Played Imperial Assault again last week and - surprise - Rebels lost again. Please note total sarcasm and lack of surprise. I've been told before that our group of Rebel characters is sub-optimal because we have no support characters.

My question is, which characters are "support" characters and where can one find this information in the game?

(For those who might wish to know, here's our current team:
- Mak: A sniper who misses most of the time, or leaves his high-powered Imperial target alive with one health remaining. He even has the DXR-7 big gun thing and STILL can't one shot stuff other than Stormtroopers
- Jyn: Oh my god, why did they make this character? What is she even supposed to be good at doing? We thought we had her figured out with her Quick Draw ability and then saw it was limited to once per ROUND! Also, we found out we'd been doing it wrong in that her cards and all other Rebel cards don't ready during the "ready" step, only when the Rebel character activates -- she's now officially useless, except perhaps for opening crates

- Gaarkhan: He can actually get some pretty good kills going, and typically is the last one to become wounded in our team, but as a melee character, he often finds himself unable to reach his target due to walls of bodies placed by the Imperial player

- Biv: This guy is great when he's attacking one target, that's less useful when the Imperial player has six Stormtroopers on the table.)

Mak and Jyn are great objective runners (tech tests) and very good with the right equipment and skills. Mak with Disengage, Jeswandi Training and No Escape can really hurt imperials.

Gaarkhan is really good at initial cleanup with a weapon with Reach and Cleave and Rampage, but is strain-heavy.

Biv competes with Gaarkhan for the melee spot.

Diala is the best support with Force Adept, Force Throw and Battle Meditation. (I think it is a waste to build her as a damage-dealer.)

With the right gun and mods Saska will be a wrecking ball. Gideon with Masterstroke (and Mobile Tactician) is as good as your best fighter without spending any credits.

Follow Play by Forum games on BoardGameGeek (or just look at the final builds), or just play more. There are a few hero strategy guides around.

(Also, Fenn with Tactical Movement and Rebel Elite is great.)

The main thing is that you have 4 heroes that need to have at least decent weapons to be effective, and you only get enough credits to outfit ~2 of your heroes with good weapons. If you're winning you can give a 3rd okay weapons.

That's what support characters do - they are effective without using weapons, either by buffing other characters, performing attacks that aren't their own (Gideon and Murne), or doing something else like healing or defending.

I'm curious as to why you haven't been having success with Jyn. If it's because she hasn't gotten a good weapon, that would make sense; more than anyone else I would say she needs to well-equipped or she's not going to do anything. She's very good at moving quickly around the map while shooting things, but not much else. If you want to post what class cards and items she has, I might be able to assess better.

I agree that Jyn is a hero that needs priority upgrades. Her starting gear leaves much to be desired, but once you give her a couple upgrades and solid weapon (with tac display) she really starts to clean up! Even more so if you can get her mission reward for an additional chance to attack.

The main thing is that you have 4 heroes that need to have at least decent weapons to be effective, and you only get enough credits to outfit ~2 of your heroes with good weapons. If you're winning you can give a 3rd okay weapons.

That's what support characters do - they are effective without using weapons, either by buffing other characters, performing attacks that aren't their own (Gideon and Murne), or doing something else like healing or defending.

I'm curious as to why you haven't been having success with Jyn. If it's because she hasn't gotten a good weapon, that would make sense; more than anyone else I would say she needs to well-equipped or she's not going to do anything. She's very good at moving quickly around the map while shooting things, but not much else. If you want to post what class cards and items she has, I might be able to assess better.

Thanks for the information and explanation, guys. Maybe we can eke out a win when we switch to Return to Hoth sometime next year and we can reformulate a team.

As to our failures with Jyn, the main problem is up until a few sessions ago, the Imperial player was using Subversive Tactics and a lot of Nexu. We finally convinced him to stop using that class deck because it was impossible to kill his Nexu. He would just park them on top of the objectives which made it pointless for characters like Jyn (played by my longsuffering wife) to even take actions. He had his Nexu set up to receive 1 armor and 2 evades for free before dice were even rolled. Jyn was rocking the DL-44 we bought for her but would frequently roll 2 surges and 1 damage. Ordinarily, this looks great, using the guns two surge effects to increase damage by 3 and accuracy by 1! But with 1 armor and 2 evades it equals zero damage. This disheartened my wife so much one night that she just walked away from the table and I controlled Jyn for the rest of the session.

I am highly disappointed that FFG has designed a game (that costs over $100) that could devolve into such a negative experience. It saddens me that they put Star Wars characters and icons onto such a product, but respect for the brand is a dying tradition. To his credit, the Imperial player has switched to the class deck that emphasize Stormtroopers and we have been getting much closer to achieving an actual victory the last two sessions. Jyn still can't hit anything, though. However, now that I know she's really supposed to be a support character and not care too much about killing things, that might help.

Let's try doing this another way, Stompburger, what gear and abilities do you think Jyn SHOULD have and how should she be used? I've seen others talk about how amazing she is, but clearly they play the game differently than we do. Is her Quick Draw ability any good or is that really just a Strain trap and she should be focused on regular attacks? What about her class cards, what should she take? And what actions should she take during her activation? Should she go early on in the Rebel rotation so that her Quick Draw can get readied for use earlier, before many of the Imperials go?

Thanks for any tips, we're pretty close to declaring the game a poorly-designed failure on FFG's part.

Biv competes with Gaarkhan for the melee spot.

Not sure about this. I've been thinking about it, and while both need to be right up front to deal damage, Biv doesn't really want a melee weapon so he won't compete for those items. He also does single target damage, whereas Gaar does a lot of AOE and cleave damage. I'd even say they'd be able to be on the same team, especially because Biv can get his class card for armor and pick up pistols or rifles. But things can get crowded at the front when you have 2 melee heroes, so I'm not sure.

Gideon, MHD, and Murne are full support characters

Saska was touted as a support character but she is much more effective as a support/dps hybrid (If you fully utilitize her extra mod slot and use her tokens as much on herself as others she can perform decently).

Diala is also a dps/support hybrid with some strong support skills like force adept and force push.

...

Jyn still can't hit anything, though. However, now that I know she's really supposed to be a support character and not care too much about killing things, that might help.

...

Let's try doing this another way, Stompburger, what gear and abilities do you think Jyn SHOULD have and how should she be used? I've seen others talk about how amazing she is, but clearly they play the game differently than we do. Is her Quick Draw ability any good or is that really just a Strain trap and she should be focused on regular attacks? What about her class cards, what should she take? And what actions should she take during her activation? Should she go early on in the Rebel rotation so that her Quick Draw can get readied for use earlier, before many of the Imperials go?

Yeah, Subversive Tactics is a very tough class for any set of heroes to fight. Not unbeatable, but not fun to play against either.

Sorry if I was unclear - I don't think Jyn is a good support at all. You need to buy her 2 pistols for her to be effective, so if you have a team where she can't hog a lot of the credits, she won't do well.

The DL-44 is a good weapon for her, but only if she has Gunslinger, and then don't attack with the DL-44, just use its surge on the other weapon. Blue Yellow is pretty much the worst ranged attack, even with ~+2 damage.

An ideal mid-game loadout for Jyn is:

Items: DL-44, Deathhammer with Tactical Display. 1400 Credits right there.

Class cards: Gunslinger is a must. I don't think I'd get anything for her until she has that, and make sure to get her a good weapon soon.

After that, Sidewinder is next, followed by Get Cocky (if the Imp likes running a lot of little guys) or Trick Shot (if the Imp likes hiding their priority targets - also makes Quick Draw easy to pull off)

It really depends on how much XP you're getting. Quick as a Whip is okay too, but never get Smuggler's Luck, Cheap Shot, or Roll With It (in my opinion; others might differ on this. See this article http://www.boardgameresource.com/imperial-assault-strategy-jyn-campaign-build/ for a totally different way to build her - I don't agree with it, but it's an option)

As for strategy, Jyn just wants to shoot things. If you have Opportunist and Sidewinder, you can get 6 spaces of movement (spaces, not points -you can ignore added movement point costs), 2 movement points for 2 strain, and 2 attacks in a round. Add 3 spaces and another attack if you Quick Draw. This makes her incredibly mobile - in my opinion, the most mobile character in the game. And that's what you want to focus on - killing things, then moving on to kill other things.

Don't try to force Quick Draw to work. Use it when you can, but definitely don't move her up first to try to set it up unless there's only one enemy, and you're pretty sure you can kill it with Quick Draw. Jyn is very easy to wound with only 10HP and a white die, so you want to bring her in after some of the heavy hitters have had to activate already. This is a general strategy in IA: force the enemy to either overextend to get to you, or attack sub-optimal targets because the ones they want to kill haven't moved up yet.

As for whether she's good or not: using the above loadout (Deathhammer + DL-44, Tactical Display and Gunslinger), Jyn attacked a 6HP Trandoshan with Deathhammer. The Trandoshan rolled 3 block. Jyn rolled 3 Damage on the Red and 2 Damage on the Blue (good rolls on both sides). Deathhammer adds 1 damage automatically, Tac Display adds a surge for +2 damage, 1 Strain for 1 surge from Gunslinger and convert that to 1 damage (from either weapon). 2+1+2+1 = 6. Dead Trandoshan, from full health, through 3 blocks. That's 9 damage in a single attack, in the mid game. Sure, she had to spend a strain and exhaust 2 cards to do it, but she can do that once per round, and sometimes it won't take that much investment.

I am curious how you consistently work around the range limitations if using the Deathhammer as the primary pistol. Sure, the blue die is guaranteed 2 ACC, with the chance of up to 5, but to me, I would never want to risk shooting unless I was 3 spaces or closer. Otherwise, you run the risk of using the surges provided from Gunslinger and the Tac Display to make up the range, as opposed to heaping on more damage.

I guess, for me, it is way too inconsistent. Sure, the combo can really lay it on thick with damage potential, but if you are missing, or using all your utility to make the hit (on a pair of dice that are not all that rich with surges to begin with), it feels like you are relying a lot on luck.

Also I would suggest don't stress too much about winning or losing, but rather on enjoying the game. The game affords a lot of replayability. Use the experience to learn the rules and characters, and try the campaign again with a different combo. Different equipment, sequence of side missions, allies, or just luck of the rolls, can make a lot of difference. Also, if you were losing badly at the start of the game because of Subversive Tactics, its quite possible that the distribution of possible XP and cash rewards is already against you, even with the switch to a new class in the case of the Imperial Player.

Why is no one putting Murne in the list of support characters? While it is true that she does not start out as such, after a couple of class cards she is insane! Interestingly in the campaign I played with MHD, he was a beast when it came to damage. My opponent outfitted him with melee weapons and combat override. He was able to, therefore, usually attack every other round because he could chuck grenades or grab medical cards on the other actions. In the final mission he almost single-handedly took down the Sorin Tank!

I am curious how you consistently work around the range limitations if using the Deathhammer as the primary pistol. Sure, the blue die is guaranteed 2 ACC, with the chance of up to 5, but to me, I would never want to risk shooting unless I was 3 spaces or closer. Otherwise, you run the risk of using the surges provided from Gunslinger and the Tac Display to make up the range, as opposed to heaping on more damage.

I guess, for me, it is way too inconsistent. Sure, the combo can really lay it on thick with damage potential, but if you are missing, or using all your utility to make the hit (on a pair of dice that are not all that rich with surges to begin with), it feels like you are relying a lot on luck.

According to http://mattyellen.github.io/imperial-assault-calculator/, if you use 1 or 2 surges there is virtually no difference between attacking at 3 spaces and attacking at 4 spaces. The DL-44 has a +1 Damage/+2 Accuracy surge, so you can just use that for your second surge without losing much damage.

You do start to lose damage at 5 spaces, but I don't often find that you need to attack from that far away.

Interestingly in the campaign I played with MHD, he was a beast when it came to damage. My opponent outfitted him with melee weapons and combat override. He was able to, therefore, usually attack every other round because he could chuck grenades or grab medical cards on the other actions. In the final mission he almost single-handedly took down the Sorin Tank!

I have always wanted to know if this would work. Might have to try it myself now

Why is no one putting Murne in the list of support characters? While it is true that she does not start out as such, after a couple of class cards she is insane!

I would definitely put Murne as a support. Not only does she have abilities that buff her allies, she doesn't need a weapon because she can make attacks with Imperial units.

I am curious how you consistently work around the range limitations if using the Deathhammer as the primary pistol. Sure, the blue die is guaranteed 2 ACC, with the chance of up to 5, but to me, I would never want to risk shooting unless I was 3 spaces or closer. Otherwise, you run the risk of using the surges provided from Gunslinger and the Tac Display to make up the range, as opposed to heaping on more damage.

I guess, for me, it is way too inconsistent. Sure, the combo can really lay it on thick with damage potential, but if you are missing, or using all your utility to make the hit (on a pair of dice that are not all that rich with surges to begin with), it feels like you are relying a lot on luck.

According to http://mattyellen.github.io/imperial-assault-calculator/, if you use 1 or 2 surges there is virtually no difference between attacking at 3 spaces and attacking at 4 spaces. The DL-44 has a +1 Damage/+2 Accuracy surge, so you can just use that for your second surge without losing much damage.

You do start to lose damage at 5 spaces, but I don't often find that you need to attack from that far away.

There is always something to be said about math-hammering everything out, though I find that it often falls apart once on the table, until you throw the dice enough for the averages to work out. I guess the other concern I have is that the combo works, providing you have both gunslinger and the tac display available to use. Once exhausted, and you no longer have those guaranteed surges, you become much more dependent on the blue die to ensure you get your Acc (either naturally, or the limited surge offerings).

Mind you, I do not disagree with the potential damage output of the Deathhammer+DL-44, as it is there. I guess I have just been throwing dice so long that I have my preferences.

As for MHD and combat, I have to admit I have thought about it as well. In the current campaign I am in, I am using Davith and MHD (the other players are using Biv and Jyn), and have been thinking about grabbing the Shrouded Lightsaber and passing the vibrosword over to MHD and turn him into a lovely little murderbot.

- Gaarkhan: He can actually get some pretty good kills going, and typically is the last one to become wounded in our team, but as a melee character, he often finds himself unable to reach his target due to walls of bodies placed by the Imperial player

Just a quick note on Gaarkhan that's easy to miss: his charge ability is 'move spaces equal to his speed' and not 'gain movement points equal to his speed'. When counting spaces like this you can ignore hostile figures. This means that as long as you use charge at the right time Gaarkhan actually becomes a pretty good option for breaking through those walls of imperial figures.

I am curious how you consistently work around the range limitations if using the Deathhammer as the primary pistol. Sure, the blue die is guaranteed 2 ACC, with the chance of up to 5, but to me, I would never want to risk shooting unless I was 3 spaces or closer. Otherwise, you run the risk of using the surges provided from Gunslinger and the Tac Display to make up the range, as opposed to heaping on more damage.

I guess, for me, it is way too inconsistent. Sure, the combo can really lay it on thick with damage potential, but if you are missing, or using all your utility to make the hit (on a pair of dice that are not all that rich with surges to begin with), it feels like you are relying a lot on luck.

According to http://mattyellen.github.io/imperial-assault-calculator/, if you use 1 or 2 surges there is virtually no difference between attacking at 3 spaces and attacking at 4 spaces. The DL-44 has a +1 Damage/+2 Accuracy surge, so you can just use that for your second surge without losing much damage.

You do start to lose damage at 5 spaces, but I don't often find that you need to attack from that far away.

I guess the other concern I have is that the combo works, providing you have both gunslinger and the tac display available to use. Once exhausted, and you no longer have those guaranteed surges, you become much more dependent on the blue die to ensure you get your Acc (either naturally, or the limited surge offerings).

Yeah - I don't count on her to do more than 1 attack like that per activation. But once you've spent her surge adders, you can either move right up into their face, so you can't miss, or you can attack with the DL-44 (which will do less damage, but has a better chance to hit at all at longer range and do that last 1-2 damage you need to finish something off).

Ah, there was something I forgot to consider: her abilities to generate movement as well. That does mitigate the range issue, somewhat, through clever use of opportunist and quick as a whip. That makes the combo a bit more reliable in the range department.

Though, to be completely upfront, I have always been a bit skeptical of red dice with ranged weapons (outside the DXR-6, which has it built in), as it lacks acc and surges. I love that die with melee, though. Hits like a freight train.

Ah, there was something I forgot to consider: her abilities to generate movement as well. That does mitigate the range issue, somewhat, through clever use of opportunist and quick as a whip. That makes the combo a bit more reliable in the range department.

Though, to be completely upfront, I have always been a bit skeptical of red dice with ranged weapons (outside the DXR-6, which has it built in), as it lacks acc and surges. I love that die with melee, though. Hits like a freight train.

Just try Loku with the Deathhammer and Mon Cala Special Forces: with a recon token he has +3 accuracy/ +2 damage before dice

I agree that Jyn is a hero that needs priority upgrades. Her starting gear leaves much to be desired, but once you give her a couple upgrades and solid weapon (with tac display) she really starts to clean up! Even more so if you can get her mission reward for an additional chance to attack.

She is a whole lot more of a handful when she has a decent blaster at her side.

I agree that Jyn is a hero that needs priority upgrades. Her starting gear leaves much to be desired, but once you give her a couple upgrades and solid weapon (with tac display) she really starts to clean up! Even more so if you can get her mission reward for an additional chance to attack.

She is a whole lot more of a handful when she has a decent blaster at her side.

Much better than hokey religions or ancient weapons.

...

Jyn still can't hit anything, though. However, now that I know she's really supposed to be a support character and not care too much about killing things, that might help.

...

Let's try doing this another way, Stompburger, what gear and abilities do you think Jyn SHOULD have and how should she be used? I've seen others talk about how amazing she is, but clearly they play the game differently than we do. Is her Quick Draw ability any good or is that really just a Strain trap and she should be focused on regular attacks? What about her class cards, what should she take? And what actions should she take during her activation? Should she go early on in the Rebel rotation so that her Quick Draw can get readied for use earlier, before many of the Imperials go?

Yeah, Subversive Tactics is a very tough class for any set of heroes to fight. Not unbeatable, but not fun to play against either.

Sorry if I was unclear - I don't think Jyn is a good support at all. You need to buy her 2 pistols for her to be effective, so if you have a team where she can't hog a lot of the credits, she won't do well.

The DL-44 is a good weapon for her, but only if she has Gunslinger, and then don't attack with the DL-44, just use its surge on the other weapon. Blue Yellow is pretty much the worst ranged attack, even with ~+2 damage.

An ideal mid-game loadout for Jyn is:

Items: DL-44, Deathhammer with Tactical Display. 1400 Credits right there.

Class cards: Gunslinger is a must. I don't think I'd get anything for her until she has that, and make sure to get her a good weapon soon.

After that, Sidewinder is next, followed by Get Cocky (if the Imp likes running a lot of little guys) or Trick Shot (if the Imp likes hiding their priority targets - also makes Quick Draw easy to pull off)

It really depends on how much XP you're getting. Quick as a Whip is okay too, but never get Smuggler's Luck, Cheap Shot, or Roll With It (in my opinion; others might differ on this. See this article http://www.boardgameresource.com/imperial-assault-strategy-jyn-campaign-build/ for a totally different way to build her - I don't agree with it, but it's an option)

As for strategy, Jyn just wants to shoot things. If you have Opportunist and Sidewinder, you can get 6 spaces of movement (spaces, not points -you can ignore added movement point costs), 2 movement points for 2 strain, and 2 attacks in a round. Add 3 spaces and another attack if you Quick Draw. This makes her incredibly mobile - in my opinion, the most mobile character in the game. And that's what you want to focus on - killing things, then moving on to kill other things.

Don't try to force Quick Draw to work. Use it when you can, but definitely don't move her up first to try to set it up unless there's only one enemy, and you're pretty sure you can kill it with Quick Draw. Jyn is very easy to wound with only 10HP and a white die, so you want to bring her in after some of the heavy hitters have had to activate already. This is a general strategy in IA: force the enemy to either overextend to get to you, or attack sub-optimal targets because the ones they want to kill haven't moved up yet.

As for whether she's good or not: using the above loadout (Deathhammer + DL-44, Tactical Display and Gunslinger), Jyn attacked a 6HP Trandoshan with Deathhammer. The Trandoshan rolled 3 block. Jyn rolled 3 Damage on the Red and 2 Damage on the Blue (good rolls on both sides). Deathhammer adds 1 damage automatically, Tac Display adds a surge for +2 damage, 1 Strain for 1 surge from Gunslinger and convert that to 1 damage (from either weapon). 2+1+2+1 = 6. Dead Trandoshan, from full health, through 3 blocks. That's 9 damage in a single attack, in the mid game. Sure, she had to spend a strain and exhaust 2 cards to do it, but she can do that once per round, and sometimes it won't take that much investment.

Heh heh...well, she has ALL of the class skills you said to never take, LOL! I think I know now why we suck so bad at this game - we suck at building the characters. I may propose to the team that we just give up on this campaign and start a new one soon. We got pulled into the "Captured" forced mission last episode and so we are looking at having to play at LEAST four more missions with the odds stacked considerably against us before we finish the core campaign. And right now it's getting pretty hard to convince the Rebels to even try any more.

...

Jyn still can't hit anything, though. However, now that I know she's really supposed to be a support character and not care too much about killing things, that might help.

...

Let's try doing this another way, Stompburger, what gear and abilities do you think Jyn SHOULD have and how should she be used? I've seen others talk about how amazing she is, but clearly they play the game differently than we do. Is her Quick Draw ability any good or is that really just a Strain trap and she should be focused on regular attacks? What about her class cards, what should she take? And what actions should she take during her activation? Should she go early on in the Rebel rotation so that her Quick Draw can get readied for use earlier, before many of the Imperials go?

Yeah, Subversive Tactics is a very tough class for any set of heroes to fight. Not unbeatable, but not fun to play against either.

Sorry if I was unclear - I don't think Jyn is a good support at all. You need to buy her 2 pistols for her to be effective, so if you have a team where she can't hog a lot of the credits, she won't do well.

The DL-44 is a good weapon for her, but only if she has Gunslinger, and then don't attack with the DL-44, just use its surge on the other weapon. Blue Yellow is pretty much the worst ranged attack, even with ~+2 damage.

An ideal mid-game loadout for Jyn is:

Items: DL-44, Deathhammer with Tactical Display. 1400 Credits right there.

Class cards: Gunslinger is a must. I don't think I'd get anything for her until she has that, and make sure to get her a good weapon soon.

After that, Sidewinder is next, followed by Get Cocky (if the Imp likes running a lot of little guys) or Trick Shot (if the Imp likes hiding their priority targets - also makes Quick Draw easy to pull off)

It really depends on how much XP you're getting. Quick as a Whip is okay too, but never get Smuggler's Luck, Cheap Shot, or Roll With It (in my opinion; others might differ on this. See this article http://www.boardgameresource.com/imperial-assault-strategy-jyn-campaign-build/ for a totally different way to build her - I don't agree with it, but it's an option)

As for strategy, Jyn just wants to shoot things. If you have Opportunist and Sidewinder, you can get 6 spaces of movement (spaces, not points -you can ignore added movement point costs), 2 movement points for 2 strain, and 2 attacks in a round. Add 3 spaces and another attack if you Quick Draw. This makes her incredibly mobile - in my opinion, the most mobile character in the game. And that's what you want to focus on - killing things, then moving on to kill other things.

Don't try to force Quick Draw to work. Use it when you can, but definitely don't move her up first to try to set it up unless there's only one enemy, and you're pretty sure you can kill it with Quick Draw. Jyn is very easy to wound with only 10HP and a white die, so you want to bring her in after some of the heavy hitters have had to activate already. This is a general strategy in IA: force the enemy to either overextend to get to you, or attack sub-optimal targets because the ones they want to kill haven't moved up yet.

As for whether she's good or not: using the above loadout (Deathhammer + DL-44, Tactical Display and Gunslinger), Jyn attacked a 6HP Trandoshan with Deathhammer. The Trandoshan rolled 3 block. Jyn rolled 3 Damage on the Red and 2 Damage on the Blue (good rolls on both sides). Deathhammer adds 1 damage automatically, Tac Display adds a surge for +2 damage, 1 Strain for 1 surge from Gunslinger and convert that to 1 damage (from either weapon). 2+1+2+1 = 6. Dead Trandoshan, from full health, through 3 blocks. That's 9 damage in a single attack, in the mid game. Sure, she had to spend a strain and exhaust 2 cards to do it, but she can do that once per round, and sometimes it won't take that much investment.

Heh heh...well, she has ALL of the class skills you said to never take, LOL! I think I know now why we suck so bad at this game - we suck at building the characters. I may propose to the team that we just give up on this campaign and start a new one soon. We got pulled into the "Captured" forced mission last episode and so we are looking at having to play at LEAST four more missions with the odds stacked considerably against us before we finish the core campaign. And right now it's getting pretty hard to convince the Rebels to even try any more.

Well none of her abilities are so bad they're trap options. Smuggler's Luck is only 1 point, sure it's not a card whose ability comes up often, but it helps and it's 1 point. Cheap Shot as well isn't terrible if you're getting quick draw off a lot, and while you shouldn't buy it early as there are much better options, it's one you might end getting later in the campaign. Roll With It is kind of terrible (super terrible against Subversive Tactics) unless you really need evades for some reason, like to stop Arc Blasters constantly stunning multiple people with it's blast.

...

Jyn still can't hit anything, though. However, now that I know she's really supposed to be a support character and not care too much about killing things, that might help.

...

Let's try doing this another way, Stompburger, what gear and abilities do you think Jyn SHOULD have and how should she be used? I've seen others talk about how amazing she is, but clearly they play the game differently than we do. Is her Quick Draw ability any good or is that really just a Strain trap and she should be focused on regular attacks? What about her class cards, what should she take? And what actions should she take during her activation? Should she go early on in the Rebel rotation so that her Quick Draw can get readied for use earlier, before many of the Imperials go?

Yeah, Subversive Tactics is a very tough class for any set of heroes to fight. Not unbeatable, but not fun to play against either.

Sorry if I was unclear - I don't think Jyn is a good support at all. You need to buy her 2 pistols for her to be effective, so if you have a team where she can't hog a lot of the credits, she won't do well.

The DL-44 is a good weapon for her, but only if she has Gunslinger, and then don't attack with the DL-44, just use its surge on the other weapon. Blue Yellow is pretty much the worst ranged attack, even with ~+2 damage.

An ideal mid-game loadout for Jyn is:

Items: DL-44, Deathhammer with Tactical Display. 1400 Credits right there.

Class cards: Gunslinger is a must. I don't think I'd get anything for her until she has that, and make sure to get her a good weapon soon.

After that, Sidewinder is next, followed by Get Cocky (if the Imp likes running a lot of little guys) or Trick Shot (if the Imp likes hiding their priority targets - also makes Quick Draw easy to pull off)

It really depends on how much XP you're getting. Quick as a Whip is okay too, but never get Smuggler's Luck, Cheap Shot, or Roll With It (in my opinion; others might differ on this. See this article http://www.boardgameresource.com/imperial-assault-strategy-jyn-campaign-build/ for a totally different way to build her - I don't agree with it, but it's an option)

As for strategy, Jyn just wants to shoot things. If you have Opportunist and Sidewinder, you can get 6 spaces of movement (spaces, not points -you can ignore added movement point costs), 2 movement points for 2 strain, and 2 attacks in a round. Add 3 spaces and another attack if you Quick Draw. This makes her incredibly mobile - in my opinion, the most mobile character in the game. And that's what you want to focus on - killing things, then moving on to kill other things.

Don't try to force Quick Draw to work. Use it when you can, but definitely don't move her up first to try to set it up unless there's only one enemy, and you're pretty sure you can kill it with Quick Draw. Jyn is very easy to wound with only 10HP and a white die, so you want to bring her in after some of the heavy hitters have had to activate already. This is a general strategy in IA: force the enemy to either overextend to get to you, or attack sub-optimal targets because the ones they want to kill haven't moved up yet.

As for whether she's good or not: using the above loadout (Deathhammer + DL-44, Tactical Display and Gunslinger), Jyn attacked a 6HP Trandoshan with Deathhammer. The Trandoshan rolled 3 block. Jyn rolled 3 Damage on the Red and 2 Damage on the Blue (good rolls on both sides). Deathhammer adds 1 damage automatically, Tac Display adds a surge for +2 damage, 1 Strain for 1 surge from Gunslinger and convert that to 1 damage (from either weapon). 2+1+2+1 = 6. Dead Trandoshan, from full health, through 3 blocks. That's 9 damage in a single attack, in the mid game. Sure, she had to spend a strain and exhaust 2 cards to do it, but she can do that once per round, and sometimes it won't take that much investment.

Heh heh...well, she has ALL of the class skills you said to never take, LOL! I think I know now why we suck so bad at this game - we suck at building the characters. I may propose to the team that we just give up on this campaign and start a new one soon. We got pulled into the "Captured" forced mission last episode and so we are looking at having to play at LEAST four more missions with the odds stacked considerably against us before we finish the core campaign. And right now it's getting pretty hard to convince the Rebels to even try any more.

Well none of her abilities are so bad they're trap options. Smuggler's Luck is only 1 point, sure it's not a card whose ability comes up often, but it helps and it's 1 point. Cheap Shot as well isn't terrible if you're getting quick draw off a lot, and while you shouldn't buy it early as there are much better options, it's one you might end getting later in the campaign. Roll With It is kind of terrible (super terrible against Subversive Tactics) unless you really need evades for some reason, like to stop Arc Blasters constantly stunning multiple people with it's blast.

I agree - only Roll With It I would say is a never buy. Cheap Shot is fine if you're facing a bunch of big melee units (where the stun will hurt more) and, as Union said, you're good at getting Quick Draw off a lot. Cheap Shot becomes a million times better once you have Trick Shot, IMO.

The abilities I picked are focused on damage and mobility for her attacks in general - which will, of course, help your Quick Draw anyway, because it's an attack too.