Ratings:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the
worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.
100 pt: 2.20
200 pt: 3.33
Killer_Nacho
Darth Sidious,
Sith Master - 57 points
Faction: Sith
HP: 120
Defense: 19
Attack: 15
Damage: 20
Abilities: Unique, Melee Attack, Triple Attack
Force 2, Force Renewal 1, Force Lightning 2, Master
of the Force 2, Pawn of the Dark Side
Commander Effect:
At the end of this character's turn, 2 allies within
6 squares of this character who are the same size
may switch positions.
So here we get to review a piece that I really like
from the new set, the new Darth Sidious. Right off
the bat, you notice something that sets this Sidious
apart from every other Sidious we've ever had: The
fact that he is a member of the Sith faction.
Interesting, but not really preferable. After all,
there is nothing new about another high costing Sith
Lord for the Sith faction. Or is there? Sidious,
Sith Master actually does have a way to set himself
apart from the other hordes of high-costing Sith
characters. Shall we examine?
First of all for the high 57 cost, Sidious's stats
are actually somewhat dissapointing. With only 19
defense and 120 hitpoints and no defensive
abilities, Sidious can actually be taken down pretty
fast. He's by no stretch of the imagination "bulky",
and therefore you have to play Sidious with that in
mind. Although he does have a very good 15 attack to
abuse with his Triple attack. Sidious can do some
major damage if he gets close enough.
However, this Sidious, like most other versions of
him, is much more of a defensive character than
anything else. Now, he doesn't have his usual
ability, having other characters spend his force
points, but it is replaced by a rather unique
strategy. Sidious, Sith Master has both Pawn of the
Dark Side and Thrawn's switching ability, which
allows him to pull off some pretty awesome combos.
Pawn of the Dark Side is an ability that allows
Sidious to activate a non-unique character, that
doesn't count as one of your two activations during
a phase, and then have him take 10 damage after.
Using this ability in combination with another, more
powerful, sith lord, you can activate a grunt and
have him move adjacent to an enemy you want to
decimate, swap the powerful sith lord with the
grunt, then have the sith lord unleash his multiple
attack wrath on him. This can work with most of the
Sith's heavy hitters... Bane, Krayt, you name it.
And with Force Renewal 1, Sidious can keep abusing
this combo. He also has Force Lightning 2 which
allows him to be able to do some major damage from
behind the main fighting and Master of the Force 2,
which can allow him to reroll attacks or saves
twice, or gain +2 speed twice, to allow quick
retreating and charging.
Overall, a good support piece for the Sith. Being
the fact that he is 57 points, he may be a tad hard
to utilize, but if you can pull it off he can be an
amazing asset. He can also dish out some major
damage by himself, but you will have to play
conservatively with him because he can drop quickly
if you don't play it right.
100 points: 1.5/5, Forget it. He won't be able to
stay around long here, and is far too fragile to
really compete.
200 points: 3/5, In a low activation sith army, you
can really abuse his ability to take out large
threats from your opponent. Definatly worth
consideration.
Sculpt 4/5, Love it!
Josh
Darth Sidious, Sith
Master (7/40, Rare—Jedi Academy; HP 120, ATT 15, DEF
19, DAM 20, DEP 57)
Making his
first appearance in the Sith faction, Darth Sidious
reappears as a sort of a combination of his first
and second versions from the Separatist faction.
Like Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith (Champions)
he’s a pretty nasty attacker with Triple Attack
and a relatively high attack bonus as well as access
to Force Lightning 2 which can deal 30 points
of damage and arc to other targets. Like the
original Darth Sidious (Clone Strike) you
also get access to Pawn of the Dark Side,
which is a Force power that we haven’t seen in a
very long time. This allows Sidious to activate
another character to take a full turn (unlike
Dominate which has a save and doesn’t allow the
activated character to move) as long as you are
willing to deal 10 points of damage to that
character at the end of its turn. The only caveat it
has is you have to use it on non-Unique allies,
which can pose problems in Sith builds just because
it is a very Unique fueled faction. Thanks to
Master of the Force 2, Sidious can use Force
points twice per turn, which is always a plus and
with Force Renewal 1, you don’t have to worry
about him running out of Force for the most part.
His Commander Effect gives the Sith access to the
Thrawn-swap ability which can be a big help for your
Sith squad if you can base an important piece with a
scrub and still have Sidious in range of your real
beat stick to do a swap out and trigger a big
attack.
His stats are
appropriately beefy for a Darth Sidious, however at
the same time, he’s not nearly as big a terror as
most similarly priced Sith are. His only other real
drawback is the lack of defensive Force powers means
if you leave him out in the open accidentally, he’s
going to get damaged.
100 POINTS: With Triple
Attack and Force Lightning 2, Sidious
could make a pretty good stand in this format. While
he’s not as beefy as the other Sith beat sticks,
he’s also not nearly as expensive which can be a big
help. Throw in a few non-Unique allies (like the
various generic Dark Jedi or some Sith Assault
Droids which can use Shields to protect
themselves from Pawn of the Dark Side’s
damaging effect) and it could turn out to be a
pretty effective squad if played properly. SCORE: 3
200 POINTS: Here, where
there are a lot more pieces to play with, Sidious
becomes even more effective. The Thrawn-swap
commander effect is always a great commander effect
to have access to and anything that can give your
Sith greater movement is always a good thing because
the faction is very Melee Attack heavy.
Pawn of the Dark Side also has many more options
for characters to activate and if he’s with his old
master Darth Plagueis, Essence of Life can
create a bit of a loop with Pawn of the Dark Side
by saving the life of a pawn and still leaving it
with 10 hit points as long as they make the save.
With the ability to do either a Triple Attack
or damage at range with Force Lightning,
Sidious can be pretty dangerous. SCORE: 4
Gunnar "Darth
Malstrom" Malstrom
Darth Sidious,
Sith Master (R-Sith)
Cost: 57
HP: 120
Def: 19
ATT: 15
Dam: 20
Special Abilities:
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Triple Attack (On his turn, this character can make
2 extra attacks instead of moving).
Force Powers:
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point
each time he activates)
Force Lightning 2 (Force 2, replaces attacks: range
6; 30 damage to target and 2 characters adjacent to
that target)
Master of the Force 2 (May spend Force points up to
2 times in a single turn)
Pawn of the Dark Side (Force 1, replaces attacks:
sight; 1 non-Unique ally takes an immediate turn,
which does not count as one of your 2 activations
this phase; at the end of that turn, it takes 10
damage)
Commander Effect:
At the end of this character's turn, 2 allies within
6 squares of this character who are the same size
may switch positions.
Hey guys DarthMalstrom back with a review of the new
Darth Sidious. Though this Sidious is not great it
does have its uses. His stats are okay. 120 Hit
points and 19 defense are not great for a 57 point
piece, but the +15 attack is nice. His damage and
Special Abilities are pretty standard on a Sidious.
Now his force powers bring this Palpy closer to
being a great piece. First he has Lightning 2, which
deals 30 to the target and two adjacent characters.
He also brings Pawn of the Dark Side to the Sith
Faction. What this does is grants a free turn to any
non-unique piece in your squad. Pawn is used quite
frequently on IG Lancer droids in the Seps… but
there is a drawback… The character takes 10 damage.
Now one good way to use this Force Power is with
either of the Sith Assault Droids. They have shields
and have a 75% of not taking any damage from it. All
you need is Sight to that character and they can
pull it off. It is nice to either move and put 40 on
someone, then put 80 more… or not move and combine
to put 160 on someone in two activations (with the
Sith Heavy Assault Droid).
I am not done yet. This Sidious brings the infamous
"Thrawn Swap" to the Sith faction. Palpy lets you
swap two pieces with the same base size. Considering
the Sith faction is full of huge hitters, this
commander effect can come in pretty handy. You can
now Triple with Exar for 60, then swap in Krayt or
Maul or Revan and triple again. Krayt is good to use
because he grants followers an extra attack. Now to
pull off the swap (and Krayt's extra attack) you
need mouse droids a-plenty. There is no Mas, so
either bringing Palpy into the action or using mouse
droids are a must with this piece. The Rebels have
the same problem with K-3PO and having to use Mouse
droids, and you know what…? I don't think I have
ever seen anyone use K.
So the moral of the story is that Sidious is useful
and squads can be built around him, but it takes
skill to use him correctly. His biggest weakness is
that he is unique and counts as Darth Sidious, so he
can't be used with the hologram version of himself,
which I believe is the best piece in the Sith
faction.
Onto the ratings…
100pts 2/5: He could be used here, but you will more
than likely be using him as an attacker rather than
a commander and pawner. For his cost there are much
better pieces that can be used than him for
attacking.
200pts 3/5: Like most pieces here you can use him
better. Bring in Krayt and a couple cheaper
non-unique pieces and swap them in. Most of them
will have Triple Attack and an Attack in the low
single digits, and can be pawned. You can also use
him with just some unique Sith pieces and take
advantage of the swapping. Not game changing, but
not a bad little piece.
