Character Review: Jarrod Kelvin

In this our last post of our character review series (at least until they decide whether or not to release any more expansion sets), we’re looking at the great droid maker and all-around great tank, Jarrod Kelvin. Released alongside Ko-Tun Feralo (who can play a great tank) and Drokkatta (who can also play a good tank), it’s easy for Jarrod to feel dwarfed by his friends, but let’s make this clear from the get-go: 

Jarrod is THE BEST TANK you can get. 

As tough as Biv and Onar are (read our posts on each of them for more info), no one gets to pile on defensive bonuses like Jarrod (though he’s no slouch on offense, either).

Jarrod Kelvin: Just Give Me Another Melee Weapon (and Where’s My Droid?)

When it comes to Jarrod, all you really want is an additional melee weapon – you can’t get rid of your Vibro-Claws and for both the Parry rule and Leaping Slash (if you choose to purchase it), you want another melee weapon. Here are your options (I’ve omitted both the Ancient Lightsaber and the Ryyk Blades, since the Ryyk Blades become a glorified Vibroblade and the Ancient Lightsaber becomes a glorified Vibrosword in the hands of Jarrod Kelvin – doesn’t make sense to me to spend 3x the cash and wait until Tier 3 when you can just get the alternatives at Tier 1 OR a different weapon altogether):

Weapon Name (Set Required)	Tier - Cost	Attack Pool (Mods)	Avg. Exp. Damage (Cleave)
Armored Gauntlets (Core)	1 – 300	Green-Yellow (0)	2.13 (0.31)
Vibroblade (Core)	1 – 300	Green-Green (1)	1.44 (0.85)
BD-1 Vibro-Ax (Core)	2 – 600	Red-Green (2)	2.11 (0.78)
Vibro Knucklers (Core)	2 – 400	Green-Yellow (0)	2.60 (0.14)
Force Pike (Core)	3 – 1100	Red-Yellow-Yellow (1)	3.53 (0.00)
Gaffi Stick (Twin Shadows)	1 – 200	Red-Yellow (1)	2.18 (0.00)
Vibroknife (Return to Hoth)	1 – 150	Green-Green (0)	2.38 (0.00)
Stun Baton (Return to Hoth)	2 – 500	Red-Blue (1)	2.60 (0.00) *
Vibrosword (Bespin Gambit)	1 – 350	Blue-Green (2)	3.00 (0.00) **
Double Vibrosword (Jabba’s Realm)	2 – 650	Red-Green (1)	2.11 (0.78) *
Polearm (Heart of the Empire)	2 - 600	Red-Red (1)	2.86 (0.50)
Electrostaff (Grand Inquisitor VP)	3 - 1250	Red-Green-Blue (1)	4.61 (1.99) ***

*Does not include weapon special rule                 **1 Strain to apply Pierce 1              ***Apply Cleave 2

Obviously, the average expected damage of these weapons changes if you put different modifications on them, but this baseline gives a rough idea of which weapons are good at doing direct damage or cleave damage (and whether their damage is worth the cost you pay for them). A few weapons play greatly to Jarrod’s strengths (since Jarrod doesn’t need to strain very often to activate his abilities, the Stun Baton and Vibrosword are well worth the purchase), but we’re not going to talk about these weapons today. Instead, we’re going to look at how we can maximize cleave damage, maximize our choice of targets with Reach, and getting the most out of Jarrod’s companion, J4X-7 (“Jax” hereafter).

End-Game Weapon #1 – Maximize Cleave: Vibro-Claws and Electrostaff with Focusing Beam

Jarrod has REALLY GOOD 3XP and 4XP upgrades – in this build, we’re taking two of them. With Leaping Slash, we get a few spaces of movement with two attacks as a single action. The first attack has to be made with the Vibro-Claws and the second attack has to be made with a different weapon (in our case, an Electrostaff). The first attack is intended to do two things: first, gaining a Damage Power token, and second, recovering 1 Strain. The second attack then becomes even stronger with the Damage Power token. With Explosive Reflexes, we not only increase our Endurance (useful for moving a bit further, healing more, triggering Leaping Slash, or removing Dodge results via the Focusing Beam), but we can also change a die we’re using to a better one. Since we’ve chosen to use an Electrostaff, you want to get that Red-Red-Green combo instead of the standard Red-Green-Blue. Thanks to the Focusing Beam, we can be assured in the second attack that our attack won’t be Dodged OR the defense will be -1 Block.

The pairing between Explosive Reflexes and Leaping Slash are not useful for making Jarrod play the tank role (the other 3 XP and 4 XP skills are much better), but it makes him incredibly strong on offense. We’ve paired this with Scout’s Loadout (great for removing Evade results from your targets) as well as Balanced Approach, which is one of the best all-around 1 XP skills you can get (granting healing, movement, or a Damage Power token based on what you didn’t do during your activation).

So . . . how does this maximize Cleave? Between Leaping Slash and strain, you can avoid using your actions to move and instead you can focus on performing attacks. With a free Cleave 2 (or Reach) to your attacks, the Electrostaff is not only a flexible weapon, but all-but-guarantees that you’ll be able to do damage to your foes thanks to the high damage output you’ll be generating. While we’ve chosen the Focusing Beam, you can also get good mileage out of the Balanced Hilt (which will make it more likely that you trigger that Surge for Damage 2 ability on the Electrostaff) or the Energized Hilt (which will get you to that envied Red-Red-Red).

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Balanced Approach (1), Scout’s Loadout (2), Explosive Reflexes (3), Leaping Slash (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 – Maximize Reach: Vibro-Claws and Polearm with Vibrogenerator

Reach is one of the most useful abilities in the game – warriors who don’t want to have to spend an action moving can Strain to push themselves just a wee bit further and stretch out and touch their targets. With Jarrod, the use of a Reach weapon gets even better when paired with Leaping Slash, since you’re not required to attack with the Vibro-Claws (which unfortunately don’t get Reach). Since we’re looking at having a weapon that allows us to get more possible targets for our attacks, we’ve designed this build towards one of Jarrod’s best strengths: mobility.

By taking Leaping Slash and Mutual Progression, Jarrod can spend 1 action moving (5 movement points thanks to Mutual Progression) and move an additional 2 spaces with Leaping Slash (spaces, not movement points). We’re also going to pick up both of Jarrod’s 1 XP skills, Balanced Approach and Forward Momentum. We’re not going to be using the Vibro-Claws in this build for Leaping Slash, saving it instead to Parry (giving us a free movement point whenever we Parry thanks to Forward Momentum). Forward Momentum also gives us free movement points at the start of our turn. Sometimes, you won’t need to perform a move (Mutual Progression is still good for the defensive buff it gives) – when that happens, you can gain a free movement point from Balanced Approach – which allows you to basically perform a free move if you take into account the bonuses from the other skills.

On offense, we’ve chosen the Polearm with the Vibrogenerator – we’ve already talked about this weapon build as one of the best melee weapons you can use. If you’re looking for maximum damage, you’re basically agreeing to spend 2 Surge for 2 Damage, but because you’re rolling a Red-Red, you hardly ever get a single Surge, so most of the time, you’re getting a free Damage 2 bonus (which is like having a Red-Red-Green pool). You’re not going to be able to surge for Cleave 2 or Pierce 1, but worse things have happened. J Prior to getting to Tier 2, I’d recommend picking up the Vibroblade with the Extended Haft (it’s got basically the same surge abilities as the Polearm) and keeping the Extended Haft on the Polearm until you get to Tier 3.

Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP: Balanced Approach (1), Forward Momentum (1), Mutual Progression (3), Leaping Slash (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 – Combat Companions: Vibro-Claws and Gaffi Stick with High Impact Guard

Huh, we also already talked about the Gaffi Stick with High Impact Guard as one of the best melee weapons you can take. J The idea with this build is that you want to acquire a weapon early and stick with it (see what I did there - "stick with the Gaffi Stick?"), focusing your upgrades on things that will help you and Jax – who is really the center of this build. The Gaffi Stick is a great weapon – static Pierce 1 with a Red die is awesome, but all of the surge that’s generated doesn’t translate into Damage until you get the High Impact Guard. If you never see the High Impact Guard (or if one of your buddies wants it), you can take the Energized Hilt instead and once per turn you can attack with a Red-Red and static Pierce 1 (using any Surge you get to recover 1 Strain or apply Weaken).

The goal of this build is to get the most out of Jax: with Scout’s Loadout, you can not only apply Pierce 1 to a friendly attack each activation, but you can also apply -1 Evade (which will KILL a White die). Thanks to Mutual Progression and Mechanical Master, not only are Jarrod and Jax much more resilient and faster, but Jax can activate during Jarrod’s activation AND during another Rebel figure’s activation. When Jax shoots, he’ll roll a Blue-Green with a static Pierce 1 (not bad) and if you want to, Jax can also gain a free movement point at the start of his activation with Forward Momentum. This makes Jax more like an ally – very helpful on offense – but VERY VULNERABLE to attacks. Jarrod for this build is an actual tank – able to gain a free Block with his Black die, 12 Health, and two weapons to use with Parry (since you don’t have Leaping Slash - and benefiting from free movement whenever we Parry).

Now for those keeping tally at home, you'll notice that this build (and all the other ones) have left out one of Jarrod's upgrades: Slicer's Upgrades. I bring it up here because you could add it to your build (or even remove Forward Momentum if you only have 11 XP). In my mind, the benefits of this upgrade are too niche to plan on purchasing as part of a build - the other skills are far more helpful in the long-run and help both Jax AND Jarrod. 

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Forward Momentum (1), Scout’s Loadout (2), Mutual Progression (3), Mechanical Master (4)

Jarrod in the Skirmish Game

Jarrod Kelvin in the skirmish game retains a few benefits from the campaign game: first, he gets a basic version of Leaping Slash, getting a few more spaces of movement. With an automatic Damage 1 on offense (to be supplemented by Jax’s static Pierce 1 if he’s adjacent to the target), the Yellow-Yellow attack pool with the ability to surge for Damage 2, Pierce 2, and a Damage Power token is made all the stronger. Finally, Jarrod has a free Evade (which is different from his Mutual Progression bonus of a static Block) to supplement his Black die. For only 5 points, Jarrod has a decent amount of health and is hard to crack through by basic troops. Able to synergize with Leaders, Brawlers, and Spies, Jarrod can be included in any Rebel list (even Smuggler and Trooper lists will benefit from Jax’s static Pierce 1 benefit, as well as the support cards provided by Spies/Leaders). We’ve used Jarrod in one of our previous posts – you can see how to integrate him there.

This concludes our series on Rebel heroes for now – I may do a series of posts on different team builds you can do, but that’s probably a long way off. We still have an active series on Imperial Class decks, but other content will probably be put up ad-hoc for the various series we’ve already done on the blog. Until next time, happy hobbying!