Loku Kanoloa:

Summary: Loku is a damage/support hybrid and will probably be the hardest of the new heroes to play.

Set your sights is the key to most of your kit. It gives a nice damage boost to party members against a single target. As noted in another thread it’s crucially important how many recon tokens he has (I’m predicting 3 and basing analysis here off that number, if you can confirm or correct this it would be nice).

Scabiosus says that 2 is the limit of tokens This leads me to think that scout's guidance will not be good enough.

Based on the game as I know it clear minded is the worst ability on a hero card as you really don’t want to need that accuracy. This may change in the RTH campaign though.

Saving an action on picking up creates make scouting report seem good, it probably won’t use the token long so that’s a plus.

Combat spotter is hugely dependant on who is on your team. Jyn and Mak love it, Gideon and Loku appreciate it, I doubt anyone else really cares. *If Jyn or Mak is on your team it should probably be first priority.

I think Overwatch would need more available tokens to be good. I think the effect is really cool though.

Spectrum scanner looks pretty much essential for making Loku’s abilities useful against squads.

Scout’s guidance is also dependant on team comp. The heroes that want it are Fenn, Gaarkhan, Gideon, Biv and MHD. I’m not sure you can afford to place two tokens on your allies though and I don’t think it’s worth it for only one.

More health is nice and Study of enemies keeps your strain rate low. This means less rests and more attacks.

Loku’s other abilities make me much more confident about co-ordinated attack . It’s a sizeable hitting power boost.

Let’s be real, Mon Cala special forces is get cocky... I seem to remember get cocky being great.

Purchase priority: Scouting report->Spectrum scanner->Mon Cala special forces->Study of enemies->Co-ordinated attack->Overwatch->Combat spotter*->Scout's guidance.

Battle vision is blatantly amazing, it turns a buff to damage against a single target into a buff to damage against multiple targets.

Biv Bodhrik

Summary: Biv is a tanky ‘melee’ character with a lot of single target damage.

Close and personal is Biv’s main damage source. There are a couple of problems with it: firstly it doesn’t have surges to increase its damage, secondly it can often lead to overkilling targets and effectively wasting strain.

I’d estimate the worth of most abilities on hero cards as 2 or 3 xp depending. Deadly precision is strictly worse (by a lot) than Diala’s 1 xp force adept.

Sometimes I’ve gotten good use out of Advance . Other times it won’t get Biv any closer to where he needs to be. It’s useful but I’m not sure how much.

Shake it off is much like wookie fortitude in that it offers recovery, particularly of conditions. The effect is weaker but the strain recovery is more useful and Biv is more likely to take attacks than Gaarkhan.

3 spaces is a long way. This means Into the fray is nearly always on and makes Biv immensely tanky.

Crushing Blow takes care of half of the problems with close and personal. It exacerbates the second but that’s the less serious one. Exhaust is only relevant with his two four cost cards.

Vibrobayonet does pretty much the same thing as close and personal except its more powerful but has a much higher opportunity cost. If Biv wants to use it he has to pass up plasma cell, disruption cell, the DXR-8 and other stuff.

Hatting notes most people suggest Vibrobayonet early to " make C&P worth doing and still being able to recover strain".

Trophy armour is slightly better than laminate but I feel like 3 xp is a higher cost than 700 credits.

Something very similar to No Escape should be good right? Wrong. The attack you get from Stand Down is significantly weaker and the conditions are for using it are more narrow.

Why are both of Biv’s 4 cost abilities like Mak’s? The comparison between Final Stand and decoy is better though because… Biv’s cards are generally weaker than Mak’s so the opportunity cost is lower.

Purchase priority: Advance->Shake it off->Into the fray->Crushing blow->Final Stand->Trophy armour

Hunt them down would be better on any other hero (except Mak) since troopers aren’t usually the tanky targets that Biv wants to attack; it still has value though.

The build you suggest is very different than the ones you find other places. Most people advise rushing the Bayanot to make C&P worth doing and still being able to recover strain. Especially against Subversive tactics.

Biv Bodhrik

Vibrobayonet does pretty much the same thing as close and personal except its more powerful but has a much higher opportunity cost. If Biv wants to use it he has to pass up plasma cell, disruption cell, the DXR-8 and other stuff.

As it is worded, I dont see any reason to just equip this on the starting weapon and use your main weapon with all the upgrades you want. There it nothing that specify that you need to use the weapon with the bayonet for the ranged attack part of Close and Personal

Very good point loup!

Biv Bodhrik

Vibrobayonet does pretty much the same thing as close and personal except its more powerful but has a much higher opportunity cost. If Biv wants to use it he has to pass up plasma cell, disruption cell, the DXR-8 and other stuff.

As it is worded, I dont see any reason to just equip this on the starting weapon and use your main weapon with all the upgrades you want. There it nothing that specify that you need to use the weapon with the bayonet for the ranged attack part of Close and Personal

I looked at this but I don't think it's RAI so I left it out.

Saska Teft:

Summary: Saska is another character I’m not confident in my ability to build. She’s a support character with a variety of minor effects that she doesn’t need to spend actions on, allowing her to do some better damage. The interesting thing is that Loku seems to do much the same thing except with a lot more power (but less versatility).

Saska’s entire kit is built around battle technician, it does nothing on its own but her abilities can expend the tokens for a bunch of different effects.

Practical solutions is the baseline ability for tokens. The attack version suffers a lot from needing to be triggered on declaration but works really well with heavy red dice attacks (like the lightsaber or DXR-8). The attribute test version is pretty much the attribute test part of force adept which is of course very nice in missions with relevant attribute tests.

Tool kit ramps up Saska’s attribute test enhancement, it’s enough of a bonus on enough missions to be well worth it.

It’s nice to be able to kill things without an action and unstable device does it in an AOE, unfortunately it does more damage on average to the user than to any individual target. It’s worth using the ability sporadically which makes the card worth the xp.

Energy shield gives a block or evade on an attack. The evade in particular is very useful when it’ll do something.

The upper half of Structural weakness is hugely mission dependant. The missions where there are multiple things to break down are fairly uncommon. The bottom half is obviously great against armoured onslaught imperials or ones who like probe droids a lot.

Gadgeteer lets Saska double her device token output (which can cause some strain problems but it’s because you’re using them). I repeat: double. The extra mod isn’t nothing either. I think part of my problem with Saska so far is that I’ve bought this before adrenaline injector.

I despise Power Converter . It’s not that it weak; using a strain for what will usually average to more than a damage is pretty good. It’s that, because it triggers off practical solutions and modifies the dice rolled, it causes practical solutions to trigger on declare rather than while attacking (which I very much dislike).

Adrenaline injector is the most powerful device token ability, focus is good and so are extra movement points (although some teams may not need to use move actions often enough to make it worthwhile).

I haven’t tried Remote distribution yet. The extra health is nice more versatility in placing tokens is good but I’m concerned that getting both it and gadgeteer will give you too much token distribution and not enough to make use of them.

Purchase Priority: Unstable Device->Tool Kit-> Adrenaline Injector-> Gadgeteer->Energy Shield->Power Converter->Structural Weakness*

*If the IP uses armoured onslaught Structural weakness is probably worth buying before adrenaline injector.

Saska doesn’t have problems with running out of device tokens to give, this means any increase to her output (such as the one from tech goggles ) is great.

Biv Bodhrik

Vibrobayonet does pretty much the same thing as close and personal except its more powerful but has a much higher opportunity cost. If Biv wants to use it he has to pass up plasma cell, disruption cell, the DXR-8 and other stuff.

As it is worded, I dont see any reason to just equip this on the starting weapon and use your main weapon with all the upgrades you want. There it nothing that specify that you need to use the weapon with the bayonet for the ranged attack part of Close and Personal

I looked at this but I don't think it's RAI so I left it out.

Perhaps we should make a query about this

This is late but I have a bunch of builds from my character guide that i wrote but never published. These are for the most part, 12 xp builds. I for the most part agree with Norgrath's assessment except in a couple cases. The * indicates 1 cost talents that can be purchased when desired.

Gaarkhan - Standard : Rampage, Unstoppable, Brutal Cleave, Wookie Loyalty*

- Life Debt Build : Rampage, Unstoppable, Ferocity, Vicious Strike

- Weapons : Cleave weapons (BD-1 Vibroax is best)

I think you undervalue rampage. It is amazing in conjuction with cleave (rampage+cleave=dead stormtrooper). It is usually my first buy, tho you could buy unstoppable first and rampage second

Diala - Damage : Force Adept, Defensive Stance, Way of the Sarlacc, Battle Meditation, Snap Kick
- Support : Force Adept, Force Throw, Battle Meditation, Dancing Weapon, Art of Movement
- Hybrid : Force Adept, Defensive Stance, Dancing Weapon, battle Meditation, T3 of choice

- Weapons : Not picky (Force Pike or Shu Yen's Lightsaber is best)

Diala has no bad talents, so it's hard to screw up, and the order is mostly preferential. The extent to your damage vs support is generally determined by what you want to spend strain on. I think support/hybrid is best, but I think a dps Diala is viable.

Mak - Standard : Disengage, Jeswandi Training, No Escape, T3 of choice, Target Aquired (or other T3 if possible).

- Weapons : Anything with 4+ optimal range (Valken-38 is now the best)

Both of his T3 skills are good and at 12 xp you have to choose one or the other (unless you give up some of his even better skills). At 13 xp, you can get both (which is really strong).

Jyn - Standard : Gunslinger, Get Cocky, Quick As A Whip, Sidewinder, Smuggler's luck*

- Quick Draw : Gunslinger, Get Cocky, Trick Shot, Cheap Shot

- Weapons : DL-44 is required for gunslinger, any pistol can be used for primary weapon.

I've never used the Quick Draw build but I do think it has potential tho. For me, Gunslinger with DL-44, is such a big dps increase, that it is a first buy for me, or at least as soon as you have the DL-44. (Gunslinger can probably be skipped if you are unlucky and it is not drawn (the chances of which happening increase with each expac).

Fenn -Standard : Tactical Movement, Rebel Elite, Suppressive Fire, Trench Fighter, Take Cover*

- Brawler : Tactical Movement, Trench Fighter, Superior Positioning, Rebel Elite

- Weapons : The Brawler build is designed with a high dmg weapon like deathhammer and spread barrel in mind. The Standard Build uses whatever is most dmg (Valken-38 or Pulse Cannon).

I have used the Brawler Build and I liked it, it is very mobile, and is designed around a single powerful shot.

Gideon - Support : Masterstroke, Called Shot, Mobile Tactician, Air of Command, T3 of choice

- Offensive Support : Masterstroke, Hammer & Anvil, Mobile Tactician, Called Shot, Military Efficiency*

- Weapons : High Surge is best (Sporting blaster)

I've never used the Hammer and Anvil build, but like Norgath says, it requires a good weapon.

Biv - Build 1 : Crushing Blow, Vibrobayonet, Trophy Armor, Into the Fray, Shake it Off*, Advance*

- Build 2 : Crushing Blow, Vibrobayonet, Shake it Off, Final Stand, Into the Fray

- Weapons : Wants both high dmg and decent surge chance (pulse cannon is best)

I like getting Crushing Blow first because it allows you use it in the first story mission, but Vibrobayonet first is fine, the order is mostly preferential. C&P with crushing Blow+vibrobayonet together is one of the strongest attacks from a hero in the game and you can get it much earlier than anything else that comes close. Stand Down really needs to be 1 strain, the fact that it cannot be used while wounded kills it for me.

Saska - Build 1 : Adrenaline Injector, Gadgeteer, Remote Distribution, Tool Kit*

- Build 2 : Energy Shield, Gadgeteer, Structural Weakness, T4 of choice, Tool Kit/Unstable Device*

- Weapons : She wants weapons that benefit a lot from the bonus surge (DL-44, deathhammer, DXR-6. Pulse Cannon with 2 mods is alsovery strong)

I maintain that Saska should be built and used as a hybrid (She takes far to long to build up as a support). With her bonus surge and extra mod, she can hit really hard. I used to buy Gadgeteer first, but you can't really utilize the extra mod slot fully until Tier 2 and 3).

MHD-19 - Build : Bacta Radiator, Adrenal Vapor, Fuel Injection, Field Surgeon, Bacta Injector

- Weapons : High Surge (Sporting Blaster)

MHD-19 is so different than any existing heroes that it is hard to know for sure what is best. This is what I came up with.

Venera - Close Quarters : Combat Momentum, Master Operative, Student of Battle, Ktara Maneuver, Imp Cover

- Offensive : Point Blank Shot, Ktara Maneuver, Combat Mastery, Combat Momentum, Create an Opening

- Hybrid : Combat Momentum, Master Operative, Combat Mastery, T3 of choice

- Weapons : The DL-44 and the DDR are the best if you are using Point Blank Shot (The DL-44 w/ 2 mods and PBS will do more dmg than a typical T3 weapon shot) Otherwise she wants a High Dmg/low range weapon & cleave melee weapon (deathhammer & BD-1)

Like Diala, it is hard to go wrong, and there are any number of build variants.

Loku - Standard : Spectrum Scanner, Mon Cala Special Forces, T1 of choice, Study of Enemies, Overwatch

- Weapons : high dmg/low range weapons, or just highest dmg (Valken-38)

I think there are 2 ways Loku's extra accuracy can be leveraged into an advantage. The first is to use low range weapons like DDR and deathhammer, your extra accuracy lets you better use their firepower. The other way is with Combat Spotter. Without having to worry about figures blocking los, you can rain death from a long way away when you would otherwise have to move. This will gain more value if the Hoth missions are in general more open than the base campaign. To me, Co-ordinated Attack seems very underwhelming, 2 strain (on an already strain intensive hero) for 1 extra die seems really weak, when Mak gets a 2nd focused attack for 2 strain, but luckily the rest of his skills are good.

I asked about the vibro bayonet:

Hi Jeppe,

The Vibro-Bayonet does not need to be attached to the same weapon that you use for the ranged attack during “Close and Personal.”

Thanks!

Paul Winchester

Game Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

[email protected]

Makes Biv alot more versatile

The Vibro-Bayonet does not need to be attached to the same weapon that you use for the ranged attack during “Close and Personal.”

In that case I don't see the point in making it an attachment... ah well.

The Vibro-Bayonet does not need to be attached to the same weapon that you use for the ranged attack during “Close and Personal.”

In that case I don't see the point in making it an attachment... ah well.

Probably a mistake on FFG's parts that it doesn't need to be on the same weapon. Wouldn't be the first mistake they've made.

I asked about the vibro bayonet:

Hi Jeppe,

The Vibro-Bayonet does not need to be attached to the same weapon that you use for the ranged attack during “Close and Personal.”

Thanks!

Paul Winchester

Game Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

[email protected]

Makes Biv alot more versatile

I asked about the vibro bayonet:

Hi Jeppe,

The Vibro-Bayonet does not need to be attached to the same weapon that you use for the ranged attack during “Close and Personal.”

Thanks!

Paul Winchester

Game Developer

Fantasy Flight Games

[email protected]

Makes Biv alot more versatile

Can we extrapolate this to apply to the other item/XP buys for other heroes? I mean, doesn't loku have something similar.

Vibrobayonet is really weird rules wise, typically you couldn't use attachments with attacks that don't use weapons but cards>rules.

If another hero comes out with an ability that:

• Performs an attack not using a weapon
• Uses a weapon as part of that ability
• Has an attachment that refers specifically to that ability

Then it'll extend to that case but I don't think we'll be seeing that again for a long time if ever.

Saska should get toolkit first and everything else later. It's an extremely useful skill that helps even out the randomness of the dice. The automatic success did treats is amazing and keeps you from wasting turns failing a test (I once spent three activations completely failing am insight test with Gideon. Toolkit would have allowed at least one success a turn (until I ran out of tokens at least). It also works for when a hero's skill requires a test. Give it to Diala and you'll always have access to force push no matter how bad your luck. Give it to Fenn and rest easy knowing adrenaline rush is always going to work.

Also I've had so many times where I just needed a dirge and didn't have it, that I can't get over that in demand surge ability. I do agree the timing on the practical solutions is a bit annoying though. Very counter intuitive. I usually use it after the attack because before is kinda dumb.

Ah, biv. Has any hero exited me so much in the previews and then let me down so? I really think they needed to spend more time on him in play testing. Neither of him 4xp cards are amazing, though final stand is the better of the two. C&P makes him so strain intensive as it is that stay down and deadly precision are hardly ever useful. Deadly precision should have been a "once per round" ability with no strain cost, and stay down either needed to be an exhaust ability with only one or no strain, or there needed to be some sort of +1 endurance for him. Hm. Although...perhaps there is an alternative? Perhaps building him to use his reroll more and utilize C&P only against hard enemies? Not sure how great that is, but if you focused on his defensive tree it might work.

Still I think they needed to do more with him. One of his "skills" is a decent but not great armor. No wonder it feels like he is limited. Other heroes would have a defensive skill and still be able to get armor.

New content, new analysis (This comes before playing with them).

Davith Elso:

Summary: Davith is a squishy, mobile, damage dealer, much like Jyn. His hero card is pretty weak but there is some real power in his class deck. Deciding which to get and in what order seems hard.

Cloak and Dagger is the trigger for most of Davith's abilities. It also helps his survivability against ranged attacks.

Force Speed is a very nice no action movement ability. Of particular note is that it lets you ignore movement point costs.

I don't think Covert Operative is worth it. You want to be hidden for your attacks because of the shrouded lightsaber so you don't want to use the second ability unless that one block will put the damage at zero (not common with a white die). Similarly you want to already be hidden when you get attacked which makes the third part on its own weak. The first part is the best but I don't think starting hidden is worth it when he has so much other good stuff. If you skip the lightsaber then it's much more appealing.

Davith doesn't have any big strain abilities but he wants to be using the ones he has every turn; this makes recovering a strain every turn with Elusive Agent a huge boost to your sustained use of it. I'm sure you want to get it but I'm not sure when.

To keep score B lindside from hidden does 1 damage 1/6 of the time, 2 half of the time and 3 a third of the time. That's a lot of damage to come from moving through an imperial figure. Incredibly I think you can only afford to get one of this and the lightsaber (It'll take play for me to have any confidence as to the right one).

Falling Leaf is very simple but very powerful. With it and the shrouded lightsaber with high impact guard attacking from hidden you have a 99% chance to 1 shot an elite storm trooper.

You may notice I've already repeatedly mentioned the Shrouded Lightsaber , it has better DPS than the force pike. I said in a previous thread that I wasn't sure the loss of utility was worth it and I'm still undecided. It gets a lot of leverage from falling leaf but the xp opportunity cost is higher than I expected because he has so many power cards. It's also noteworthy in that it gives a high power weapon to a melee character without using one of the powerful item cards.

Deadwolf suggests you should purchase the shrouded lightsaber first or not at all, saying that its value is getting a Tier 3 equivalent weapon early and that, if you get it late, the xp cost of the lightsaber is more meaningful than the credit cost of a tier 3 weapon.

Speaking of power cards: Force Illusion isn't one of them. It uses strain you could use on movement or falling leaf and hidden on its own is not a large survivability boost. The bonus surge on follow up attacks is nice but not 3 xp nice.

Fell Swoop gives an extra attack at no strain cost, and it comes with movement. As I said between it and force speed Davith will hardly ever need to take a move action. The double surge cost looks scary but it's not a big deal when you consider Davith is usually attacking from hidden and doesn't need to hide again if he wants to activate this.

Embody the Force makes Davith sound like a Mary Sue. The ability is much less exciting than Fell Swoop but it's very strong. The health boost is huge, the endurance boost is decent and exhausting for damage when you need to is great. You could possibly push it down the purchase priority by buying him armor (dammit US English, now both spellings of that word look wrong to me).

(Tentative) Purchase Priority:

Embody the Force->Fell Swoop->Shrouded Lightsaber->Falling Leaf->Elusive Agent

Davith has 5 powerful effects that exhaust (and force illusion). This gives lots of opportunity for the Radiant Holocron to shine (pun not intended when I first chose the phrase). The most bonkers ones are two Fell Swoops or two Blindsides.

Murne Rin:

Summary: Murne is a really interesting support character. She has a lot of effects that mess with the IP's units and also a lot that buff your allies. She also heavily encourages sticking together.

False Orders as a baseline ability is pretty meh, it will often be better to just attack with Murne. Some abilities on the class cards give it a lot of extra leverage though. The most important thing to note is that it can steal focus.

Figurehead is a minor bonus. Strain recovery is nice but this is triggered by the IP and only recovers 1. It's good to have but you won't miss it if she gets wounded.

I haven't mentioned starting weapons here before but the Diplomat's Blaster might as well be a third ability. A lot of the time it just makes the target just spend an extra point of movement but sometimes it will outright prevent an attack (or force a trandoshan hunter to attack at range) and occasionally moving a figure out of its space is just as good as killing it. NEVER SELL THIS

Company of Heroes looks situational and it is but you never have it unless you can use it and saving four threat is pretty nice.

Sonic Bellow would be much better if it didn't have the figure cost clause since most of the imperial figures that really care about stun cost four or more. I don't think this is worth it.

I was never that enthused about tool kit (largely because I just don't think the device token mechanic was executed well) but Professional Aide deserves all the hype that tool kit got. Not only does it effectively lower the difficulty of any attribute test by 1 it also has an effect like called shot (which I love) for when you don't need to make tests.

A lot of Murne's cards have reasonable comparisons with Gideon's, Rebel Propaganda is like rallying shout except it's less reliable, strains you (on a figure that's not as strain heavy anyway), and comes for 1 less xp with 2 health for free.

Double Agent has the functionality of both the Diplomat's Blaster and Sonic Bellow. That's a lot of utility.

Solidarity is... solid. It gets extra value out of both movement and rest actions and DOESN'T EXHAUST. As with a lot of Murne's abilities how useful it is will depend on your allies.

There were a lot of mechanics I was anticipating seeing in Murne's deck. Lead from the Front is not one of them. Still if you trigger at least two bonuses consistently it's a drastic damage increase.

Waylay will usually more than double the value from False Orders (about quadruple if you have a strong ally). Of course that comes at increased strain cost but we can deal with that.

Purchase Priority:

I'm going to do two builds this time because I think Murne can go in two very different directions. The first will be a False Orders build while the second will be more damage focused with Lead from the Front. In either one you should buy Company of Heroes the mission you unlock a unique ally that you intend to use. (Unless you'll be getting a four xp card that mission if you don't).

Professional Aide->Waylay->Solidarity->Double Agent->Rebel Propaganda->Sonic Bellow

Professional Aide->Lead from the Front->Rebel Propaganda->Solidarity->Double Agent->Sonic Bellow

Controlling which imperial unit activates next is very nice. Generally the Cam Droid will be used to force a unit to activate when it can't attack you but sometimes you can delay the activation of a different imperial unit with it.

You should do build orders depending on the length of the campaign. Going straight for a 4 xp skill seems like a bad idea in something like the base campaign that starts you with 0.

I was really impressed with Davith. All his abilities are pretty good. He's solid, and I look forward to trying him out.

@Norgath, you say device tokens were badly implemented. How would you suggest implementing them?

Going straight for a 4 xp skill seems like a bad idea in something like the base campaign that starts you with 0.

I don't agree with this (in Davith's case at least). If you win the first story mission (I admit that that's a fairly large if) then you only get the Shrouded Lightsaber, Blindside or Falling Leaf 1 mission before you'd get Mary Sue and Mary Sue does much more for Davith than any of them.

you say device tokens were badly implemented. How would you suggest implementing them?

I'm not entirely sure, I think the main thing is that they cost a lot to get for how little they do. I feel like making them easier to distribute (say give her either the token effects of gadgeteer or remote distribution without spending xp) would be the best fix.

Shrouded Lightsaber is interesting and imo, you get it first or not at all.

The biggest benefit of the weapon is the fact that you can get a tier 3 weapon well before you are supposed to get one.

But as time goes on, while it is better than force pike, it is not 3xp better. And unlike Biv who has nothing better to spend points on, Davith would be stronger in the late game with a conventional weapon like force pike and those 3 xp spent elsewhere.

As a side note: it boggles my mind that we got a 5th tier 1 melee weapon but still only 1 tier 3.

Davith looks like he'll be fun, a harder to use but more offensive Diala, but I keep gritting my teeth at Murne. Everything she can do, Gideon can do better. I'll probably end up playing her in a couple weeks, but I'm not really looking forward to it. At least she starts with a gun that makes Mak and Fenn sad they can't swap for. Guess politicians take care of themselves first in Star Wars too.

Hey, this topic is back.

Again I'm writing this before playing with the characters because New Zealand doesn't tend to get hobby stuff fast (I only just got Bespin).

Shyla Varad:

Summary: Shyla is a lighter melee hero, her cards don't have much unifying beyond the fact that the vast majority of them are good.

Mandalorian Whip primarily serves to relive pressure on Shyla's movement since it lets her attack figures that start 4 squares away. There are also times when the push is its own reward.

I wouldn't build my game plan with Shyla around triggering Respite it will trigger fairly often though and it'll be nice then.

All out attack might be worthwhile if your opponent rolls an evade, usually though melee weapons have enough surge abilities that you won't want to use this. It's definitely not worth buying for the rare occasions where you get value.

Responsiveness can either give you small amounts of reliable movement or small amounts of reliable recovery. I love both of these things.

Hiding allies is definitely the better part of Smoke Bombs; I don't think it's worth the xp given the quality of Shyla's deck.

Proximity Strike is very good at mitigating chance. It's well worth buying after her really nutty good stuff.

Swords Dance is approximately half of No Escape (it would be less but given how good Shyla's 4xp cards are you won't buy it till late game if ever). This is a nice damage increase but right now I wouldn't put it on her purchase list.

I've gone back and forth about whether Proximity Mine or Swords Dance is better of Shyla's last 3xp. First I thought the mine was better because it had more utility, then I thought it was worse because Full Sweep outclassed it, now I think that, combined with Full Sweep, it allows Shyla to one-shot an elite stormtrooper while attacking something else and that is better than what swords dance can do.

I was amazed when the grand inquisitor had cleave three for a single surge (given that 3 is enough to oneshot the weaker troop types). Full Sweep gives it to Shyla without even spending the surge and that's nuts.

1 Endurance is nice but Shyla doesn't need it. a free evade on top of that makes her much tankier. 2 movement points in addition to responsiveness means that Shyla probably doesn't even need to use her speed 5 and putting that all together makes Deadly Grace amazing.

Purchase Priority:

Resposiveness->Full Sweep->Deadly Grace->Proximity Strike->Remote Detonator->Smoke Bombs->All-Out Attack

Does the electrostaff say "before" as well? I feel much more comfortable about this wording. Anyway 2 health is always nice and so are additional surge options or the ability to reach. Mandalorian Heritage is very desirable.

Onar Koma:

Summary: I am leaning towards Onar not being very good. I feel like if you built him to be tanky then he won't do very much if your opponent ignores him and if you don't build him to be tanky then he'll go down quickly to focused fire. Anyway he can build tanky, he can built a lot of single target damage or he can build a lot of utility.

I'm going to talk about Onar's statline because it's the most notable thing about him. His attributes tests are better than average, in particular his strength is 20% better than Gaarkhans. In addition he has a massive health pool but no defense die. This means that focus fire from weak troops will stack up to wound him faster than many heroes but he's very resilient against a few strong attacks (Such as Vader or an E-Web).

Rush is pretty mediocre. There's utility in being able to push imperial units but 1 square as a core mechanic doesn't impress me.

Being immune to conditions is great, extra recovery from resting is good. Not being able to double rest is catastrophic (especially for a tank). Suffice to say I have mixed feelings on Power Through.

I feel like Keep Up has pretty low utility when compared to other cards of its ilk but it's still nice.

I initially assumed that Get Down read and rather than or. With and it would have been great, with or it is okay. It's still damage blocking but its only 1 per turn.

1 damage on Onar is better than 1 damage on another character. I still don't think that Stay Behind Me is valuable.

Hey look, it's another thing for vicious strike to be worse than. When 1 damage from Mutual Destruction is useful (quite often) then it's no issue to take 1 damage back for it.

Brute Strength makes Onar ridiculously good at all attribute tests. Usually getting to interact for free is great too (even though it blows his focus).

I don't think you're likely to get focused from Hold Still very often (of course you get some value every time that you opponent doesn't move to stop the focus). The top half is like create opening without the strain cost but much more expensive, I don't think it's worth 3xp.

Black Sun Armor would not be worth 4xp on any other hero. On Onar I think it is. As I explained before he's squishy to focused attacks but this mitigates that a lot when you block 1 or sometimes 2 damage from every attack. Of course pierce is the counterplay to this but I think it's still worth it.

Don't Make Me Hurt You gives an extra red die. Of course it's good.

(Tentative) Purchase Priority:

Keep Up->Mutual Destruction->Black Sun Armor->Don't Make Me Hurt You->Brute Strength

It's really weird that Haymaker uses strain. I also don't think it's that strong (usually worse than proximity mine for instance).

1 damage on Onar is better than 1 damage on another character. I still don't think that Stay Behind Me is valuable.

I'm not entirely sure this is true. Sure, Onar is inherently easier to take down than other heroes, given his lack of a defense die. But if he can help keep them alive, even once he's wounded, that's not too bad for the whole team. I'm beginning to think that Onar is almost more of a support class than a tank class- with the right player, he could be pretty good.

But, of course, we know by now that IA heroes tend to transcend class, anyway.