Star Wars Zero Company: How to Use the Console to Drain the Canal

The “Use Console to Drain Canal” objective appears the moment the first fight of Dark Waters starts at Takali Canal. The console itself is never locked and never puzzle-gated. The only thing standing between you and it is a dock packed with melee Slugrats, plus a timing decision that most players get wrong on the first attempt.

Quick answer: Kill the Slugrats guarding the left side of the dock, move any operator up the stairs onto the console platform, and choose Operate Console. Do not activate it on the turn enemy reinforcements arrive, because draining the water opens a lower floor and adds more enemies to the fight.

Where the drain console sits on the dock

Follow the mission waypoint through the alleyway until combat triggers. Your squad drops onto a dock, and the objective banner switches to FIND THE COIL LEADER with USE CONSOLE TO DRAIN CANAL underneath it.

The console is along the left side of that dock, raised on a small platform reached by stairs. Slugrats are standing around it when the fight begins, so it is not something you can rush on turn one. There is high ground on the right side of the arena as well, which is where a long-range operator wants to be, and an explosive barrel sits nearby that can be shot to burn several enemies at once.

Squad and loadout for the canal fight

Almost everything you face here is a melee threat that hits hard, so range and sustain matter more than anti-droid tools. An Astromech has little to do in this encounter, since there are no droids to shut down.

Slot	What it does here
Hawks (long-range rifle)	Holds the high ground on the right and sets Overwatch on the back of the arena.
Heavy	Sits in cover on the left, taunts, and absorbs the Slugrats that close in.
Trick	Strips enemy cover and clears clustered groups with Rocket Strike.
Medic (long-range rifle)	Stays in the back line, heals, and applies Morale Boost Adv and Combat Stim.
Utilities	Impact Bomb or Firebomb grenades, used to break Overwatch and soften tanky targets.

Note: this is a long mission by early-campaign standards, and the canal is only the first half of it. A Medic is what keeps your other three operators from stacking injuries before the second encounter underground.

Clearing the dock before you touch the console

On your first turn, push your long-range operator up to the high ground on the right and set an Overwatch cone covering the back of the dock. Cover up there is destructible, so treat the position as temporary rather than a permanent nest.

Move the Heavy into the cover on the left and start shooting the Slugrats directly ahead. The goal is to destroy the cover they would otherwise use as they advance, so they have to walk across open ground.

Use Trick and the Medic to finish stripping cover or to lay more Overwatch cones in front of your line. Slugrat Strikers and Enforcers have to come to you, and a proper kill box means most of them die before they ever swing.

Radial ability wheel open in combat with the drain canal objective shown at the top of the screen — The ability wheel during the dock fight, with the drain objective still active. Image: Bit Reactor

Throw an Impact Bomb at anything sitting on Overwatch or at any target too tough to drop with two rifle shots. Grenades are the cleanest way to break an enemy Overwatch before you commit an operator to moving.

Patch up before you advance. Medpac heals a wounded operator, Combat Stim II tops them back up, and Morale Boost Adv keeps the line stable. Anyone at low health should be healed on the dock rather than pushed toward the stairs.

Action wheel showing AP costs while healing an injured operator during the canal fight — The action wheel lists the AP cost for each option, including healing utilities. Image: Bit Reactor

When to activate it: draining the canal spawns more enemies

Reinforcements arrive at the back of the arena on the enemy’s third turn, and a second wave follows from the north after that. Because they spawn far away, they are manageable as long as you are not fighting a fresh group in the canal at the same time.

That is the whole reason to delay the console. Operating it drains the water and reveals a lower floor with more Slugrats on it. Do that on the turn reinforcements walk in and you are pinched from two directions at once.

Instead, use the turn before reinforcements arrive to move your squad up near the console platform and set a defensive perimeter there. You get to shoot the three arrivals from the north on your terms, and Rocket Strike plus a grenade handles the second wave since those enemies tend to bunch together. Always prioritise anything coming from the north, because enemies down in the canal take several turns to cross the gap and some will not push the stairs immediately.

Movement path drawn toward the console platform, with the Move action costing three AP — Moving up toward the console platform costs the full three AP, so plan the approach a turn early. Image: Bit Reactor

Operating the console

Select any operator standing near the stairs. It does not need to be a specific character or specialization.

Move that operator up the stairs onto the platform beside the console. Budget the AP for it, since the climb can eat a full turn’s movement.

Open the action wheel and choose Operate Console. A cutscene plays showing the water draining out of the canal, which is your confirmation that the objective registered.

Operator action wheel open next to the console while the drain canal objective is displayed — Operate Console appears in the action wheel once an operator is standing on the platform. Image: Bit Reactor

Holding the high ground after the canal drains

Once the water is gone, five enemies are waiting in the empty canal below. Do not chase them. Stay on the platform you already control and keep two operators on Overwatch, one watching each staircase, so any Slugrat climbing up takes fire and cannot reach cover.

The remaining two operators shoot down into the canal from above. Long-range weapons do most of the work here, which is why the Medic is worth arming with a rifle. Keep the Heavy taunting so incoming damage lands on the operator built to take it.

When every Slugrat is dead, the path to the underground section opens and a cutscene introduces a new ally along with more information about the Coil.

If the console will not activate

No operator is on the platform. The prompt only appears when a unit is standing at the console itself, at the top of the stairs on the left side of the dock.
The operator has no AP left. Move first, then interact on the same turn or the next one.
Enemies still hold the approach. Slugrats around the platform will punish a lone unit climbing the stairs, so clear that side before sending anyone up.

Draining the canal is not the end of the mission, and clearing the dock is not the end of the fight either. Treat the console as a switch you flip on your own schedule, keep the high ground once the water drops, and the rest of Dark Waters becomes a defensive engagement rather than a scramble.