STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order Guide & Tips for Beginners

So, I think it’s fair to say that a lot of us weren’t really putting much expectation on this game when it was first announced due to the…tendencies of a certain publisher that is well known to include…surprise mechanics. But it was definitely a pleasant surprise once I started playing the game and discovered the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a pretty decent game.

Sure, it has some bugs here and there, but overall it was a good Star Wars experience. What’s more, the gameplay is something that is not really seen out of the SWTOR universe (we’re going to forget about Force Unleashed) and it’s definitely challenging. The level is designed with the map with the intent for players to explore the terrain.

The lightsaber isn’t easy as well. Some even compared it to games like Dark Souls and Sekiro, which can overwhelm players who’re not into punishing gameplay when playing this game. So, here’s a bunch of tips to get you started in your journey through this game and making sure it’s a great one!

Explore Everything Thoroughly

There’s a lot of exploring to do is Fallen Order as the levels are designed to give you much of an exploration vibe, so do that all the time. Check your map every time you hit a roadblock to check other routes or every time you learn a new Jedi skill. Treat this more of an exploration game rather than an action game, even though there’s going to be a lot of lightsaber battles throughout the map.

But with exploration comes the benefit of new ponchos and lightsaber components, as well as the opportunity for you to increase your maximum healing stim kept in your droid at any time. This is a huge advantage for you as you’re going to face harder enemies along the way.

Always be Scanning

Though scanning stuff around the map is usually a secondary objective in most games, it serves as a vital component in Fallen Order. Scanning things with BD-1 will provide you with a boost of experience points. So, don’t skip out scanning anything that comes your way. When your droid jumps off your shoulder, it’s heading to a scan location, so keep in mind when it does that.

This tip is pretty straightforward; scan to get XP points. The more XP points you get, the more skill points you have to upgrade. And if you’re into the story, then scanning is also a great way to fill up the blank spaces in your database of events and history of the planets and cultures that you’ll experience throughout your journey.

Adjust the Controls If Necessary

When it comes to games that require split-second reaction timing, especially in Fallen Order when you’re supposed to dodge or parry, it can get quite overwhelming for new players sometimes. What you want to do is adjust the controls to what you’re comfortable with. This is a tip more aimed at keyboard and mouse players (hardcore!), that might have a difficult time getting the dodge timing right due to the key placement.

What you can do is set the vital keys to a key that’s easier to reach or that you’re more comfortable hitting with speed and precision. If you have a mouse, consider using mouse 3 as the dodge button. If you have a mouse with multiple functions, you can experiment around mapping your keys. You could use your side buttons to map a force ability and heal.

The point of this exercise is to put in your maximum comfort and efficient zone when it comes to hitting the keys. Fallen Order relies on a lot of precision when it comes to combat.

Understand the Enemy’s String of Attacks

To get better at games such as these, you got to try to look for a pattern. Each enemy or boss level enemy has its own string of attacks. Once you’ve seen this through, you’ll get much better in parrying every attack they dish out during their second phase, as it tends to get more erratic and accelerated.

A couple of things that you can look at to start learning attack strings is looking at the visual cues. Certain attacks will have a certain animation or a stance that the enemy will take before unleashing the attack. Another tip, if the enemy turns red, do not attempt to parry it, only dodge it.

At a later stage, you could also use your Force Push or Pull ability to interrupt their attack so that you can stay close or avoid any unnecessary risk of losing some health.

Save at Every Meditation Point

You’ll discover that along the way you’ll come across the double-bladed lightsaber. You’ve probably used it and find its effect to be rather disappointing as it has lower base damage compared to the single-bladed version.

Though the double-bladed indeed does yield lower damage of the two, its function is not to deliver high damage attacks to enemies. It’s mostly used against a crowd of enemies. Use this when there’s more than one stormtrooper shooting at you or when there’s a bunch of different types of enemy huddled together in one location.

Use the Right Lightsaber

You’ll discover that along the way you’ll come across the double-bladed lightsaber. You’ve probably used it and find its effect to be rather disappointing as it has a lower base damage compared to the single bladed version.

Though it is true that the double-bladed does yield lower damage of the two, but its function is not to deliver high damage attacks to enemies. It’s mostly used against a crowd of enemies. Use this when there’s more than one stormtrooper shooting at you or when there’s a bunch of differently type of enemy huddled together in one location.

The double-bladed lightsaber has the ability to deflect two bolts back, as well as hit more than one enemy when you’re attacking. So, think more of crowd-controlling when it comes to that saber. When you’ve thinned out the resistance, then you can switch back to your normal saber. As the game progresses, you’ll find a gameplay rhythm that suits your play style.

Hit Up Dathomir after Bogano

This might sound counterintuitive towards your progress as this location is a tad be difficult compared to Zeffo. Also, if all these words seem to confuse you, don’t worry, once you’re in the part of the game where these words make sense to you, come back here. Anyway, these are the name of the planets you’ll get to explore throughout different stages of the game.

There are 3 reasons why you want to hit up Dathomir quickly after Bogano:

The first reason is definitely the double-bladed lightsaber. Getting this quickly this early in the game will help tremendously as you progress into the game. Now, there are YouTube videos showing you how to literally run through the horde of enemies and avoiding all of them just to get the lightsaber.

But I encourage you not to do that because of reason number two; Sweet, sweet experience points. The harder the enemy that the more experience points you’ll get. Don’t worry if you’re overwhelmed early on by the aggressive enemies in Dathomir. Practice makes perfect.

And finally, the third reason why to visit this planet early is that Dathomir serves as the perfect place for you to start developing your own playstyle and start integrating the Force into your fights.

Use Health Stims as You Block

You’ll quickly realize that everything that you come across will try to kill you and if you’re not careful, even the lowest level of enemies will take you out with ease if you’re not careful. And sometimes, rolling away to safety and taking your health stim isn’t a good idea as the enemy has already geared up for an attack, and that might just either interrupt your healing process or just takes a chunk off your freshly healed HP. And this usually ends badly for you.

So, here’s a handy tip; you can heal up as you’re blocking. This will ensure that your HP will get the full stim healing without any interruption. Remember, you can only do this if it’s a normal attack and not for the unavoidable attacks. So, ensure that the time is right for you to heal. Heal right after a string of attacks has ended. If you’re facing enemies that hurl poison or turn into poison puddles after dying, ensure that you’re away from these puddles when you’re healing up.

Though this may be a simple tip, it is essential to your survival duration during fights and something you might’ve overlooked as to the reason why it’s hard to heal up efficiently and ruining clutch plays.

Use Force Abilities in Combat

The fights in Fallen Order can get intense. And the lightsaber battles can be hypnotic as you slowly get into your rhythm. However, when driven into the corner, there’s so much you can do with your light saber. And in this exact moment, it’s good to remember to use your force abilities.

Most would forget about their force abilities when it comes to fights as the force abilities are usually used outside of a fight to traverse the map. You can use your first Force ability, the Force Slow, to strategically disable one enemy while you deal with others, or you can use it to roll dodge away from getting pinned down.

As the game progresses, you’ll be given access to various Force abilities, and if you’ve invested skill points into them, the Force abilities has the capability to clear a bunch of enemies in your way. Force push a bunch of storm troopers over a ledge. Force pull one trooper to you to deal the finishing blow to thin out the resistance. The possibilities are endless if you integrate Force abilities into your combat.

Spend Your Skill Points Wisely

There are many ways to go about this, but if you’re a total beginner in this particular game genre, I would highly suggest getting points into increasing your HP bar. Having more health ensures your survival in the early and mid-game. Sure, the lightsaber tricks are tempting to have, but spend your early points on getting a beefy HP bar, as well as getting the higher health stim heal skill along the way. These will be essential in long and difficult fights.

The dash skill is an interesting addition to your skills as it helps you deal with pesky enemies that usually use projectiles to inflict the highest damage on you. Having dash greatly increases your efficiency in covering the distance and quickly dealing the deathblow to them. This is a good skill to have especially when there’s a bunch of different types of units together waiting for you.

Later in the game, I would suggest getting Precision Evade as this is a great skill to have. Once you’ve mastered combining your Force abilities in your combat, you’re going to need to replenish your force meter quickly and Precision Evade helps you recover a small amount every time you evade an enemy’s attack. Pairing this with your regular attacks, your Force meter will be filled in no time.

A Few More Important Tips

1. Performance Mode: Those who’re using a console to playing Fallen Order and you’ve noticed some lag especially when you engaging in a fight, switch on the Performance Mode to avoid any unnecessary lag that might disrupt your fights.
2. Block Only One Blaster Shot at a Time: If you’ve played Sekiro, your instinct to hit the block button multiple times for each attack. However, that doesn’t work in Fallen Order. If a stormtrooper shoots multiple shots at you, you won’t be able to hit back all the shots back. So, once you’ve deflected a shot back, keep holding on your block button to not get hit by the other shots.
3. Press Dodge After Receiving Hard Attack: It’s frustrating sometimes when the enemy manages to deal a heavy attack on you which renders you on the floor. This doesn’t mean the fight is over though. You can press your dodge key to immediately recover from the floor and prepare yourself for the next course of action. Don’t make it a habit to let your character slowly get up from the floor as this almost definitely will end the fight for you as the enemy is usually winding up to attack you again.
4. Press R for Clues: If you find yourself stuck in a puzzle, press R to interact with BD-1 and get some valuable dialogue input to help you solve the puzzle.
5. Revisit Planets to Receive More Stuff: Stuff as in, healing stims, cosmetics, XP, Force and Life Essence. The rule of thumb is visit other planets once you get a new Jedi skill. You can check whether there are new locations open for you via the ship’s holo-table. Select the planet and view whether you’ve gained new exploration access.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a great game. Sure, there are flaws, but it fits right in the middle in terms of the category of Dark Souls-like games out there.

The lightsaber combats are satisfying and every sound you hear in the game evokes a memory from watching the Star Wars movies. The story is great as well and provides a new perspective in the Star Wars universe.

If you’re hesitating to get this game as it is reported to be difficult, don’t fret. The game comes with a difficulty menu where you can change it as you go. You can do this if you’re only in for the story.

But if you’re feeling the urge to jump in for the entire ride, then I hope these tips will help you in your first journey in a hard but satisfying game. Let us know your own tips and what skills that helped you out in your playthrough.