Best builds and squads

Heavy is the only specialization that taunts. Bulwark taunts everything in an area for 4 Advantage and raises Defense for the turn, and Intimidating Posture, which every Heavy starts with, turns each blaster hit into a taunt on that target. Trick takes the role because For My Brothers stands him back up once a mission, and its third rank makes that first knockdown cost no injury. On Hard and Expert the bacta tank is disabled, so that rank is the cheapest medbay visit there is.

Unstoppable at rank three hands back two counter shots at +2 damage, so the enemies he taunts pay for shooting him. Conditioning is +12 health at rank three. Soldier as the second specialization is there for Brutal Strike, a 1 AP rush that Dazes the target, and a Dazed unit cannot attack at all.

Medic first, because the sixth rank of Combat Stim is the best single line in the game: Strong Stimulant on an ally for the rest of the combat, +3 damage and +12 max health, for 1 AP. Medic has to be the first specialization to reach it, since the second-slot ladder stops at rank five. The 23 focus it costs is almost the whole ceiling, and that is the point: stim the squad on turn one, every fight.

Scoundrel second for Identify Weakness, 1 AP to make an enemy Vulnerable so the next attack on it is a critical hit. First Responder means Hawks carries a Medpac in no slot at all, and Fearless Leader adds Assist damage to every operator just by Hawks being present.

Combat Recon is 1 AP for one Advantage per enemy in the area, once a turn, and the area grows with rank. That is a squad's worth of Special Actions paid for without firing a shot: Trick's Bulwark, Cly's darts and Surge, an astromech's Coordinated Support. Tactical Timing at rank three is a 60% chance of another point on each of his own kills, and Ambush spends the whole pool on one shot when nobody else needs it.

Medic second keeps a Combat Stim rank in the kit, three turns of Stimulant at rank two, so the opening still has a buff in it. The Spotter marks whatever his blaster damages, which removes range and smoke penalties for everyone who shoots it next.

A blaster pistol fires for 1 AP without limit, and every Gunslinger starts with Onslaught, +1 blaster damage for each attack made in the turn. Quick Draw is a 1 AP sidearm shot on top of that, and Keen Eye at rank three is +12% critical chance on every ranged attack. So the loop is: shoot the weakest enemy first, let the damage climb, and put the last shot into the one that matters.

Scout second for the fuel and the accuracy. The Spotter marks anything the pistol damages, which strips range and smoke penalties from the follow-ups; Tactical Timing turns kills into Advantage; Open Fire spends that Advantage on two more shots without touching AP, and Ambush on one big one. A recruit can be built for this at Recruitment on day one.

Her whole kit runs on Advantage, not AP. ElectroWeb Dart Shocks a target for 2 Advantage (1 at rank six) and halves its movement; ElectroWeb Surge is 4 Advantage for a blast around Cly and around every darted enemy, and those blasts ignore Defense. Combat Jump moves her for 2 Advantage and pushes enemies at the landing. None of it spends an action point, so the three AP are still there for the pistol or a Scattergun.

Scout second is the fuel: Combat Recon returns one Advantage per enemy scanned for 1 AP, and Tactical Timing adds a chance of another on each kill. Ruthless is +4 critical damage at rank three, for the pistol shots that follow. Gunslinger instead gives Quick Draw and Keen Eye if the squad already has a Scout feeding her.

Final Shot is her talent: once a turn, when an ally's attack leaves an enemy at 8 health or less (rank three), Jae fires and kills it, no AP spent. Rank four raises that to 10 health and twice a turn, but it costs 21 of the 24 focus on its own, so three is the stop. Zero In at rank three is 1 AP for five stacks of Lethal, +25% to hit and +15% critical chance until she moves; Pick Them Off adds to Overwatch hit chance and damage; Sharpshooter Training is +10% to hit on everything.

Scout second so each Final Shot kill has a chance to return Advantage through Tactical Timing. A longarm is a Slow weapon, 2 AP a shot, but its critical damage is double a rifle's and Overwatch fires one shot per AP invested, so she sets up, zeroes in, and covers the lane. The RSKF-44 in a utility slot is the sidearm for when two points is too many.

Combat Gas is Luco's talent and the reason he is built differently to Jae on the same tree. At rank three it is five stacks of Sharpened Senses, each +5% chance-to-hit and +1 ranged damage, and a stack burns per ranged attack rather than per turn. A longarm shot is 2 of the 3 action points, so one gassing covers about five turns of shooting. Rank three is 7 focus of the 24 and rank four is 16, two thirds of the budget for a sixth stack, so three is the stop.

Zero In at rank three is +25% chance-to-hit and +15% critical chance until he moves, and it stacks with the gas. Pick Them Off at rank three puts +15% and +4 damage on every Overwatch shot, which is where a longarm's spare point goes on the turns it does not reposition. Precision Shot stays at rank one: it fires once a turn for six Advantage, so the focus does more on the two lines that improve every shot.

Scout second because the squad shares one Advantage pool and Precision Shot costs six of it. Tactical Timing at rank two returns a point on 40% of kills, which is the difference between one ultimate a fight and two. Ambush and Combat Recon stay at rank one; they are there to feed the pool, not to do damage a sniper is already doing better.

Uppercut is Kabb's talent, a 1 AP rush and punch that pushes the target backwards, and a push next to a drop is a kill regardless of health. Assault gives Fleet of Foot, +2.0m on the first move at rank three, and Sweeping Salvo, 4 Advantage for a cone that damages and Disorients everyone in it (a -20% chance-to-hit penalty on their ranged attacks). Strike The Flanks, the Assault starting passive, is +20% critical chance against Exposed enemies, and a pushed enemy is usually out of its cover.

Soldier second is Strength, +3 melee damage at rank two, which every punch uses, and Brutal Strike, a second 1 AP rush that Dazes. Armsmaster, the Soldier passive, adds +2 blaster and grenade damage on top.

Pull is 1 AP, drags an enemy to her and deals Force damage. It moves a droideka out of its shield and into the squad's Overwatch, and it moves anything off a ledge. Push is the same for 1 AP in the other direction, and Shockwave pushes everything nearby for 6 Advantage. Padawan Training at rank four opens a second Meditation slot (rank five a third), which is where the build lives: Fast Healing is 8 health at the start of each turn, Bonded to the Blade lets Lightsaber Strike be used twice a turn, and Attuned to All Things adds Harmony on every Push and Pull.

Strong with the Force at rank three starts each turn with four stacks of Harmony, which raise Deflection and lightsaber damage. Lightsaber Throw costs 10 Advantage, two of Cly's Surges, so it stays at rank one. Her specializations are fixed; the choice is the ranks and the meditations.

An astromech cannot fire a blaster and cannot be healed, and it is still the best support slot in the game. Built-In Comlink at rank two gives an ally +1 AP for 1 AP once a turn; rank three drops the once-a-turn limit, so all three of its points can go to one operator, at 21 focus. Enhanced Scanners is 1 AP to Scan an area: every enemy in it loses 4 Defense and is 20% easier to hit, and rank six adds a chance of Vulnerable. Coordinated Support at rank three is +1 AP to every operator for 8 Advantage, once a combat; rank six is +2 AP for 6.

Extended Storage adds a use to every limited utility item, and Storage Optimization stacks with it at rank nine, so the droid is the grenadier. Telemetry is +5% to hit for the whole team for being there. Deep Target Scan Scans, Spots and strips Evasion from one target for 1 AP. Recruiting a droid needs the Droid Repair Bay upgrade, unlocked by talking to the astromech in the Pit.