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Darth Malak Set: Champions of the Force #11/60 Date Reviewed: July 26, 2006 Image from Wizards.com Ratings:  Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating. 100 pt: 2.5 200 pt: 4.5

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Sith Dragon	Darth Malak Sith Cost: 52 HP: 120 DEF: 20 ATK: +15 DAM: 20 Double Attack; Lightsaber Duelist Force 4: Force Stun; Lightsaber Throw; Sith Rage CE: characters who combine fire grant +6 instead of +4. Today we look at our second character from KOTOR - Darth Malak. In my opinion Malak is good, but a bit over costed (4-6pts). His stats are decent. I am just not sure that they warrant a 52 point character. Although his abilities are very good. A 20 DEF and +15 attack are solid, but the 120 HP is 10-30 HP low for the cost. Double attack is solid, but keep in mind Maul is only 53 and 55 for a triple and quad attack. The bright side to his DEF is that he has lightsaber duelist, so he will be a 24 against Jedi. His force powers not only fit extremely well into his character from the game, but can also be very effective. The chance to stun someone without losing your attacks is always a plus. It may fail more times than not, but the few times where it does can be huge to help prevent a quad or triple going off in your face. His other ability also works to avoid the monster Jedi. Instead of having to run up to them, he can sit back and launch his lightsaber at them. If you move last and win init the next round, he can get two attacks in to the opponent's zero. Rage is the usual perk to being evil. Malak has a nice commander effect that really cant see its full potential yet. Sith troopers end up being very solid pieces, but can be a bit pricey to get a good combine fire squad going. You would need to run only Malak and a sith commander and most everything else will need to be troopers (maybe 30-35 pts for something else). However, for those of you that were collecting when CS was out, all those Niktos you have laying around are a nice cheap way to add in a bunch more troops for ultra cheap combine fire abilities. Bespin guards and jawas would work as well. 100pt: Malak isn't going to do terribly well here. He is just too expensive and lacks power output to hang with the big dogs in 100pt format. You simply cant get enough troopers into the game to do enough damage that they would have to do. 200pt: Here it will begin to mirror the imperial shooting squads, minus all the great commanders that the imperials have at their disposal. i haven't seen this played too much around here, but the Sith troopers are pretty good, so if you are a fan of huge armies, then this may be a good switch up from the imperials. As far as running him with other Sith, he can provide a very good second punch to some of the other Sith that are out, but there really isn't much synergy with them. Bane may be your best bet there. Your opponent will be focused on Bane, and may let Malak and some troopers do quite a bit of damage. "Dude, the fat guy totally just blew up!" -Pink 5
Ten-Eyed Man	Darth Malak Among his terrifyingly aggressive peers in the Sith, Darth Malak is a bit of an oddity: a fairly balanced character. His numbers are generally excellent, with Hit Points and Defense being just a touch low for his cost. But with Lightsaber Duelist enhancing his defenses, and Lightsaber Throw and Force Stun giving him ranged and defensive options, he's uniquely placed in the Sith faction to serve as a solid anchor for a squad, especially given his reasonable (for the Sith) cost of only 52 points. Naturally, he has the de rigueur Sith Rage for his faction, because if you can't do at least 60 damage in a turn, they don't let you be a unique Sith Lord. He also has a nifty Commander Effect, which he got by copying off of Baron Fel's paper back in Dark Side Commander School. Unfortunately, unlike Baron Fel, he's way too pricey to include just for the CE, so you definitely want him up front, killing people for the Sith. The risk of being a frontline commander, obviously, is that you have a much better chance of getting killed than those commanders that can hang out in private rooms, far from the fight (Nom Anor, I'm looking in your direction). If you don't want to build around the CE (and with Dark Jedi and Sith Troopers being your only options in-faction to benefit, you might not want to), he's perhaps a bit too expensive (but if you're looking for a Sith beatstick that doesn't cost over 80 points, this is arguably your best option). So, how to build for his CE? Sith Troopers, with their 20 damage and low Attack bonuses, seem like an obvious choice. If you're using Troopers, you should probably throw in the Sith Trooper Commander for his Deadeye-granting CE. And whenever you're considering a combined fire-oriented lifestyle, you should always remember the humble Aqualish Spy, one of the most efficient Fringe pieces in the game, whose Spotter 10 can give help you reap additional rewards for combining fire. Finally, remember that the CE only has to affect the guys contributing the bonus, not necessarily the recipient, so droids are fair game as your main shooter. HK-47, 4-LOM, and the Sith Assault Droid are all viable options to be a main shooter, backed up by combined fire. Given the long list of pieces you might want to include with him, Darth Malak is perhaps best suited to 200-point play. You could squeeze him into 100, with just the three Troopers, a Trooper Commander, and a Bespin Guard or the like, but you're officially in the realm of fun theme squads in that case. For competitive play, you can spend points better than on Malak in 100. Overall rating in 100: 2.5 Overall rating in 200: 4
Zeroph Zeal	Darth Malak 07/26/06 Points: 52 Hit Points: 120 Defense: 20 Attack: +15 Damage: 20 Faction: Sith Abilities: Double Attack, Lightsaber Duelist +4, Melee Attack, Unique Force 4, Force Stun, Lightsaber Throw, Sith Rage. Commander Effect: Followers who combine fire grant +6 attack instead of +4. Darth Malak is another Sith Lord that came out in the Champions of the Force expansion. While he isn't the strongest warrior, Darth Malak has quite a few tricks up his sleeves to become a great piece for the Sith Army. At 52 points, Malak is the second cheapest of the new Sith Lords, which is always nice. His stats aren't the greatest ever, but they can keep him alive against most low-costed jedi and shooters. 120 Hitpoints is enough so he can take a few hits, 20 defense is pretty decent, and +15 Attack is great. Double Attack is normal for a jedi of his calibir, and it helps him well. Lightsaber Duelist is a good ability that can keep him alive against jedi characters longer, giving him a 24 defense, which is simply amazing. Darth Malak has Force Stun, which is a good ability if you wish to retreat Darth Malak (which is what you should be wanting to do with him, which I will explain later.) Lightsaber Throw allows him to attack enemies from a far distance, was is also good. And of course Sith Rage is a standard for the Sith Lords. (But a good boost, none the less.) Darth Malak is a pretty decent piece right there, but not worth 52 points. So where does the other points lie for this character? His commander effect. Earlier I mentioned that you would want to run with Malak. His commander effect is why. Malak IS the Sith Trooper commander. Just throw him an army with Sith Troopers (and maybe a Sith Trooper Commander or two) and remember to combine fire. +6 attack is definatly worth combining for, changing the trooper's lousy +5 attack into +11, +17, and beyond. You can even have your troopers combine fire with the Sith Trooper Commander, but remember you CANNOT have Sith Trooper Commander combine fire with the Sith Troopers, as Sith Trooper Commander is not a follower. If you do this, the Trooper only recieves the normal +4. 100 Point: 2.5/5 Here you cannot get enough Sith Troopers to really make him worthwhile. At best, he is a decent beatstick in this format. 200 Point: 4.5/5 Just wow. Just keep him alive and shoot the living hell out of your enemies. As long as you keep your commanders alive, you can pump up your Trooper's attacks to what is needed and have them deal 30 damage due to Deadeye. Just think about it. With two Sith Trooper commanders, you can fit 13 Sith Troopers. (and still have enough room for 2 Ugnaughts.) That's alot of firepower!