A phase of clone trooper armor was used by Purge Troopers during the Imperial Era. The armor heavily resembled Phase II clone paratrooper armor, albeit in black and gray shades and with a red visor. It also included the Imperial crest on the shoulder armor in different colored variations along with white stripes throughout the armor. Sometime between 14 BBY and 9 BBY, Phase II Purge Trooper armor was created, though the Phase I armor model continued to see extensive use.
Phase I Purge Trooper armor appeared to be either directly modeled on or modified from clone paratrooper armor, and consisted of a set of black armor plates worn over a black body glove. As the troopers specialized in hunting Jedi, the armor was made to be lightsaber-resistant. Articles of equipment and color schemes varied slightly depending on the role and rank of the trooper. Purge Trooper commanders wore a red pauldron and black kama to denote their rank, while lower-ranking troopers wore either black or gray pauldrons, or none at all. While the initial deployments of Purge Troopers were comprised of clone troopers from one of the final batches off the Kaminoan production line, later deployments consisted of highly-skilled non-clone conscripts and volunteers, who had gradually replaced their clone predecessors throughout the Imperial Military as the years passed.
In 18 BBY, the first detachment of Purge Troopers, wearing this armor, were deployed during the invasion of Mon Cala to assist Darth Vader and a contingent of Inquisitors in hunting down a Jedi that had survived the initial onslaught of the Great Jedi Purge. The Jedi, Ferren Barr, and his disciples were hunted down and cornered in Bel city by the Inquisitors and their troopers. Barr managed to deduce that the troopers were clones, and realized that the Inquisitors were still considered Jedi despite their allegiance to the Empire. Using this logic, Barr commanded the clones to execute Order 66. Compelled by their indoctrination and programming, the Purge Troopers turned on their Inquisitor leaders, and managed to gun down the Tenth Brother. Eventually, the Inquisitors overcame the barrage of blaster fire and manage to kill most of the attacking Purge Troopers, while leaving several others severely maimed and wounded.
In 14 BBY, Purge Troopers in Phase I armor accompanied the Second Sister to Bracca in order to root out and kill another surviving Jedi. While on the planet, the troopers stopped a tram carrying several scrap workers and ordered them out to be interrogated. The Purge Troopers held the workers at gunpoint as the Second Sister threatened the workers into exposing the Jedi. When the Inquisitor ended up killing a worker named Prauf, the Jedi, Cal Kestis, revealed himself and managed to escape.
Purge Troopers would then be stationed across several planets in order to harry the progress of Kestis as he traveled across the galaxy. When Kestis infiltrated Fortress Inquisitorius, he fought several Purge Troopers who were training and providing security for the base. Cere Junda, who had attacked the base along with Kestis, killed several Purge Troopers using her former Padawan's captured lightsaber.
By 9 BBY, Purge Troopers assigned to Fortress Inquisitorius had begun utilizing the updated Phase II Purge Trooper armor. This new armor retained the black color, kama, pauldron, and red visor of the first model, but was stylized in a manner more resembling that of a standard stormtrooper. Despite the introduction of this new armor, numerous deployments of Purge Troopers retained use of the original Phase I armor model.
- Star Wars: Visions — "The Bandits of Golak"