It may not seem like it initially, but the bomber is possibly the most versatile ship in Star Wars: Squadrons. It can be an ion gunboat that can drain shields and power quickly, or it can just as easily slip into anti-fighter or anti-capital ship roles. As such, there is no one best loadout for bombers in Star Wars: Squadrons, but we’ll cover some of our favorites below.
Star Wars: Squadrons Bomber strategies
The bomber’s big strengths are its weapons loadout and robust health. However, both the TIE Bomber and Y-wing are unwieldy and make easy targets and require finesse to be used to the utmost. Bomber pilots need to practice at quickly shifting power between subsystems and utilize all their craft’s capabilities to be successful. Boosting engines to reach a target quickly, then throwing all power to shields and angling them, followed by shifting power to weapons to maximize firepower, is part of a normal bomber attack run.
Because of how sluggish a bomber is, pilots should choose a target in Fleet Battles and pursue it with blinders on. There’s no quick maneuvering here, so getting distracted will only end in destruction without any payoff.
Best Bomber Loadouts in Star Wars: Squadrons
There are a few different roles that the bomber can excel in. One of the most useful is an anti-shield gunship.
Anti-Shield Bomber
To outfit a bomber for anti-shield duty, use the following loadout:
- Primary: Ion Cannon
- Auxiliaries:
- Ion Bomb
- Multi-Lock Missile
If a pilot uses the above loadout properly, they can strip the shields from a capital ship in one or two passes. The tactic pilots should use is to fire the Ion Cannon from maximum range until they fly over the capital ship, then drop their whole stack of Ion Bombs. This will leave the capital ship open to hull damage and can allow a team to quickly eliminate subsystems on a flagship and line up for the final kill.
Anti-Capital Ship Bomber
Another good configuration is to set the bomber up in a pure anti-capital ship role:
- Primary: Rotary Cannon
- Auxiliaries:
- Proton Bomb
- Beam Cannon
The Rotary Cannon is an excellent primary weapon against both fighters and capital ships. Shifting power into your weapon systems will let pilots keep shooting for an extended amount of time. This allows users to rake the hulls of capital ships for significant damage.
The Beam Cannon is practically useless against fighters since it lowers your maneuverability to nearly nothing. However, it’s excellent against capital ships since they’re such large targets. A good anti-cap tactic is to fly in, hit them with the primary weapons and beam cannon, and then drop Proton Bombs as you fly over the target.
