Character Review: Tress Hacnua

We’re back in the character review series for Imperial Assault and we’ve come to the first of two Rebel heroes that were released with the Tyrants of Lothal expansion. Tress Hacnua is the melee-oriented hero in that release and she’s an interesting person to play with (both in the campaign and the skirmish game). She, like Saska, Loku, and Drokkatta, introduced a new type of token into the game – let’s see what she does! 

Tress Hacnua: Dragonsnake Variation and Whatever Else You Want 

Tress’s special thing is the use of “style tokens,” which by default can be used to increase the damage of a melee attack that she makes (either with her Reinforced Cyberarm or a different melee weapon). While there are lots of cool abilities that she can trigger, the pervasive theme throughout her upgrades is how you use your style tokens (be it to get extra block, extra surge, Cleave, or performing free actions). Her Fyrnock Style ability (which she keeps if she’s wounded) allows her to get a style token after performing an attack, so just by attacking, you can start buffing your characters. 

But her Dragonsnake Variation upgrade (3XP) gives her not only +2 Health, but also gives her 1 style token each time a hostile figure is defeated during her activation – which means that if you can both attack an enemy figure and kill at least one enemy figure, you can get 2 style tokens to either power up her next attack OR perform other cool actions. In my mind, this upgrade is a given for her – and probably the first one you go for (and, oh by the way, it gets her some extra health – always a good thing to have on a white die character). 

Her other upgrades are cool, but you can really take whatever of them you want and be just fine. If you want to lean harder into the damage side of the house, you can get the Dianoga Sweep upgrade (turns style tokens into Cleave), Acklay Counter (to turn a style token into 2 block against a ranged attack OR deal 2 damage to an enemy attacking you in melee), or Krayt Dragon Fury (turns style tokens into surge or dodge-removal, plus the option to exhaust it to get a two-for-one deal on your style tokens). 

If you want more control-based stuff, consider getting Fluidity (2 style tokens can be turned into a free move, rest, or interact action), Gundark Throw (pushing an adjacent small figure and possibly opening a door), Mynock Strike (turn 1 style token into a weaken – not as part of an attack!), or the Aryx Variation (which gives her a style token if she doesn’t attack – and can turn 1 style token into 2 movement points). This last one is probably the best upgrade to “just add to your build” if you have some extra XP. 

Okay, so we clearly want melee weapons and if possible, it would be good if they killed stuff (so we can get at least 2 style tokens by attacking with Dragonsnake Variation). Let’s see what we have to work with . . . 

End-Game Weapon #1: Double Vibrosword with Balanced Hilt 

Like I’ve said, you’re going to begin this build with your Dragonsnake Variation, because it’s the most reliable way to getting style tokens and allows you to spend style tokens as damage (Reinforced Cyberarm), Cleave (Dianoga Sweep), or Surge (Krayt Dragon Fury) - and you can spend get two-for-one once with Krayt Dragon Fury. To maximize the number of style tokens we can get, we want a weapon that can either do lots of damage or lots of Cleave (which we can then supplement with our style tokens for whatever we need). For this, there is only one option: the Double Vibrosword with the Balanced Hilt. While we could have gotten more Cleave out of the Weighted Head, we aren’t guaranteed to get surge on the Red-Green from the Vibrosword, so I’ve opted for the Balanced Hilt. If you want to get a little more damage out to finish someone off, consider picking up the Hidden Blade as well to deal the last 2 Damage you need to finish someone off. 

Upgrades to purchase - 9 XP: Dianoga Sweep (2), Dragonsnake Variation (3), Krayt Dragon Fury (4) 

End-Game Weapon #2: Vibrosword with Balanced Hilt and High Impact Guard 

I’ve mentioned this combo before – being able to strain to get Pierce and spending style tokens to get damage is pretty powerful (and it probably means that you’re getting 2 style tokens each time you attack). Since the Vibrosword has two upgrade slots, I’ve opted for the High Impact Guard and the Balanced Hilt, which allows us to turn our first two surge results into 4 damage . . . which is pretty crazy. Based on what our roll is and what our opponent’s roll is, we’ll know how much surge or style tokens we’ll need to spend, which means we might have juice in the tank for another attack afterwards. I would consider getting the Cybernetic Arm to Pierce more – but if you plan to attack once and move once, you’ll want to consider picking up the Plastoid Armor instead. 

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Dragonsnake Variation (3), Acklay Counter (3), Krayt Dragon Fury (4) 

End-Game Weapon #3: Gaffi Stick with Vibrogenerator 

I’ve recommended this before – for only 550 credits, I’m not sure you can get a better melee weapon. A Red-Yellow that trades 2 surge for 2 damage is going to reliably deal 5 damage with Pierce 1 to anyone it’s facing (and can get as much as 7 damage with Pierce 1) – BEFORE spending style tokens! If there are upgrade-heavy heroes in your group, you can just run these two things and be happy. Alternatively, if you have some extra cash, you can get yourself accessories that will deal damage without taking up actions (just to make sure you finish things off). You also have complete control over how you want to upgrade your character – I’ve opted for the upgrades that get us extra style tokens (Aryx Variation and, of course, Dragonsnake Variation), but also Fluidity, so we can use our style tokens from the previous round to give ourselves a free move/rest/interact action. If I wanted to further optimize for free actions, I’d probably consider getting Gundark Throw (which doesn’t require the use of style points, but can deal 1 damage to a unit and potentially open a door). 

Upgrades to purchase – 8 XP: Aryx Variation (1), Dragonsnake Variation (3), Fluidity (4) 

Tress Hacnua in the Skirmish Game 

While Tress provides some interesting options in the campaign, she is . . . kind of underwhelming in the skirmish game. To her credit, she is the only character who has Cleave 4 in skirmish and she’s one of a few characters who can force a defender to reroll their defense die (making it very hard to dodge her attacks), but Tress has a pretty lackluster profile otherwise. Her big thing is that she rolls a Red-Yellow-Green in melee (which is an excellent die pool – especially for her) and she can surge for Stun (pretty abnormal for Rebels), Weaken (also abnormal for Rebels), Cleave X (where X is the number of surge results she rolled – maxes out at 4), and Recover X (again, based on the number of surges she rolled).  

Being able to recover during an attack is great – and being able to Cleave is also really good – but with only 9 health and a white defense die (and no static defensive buffs), she dies after getting hit a few times and usually doesn’t get more than 1-2 surges when she attacks (which doesn’t heal her as much as she needs – and doesn’t Cleave enough to actually kill someone). Her Brawler keyword isn’t helping her much in the damage department (and might help her a little in the defense department, but not very much). On the turn she plays her Spinning Kick command card (assuming you get it – which isn’t hard to do with Rebels), she can also add Cleave 1 and Cleave 2 to the attack, which gives her the opportunity to deal a TON of Cleave damage – but only if she gets 1 damage through to the opponent (and since she can’t surge for damage or Pierce, you’re hoping that the Red and Yellow dice don’t quit on you). 

I’ve thrown her into many different Rebel skirmish lists – and she’s fun to add in, but for 5pts I can’t help but feel like other characters might do a bit more. Health-for-cost, she’s slightly better than Rebel Troopers, but she’s usually not going to deal the same amount of damage as they do – especially if those guys have Trooper command cards helping them out. Bring her if you want – and I pray that she’ll roll plenty of surges for you – but I generally leave her at home. 

Hopefully this article has been enjoyable for you – Tress is a nice addition to the campaign game and an interesting inclusion for skirmish. In our next post, we’re covering the other Rebel hero from Tyrants of Lothal (and the last hero in this series): CT-1701. “Not Rex” is a retired Clone hero who has some interesting shooting abilities that make for really fun campaign play (and in my opinion, great skirmish play as well). Check out our thoughts on him next time – and until then, happy hobbying!