10 Coolest Star Wars Ships

Star Wars is one of the more interesting sci-fi properties because it’s low on the science and heavy on the fiction. The focus of it is the battle between the light and dark sides of the Force, and all of the cool technology was just icing on the cake. This extends into Star Wars Legends and canon, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some awesome technological titans in the franchise. In fact, many of the coolest starships in the history of fiction have come from Star Wars. From tiny starfighters to massive battleships, Star Wars has given ship geeks a lot to love.

Each of these ships have that certain something that makes them cooler than the rest. They aren’t the biggest or the most powerful, but they have an it factor, that element that makes them more special than other ships. These ten Star Wars ships are the coolest in Legends and canon, becoming fan-favorites.

The Anakin Solo

Star Wars Legends is full of amazing characters and ships, and one of the coolest is the Anakin Solo. This Imperial-II class Star Destroyer was the flagship of the Galactic Alliance Guard and its commander, Jacen Solo. Jacen named the ship after his younger brother, who had died in the Yuuzhan Vong War. The Galactic Alliance Guard was basically the CIA, and Jacen used it during his time training as a secret Sith to maneuver himself into a position where he could take control of the Galactic Alliance. The Anakin Solo was equipped with weapons and countermeasures completely unlike anything on any other Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

It was painted black, which allowed it to blend in with the void of space. The paint also was part of a stealth system, absorbing sensor beams and waves. It was equipped with a gravity well generator, allowing it to stop ships from jumping to hyperspace. It was also armed with banks of long-range turbolasers. These batteries allowed it to strike at ranges that no other ships could match, and the bolts were exceedingly powerful. The Anakin Solo won several battles completely on its own and was responsible for starting the forest fires that nearly destroyed Kashyyyk. The ship was decommissioned after the defeat of Jacen Solo, who had become Darth Caedus by that point, but it was one of the most powerful Star Destroyers ever built that wasn’t a part of the dreadnought class like the Executor.

The Yuuzhan Vong Koros-Strohna Worldship

The Yuuzhan Vong are a rather controversial part of Legends. Introduced in 1999’s Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime, they were the primary villains of The New Jedi Order series of books. They hailed from another galaxy, one that they themselves rendered incapable of supporting life after an apocalyptic war against machines. The Yuuzhan Vong hated machines, and were able to breed creatures from their lost homeworld into ships, weapons, and other things that would be made by technology by others. They traveled across the void to the galaxy far, far away in their Koros-Strohna Worldships, massive vessels that are the heart of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

Worldships are all different sizes, depending on when they were born, and are anywhere from ten kilometers long to the largest matching the size of the Death Star. They are shaped like spiral galaxies, their arms dotted with volcano cannons, which fired bursts of burning plasma and rock, and dovin basals, creatures that controlled gravity which allowed the Vong to create black hole shields and move their ships. They are truly massive vessels, having survived for thousands of years in the starless voids between the galaxies, and are the coolest vessels in the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

Harrower-Class Sith Dreadnought

The canon status of the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic has always been in question; it’s far enough back in the Star Wars timeline that it doesn’t really interfere with canon, but the Lucasfilm story group seemingly hasn’t made up its mind about whether or not the game, its characters, and its ships are canon. There are some amazing designs in that game, but the best one is a Sith ship — the Harrower-class dreadnought.

Harrower-class ships aren’t as big as later dreadnoughts; Republic and Imperial dreadnoughts would stretch to kilometers long while the Harrower-class is only 800 meters long. It’s the distant ancestor of the Star Destroyer line, with many design similarities that would evolve over the millennia. It’s heavily armed for its size and was the most dangerous ship of its time. Its forward facing launch bays allowed its large fighter force — over a hundred fighters and bombers — to launch directly into battle. It’s a great ship design and one that would still be dangerous even in the present day of the Star Wars universe.

The Mandator-III Class Star Dreadnought

The Mandator-class of Star Dreadnoughts were built after the completion of the Executor in Legends. The class was the sister class to the Bellator-class, and eventually the Mandator-II was built. The Mandator-III was the final design in the Mandator line in Legends (canon would introduce the Mandator-IV in Star Wars: Episode VII: The Last Jedi, so this ship may be canon) and was easily the best of them all. The ship was twelve kilometers long, smaller than the nineteen kilometer Executor and was armed with hundreds of turbolasers and ion cannons. The arrowhead shaped vessel is a beautiful design, and there’s a good reason for that.

The Mandator-III was talked about in books, but it never had a design from Lucasfilms. However, an artist named FractalSponge, known for his computer recreations of Star Wars ships, gave it one. This design was so good that Lucasfilm decided to make FractalSponge’s Mandator-III the canon design for the ship. There’s nothing cooler than a fan artist’s design becoming the official design of a ship, making the Mandator-III one of the most unique ships in Star Wars history. It’s a true work of art.

The Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer

When the first Star Wars movie — not yet called Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope — premiered in 1977, fans were introduced to one of the most iconic ships in the history of science fiction — the Imperial-class Star Destroyer — as it chased the Tantive IV Blockade Runner across the screen. Back then, no one knew this was the Imperial-I class, which wouldn’t be revealed until the new design Star Destroyers were first seen in Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. When comparing the two Star Destroyers, the biggest differences are the whiter color of the Imperial-I, the communication tower, and hull design, which was altogether chunkier.

Of course, in universe, there are different weapon load outs and fighter compliments, with the Imperial-II having more heavy weaponry, more anti-starfighter weaponry, and better shields. However, the Imperial-I just plain looks better. Lucasfilm in the Disney era recreated a digital model of it for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and it’s a beautiful model, showing off why it’s a cooler-looking ship than the Imperial-II. Of course, that said, Lucasfilm decided to reuse the design for the lame Xyston-class from Star Wars: Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker out of laziness and frugality — seriously, look it up — but that doesn’t change just how excellent the Imperial-I looks.

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Razor Crest

Star Wars: The Mandalorian saved Disney’s Lucasfilm’s Star Wars. The franchise has its first bomb with Solo: A Star Wars Story and Rise of Skywalker was panned by both people who hated the sequels and people who liked them (even the Reylos, who were partly vindicated for their terrible ship but mad that Kylo died, hated it, which is saying something); they needed a hit and The Mandalorian was that hit. The show’s production design was one of the coolest parts of it right from the beginning and that included Din Djarin’s ship from the first two seasons of the show, the Razor Crest.

The Razor Crest was built by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, the same company that made the Millennium Falcon. It’s an ST-70 assault ship, built for use as a gunship and armed with two powerful forward laser cannons. The ship was meant for in-system military patrols, but was still equipped with a hyperdrive. The Razor Crest has a great look to it. It’s clean silver hull is reminiscent of beskar, and fits the Djarin’s Mandalorian motif nicely. The big engines give the impression that it’s fast, and the forward cannons let everyone know it means business. Fans of The Mandalorian were heartbroken with the ship was destroyed, showing the effect that it had on the fandom.

Venator-Class Star Destroyer

Star Wars fans love Star Destroyers, but the most discerning fans love the Venator-class more than the latter Imperial-class. First introduced in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith at the opening Battle of Coruscant, the Venator made up the backbone of the Republic’s fleet during the Clone Wars in the animated series of the same name. The Venator isn’t weighed down with guns like the later Imperial-class; it’s armed with eight heavy turbolaser batteries, two medium turbolaster batteries, and multiple point-defense cannons. However, the ship is stacked with starfighters, carrying 92 in its large hangar bays. The ship had two bridges; one for commanding the ship and the other for coordinating the ship’s fighter forces.

The Venator is beloved by fans because of the design. While it has the triangle design of Imperial-class Star Destroyers, the stylized hull and aft wing section gives the ships a unique silhouette in comparison to the later Star Destroyers. The design shows off the difference in design philosophies of the Republic and the Empire; the hull design, the markings, and the dual bridges show the more artistic approach of the Republic compared to the utilitarian hive mind of the Imperials. The Empire keeps them in service for a few years before switching to the Imperial-class, painting them Imperial grey, and they definitely lose something; their original Republic colors are superior.

The TIE Defender

TIE fighters are a huge part of Star Wars. The regular designs, known as the TIE/In in the original trilogy and the TIE/Sf in the sequels, has the square wings and is the least cool one. Vader’s TIE, known as the TIE Advanced x1 is pretty cool, but the TIE Bomber and TIE Interceptor are better. However, the best TIE design, rivaled only by Rogue One‘s TIE Reaper, was first introduced in the computer game TIE Fighter and was later brought into canon in Star Wars: Rebels — the TIE Defender. It’s armed with four laser cannons, two ion cannons, and missile launchers, all while being equipped with shields and hyperdrives.

In Legends and canon, the ship was designed for the same reason: because the Rebel starfighters, with their shields, hyperdrives, and better weapons, had proven better than TIEs. There were differences in their origin — Thrawn was involved in both, except in canon he helped design then, while in Legends he captured them from a rogue Imperial, gave them to the player, who used them to destroy the rogue. They’re also the best TIE design; they take the Interceptor wings, turn them around, and mount three of them on a TIE ball cockpit. It looks amazing and is deadlier in battle than any other TIE, making it the coolest of the TIE lot.

Millennium Falcon

The Millennium Falcon is one of the most iconic ships in sci-fi history. A Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 Stock Light Freighter, it was the ship that did the Kessel Run in under 12 parsecs, the ship that helped Luke Skywalker escape the Empire on Tattooine and made the destruction of the first Death Star possible. It saved Leia from the Empire on Hoth, and lead the battle against the second Death Star. Han Solo’s ship was as much a character as any other in the movies, and the return of the ship in the sequels was a highlight even for people that don’t like the sequels.

The Millennium Falcon is the perfect smuggler ship; it’s rundown on the outside, but has what it counts on the inside. It was very cool to see it under Lando’s ownership in Solo and how clean and high tech it was, and then to see it years later in Han’s hand, looking like a literal wreck of jury-rigged and broken down parts. The fact that she ever works at all is a surprise, both to the crew and to whoever are chasing them. Many Star Wars fans got their wish when they got to Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World or Disneyland and got to join the crew of the Millennium Falcon at the Smuggler’s Run ride.

X-Wing Starfighter

The X-Wing is the true hero ship of the Star Wars saga. Luke Skywalker is a legend for destroying the Death Star, and he made every little kid who watched A New Hope want to fly an X-Wing. In-universe, the T-65 X-Wing was made by Incom Corporation and meant to be a space superiority fighter. It’s armed with four S-foil laser cannons, two proton torpedo launchers, and powerful shield generators. It was never the fastest, strongest, or most heavily armed fighter, but did everything well. It was the perfect all-around ship and the fact that the Republic was still using variants of it three decades into the future shows how great a ship design it is.

The X-Wing is a such a striking ship. It’s distinctive X-shaped S-foils give it its name and make it very visually different from every other fighter in Star Wars. It’s a striking design, one that gives it a slim target profile. It’s the most exciting ship in the Star Wars saga, and the one that every kid wants to use in video games. The X-Wing is a favorite of all Star Wars fans, and that’s all there is to it.

What is your favorite Star Wars ship? Let us know in the comments!