Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser review

The Lego Star Wars theme is off to a good start for 2026. Not only have we had the excellent mid-sized AT-AT, but we’ve also got this wonderful Venator-Class Attack Cruiser. It’s part of a series which Lego calls the Starship Collection, and it joins other excellent sets including the Executor Super Star Destroyer, the Acclamator-Class Assault Ship and the 25th Anniversary Millennium Falcon.

The Venator is certainly up there with the best of them, although it’s put in a tricky position, being instantly dwarfed by the Ultimate Collector’s Series version of the ship — incidentally, one of our favorite UCS sets. But given this mid-sized Venator-Class Attack Cruiser is available for a fraction of the price, there’s a lot to love here.

Obviously, it lacks the details of the UCS, given its much more modest size. But that’s no bad thing: measuring 12-inches in length, it’s still respectably sized, and there’s no mistaking the Star Wars vessel this model is aping. And for those of us who have smaller homes and less space to display giant sets, this really is the mid-sized set we’ve been waiting for.

There are some details we wish Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser had captured better — there’s no external detail to give it a sense of scale, for example — but overall it’s hard to find fault with this set. Not only is it one of our favorite mid-sized Star Wars sets to date, but it’s perhaps also amongst the best Lego Star Wars sets, particularly if you’re a fan of starships.

Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser review: Build

• Enjoyable build
• Some tricky sections, and a bit of repetition
• Neat building techniques are used

Putting together the Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser is a straightforward and mostly enjoyable process. The bricks are split up over five bags and altogether, you can expect this 643-piece set to take roughly two hours to put together, perhaps a little longer if you’re new to building Lego.

You’ll start the process by building a central structure and, by the end of bag one, it’s likely that you’ll be wondering where things are going. As often is the case with Lego sets, the Venator-Class Attack Cruiser doesn’t begin to take form until the end of bag two, with the earliest parts of the build revolving around structure and integrity.

By the time you’re beginning the third bag, though, you’ll see some of the angular shapes that give the Venator its form. The Lego designers have used some clever parts to achieve this, which we’ll talk about in more detail shortly.

Perhaps the only part of the build we didn’t enjoy was building the wings. Despite them being almost identical (albeit reversed), the instructions tell you to build both separately. It can get a bit tedious, particularly with some sections that can be a little fiddly to complete.

Once it all comes together, however, the Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser feels very sturdy and robust. Like all other sets in the Starship Collection, it stands proudly on a black base with a plaque to match the rest of the set.

Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser review: Design

• One leg is bent to give the impression of movement
• Speeder is held by a translucent rod, which looks like a tow cable
• The head is attached by a rod, too, which allows for a little movement

You’ve only got to take a fleeting glance at the photos to know that the Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser is a seriously good-looking Lego set. It’s instantly recognizable as the Venator, and despite being dwarfed by the UCS build of the same ship, it somehow manages to live up to it. Sure, it lacks some of the detail purely because of its size, but a lot has been packed into its 30 cm length.

The Lego designers behind this model have used some great building techniques, including a sort of ‘sandwich’ effect on the wings. You’ll see that flat plates have been used on the top and bottom of each wing, leaving an empty space in the center, which has cleverly been filled in on the edge with detailing. It’s a unique technique and one that works very well in capturing the shape of the cruiser.

Our only real complaint is that there’s no external detail here to give a sense of scale to the ship. On the Executor Super Star Destroyer, we had a ‘tiny’ Star Destroyer flying alongside it to emphasize the sheer size of the ship. And Lego did the same with the new AT-AT set, fixing a tiny Snow Speeder alongside it. The Venator-Class Attack Cruiser still feels grand and imposing, but that extra bit of flair would have gone a long way.

Should you buy the Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser?

Yes! You should absolutely buy the Lego Star Wars Venator-Class Attack Cruiser. This is an excellent addition to Lego’s mid-size ships range. If you already own a few of them, it will make a great addition to your collection. If you haven’t yet purchased any, this is a great place to start, and the Venator will look fantastic standing on its own.

Other sets to consider

If you’ve got the space and the money, of course, there’s the option of buying the Ultimate Collector’s Series Venator instead. You can, and you won’t be disappointed — it’s a great set. But do you really need a Lego set that big when this one does such a great job of recreating the ship?

In the same range as the Venator-Class Attack Cruiser, we’d also recommend the AT-AT, which we recently reviewed and also loved. Along with the mid-range sets we’ve also mentioned, there’s also the Home One Starcruiser and the Tantive IV, both providing excellent replicas of their respective ships.