SWGOH Arena Meta — The best characters for arena in the game (updated)

SWGOH Arena Meta Summary in the Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes: “The Attack of the Clones, but except the sergeant one we all were given when we were being bullied by a hut”

Some notable changes from the previous Meta are:

Healers are further pushed out of the meta to borderline uselessness, as HP accounts for only a portion of survivability now, and there is no window to put an effective heal out to all 5

AoE composition is also further pushed out of the meta, as overall increase in survivability was coupled with decrease in damage output
Dedicated attackers are being replaced by tanky attackers, as their difference in damage output is smaller than the one in survivability, while powerhouse glass cannons like Leia and Rey are seeing even more usage, as their ability to snipe crucial roles is tide-turning
Base attack utility and passive utility top every other ability combined, as battles prolong.

The meta has become more diverse yet more uniform at the same time, as the squad compositions became more role-based: Tank, Taunt Dispel, Debuff Dispel/Immunity, Glass Cannon, RNG Leader(Phasma, Evasion Leader, or Rex)

#4 and #5 means that the meta become more RNG-centric: As base attacks don’t have cooldowns as resource, its utility is usually proc-based; and as each role becomes crucial, one RNG mishap like dispel being dodged or Yoda being stunned will completely change the outcome of the battle

Contents

Tier I: Uber

Characters that are way above average and are seeing high usage. Tier I characters shape the SWGOH Arena Meta.

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
CT-5555 “Fives”	Attacker	I	80	8.70	66934	6979	12.0	With one of the highest damage (thanks to assists), highest survivability, and highest off-turn presence in the game, Fives is the strongest character in the game numerically and imperically. He is probably worth 5 Ugnaughts.
Rey	Attacker	I	76	6.10	27387	13315	5.0	Fast, murderous and surprisingly hard to kill, Rey is the only character to still one-shot reliably.
CT-7567 “Rex”	Supporter	I	69	7.14	32829	3941	16.0	Rex subdues Fives, RG, and other lesser tanks, disciplines Fives, RG, Daka, and other lesser controllers, and “brother-in-arms” Leia and other lesser glass cannons. He is the get-out-of-jail-free card for every problem.
Royal Guard	Supporter	I	67	9.09	67323	1800	13.0	A defensive tanker with highly reliable stuns, taunts, and survivability, shaping the current meta game
Princess Leia	Attacker	I	72	6.10	28196	6915	5.0	Fast, deadly, and stealthed after her first turn, Leia’s only downsides are her RNG-dependency, and wasting valuable first turn to survive
Old Daka	Supporter	I	67	7.35	37786	2244	15.5	With 82% (if unresisted) to stun at least one enemy on base attack and 40% active revive and 10% passive revive, Old Daka is an incarnation of what the Arena is really about: RNG

Tier II: Popular

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
Qui-Gon Jinn	Attacker	II	81	6.90	35762	9848	8.5	While QGJ is a solid character that has a lot to offer, his
Count Dooku	Supporter	II	53	6.21	29265	4233	8.0	While Dooku’s role outside his leadership is very limited, he is still one of the better and more popular leaders in the game, and for right reasons
Stormtrooper Han	Supporter	II	32	7.94	44652	3133	0.0	An offensive tanker that is less reliable than RG or Poe but more deadly when used on offense
Poe Dameron	Supporter	II	35	6.94	45613	3186	0.0	A balanced tanker that is the middle ground of RG and ST Han. His AoE Expose synergizes brilliantly with IG-88’s Passive and AoE
Grand Master Yoda	Supporter	II	63	6.37	28779	3113	21.0	A unique offensive supporter that lacks damage, reliability, and durability
Aayla Secura	Attacker	II	72	8.40	48474	5904	12.0	A lesser variant of Fives, but Fives is godly so Aayla is pretty decent too
Geonosian Soldier	Attacker	II	79	6.49	32151	9896	10.0	A deadly attacker with reliable Offense Up and Assists
First Order TIE Pilot	Attacker	II	75	7.81	34587	10076	5.0	A deadly attacker much slower than both Leia, Rey, and GS.
Plo Koon	Supporter	III	47	8.77	41587	3156	5.0	A somewhat useful Jedi that can only be viable in a Clone squad, but with QGJ’s lead, Plo will be the fastest turn meter booster in the game.

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
Poggle the Lesser	Supporter	II	31	6.94	38094	0.0	A solid enabler and the current leader of droid squads.
Ahsoka Tano	Attacker	II	66	7.25	31630	6406	2.0	A fast and threatening attacker that is not on par with Leia, Rey, and GS, but definitely above average in general.
Barriss Offee	Supporter	II	56	8.62	57708	1911	7.0	A unique healer with tide-turning equalization heals and health-buffing leadership.
IG-86 Sentinel Droid	Attacker	II	64	8.40	33740	10695	0.0	A critical-centered assist caller that is deadly in droid synergies.
Captain Phasma	Supporter	II	74	8.26	50196	3481	14.0	A solid enabler with high conditional damage, and one of the best leadership in the game.
IG-88	Attacker	II	46	8.26	24471	5205	0.0	A mix of HK and Sid. Above average in droid squads but there is a lot do desire.

Tier III: Potential

Characters that are above average, but are not seeing enough usage. Tier III characters are often neglected due to being easily replacable with Tier I or II characters, or because they are hard to farm.

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Old Ben)	Supporter	III	33	8.93	62093	2656	0.0	A genuinely bad character that was only redeemable with his crippling AoE ability block + offense down. Now Yoda stands in the way of him and his high ground.
Jedi Knight Anakin	Attacker	III	44	6.94	49388	3354	0.0	A fast, durable attacker with one of the best AoE attacks in the game. Highly viable in suicide squads, where he can replace RG.
Ima-Gun Di	Attacker	III	59	8.40	49293	5877	0.0	A durable and powerful attacker with a leadership that synergizes well with Aayla and Fisto. If you had them.
Hoth Rebel Scout	Attacker	III	66	6.99	33124	5165	10.0	One of the best attackers in the game that has to compete with QGJ, Poe, Daka, and Fives to be farmed, and QGJ, Rey, Leia, ,GS, and GM Yoda for a spot in Arena.
Kit Fisto	Attacker	III	49	8.33	54928	3931	0.0	A combination of Fives and Dooku. With the right synergy, he can perform better than the two, but is much harder to acquire.
Luminara Unduli	Supporter	II	48	8.47	34977	5145	4.0	An above-average attacker with tide-turning AoE heal that is single-handedly stopping AoE squads from becoming valid.
General Grievous	Attacker	III	57	10.31	28865	6268	12.0	An interesting attacker that requires entire squad to be built around him. His AoE healing immunity makes him highly viable in AoE squads.
Ewok Elder	Supporter	III	64	8.62	36432	2552	22.5	A lesser version of Daka that will (sadly) see more use with the addition of Chirpa.
Darth Vader	Supporter	III	86	8.26	59498	5281	20.0	A highly cooldown-dependent attacker with great burst damage and survivability, but terrible AI.
First Order Officer	Attacker	III	68	6.90	31025	5310	12.0	A fast, threatening attacker that can only perform at his full strength when led by Phasma.
Magmatrooper	Attacker	III	24	8.40	51783	2389	0.0	An above average AoE attacker with great potential, but is still too early to judge him.
Chief Chirpa	Supporter	III	46	9.09	31812	4180	8.0	An enabler that will perform great in Ewok squads, but an Ewok squad is more annoying than threatening.
Ewok Scout	Attacker	III	68	7.87	31259	6839	5.0	A critical-centered attacker that can deal damage and nothing else.
Tusken Shaman	Supporter	III	23	8.00	33608	2702	0.0	A powerful enabler that has some viability even outside Tusken synergies.
Tusken Raider	Attacker	III	70	8.26	57143	8563	0.0	A deadly assister that is overshadowed by the likes of QGJ, GS, and Fives.
Biggs Darklighter	Attacker	III	68	9.26	34753	12206	5.0	A living testimony that anyone who can call an assist is good, even when he is genuinely bad in every other way.
Greedo	Attacker	III	57	8.20	26257	5867	5.0	A high-powered attacker plagued with terrible AI and competition.
Resistance Pilot	Attacker	III	59	8.33	37393	5998	0.0	A lesser version of Rey, but almost anything is less than Rey.
Resistance Trooper	Attacker	III	63	7.46	34536	6556	0.0	An attacker that is definitely above average, but cannot find any synergy that works.
Luke Skywalker	Attacker	III	61	8.40	38215	6296	0.0	A lesser version of Aayla.
Dathcha	Attacker	III	47	7.63	27628	3685	8.0	An attacker just barely above average, and nothing special.
Clone Sergeant – Phase I	Attacker	III	44	9.90	32260	3879	12.0	Although this one has a decent kit, his lackluster stat prevents him from being useful outside Clone synergy.
Nute Gunray	Attacker	III	48	6.67	25085	4341	0.0	An attacker who has both damage and speed but outperformed by Rey, Leia, and GS.
Grand Moff Tarkin	Supporter	III	45	9.80	27949	4833	11.0	An Imperial variant of Old Ben that comes with speed leadership.
URoRRuR’R’R	Supporter	III	19	6.80	28062	2986	0.0	Will Tusken squad become a thing?

Tier IV: Mediocre

Characters that are average or below average. Tier IV characters may have viability if well-synergized, but face heavy competition from above tiers.

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
Darth Sidious	Supporter	II	52	6.21	26570	3905	10.5	A fast attacker with one of the best AoE attack, speed, “quite” reliable Healing Immunity, and survivability against the common Jedi.
Kylo Ren	Attacker	II	50	8.62	54601	4196	0.0	A durable and threatening attacker with high presence throughout the battle. His RNG reliance and mediocre speed are his flaws.
Nightsister Initiate	Attacker	IV	64	8.93	63163	6666	0.0	A Nightsister attacker that is punished with terrible speed just because she is Nightsister.
Asajj Ventress	Supporter	IV	54	10.20	32295	4306	13.0	A character that was most-buffed to perform just below average. She can only perform above-average after a first blood is drawn, and often, she would have contributed nothing to it, due to her Nightsister slowness (think it is a disease of sorts).
HK-47	Supporter	IV	69	10.31	49628	3281	23.0	An above average leader of the droid squads that is now replaced due to his crippling speed.
Nightsister Acolyte	Attacker	IV	32	6.80	35987	2861	0.0	A Nightsister attacker that is actually fast, but can do absolutely nothing except being faster than her sisters.
Talia	Supporter	IV	36	9.17	34674	2655	3.5	A healer with interesting kit and Nightsister speed.
Teebo	Supporter	IV	38	8.47	56662	3904	0.0	An annoying attacker that will annoyingly see more usages with addition of yet another Ewok.
General Veers	Supporter	IV	56	8.00	30295	3438	13.0	An AoE controller that has sunk even before rising due to Yoda’s second coming.
Jedi Consular	Supporter	IV	41	8.40	33094	3159	4.5	The most average guy in the galaxy (but modeled better than Mace and QGJ combined)
Jawa	Attacker	IV	43	7.52	29626	4073	0.0	A lesser variant of Dathcha who himself is just barely above average
Mace Windu	Attacker	IV	42	9.01	39094	3487	3.0	A less-damaging, less-useful, less-hariy version of QGJ that looks equally bad.
Boba Fett	Supporter	IV	54	9.90	36520	3523	11.0	Probably only character that can revive 12 times in a row and still pose zero threat.
Eeth Koth	Attacker	IV	29	7.58	31381	2325	7.0	A horned variant of Lumi who can’t heal.
Cad Bane	Attacker	IV	49	9.35	26590	5297	5.0	A controller with unique utility, cool hat, high damage, and speed that makes him a lesser variant of Dooku.
Coruscant Underworld Police	Supporter	IV	41	9.43	26958	3413	11.0	An average AoE controller that is now useless thanks to Yoda.
Lando Calrissian	Attacker	IV	43	8.70	36684	4073	0.0	An intresting AoE attacker that probably requires the entire team to be built around him just to perform above average.
Admiral Ackbar	Supporter	IV	57	8.85	34027	3329	13.0	A combination of situational utility, terrible mechanic of granting random ally with 100% turn meter (which usually goes to someone with 100% turn meter), and low damage. Him being given speed leadership is the very reason Rebel squad is not valid as of now.
Savage Opress	Attacker	IV	51	8.55	52191	4250	0.0	A durable attacker that performs decently in tank squads, and abysmally in any other squads.
IG-100 MagnaGuard	Supporter	IV	46	11.49	59434	2932	4.0	A frustratingly bad droid that can do somethings, but be bad at them.
Darth Maul	Attacker	IV	45	10.64	22359	5027	9.5	An extremist’s version of Asajj who can wipe the enemy team when stars align, but stand doing nothing for 90% of the fights.
Snowtrooper	Attacker	IV	37	9.43	43618	3642	0.0	An average AoE attacker with terrible utility, and is replacable with anyone above Tier III who can use AoE attacks.
Lobot	Supporter	IV	29	9.26	29688	3189	3.0	A droid’s Ackbar who is even worse.

Tier V: For Fun Use Only

Characters that are way below average. Tier V characters are bad with or without synergies.

	Role	Tier	Stats Rating	Tick/Turn	Physical Mitigation	First Turn Damage	Utility Score	Comments
Jedi Knight Guardian	Supporter	V	27	11.76	52249	3249	0.0	Only Jedi to wield saberstaff and only Jedi to be on this tier.
Clone Wars Chewbacca	Supporter	V	65	9.43	63131	2605	13.0	If Chewie ever saves someone, always remeber that if you had someone else than Chewie, that saving wouldn’t have been needed.
First Order Stormtrooper	Attacker	V	50	8.62	66542	3066	18.0	They took Fives, replaced his BEST ability with Finn’s WORST ability.
Hoth Rebel Soldier	Supporter	V	67	10.20	53949	3013	17.5	An eccentric kit combined with one of the worst damage output and terrible speed.
Finn	Attacker	V	56	8.85	61055	3575	13.0	One of the worst characters in the game. Slow and unthreatening, his only merit is his stun, which even Eeth Koth can outperform.
Ugnaught	Attacker	V	27	7.69	31248	3031	0.0	Worse version of Jawa, who’s a worse version of Dathcha, who is just barely above average.
Stormtrooper	Supporter	V	20	8.85	32527	3463	0.0	Useless.
Mob Enforcer	Supporter	V	31	7.94	49436	2512	0.0	The worst character in the game.

SWGOH Data Anaylsis — The best characters for arena in the game (updated)

Tier I: Uber

Tier II: Popular

Tier III: Potential

Tier IV: Mediocre

Tier V: For Fun Use Only