Darth Malak,
Dark Lord of the Sith
Sith
Cost: 49
HP: 130
DEF: 20
ATK: +16
DAM: 20
Lightsaber Duelist; Double Attack; Deadly Attack
Force 2 FR1
Force Lightning 2; Force Stun; Sith Rage
CE: Followers get +4 ATK
Today we look at the new Darth Malak. I really didnt
have too many problems with the old Malak other than
he was a tad over costed and did not synergize with
anything. This new Malak is much improved and very
solid. He is only 49 points and brings a lot to the
table for that price. He has a healthy 130 HP, solid
DEF and a very high base 16 ATK.
Of course he is a double attacker. He should be a
pretty efficient with the +16ATK. Deadly attack is
one of those things you cannot count on, but is nice
when it happens, and finally, he has lighsaber
duelist, meaning he can hang with about any Jedi
fairly effectively. Right there he is a sloid
package, but of course there is more.
He has force renewal, so his tricks can be ongoing.
Force lightning 2 is very nice crown control. It is
the traditional lightning that hits the target and
two other adjacent characters. It can handle swarms
and bodyguards. Force Stun is one of those that can
be nice, but i never rely on. I use it when i dont
need force for anything else or you need to eat away
force points. It is one of those things that almost
always works on me and never works on my opponent.
Finally, he has Sith Rage. With a +16 ATK, you wont
need to reroll many attacks, so you can afford to
get the extra 10-20 DAM from Sith rage. Any chance
to run up and do 30 DAM on a hit is pretty good. It
also makes things like attacks of opportunities much
harder to take if your opponent wants to get away or
around him.
Right there he would be very playable, but he is a
commander with a powerful CE. ALL followers get a +4
attack. Two things of note are that there is no
range on it, and that it is ALL followers, not Sith.
This really powers up a LOT of figures, mostly
fringe. Ugs now have a +4 to hit. A great many figs
that dont look that appealing with their +6 or +7
attack now have a very effective +10 or +11.
Characters that rely on abilities like cunning or
opportunist now have a better chance to hit outside
of their niche.
100pts: He isnt going to do too well here. He has no
defensive abilities and and as good as his offense
can be, its not going to be enough. You really
cannot get enough help to make him effective. He
wont be a slouch to be sure, but you are going to
have to find the right support so he can come in as
late as possible.
150pts: Here is where he begins to take off. My
favorite pairing here is to put Talon with him. Now
she has a great defensive ability and a +15 attack,
which is her big weakness at a normal +11. With
aboard wide +4 you can bring in lots of scrubs that
become much more effective. His big problem is that
the Sith lack that extra edge to make them
competitive at high levels, but outside of that he
makes a very effective leader.
200pts: The sky is the limit here. You have lots of
room for extra damage, extra help and lots of
grunts! When 10pt pieces become serious damage
threats, your opponent is going to be in for a long
game.
