Although I have pointed out which heroes I think are the best in part 1 of this piece, the key element in having a strong rebel party will always be a good party composition. This can be daunting for new players as some of the synergies between heroes and what you actually need the party to do can be hard to get a good understanding of. While it is cool to pick 4 good damage dealers and just try and blast the Empire to smithereens, this will more often than not result in utter and complete failure to perform your mission objectives.

My golden rule for choosing a party of 4 (I never play with any other number, as I find the extra activations wonky and damaging to game balance) is to have one hard support, one semi-support and two primary damage dealers, ideally specialised in two different aspects of dealing damage, for example one AoE damage dealer and one single target damage dealer.

By hard support, I mean characters who are there to support the party 100%. They will seldom, if ever, attack themselves and will mainly do stuff to help the rest of the party having an easier time achieving their goals. The main culprit of the hard support role is still Gideon; he does not need to attack at all during a campaign, saving you valuable credits that can instead be used to upgrade the weapons of your other party members. Murne Rin, MHD-19 or even Diala can be used for this role, although Gideon will almost always be the best for the job.

Semi-support characters are characters who will mostly be doing utility work for the team, but also attacking every once in a while. The best person for the role is in my opinion Diala, who can focus others, throw enemies around and give re-rolls to allies for attacks and tests. MHD-19 is also a solid pick for this role, and you could even use characters such as Saska or Loku for this role, although the last two is a significant step down in power level.

Damage dealers are a dime-a-dozen, but they often have very different ways of dealing damage that offers up a host of differing playstyles. Garkhaan charges in and is an annoying tank that the Empire has to deal with, while Mak strikes from the shadows, keeping out of the enemy's sight. When picking damage dealers, you should look at how they supplement and are supplemented by the supports on your team to get the max efficiency out of them.

A second point to consider is test coverage. You need to have people capable of succeeding at the tests the game will throw at you, often at several different places on the map. This means that you will probably need more than one hero being passable at each skill. Fenn and Verena are fantastic at this, sporting a blue+green on every test, while Gideon is even better, with the same stats and an additional yellow die on insight. So long as you keep them healthy, each of these heroes provide a good foundation for the tests you will have to do.

Without further ado, here are some sample parties with a few synergies explained

#1 - The Elite

Gideon, Diala, Fenn, Verena

This is probably the strongest hero party there is. Verena could be swapped out, but she has some very interesting synergies with the rest of the party. She benefits a lot from Diala Force Throwing people on 1hp next to her and both Fenn and Gideon can help her get into position with Command and Tactical Movement. Diala focusing Verena so she can use the focus to out of activation attack with an enemy’s weapon, making her kill another enemy and getting a free focus on the next close quarter attack is potentially devastating and not actually that hard to set up either. Force Throw also sets up Fenn’s Havoc Shot really well, and he can shot 4 times a round with Gideon’s command. This team also has very good coverage for all kinds of tests. If you are constantly losing, this is the party you want to turn the tide. Otherwise, you can probably come up with something more creative, as this can be a straight up NPE for your Imperial player.

#2 - More for fun

Murne, Saska, Jyn, Garkhaan

We played this party during our last campaign on Hoth and had an almost perfect record. Granted, Saska isn’t the strongest rebel character by any stretch of the imagination, but she is ok-ish in a semi-support role where both primary attackers have a lot of surge abilities that they want to utilise. Jyn is extremely squishy with only 10hp and 4 endurance for healing, but when Garkhaan charges in, he draws a lot of attention away from her allowing her to do what she does best, putting copious amounts of blaster fire into the enemy.

#3 - Well balanced party

Murne, Diala, Vinto, Shyla

The party we are currently trying out in the Jabba campaign seems very solid so far. Shyla is a very fun melee hero with a lot of gap closers and can do a lot of work by herself, while Vinto excels at pinging off the last few health from near defeated enemies. I am thinking this is going to be a killer combination with Shyla’s cleave3 and Diala’s Force Throw late in the campaign. Murne’s waylay can also provide Vinto with an additional out-of-activation boltslinger attack through Waylay, making him even more likely to ping off that last point of health.

#4 - Interesting party I want to try

Gideon, MHD-19, Verena, Shyla

This seems like it would be incredibly fun to play, as Shyla’s whip will help Verena get into position more easily and the two of them seems to be a really fun combo to play with. MHD-19 can use the occasional focused attack on enemies and provide medical supplies so Verena and Shyla won’t have to rest that often.

I would love to hear your thoughts on party composition and why you choose as you do.

great write up.

my groups last campaign was Biv, Mak, Diala and Jyn.

they did pretty well. biv and Mak were the single target damage dealers and Diala was the AOE with jyn quick drawing and quick as a whipping everywhere

How did you find fitting so many heroes with weapons working out for you? That seems awfully expensive.

This was an interesting read with my first shot as a Rebel coming up. We've picked our characters (Fenn [me], Gideon, Jyn, and Shyla) and I have to admit I'm a little concerned we didn't take a semi support character. We won't be competing over weapon types at least but money might be a little tight. I'm hoping Shyla's Mandolorian Whip will help get LOS for Jyn's Quick Draw or even create some opportunities for me to use Havoc Shot. We'll see.

How did you find fitting so many heroes with weapons working out for you? That seems awfully expensive.

some people missed out on good guns. but the damage was consistent from them, biv was without a gun for a while. but my group were crate grabbers and credit mission enthusiasts

Having 4 heroes to upgrade is doable, but you have little money for items that arent weapons. Having 1 hero that doesnt need a weapon is ideal, but money is a bit more plentiful in Jabba's Realm so it is possible.

I disagree that "semi support" is a requirement.

To me, a balanced group has 1 support, 1 ranged dps, 1 melee dps, and 1 wild card. That wild card could be semi support but 1 support and 3 dps works too. It can be anything except another full support.

There are obviously no hard and fast rules here. I also often prefer the one melee and one ranged approach, although I don't really think it is the most meaningful distinction; not in the same vein as aoe/single target.

Uninvited Guest: Your party looks good. Gideon is a force multiplier and will certainly be a shining star with both Jyn and Fenn on the team.

I think 1 melee and 1 ranged (then 1 of either type) is important because of the items.

If you dont have a melee character for example, then the powerful melee weapons/mods will go to waste while there is more competition for the powerful ranged weapons/mods.

I think style of dps is also an important consideration, but not more important. If you had a group consisting of Fenn (aoe), Loku (long range), Jyn (short range), and a support, i would not consider it a balanced group, despite all 3 having differing dps styles.

I find that with the new rules from Jabba's Realm there are so many items being drawn every turn that it isn't too much of a problem. Verena and Jyn prefers pistols for example, while Fenn or Mak prefers other guns. I can agree that you wouldn't want several pistol users or any other combination however.

I do agree, there are enough good ranged weapons to support 3 ranged dps (not so much with melee, and there would also be a space issue). But there are not enough good mods to go around. In tiers 1 and 2, there are really only 3 good ranged mods (maybe 4 if you count bolt upgrade -it is okay but not great), and the others either have niche uses or are bad.

By not having a melee, you are not using Balanced hilt, or High-impact guard, some of the best mods in the game.

As I said earlier, running 3 ranged is possible, but I dont think it is a balanced group. That said, it does depend specifically on which characters you are using, the tier 1 blast mod is bad on any character except Fenn, so if Fenn is in party it would allow the other characters to use the other good mods (tho in an ideal world, he would be running both that and tac display in a 2 mod weapon), Biv has his own mod, and in my last campaign, I ran Onar with hand cannon, marks barrel, and extra ammunition, to decent effect (3 red dice and a reroll to deal with the 1 dmg results. Onar also doesnt really care what weapon he has so you could use a melee weapon on him if you wanted).

Looking to build a party for an upcoming Jabba's Realm campaign and just wanting to bounce some ideas. In our previous Return to Hoth campaign, we ran the "elite three" (Gideon, Diala, Fenn) plus Loku and it was very unbalanced versus Precision Training. This time around, we're hoping to have a good competitive game but as one of the Rebels, I also want to create a party with good synergy. Also, ideally would like to include some heroes from the JR expansion or heroes we have not played before.

So, here's the thinking:

• Mak or Onar for high damage single target ranged (Mak with "No Escape" or Onar with "Don't make me Hurt you") - we have not played either character in our group
• Shyla or Verena for melee - both seem very strong and we have not played either in any prior campaigns
• Vinto for dealing with floods of low hp units like troopers
• Gideon, Diala or maybe to a lesser extent MHD as support - leaning towards Gideon since his usefulness in being a force multiplier is unmatched. However, the Rebels have used him in our prior two campaigns so might be nice to switch it up.

The biggest decisions to make I think are the first two listed. I could easily go either way on those picks. The support pick I'm having a hard time feeling like anyone other than Gideon can have the same level of impact (especially if we go with both Vinto and Shyla who can both acquire reroll abilities, making Diala and Force Adept less needed).

Anyway, looking for some thoughts and opinions on what people think. I'm a min-maxer at heart so it's hard not to just pick Gideon, Fenn, Diala and one other but looking to break the mold a bit with this campaign to make things more fun.

On 24/1/2017 at 3:44 AM, Deadwolf said:

Having 4 heroes to upgrade is doable, but you have little money for items that arent weapons. Having 1 hero that doesnt need a weapon is ideal, but money is a bit more plentiful in Jabba's Realm so it is possible.

I disagree that "semi support" is a requirement.

To me, a balanced group has 1 support, 1 ranged dps, 1 melee dps, and 1 wild card. That wild card could be semi support but 1 support and 3 dps works too. It can be anything except another full support.

- What about Verena? Since she can have both weapon, does she is the Ranged or the Melee dps in the group?

- Sorry, who is the wild card? Rogue like Jyn? Murne?

Verena is both (cleave) melee and (short) ranged and fills both "requirements" simultaneously. So, if she is in party, it doesnt really matter if the remaining dps are melee or ranged (tho her and 2 melee isnt a great idea, and she also has very specific gear needs and doesnt mesh with characters who also want that gear). On the flip side is Onar, who can be either, i would slot him in the wild card slot rather than defining him before the campaign.

Wild card basically means anyone (except a 2nd support)

So, 1 support, 1 melee, 1 ranged, & dps or dps/support hybrid of choice.

I should also point out that Gideon, while generally considered a full support, can be run as a dps/support hybrid using Hammer and Anvil/military efficiency (you still get masterstroke because it is not really skippable but you get it later). So running Gideon + MHD or Murne is possible (but you will be a bit weak in the early stages).

4 hours ago, machfalcon said:

Looking to build a party for an upcoming Jabba's Realm campaign and just wanting to bounce some ideas. In our previous Return to Hoth campaign, we ran the "elite three" (Gideon, Diala, Fenn) plus Loku and it was very unbalanced versus Precision Training. This time around, we're hoping to have a good competitive game but as one of the Rebels, I also want to create a party with good synergy. Also, ideally would like to include some heroes from the JR expansion or heroes we have not played before.

So, here's the thinking:

• Mak or Onar for high damage single target ranged (Mak with "No Escape" or Onar with "Don't make me Hurt you") - we have not played either character in our group
• Shyla or Verena for melee - both seem very strong and we have not played either in any prior campaigns
• Vinto for dealing with floods of low hp units like troopers
• Gideon, Diala or maybe to a lesser extent MHD as support - leaning towards Gideon since his usefulness in being a force multiplier is unmatched. However, the Rebels have used him in our prior two campaigns so might be nice to switch it up.

The biggest decisions to make I think are the first two listed. I could easily go either way on those picks. The support pick I'm having a hard time feeling like anyone other than Gideon can have the same level of impact (especially if we go with both Vinto and Shyla who can both acquire reroll abilities, making Diala and Force Adept less needed).

Anyway, looking for some thoughts and opinions on what people think. I'm a min-maxer at heart so it's hard not to just pick Gideon, Fenn, Diala and one other but looking to break the mold a bit with this campaign to make things more fun.

Mak is A tier, Onar is B tier, so Mak will out perfom Onar. That said, go with who you like, Onar will be just fine, especially if the other 3 members are strong.

Verena vs Shyla is an interesting comparison. They are on a similar tier, Verena will achieve higher highs but Shyla is more consistent and less reliant on strain. Verena also needs to be a loot hog to be effective.

Vinto is a solid choice, great at dealing with multiple small minions. As you develop him you can choose to get Merciless to deal with big minions too or skip it and double down on your strength of dealing with small minions.

Gideon is of course the best choice, being A+ tier, but by far not required. Verena and Diala wont really work together as you will struggle to equip your party properly (and as you said, both Vinto and Shyla have rerolls), and MHD is better with strain intensive heroes. I would actually recommend Murne as a good alternative to Gideon.

56 minutes ago, Deadwolf said:

Gideon is of course the best choice, being A+ tier, but by far not required. Verena and Diala wont really work together as you will struggle to equip your party properly (and as you said, both Vinto and Shyla have rerolls), and MHD is better with strain intensive heroes. I would actually recommend Murne as a good alternative to Gideon.

I played Murne with Waylay and found her to be quite underwhelming in that you have to get good positioning to use False Orders and it seems like the Imperial player can somewhat play around it. Were you thinking a build centered around her False Orders or more hybrid with Lead from the Front? I suppose there are other tools in her kit such as Rebel Propaganda and Professional Aide but the effectiveness of Gideon's action economy is so hard to match (why did they have to make him so good?).

Edit: note - I only played Murne in a Bespin Gambit campaign where I was controlling four heroes so my experience is probably a bit skewed.

I dont have too much experience with Murne, but False Orders build with Waylay and Double Agent (this is arguable more important than waylay) seems best with whatever you like best rounding it out.

Murne isnt really support in the traditional sense, but fills the slot because she doesnt really need a weapon.

I have only seen her in a mini campaign (as the imp) and she was really good.

She isnt better than Gideon, noone is. But you dont need the elite tier S heroes to win campaigns.

Within a loose framework of - not all melee/ranged - we pick the characters we want to play. Last campaign - Hoth, rebels used Murne, Loku, Davith and Biv. Murne with False Orders, Waylay and Lead from the Front was brutal and became Imperial target #1. Loku with Combat Spotter made three missions a breeze. Davith was almost always hidden and his Shrouded Lightsaber was very effective. Biv, was ... Biv. He was better once we found out his Bayonet didn't need to be attached to anything.

17 hours ago, Deadwolf said:

Mak is A tier, Onar is B tier, so Mak will out perfom Onar. That said, go with who you like, Onar will be just fine, especially if the other 3 members are strong.

...

Vinto is a solid choice, great at dealing with multiple small minions. As you develop him you can choose to get Merciless to deal with big minions too or skip it and double down on your strength of dealing with small minions

I agree with Deadwolf entirely on this post (though I'm not sure about Murne, I've yet to see her played), but I wanted to point out a connection between these two observations. With Mak's ability to rack up single target damage, a minion control build on Vinto may be the way to go. I'm not sure if this applies to Onar (compared to Mak) though, but the ability add a red die to your attack with Don't Make Me Hurt You makes me think it does.

We were trying to think about a strong group, without using Fenn, Diala, Gideon.

Verena as DPS, Mak as Ranged DPS, Murne as Semi support (maybe with an Ally too in game), and MHD as support.

Could this party work?

3 hours ago, Deadwolf said:

I dont have too much experience with Murne, but False Orders build with Waylay and Double Agent (this is arguable more important than waylay) seems best with whatever you like best rounding it out.

Murne isnt really support in the traditional sense, but fills the slot because she doesnt really need a weapon.

I have only seen her in a mini campaign (as the imp) and she was really good.

She isnt better than Gideon, noone is. But you dont need the elite tier S heroes to win campaigns.

I think I misunderstood the wording on Double Agent thinking that the "before performing the attack" was after "declaring a target". Given that she can push the figure and then declare the target, it becomes much stronger so I can see her working in the support role I'm looking to fill.

Thanks, I might suggest we give her a try in this group.

2 hours ago, juice man said:

Within a loose framework of - not all melee/ranged - we pick the characters we want to play. Last campaign - Hoth, rebels used Murne, Loku, Davith and Biv. Murne with False Orders, Waylay and Lead from the Front was brutal and became Imperial target #1. Loku with Combat Spotter made three missions a breeze. Davith was almost always hidden and his Shrouded Lightsaber was very effective. Biv, was ... Biv. He was better once we found out his Bayonet didn't need to be attached to anything.

Just a minor correction - Vibrobayonet does indeed need to be attached to a weapon - it just doesn't need to be the same weapon used in the ranged attack portion of Close and Personal. Hence, you can just keep it attached to his starting weapon.

Oops.

1 hour ago, Eyfrosyne said:

We were trying to think about a strong group, without using Fenn, Diala, Gideon.

Verena as DPS, Mak as Ranged DPS, Murne as Semi support (maybe with an Ally too in game), and MHD as support.

Could this party work?

Mak is solid, great single target; Verena is solid; great multi target; MHD pairs well with Verena (MHD is best with strain intensive heroes).

Murne doesn't really fit because I dont think her as a hybrid works. Lead from the front, the main hybrid skill she has, just isnt that good. 4xp for 1 dmg per attack/false orders just isnt great.

I would replace Murne (or MHD) with just about anyone else and you will have a solid party (anyone except Jyn anyway, since her and Verena aren't on speaking terms).

My Rebels picked some heroes for Hoth recently, as well.

They have Vinto, Murne, Gaarkhan, and Diala.

Vinto, because they wanted to try out his new powers to take down troopers. Gaarkhan because he's a beast (literally and figuratively). Diala because they had her in the core campaign and she worked really well for them. And finally, Murne, because they like to take along allies, and she can reduce Uniques' costs.

Overall, they're pretty sold on Vinto and Murne, but not so much on Diala (they did want to try someone new) and Gaarkhan. Thoughts?

36 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

My Rebels picked some heroes for Hoth recently, as well.

They have Vinto, Murne, Gaarkhan, and Diala.

Vinto, because they wanted to try out his new powers to take down troopers. Gaarkhan because he's a beast (literally and figuratively). Diala because they had her in the core campaign and she worked really well for them. And finally, Murne, because they like to take along allies, and she can reduce Uniques' costs.

Overall, they're pretty sold on Vinto and Murne, but not so much on Diala (they did want to try someone new) and Gaarkhan. Thoughts?

Shyla substitutes fairly well for Gaarkhan, they perform the same role and are about on par with each other.

Diala can't really be subtituted without a drop in power but any good single target dps hero would work well here - Mak, Loku, & Davith come to mind.