That's how I read it.

The main reason I asked was because I wanted to make sure that changing faction, via Affinity, wouldn't be an end around to give Shaper 10 to Vua Rapuung. I see that the creators did their best, via Vong Heritage, to keep that the same. Basically, the fact that she, Vua Rapuung and the YVOG's stay Yuuzhan Vong (if they are in the same squad) because of Vong Heritage. Her Shaping doesn't affect Vua Rapuung, currently the only NR Unique Vong with excepting Nie Rin, but still benefits him in other ways (Crab Shaping, CE). The distinction was, if at any point new Vong are added to the NR, that she would still be able to boost most of the provided they aren't considered Shamed Ones.

Nothing major but I wanted to see if the interactions were still there.

In all cases and points, the fact that Nie Rin has Vong Heritage allows her to actually use Shaper +10 because Shaper +10 explicitly states YV allies and the affinity would nullify anyone being YV ally. Is this the correct assumption?

Thank you.

I don't understand why the Vong get so much more love than the Mandos. Mandos have Baskargam 11 and most Vong have crab armor 6. All Vong are immune to force damage and their attacks can't be block by 90% of Jedi. Vong have a dozen or so CEs that increase damage and Att and now they get a defensive boost. Vong also have booming voice. The only one up mandos have is that many are ranged, but seriously, where is the love?

P.S. I love the V-Sets. I'm not trying to diss any designers, I'm just perplexed.

+1 that's exactly the difference

Weird. I would have thought that the war coordinator brought the vong up to tier 1.5, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Both excellent addictions to set 5.

In addition to this I think I think some of the problem comes from the Vong being the Vong. Not in a gameplay sense, but in a Canon Sense. They remain very divisive among Star Wars Fans, I know of people who HATE the Vong and people who LOVE them. Personally I would just rather play the Jedi who fought the Vong than the Vong themselves. Ultimately I think there are just more people who don't like the Vong and a smaller proportion of players are playing them or even thinking to play them. Even when the OR wasn't so great I still had friends bringing them out, I have only ever played against the Vong maybe once.

I use Vong a lot, and have won with them. However on a whole I lose more with vong than any other faction. I still think there biggest problem is with there defence, particularly on unique characters. as for the Crab armour that's really no difference to other factions that have or can gain Evade. In fact Evade is probably better as if you win evade you evade all damage, and let face it most factions can get evade now.

For the record I do like Vong a lot, just not had much luck playing them

As part of the playtest committee and very close to the design team during this process I can speak a little about this.

Keep in Mind that when design for V-set 5 started, V-set 4 wasn't even out yet (though we had a decent idea what was coming). But regardless, it was virtually unanimous that the 2 weakest faction in top tier competitive play were Vong and Mandos.


The Mandos got some major help in V-set 4 with Mandolore the Vindicated and Fenn Shysha/Mando Protectors.

The Vong got virtually nothing competitive in V-set 4.

That's not to say that the Mandos are not getting anything - the Mando Technichian is very good IMO, at least 2 other mando pieces are going to be a lot of fun, and the best Mando in the set has yet to be revealed.

Are Vong getting some major love in this set? Yes they are, and they needed it. Nei Rin is one of the best Vong additions in this set, but there are at least 2 others that are really going to make a splash as well. (Just checked - the Domain Shai Subaltern was already spoiled, and that is a major boost.)

We specifically focused on what we felt the Vong needed to compete. The only Vong squad to do very well in the past few years is a spitting Nom-Bombs squad. Before this set, Vong Jedi Hunter swarms are only competitive vs Jedi. Other than that they get torn apart by droids, guns, big movement breakers, the lancer, deathshots, etc. After many weeks of PMing each other and chat in the forums, I was part of conference phone call that included a designer and a top Vong player, and we spent hours hashing out where we wanted the Vong to go. Basically we noted that the Vong's main weakness was ranged defense and not getting to the battle before they are decimated. Obviously the Subaltern is pretty straightforward and helps a lot in this area. Nei Rin's ranged defense is pretty straightforward (Crab Armor Shaper), and I am quite proud of her CE. Her CE addresses the strength of VCA6 vs 11 or 16 in a way. We didn't simply want to make the characters with VCA6 better and leave the less used VCA11 and 16 collecting dust. This CE (though it may seem counter-intuitive at first) was very carefully thought out. First off - the movement only kicks in when you FAIL a crab armor save. So either the armor works, or you can move (out of harms way or into the battle). Since it only works when you FAIL, that means it works MOST often for the VCA16 guys, and less often for the VCA6 studs. This encourages builds with greater variety and actually gives the Vong a chance in battles vs shooter heavy squads. One more major Vong piece will give something new and unique to the Vong which could prove to be HUGE, and I can't wait to see how it is received. It is very much thematic.

It is all of our hopes that you can realistically compete with ANY faction after this set, and I sincerely believe that it will be as close as we have ever been.