The Force Unleashed

So glad this thread is still going. The brief hiatus had me worried. One of the very few reasons I still pop into Bloomilk these days.

You rock Graham!

Ah, I see. Carry on

Not to mention, he's got one of the coolest proxies in the game

I still think he has major untapped potential. Movement breakers are so big in our game, and when you combine Ganner's levitate with Zekk's pull, that could have a major impact. (Perhaps pull out a key piece for Han to blow away?)

IT-O Interrogator Droid, from Warfare and Subterfuge





The Imperial faction aren't renowned for their droids, and have little to offer them in the way of support. So while the IT-O Interrogator Droid is a solid piece for 14 points, it doesn't have a great deal of synergy with the rest of the Imperial faction. It does have some neat tricks, however; Doctrine of Fear is always a surprisingly useful ability, although it's arguably better on Admiral Motti. Jolt does synergise with Thrawn's Master Tactician, giving the Interrogator the chance to activate a piece at the top of the round, while Torture 2 allows the Interrogator the chance to graze stats off an opposition piece - it seems more likely to work against the opponent's key shooter, since the +10 will struggle to hit a beat stick, especially as the beat stick will probably have defensive abilities as well. The IT-O Interrogator Droid is an interesting support piece, but it will probably struggle to see competitive game time, 6/10.

Sorry - I guess you're right about that. Shows how often droids get used in the Imperials, right?

Darth Vader, Agent of Evil, from Renegades and Rogues





Vader Agent of Evil is one of my favourite pieces in the game. He's not as strong a beat as other Vaders in his price range, although he still packs a punch with Sith Rage 2 and Riposte. But his biggest drawcard is his trooper reserves and his commander effect for troopers - giving them careful shot +6 and double attack means that some Troopers become powerful shooters. Being the Imperials, there are almost endless support options - either of the Thrawns, Piett for Opportunist, GARY for Cunning, Carnor Jax for a solid beat and Anticipation, Needa for rerolls, and CLobot for recon and reserve are all legitimate options for a Vader AoE squad.

I've never really got Vader Agent of Evil to fire as a top tier competitive option; reserves are always difficult in competitive play, as they're unreliable and they can be neutered by the Muun Tactics Broker. But there are also ways to build and be less reliant on reserves - for instance, this Weeks build with four 501st Stormtroopers already included:



With the advent of Daala, Agent of Evil is less viable as a competitive option - the inbuilt movement breaker of Charging Fire is just so strong that it makes Vader's stand and deliver troopers weak in comparison, even though they're more thematically accurate. But he's still a piece that you can have a lot of fun with, and he's not completely unsuitable for competitive play either, 7/10.

Darth Vader, Champion of the Sith





Vader Champion of the Sith was probably a major player when he came out, but he looks difficult to utilise in a 200 point squad at this point. It's always difficult to use pieces that are combination attacker and commander, and in Vader's case, you're better going with Scourge or Lord Vader as an attacker. While if you want a similar CE, Captain Needa provides a comparable CE at only 11 points, and he fits nicely into Daala squads where there are lot of attackers to take advantage of the CE. There are some interesting builds with Vader CotS; this MasterShaper build uses Kel Dors, which are a good fit:



But there are far more efficient pieces to build around, even if Champion of the Sith is a good representation who feels like Vader, 3/10.

The Jedi Exile, from Jedi Academy





Like the 50 point Vader we just covered, the Jedi Exile is another difficult to utilise fighter/commander hybrid, albeit a lot more modern since she's from a much later WOTC set. It's very difficult to keep a 49 point piece out of the fight altogether, since it's a lot of points to leave on the sideline doing nothing, but the Jedi Exile isn't really robust enough to last long in the midst of combat. And while extra attack sounds excellent in theory, it's never quite as strong as it looks - it tends to work best with pieces that already have GMA, or in conjunction with the Revanchist's Ambush; it's often most effective with pieces like Twi'lek Black Sun Vigos or Atton 'Jaq' Rand. Given that most Old Republic squads will want to utilise Bastila Jedi Master, it's often hard to squeeze in another big commander who's not a great combatant for her cost. This FlyingArrow build, however, manages to use her to create 240 damage Bespin Security Guards:



Extra attack is a very useful CE for some builds, and the Jedi Exile is a capable enough fighter, but a lot of OR builds will struggle to squeeze her in, 7/10.