Each of the Specializations named for a lightsaber style--excepting Shii-cho Knight--gives us a Technique talent that allows for another Characteristic to be substituted for lightersaber's default of Brawn. They then have a few talent that require this Technique talent to utilize. Soresu Defender is no different so far.

However, Soresu Defender is built a bit differently. With the right-most column of its talent tree, there is a path that allows one to bypass Soresu Technique and still get to the heart of the tree. In fact, there are paths that allow access to the entire tree while skipping Soresu Technique and the two talents that require it (Defensive Circle and Strategic Form). This means that a character with high-Brawn and crap-Intellect can still get a lot out of this tree without "wasting" any XP on talents that are not of immediate use. Of course, if that character eventually raises Intellect, those talents are always available to be picked-up later. This though came to me when a Brawn 5 (and average everything else) character was looking for a lightsaber style. While Shii-Cho would have been the obvious choice, there was a desire for a defense against ranged attacks (Reflect), so another option was explored.

I play a Morgukai warden , but because of the reliance on melee combat you can take tht 5 xp talents and the right and left hand of the tree along with dedication make for a powerful addition to a melee character (only 10 xp wasted and a load of defensive talents , but unfortunately not their best two which do re quire lightsaber int checks.

Ataru Striker can do the exact same thing, buying talents up the first column of the spec, grabbing Dedication in the 2nd column, and them buying Hawk Bat Swoop, which is useless if you don't have Ataru Technique. Going up that path gets you a rank of Conditioned, two ranks of Dodge, a rank of Quick Strike (4th column nets you a 2nd rank of Quick Strike and Quick Draw), a rank of Parry, and then Dedication. So for a non-Force user PC using a Melee weapon that wants to be a fairly effective assassin without having to touch a lightsaber, Ataru Striker's got some appeal.

Ataru Striker allows for almost the same thing, but no the exact same thing. There is no way to get all of Ataru Striker except for Ataru Technique, Hawk Bat Swoop, and Saber Swarm. To access the remainder of the tree, you have to take at least one of those (Ataru Technique, at 10 XP, being the least expensive).

3 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

However, Soresu Defender is built a bit differently. With the right-most column of its talent tree, there is a path that allows one to bypass Soresu Technique and still get to the heart of the tree. In fact, there are paths that allow access to the entire tree while skipping Soresu Technique and the two talents that require it (Defensive Circle and Strategic Form). This means that a character with high-Brawn and crap-Intellect can still get a lot out of this tree without "wasting" any XP on talents that are not of immediate use. Of course, if that character eventually raises Intellect, those talents are always available to be picked-up later. This though came to me when a Brawn 5 (and average everything else) character was looking for a lightsaber style. While Shii-Cho would have been the obvious choice, there was a desire for a defense against ranged attacks (Reflect), so another option was explored.

This was how I built my current PC/Soresu that we're ~400 xp deep into now. My group was like "What are you doing, dumping INT for a Soresu?"

We did a Knight Level start, and you can get just about ALL of the good stuff with that amount of xp and using the bypass route.

She's very Tanky. I think probably the only PC in the group to have never been put unconscious.

She went into Seer next to fill out her Force Power-ness, but eventually was contemplating Shien Expert pretty much for Falling Avalanche alone, but also all the Reflect which is clutch in campaign-style play (and she at least has a decent Cunning).

If your goal is to get to Falling Avalanche, consider taking Armorer. It will get you Armor Mastery along the way which is great for a tank, and the other talents can help even an Intellect 2 character with lightsaber (and armor) modifications.

14 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Ataru Striker allows for almost the same thing, but no the exact same thing. There is no way to get all of Ataru Striker except for Ataru Technique, Hawk Bat Swoop, and Saber Swarm. To access the remainder of the tree, you have to take at least one of those (Ataru Technique, at 10 XP, being the least expensive).

But many of those talents in the heart of Ataru Striker are only useful if you're a Force user, so the routes I suggested make it a viable option for a PC that's not a Force user but wants a quick collection of some useful combat talents. Worse comes to worse, you pay a 10XP tax to buy Ataru Technique to pick up a third rank in Parry (nice but not essential), and a second rank of Conditioned, both of which are probably not a high priority for some builds.

4 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

But many of those talents in the heart of Ataru Striker are only useful if you're a Force user, so the routes I suggested make it a viable option for a PC that's not a Force user but wants a quick collection of some useful combat talents. Worse comes to worse, you pay a 10XP tax to buy Ataru Technique to pick up a third rank in Parry (nice but not essential), and a second rank of Conditioned, both of which are probably not a high priority for some builds.

I wasn't trying to make the tree work for a non-Force Sensitive; I was trying to make it work for someone with high Brawn and a low score in Intellect (for Soresu; Agility for Ataru).