Good morning gamers,
We just concluded a series on "splash" characters in the Campaign game (with Gaarkhan, Fenn Signis, and Vinto Hreeda). As we move from "splash" characters to sharpshooters, we're going to address Drokkatta, who could easily be classified as either a splash or a sharpshooter character. Instead of locking her into one of those two builds, I wanted to highlight her flexibility and give her a section all to herself.
We just concluded a series on "splash" characters in the Campaign game (with Gaarkhan, Fenn Signis, and Vinto Hreeda). As we move from "splash" characters to sharpshooters, we're going to address Drokkatta, who could easily be classified as either a splash or a sharpshooter character. Instead of locking her into one of those two builds, I wanted to highlight her flexibility and give her a section all to herself.
Drokkatta: Why Can't Blast Be Precise?
Drokkatta has one of the best upgrades in the game: Shrapnel Rounds. Prior to her release, there was only one weapon upgrade that gave you the opportunity to add Blast (making it only exist in the realm of Fenn Signis and a handful of Imperial figures). Not only is Shrapnel Rounds a cheap upgrade (only 2 XP, allowing you to get it early), but it allows you to turn your Blast into precision splash damage (working kind of like Vinto's Boltslinger ability) - great for not damaging your own figures. Drokkatta is able to use Blast more effectively with her starting weapon OR her 3 XP Repeater Cannon (more on this later), making her in many ways the queen of Blast. Her ability to do Blast is further supplemented by her Demolish ability, doing damage to people on/adjacent to a space nearby - perfect for softening up figures before you unload on them with your gun. Given all this, I know what you're thinking...
Well, here's why: while Drokkatta certainly can do splash damage (with Demolish) and it's easy to purchase upgrades (or just use her starter weapon) to gain Blast...
Drokkatta's Blast options are tied to gear that she needs to spend valuable XP in order to gain. Even if she purchases cards that use Blast, she can turn those into more precise attacks (though they're still technically splash attacks). As such, Drokkatta lives in a realm all her own with flexibility that you won't find in any of our other splash characters (Gaarkhan might also qualify).
Why isn't she in the "splash" characters section?
Well, here's why: while Drokkatta certainly can do splash damage (with Demolish) and it's easy to purchase upgrades (or just use her starter weapon) to gain Blast...
Drokkatta doesn't need to do splash damage.
Drokkatta's Blast options are tied to gear that she needs to spend valuable XP in order to gain. Even if she purchases cards that use Blast, she can turn those into more precise attacks (though they're still technically splash attacks). As such, Drokkatta lives in a realm all her own with flexibility that you won't find in any of our other splash characters (Gaarkhan might also qualify).
End-Game Weapon #1 - Flexible Blast: MGL-9 "Boomer" with Shrapnel Rounds
Let's get this straight: a Red-Blue attack pool for a range weapon is really good - fairly reliable damage with reliable range. The "Boomer" doesn't have any innate ways of dealing additional Damage to the target via surge, but so long as Drokkatta stays healthy, she can turn 1 Damage into 1 Surge with Dispersal Shot. To ensure you get the damage you need, be sure to take Charging Up which is not only the cheapest upgrade in the game to add health to a hero, but also gives you a Damage Power token at the end of each activation - perfect for generating additional damage (or a surge). You can further increase your damage potential with Structural Exploitation which gives you a static Accuracy 1 + Damage 1 + Pierce 1 (and bonus Damage and Pierce against objects). To supplement your accuracy, consider taking Bank Shot which will not only open up new targets for your blast attacks, but will also guarantee you a minimum of 3 Accuracy to your attacks!
With effectively 3 automatic Damage and 3 automatic Accuracy BEFORE you see your attack results, it's not that hard to damage single-defense-dice figures. The Shrapnel Rounds, however, makes this a "flexible blast" build, as you can either go the Blast route (ala Fenn) or the special ability damage route (ala Vinto). If you need to be precise, you can be with this weapon and since both your weapon and your upgrade are upgrade based, you didn't pay any money for this - so splurge on accessories! Get some Laminate Armor, get some Extra Ammunition, or get some of those Concussion Grenades that allow you to do more area-of-effect damage whenever you feel like it!
With effectively 3 automatic Damage and 3 automatic Accuracy BEFORE you see your attack results, it's not that hard to damage single-defense-dice figures. The Shrapnel Rounds, however, makes this a "flexible blast" build, as you can either go the Blast route (ala Fenn) or the special ability damage route (ala Vinto). If you need to be precise, you can be with this weapon and since both your weapon and your upgrade are upgrade based, you didn't pay any money for this - so splurge on accessories! Get some Laminate Armor, get some Extra Ammunition, or get some of those Concussion Grenades that allow you to do more area-of-effect damage whenever you feel like it!
Upgrades to purchase - 8 XP: Charging Up (1), Bank Shot (2), Shrapnel Rounds (2), Structural Exploitation (3)
If you REALLY want to Blast people, you want to trade out your MGL-9 Boomer for the Repeater Cannon. This weapon gets an automatic Damage to assist the Green-Blue combo. The power of this, of course, is that alongside the Damage Power token you can get with Charging Up, you can basically guarantee that you do damage to your target - the Green will further ensure that good things happen. For our supporting equipment, we've chosen to go full-on towards blast by picking up the only two upgrades that provide Blast benefits: the Shrapnel Rounds and the Under-Barrel HH-4. If you can get 2 Surge (1 from the Green die and 1 from Dispersal Shot, perhaps), you can improve your static Blast 1 to become Blast 3. If performed with Demolish, you can do 4 Damage to a bunch of people, which is pretty good at clearing out most regular Imperial units with a single attack. With a static 1 Accuracy from the Under-Barrel and the Green-Blue combo, you're guaranteed 4 Accuracy (which will allow you to hit the space you targeted with the Demolish ability). As awesome as this is, you aren't guaranteed to make this work - you're limited to 2-3 Damage coming off the Green-Blue attack pool and while you might be able to surge for Pierce 2, you're not THAT likely to break your opponent's attack (especially if you get a bad roll). To solve this problem, we turn to our final upgrade.
Drokkatta has this beautiful 4 XP upgrade called Thermal Explosives: the idea is pretty simple: do a little more damage with Demolish (awesome) and exhaust the card to add a Yellow die to a range attack you're performing (more awesome). This changes the Repeater Cannon to the same dice pool as a Pulse Cannon, except that instead of surging for 2 Damage and Pierce 1, you can surge for Pierce 2 and Blast 1. The Yellow makes it far more likely that you can trigger both Blast abilities you have AND get the Pierce 2 at the same time. So long as you're shooting at Black die, you shouldn't have a problem cracking the defenses of your foes. EVEN IF you get the worst possible result of Surge 1 on the Green, Damage 1 on the Blue, and Damage 1 on the Yellow, you're still looking at Damage 4 + Surge 1 + Blast 1 (with static Damage 1 and Damage Power token), which means:
Drokkatta has this beautiful 4 XP upgrade called Thermal Explosives: the idea is pretty simple: do a little more damage with Demolish (awesome) and exhaust the card to add a Yellow die to a range attack you're performing (more awesome). This changes the Repeater Cannon to the same dice pool as a Pulse Cannon, except that instead of surging for 2 Damage and Pierce 1, you can surge for Pierce 2 and Blast 1. The Yellow makes it far more likely that you can trigger both Blast abilities you have AND get the Pierce 2 at the same time. So long as you're shooting at Black die, you shouldn't have a problem cracking the defenses of your foes. EVEN IF you get the worst possible result of Surge 1 on the Green, Damage 1 on the Blue, and Damage 1 on the Yellow, you're still looking at Damage 4 + Surge 1 + Blast 1 (with static Damage 1 and Damage Power token), which means:
- Against 3 Block, you surge for Pierce 2 and use Dispersal Shot to do Damage 2 + Blast 2;
- Against 2 Block or 1 Evade, you still surge for Pierce 2 (or don't surge at all with an Evade) and use Dispersal Shot to end up with Damage 3 + Blast 2;
- Against 1 Block, you use Dispersal Shot to do Damage 2 + Blast 3.
Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP:
End-Game Weapon #3 - Smacking Time: MGL-9 "Boomer" with Charged Ammo Pack and Polearm with Extended Haft OR Vibrogenerator
We've already talked about the Boomer - it's good. Since you can't surge for damage, we've added the Charged Ammo Pack to give you a little extra kick. Since there's nothing that says you can't have two of the same Power token, you can start a round with 2 Damage tokens (though you can only spend one token in each attack). This is powerful without a doubt, but when I looked at one of the upgrades for Drokkatta (Wookie Wrath), I asked myself the following question:
Thanks to Wookie Wrath, Drokkatta can do a Red die worth of damage to an opponent WITHOUT SPENDING AN ACTION! She can then push the figure if she wants to shoot him (which you can do with the Boomer if you want). Alternatively, you can also just get a weapon with Reach and push him so that he's within Reach range and hit him there. Since the Polearm comes in the Heart of the Empire expansion with Drokkatta, it made sense to include it here. Thanks to Leave No One Behind, you can give yourself a free movement point during your activation, allowing you to lead off by dealing some damage and shoving someone 2 spaces (even beyond Reach range), then moving 1 space to stay within Reach range, then twacking him with the Polearm for precision damage (or with the Boomer for splash damage). We've put the Vibrogenerator on the Polearm (you'll have to wait for T3 for it - I recommend picking up the Extended Haft before then) because the Red-Red combo won't surge very often (and because it's unreliable - you might end up with only Damage 2 from the die - far better to guarantee Damage 4).
But it gets even better: do you recall from the Fenn Signis post where we talked about Trench Fighter helping both with melee weapons and range weapons? Well Structural Exploitation does the exact same thing! When attacking with the Polearm or the MGL-9 "Boomer", you can add a static Damage 1 + Pierce 1 to your attack results (and Accuracy 1 with the Boomer). Taken with the free Damage Power token from Charging Up, and you can do a TON of damage.
Can you run Drokkatta as a melee character?
Thanks to Wookie Wrath, Drokkatta can do a Red die worth of damage to an opponent WITHOUT SPENDING AN ACTION! She can then push the figure if she wants to shoot him (which you can do with the Boomer if you want). Alternatively, you can also just get a weapon with Reach and push him so that he's within Reach range and hit him there. Since the Polearm comes in the Heart of the Empire expansion with Drokkatta, it made sense to include it here. Thanks to Leave No One Behind, you can give yourself a free movement point during your activation, allowing you to lead off by dealing some damage and shoving someone 2 spaces (even beyond Reach range), then moving 1 space to stay within Reach range, then twacking him with the Polearm for precision damage (or with the Boomer for splash damage). We've put the Vibrogenerator on the Polearm (you'll have to wait for T3 for it - I recommend picking up the Extended Haft before then) because the Red-Red combo won't surge very often (and because it's unreliable - you might end up with only Damage 2 from the die - far better to guarantee Damage 4).
But it gets even better: do you recall from the Fenn Signis post where we talked about Trench Fighter helping both with melee weapons and range weapons? Well Structural Exploitation does the exact same thing! When attacking with the Polearm or the MGL-9 "Boomer", you can add a static Damage 1 + Pierce 1 to your attack results (and Accuracy 1 with the Boomer). Taken with the free Damage Power token from Charging Up, and you can do a TON of damage.
Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP:
Drokkatta in the Skirmish Game
Let's start with this: Drokkatta's a Wookie. As such, she belongs in a Wookie list. With a static Damage 1, Accuracy 1, and Block 1, she gets more static bonuses than anyone else (except Bossk). Drokkatta's attack pool is great - Yellow-Green-Blue - and she can surge for Damage 2 and Blast 2, making her damage output fantastic. With plenty of health to back up that static Block 1, Drokkatta's pretty hard to clear from the board without some powerful units focusing on her. If you put her in a Wookie list, her blaster attack type is a welcome relief (as most Wookie units have melee attack types). Use her to clear chaff units OR soften hardened units for your Wookie Warrior squads (or Gaarkhan) to cut to size.
In many ways, Drokkatta is both a precision character AND a splash character - she can use weapons that are incredibly precise OR she can use weapons that splash everywhere. It didn't feel right to put her only in the splash characters (though she dominates there) and it didn't feel right to avoid putting her with them either. So, we gave her a place all her own. With this interlude complete, we're moving on to the Sharpshooter group - Jyn Odan, Mak Eshkarey, and Loku Kanoloa. These shooters don't splash into other people, but they tend to find ways to gain free actions, perform free attacks, and generally make a mess of things. Until then, happy gaming!
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