Kicking off this week and our top 5 is the revamped
GOWK. This one is considerably more expensive, but
much better balanced than his banned predecessor.
His stats are typical Kenobi, but this version has
some perks that i really like. The biggest among
these (and what makes everything else that much
better) is flight. His surprise move now becomes
that much easier to use as you will not give up AoOs,
and his double attack is that more effective. Also
his ability to get away from multiple attacks is
awesome. He has mettle again, but this time he does
not have Master of the Force 2 or renewal, so his 5
FP can disappear quickly. To be honest it also makes
his Soresu Mastery not much different than
lightsaber defense.
I really do not think much of his commander effect.
He is the cheapest character to grant extra attacks,
but also it does grant it to allies, which can be
helpful. At his cost its hard to get too many
quality followers into his squads, but not
impossible. You just have to spend wisely. This is
definitely not a character you want as a follower.
This new Obi is pretty strong, but nowhere as
abuse-able as GOWK, and requires a bit more skilled
hand to use. I had him at #4, so i like where he
ended up in our poll and feel it an appropriate
place for this version that truly has the feel of
Kenobi.
Josh
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi General (32/40, Rare—Galaxy at War; HP120, DEF22, ATT14, DAM20)
This version of Obi-Wan is surprisingly versatile. Any time a Jedi has
Flight,
he’s already got an advantage just because he can
engage and disengage from other beat-sticks without
provoking attacks of opportunity. If he can afford
to stay based to a character, with a +14 attack
bonus, his
Double Attack isn’t going to miss that
frequently. Thanks to
Soresu Style Mastery he can also avoid damage from all sources
provided he makes a save of 11, and if he happens to
miss and you use a Force point to reroll,
Mettle
comes into play and gives that reroll attempt a +4
bonus as well.
While he only has one Force power,
Surprise Move,
it actually works pretty well for this version of
Obi-Wan precisely because he has
Flight.
If he happens to get based by something really
nasty, you can use
Surprise Move before any other character activates to get away from
it without triggering an attack of opportunity.
However, you will have to remember that he does not
have Force
Renewal, so you’ll have to spend points wisely
between this and
Mettle-based
rerolls.
Finally, his commander effect is something
we’ve seen before, but any time your commander can
grant Extra
Attack to allies, it’s always a plus.
Overall, this is a very strong version of
Obi-Wan, however, he does suffer
slightly
from lack of
Force Renewal, though if that were included this
figure would be perilously close to being
overpowered regardless of how much he cost to get
out on the field.
100 POINTS: Here, he can actually be a pretty
solid piece thanks largely to
Soresu Style
Mastery. Obi-Wan, Jedi General could wind up
being pretty hard to kill if you can keep making
your saves and thanks to
Flight, if he has to he
can still rabbit away if something goes awry.
Honestly, he and Commander Ahsoka wouldn’t make a
terribly bad duo team-up since she’d pick up the
benefit of Obi-Wan’s commander effect. SCORE: 3
200 POINTS: Here, where there’s a larger point
base to pull from he can be an ever better addition.
Many Republic characters can benefit strongly from
Extra Attack
so he’s a great addition there. He’s still pretty
expensive, but he’s definitely worth the points.
SCORE: 4
Addendum for the 10 Ten Minis of 2009 List: Wow, so I totally forgot I
even reviewed this character once before and what’s
really scary is that as I was writing the fresh
review, I said basically the exact same thing. I did
boost his score in the 200 POINT format up to a 4
just because thinking about it a little more he’s a
very good piece to run at the 200 point level.
There’s plenty of room for other pieces to synergize
with him and even though he doesn’t do a lot of
damage, that defense score of 22 is a pretty high
mark for your opponent’s pieces to hit so Obi-Wan is
going to last quite a while if you play him
correctly.
Darth Mauler
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi General was 3rd on my top
10, but based on who beat him, I can see why he is 5th.
He is the first DCI-legal Obi-Wan in the Republic
faction since all the way back in Universe. He
captures who Obi-Wan is very well, and is very
competitive.
The most impressive part of Flobi is his Commander Effect.
Granting Extra Attack to allies, he can be combined
with a number of other characters. He can be used
with Argyus and the Senate Commandos for squads of
shooters that inflict 180 damage per turn (240 with
Yularen). If he and Rex are used with the 501st,
you get 13-pt. shooters that inflict 60 damage while
moving, not to mention Rex’s damage output being
boosted to 120. Again, Yularen is his best friend,
boosting the Troopers to 90 damage. Just looking at
the Commander Effect, we can see that Flobi belongs
in the top 10.
Flobi is also as excellent at defense as the Obi-Wan we
have come to know. SSM captures his essence, and
Mettle boosts it further.. It is only balanced by
his limit of 5 force. If Qui-Gon, Force Spirit is
ever made, there would be cries of this character
being as broken as GOWK.
Aggressively, Flobi is lacking. He can inflict 40 damage
when standing still at 14 attack. He should not be
used as a squad’s main attacker or an attacker at
all much.
When using Flobi, combos are the key, even more than
normally. Those who will be most boosted by his CEs
are generally the best to use with him. He can also
provide a good shield, taking hits very well, and
getting in front with his one force power: Surprise
Move. He is on the top 10 not for versatility, but
for sheer endurance in an age of
damage-beats-defense, and for his synergy.
Last half of the Top 10 list this week, yahoo!
Coming in at #5 is Obi Wan, Jedi General (lovinly
known as Flobi). Flobi was essentially the
replacement piece for GOWK (in the gamer’s eye, at
least) and does a pretty good job filling that role.
Though his stats are sad, he makes up for it with
his CE and SA’s. Soresu Style Mastery, in
particular, makes up for his bad stats. Although he
loses MotF and Force Renewal from his Starter Set
incarnation, SSM is still a very nasty ability. 5
fixed force points prevents abusive rerolls and also
gives him a number of chances to use Surprise Move
(which has excellent synenergy with Flight, woot!).
Finally, his CE is super-swell. A carbon copy of
Vader, LotF’s, Extra Attack to allies is very useful
and means that you can play Flobi with just about
anybody. IMO,
Flobi should be used as a shield, not an attacker.
He access to just about no damage boosters, so he’s stuck with a cap of 40 damage.
Parking him in front of your more fragile shooters,
however, will allow him to absorb attacks and
hopefully bat them away.
100: 2/5 Too expensive for too little damage. A
strictly fun combo could be playing him with Rex. 6
attacks is nothing to laugh at.
150: 4/5 Much better here. Try to get the most out
of his CE and SSM.
200: 5/5 The bigger
the better for Obi, JG. Be creative with your options,
there’s a lot he can do.
