Battlefront II Age of Rebellion lets you run wild on Hoth, Endor, and more

Star Wars: Battlefront II will get one of its biggest updates yet with new playable characters, weapons, and maps, all pulled from Star Wars’ Original Trilogy era, and EA has finally confirmed all the details in a new post detailing the upcoming additions.

In a Star Wars: Battlefront II community update published Tuesday, EA announced all the details for the new Age of Rebellion update, confirming that it will launch February 26 and help the game maintain its playerbase.

Star Wars: Battlefront II has had a long, tumultuous path to success. When it first launched in November 2017, the game was torn asunder by news outlets and fans alike for steep reward earning rates centered around their loot box policies. While being steeped in controversy effectively decimated the title at launch, the developer DICE has worked hard to make Battlefront II a worthy endeavor.

Between multiple free updates, expansive gameplay, and making intriguing additions to the Star Wars canon, Battlefront II has effectively risen from abject failure to become one of the best Star Wars in history. Even three years out, DICE continues to bolster Battlefront II’s offerings with updates like Age of Rebellion. Here's what to expect:

What time will the Star Wars Age of Rebellion update release?

The update will release on February 26. Judging from previous updates, this one should launch around 4 p.m. Eastern.

What new characters will be added in the Age of Rebellion Update?

Players will have access to two new reinforcements on all maps. On the Imperial side, you can now play as an ISB Agent. They’ll be equipped with two RK-3 Blasters, making them the first dual-wielding character available for Empire players. According to DICE, she’s a fantastic character for scouting and close combat. Using her Imperial Intel ability, she can reveal the location of up to 10 nearby foes.

Rebellion teams will be bolstered by the Ewok Hunter reinforcement. They’re a fantastic attacker. To fight the good fight, they’ll use a hunter bow, which has two firing modes. When used without zoom, the weapon will automatically pick out targets. If zoomed, the bow will become far more manageable. You may hold the trigger down to increase firing speed and damage.

What’s being added to Star Wars: Battlefront II’s Co-Op?

Since launch, Battlefront II’s Co-Op has exclusively featured sequel and prequel trilogy content, but that’s about to change! With the Age of Rebellion update, seven new Rebellion-era maps will be added to the shooter:

• Yavin
• Death Star II
• Endor
• Hoth
• Tatooine
• Kessel
• Jabba’s Palace

What new weapons are being added?

With this update, Battlefront II’s weapon selection has increased by four. The E-11D is a medium-range rifle for the assault class. After being featured in the first Battlefront title, the close combat-focused DL-18 is finally returning, complete with its great rate of fire. If the DL-18 isn’t your jam, also joining the arsenal is the powerful T-21 heavy blaster, designed for close combat. Lastly, there’s the Cycler Rifle, a long-range weapon often used by Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. Notably, it wasn’t strong enough a weapon to stop Anakin Skywalker, but perhaps you’ll find greater success with it. Each new weapon will be unlocked by reaching specific Co-Op milestones.

In addition to the new content, this patch will include numerous UI and balancing updates. We’ve listed the entire patch notes below:

FULL PATCH NOTES

• Co-Op is now available on the Age of Rebellion (Endor, Death Star II, Hoth, Yavin 4, Kessel and Tatooine - Mos Eisley and Jabba's Palace), as well as on Age of Republic Capital Ships (Republic Attack Cruiser and Separatist Dreadnaught).
• Two new Reinforcements, the Ewok Hunter for the Rebel Alliance and the ISB Agent for the Galactic Empire, are now available.
• Heroes Vs. Villains is now available on MC85 Star Cruiser and Resurgent-class Star Destroyer.
• Hero Showdown is now available on new maps (MC85 Star Cruiser, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, Republic Attack Cruiser and Separatist Dreadnaught, Felucia).
• New weapons for Trooper Classes (E-11D for Assault Troopers, T-21 for Heavy Troopers, DL-18 for Officers and Cycler Rifle for Specialists) are now able to be unlocked through Milestones.
• Updated the default appearances for: Imperial Rocket Trooper, Rebel Rocket Jumper and Wookiee Warrior. Legacy appearances are available as unlocked alternatives.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Changes the map layout for improved Heroes Vs. Villains and Hero Showdown gameplay on Yavin 4 and Geonosis.
• Vehicle units are added as AI players on certain maps on Instant Action (Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Naboo, Felucia, Ajan Kloss)
• Friendly AI can spawn as Heroes on Instant Action
• Players can now spawn on AI as fellow squad members on Instant Action.
• Various visual updates on the Scoreboard. Character levels are now shown on the scoreboard.
• Major visual updates on the PC Chat window. The window is now positioned at the top right corner of the screen and included in a vertical stack of three widgets: Network status, PC Chat, Kill and Event Log.

UI - NEW HUD OPTIONS

• Added new options in the Options / Gameplay / HUD section:
• Weapon Heatbar Vertical Position (Default / Below Crosshair)
• Radar (Default / No Outline / Off)
• Squad List (Default / Only Icons / Off)
• Player Bar (Default / No Outline / Off)
• Abilities (Default / No Outline / Off)
• Name Tags (Default / No Outline / Off)
• Game Mode Progress (Default / Off)
• Challenge Progress (Default / Off)
• Rank Up Celebration (Default / Left Side / Right Side / Off)
• Added additional option to the Kill Message setting (Default / Medium / Small / Legacy / Off).

HERO CHANGES

• Added Dual zoom to the Blaster weapons of Iden Versio, Bossk and Finn.
• Added visual information to show that certain Hero abilities can be cancelled (Han Solo's Sharpshooter, Bossk's Predator Instincts, Leia Organa's Rapid Fire and Chewbacca's Furious Bowcaster).
• Fixed an audio issue where the Lightsaber ignition sound would not trigger when a Lightsaber was activated by an ability.
• Fixed an issue where players could interrupt Hero abilities with melee attacks.
• Fixed an issue where opponents could be seen briefly hanging in mid-air, if being electrocuted right when they were about to fall.
• Fixed various visual issues with the footprints and trails of General Grievous, Yoda, BB-9E and BB-8.

BB-8 AND BB-9E

• Increased the support ability score reward for the BB units from 2 to 4.
• Fixed an issue where casting certain effects on the BB droids while using their abilities, could cause the death of seemingly random AI players.
• Fixed an issue where placeholder VO would trigger when BB-8 and BB-9E would encounter an enemy Hero.
• Fixed an issue where BB-8's moving animation could break if BB-8 gets interrupted after using the Rolling Charge ability.
• Fixed an issue where a Milestone for BB-8 would reward the wrong emote.
• Fixed an issue where the "Effortless" milestone description for BB-9E would mention rewards using work-in-progress names.

LEIA ORGANA

Fixed an issue where Leia would not be able to zoom with her weapon during the Rapid Fire ability.

Abilities

• Flash grenade is replaced by Thermal detonators: Leia can throw, up to three, thermal detonators that will explode after 0,85 seconds. This ability enters cooldown when all three detonators have been thrown.
• Leia's Squad shield is now Healing 5 health every second.
• Star Card Blinded
• BLINDED changed to FEARLESS
• Description: The blast radius of THERMAL DETONATORS is increased.
• Effect: INCREASED BLAST RADIUS
• Star Card Blinded Reveal
• Star card BLINDING REVEAL changed to HANDY DEVICE
• Description: The cooldown of THERMAL DETONATORS is reduced.
• Effect: REDUCED COOLDOWN
• Balancing tweaks
• Increased E-11 start damage from 32 to 36.
• Increased E-11 end damage from 17 to 19.
• Increased E-11 the start distance for Damage fall off from 5 to 20.
• Increased E-11 the end distance for Damage fall off from 10 to 40.
• Reduced E-11 Recoil.
• Reduced E-11 blaster shots spread.

Milestones

• BLINDING FLASH GRENADE changed to PLENTY OF EXPLOSIONS.
• Description: Defeat 30 enemies with Leia's Thermal detonators.

CHEWBACCA

Chewbacca’s Bowcaster

• When not scoped: The three bolts are clustered in a triangle, instead of a horizontal line.
• When scoped: One powerful shot that allows Chewbacca to be more efficient at long distance, instead of the three horizontal shots clustering.
• When using furious bowcaster while not scoped: 5 bolts, in a larger circle
• When using furious bowcaster while scoped: 5 bolts, in a cross, tighter than not scoped.
• Fixed an issue where Chewbacca's Bowcaster could get disabled during the entirety of Boba Fett's Concussion Rocket ability.

BOBA FETT

• Fixed an issue where Boba Fett's Acute Concussion Star Card would not accurately extend the duration of the Concussion Rocket ability.

Abilities

• Changed Boba Fett's Concussion rocket to integrate the BLASTER DISABLER functionality. The ability now disables blasters for 1.2 seconds when concussed.

Star Cards

• BLASTER DISABLER changed to AUGMENTED GEAR
• Description: If CONCUSSION ROCKET hits more enemies, Boba Fett’s jetpack regenerates more fuel.

REY

• Fixed an issue where Rey's right eye would not show in its correct position during an emote.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

• Fixed an issue where the damage reduction from Heroic Might could occasionally remain after the ability was over.

LUKE SKYWALKER

• Fixed an issue with textures popping on Luke Skywalker's hair while he is idle, wearing the Yavin Ceremony and Farmboy appearances.

IDEN VERSIO

• Improved Iden's Pulse Cannon ability. Players can now fire while aiming from the hip, as well as fire at any time during the charge up. Even if the shot does need to be fully charged, a charged shot does a lot more damage.

KYLO REN

• Community feedback - The last hit of Kylo Ren's Frenzy ability will now apply damage, even if a Lightsaber enemy is blocking.

GENERAL GRIEVOUS

• Fixed an issue where Grievous' Unrelenting Advance animation would sometimes not be visible to other players.

GAME MODE AND MAP CHANGES

SUPREMACY

• Updated the Resistance-controlled AT-ST on Supremacy - Ajan Kloss to "Scavenged AT-ST" to make it more easily differentiated.
• Fixed an issue where the capture area of Command Post A on Supremacy - Felucia would show up misaligned on the radar.
• Fixed an issue that would cause the names of friendly boarding players to show up in the action log with the wrong color.
• Fixed an issue where the UI outline on the objectives on Capital Ships would not always be visible if boarding a Capital Ship more than once in a match.
• Fixed an issue where the Starfighters fighting in the background in Supremacy and Co-Op (Age of Resistance) would be from the wrong era.
• Fixed an issue where previously marked objectives would remain targeted, even when switching phases.
• Fixed an issue where the objective markets on the Separatist Dreadnaught would disappear, after destroying the first objective.
• For balancing reasons, we reduced the amount of Flame Troopers available on MC85 Star Cruiser to two.

CO-OP

• Tweaked the Out Of Bounds area in the 1st Phase of Co-Op - Defend on Takodana to allow retreating to the castle.
• Updated the Co-Op mode description to include the defending of Command Posts.
• Fixed an issue where a number of AI would be suddenly dying during Phase 3 on Co-Op - Ajan Kloss.

INSTANT ACTION

• Added note that performance can be impacted if a user selects a high count for AI.
• Implemented limit in how frequently friendly and enemy AI Heroes and Reinforcements are allowed to spawn.
• Fixed an issue with audio being cut during the End-Of-Round screen on Instant Action.
• Added new Frontend options for Instant Action:
• Enemy Hero Count (slider)
• Friendly Hero Count (slider)
• Enemy Reinforcement Count (slider)
• Friendly Reinforcement Count (slider)
• Enemy Vehicle Count (slider)
• Friendly Vehicle Count (slider)

STARFIGHTER ASSAULT

• Removed the era-associated costs for Hero Ships on Starfighter Assault. All Hero Ships on Starfighter Assault will now cost the same number of Battle Points.
• Fixed an issue where stray assets would be visible near the horizon when the user approaches the Out-Of-Bounds barrier on Starfighter Assault - Kamino.

HEROES VS. VILLAINS

• Fixed an issue where a player could briefly see their character before the End-Of-Round screen at the end of a Heroes Vs. Villains match on Felucia.

GALACTIC ASSAULT

• Fixed an issue where the loading screen for Starkiller Base on Galactic Assault, would display the description for Strike mode.

MAP CHANGES

• Fixed various collision issues, exploits and improved areas where players could get stuck in across a wide selection of maps (Geonosis, Kamino, Ajan Kloss, Felucia, Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Endor, Bespin, Hoth, Yavin, Crait, Naboo, Jakku, Takodana, Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer, Death Star II, Starkiller Base).
• Fixed various visual and texture popping issues on Ajan Kloss, Geonosis, Kamino, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, Takodana, Endor, Death Star II.
• Fixed an issue where Lightsaber characters from the Light side could bypass certain Out-Of-Bounds areas on the Separatist Dreadnaught.
• Improved VFX feedback when the AAT hits the invulnerable parts of the AT-TE on Geonosis.

CHANGES TO CLASSES AND SPECIAL UNITS

ARC TROOPER

• Reworked the ARC Trooper's dual wielding to fire both pistols with primary fire, and instead use secondary fire button to trigger Power Blast.
• Replaced the Power Blast with Toggle Weapon, that allows toggling the pistols between slower rate of fire with high accuracy, to fast firing with bigger spread.
• Tweaked damage output on primary pistols (Close Damage 30->34 | Far Damage 17->15).

ASSAULT

Fixed issue where the Assault's Flash Pistol projectile would not flash the enemy.

SPECIALIST

• Fixed an issue where Specialists would not always see enemies in thermal vision when activating the Thermal Binoculars on Endor.

OFFICER

• Increased close damage for Blurrg-1120: 25->30.

CAPHEX SPY

• Fixed an issue where the cooldown bar would not be visible after using the Rapid Fire ability.

OVISSIAN GUNNER

• Reverted previous update where movement speed would be reduced when spooling up and firing the rotary cannon.
• Fixed issue where firing the rotary cannon wouldn’t trigger controller rumble.

TX-130

• Fixed an issue where the TX-130 would not receive the right amount of Battle Points.

AT-ST

• Reduced the Battle Points multiplier of the AT-ST from 60% to 50%.

AERIAL

• Fixed an issue where the camera would get stuck in a different position after an Aerial unit would perform the Jetpack Dash ability.
• Fixed an issue in an effort to reduce risk of Aerial units being affected by minor obstacles when performing Jetpack Dash.
• Updated rocket launcher icon to the missile icon, since it more closely reflects the ability than the previous version, that was the MPL launcher.

JET TROOPER

• Reduced damage from primary pistol (Close damage 50->45 | Far Damage 33->10)
• Made pistol fully automatic.

REBEL ROCKET-JUMPER

• Replaced A280 (burst weapon) with A280C (automatic weapon) for improved combat efficiency.

IMPERIAL ROCKET TROOPER

• Replaced the RT-97C blaster with an E-11 for improved combat efficiency.

DEATH TROOPER

• Updated the blinding effect of the Sonic Imploder ability to be concussion based, and increased effective range to 10 meters.
• Replaced the DLT-19 Heavy Blaster with the E-11D Blaster Rifle.
• Updated Overload to no longer have movement reduction.

WEAPONS

• Fixed an issue where applying weapon mods would not correctly update the animation for those weapons.

MILESTONES

• Rearranged Trooper Milestones to ensure the newest milestones appear at the top.
• Updated A280 milestones to use the correct weapon icon (was previously using the A280C).

AI PLAYERS

• Fixed an issue where the AI in Supremacy - Age of Resistance would be seeing carrying weapons from the wrong era.
• Fixed an issue where AI would not spawn as BB-8 and BB-9E as frequently as other Heroes.
• Fixed an issue with the jump timing of the AI version of Chewbacca.

GENERAL CHANGES/MISC

• Fixed an issue that could cause rubberbanding when the player is dashing away after being close to a Lightsaber opponent making the first charge.
• Removed the ability to buy Crystal packs in-game for owners of the Celebration Edition.
• Fixed a localization issue where the Supremacy mode description in German would overlap with other info on screen.
• Fixed an issue where some models would animate with low FPS while certain Arcade - Battle Scenarios previews were showcased
• Updated the availability of certain cosmetic items from "Available in Crates" to "Available through Milestones".
• Improved visibility of weapon stats under certain colorblind profiles.
• Fixed an issue where Heroes would sometimes appear with barely closed eyes in the Frontend menu.

KNOWN ISSUES

Visual issue where high numbers are inaccurately shown under the "PLAYER DAMAGED" score event, after defeating an enemy.