So there has been a lot of threads lately about characters being over prices, the 2 we see the most often are Finn at 13/16 and Chirrut at 12/16 which got me wondering what IS the standard of 16 point characters? and are any of them really used right now? to the second one I realized the answer was mostly no, and I came to the realization that it wasnt really because any of them were over priced but more that they dont really have any synergy with any 14 point combinations and the 13 point characters pair better with 17 point characters regardless of faction side. So I thought I would give an in depth look at these Middle weight characters, the 2 dice 16, 15 and 14 point characters to see what was really holding this price point back.

Starting with 16 point characters I noticed something about all of them, they all have reliable damage sides at least 3 to be precise however all but 1 of them have mixed damage sides meaning that they arent action efficient, further these damage sides are fairly low impact being only 1 or 2, and the only time a character has more then 1 two damage side one of those sides has either a resource cost or is a modified side. Now the reliable dice means that they should pair fantastically with other characters with reliable damage sides, unfortunately other then villains 2 dice veers or 2 storm troopers both of which have low health pools and favor range damage none of the 14 point character combinations provide this, instead they all provide either mil options or focus options which the 16 point characters dont really need as their dice already reliably Roll damage. Further one of the primary reasons for taking a 2 dice 16 point character instead of 2 8 point non uniques is speed of rolling and resolution, something that is completely negated by giving most of these 16 point characters mixed damage.

If we were to look at each of them individually Jango at 16 points has low health with only 10, and seems to favor cheap weapons and equipment that he can roll out during his opponents actions and then resolve without interruption. Unfortunately for him FN -2199 can do this same thing except he can then overwrite the weapon with another one and do it again all while having 1 more health and only costing 10/13 instead of 12/16 meaning for jango to take advantage of his sides and abilities there needs to be cheap upgrades that provide reliable powerful modified sides that jango can activate when he rolls himself in, of which currently jet pack is the only card I know of that villain has access to that fits this description.

Finn's sides are similar to Jango's and his ability has just lost power as more stuff comes out. Further with so few weapons being restricted to a color the other half of his ability is almost completely been ignored. Futher still all of the 14 point characters he can currently be pair with simply add greater reliability to his dice, something that a 3 damage side character who's sides are reliable but low impact with no resource cost simply doesnt need help with.

Chirrut has a unique problem as he is the only mixed damage 16 point character with modified sides instead of pay sides. In his case he doesnt need help reliably ROLLING damage, but he does need help reliably RESOLVING damage, further again his damage sides arent really any more high impact then Jango or Finn he simply has 1 more damage side and 1 more 2 damage side available to him as well as 1 more health. He further makes other dice in his deck slightly more reliable with his ability. While characters like Mothma can help him be more capable of reliably resolving his by getting him onto similar sides she isnt truly helping him because his weakness isnt getting damage sides showing, it is resolving the damage sides that are showing, he is in much greater need of a 14 point character with reliable black damage sides then he is of a character that can modify as his ability already allows for some modification and his 4 damage sides are already reliably rolled.

Leia one of the most reliable dice in all the game strong health and an ability that once again adds even more reliability. It should be no surprise that she is struggling to find a partner as all the 14 point options available to her just add more reliability rather then adding what she truly needs and that is more damage to use her reliability on. Thankfully I feel this is the one character that WILL see play when EaW hits, having the 7 point Rookie pilots who simply need someone with reliable black damage sides and the 7 point ezra who is in the same boat gives leia a couple of strong candidates to pair with to allow her super reliable dice to shine while you save up money for vehicles and upgrades to make those other characters shine for when some one finally chews threw leia's hearty health pool.

Finally Chewie this poor wookie has been snubbed in so much, no Medal in episode IV, no hug after the death of his best friend in Episode VII and once again no love here. Once again we have a character who's dice can reliably roll damage, once again the damage is mixed this time it's a little higher impact as it has 2 two damage sides (mixed and one costs) and one side that is a special that is basically a worse version of Emo Vaders ability. He has a powerful special but to truly abuse it he needs other specials that allow him to remove or turn another opponents dice which means to use his special he could use a little bit more reliability that other 14 point characters have, however all of these 14 point characters are Red meaning the only cards with specials that he has access to that can remove an opponents die after he turns it or even turn the die again are Rey's staff a neutral card and Jet pack a yellow card all the other best cards for this like Force push and Force throw require blue characters that do not have a 14 point character combination that can add reliability to his special side and the special side of those abilities.

The 15 point characters are in this weird Limbo at the moment, either they want to work with a 7 and 8 point 1 dice character pairs like Phasma who seems to be the golden example of a good 15 point character or they seem to desire to work with other 15 point characters such as Dooku and Ventress who are also pretty solid examples of 15 point characters even if they arent exactly doing all that hot right now. Then there is the new Rieekan who LOOKS like he wants to be a mill option that works with a 7 and 8 point character for a 3 character deck, however once again we dont really see 7 and 8 point mill characters in either side at the moment. The closest we have is the outer rim smuggler with his single discard side and his ability and the rest of his sides barely synergize with this idea.

Finally we have the 14 point characters, on average they have lower health then their 13 point and 12 point counter parts, Dark side only has 1 option when it comes to this price point and that is veers who screams I want to work with vehicles and/or healthy individuals who need more range damage, of which 2 FO Storm troopers have just been better at doing the second thing. and the rest are all Hero side of which 2 desire some form of Mill game and the other is a pure support that desires powerful but unreliable dice. Each of these hero characters has found their niche as each one is actually fairly unique in its goals, however this is not with the 16 point characters and usually it is rarely at 2 dice. Padme has found herself key to mill decks, but usually only at 1 dice whether with 2 dice Jynn or with 2 dice rey/snap and 1 dice Maz. Ackbar has found a unique way to deal damage alongside the 20 point Jynn as well, but again his 14 point variant has yet to find a partner to synergize with, leaving Mothma the single character who has found her spot at 14 points.... along side 2 8 point characters who utilize her wonderful focus sides reliable resource sides and reliable ability to abuse their costly yet high impact damage sides and resource sides all while having more health and just as much speed as any 2 dice 16 point character.

Ultimately FFG has done a really good job of capturing each character and ultimately they are probably fairly priced, but by continuing to not give them like minded partners within their price points that actually utilize the strengths of the characters in those price points they are creating an entire plethora of characters that just cant function. The 16 point characters dont need extra focus and reliability to function, they need speed and health and the ability to abuse their own high rate of reliability.

IMO, Chewie and Leia are fine. Good damage and health. Chewie in particular is good, 12 health and the ability to take Second Chance means he's one of the best sluggers in the game. They do just need a better fighting partner (and maybe everyone else to be a little less broken). Right now they pretty much have to run a support character or a non-elite, which means they largely need to do ALL the heavy lifting in terms of fighting, and they lose out to other options who put out more damage while still having viable partners.

Jango had a very strong niche in Awakenings; the problem is SoR let a lot of other characters get in on his niche. He's still decent with a solid dice and a great ability, but again suffers from other characters being 'more broken' than him.

Finn's overcosted for his dice, there's really no question about it. He's just never going to be good because of it, unless there's some kind of absolutely broken combo that he enables.

Chirrut probably needs a 'canned' partner - someone who is obviously designed to play with him. I feel like his design is probably too different to see him get an organic partner.

All of the 15 point characters are fine, IMO. They feel like they are about right in what I'd expect for half your points. Good, effective dice and solid abilities.

Veers suffers from his HP being low; good damage but a mostly worthless ability, means taking generics is often going to be better.

Ackbar works well with both Chewie and Leia at 14 points, but yeah - doesn't quite do enough as he's rarely trigger his ability. Even so, two focus and his one damage side means he's probably the best option for a support character in a deck looking to run ranged damage.

Overall, I agree that Heroes in particular need some more options that can actually fight. (Instead, it seems they are getting more support and gimmick characters, oh boy).

That was actually my point with jango, he just lacks upgrades to take advantage of since people can get yellow characters to resolve single dice simply with fast hands, and FN can resolve more weapons faster then Jango. Finn also very much my point with not many "color restricted" weapons, he almost wants to be a character you can splash into a red deck that gives you access to the villain stuff as well and that stuff that says "red character only" he is like who cares. He also seems to want to splash into Blue and ignore "blue character only" while giving Blue heroes access to red weapons with yellow events, so it's not like he doesnt have the potential for some janky stuff they just havent made anything that blue heroes care about in red save maybe Riot control baton not to mention Finn doesnt really have a blue hero to pair with let alone a red hero to pair with that isnt just pure support.

I whole Heartily disagree on Chirrut, here is a little thought experiment for you play him in a hero deck with 2 FO Storm troopers, all of a sudden he is good. They have black sides that can make his +2 range side reliable, his ability makes THEM more reliable. litterally any character that had 3 black range damage sides at 14 points even if they are 1,1,2, would make him work just add in a rey's staff or a vibro knife along side it if you really worry about how +1 melee side.

While ackbar is decent at 14 with Leia and Chewie he still isn't ideal his discard side only lives in an attempt to activate his own ability, which isnt going to happen unless you dedicate more cards to it, and the focus sides arent really needed with either of them because their dice are so consistent if he hits his 2 focus they probably already have at least 1 die where you want it or close to it anyway. Honestly I think you are right though I think Leia is close and will be good in EaW with Rookie Pilots and Ezra and I think Chewie as is has SOME reason to take him over Han in a EChewie E Rey deck.

Ackbar's text doesn't really exist to be triggered. It exists to get your opponent to avoid triggering it, which prevents that last card from being played or discarded.

That is actually my point gooeychewie, Ackbar ISNT putting enough pressure on his hand to make E Ackbar E16 point character, litterally any 16 point character... any good at all, however 1 dice him with 2 dice Jynn and since she has good discard sides and good damage sides all of a sudden he pressures enough to be good. As stated before all of the "support" characters in hero side HAVE found a niche, just not with the 16 point characters because the 16 point characters do not compliment the 14 point characters any more then the 14 point characters compliment the 16 point characters.