Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Character Review: Gaarkhan

When I first started out in Imperial Assault, in my first practice game I used the big walking carpet named Gaarkhan. He’s healthier than most other figures that have been released so far, giving him some incredible staying power (especially if he can get his furry paws on some Laminate Armor). With two 1 XP upgrades that can recover damage and remove harmful conditions, Gaarkhan can stand up to a TON of punishment.
But let’s face it: most of us don’t want to play the Wookie to take all the fire for the team (let Biv/Fenn do that). No, we want to go axe-gleaming into the middle of a sea of enemies and smash them all into teeny-tiny little bits. And Gaarkhan does that very, VERY effectively. In today’s post, we begin a new series on “splash” fighters – guys who do off-hand damage to those nearby. In Imperial Assault, there are three different ways that this happens (and three characters who do it very, VERY well):
·         Cleave: melee weapon attack bonus that allows you to do damage to a figure you can also attack (generally Cleave 1 or Cleave 2) – exemplified by Gaarkhan;
·         Blast: range weapon attack bonus that allows you to do damage to all adjacent figures (friendly and hostile) to the figure you are attacking (generally Blast 1, Blast 2, or Blast 3) – exemplified by Fenn Signis; and
·         Special Rules: a special rule (usually tied to successfully damaging an enemy target or exhausting an upgrade card) that allows you to do damage to an enemy figure that you didn’t attack – exemplified by Vinto Hreeda.
Just because these guys can do splash damage this way doesn’t meant that’s all they can do. In our post today, we’ll be looking at the Cleave-oriented Gaarkhan and see some of the ways you can run him (some of which have little to nothing to do with Cleave). Before we do, let’s look at some of the benefits of doing splash damage versus precision damage.

Gaarkhan: Precision or Splash?
Generally speaking, units in Imperial Assault do precision damage: you pick a target, roll your dice, and see if you can break through your opponent’s defenses. One of the benefits of focusing on precision damage is that in order to do splash damage, you need to actually damage the target. Gaarkhan’s Vibro-Ax (which we’ll talk about shortly) is the only starter weapon that can Cleave – and if you put an upgrade like the Weighted Head on it, you can get up to Cleave 4 in a single attack (which can outright kill many basic IP units and mostly kills a bunch more). As great as that is, you’ll be hard-pressed to get any damage against the initial target with that much surge being dedicated to Cleaving, so you may never get that beautiful maneuver. Instead, many players choose to focus on just doing the damage required to break the target hostile figure’s defense and ignore Cleave/Blast entirely.
But against certain units, Cleave/Blast is invaluable. There’s nothing quite so hard as trying to break through a double-Black dice defense pool (complements of Darth Vader or an AT-ST). It’s difficult. And tedious. And you might not be able to do it. But…if Darth Vader (or an AT-ST) is standing near someone more vulnerable (a Stormtrooper or Probe Droid perhaps), you can walk up so that you can reach the great Sith Lord (or armored mech) and bring your weapon down hard on the little guy and deal some off-hand damage to the figure that’s much, MUCH hard to hurt. All of the rerolled defense die in the world can’t shield Darth Vader from a good Blast or Cleave assault.
While double-Black dice foes are difficult to damage, it can also be really annoying to try to attack White die opponents (that pesky dodge that seems to only come up when it’s the most critical for me to thwack someone) or even worse: Black-White die opponents. Damaging these units – especially if they have Cower – can be really, REALLY tough. So…off-hand hit them. It works.
Blast/Cleave are tricky and over-emphasizing your ability to Blast/Cleave is a liability. However, it has its uses and it behooves any Rebel squad to include someone who can do it (because you never know when you’ll need it). There are a great assortment of weapons (or upgrades) that allow models to Cleave (though Blast/special abilities are pretty rare), so in today’s post we’re only going to touch on a few. No matter which Cleave weapon you choose, though, Gaarkhan can put it to good use. With that, let’s look at some builds you can run…

End-Game Weapon #1 - My Ax Is Awesome: Vibro-Ax with High Impact Guard
There are a handful of heroes who have good starter weapons – some you can run with for a while (either because they’re so-so or because the figure doesn’t need to attack very often), but Gaarkhan’s weapon is particularly good. Red-Yellow attack dice pools are very strong, though occasionally unreliable: the Yellow will trigger those surge abilities you want (often supplying you with Surge in excess of your opponent’s Evade results), while the Red does straight-up damage. To supplement Gaarkhan’s base weapon are his two 4 XP skills which are easily the best skills he has: Unstoppable boosts his Endurance and his Speed (increasing the potency of his Charge skill and reducing the impact of the constant Straining). In addition, should you be reckless with him, Gaarkhan can become even stronger on the attack when he gets wounded (take that Bucketheads)!
Paired with Unstoppable is Brutal Cleave, which is a simple way of turning an attack action into two attacks – very useful for either a precision weapon focus OR for attacking someone you almost killed with Cleave (two birds for the price of one action). A Brutal Cleave used right after a Charge action will result in basically two free actions – a free move and a free attack. All for the low-low price of 3 Strain…totally worth it.
While Gaarkhan’s base weapon allows him to Cleave/Pierce 1, it doesn’t do precision that effectively (nor does it Cleave particularly well). To supplement the precision problem, we’ve chosen to take the High Impact Guard (in large part because of the surge for Damage 2, but also because that free Block you can get can help you take exactly 3 damage from an enemy attack so that you just barely become Focused. If you’re blessed and come across some Laminate Armor, you can make this even better. You can also add Wookie Fortitude to tap for an additional Block at the cost of 1 XP…
Those who own the Twin Shadows expansion will know that there is little difference between the Vibro-Ax and the Gaffi Stick, which is better at the precision thanks to an automatic Pierce 1, but lacks any Cleave ability. It’s your choice as to whether this weapon will be a better fit for you – you’ll find it in Tier 1, so you don’t have to wait very long in the campaign AND it will be cheap.

Upgrades to purchase - 8 XP: Unstoppable (4), Brutal Cleave (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 - Maximum Cleave: Double Vibrosword with Balanced Hilt
While the Vibro-Ax can deal some Cleave damage, it’s primarily a precision weapon. The Double Vibrosword, however, is a very different kind of weapon – it’s emphasis is on Cleave. With a surge for Cleave 2 option, it’s pretty easy to see that you’ll do a bunch of damage to those nearby if you can just get a surge off.
In the hands of Gaarkhan, though, you can get a TON of damage out by using the Double Vibrosword’s strain ability (which you can activate even if you didn’t damage your opponent). Add that to Gaarkhan’s Rampage upgrade and you can do lots of damage to more than the usual one person that a Cleave targets.
With Brutal Cleave as well, you can easily perform 2 attacks each round, dealing a total of 3 splash damage (Rampage + Charge Attack + Brutal Cleave attack) at the cost of 5 Strain (2 for Charge, 2 for the Double Vibrosword special rule, 1 for Brutal Cleave). With Unstoppable you happen to have 5 Endurance (so I’m assuming that your second action will be resting so you can do that again the following turn). The Balanced Hilt (along with the Green die) gives you a reliable Cleave 2 on each of those attacks you’re doing – and every now and again you might get away with not resting during a particular round and getting a third attack against your foes (if you’re able to recover 1 Strain during one of your attacks).
While you can make this build work pretty well without any additional purchases, I highly recommend the purchase of the Cybernetic Arm to push that Endurance up even higher. It would also be good to play with Gideon or Murne (who we’ll talk about in a post a LONG time from now) to relieve your Strain generation (if you don’t want to rest). This build has a very high XP cost, so you won’t see power-plays like this until the end of the campaign…but the finale will be epic!

Upgrades to purchase - 11 XP: Rampage (3), Brutal Cleave (4), Unstoppable (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 - Press A Little Harder: Vibrosword with Focusing Beam and Extended Haft
While you can run your base weapon for the entire game, precision damage is pretty good off the Vibrosword as well. When I first saw this weapon, I was unimpressed – Blue-Green on a melee weapon? Really?!?!? But that’s when it hit me…

For all their faults, Blue/Green combos are reliable.

Red die – for all their offensive power – don’t do that much more damage than Blue/Green die (especially if you can surge for Damage 2…like you can with this weapon). Blue die will deal 1-3 damage if you can surge for 2 Damage, while a Green will deal 2-3 damage – both of which are about what you expect from a Red. For all you statisticians out there, here’s a table:

Die Color
Surge: Damage 1
Surge: Damage 2
Red
2.33
2.50
Green
1.83
2.33
Blue
1.50
1.83

Even if you compare the Blue die to the Red die, you’re looking at occasionally doing 1 less Damage off this weapon. And that is certainly outweighed by the fact that you can Strain for Pierce 1 as many times as you like. I thought of this weapon because of Gaarkhan’s Vicious Strike ability, which allows you to Strain as many times as you like to add Damage to the attack results. I don’t like the card – I think it’s too expensive to be worth it – but the idea is simple: let me just muscle my way past my opponent’s defenses. In this case, you can use your remaining Strain to remove his defense die (1-2 will do the trick), turning everything else you do into raw damage.
Your surge will be spent on getting Damage 2 and recover Strain (if they don’t get any Evades). Recovering that Strain in your first attack allows you to Pierce more on your second attack (OR remove a dodge result with that Focusing Beam). Speaking of the Focusing Beam, it plays to this strategy well, providing you with the ability to Pierce 1 at the cost of an exhaust (instead of a Strain). 
To top off this build is the Extended Haft which saves you from having to Strain to get to an adjacent space. Since we’re not purchasing Rampage, you don’t need to end adjacent to anyone (even to use your Charge ability). Reach saves you that Strain (either to Pierce 1 or issue Brutal Cleave) which can often make the difference between a decent turn and a great turn.

Upgrades to purchase8 XP: Brutal Cleave (4), Unstoppable (4)

Gaarkhan in the Skirmish Game
Obviously Gaarkhan works well with Wookiees – the free block on Defense and multiple attacks while damaged on Offense puts you in a huge position to mess up your enemies (plus the Charge special action is great for action economy). Gaarkhan is the only Wookie who can Focus himself so far, which can turn this Red-Yellow power figure into a Red-Yellow-Green warrior (perfect for dealing lots of damage). Since he can both Pierce 1 and Bleed on the same surge, he can also spread the love by handing out very annoying harmful conditions that have to be dealt with quickly in the skirmish game (health is a prized commodity for most figures).
While Gaarkhan at the head of four squads of regular Wookiee Warriors is enough to turn any Stormtrooper’s armor from white to yellow, don’t underestimate the helpfulness of Gaarkhan in a team of Jedi – as a Guardian, he can give Jedi figures rerolls to their White dice on defense via Guardian Stance (which is very helpful in keeping them alive). Most Jedi can also only attack once (though a pair of Pummel Command cards is often nice), so Gaarkhan’s multi-attack capability is especially welcome.
In whatever list you choose, Gaarkhan’s Furious Charge Command card is a must-have – anytime you can get two activations from Gaarkhan is a good day. With Guardian-Brawler synergies too, you can focus Gaarkhan on dealing damage (Brawler cards) OR on protecting those around him (Guardian cards). Take your pick – it’s great.
In our next post, we’ll be changing gears to talk about Gaarkhan’s stalwart companion from the core set: Fenn Signis. In that post, we’ll talk about Blast (instead of Cleave) and some of the great work you can do with this trained soldier of the Rebellion. Until then, happy gaming!

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