Stormtrooper (First Order)

History

Origin

The origins of First Order stormtroopers dated back to the Clone Wars, when clone troopers fought for the Galactic Republic.

The armored soldiers of the First Order evolved from one of the most recognizable symbols of military strength within the galaxy. This symbol was the stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire. Representing a new generation of stormtroopers, First Order troopers could trace their origins even further back to the clone troopers who fought for the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. Following the fall of the Empire, marked by significant defeats on Endor and Jakku, the New Republic established a peace treaty. This treaty brought an end to the Galactic Civil War but also reduced the Empire to a smaller state through the implementation of strict disarmament agreements and punitive war reparations.

Grand Vizier Mas Amedda, eager to conclude the war and having regained his authority, oversaw the dismantling of the Imperial regime. This led to its replacement by a provisional government on Coruscant after the death of Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax. Consequently, the Stormtrooper Corps was disbanded because the Galactic Concordance prohibited the recruitment and training of stormtroopers.

Rise of the First Order

Project Resurrection

The First Order's new generation of stormtroopers preserved an enduring symbol of military might.

Despite the Empire's official surrender to the Republic, a faction of Imperial officers, nobles, and technologists refused to accept the war's outcome. They embarked on an exodus to the Unknown Regions, where the Imperial remnant was eventually reorganized into a secluded state known as the First Order. By concealing itself within the unexplored regions of galactic space, the First Order was able to conduct a massive military buildup. This involved secretly creating new armies and fleets, in violation of the Galactic Concordance. The New Republic was aware of the presence of stormtroopers within the First Order's ranks. However, the First Order successfully convinced both the government and much of the galaxy that these soldiers were solely for defensive purposes. Only the Resistance suspected the stormtroopers' true intentions. Inspired by the ideas of Brendol Hux, a former Republic officer and Imperial commandant who found the Empire's stormtroopers inadequate, the First Order conscripted human children under Project Resurrection, thereby establishing a new Stormtrooper Corps.

The First Order adopted the training methodologies of its predecessors, the Galactic Republic and the Galactic Empire, in preparing the new generation of stormtroopers. Although First Order stormtroopers, like their Imperial predecessors, were non-clone humans, they underwent training from an even younger age—virtually from birth. In contrast, Imperial stormtroopers were recruited during their adolescence. In this respect, First Order stormtroopers were modeled after Republic clone troopers as well as the Jedi Knights. Both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Jedi Order trained their members from infancy, influencing Brendol Hux's beliefs on how to develop the ideal soldier. His son, Armitage Hux, viewed First Order stormtroopers as the legacy of the Jedi.

General Armitage Hux and Captain Phasma oversaw the stormtrooper training program, determined to create an army of perfect warriors.

The new stormtroopers were forcibly removed from their families and raised to be completely loyal to the First Order. By 34 ABY, roughly thirty years after the Empire's defeat at Endor, the stormtrooper legions were under the command of Captain Phasma and other notable leaders such as General Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren. Above all, their allegiance was to Supreme Leader Snoke, the ruler of the First Order. While all stormtroopers were trained for absolute loyalty to the First Order, a Worker Of The Month award could be given to troopers who distinguished themselves; FN-0208 was one stormtrooper who received this recognition.

The buildup to war

The First Order concealed the true purpose of its stormtrooper forces by claiming that they were only for defense.

In 29 ABY, Centrist star systems seceded from the New Republic, becoming the public face of the First Order. As the New Republic and First Order entered a Cold War, stormtroopers once again became a common sight throughout the galaxy. However, the general public had largely forgotten the troopers' Imperial past. Instead, the stormtroopers were simply presented as the First Order's territorial defense force. These soldiers never crossed the Republic's borders, respecting treaties with a government they intended to overthrow. The true purpose of the Stormtrooper Corps remained a secret, but Senator Leia Organa, fearing the capabilities of the First Order, established a private military group known as the Resistance in response.

During the Cold War, the First Order was opposed by the Resistance, which fought to prevent the First Order from reestablishing Imperial rule over the galaxy. Stormtroopers stood in stark contrast to their Resistance trooper counterparts, who valued their individuality, while the Stormtrooper Corps was designed to be a faceless, uniform entity. The Resistance documented that there were specialized stormtroopers equipped for crowd control, cold weather operations, and incendiary tasks. Nevertheless, intelligence analysts were convinced that many more specialized troopers remained undiscovered. Two Resistance agents, Iden Versio and Shriv Suurgav, uncovered Project Resurrection. Versio accused the program of exploitation, citing the abduction of children and their brainwashing to serve the First Order. Her former comrade, Gideon Hask, argued that the First Order was rescuing children by providing them with purpose as soldiers in an army of unparalleled military strength.

Following the abduction of Torra Doza, an event orchestrated by the First Order to gain the trust of Captain Imanuel Doza by rescuing his daughter, First Order stormtroopers were stationed on the Colossus, ostensibly to protect the station from further pirate attacks. Their presence on the Colossus elicited mixed reactions from the station's inhabitants, including Tamara Ryvora and Kazuda Xiono. While Ryvora welcomed the stormtroopers as a necessary safeguard against piracy, Xiono—a spy working for the Resistance on Castilon—opposed the soldiers, viewing them as "bad guys." Xiono believed that First Order stormtroopers were trained solely for war. However, Ryvora considered the troops to be the solution to the station's security problems.

Treason in the ranks

Tuanul, a village on Jakku, was raided by First Order stormtroopers as part of Kylo Ren's hunt for the last Jedi.

In addition to the First Order's objectives, which included the destruction of the New Republic and the Resistance, they supported Kylo Ren's mission to eliminate the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker. To that end, Phasma and an armed force of stormtroopers launched an assault on Tuanul, a village located on the planet Jakku, where Ren hoped to obtain information regarding Skywalker's hidden location. The Resistance also sought to locate Skywalker, sending Commander Poe Dameron to gather information from Lor San Tekka. Dameron killed several stormtroopers, including FN-2003, during the attack, but was subdued by Ren's Force powers and subsequently captured by First Order troops.

Unwilling to execute unarmed prisoners, FN-2187 committed desertion after witnessing the massacre of Tuanul.

After executing San Tekka for his refusal to cooperate, Ren instructed Phasma and the stormtroopers to exterminate the village's entire population. With the exception of FN-2187, every trooper complied with Ren's order, firing into the crowd until the last villager was dead. Witnessing the First Order's brutality and the deaths of his comrades influenced FN-2187's decision to desert his life as a stormtrooper. He then escaped from the Finalizer, a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, by freeing Dameron before commandeering a TIE/sf space superiority fighter. FN-2187 used the starfighter's weapons against the troops in the hangar, killing several stormtroopers who attempted to prevent his escape.

Upon returning to Jakku, FN-2187 encountered more stormtroopers at Niima Outpost. However, he managed to escape from his former comrades with the help of a scavenger, Rey, and the Resistance astromech droid BB-8. His betrayal of the First Order led Ren to criticize all stormtroopers as being susceptible to treason. However, General Hux maintained his confidence in the First Order's army and their conditioning for complete loyalty.

First Order-Resistance War

March of the First Order

First Order stormtroopers saluted General Hux as he announced the imminent destruction of the New Republic.

With the completion of the First Order superweapon, Starkiller Base, General Hux announced the end of the New Republic's reign to a large gathering of stormtroopers and other military personnel. Saluting their general, the stormtroopers witnessed the activation of the superweapon, resulting in the total destruction of Hosnian Prime, along with the Galactic Senate and a significant portion of the New Republic Defense Fleet.

Meanwhile, the search for Skywalker led Kylo Ren and an armed force of stormtroopers to the planet Takodana, where the dark warrior attempted to capture BB-8, knowing that the droid possessed part of the information regarding the last Jedi's location. The stormtroopers assaulted a castle belonging to Maz Kanata during their search for the BB unit, then pursued BB-8 and Rey into the forest, where several troopers were killed before Ren apprehended the scavenger.

During the invasion of Takodana, FN-2199 attempted to kill FN-2187 for betraying the First Order.

During the battle, FN-2199 confronted the traitor FN-2187, who now identified as "Finn." After a brief duel, FN-2199 defeated Finn in single combat, only to be shot by the smuggler Han Solo. Nevertheless, the First Order captured Finn and his allies, but the arrival of a Resistance X-wing starfighter squadron distracted the troops, allowing their prisoners to escape. As the First Order defended against the Resistance's attack, one of the stormtroopers advised Ren to call for reinforcements. Instead, Ren ordered his troops to withdraw from Takodana, having discovered that Rey had already accessed the information he sought from BB-8.

At Starkiller Base, Kylo Ren interrogated Rey in an attempt to extract the map from her, but his efforts were unsuccessful, as Rey resisted him and revealed her Force-sensitivity. Ren went to inform his Master, Supreme Leader Snoke, about his discovery and left FN-1824 to guard Rey. After two failed attempts, Rey managed to perform a mind trick on the stormtrooper, compelling him to release her. When Ren returned and found that Rey had escaped, he angrily summoned the guards and destroyed the interrogation chair with his lightsaber, causing two passing stormtroopers to quickly turn and walk away to avoid confrontation.

Shortly after, the Resistance attacked Starkiller Base, leading to a large dogfight in the air as the First Order scrambled a defense force to protect the base. On the ground, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Finn, and Rey headed to the oscillator to destroy it, engaging multiple stormtroopers along the way. As Solo and Chewbacca planted the explosives, Ren and a squad of stormtroopers arrived at the oscillator to confront them. The stormtroopers aimed their blasters at Solo when he confronted Ren in the open, hoping to persuade his son to abandon the First Order and return home. Ren was shot by Chewbacca after the First Order warlord struck down his father, prompting the stormtroopers to open fire on the Wookiee warrior. Despite their efforts, the troopers failed to prevent Chewbacca from detonating the explosives, killing the soldiers and damaging the oscillator. As a result, Dameron was able to fly in and destroy it. With the oscillator destroyed, the First Order moved to evacuate its forces from Starkiller Base as the planet collapsed into a star.

Annihilation of the Resistance

Protected by an army of stormtroopers, the Supremacy spearheaded the First Order's efforts to annihilate the Resistance.

Despite the loss of Starkiller Base, the First Order moved to impose its rule over the galaxy through military force, having eliminated the New Republic as an obstacle. At that time, the First Order's forces included ten thousand combat-ready troops. Simultaneously, the First Order sought to destroy the Resistance once and for all, forcing Organa and her followers to abandon their base on D'Qar. Hoping to disrupt the First Order's ability to track the Resistance fleet's movements through hyperspace, Finn and Rose Tico infiltrated the Mega-class Star Dreadnought Supremacy—the flagship of Supreme Leader Snoke—but were ultimately captured by Phasma and her stormtroopers. After bringing the prisoners to a hangar containing a large gathering of stormtroopers, Phasma sentenced Finn and Tico to summary execution. Just as the executioner troopers moved to carry out the death sentence, the Resistance flagship Raddus crashed into the Supremacy at lightspeed.

The act split the Mega-class Star Dreadnought in half, leaving a huge gap open to space where many crew members and stormtroopers perished. In their ensuing escape from the crippled Supremacy, Finn and Tico battled surviving stormtroopers in the hangar. Finn bested Phasma, who was sucked down into the flaming wreckage and died. By then, Snoke had been assassinated by his apprentice, Kylo Ren, who then defeated the slain leader's Elite Praetorian Guards with the help of Rey. Their alliance was short-lived, however. Rey rejected Ren's proposal that they rule the galaxy together, causing the dark side warrior to blame Snoke's death on the former scavenger. Discovered by Hux, Ren claimed it was Rey who had killed Snoke and assumed control over the First Order as the new Supreme Leader.

The Resistance base on Crait fell to First Order stormtroopers led by the self-proclaimed Supreme Leader Kylo Ren.

As the new Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren took control of the First Order, and his initial action was to dispatch the organization's military forces, which included a legion of snowtroopers, to the world of Crait. His objective there was the total destruction of all remaining members of the Resistance. During the Battle of Crait, the First Order's overwhelming power crushed the defenses set up by the Resistance. The First Order then proceeded to invade the outpost where the Resistance fighters were hiding. Nevertheless, a small number of survivors were able to flee aboard the Millennium Falcon due to Rey's assistance. Some days after this conflict, Resistance forces came into contact with stormtroopers during their missions to Bracca and Corellia, the latter of which was a world that had been occupied by the First Order.

At the same time, rows of stormtroopers stood at attention before Ren on the Finalizer. There, Ren officially announced his new position as Supreme Leader and revealed the dead body of Snoke. Ren falsely claimed that the Resistance was responsible for Snoke's death, and he promised his troops that he would guide them into a new era of glory. After a brief moment of uncertainty, the stormtroopers showed their support for Ren with a salute as Snoke's remains were released into the vacuum of space.

Galactic Domination

The First Order's forces, who had spent their entire lives preparing for a single purpose, spread out across the galaxy, with stormtroopers leading the charge. Large areas of the galaxy were conquered by armies of troopers in white armor. This image, once a symbol of hope during the Clone Wars, was now being used by the First Order. The fall of the New Republic allowed the stormtroopers to fulfill their true purpose as an invading force, appearing everywhere the First Order expanded. The First Order saw no reason to follow the rules of a fallen government and dropped the pretense of being a territorial protection force.

During this period, the First Order began to kidnap and forcibly enlist even more children from all over the galaxy to increase the size of its stormtrooper ranks. This was done ruthlessly under the direction of General Amret Engell, who strongly supported the new Supreme Leader and worked hard to create an army that would meet his standards. Indeed, some planets, like Kijimi, had most, if not all, of their children taken for conscription when the occupation began. During the war, the 709th "Red Fury" Legion, an elite group of stormtroopers personally chosen by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, was deployed to the planet of Batuu. On Batuu, stormtrooper lieutenant Gauge was also assigned to run a re-education camp to turn civilians into soldiers.

The First Order's Demise

The Emperor's Revival

Despite controlling large parts of the galaxy, the First Order's forces were smaller than the Imperial Military. When Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor, announced his return, a group of stormtroopers went with Supreme Leader Ren on his excursion to Mustafar. There, they fought the Alazmec of Winsit on the grounds of Fortress Vader. Ren moved faster than his stormtrooper guards, cutting down the Alazmec cultists to get a Sith wayfinder that once belonged to his grandfather, the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The wayfinder led Ren to Exegol, a planet in the Unknown Regions where the Sith Eternal military was created by the Emperor's followers. The discovery of the Sith Eternal's forces gave the First Order Supreme Council more confidence in Ren's leadership. The units on Exegol would be used to strengthen the First Order's existing forces, allowing Ren to finish his conquest of the galaxy and rule over a true Empire.

The Search for Rey

Before Ren could take control of the forces on Exegol, Sidious ordered him to kill Rey, the former scavenger, and eliminate the last member of the Jedi Order. Ren used his connection with the Jedi apprentice to find her location and sent a group of stormtroopers to the planet Pasaana. There, Rey and her companions were chased by a team of First Order Treadspeeder Drivers and First Order jet troopers. As they pursued the Resistance team through the Pasaana desert, the 125-Z treadspeeder bikes launched the jet troopers into the air, allowing the First Order to attack from above, which surprised C-3PO, Finn, and Poe Dameron. Although the Jedi and Resistance fighters defeated their pursuers, a group of stormtroopers captured Chewbacca with the help of the Knights of Ren.

Rey and her allies later traveled to Kijimi, a planet under the First Order's military control. A stormtrooper garrison patrolled the streets of Kijimi City, conducting large-scale raids to find more children to conscript into their growing army. Ren's forces also searched the city for Rey, who managed to sneak onto the Supreme Leader's flagship, the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast, with her comrades. After killing the guards in the main hangar, the group was ambushed by two stormtroopers, FN-0606 and FN-1226, who tried to capture them. However, Rey used her connection to the Force to control their minds, forcing the troopers to help the Resistance fighters navigate the warship. While Rey went to retrieve her belongings from Ren's private quarters, Finn and Dameron managed to rescue Chewbacca. With the Wookiee's help, they charged down a corridor of stormtroopers, shooting down several troops before being forced to surrender due to the overwhelming number of First Order units.

A squad of stormtroopers escorted the Resistance prisoners to a location where they were to be executed immediately. Before they could carry out their orders, General Hux took a blaster rifle from one of the troopers, pretending to do the job himself. Instead, he saved the prisoners by killing his own soldiers, revealing that he was the spy who had been giving information to the Resistance. As Rey's friends returned to the Millennium Falcon, Ren returned to the Steadfast to confront the last Jedi in person. More stormtroopers arrived in the hangar and aimed their weapons at Rey, but Ren stopped them. He then revealed to Rey that she was actually Sidious' granddaughter. He urged her to join him, believing that they could destroy the Emperor and the Sith with their combined power as a Force dyad. However, Rey refused Ren's offer and escaped from the Steadfast with the help of her friends, who used the engines of the Millennium Falcon to hold the stormtroopers back.

The Final Order

Ren eventually gave up his ambitions to rule the galaxy, renouncing his dark side after his mother's death on Ajan Kloss. Without a Supreme Leader, command of the First Order and its forces automatically went to Allegiant General Enric Pryde. Pryde executed General Hux with a stormtrooper's blaster rifle after figuring out that his younger colleague was the spy in their ranks. Having served Darth Sidious during the time of the Empire, Pryde pledged his loyalty to him again, giving control of the entire First Order to the reborn Emperor.

With the First Order's military forces under his control, Sidious issued an ultimatum to the entire galaxy: all worlds would submit to the combined power of the new Sith Empire or be completely destroyed. In addition to the Final Order, a massive fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers equipped with axial superlasers, the First Order gained an army of Sith troopers. Like their counterparts in white armor, these soldiers in red armor were elite units whose design was inspired by Republic clone troopers and Imperial stormtroopers, as well as the Sith after whom they were named. However, unlike First Order stormtroopers, Sith troopers were even more obedient and machine-like because of their flash-imprinting and loyalty conditioning, which were built upon and improved beyond the Kaminoan procedures of previous generations.

Defeat on Exegol

As the Sith fleet prepared to leave Exegol, Resistance forces tried to stop their launch in a final attempt to prevent Sidious' new Sith Empire from becoming a reality. During the Battle of Exegol, a group of Sith troopers defended the Steadfast while Pryde oversaw the launch of the Sith Star Destroyers. As a result, the command ship was targeted by Resistance boarding parties, causing the Sith troopers to launch a counterattack to defend the Steadfast. Although many Resistance fighters died in battle against the crimson soldiers, the Sith troopers failed to prevent their enemies from destroying the command bridge along with Pryde. Several standard First Order stormtroopers were also on the bridge when the ship was destroyed. Without the Steadfast to guide the fleet to a safe altitude, the remaining Sith Star Destroyers were destroyed by the Resistance and its allies before they could escape into hyperspace. With Sidious' death, the Resistance claimed victory on Exegol in 35 ABY.

Without the promise of Sith reinforcements, the First Order military suddenly faced multiple uprisings across the galaxy. After the Resistance's victory, Resurgent-class Star Destroyers were attacked and destroyed in the skies above Cloud City on Bespin, the Forest Moon of Endor, and Rey's home planet of Jakku.

Training

The First Order's stormtrooper training program was designed to create an army of super-soldiers. As a result, the new generation of stormtroopers was trained from birth to become elite soldiers with a single purpose in life: to serve the First Order. This training was inspired by the ideas of Commandant Brendol Hux, who admired the combat skills and dedication of the Jedi Knights and Republic clone troopers, both of whom were trained from a young age to become efficient fighters.

According to Phasma, the First Order's stormtrooper ideology did not allow for any emotions like sympathy. They were meant to act only as an extension of the Supreme Leader's will, and therefore the First Order's will. The troopers were only as strong as they were weak. Finn also stated that First Order stormtroopers were considered expendable by their superiors. Those who were not good in battle were expected to die and not be rescued by their comrades. During the fall of the Empire, Counselor Gallius Rax conscripted about two dozen orphans from his home planet of Jakku and gave them to Hux, who turned them into a force of child soldiers and assassins loyal to Rax. Before his death, Rax put Hux's illegitimate son, Armitage, in charge of the child soldiers. As an adult, Armitage incorporated his father's ideas into the training program for the First Order stormtroopers. Captain Grummart also played a role in trooper training, specializing in archery.

The First Order used Jinata Security to kidnap infants for the stormtrooper program. Most of the child recruits came from conquered worlds in the Unknown Regions, were children of former Imperials, or were orphans from across the galaxy. In some cases, many poor families willingly gave up their children to the First Order, hoping to give them a better future or have fewer mouths to feed. However, more often than not, most of the children were taken by force or outright kidnapped.

The First Order processed their conscripts at induction camps, where the trainees were separated into groups or "batches." Before becoming fully trained stormtroopers, FN-2187 and trooper 926 were members of Batch Eight. As children, stormtroopers were initially trained under the supervision of Captain Cardinal, a former child soldier who taught his cadets hand-to-hand and melee combat, marksmanship, and battle simulations on the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Absolution. When they were considered ready, Cardinal's trainees were transferred to the Finalizer to complete their training under the watch of Captain Phasma.

As the commander of the stormtrooper legions, Phasma worked to mold the stormtroopers into the best soldiers in the galaxy and constantly watched for any signs of weakness or disobedience. To achieve this, behavioral and personality conditioning was crucial in the training of First Order stormtroopers. To control their psychological development, the First Order provided its trainees with a steady stream of subliminal sleep messages and First Order propaganda, resulting in soldiers who were completely loyal to the First Order. In addition to rigorous combat exercises and psychological conditioning, the First Order strongly emphasized the values of uniformity and conformity. Therefore, they were given alphanumeric designations instead of names.

Their emphasis on uniformity and conformity was so strict that the stormtroopers were not even allowed to remove their helmets unless specifically ordered to do so. The penalty for doing so was usually mandatory psychological counseling. A trooper who showed "erratic conditioning" could be scheduled for a full mental wipe and reprogram, also known as a brainscrape. Similarly, stormtroopers were not allowed to initiate contact with First Order officers. While children were preferred, teenagers and young adults could also enlist as stormtroopers and serve the First Order. Propaganda posters for new recruits could be found in various parts of the galaxy, such as on Castilon. In rare cases, even older adults were sometimes accepted into the Stormtrooper ranks, such as Ruthford, a veteran Stormtrooper of the former Galactic Empire.

Although modern stormtroopers were largely modeled on the stormtroopers of the past, their combat training differed significantly from that of their Imperial predecessors. Unlike the Empire, which used numbing routine for its troopers, the First Order's training simulations, live-fire exercises, and sparring practices encouraged stormtroopers to embrace improvisation on the battlefield. As a result, they were more effective in battle than the stormtroopers who served as their template. In addition to combat training, all First Order stormtroopers received medical training, but only for minor injuries such as non-fatal blaster shots. During training, stormtrooper cadets slapped each other's rears to provide motivation.

Despite General Hux's confidence in the stormtrooper programming, not every trooper was a successful product by the First Order's standards. Examples of defective soldiers included Company 77 and Finn. The stormtroopers of Company 77 refused to fire on unarmed prisoners and lacked enthusiasm for the First Order's cause. Similarly, Finn lacked enthusiasm for the First Order's cause. This, combined with his unwillingness to execute unarmed prisoners, led him to question his loyalties before ultimately abandoning his allegiance to the First Order. Both Phasma and Kylo considered FN-2187 a renegade, although the latter also saw him as a prime example of a flawed stormtrooper training program. He believed that a clone army could serve the First Order better. However, Hux remained confident in the overall reliability of the First Order stormtroopers, believing the rogue FN-2187 to be an anomaly in an army of loyal soldiers.

The average First Order stormtrooper was 1.83 meters tall and weighed 80 kilograms, the same standard requirements that once applied to the Grand Army of the Republic and the Imperial Military. Standard protocol for the soldiers was to always have backup nearby, ensuring that their enemies could be swarmed if they were attacked. The Omicron Formation tactic was used for search and destroy missions.

Equipment

Members of the First Order's infantry forces wore white armor that was similar to the Galactic Empire's stormtrooper armor, as well as the Galactic Republic's Phase I and Phase II clone trooper armors. Apart from some aesthetic differences, First Order stormtroopers looked very much like their Imperial predecessors. To indicate rank, stormtrooper officers wore color-coded pauldron armor plates. White pauldrons were worn by stormtroopers who served as squad leaders, black pauldrons identified stormtroopers who held the rank of sergeant, and red pauldrons were worn by officers.

First Order stormtrooper helmets could filter out smoke, but not toxins. To deal with toxins, a stormtrooper needed to use one of several special filters, depending on the specific contaminant. Identification was the responsibility of one or two squad leaders.

Stormtrooper armor was highly regarded for its strength. Captain Phasma once claimed that not even a Wookiee was strong enough to break First Order armor. To reduce weight, most First Order stormtrooper helmets lacked advanced imaging gear, requiring stormtroopers to use separate quadnoculars in the field to provide enhanced imaging. However, standard stormtrooper helmets were still equipped with integral polarized lenses, night vision, communications, and targeting systems.

The F-11D blaster rifle was the primary weapon of standard stormtroopers. A successor to the Imperial stormtroopers' E-11 medium blaster rifle, the F-11D was mass-produced and provided to the First Order's soldiers by Sonn-Blas Corporation. In addition to the F-11D, Sonn-Blas also designed the SE-44C blaster pistol as a sidearm for the First Order stormtroopers.

Specialized stormtroopers

In addition to standard infantry, the Stormtrooper Corps, much like its predecessor the Old Empire, incorporated a range of specialized troopers. These specialist units received tailored training and equipment, enabling them to operate effectively in diverse environments. Furthermore, they could be deployed alongside standard infantry, providing support to regular troopers in a secondary role.

• Elite stormtroopers — Stormtroopers clad in black armor who utilized elite speeder bikes. [50]
• Executioner troopers — Stormtroopers randomly chosen to execute capital punishment sentences. Their armor was distinguished by black shoulder plates and a helmet with a black stripe. They employed BL-155 Laser axes to carry out their grim task. [12]
• First Order jet troopers/jetpack troopers/rocket troopers [51] [52] [18] — Stormtroopers specializing in aerial [18] and space-based missions. [53] Several variations of these troopers were also in use. [48] [54]
• First Order Raiders — Stormtroopers with expertise in locating Sith artifacts. [55]
• First Order SCUBA troopers — Stormtroopers specifically equipped for deployment in aquatic settings. [56]
• First Order stormtrooper gunners — Stormtroopers trained to operate vehicle-mounted weaponry on both ground and air vehicles. These weapons included the FWMB-10 repeating blaster on Light Infantry Utility Vehicles [17] and the F-Z0 antipersonnel blaster cannon on Atmospheric Assault Landers. [57]

• First Order stormtrooper snipers — Stormtroopers who functioned as snipers during combat operations. [18]
• Flametroopers — Specialized stormtroopers who utilized an incendiary weapon and wore specialized armor tailored to their role. During combat, they advanced alongside standard infantry, using the D-93 Incinerator flamethrower to dislodge enemies from fortified positions. [58]
• Megablaster heavy assault troopers — Stormtroopers trained as specialists in heavy weaponry. Armed with the FWMB-10 repeating blaster, [17] they also supported regular stormtroopers in battle. [5]
• Mountain troopers — Specialized stormtroopers designed for deployment in mountainous or rocky terrain. [59]
• Prisoner control stormtroopers — Specialized stormtroopers trained to manage social disorder and control prisoners. [60]
• Riot control stormtroopers — Specialist stormtrooper units responsible for maintaining order on planets under First Order control. Trained in riot suppression methods, they carried betaplast shields and non-lethal Z6 riot control batons. However, they were also authorized to employ lethal force when non-lethal methods proved insufficient to contain rioters. While their primary duty involved military occupation, riot control stormtroopers could also be deployed on combat missions alongside standard infantry troopers. [5] [61]

• Snowtroopers — Stormtroopers specifically trained and equipped for service in extremely cold environments, notably the ice planet that housed Starkiller Base. Their specialized armor and equipment allowed them to function effectively in freezing conditions. During the construction of Starkiller Base, snowtrooper teams patrolled the frozen world, eliminating native species deemed potential threats to the First Order. [62] They were also deployed to locations with temperate climates, provided they possessed enough similarities to frigid environments to warrant their presence, such as Crait. [12]
• Tech stormtroopers — Stormtroopers trained to extract, decrypt, and analyze data from sources like droid memory cores. [63]
• First Order Treadspeeder Drivers — Stormtroopers specializing in operating 125-Z treadspeeder bikes. [2]
• First Order Walker Drivers — Stormtroopers who functioned as crewmembers for walkers. [64]

Behind the scenes

The First Order's stormtroopers made their debut appearance in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Daniel Craig has a cameo as the First Order stormtrooper who releases Rey from captivity on Starkiller Base after she influences him with a Jedi mind trick.

Their design, a more streamlined version of the original stormtrooper armor, drew inspiration in part from Apple Inc. headphones. Michael Kaplan, the costume designer who opted to simplify the armor's design for the Sequel trilogy, cited the evolution of Apple products as an influence, pondering how Apple would approach designing the armor. The stormtrooper armor seen in Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi differs slightly from the armor featured in The Force Awakens.

A similar stormtrooper design appeared in the Star Wars: Visions short "THE TWINS," used for the T-Stormtroopers serving the Galactic Empire of Master Am and Lord Karre. According to director Hiroyuki Imaishi, the short takes place after the fall of the First Order in Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, suggesting that T-Stormtroopers are a successor class to the First Order's soldiers.