Mawk's Heroes and Villains Guides: Leia Organa Solo

Leia Organa Solo: Force Guide

Overview: Leia is a weaker character. Her health is just a bit above normal. Her main blaster is a "sporting blaster" primarily used for accurate sniping shots. Her secondary weapons are thermal detonator grenades, and a health regen group buff. She is not a Jedi, so she does not have block. You will die often as Leia.

Leia's movement speed is normal. She can be caught up to easily by any lightsaber wielding villain. Her sprint is not jedi sprint. She has the same movement speed as Han and Chewie. The main times you will use her sprint is escape, evade, and jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Lets start with Leia's mainhand gun. It is listed as a "sporting blaster", but in Episode IV the official title is "DDC Defender sporting blaster". This weapon is a very accurate sniping weapon. You get two different zoom lengths and it is very accurate even without zoom on. Unlike any other gunner in Heroes vs. Villains, Leia's blaster is accurate over long distances too. Most of the other gunner's shots spread out over the further distances, but Leia's keeps the accuracy. She can shoot 4 to 5 shots consecutively without having to wait for the gun to cool down. If you shoot too rapidly it can overheat quicker and you have to wait to shoot. The best way to time your shots is with a rythm. Once you get use to the timing between shots you can time it in your head, or tap your foot, or whatever works best for you to be patient enough to wait between shots. This helps to avoid the quick overheating that many new Leia players end up doing.

Sniping with her is difficult and easy at the same time. If your enemy is not moving it is simple, if they are moving is difficult. When I say sniping, I am talking about the longer distances. The short distances are a different case.

Unlike Han, Leia has a harder time doing lots of damage on a moving enemy. You can still pick the enemy off with a well placed shot, but this takes very much practice. You will find that usually when someone is jumping or flying and you are shooting them, you will do little damage compared to if they are standing still. This may be lag, or it may just be accuracy. I have found it is easiest to snipe someone with the double zoom on when they are standing still. You want to aim directly at their head. If they do not move you can usually get a headshot and kill them in one hit. The characters with higher health (Vader and Grievous mainly) you may get them down to a sliver and can pick them off with another shot, even if they move. The best thing to do when you are sniping is to relax and take your time. Be precise as possible and don't move around too much. Once you snipe someone you will want to re-locate, or else they will come after you upon respawning.

With the larger distances (hero spawn to the ship for example) you have to deal with lag a bit more with Leia than the others. Because she is so accurate the game seems to do a check to make sure you are seeing where they actually are. When this check happens you may seem to see your target being hit directly and move slightly like they were hit, but no health will go away. When this happens you just need to move your aim slightly to the left or right and then fire again. Sometimes continuing to shoot without moving eventually hits them as the lag settles, but then you may be out of weapon energy. If you cannot seem to hit the enemy over these larger distances with a headshot, aim for their body. Three direct body hits usually takes care of the normal health characters, four for the higher health characters.

The short distance sniping (like hero spawn up to the spire to the south), usually against Fetts, is pretty flawless. You just have to double zoom on their heads and take a shot and it usually kills them without having to worry about the lag thing. You may not even have to zoom, which brings me to my next subject.

Non zoom shooting on Leia is more powerful than you think. Direct body hits take about 1/4 of the enemies health down if you have a clear shot. When someone is dashing against you, be sure to aim for their head. As Leia you always want to aim for the head if you can. When the enemy is sprinting at you they cannot block, so this is your perfect time to shoot. It helps to not move as they are sprinting at you, just aim with precision and shoot a few bolts.

Leia's thermal detonators are more like grenades. She has 3 that she is able to throw. They can be tossed at longer distances by looking up higher when you throw. A direct hit on an enemy can take anywhere up to half health depending on the character. The further they are away from the explosion, or if they have block up, the less it will hit for. Its good to throw these in front of an enemy as they are coming toward you. The timer is just a couple seconds before they detonate. These can also be used to bounce off walls at different angles to surprise your enemy. If your enemy is below you you can bounce it off a wall behind them and it has a chance of exploding. If they are above you you can use nearby buildings or the domes of the roofs to bounce it in their direction. The thermal does have a red light that shines in a small area around it, so it can still be easily seen. Sometimes it's good to throw it in front of a corner that a villain is around, so when they peek out they may be hit by it.

Leia's "invulnerability" is a group health regeneration buff. In order to activate this you need to be within a few steps of a teammate, it can be a bot or another player. While this is on it activates a blue orb around you and whatever other allies are near. This blue orb is like a shield, regenerating any lost health you may occur while it is on. You are invulnerable except for possibly one case. If you have a sliver of health left and activate the buff, but just after a powerful strike hits you, you may die (Vader aerial attack for example). Usually if you have anything above a small sliver of health you will survive any hits without dying. This does have a downside though. Usually the person attacking you will just keep hitting and hitting you until the buff wears off and you then can be hit. There are a few moments where you can escape out of this depending on who you are fighting. If it is a Maul, you're done, just wait for respawn. People with slower combos like Dooku or the Emperor, you may be able to squeeze out of with a roll. Just keep tapping your roll key as you are being hit just in case, because there is a slight break in their combos. A smart Vader won't do a combo they will do dash or aerial attack on you during this, since Vader's combo has a lower percentage of knockdown. The buff lasts about 10 seconds and is also good for just healing your and a group member's health.

With all of these tools we can now discuss some tactics to use. I first recommend to stay off the ground floor with Leia as much as possible, unless fleeing of course. While you are on the ground you are at a higher weakness to being pushed and stunned. You also have a higher chance of being dashed due to the lengths of the roads compared to a small roof. Your best bet is to find a series of roofs that you can jump up to and switch to the others after you make a kill. Snipers should always relocate, snipers who do not relocate in FPS's usually die. So once you find some roofs you think will be good, get up on them via jumping from a roof with stairs, or do the wall climb. The wall climb works best on buildings without an upper lip for you to get stuck on. What you do is sprint directly at the wall and your character will climb up the base just a little bit, at this moment hit jump and move forward. This doesn't work on all walls/roofs, but a good portion it does. Once you are on a roof be sure to know if you will get stuck by an edge if you roll. If you are on a roof with an edge, just hop up onto the edge. This makes it so you can roll off at any time if being attacked. It also gives you an extra length if you are sprinting to leap onto another roof.

Leia's sprint leap launches her forward more than just a normal jump. Not only can this be used for getting onto harder to reach roofs. It also helps during a fight. If someone is dashing you, you can usually run and jump over them and turn around and take a few shots. If you do this a few times they may force you, but if they don't you will most likely win the fight. Some enemies have a higher combo up and down radius, so you may have to leap before they get to you. If you don't you may be stuck in a midair type stun where you can't do anything until you land. This midair stun usually happens if being sabered while sprinting in the air (on any character).

Leia's roll is useful in fights, but lately it has gotten pretty predictable. When I go against a Leia I usually fake a dash so she rolls, then I dash to where she ends up. So if you use roll be careful of these fake dashes that may sway you. While you are rolling you can't do anything until it finishes, so this gives the enemy ample time to aim and dash. Rolling around corners is good, or off roofs and sprinting away. Just be wary of how close the enemy gets to you before you actually roll. I find the jump technique works better anyway because it gives more distance.

If you are running away from an enemy, as with any gunner, be sure to change directions often. Don't run in a direct line away from the enemy because not only can they see you, they can catch up.

Leia Vs. Maul: You will be pushed a lot by Maul. Most Maul's don't tend to go no force, so get ready to be pushed. If you are pushed into a wall you will have a faster recovery time, so roll out of the way of their saber and get out of there (if they pushed you once, they'll do it agian). Maul has normal health so 1 headshot usually takes care of him. If on a roof with a dome, hop onto the dome and when the Maul jumps up to get you, he will most likely land on the flat part. With only him below you at the angle of the roofs with domes, you have a clean opening for a headshot.

Leia vs. Fetts: Since the game is made with the Fetts having larger heads due to helmets, you can usually squeeze off more headshots with them. Sometimes the best part of the head to aim on a Fett is just above their visor, so the top portion. I've aimed lower and it does the lag check or doesn't do full damage. So aim for the tops of their heads. If a Fett is coming at you, look quickly for a teammate so you can hit the regen. Coming after you means they are going to flame you. If you have the regen on, be precise and pop them a couple times as they fly by. What most Leia players do incorrectly when a Fett is coming, is roll. They're still going to hit you with the Flame, because it reaches wherever you would roll to. So use the time they are coming to take them out then heal up later. Or just use the regen and you'll be good to go.

Leia vs. Chokers: You will be choked as Leia, get use to it. Please don't spam the servers with "omg! you had to choke a Leia!!" because that just only starts arguments. Plus you can snipe them from across the map while they aren't looking. Anyway, against chokers be sure to use your sprint. You cannot be stunned with choke while sprinting, though it will take your health away. Don't roll, because the second your roll recovers you will pop up into the choke stance. When running through open spaces be sure to sprint to avoid the chokers who are on roofs.

Leia dies a lot lot lot, so if you cannot handle that, I don't suggest playing her.

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Leia Organa Solo: Non-Force Guide

Playing Leia in non force is very similar to playing Leia in force. Most servers these days do not allow gunners in non force anyway, but some do, and some allow gunners in duels. Most of the tips for Leia can be found in the force guide, so this is just a short reminder guide.

You'll want to be well practiced in sprint jumps. Using her sprint jumps to reach more places makes it easier for you to survive. Sprint jump also helps when an enemy is dashing you. There are many cases where you can sprint at someone and jump just before they reach you with their dash. You may take some damage but sometimes the game pushes you a ways further than a normal sprint jump due to them hitting you. This is a good escape tool.

Remember to use a rhythm with her blaster shots, if you fire off too many at once it will overheat quicker than if you pace yourself. Don't forget that lag is a big factor while sniping. Sometimes it will look like you are hitting them because they will slightly move, but no damage is done. Generally when I see this I move my shot up and to the right slightly and then it does damage.

If you are on a non force server that allows gunners and allows gunners right clicks, then be sure to use your regen to survive longer. If it's an FFA server it's almost pointless to use it, because you have to get next to a Hero to do so, and since they are your enemy they'll likely attack.

Use evasion tactics that I've mentioned for all gunners (e.g. change directions often).

If you're dueling with Leia be sure to not mess up. You have to be nearly perfect when dueling with a gunner. It is all open ground so if you roll-shoot-roll-shoot, it becomes very predictable and makes it easy for you to die.

Personally I don't like gunners in No Force, but if you like dying then go for it :)