So I'm going to go through all the heroes, card by card, and evaluate how good each is. Second opinions are welcome and will be added to my posts (with credit) if they cover anything I didn't.
EDIT: How is the readability of what I'm doing here?
Diala Passil:
Summary:
Diala is probably the most versatile character in the game; she can be built to be good at anything the game offers but her support ability is the greatest standout.
Precise strike is not something I use often; this is in part because I have Diala attack less often than most characters but also because it comes at a high cost and a you can often get the kill past the defense die (especially if you have her reward).
Foresight similar to precise strike in that you're spending a known cost for an unknown reward that is often not worth it. I generally prefer to use her stress to get use her abilities.
I didn't think highly of force throw when I first saw it; I had trouble believing that the effect was worth the cost (in my defense it's not obvious there aren't a lot of reasons to look at the rules section for push to see that it can be in any direction). I was wrong. Force throw lets her move herself and other people around without spending an action and that's just great.
Patrickmahan continues to point out that I can't read (except new people will read this before the other case of this). Being unable to move herself makes force throw much worse and art of movement better.
I've always loved force adept. It makes everything you do just that little bit more reliable, it's probably the best ability in the game for passing attribute tests (yes, better than toolkit) and it feels really good when you re-roll that die and get the surge or extra damage that you really needed.
All these juicy abilities mean Diala uses a lot of stress, which means she needs to rest a lot, which means battle meditation gives you an almost free focus to anyone on your team when you do something that you need to do a lot. This is really sodding good.
Defensive Stance makes foresight much better, worth using at almost any opportunity (and getting a focus for free when you get lucky when you're attacked is nice too). The problem is that sometimes you just won't have an opportunity because you're already stressed out (and Savvy Imperial players will have Diala fairly low on their target list). My experiences with it have not been particularly positive.
Flightmaster101 says: " The fact that [defensive stance] grants a focus token if you take no damage is the part that makes it amazing."
Before I realized how good force throw was I would swear by art of movement. It is a very powerful effect that will sometimes just win the game out of nowhere for you but a lot of those times force throw can do the same job. Knowing what I know now I probably wouldn't buy it.
Snap kick is simple, it's an extra die of damage on occasion; this is nice but Diala can do much better. I think it's her worst card (though that's not saying much).
Dancing Weapon gives you the ability to attack at range, an extra die to do it with, and an extra surge for damage. It costs a strain but it's well worth it.
Way of the Sarlacc is much more powerful than dancing weapon but much more narrow. Your opponent will often be able to stop you getting more than one bonus attack with this and given that you can often cleave that's probably not worth the strain. Of course sometimes you'll kill a whole squad of elite stormtroopers with it and that's great but it's not the norm. I prefer dancing weapon.
Purchase Priority: Force Adept->Force Throw->Battle Meditation->Dancing Weapon->Defensive Stance->Way of the Sarlacc->Art of Movement
(Something to note about purchase priority: it's obviously dependant on other factors such as the other heroes, the imperial class deck and rewards/items you've gotten).
At this point I think Shu-Yen's lightsaber is a late arrival spoiler so I won't hide it. It is probably the most controversial hero reward with people saying it becomes redundant late in the game. This is true to an extent but it's immensely valuable early on (co-incidentally that's probably when her side mission is easiest). It's obviously best with the balanced hilt as both of its surges are amazing. The ability to deal damage with foresight is valuable even in the late game and if Diala gets the force pike the having a spare weapon with cleave is great.
Next Up: Fenn Signis
Edited by Norgrath