
Gear is the primary method of increasing a character's stats, and goes up to tier 13 (tier 12 being gated by a 7 star requirement), upon which being reached relics can be applied. Leveling up a character paves the way for better upgrades to be applied, such as equipping gear and relics and upgrading abilities. The player ranks up toons by collecting shards/blueprints through a variety of methods such as certain battles, events, or through shipments. Ranking up a toon goes up to 7 stars, and provides access to higher levels of power, with the highest ship ability upgrades restricted to ships with high star counts, while characters are unable to reach high gear levels or equip superior mods if they are not 7 stars. There are many ways to upgrade a toon, with some upgrade types unique to characters and some to ships. Squad battles generally involve 5 characters, whereas ship battles consist of one capital ship providing support to a fleet of 3 star fighters and up to 4 reinforcements. Team composition can be restricted by game mode (such as light side or dark side battles), and most characters work best within a team composed of their faction due to synergy bonuses. SWGoH is a sandbox collector RPG where players collect characters and ships ("toons"), upgrading them and creating teams of up to 5 units which are then brought into the turn-based combat system against a group of enemy AI-controlled units and player-made teams. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes user interface, as of 2023 However, due to the sandbox nature of the game, this does not canonize the characters in the current narrative acknowledged by Lucasfilm.

The game also features material from Legends, with characters, such as Revan, Bastila Shan, and Kyle Katarn. Due to the nature of the game, it is not considered to be canon.


The game allows players to collect characters from the prequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Rebels, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the original trilogy, The Mandalorian, the sequel trilogy, and put those characters into battle. The game was first announced on June 15, 2015, in EA's press conference during the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (SW:GoH) is a mobile game by Electronic Arts released on November 24, 2015. It is that collaboration that has enabled us to deliver a unique mobile experience that brings the vastness of the epic Star Wars franchise into the palm of your hand." ―John Salera, Executive Producer at EA Capital Games " We have a great partnership with the talented folks at Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive.
