Stormtroopers are some of the most popular characters from Star Wars, but there are different types all over the Star Wars canon – and here’s every one of them. The Star Wars universe began in 1977 with the movie now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, which along with the sequels Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, forms the original trilogy. A New Hope introduced the audience to the heroes and villains that would lead this trilogy and be a big presence in subsequent movies, such as Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Darth Vader.
The Star Wars saga kept expanding in the late 1990s with the prequel trilogy, focused on the backstory of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney in 2012, the studio began working on a new trilogy. This final batch of movies introduced a new generation of heroes (Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron) and villains (Supreme Leader Snoke and Kylo Ren), but it also counted with the presence of many characters from the previous movies, as were Han Solo, Leia, Luke, R2-D2, and C-3PO, but also minor characters that have become some of the most iconic and beloved ones from the franchise: stormtroopers.
Stormtroopers are the elite soldiers of the Galactic Empire, serving as frontline assault forces and being a pillar of the Imperial Military. Stormtroopers were introduced in A New Hope and have since been an important part of the franchise, and while they are known for wearing white armor (and even got the nickname “bucketheads” because of it), there are many types of stormtroopers in the Star Wars canon – here’s every one of them and what they do.
These are the stormtroopers everyone knows, who worked for the Empire as part of their troops and wore the now classic white armor with E-11 blaster rifles. Their peculiar look made them the face of the empire on the many worlds they patrolled through the galaxy, but like in any other military group, there are ranks and specialized troopers within the stormtroopers category. Those in higher positions were distinguished from the rest of the troopers with pauldrons that showed their military rank by color, as was the case of stormtrooper commanders, who wore red or orange pauldrons. Among the different types and categories of stormtroopers are specialized ones like Swamptroopers, experts in amphibious warfare; Wet-weather Gear Stormtroopers, who wore a heavily customized armor to survive harsh environments, as was the one of the mining planet of Mimban; Spacetroopers, equipped to operate in Zero-G environments and whose armor was fitted with a rebreather pack; Seatroopers, specialized in aquatic environments; and lesser-known ones like the Stormtrooper Chargers, who were pretty agile and were equipped with a stun baton in addition to the standard stormtrooper armor.
Another important derivate is the First Order stormtroopers, also known as “bucketheads” due to their armor having the same basic design as the original Empire troopers, only with a couple of changes to make them stand-out. The First Order stormtroopers also had specialized units, as are the electropod troopers, elite stormtroopers, executioner troopers, jet troopers, First Order raiders, First Order SCUBA troopers, First Order stormtrooper gunners, flametroopers, megablaster heavy assault troopers, mountain troopers, riot control stormtroopers, tech stormtroopers, and First Order treadspeeder drivers.
Snowtroopers are one of the specialized units of both the Empire and First Order stormtroopers, and wore a very different armor to those of the regular stormtroopers. They wore insulated armor and helmets specifically designed for cold weather, and the Empire snowtroopers fought during the Clone Wars in harsh environments like Orto Plutonia, Rhen Var, and Toola. The First Order’s snowtroopers were deployed to Hays Minor and many others were stationed on Starkiller Base, which was attacked by the Resistance, and others were sent to occupy Kijimi. Snowtroopers can also be seen in the Battle of Crait, which even though is only superficially snowy, it had similar enough properties to require the assistance of these special troopers.
These were the elite soldiers of the Sith Eternal army and were raised on Exegol, and while they carried “Sith” on their names, they were not imbued with that power. Their armor was similar to that of the First Order stormtroopers but red like the Sith lightsaber blades, and they also had specialized troops, such as Sith jet troopers, Sith trooper officers, and sovereign protectors, and they were created for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Cave troopers are another type of specialized stormtrooper, who wore scout trooper armor and carried blaster carbines, along with oversized vibroknives (a knife with a small, vibrating blade that can cut through metal) and low-light vision gear to help them see in the dark. These troopers were first mentioned in the 2019 roleplaying game supplement Allies and Adversaries, and had their origin in the Legends side of the Star Wars universe, but made the jump to canon.
Also known as “shoretroopers” and “Scarif stormtroopers” as they were stationed in Scarif, the coastal defender stormtroopers are a specialized variant of the Empire’s troopers trained and equipped for combat in tropical environments. They wielded E-11 and E-22 blaster rifles, carried a thermal imploder and a highly explosive grenade, and wore sand-colored armor with a red band around their right arm and a white stripe around their left shoulder guard. Like regular stormtroopers, they also had ranks identified by different colors.
Crimson stormtroopers were trained to operate in the heat of volcanic areas, and stood out thanks to their red armor, which is pretty much a regular stormtrooper armor but in a different color. In Legends, these are also known as Magma Stormtroopers, but in canon, there’s another category of troopers known by that name. While Crimson Troopers worked in the heat of volcanic areas, Magma troopers in canon were used by the Empire to crush revolts on volcanic mining worlds, such as Mustafar. They wore a white stormtrooper armor designed to resist extremely high temperatures, with extra armor on the legs, black rank pauldrons, and a respirator connected to a backpack. Lava Troopers, on the other hand, wore black armor with helmets with red lines and were stationed on Mustafar. These type of stormtroopers appear in the comic book miniseries Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle.
Death troopers were designed for stealth, espionage, and lethality, serving as bodyguards for important Imperial officers and members of the Tarkin Initiative. They wore all-black armors with special helmets with vocal scramblers, micro-motion sensors, and heads-up displays with data they used on the battlefield. They were a dangerous variant of troopers, trained in unarmed combat, heavy weapons, demolitions, and more, and were experts at covering their tracks. They made their first appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and have since shown up in other canon media, most notably Star Wars Rebels.
Sandtroopers operated on desert worlds, so their armor was augmented with cooling fans and a helmet sand filter, and looked a lot like a regular stormtrooper armor. Many of them were dispatched to the surface of Tatooine, where they used the native dewbacks as mounts, earning the name of “Dewback troopers”, and many years later participated in the Battle of Jakku.
Flametroppers were equipped with incendiary weapons and used different designs of armor, the most notable one being very similar to that of snowtroopers. They carried a black backpack attached to their signature flamethrower and wore a fabric that extended from their goggles over the mouth. They were deployed to Kashyyyk and Agaris to defend Imperial facilities from attacks of the native fauna and were also used in assaults on enemy positions. They were first mentioned in the young adult novel Lost Stars and appeared in the junior novel Adventures in Wild Space: The Rescue.
Incinerator troopers, also known as “burners”, also wielded powerful flamethrower weaponry, and were regarded as one of the most devastating groups as they would set enemies and their fortifications on fire. They wore the standard stormtrooper armor but with red markings, a pauldron, and a flamethrower with a backpack, and the armor was resistant to heat. They made their debut in Disney+’s The Mandalorian, specifically in the episode “Chapter 8: Redemption”.
Also known as Imperial Jump Troopers or rocket troopers, jumptroopers standout for using jetpacks, which allowed them to bound over walls to attack enemy fortifications among other things during battle. There were variants of jumptroopers that specialized in different planetary environments, as were the arctic jumptroopers (operating in cold environments and sporting armors identical to those of cold weather assault snowtroopers), desert jumptroopers, and forest jumptroopers, with armors similar to those of coastal defender stormtroopers.
However, there was another category called Rocket Stormtroopers, and they were equipped with large, shoulder-fired missile launchers that allowed them to damage vehicles and buildings from a great distance. Their armor was that of a regular stormtrooper, but some of them had a plate with a red symbol on their right shoulder. They made their first appearance in the mobile game Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions.
Imperial shock troopers served as elite troopers on the front lines of combat and as security for the Imperial Center and Emperor Palpatine. They wore stormtrooper armor with red markings on the helmet, spaulders, shin guards, and utility belts, and specialized in heavy weapons on the battlefield. Their first appearance was in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and have since appeared in other media, mostly comic books.
Mortar stormtroopers were specialized in mortar weaponry, and their armor had yellow markings (identical to the red ones of incinerator troopers), a yellow pauldron, and a military backpack. They made their first appearance in The Mandalorian, in the episode “Chapter 14: The Tragedy”.
Also known as “biker scouts” and “Imperial sharpshooters”, Scout Troopers wore lighter armor than the classic stormtrooper one, as it gives them better mobility, and were used mostly on missions involving reconnaissance. The design of their helmets allowed faster reaction times when piloting speeder bikes and could be retracted up, showing the wearer’s face. Patrol troopers were a specialized variant tasked with acting as a rapid response policing force within urban environments. Their armor had various advanced measures, such as their helmets having an enlarged dome that allowed them access to enhanced imaging electronics and the overall armor design is similar to that of scout troopers. They were created for Solo: A Star Wars Story and appeared in other media related to the movie.
Another type of stormtrooper created for Solo: A Star Wars Story is the Range Troopers, who wore helmets similar to those of the coastal defender stormtroopers, heavy armor with fur and a chest plate like that of cold weather assault stormtroopers, and magnetic gription boots that allowed sure footing atop fast-moving vehicles.
Shadow Troopers wore all-black suits of experimental armor (with a design very similar to the standard stormtrooper armor) with portable cloaking devices, which made them pretty much invisible and highly suited for stealth missions. They used a wide range of weapons, including heavy blasters, flash grenades, jetpacks, and the typical E-11 blaster rifles.
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