Skylanders 101 presented by SCL

Skylanders SWAP Force – The Swappers

The SWAP Force Skylanders were the main focus of the third Skylanders game.

There are 16 members of the SWAP Force. Below you can discover what makes these Skylanders stand out.

Swappable

As you might expect from the name, these Skylanders can be swapped. What does this mean?

Well, these figures actually come in two pieces, a top half and a bottom half. They are connected in the middle by two sets of magnets.

At any time you can swap out the top or bottom half of your Skylander for the corresponding part from another SWAP Force member. This means that if you own all 16 swappable Skylanders you can create an amazing 256 different character combinations.

Top Half

The top half of the SWAP Force Skylanders keeps track of the character's Level, Gold, and upper body attacks/powers.

This is important to remember because it means that you can effectively transfer Gold between SWAP Force Skylanders just by swapping the top half of the figure whenever you need it.

Bottom Half

The bottom half of the SWAP Force Skylanders keep track of the lower body attacks/powers as well as the character's Movement Type.

Note here that the upper and lower body have separate upgrade paths. So with each SWAP Force figure you actually have twice as many upgrades to buy.

Movement Type

As I mentioned above, each of the SWAP Force Skylanders has a specific Movement Type. The Movement Type can be identified by looking at the symbol on the gold hexagon on the base of the figure.

There are eight possible Movement Types:

SWAP Force Movement Types - Gold Hex

From left to right these are:

Bounce, Climb, Stealth, Teleport, Speed, Spin, Rocket, Dig

SWAP Zones

Specific Movement Types are required to enter each of the SWAP Zones.

The SWAP Zones contain mini games that are based around the Movement Type that was required to enter the area. Successful completion of these mini games will often reward you with a Hat or other valuable collectible item.

Dual Elemental Gates

In the first two Skylanders games you were introduced to the Elemental Gates. In SWAP Force though they introduced a Dual-Element Gate.

To unlock these gates you need two different Elements present at the same time. While this can be done by using a second controller and a second Skylander, it is intended to be done using the SWAP Force Skylanders.

Each half of the SWAP Force Skylanders carries its Element along with it. So when you swap halves, you can create a Skylander with two Elements.

In Trap Team

The SWAP Force Skylanders are playable in Skylanders Trap Team. However, there is no unique use for them in the game.

In Trap Team there are no Dual-Elemental Gates or SWAP Zones.

In SuperChargers

SEE “In Trap Team”