All 15 Dark Trooper Phases And Variants Explained [Star Wars Legends]

The dark troopers have recently been brought back into cannon during the second season of the Mandalorian. In legends, these troopers were absolute tanks and I believe the show did a great job of capturing theyre raw power. The only real threat to them was an immensely powerful Jedi such as Luke Skywalker. However, in legends, the Darktroopers were arguably even more terrifying and powerful. Today we will discuss everything we know about every single Darktrooper variant.
So where did the Darktrooper project come from? In short, it was a continuation of the Clone Trooper project. The clone army of the republic were known as one of the most fearsome and effective fighting forces the Galaxy had ever known. Despite being outnumbered 100 to 1, the Jango Fett clones outmatched and eventually defeated the droid army of the confederacy of independent systems. After the rise of the galactic empire, however, the use of clones quickly declined. The high expense of growing and training a clone, as well as the Kaminoan rebellion in legends saw the Empire quicky turn to the cheaper but much less effective recruitment system that was seen for the majority of the imperial era.
With the retirement of many of the Empires experienced clones, the uselessness of the newly recruited stormtroopers became increasingly apparent. Disgruntled imperial officers led by lutenant Rom Mohc sought to bring Clone veterans back into peak condition. Using Cybernetics based upon Lord Vaders, the first phase of the Dark Trooper program was initiated. Up to 70% of the subjects organs were forceably replaced in order to enhance the clone veterans into an elite fighting force with both the ingenuity of a clone and the strength of an elite battle droid.
The Cyborg dark troopers were extremely effective on the battlefield and were even organised into squadrons. The elite phase 0 dark troopers became some of the most feared imperial assets In the galaxy with their cyborg nature giving them an almost legendary status, much like Lord vader himself.
Despite the phase 0 project having some success, the project was eventually shut down. Unfotunatley the mental strain on the clones being forced into cyborg bodys was often too much for them to handle with many of them going insane. This discouraged the Empire from further investing in the project and the money was funneled into other projects such as the Death Star.
However, after aiding in the production of the L8-L9 and the Z-X3 experimental battle droids, the former overseer of the phase 0 dark trooper project would seek to revitalise the darktroopers. Now a general, Rom Mohc was opposed to the various super weapons that were secretly in production. A proud and experienced general, he strongly believed in the values of close combat warfare and looked down upon such superweapon projects as foolish and cowardly.
Drawing upon his experience in the production of battle droids, he would seek to remove what he saw as the greatest weakness of the phase 0 darktrooper; the need for the cybernetic augmentation of a biological being. Despite some major reservations from other Moffs who still viewed battle droids disfavourably due to the clone wars, the project was eventually given the Green light. The production of the dark troopers was to take plae under the imperial department of military research with the main production facility being the Arc Hammer factory ship. To ensure the secrecy of the project, the Arc Hammer would regularly jump through Hyperspace to random locations, with only lord Vaders ship, the Executer having any idea where it was located.
The phase 1 dark troopers as they were known were more of a prototype. They were sometimes clad in lightsaber resistant metal and were equipped with a blaster shield and a vibrosword. Some were also armed with jump packs which allowed them to use theyre vibroswords at incredible speeds.
As these darktroopers had no ranged weaponry they were predominantly used for the protection of imperial installations and saw extremely limited use.
The phase 2 darktroopers were much more effective in battle and were the first to be properly utilised by the Empire. As well as being much bulkier than the phase 1 dark troopers, their armor was made from a lightsaber and blaster-resistant alloy called Phrik. Their weaponry was also far superior to its predesesors, carrying an assault cannon which could fire 400 plasma shells and 20 misles before needing to reload. This phase was also Equipped with a Jump pack and an ARC caster which could be used to disable droid electronics or fry organics.
#mandalorian #darktrooper #starwars #themandalorian #themandalorianseason3