I have hated this character since he came out.
I have always been a melee runner, and have fought
long and hard to get melee pieces beefed up to be
able to compete against the shooting squads that
have dominated the game since Bounty Hunters was
released. It was making very nice strides, but
then you get this piece. While melee itself,
it is instant death for any melee piece to try and
attack the Grand Master. Thus it was a set
back for melee as a whole.
The most notable thing about the Grand Master is
that he was the first character to go over the 100pt
cost thresh hold. For this and his insanely
beefy powers, he deserves to be in the top 10 of
last year. I had him in at #10 on my list.
Luke was damn near broken with all of his abilities.
As i said not only will melee attacks die instantly
against him, they will in general do very little
damage to him before defeat. What keeps him
balanced is the fact shooters can take him down
fairly quickly if they can pack in enough shots.
Force powers can also overwhelm him if you can run a
few characters that can direct damage him.
Basically anything that can eat through his force
points quickly.
As powerful as Luke was, his cost also forced him to
be an army of one. This too was a pretty big
detractor against playing him. He will not win
you many tourneys, but at the same time, it only
takes one little kid to bring him because Luke is
his favorite to throw a whole tourney out of whack,
handing losses to people that would not normally
lose. You had to be ready for this character,
so while his overall win-ability isn't very high, he
has enough going for him that the #8 spot is a good
place for him.
Josh
Grand Master Luke Skywalker (27/40, Rare—Jedi
Academy; 150HP, ATT 19, DEF 23, DAM 20, DEP 115)
Star Wars Minis picks up its first character that
costs over 100 points. However, this version of Luke
is really worth every point. Starting with his
Commander Effect, New Republic Jedi squads get a
serious shot in the arm. A lot of their really great
Jedi pieces had some pretty expensive Force powers
but lacked Force Renewal. Now character like Corran
Horn or Jacen Skywalker can use their expensive
powers more than once a game. I’m also a big fan of
giving Force Renewal to Jaina just because she’s
actually going to be a strong piece now that she can
Deflect more often. Another possible candidate for a
Grand Master Luke squad is Kyp Durron just because
you can get Force Renewal right away without having
to sacrifice someone to get it.
On to Luke’s special abilities, this version of Luke
is an absolute beast. With a possible six attacks
per round thanks to
TripleandTwin,
this Luke can really beat people around. Add in a
stronger form of
Djem So
that gives you the free attack plus a 10 point
damage boost if you make the save and this Luke is a
serious melee threat.
However, not examining Luke’s Force powers would be
silly and here is where he really becomes worth the
points. With
Force Renewal 2 and
Master of
the Force 2, Luke will have a pretty solid
supply of Force points and can protect himself
effectively.
Force Defense will let him cancel out Force
powers used near him which can be pretty nasty if
your opponent is using some of the more expensive
offensive Force powers like Force Lightning since
the Force points are still spent. Add in the new
Lightsaber
Defense, which protects Luke from
any
attack not just melee or nonmelee and Luke is going
to be pretty hard to kill.
Master Speed
is also nice to see on Luke since it allows him to
get into the thick of things much more quickly.
200 POINTS: This Luke is absolutely incredible. The
only real drawback is his price, since even in this
point level bracket, Luke is over half your squad.
You’ll want to run him in a Jedi build and depending
on the Jedi you run, you could wind up
really
low on activations, which can be pretty important at
the 200 point level. This Luke definitely gives the
New Republic Jedi squads a serious shot in the arm
and will be seen in most Jedi builds from this point
on, I think. SCORE: 4.5 (The only reason he’s not a
perfect 5 is that cost issue. I understand
why they
priced him so high, but it still can be a mild
drawback since he’s totally unusable in one format
of the game and let’s be fair, he’s not going to be
terribly effective at the 150 point level as well.)
Addendum for the Top 10 Minis of 2009 List: To be
honest, I’m a little surprised Grand Master Luke
didn’t make it higher on the list just because his
Commander Effect was so great for the New Republic
Jedi. However, he’s not as game changing as other
characters on the list just because you can only
effectively run him in one format. Don’t get me
wrong he’s still really helpful there, but with as
expensive as he is, there really isn’t too much room
for synergy with him which is why I’m sure he
doesn’t rate higher. At the same time, though, this
version of Luke is a pretty effective army of one.
Darth Mauler
Coming in at #8 on the list, Grand Master Luke
Skywalker is the highest costed character since the
AT-AT, and a far more playable one at that. To start
off with, his attack and defense are both as high as
it gets, with the attack stat previously having been
exclusive to Exar Kun. His HP is 150, which, while
great normally, is somewhat low for the cost. 20
damage is standard. While his attack and defense are
great, his stats obviously are no reason to put him
on the top 10. However, he has a nasty set of
abilities and force powers.
Aggressively, GMLS can pull off more attacks in one
move than any other mini can without support.
Between Triple and Twin, he can inflict 120 damage.
Clearly, you do not want him to base something you
want to activate again. Moving away is not even much
of an option as the Twin means even then he will
likely land 40 damage. As for avoiding getting
based, that’s not much of an option either. Between
MOTF 2 and Master Speed, he can move 24 squares in
one turn, or 18 and still attack twice. While
moving, though, he is only going to hit for 40.
Basing high-HP enemies (without Flight or Force
Leap) is the key to successfully attacking with
GMLS.
Defensively, GMLS is as nasty as GOWK, though in a
different way. While he lacks Soresu Style Mastery,
he has Lightsaber Defense. Since he also lacks
Mettle, he is easier to hit. However, the force cost
is taken care of by the upgrade from Force Renewal 1
to Force Renewal 2. The nasty part of the defense,
though, is in his lightsaber style: Djem-So Style
Mastery. It has a 50% chance to let GMLS
counterattack at +10 damage. Add a Twin Attack, and
that’s 50 damage half the time GMLS gets hit by
melee. With Lightsaber Defense, he can then block
the damage to himself, thus allowing him to inflict
damage on his opponent’s attack without receiving
any. The only problem is that he only has Defense
when getting shot at.
GMLS also has a CE. He had to, or else he would be
too badly abused with General Wedge. He grants Force
Renewal 1 to allies with a force rating. While this
appears to be a very good Commander Effect, most
force users in the faction already have renewal. The
only ones that are playable, or become playable with
GMLS, without it are Kyp Durron, Mara Jade, Jedi,
and KKJBM. Unless you are playing with 300 points,
Mara and Kyle are too expensive to use with him. Kyp,
however, becomes deadly beyond 26 points with
Renewal, allowing him to use Force Push 5 without a
sacrifice. The only problem is that once Luke dies,
even if there is only grunts left, Kyp can be
manipulated as he gains Savage. Still, it is a
viable combination.
When building a squad with GMLS, there are several
characters to consider. The first and most expensive
is the aforementioned Kyp. I ran the two with a
Mouse and two Ugnaughts in a 150 point squad once
and did pretty well. The second is Leia Skywalker,
Jedi Knight. She allows him to reroll all saves
once, which is quite useful when a character needs
them for so much. A combo to consider would be Cade
and the Bacta Tank, allowing GMLS to easily retreat
back and heal quickly, throwing away your opponent’s
hard work to damage him. Overall, GMLS is a quite
useful character.
Each ally with a force rating gains Force Renewal 1
Back in the day, we were shocked to see Darth Revan
priced at 88 points. Then comes along a Bothan
Transmission and what do we find, 115 points Grand
Master Luke! GMLS is an absolute
beast, but that’s a necessity for a
piece this pricey. To be honest, he didn’t even come
into consideration for my Top 10 list, but oh well.
J
All his stats are at the top of their class.
He’s given an unprecedented combination of Triple
and Twin Attack, giving him a potential of 6. His
last ability is Djem So Style Mastery. So basically,
when he gets hit by a melee attack, Luke will swing
back at you twice for a total of 50 damage (20 +10
for the first, 20 for the second). This makes Luke
almost impossible to defeat in 1-on-1 melee combat.
Luke also has the coveted Force Renewal 2 and the
rare Force Defense. Lightsaber Defense is
essentially Block and Deflect rolled into one, and
Master Speed lets him jump into battle quickly.
Remember that with MotF, Luke can use Master Speed
twice for a total range of 24 squares in one turn.
Finally, his CE grants allies with a Force rating
Renewal 1. Unfortunately, many NR pieces already
have Renewal, so his best bet is with Fringe force
users.
Luke’s a one man army, and that’s his greatest
weakness. With a huge chunk of your squad spent on
him, you won’t have room for many support pieces or
extra activations. Squads with GMLS are typically
out activated by a large margin. This results in
Luke getting pounded by practically the entire
opposing team. Even with Renewal 2, Luke won’t have
enough force to bat away
all the
attacks. His CE, while very powerful, is limited by
the amount of useful pieces without Renewal. A few
good options are Corran Horn, Kreia, and Jarael.
100: 0/5 He, he can’t even fit into this format, so
no points here.
150 + 200: 3/5 Lumping these together because his
effectiveness usually remains the same. Your best
bet is to get lots of activation (Dodonna is golden)
to help Luke out as much as possible and make sure
that Luke doesn’t stay out in the open. Picking off
pieces one at a time is usually the
best course of action. Don’t try
and engage too many pieces at once.
