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Sith Dragon |
Darth Vader,
Scourge of the Jedi
Imperial
Cost: 55
HP: 120
DEF: 21
ATK: +14
DAM: 20
Double Attack; Djem So; Jedi Hunter; Dark Armor
Force 4
Lightsaber Riposte; Lightsaber
Throw 2
Yay! Today we kick off the new
set with a brand new Vader! Just what we
needed right? Well, this one manages to fall
into yet another niche and is different than any
other Vader to date.
It appears the new sweet spot for costing Vader
seems to be in that 50-55pt range. Vader's
stats are good, but they are the lowest of any
Vader. He only has 120HP, the lowest DEF of
any Vader other than RotS. The attack is also
on the low end but not so out of the norm.
Of course he has double attack. Jedi hunter
will help him hit big against fellow Jedi. Its
a good thing he only has double. Scourge also
has Dark Armor, so that 120 HP will stretch a bit
further. The new big thing is the addition of
Djem So. This is a new ability that pretty
much puts Vader at the top of the melee hate list,
but watch out. It can backfire. Two
things that need to be noted. If you are going
to use a force power like riposte, you must declare
it before
you roll the Djem So save. You may then
resolve them in any order. The other thing of
not is that Djem So is neither optional nor
end-able. You must roll the save. If you
make the save you have to make the attack even if it
is on yourself or on a character with self destruct
that you would rather not kill. Also, for now
it looks if you get a Luke vs Vader or Vader hitting
himself that you would have to make the attacks as
long as you keep making the saves. There is
some confusion on these rulings we are waiting to
clear up. Keep an ear to the pojo boards and i
will post if anything changes. The positive
side is that Vader can reek havoc on melee and
especially Jedi. He basically gets a double
riposte when hit by a melee attack. While i
think this can be a bit too powerful of an ability
on someone like Vader, i like the fact that here is
a response to Vong melee.
His force powers are limited as are his force
points. He needs a battery to help his 4 force
points if you want to really make use of them.
Riposte gives him the ability to counter attack
twice for one hit. That is going to hurt for
any Jedi trying to take him down. Throw 2 is
nice because you can move 6 and still get your
double attack in from six squares away.
This Vader is very nice, but he does have his
weaknesses. He has no response to shooters, so
its best for Jedi to have a heavy gun back up to
soften him up a bit. Granted he really cant
defend against melee either other than to say "You
hit me? HA! I hit you back twice." I guess its
a case of out offensing the other guy. Also
his low stats make him fall quickly. This wont
be an overpowering Vader, but he could be a lot of
fun to play and can counter some strong melee
squads.
100pts: I dont think he is going to work
overly well here. He will hang with the Jedi
melee as he can keep up on offense, and unlike the
other big melee pieces, he has lots of room to bring
in help. His problem here is going to be
against the ever growing presence of shooters in
this format.
150/200pts: Here he will be effective, but i dont
think he will be the best of the 50pt Vaders.
If someone likes running lots of Jedi, Vader should
clean house. Although a Jedi like Tyranus or
Shaak are going to hang with him. Either way,
Vader is going to need lots of help, preferably
either swap or shooters. I'd go with shooters
because the era of swap is going to die shortly
after the release of the clone wars starter set. ;)
Balance will be the key to making him effective.
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