Star Wars Legion Guide: Aqua Droids

Good morning gamers,

Last time we looked at Droidekas, one of the new "Heavy Droid Trooper" choices for the Separatists. Today, we're looking at the Heavy corollary to Droidekas, Aqua Droids. These things are super good in Legion, even after the changes to their points cost and the change from Ground Vehicle to Heavy Droid Trooper.

Aqua Droids: The Profile

Let's review again what a "Heavy Droid Trooper" does: unlike Ground Vehicles, they do not block line of sight, they have a suppression value, and are prevented from being given orders by most of the Wheel Bike Grievous command cards. There were minor modifications to their unit card - they also lost the "Move" action from their AI keyword (now it's just AI: Attack) and they picked up Reposition (which gives them a full 90-degree pivot before moving instead of the standard 45-degree pivot) and Unconcerned (so they can't be fixed, restored, or benefit from Cover - and they don't have a Wheel Mode option to ignore Unconcerned, like Droidekas do).

They're still good though - 3 wounds each and 2 Courage is fine, they surge-to-hit on offense and have surging-white saves on defense, and they're speed 1 but have Infiltrate to make that less of an issue. Their relatively fragile defense stats are augmented by their Armor 2 keyword, which should help them shrug off two hits from each attack that comes their way. With three models base and the option for a fourth, they end up being a little more survivable and a little more expensive than Wookiee Warriors (who also have 3 wounds each, but have Armor 1 with their Battle Shield in Defense Mode and non-surging white saves).

On offense, these guys have AI: Attack (as was already mentioned) but with range-3 and no Fixed: Front keyword, that should be fine. Their weapons have no native keywords, but the Heavy Aqua Droid upgrade has a 2 red/1 white blaster with Impact 2. With 1 black/1 white on each of the other three models, their expected damage is pretty good (nearly 5 hits/crits) and may get closer to the ceiling of 9 with aim support (either from Exemplar or some Comms upgrades). The unit is "worse" in melee, but with 1 red/model and Impact 1, they're a decent melee anti-armor option if they have to be.

Aqua Droids: Recommended Upgrades and Command Cards

This unit has two upgrade slots and unlike most of the units in this series, I think you want to fill both of them.

Heavy Weapon x1

There's only one option here, but it's a good one. The Heavy Aqua Droid not only adds some reliable punch to the unit (both because it adds 2 red dice AND because it gives Impact 2, so you can reliably get crits into Armor X units), but also adds yet-another-body for roughly one-third the cost of the unit (2pts more). I don't think it's hard to sell that taking another body in this unit makes it more resilient, more dangerous, and ultimately more useful.

Comms x1

Now that these guys aren't Ground Vehicles (some will rejoice, others will mourn), you can't get upgrades like Linked Targeting Array or Onboard Comms Channel to give you aim tokens or an extra order by giving an order to these guys. If you want aims, you probably want to invest in multiple copies of Adaptive Combat Network, one of the new upgrades from Upgrade Pack 2. Tapping this upgrade when another unit with ACN suffers at least one wound gives the unit an aim token and it automatically resets at the start of the End Phase so it's ready for the next round. If you want to get an aim token for the same cost without leaning into ACN, you can always get an Emergency Transponder (though I'd skip on that - I generally try to have orders on these guys, and Transponders only work if you're drawing the order from the pool). Frankly, I think Adaptive Combat Network is super good, though it's unclear to me if they can activate it to get an aim before they're deployed. Even if they can't, if your Aquas are coming out near the end of Turn 1, you should have some tokens on an Exemplar unit that can be shared with these guys (or on the Tactical Download command card - you're playing that on Turn 1, right).

Aqua Droids: Sample Lists and Strategies

To kick things off, we have a 14-act all-ACN list with Kalani, an Operative Super-Tac, 3 B1s, 3 Droidekas, 2 Aquas, and 4 BX Commandos (two full squads, two Strike teams). This list is designed to pump out the aim tokens (and probably put a lot of strain on the Super Tac via Aid), which should make sure that the damage you do with your Aquas, BX Commandos, and Droidekas actually translates into dead units:

• Kalani with Fire Control, Trusted Agent, and Adaptive Combat Network
• Super Tactical Command Droid, Auxiliary Command Droid with Seek and Destroy, Optimized Task Flow, Sliced Comms, Adaptive Combat Network, Electrostaff, and Seize the Initiative
• 3x B1 Battle Droids with Adaptive Combat Network
• 2x BX-Series Droid Commandos with Tenacity, Adaptive Combat Network, and BX Vibroswords
• 3x Droidekas with Adaptive Combat Network
• 2x BX-Series Droid Commandos, Strike Team with BX-Series Droid Sniper and Adaptive Combat Network
• 2x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid and Adaptive Combat Network

Our second list might not actually be good - but I do think it's interesting. We've talked for the last two posts about how resilient Droidekas and Aqua Droids are - but we usually pair them with very vulnerable things. This 12-act list has a few vulnerable characters (Poggle the Lesser, Kraken, and two Operative Super Tacs), but pairs them with very survivable units (3 B2s, 3 Droidekas, and 2 Aquas). We've got ACNs on everyone to keep our damage output up and the addition of Poggle helps us bring some of our B2s back - and Kraken is there because I couldn't find the points for Kalani and he brings much-needed punch to the list . . . I don't know if I got that one right or not:

• Kraken with FIre Control and Adaptive Combat Network
• Poggle the Lesser
• 2x Super Tactical Command Droid, Auxiliary Command Droid with Seek and Destroy, Optimized Task Flow, Overclock, and Adaptive Combat Network
• 3x B2 Super Battle Droids with T-Series Tactical Droid and Adaptive Combat Network
• 3x Droidekas with Adaptive Combat Network
• 2x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid and Adaptive Combat Network

Aqua Droids: Final Review

I think the cost change to these guys, as well as the change from Ground Vehicle to Heavy Droid Trooper, were good for this unit - but they didn't penalize it so far that they're not playable anymore. I think, like Droidekas, that they have good survivability and good-enough firepower for their cost to be worth taking in lists, but I don't think they ace out all of the other options out of a job. That's where a unit should be.

Overall Unit Review: 5/5 stars. These guys are fabulous and unless I'm strapped for points because I'm taking BX Commandos/Strike Teams (or running a battle force that can't take them), I always plan to max out on these guys. They're great for holding ground, taking a Turn 1 shot into basically anything, and generally causing problems by taking up valuable space and stubbornly holding on.

If you have other thoughts on this unit, let us know in the comments below! Next time, we're back to the Republic to view an old nemesis of mine: Anakin Skywalker. I've held out on talking about Anakin because . . . I don't run him! I have, however, had my butt handed to me several times by my son who's used Anakin and so my thoughts will mostly be coming from the receiving end of him instead of the using end of him. Find out what you can do with this incredibly powerful piece (and how important Force Push is on him in this new meta of Force upgrades that we live in) next time - and until then, happy hobbying!