New characters in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, along with balance updates

The turn-based, free-to-play mobile game, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, has just received a fairly major update that includes some rather prolific characters and some game balancing changes. 

Unfortunately, neither new character can be obtained through grinding — at least for now. 

Grand Master Yoda

One of the most prolific Jedi from the Star Wars movies has made his way to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, with a heavy emphasis on buffs and debuffs. However, he can only be obtained by beating a time-limited event that requires very high level Jedi. His abilities are as follows:

• Ataru [Basic Attack] – Deal physical damage to target enemy. If that enemy has more than 50% health, Yoda gains 20% turn meter and will dodge the enemy’s next attack.
• Masterstroke – Deal special damage to all enemies, and for any buff that an enemy has, Yoda gains that buff for 3 turns.
• Unstoppable Force – Deal special damage to an enemy with a 50% chance to remove 30% turn meter. If that enemy has less than 50% health, they are also stunned for a turn.
• Battle Meditation – Yoda gains extra Tenacity for 2 turns, then grants his allies every buff that he has.
• Grand Master’s Guidance [Passive Leader Ability] – Jedi allies gain 15% Tenacity. They also get 15% turn meter when they resist a debuff.

Rex

The famed clone trooper captain of the 501st Legion (who made several appearances in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show) is now in the game, sans his signature helmet (for whatever reason). For now, he can only be obtained through the Chromium card packs (which may be changed in the future). His abilities are as follows:

• Impending Shot [Basic attack] – Deal physical damage with a 70% chance to remove 15% turn meter.
• Squad Discipline – Remove all debuffs from friendly units. Clone allies gain 40% turn meter and another 10% turn meter for every debuff that is removed. All other allies gain half that amount.
• Subdue – Deal physical damage, plus bonus damage equal to 10% of the target’s max health.
• Brothers in Arms [Passive Leader Ability] – Clone allies gain 10% max health and 10% Turn meter whenever an ally suffers a critical hit. All other allies gain 5% of each effect, respectively. 

Balancing

No update is complete without balancing changes, and this one is no exception. Among other things, certain characters can heal themselves every time they attack an enemy — although the effect is minuscule, often amounting to 200 to 300 points of health at most.

Other character changes are as follows:

• First Order Tie Pilot – At 7 stars, he now has more agility, but less strength. Furthermore, a bug that let him attack more often than intended has been fixed.
• Talia – She can now heal herself much more efficiently, converting at least 60% of the damage she deals into health. 
• Poe Dameron – Less chances to Expose at all ranks, reduced Tenacity on his unique ability, and reduced tenacity in general to make him slightly more bearable to fight against.
• Asajj Ventress – She can now only heal herself, although the effect is much stronger.
• Mace Windu – His entire ability set is overhauled so that he can deal more damage while above 50% health. Once his health goes below that threshold, he converts some of the damage he deals to health.