Star Wars Battlefront II BB-8 update rolls out on Monday, the Age of Rebellion revealed

The delayed BB-8 update for Star Wars Battlefront II will be rolling out on Monday, 3rd February after being halted by a last minute bug earlier this week. The update will also see the Age of Resistance content spread to Capital Supremacy, with new maps added to the popular mode, featuring the MC85 Star Cruiser and Resurgent-class Star Destroyer.

February will see DICE turning their attention to the next thing, which will be the Age of Rebellion and a return to the Original Trilogy era, with a few tantalising details on what that will entail, including a return to Scarif from the 2015 game…

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But first, the BB Update. BB-8 is intended as an offensive hero, which is a strange move, but meant to balance out the light side hero roles. His main ability is his speed. He’s really fast and captures Command Posts quicker than others. His Rolling Charge ability lets him bump into enemies at his speed, while his Shock Prod deals electrical damage, Resistance Backing can reveal nearby enemies and Cable Spin damages in an area of effect.

Here’s a rundown of his other important details:

Passive abilities

• Technical Support – BB-8 will count as two units when capturing a Command Post, and activating an objective device is much faster.
• Swift Reaction – BB-8 increases the cooldown speed of nearby friendly character’s abilities.
• Health on Kill – Upon defeating an opponent, BB-8 will receive some health back.

Movement

• Dodge – Quick Dodge to the side
• Jump – A quick impulse jump that is slightly higher than blaster heroes
• Speed – Similar to a Force user in terms of sprinting speed
• Flashlight – Ability to turn on and off a flashlight

Star Cards

• Self Repairs – BB-8’s maximum health regeneration is increased.
• Spared Batteries – Every trooper defeated or 200 damage to villains increases Shock Prod damage.
• Shielded Roll – BB-8 takes less damage while using Rolling Charge.
• Headfirst – BB-8 deals more damage when hitting an enemy with Rolling Charge.
• Spinner – When hitting multiple enemies with Cable Spin, the next cooldown of the ability is reduced.
• Whirlwind – Both the damage and area of effect of Cable Spin is increased.
• Uncover – Enemies revealed by Resistance Backing will take extra damage from attacks.
• Trusty Droid – When BB-8 defeats an opponent that was revealed by Resistance Backing, he will heal nearby friendly characters.
• Roll Together – The increased cooldown speed of BB-8 is improved.

Oh, and he obviously has a Thumbs Up emote…

On the opposite side, BB-9E is more of a support character, backing up his evil bros. He too has a Shock Prod, and can reveal nearby enemies using his Smoke Screen, but has unique quirks with Charge Up to boost nearby friendly blasters, while his AoE Shock Spin creates an electric pulse to damage nearby enemies, or at the very least cause their blasters to overheat.

Passive Abilities

• Technical Support – BB-9E will count as two units when capturing a Command Post and activating an objective device is much faster.
• Bacta Support – BB-9E periodically regenerates the main health of friendly characters around him.
• Health on Kill – Upon defeating an opponent, BB-9E will receive some health back.

Movement

• Dodge – Quick Dodge to the side.
• Jump – A quick impulse jump that is slightly higher than blaster heroes.
• Speed – Similar to a Force user in terms of sprinting speed.
• Flashlight – Ability to turn on and off a flashlight.

Star Cards

• Full Reconstruction – BB-9E’s maximum health regeneration is increased.
• Linked Systems – Every 200 health healed to friendly characters reduces the shock prod stun cooldown.
• Hearty Exhaust – The radius of smoke screen is increased.
• I See You – Enemies revealed by Smoke Screen will be revealed for longer.
• Faster, Faster! – If shock spin hits enough targets, its damage will be doubled for the remaining time.
• Spin me Round – Enemies hit by Shock Spin will be pushed further away, but its cooldown is increased.
• Swift Power – The cooldown of Charge Up is reduced.
• Supercharged – The radius of Charge Up is increased.
• Potent Bacta  – The radius of Bacta Support is bigger, but the cooldown between heals is also increased.

Following this update, DICE will turn to the Age of Rebellion. There’s a few meaningful changes coming to the game, and they’ll be going into more detail in February.

However, the gist is that for the Original Trilogy they want to focus on the ground battles, and so they’re creating a ground-only version of Capital Supremacy. To make that fit, they’re rebranding the mode as Supremacy.

The reason for this is the maps that they’re going to use, with the Death Star II battle not really making sense to have you fly off to another location, and the planetary shield of Scarif causing all sorts of bother. And yup, Scarif from Star Wars Battlefront’s Rogue One tie in will be coming back.

Source: DICE

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