The Fleet
The Imperial TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors’ boost mechanic is useful to get in and out of conflict quickly. It’s better to save the boost for an actual dogfight; otherwise, you could risk having the boost on cool down when you really need it. Make sure not to use the boost ability when targeting ground forces. Boosting significantly raises your top speed and you won’t be able to pull your fighter up from an attack dive.
For the Rebel’s fleet, there’s the A-Wing, X-Wing, and even the T-47 AirSpeeder (aka the Snowspeeder). The A-Wing and X-Wing fighters have the shield ability. This will block all incoming damage from the fighter but doesn’t last long at all. It’s incredibly useful when your fighter has a missile locked onto it. Make sure you don’t activate it too early – otherwise, the projectile will hit you, and you’re going to have a bad time.
As for the T-47 AirSpeeder, that’s a completely different animal. They can’t fly as high as the regular starships but still have incredibly useful abilities. The T-47 has a radar jammer, which won’t allow enemies to lock onto it for a short period of time. They also share the boost ability with the TIE Fighters, which, as said before, can really help you escape a dire situation.
Of course, the most unique ability that AirSpeeder has available to it, is the TOW cable. You can only use this ability in the Walker Assault game type. Check out our guide on how to successfully TOW an AT-AT over here!
That covers it for specific abilities for star fighters but if you want to be an ace pilot, you’ll absolutely have to master the art of dogfighting. It’s highly suggested that, during a dogfight, you use the third-person viewpoint. This will allow you to see all around your ship, which will help you find your foes’ location in the sky.