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image from Wizards of the Coast

Darth Plagueis
Jedi Academy
#6/40

Date Reviewed: July 17, 2009

Ratings:  Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

100 pt: 2.00
200 pt: 3.50

 

Killer_Nacho
Darth Plagueis - 63 points
Faction: Sith
HP: 120
Defense: 20
Attack: 13
Damage: 20
Abilities: Unique, Melee Attack, Parry
Force 2, Force Renewal 2, Essense of Life, Force Corruption 3, Force Curruption 4

Ah, so we finally get a mini of Sidious's famed master, Plagueis. Plagueis is a very "unique" miniature in regard to what he brings to the table. First of all, he is another high-costing Sith character. The popularity of this mini could be determined by its faction alone... the fact that he is Sith makes him somewhat difficult to play, but I'll explain that later. Let's take a look at the mini itself.

His stats are a bit low for his high 63 point cost. 120 HP with 20 defense is solid but is a bit fragile for his points, but his 13 attack is good as well as his standard 20 damage. It's really nothing to write home about. Then you look at his abilities... and realize that he doesn't have any form of extra attacks, which seems to be staples on a Jedi of this level. He does however have Parry, a useful ability to help his rather dissapointing defensive stats. However, it is also important to note that this still leaves him open to ranged attacks, and that Plagueis can be shot down pretty easily.

But as I expected before I even saw the stats for this figure, the reason you will want to use him is because of his force abilities. Plagueis has an impressive 2 force combined with Force Renewal 2, meaning he can rejuvinate force points very quickly. Combined with the abundance of force points he will have at his disposal, he gets three pretty unique abilities. First, he gets a new ability, Essense of Life, which is also on the figure we reviewed on Monday (Cade Skywalker, Padawan). However, Cade uses a bit better simply because he's a 20 point unit while Plagueis is 63 points... Quite simply, if you are using a 63 point figure, he's the piece you are likely trying to protect. And you can't use Essense of Life on yourself. In combination of that, he also has two forms of Force Corruption, 3 and 4. 3 is a bit weaker but with an area effect, and 4 can do a whopping 40 damage a turn. While it's not too great against force users, since they can usually avoid the second hit with force rerolling, it can still be a great help against any character and the original guarenteed damage is nice. Plagueis can really rack up a lot of damage this way.

Overall, a nice character, I like it. If used correctly and with a little luck, it can be easily worth its points and more. However, you could also find that he goes down extremely quickly to his lack of defensive abilities and stats aside from Parry. He's a unique character with unique problems.

100 points: 2/5, I'm going to have to say you should not try him here. The good news is that Parry works on a majority of this format's major beatsticks, but the bad news that even with it, he won't be able to do much against the likes of the giant force users here. To make matters worse, the Sith don't really have any support that will be able to help him in 100 points. With Bane this isn't much of a problem since he is a one-man army anyway, Plagueis is more of a support character.

200 points: 3/5, Here he can shine a little more. You may be able to combine him with another giant Sith Lord so you can protect him with Essense of Life. You also can bring in quite a bit more support so that you can keep Plagueis away from the fighting a bit and just Force Corrupt people.

Sculpt: 4/5, HE DID IT!
Josh

Darth Plagueis (6/40, Very Rare—Jedi Academy; HP 120, ATT 13, DEF 20, DAM 20, DEP 63)

            From the moment Wizard’s first previewed this figure, I really wanted to like him, but as time has passed, I just can’t for some reason. For 63 points, you’re getting a stat card pretty loaded with abilities. Giving Plagueis Parry is nice since he’ll be able to try and block melee attacks without spending Force points. Essence of Life is a great way to “unnaturally” extend the life of your characters as Sidious so eloquently described his master’s talents in Revenge of the Sith. It can be a pretty unpleasant surprise for your opponent if your characters happen to make their saves. However, since it only leaves that at 10 hit points, you’ll probably be making a lot of these saves on each character and with a fifty-fifty shot, you’re eventually not going to make the save at a key time and it will be over for that character. With Force Renewal 2, he’s going to have a pretty ample supply of Force points to use to corrupt your opponent’s pieces. With two different levels of Force Corruption, able to deal 30 and 40 points of damage at a range of six squares, he can be a pretty powerful harassment piece. However, at 63 points to deploy, you should really have something better than a “harassment piece.” His first real drawback is only having single attack. Though you’ll be running him pretty much exclusively for his very strong Force Corruption effects, this lack of multiple attacks is a pretty severe drawback for this character. His defense score of 20 is also pretty low for a character this expensive and a +13 to hit is kind of the bottom line attack bonus for a Force user anymore. Much like Darth Nihlius, Plagueis can be a pretty nasty piece that can hamper your opponent’s squad, but unlike Nihlius, he’s very expensive for his interfering abilities.   

            While I appreciate Wizard’s listening to fans and creating a mini of Sidious’ dark master, judging by this character’s stats, it’s no wonder Sidious was able to rebel against his master and slay him. He’s a very high-priced harassment piece, and for the Sith faction, that just doesn’t cut it. Like the Mandalorians, the Sith strategy is to hit your opponent so hard that they can’t hit back. Plagueis can assist in that with Force Corruption but can’t do it on his own.

100 POINTS: Here, he just doesn’t have the damage dishing capabilities to hang with the beat sticks and at 63 points, he would be the beat stick of your squad and he just can’t do that. While Force Corruption can be a pretty nasty, lasting-damage ability, the save your opponent needs to make is pretty low and with all the Force users with renewal out there, they can afford to reroll missed saves. SCORE: 1

200 POINTS: Even though he can get a lot more support, he’s still not that good at this level. If run alongside the proper beat stick as a shield for him, he can be a pretty brutal piece since he can hit them with Force Corruption while your beat stick wails on them. At the same time, though, that means you’ll likely have at least 110 points of your squad tied up in just two characters, leaving you low on points for support. SCORE: 2.5

Gunnar "Darth
Malstrom" Malstrom

Darth Plagueis (VR-Sith)

 

Cost: 63

HP: 120

Def:  20

Att: 13

Dam: 20

 

Special Abilities:

Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Parry (When hit by a melee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)

 

Force Powers:

Force 2
Force Renewal 2 (This character gets 2 Force points each time he activates)
Essence of Life (Force 2: When a living ally within 6 squares would be defeated, that ally makes a save of 11. On a success, that ally has 10 Hit Points instead of being defeated.)
Force Corruption 3 (Force 3, replaces turn: range 6, non-Droids only; target and each character adjacent to that target take 30 damage and are corrupted. Each time a corrupted character activates it must attempt a save of 11. On a failure, that character takes 30 damage. On a success, that character is no longer corrupted.)
Force Corruption 4 (Force 4, replaces attacks: range 6, non-Droids only; 40 damage and target is corrupted. Each time the corrupted character activates, it must attempt a save of 11. On a failure, that character takes 40 damage. On a success, that character is no longer corrupted.)

 

Hey guys… today we look at Palpy's Master, ole' Darth Plagueis… the wise.  Plagueis is a big bag of force tricks, that could really be annoying if you run into him.  His stats are on the low side for a force user, especially a  63 point force user, but his abilities and force points do more than make up for it.

 

He starts with Parry, which is a free Block against Melee pieces (notice he doesn't have a Lightsaber so damage reduction still is in effect.) which will keep is 120 HP around a little longer.  Now where this guy shines is in his force points.  He has two points and renewal 2, which means that he gains two force powers every time he activates. You are going to need those force points, because he has  a bunch of different powers, and they are all pretty expensive.

 

First off he has the new Essence of Life, which is the force equivalent to Avoid Defeat with one less save.  He then moves into the Corruptions.  For 3 Force points he can use Corruption 3 which puts 30 on a character and all adjacent pieces, every time they activate them must make a save 11, if they miss their save they take another 30.  If the dice gods are not with you this could be very annoying.  Now Corruption 4 is the same thing but it does 40 damage and is 4 Force points.  Now there is a big difference that people have been missing.  On Corruption 3 it replaces turn, on Corruption 4 it just replaces attacks, so you can still move 6 and use Corruption 4.

 

As far as the best way to play him… just play him.  Sure you can boost your attack to +17 with Malak DlotS, or give him an extra attack with Krayt but I think the best person to team him with is Palpy Sith Master, and swap him in and out to best use his corruption.  The fact that he is an expensive piece in a very expensive faction makes it hard to use him with others in his faction.  But like I said, just throw him in and see what you can do.

 

Onto the rankings…

100pts 3/5:  This format is ruled by big time force users.  Here he can do okay.  Not much room for support, but he can hang in there in this format.

200pts 3.5/5:  Here you can bring in more support.  His lack of synergy and high cost still make his hard to play, but he can still do good here.

 


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