
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The newest character in Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) is an Era Unit Marquee character who joined the game on November 3, 2026, two weeks after Adelphi Ranger. The game describes him as “a heavily armed security droid employed by mercenaries to protect their interests,” and this old Separatist battle droid design has clearly found a second career guarding the galaxy’s bounty hunters. For the purposes of SWGoH, B1 is a Tank who fits into the Mercenary, Hutt Cartel and Droid factions, and he is one of the required units for Galactic Legend The Mandalorian and Grogu. Let’s take a look at how we want to focus the mod stat gains for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) in Galaxy of Heroes, because this one is different from any tank we have modded before.
Note that I have learned that I get a bit wordy in these Best Mods articles, so as a result the TL;DR on mods for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) is below. I am also keeping the new(er) format on the recommendations below, which I hope continues to make these best mods articles easier to decipher.
Era of The Mandalorian and Grogu Characters:
- Adelphi Ranger
- Mercenary Guard Droid (B1)
Both Era Marquees are required for Galactic Legend The Mandalorian and Grogu, along with units like IG-12 & Grogu. During the Mini-Era you need B1 at Era Level 74, and after the Era ends the requirement becomes Relic 7. Both are also the featured units of the upcoming Era Battle: The Mandalore Legacy, which asks for both at Relic 9 in its top tier.
Main Mod Stats to focus on…
I need to start with this. Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) has 1 Health and no Protection, and his Mercenary Gotra unique says his Max Health and Max Protection can’t be increased. Read that again, because it changes everything about modding him. Health mods, Protection mods and Health sets do absolutely nothing for B1. His swgoh.gg stat sheet shows 54,351 Health and 75,419 Protection at Relic 8, but his unique overrides all of it once the battle starts.
So how does a 1 Health tank survive? The same way the original does: with stacks. The standard B1 Battle Droid starts with 100 stacks of Droid Battalion, loses 8 every time he takes damage and gains 3 at the start of each of his turns. He can’t be defeated until the stacks run out. Mercenary Guard Droid runs on Mercenary Battalion instead, and the numbers are tuned for a tank rather than a fodder attacker. He starts with only 25 stacks (50 under an Embo & Keibu lead), plus 5 more for each Relic Amplifier level. He also loses fewer per hit: 6 stacks, or only 3 while Taunting, with a cap of 18 lost per turn. Like the original, he gains 3 stacks at the start of each of his turns, and he also Taunts every time he uses an ability (gaining 2 stacks instead if he is already Taunting). Under Embo & Keibu, the first time he drops to 20 or fewer stacks he gains 100 more, which takes him right back to the original B1’s starting count.
The stacks also pay out differently. Each stack of Droid Battalion gives the original B1 +2% Offense and his Separatist allies Tenacity and Critical Avoidance. Each stack of Mercenary Battalion gives Mercenary Guard Droid +0.5% Potency and his Mercenary allies +0.5% Critical Avoidance and Defense. The old B1 is built to hit; the new one is built to stand in front of the bounty hunters and make them harder to kill.
The key detail is that B1 loses stacks per hit, not per point of damage. A tiny basic attack and a massive crit cost him exactly the same. That means Defense, Armor and Critical Avoidance don’t keep him alive either. What does keep him alive is taking more turns: more turns mean more stacks gained, more Taunts (which halve the stacks he loses), and more Offense Up and Protection Up for his Bounty Hunter Mercenary allies. Speed is the stat that matters most for B1, and it isn’t close.
After Speed, I would look at Tenacity. His base Tenacity is only 40%. He dispels his debuffs whenever he takes damage, but a debuff that lands without damage can still cost him a turn, and a lost turn means 3 fewer stacks. His base Potency is already 102%, and each stack of Mercenary Battalion adds another 0.5%, so his Blind and Stagger are well covered without help from mods. Offense is a nice bonus for his basic and Overhead Smash, but his real value is the Taunt, the stacks and the buffs he gives the team.
So to answer the headline question, the mod stats to focus on for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) are Speed above everything, then Tenacity, with some Offense if you have it. Skip Health, Protection and Defense entirely. When you start rolling his secondaries, our slicing guide will help, and this is a great place to use those Speed mods with junk Health and Protection rolls that nobody else wants.
Which Mod Sets to use & Dev Recommendations for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1)
Just like Adelphi Ranger, B1 can only be used in Era modes like Coliseum while his Era is running, and mods don’t matter there. Era Units will get their stats from the new Overcharge system instead. Thanks to the Mini-Era, the wait is only two weeks. The Era ends on November 17, 2026, and from then on this new B1 is a legacy unit whose mods matter in Grand Arena, Territory Wars, Territory Battles and the new Droid Destruction raid, where he is one of the eligible units.
My recommendation is a Speed set and a Tenacity set. If you’d rather have a bit more damage, a Speed set and an Offense set is a fine alternative. What I would not do is any Health, Defense or Critical Avoidance set, since none of them affect him. When the devs chime in with their mod recommendations, I will gladly compare and make any needed adjustments. Until then, here are my recommendations for the best mods for Mercenary Guard Droid (B1):
- Transmitter (Square): The Transmitter mod always has a primary focus on offense.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Speed
- Recommended Secondary Stats: speed, tenacity, offense and critical chance
- Receiver (Arrow): The Receiver mod can have a primary focus on several stats including speed, critical avoidance, accuracy, health, protection, defense and offense.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Speed mod, Speed focus
- Recommended Secondary Stats: tenacity, offense and critical chance
- Processor (Diamond): The Processor is always going to have a primary focus on defense.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Speed
- Recommended Secondary Stats: speed, tenacity, offense and critical chance
- 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.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Speed mod, Offense or Critical Damage focus
- Recommended Secondary Stats: speed, tenacity, offense and critical chance
- Data-Bus (Circle): The Data-Bus mod always has a primary focus on either health or protection.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Tenacity mod, Health or Protection focus (neither primary does anything for B1, so pick the circle with the best secondaries)
- Recommended Secondary Stats: speed, tenacity, offense and critical chance
- Multiplexer (Plus): The Multiplexer (plus or cross) mod can have a primary focus on potency, tenacity, health, protection, defense or offense.
-
- Recommended Mod Type: Tenacity mod, Tenacity focus
- Recommended Secondary Stats: speed, offense and critical chance
Building the rest of the team? CG’s example squads put B1 with Embo (or Embo & Keibu for the advanced version), Cad Bane, Aurra Sing and Fennec Shand. Embo & Keibu is the lead to aim for: he doubles B1’s starting stacks, refills him with 100 more, and adds 25% stacking Offense for the Bounty Hunter Mercenaries every time B1 uses Overhead Smash. For some background on the crew, see our histories of Embo, Cad Bane and Aurra Sing.
Mercenary Guard Droid (B1) Mods TL;DR
- Square: Speed mod with speed, tenacity & offense
- Arrow: Speed mod, Speed focus with tenacity & offense
- Diamond: Speed mod with speed, tenacity & offense
- Triangle: Speed mod, Offense focus with speed, tenacity & offense
- Circle: Tenacity mod, any primary with speed, tenacity & offense
- Plus: Tenacity mod, Tenacity focus with speed & offense
And don’t forget: Health and Protection do nothing for B1. Save your good Health mods for Adelphi Ranger, the other Marquee of this Era, who wants all the survivability you can give her.