Shards can either be earned from battles or bought from a shop.

There are multiple ways to collect characters: some are given to players immediately, whereas others are gained via game play or as in-game rewards in the form of shards that are earned by players to unlock and or promote their characters. Galaxy of Heroes allows players to collect Star Wars characters from both the main canonical universe established after Lucasfilm was acquired by The Walt Disney Company and the Legends-canon Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series, create teams with them, and use them to fight in turn-based battles.