This is the personal Star Destroyer of Darth Vader it should be epic. I keep seeing potential, then I find a more cost effective means to the same end. Is there a reason I should want to use it aside for fluffiness? Or, is it just a title that's there because it needed to exist?

I'm honestly at a loss myself, because once you start losing tokens, you're usually going down. I'll say however, that I think when Devastator jumped into Scariff, it must have been totally out of tokens, judging from the massive volley it unleashed..... Oh, and it definitely had Gunnery Teams.

ihmo the title is sub-par. however, some functions, for what its worth:

once the ISD is already tooled out, the only way to make it even more powerful is with titles.

the devastator title is simple. put gunnery teams. shoot twice when far away. use vader to discard(exhaust-discard) that contain. then you have 1 more die pet turn. basicaly, the gist of it: use vader to discard the contain at will and start using the devastator ability before you get hurt..

important: even those side arcs can become 5-diers with this title. thats nothing to seeze at. that said, ofc the title isnt cost efficient. but to say it has no uses would be wrong.

Maybe with general tagge? More likely as fluff and in a "that thing must die right the hell now" situation

And I guess if you combined with with overload pulse...?

important: even those side arcs can become 5-diers with this title. thats nothing to seeze at. that said, ofc the title isnt cost efficient. but to say it has no uses would be wrong.

How so? The card says: 'Once per round, while attacking from your front hull zone, you may add 1 blue die to your attack pool for each of your discarded defense tokens.'

important: even those side arcs can become 5-diers with this title. thats nothing to seeze at. that said, ofc the title isnt cost efficient. but to say it has no uses would be wrong.

How so? The card says: 'Once per round, while attacking from your front hull zone, you may add 1 blue die to your attack pool for each of your discarded defense tokens.'

thanks for correcting. then the title is even worse. still, nt useless. bu totally points-inefficient.

important: even those side arcs can become 5-diers with this title. thats nothing to seeze at. that said, ofc the title isnt cost efficient. but to say it has no uses would be wrong.

How so? The card says: 'Once per round, while attacking from your front hull zone, you may add 1 blue die to your attack pool for each of your discarded defense tokens.'

thanks for correcting. then the title is even worse. still, nt useless. bu totally points-inefficient.

Not necessarily. You had a solid start to that strategy. Using H9s or a blue crit effect upgrade, you can now do a 5 dice attack at long range, you can reroll all dice with Vader and guarantee an accuracy, or increase chances to inflict a blue crit. Or you could use Spinals for a 6 dice attack with leading shots. That extra die is powerful. Especially when you're on the ropes. It's a good way to turn the tables.

In my campaign game last night, I had 2 MC30s parked at medium range of an ISD-II front arc. It was out of all but 1 token. The Devastator title would have wrecked 1 of those, as one was left with 2 hull after those attacks, and it would have changed the outcome of the game. Very situational, and not everyone is dumb enough to park their MC30s right there, but it was a situation that came up

The title can be...devastating...Vader, 1st player. Takes a bit of practice, but hits like a brick.

Also for the cc, time it right and hyper out after delivering that round 4 or 5 barrage.

So NOT useless, but tricky/niche.

The cost, however, is just nonsense. 10 points.

Take Avenger instead. 5 points. Far more reliable, far less costly.

When I've run Devastator with an Interdoctor it's been a terrifying presence.

ISD-2

Devastator

Gunnery Team

Spinal Armaments

Leading Shots

(Season to taste, probably Intel Officer)

Interdictor

Projection Experts

(Season to taste, could probably just be an Arquittens now)

Devastator can take a huge pounding when you're freely spending tokens and getting 'free' shields on the most important hull zones.

Then, since it can happily pump out a huge volley, even at long range, and with the extra shields (and possible/probable Repair commands) can keep it going strong for several rounds pumping out very powerful attacks.

With the right list, you can really capitalise on the huge holes it tears in ships. And a 9 dice medium range ISD front arc with rerolls will obliterate small ships without the need for Devastator.

That said, I haven't actually played in a while, so my theory is rather far behind the curve!

Ok, so its not just me. Too bad, any history of FFG errata-ing down point costs?

Who knows, maybe someday there will be a release that compliments the title.

Reinforced blast doors

Ok, so its not just me. Too bad, any history of FFG errata-ing down point costs?

Who knows, maybe someday there will be a release that compliments the title.

That's ffg for you - they strive to make up for past mistakes by releasing new content. So one day perhaps.

In the meantime the cost is a tad bit high - you sinking so many points into one large ship.

With the right list, you can really capitalise on the huge holes it tears in ships. And a 9 dice medium range ISD front arc with rerolls will obliterate small ships without the need for Devastator.

My MC30s would disagree with you there. And it's really not the other small ships your worried about. It's the big ones (and MC30s) that can take a 9 dice attack that you're worried about.

I think it would work just fine for the campaign, at least. A 500 point ceiling gives a lot of leeway.

Ok, so its not just me. Too bad, any history of FFG errata-ing down point costs?

Who knows, maybe someday there will be a release that compliments the title.

I don't think they have ever used errata to adjust point costs, but they may release more complimentary upgrades.

The Price you pay is the Potential

I've seen SkyCake basically maneuver correctly, spend his own tokens unneccessarily, line up all of his ducks in a Row, and then One Shot an MC80 Command Cruiser from virtually scratch, with it.

Its not just its damage potential, its its additional damage potential, that breaks it above what is almost an 'accepted limit' on Damage Potential and reliability.

The ISD-1 already has the Highest Single Damage Output Potential in the game. Full Stop, End of Story.

You're paying to add, more likely, 1-2 blue dice to it, with the potential of capping to 4 more Blue Dice to it. Considering you pay 9 to put 1 Red out the Front... And Doesn't take your Turbolaser, Gunnery, Offensive Retro or Officer Slot in order to do so.... I feel its fairly balanced for its Point-to-Output. There are ways and means you can be going through tokens and not on flames...

Really, ... Its not that Devestator is Expensive. Its that's Avenger is Far too Cheap...

Dras just said it better than I ever could...blowing up ships is the easy part... The trick is getting away with devastator until the end of game...

Lets go all thematic and see what we end up with.

Devastator so vader duh... wookiepedia says it was an ISD I

And apparently Montferrat was its captain.

For a ship that wants to bomb you up close he's better then needa.

(And when you have to discard him, its like vader choked him lol)

And it seems that Heavy Turbolaser Turrets have the best synergy with this many dice and rerolls.

And since its not a modification we can get the Tractor beam, which is one of the main differences between ISD I and II

Thats what i got so far.

Devastator is built for an ISD1 and Vader. Intel officer and X17's are all you need. Get into black dice range and you should have already lost 1-2 defense tokens. Concentrate fire and your looking at 3 red, 4 blue, 4 black for absolute carnage with Vader rerolls. 11-14 damage is easy. Key is having last/first activation.

I know thecatusman has had a lot of experience. He should be along eventually to discuss his experiences taking it to tournaments.

The only bit of advice I remember him giving me out of it was to take SW-7s. That way for all the dice that you're getting out of Devastator, you're doing Certain Damage.

The way I see it Devastator is the title to take on your uncomfortable space tank. If the enemy fires at it and does damage, it's just going to make it stronger as it's winding up to pitch at your most expensive ship. But Devastator drivers are gambling that the enemy won't be doing excessive damage in the window where you have no defensive tokens... and the only way to get them back is through Tagge. But that's not enough to build an entire list around... Devastator feels like a "one and done" deal to me.

Devastator has some odd properties. It was definitely viable in wave 2, I'm still experimenting to see if it's viable after.

One common mistake people make with Devastator is running it too close to the Canon ideal, ie Darth Vader on an ISD1 slowly gathering tokens. This is, frankly, often inefficient and slow and won't contribute much to overall tactical damage output.

When you start playing towards its actual strengths, you can see some incredible results.

The core strengths of an ISD are:

1: It is durable, and can take a severe beating especially when defense tokens are available.

2: It has a very powerful front arc at the appropriate range.

3: It is unusually fast and maneuverable for a medium or large ship.

4: It can take numerous upgrades to improve the damage output and distribution of that front battery, while also radically improving its native durability.

I found some tactics and upgrades to play to those strengths.

The first is to avoid thinking about the damage output as a massive spike. Instead, think of it as a huge range increase, extending the full power of your front arc to maximum range. This will let you see opportunities all over the board for how to use it best. Your best outcome is always the one that removes a threat in the most optimal way, not necessarily the one that does the most damage.

Second, view your defense tokens as having a double duty as "fuel" to power the shot, while also simultaneously remaining as functional defenses. Never spend a defense token if you aren't defending against something, unless spending it would have no effect.

Exploit the rules for movement and turning to ensure your ship is always optimally placed to exploit its best combination of defensive and offensive opportunities.

If you are going to trade all defense for overwhelming offense, commit fully to maximizing the effects of both while you can.

I won't guarantee you'll always succeed or that the ship will survive if you do. But keeping these in mind will help you see more success with it.

A few upgrade suggestions:

Admiral Motti

ECMs

SW7 Ion Canons

Wait.. Let me get this straight? You can lose tokens and fire blues added with the title at ranges outside the normal blue die range?

Yeah, the blue dice do not have a range spec, so you can use them in any attack you make. So you can use them at red range, so long as you only add them to one attack per turn, and that attack is made from your front arc.

Ok, all this time I had no idea.. That kinda just made the case for using the title for me.. Since I always deemed it crap compared to Relentless, and Avenger..

Just a thought for a fleet that has vader and Devastator. If you make an attack with Devastator (not adding any avenger dice) spend a red token to get re rolls via vader, can you then add the extra Dice to the attack, I would say yes as they both modify dice and so happen at the same time.

Just a thought for a fleet that has vader and avenger. If you make an attack with avenger (not adding any avenger dice) spend a red token to get re rolls via vader, can you then add the extra Dice to the attack, I would say yes as they both modify dice and so happen at the same time.

You got some names wrong but yes. You can spend the token, add the die, then reroll of you want to.

The real issue is that this is a really inefficient way to trigger Devastator. It requires that you either have a double arc or two targets with gunnery teams, in both cases this is going to telegraph your plan to your opponent and allow them to take actions in response.