Emperor Palpatine: Non-Force

The Emperor is probably the worst saber character in the game, due to the saber speed (though the final hit is a great tool). His run/walk speed is slower than the rest of the characters, and a tough to use air attack.

The key to dueling with the Emperor is playing careful. Running around and dash spamming will only get you nulled and killed. Changing up your speeds on approach from walking to running back to walking etc is necessary to keep your opponent guessing what you are going to do next. Using the Emperor's saber combo is highly recommended, since his combo has more range than the other saber characters. The problem with his saber combo is that the last hit in the three hit combo is VERY slow. When you use the Emperor's saber combo, walk forward during the first two fast hits, back up as he is bringing up his saber, and then advance to bring down his very powerful final hit. Most of the time people will just run into the third hit, not expecting you to advance.

As I (Sneek) mentioned earlier, his run speed makes it nearly impossible to have a primarily offensive style. He can't roll intercept well, and has big problems chasing people. Nulling will be your primary way of getting kills. My advice to get more nulls is to advance by walking around and if you see that your opponent is going to try and attack you, time your first hit so that it connects. You will usually knock them down and you're clear for a finish.

Finishing off people with the Emperor is different than it is for other characters. Since the Emperor's saber combo is very slow, you should not just walk up to a fallen enemy and start clicking. The first two hits will knock them back up so they can get away. Doing a dash attack or timing your saber combo so that only the third hit connects is the best way to finish off an opponent. Another route to finish off your opponent is to get them at or below half health (this does not apply to characters with extra health) and do the Emperors air attack which is a lightening ground stomp. This will take off half health from most of the characters and it can pretty much only be used with either you have your opponent on the ground, or you manage to get them to half health during the fight.

Full map is a different story with the Emperor. Most of the time you will find yourself on the defense waiting for the right moment to strike. I (Mawk) sometimes find myself just waiting for the fights to come to me, which is really one of the best tactics for him.

The first thing that is a plus with the Emperor, is that he has the highest beginning jump distance. So his initial jump launches him up higher than anyone else. This provides useful since his evasion is quite a bit slower than the regular speed characters. When someone is dashing at you, you can leap above and generally not get hit. Then you can activate float and land somewhere safe.

His block radius is also pretty large compared to, say Vader, so he has the ability to block a lot more. The only thing you wan to be careful of is watching your stamina. If you block for a while, then it drops, you may not be in a position to defend yourself.

If you choose to go on the offensive, you can do a couple tricks. The first would be to look for a normal health character (non gunners on heroes), and then look for their health being below half. You should hone in on the half-healthers like a tractor beam as the Emperor. Always focus on them because it's fairly easy to defeat them. Track them and see if you can get a lightning slam off for the kill. Sometimes the best way to do this is by surprising them from above. That way all they see is a shadow then they die. Another way to get a kill off like this is letting them come to you. You have to be careful but once they get close you can quickly do the slam. I don't recommend doing the slam when they dash you, because most average non force players follow up with a roll, and you'll slam where they were and end up dead. I always find the most helpless they are is after they've tried to avoid you for a while and are out of stamina. Another good time to slam is when you are on a roof and they are jumping up to you. Don't do this if they are full health.

Another offensive strategy is using the Emperor's dash. Many people who aren't well versed in the game feel the Emperor is a weaker character due to his lower health and slower speed. You can use this idea against them by surprising them with a quick dash here and there. For those who don't realize it, there are two ways to sprint. You can use the sprint key, which is defaulted to shift, or you can double tap your forward key. The latter is probably the best way to get a quick dash off with the Emperor. It makes it so they can avoid you less.

When dashing, try to line them up so they are just to the right of you a bit. If they are on your left side you may completely miss. The Emp's saber seems to stay center and right with his dash. When executed properly, his dash is usually a knockdown. Depending on their health you can dash them again or finish them with a slam. Try to avoid finishing them with a saber combo because it does have holes where they can escape, or backslash you. Be wary when you finish with a slam, because there will most likely be an enemy about. Keep your eye on your minimap to see if you need to get out of there quickly. Don't forget, his dash does nothing to Yoda. Some claim if you look down it will, but I've never been able to, it may have to do with pings, who knows.
You can also time your dash so that you finish right as you hit them, because it does a couple extra swings as part of his recovery. So instead of going through them, sprint and stop your dash (you can hit the back key to slow yourself down) so that the full force of the end of his dash hits them. This generally does a lot of damage. It may not cause a knockdown like dashing through them will though.

Now on the defensive end of full map combat, you will always want to pick good spots to battle. A roof with a dome is a good spot due to the fact that you can jump if you need to and land on a different level than your opponent. Try to goad your opponent to you, because the Emperor has an incredible "null". THere are actually two ways to do his null. You can sidestep and single click, or you can sidestep and actually do a backhand. Vader/Dooku/and Emperor all have the same type of backhand which allows a sweeping gesture, that doesn't cut of their strafing movement. If someone is coming at you and they just graze this strafing backhand, it will most likely knock them down.

His saber combo, though very slow, can prove effective in full map, especially against multiple opponents. His third part of the combo, which is a grand overhead slice, usually knocks anyone down. It can knockdown if it is timed right even as someone is swinging at you. Sometimes the best thing to do is as sneek mentioned above, click a couple times away from them and go toward them for the final hit. Always keep your eyes open and don't always go directly in for the kill. You do have a bit of time if you need to go away slightly and come back. If you can time his combo to hit multiple enemies with the final hit, do it, it will save you another fight.
You will also need to click quickly with the Emperor to try and speed up his combo, because there is that gap before the third hit where a lot of stuff can happen, especially against Aayla since her first hit is so powerful. It can also make it so your opponent escapes. So be sure to click as fast as you can, but don't start a second combo.

As the Emperor it is just fine to run away and wait for a fight. Don't feel that you always need to fight and get tons of kills. Hide behind objects as much as possible to betray what your opponent thinks you are going to be doing.

One thing I have found lately with no force full map, is how wreckless people are. If you want to have some fun, try to avoid dying. I've seen so many first place people with 40 kills 37 deaths, where I may be below them with 35 and 9. They will then gloat how they got #1 and it truly meant nothing with that amount of deaths. As the Emperor, you're not a head on tank fighter as much. So just remember not to always go head on when you're playing him.