Ratings:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the
worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.
100 pt: 2.00
200 pt: 3.50
Killer_Nacho
Darth
Plagueis - 63 points
Faction: Sith
HP: 120
Defense: 20
Attack: 13
Damage: 20
Abilities: Unique, Melee Attack, Parry
Force 2, Force Renewal 2, Essense of Life, Force
Corruption 3, Force Curruption 4
Ah, so we finally get a mini of Sidious's famed
master, Plagueis. Plagueis is a very "unique"
miniature in regard to what he brings to the table.
First of all, he is another high-costing Sith
character. The popularity of this mini could be
determined by its faction alone... the fact that he
is Sith makes him somewhat difficult to play, but
I'll explain that later. Let's take a look at the
mini itself.
His stats are a bit low for his high 63 point cost.
120 HP with 20 defense is solid but is a bit fragile
for his points, but his 13 attack is good as well as
his standard 20 damage. It's really nothing to write
home about. Then you look at his abilities... and
realize that he doesn't have any form of extra
attacks, which seems to be staples on a Jedi of this
level. He does however have Parry, a useful ability
to help his rather dissapointing defensive stats.
However, it is also important to note that this
still leaves him open to ranged attacks, and that
Plagueis can be shot down pretty easily.
But as I expected before I even saw the stats for
this figure, the reason you will want to use him is
because of his force abilities. Plagueis has an
impressive 2 force combined with Force Renewal 2,
meaning he can rejuvinate force points very quickly.
Combined with the abundance of force points he will
have at his disposal, he gets three pretty unique
abilities. First, he gets a new ability, Essense of
Life, which is also on the figure we reviewed on
Monday (Cade Skywalker, Padawan). However, Cade uses
a bit better simply because he's a 20 point unit
while Plagueis is 63 points... Quite simply, if you
are using a 63 point figure, he's the piece you are
likely trying to protect. And you can't use Essense
of Life on yourself. In combination of that, he also
has two forms of Force Corruption, 3 and 4. 3 is a
bit weaker but with an area effect, and 4 can do a
whopping 40 damage a turn. While it's not too great
against force users, since they can usually avoid
the second hit with force rerolling, it can still be
a great help against any character and the original
guarenteed damage is nice. Plagueis can really rack
up a lot of damage this way.
Overall, a nice character, I like it. If used
correctly and with a little luck, it can be easily
worth its points and more. However, you could also
find that he goes down extremely quickly to his lack
of defensive abilities and stats aside from Parry.
He's a unique character with unique problems.
100 points: 2/5, I'm going to have to say you should
not try him here. The good news is that Parry works
on a majority of this format's major beatsticks, but
the bad news that even with it, he won't be able to
do much against the likes of the giant force users
here. To make matters worse, the Sith don't really
have any support that will be able to help him in
100 points. With Bane this isn't much of a problem
since he is a one-man army anyway, Plagueis is more
of a support character.
200 points: 3/5, Here he can shine a little more.
You may be able to combine him with another giant
Sith Lord so you can protect him with Essense of
Life. You also can bring in quite a bit more support
so that you can keep Plagueis away from the fighting
a bit and just Force Corrupt people.
Sculpt: 4/5, HE DID IT!
Josh
Darth Plagueis (6/40,
Very Rare—Jedi Academy; HP 120, ATT 13, DEF 20, DAM
20, DEP 63)
From the
moment Wizard’s first previewed this figure, I
really wanted to like him, but as time has
passed, I just can’t for some reason. For 63 points,
you’re getting a stat card pretty loaded with
abilities. Giving Plagueis Parry is nice
since he’ll be able to try and block melee attacks
without spending Force points. Essence of Life
is a great way to “unnaturally” extend the life of
your characters as Sidious so eloquently described
his master’s talents in Revenge of the Sith.
It can be a pretty unpleasant surprise for your
opponent if your characters happen to make their
saves. However, since it only leaves that at 10 hit
points, you’ll probably be making a lot of these
saves on each character and with a fifty-fifty shot,
you’re eventually not going to make the save at a
key time and it will be over for that character.
With Force Renewal 2, he’s going to have a
pretty ample supply of Force points to use to
corrupt your opponent’s pieces.With two
different levels of Force Corruption, able to
deal 30 and 40 points of damage at a range of six
squares, he can be a pretty powerful harassment
piece. However, at 63 points to deploy, you should
really have something better than a “harassment
piece.” His first real drawback is only having
single attack. Though you’ll be running him pretty
much exclusively for his very strong Force
Corruption effects, this lack of multiple
attacks is a pretty severe drawback for this
character. His defense score of 20 is also pretty
low for a character this expensive and a +13 to hit
is kind of the bottom line attack bonus for a Force
user anymore. Much like Darth Nihlius, Plagueis can
be a pretty nasty piece that can hamper your
opponent’s squad, but unlike Nihlius, he’s very
expensive for his interfering abilities.
While I
appreciate Wizard’s listening to fans and creating a
mini of Sidious’ dark master, judging by this
character’s stats, it’s no wonder Sidious was able
to rebel against his master and slay him. He’s a
very high-priced harassment piece, and for the Sith
faction, that just doesn’t cut it. Like the
Mandalorians, the Sith strategy is to hit your
opponent so hard that they can’t hit back. Plagueis
can assist in that with Force Corruption
but can’t do it on his own.
100 POINTS: Here, he just
doesn’t have the damage dishing capabilities to hang
with the beat sticks and at 63 points, he would
be the beat stick of your squad and he just
can’t do that. While Force Corruption can be
a pretty nasty, lasting-damage ability, the save
your opponent needs to make is pretty low and with
all the Force users with renewal out there, they can
afford to reroll missed saves. SCORE: 1
200 POINTS: Even though he
can get a lot more support, he’s still not that good
at this level. If run alongside the proper beat
stick as a shield for him, he can be a pretty brutal
piece since he can hit them with Force Corruption
while your beat stick wails on them. At the same
time, though, that means you’ll likely have at least
110 points of your squad tied up in just two
characters, leaving you low on points for support.
SCORE: 2.5
Gunnar "Darth
Malstrom" Malstrom
Darth
Plagueis (VR-Sith)
Cost: 63
HP: 120
Def: 20
Att: 13
Dam: 20
Special Abilities:
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Parry (When hit by a melee attack, this character
takes no damage with a save of 11)
Force Powers:
Force 2
Force Renewal 2 (This character gets 2 Force points
each time he activates)
Essence of Life (Force 2: When a living ally within
6 squares would be defeated, that ally makes a save
of 11. On a success, that ally has 10 Hit Points
instead of being defeated.)
Force Corruption 3 (Force 3, replaces turn: range 6,
non-Droids only; target and each character adjacent
to that target take 30 damage and are corrupted.
Each time a corrupted character activates it must
attempt a save of 11. On a failure, that character
takes 30 damage. On a success, that character is no
longer corrupted.)
Force Corruption 4 (Force 4, replaces attacks: range
6, non-Droids only; 40 damage and target is
corrupted. Each time the corrupted character
activates, it must attempt a save of 11. On a
failure, that character takes 40 damage. On a
success, that character is no longer corrupted.)
Hey guys… today we look at Palpy's Master, ole'
Darth Plagueis… the wise. Plagueis is a big bag of
force tricks, that could really be annoying if you
run into him. His stats are on the low side for a
force user, especially a 63 point force user, but
his abilities and force points do more than make up
for it.
He starts with Parry, which is a free Block against
Melee pieces (notice he doesn't have a Lightsaber so
damage reduction still is in effect.) which will
keep is 120 HP around a little longer. Now where
this guy shines is in his force points. He has two
points and renewal 2, which means that he gains two
force powers every time he activates. You are going
to need those force points, because he has a bunch
of different powers, and they are all pretty
expensive.
First off he has the new Essence of Life, which is
the force equivalent to Avoid Defeat with one less
save. He then moves into the Corruptions. For 3
Force points he can use Corruption 3 which puts 30
on a character and all adjacent pieces, every time
they activate them must make a save 11, if they miss
their save they take another 30. If the dice gods
are not with you this could be very annoying. Now
Corruption 4 is the same thing but it does 40 damage
and is 4 Force points. Now there is a big
difference that people have been missing. On
Corruption 3 it replaces turn, on Corruption 4 it
just replaces attacks, so you can still move 6 and
use Corruption 4.
As far as the best way to play him… just play him.
Sure you can boost your attack to +17 with Malak
DlotS, or give him an extra attack with Krayt but I
think the best person to team him with is Palpy Sith
Master, and swap him in and out to best use his
corruption. The fact that he is an expensive piece
in a very expensive faction makes it hard to use him
with others in his faction. But like I said, just
throw him in and see what you can do.
Onto the rankings…
100pts 3/5: This format is ruled by big time force
users. Here he can do okay. Not much room for
support, but he can hang in there in this format.
200pts 3.5/5: Here you can bring in more support.
His lack of synergy and high cost still make his
hard to play, but he can still do good here.
