We have just finished the first mission of the campaign. We have to buy weapons/mods.

Should Verena go first for Melee Weapon/mod (Like Cleave 2 weapon or Balance Hilt), or Ranged Weapon/Mod (DL-44, Display tactics, ...).

Thank you!

Her starting ranged is worse than her starting melee weapon and if you decide to take K'tara it uses ranged. On the other hand her starting melee doesn't really generate surges and she really needs a surge generating weapon to remove strain. So it comes down to what comes up and what other characters need.

I agree with Union. If you have another melee character give her the ranged weapon and if there are no melee characters she can fill that roll nicely.

The Rebels in my last campaign gave her the DL-44 and tactical display early and she rode that setup all the way through the finale (I think they picked up the stun baton just so she could stun a few enemies, but it never really worked out). But giving something with cleave options is generally pretty appealing.

On 6/18/2017 at 10:00 AM, Uninvited Guest said:

I agree with Union. If you have another melee character give her the ranged weapon and if there are no melee characters she can fill that roll nicely.

The Rebels in my last campaign gave her the DL-44 and tactical display early and she rode that setup all the way through the finale (I think they picked up the stun baton just so she could stun a few enemies, but it never really worked out). But giving something with cleave options is generally pretty appealing.

In a Return to Hoth campaign that I'm wrapping up, Verena is using the DL-44 with Tactical Display and Spread Barrel. It was devastatingly effective combined with Point Blank Shot. The best example of that was in one activation where she killed 3 figures totaling 16 health (Probe Droid, Imperial Officer, Heavy Stormtrooper). I am playing the Imperial Player so needless to say, I was pretty shocked and disappointed when I wasn't able to use my Field Officer, Field General Heavy Stormtroopers with Lead by Example.

If you're curious how that went down: https://boardgamegeek.com/article/25528784#25528784

The only main downside is that there is a small chance that you can fail to make the 1 range required to hit an adjacent target that is not Hidden. Both of the 0 accuracy sides of the Yellow die have at least one surge which you can usually use for the +1 hit, 2 accuracy surge ability. However, if you roll the single surge 0 accuracy side of the yellow die (and don't roll a surge on the red die - only one side of the red has a surge) and the target rolls an evade and Tactical Display is exhausted, you will have 0 accuracy. In most cases there's a very low possibility that it happens and probably not much of a concern unless you're playing against Imperial Black Ops where the Imperial Player has easy access to gain the Hidden Condition (-2 accuracy when attacking Hidden figures). Additionally, there are a few Imperial deployments that have a free evade but there are relatively few of those deployment options - SC-2 Repulsor Tank, Royal Guard, Hired Gun, and Boba Fett are the only ones that come to mind. It's also obviously possible to roll multiple evades if the defender rolls multiple dice but again, if you roll at least one accuracy on the yellow die (4/6 sides).

With that said, the weapon combination does Tier 3 level damage when swapping the Blue die for a Red die via Point Blank Shot. The free Pierce 1 helps push a lot of damage through. Also, it is very flexible in how you apply the damage since both the Tactical Display and Spread Barrel have the more appealing "while attacking" wording which means after the rolling (and re-rolling) is complete. It also is nice in that it can be acquired early in the campaign since the DL-44 and the Tactical Display are both Tier 1 and the Spread Barrel is Tier 2. The cost can be spread out over multiple upgrade stages which is nice as it doesn't require saving a lot of credits for a large 1000-1200 credit purchase like many of the Tier 3 weapons.