Force 2, Knight Speed, Lightsaber Riposte, Sith Rage
Okay, so now we review the largest disappointment
(in my opinion) in Jedi Academy by far, the new Maul
(Apprentice). We have asked Wizards of the Coast for
awhile now for a Sith-version of Maul (since
seriously, Maul being on the Separatists, which was
created after his death, makes no sense whatsoever),
and we finally got it... and got this. If you would
allow me to go on a rant, WHAT THE HELL? We get an
Asajj that captures the absolute essence of Maul...
and the next Maul we get snubbed. Granted, this is
supposed to represent Maul in his apprentice days,
so I could deal with him being weaker than other
Mauls... but could you at least tone down the cost a
little? The Sith faction needed a smaller support
Jedi, not another medium - large Jedi that doesn't
stand out in the faction whatsoever. Further, while
they replaced the Separatist faction on Maul (which
makes sense), they gave him Vaapad-Style fighting, a
lightsaber style THAT WASN'T EVEN PRECIEVED UNTIL
MAUL WAS DEAD!!! What's with Wizard's obsession in
creating impossible Darth Maul characters?? Granted,
Maul's style of choice, Juyo style (Maul's preferred
Style) is a lot like Vapaad, but they are not the
same thing! They are as different as Shien and Djem
So (which are also considered the same Form number).
Okay, okay, now that I'm done my little rant, let's
actually take a look at the figure.
Rants aside, this isn't a terrible character. For 43
points, you get a pretty good beatstick that can be
comboed within the faction (as I will explain
later). Maul has a good 110 hitpoints, decent 20
defense, a quite disappointing 11 attack, and the
normal 20 damage. The 11 attack is kind of a downer
since that means Maul will have trouble hitting the
more defensive units in this game, but it's not
terrible either. His regular abilities help his
cause a tad. Maul has Triple Attack, and the after
mentioned Vaapad-Style Fighting. Triple Attack is
pretty hard to pull off in most situations (but
where there is a will there's a way, I will explain
later!), but Vaapad-Style fighting (while it makes
no sense...) is a very good ability that helps Maul
hit with such a low attack... and hit hard, no less.
Scoring a critical hit goes from a measly 5% chance
to 15% chance with Vaapad, which helps Maul make up
for missing occasionally.
This Maul only has two force points (which is a
severe disappointment) and no way to renew them. He
does have decent force powers. Knight Speed can help
him charge quicker into combat while Lightsaber
Riposte will make him annoying for other Melee
characters to defeat. Sith Rage is nearly a staple
on him, and something Maul greatly needed, as it
increases his damage to 30. This helps him make up
for his low attack as well, and makes crits do 50.
But like I said... with only 2 force points to work
with, it creates a lot of dilemna on how to spend
them.
There are two ways to run this Maul in my opinion...
unfortunately, both require a Sidious, which means
that unfortuantely they can't be used together. The
first thing you could do is run him with Darth
Sideous Hologram, which gives him Force Renewal 1.
This can help replenlish his dissapointing Force
points, so he can better abuse his actually pretty
good set of abilities. The other thing you could do
with him is pair him up with the new Sidious from
Jedi Acadamy, which has a potent combination of Pawn
of the Dark Side and Thrawn's switching ability as a
commander effect. Combined, Sidious (in one turn,
mind you!) can activate a grunt with Pawn of the
Dark Side and put him adjacent to someone you want
to destroy with Maul, then use Sidious's switching
ability to switch Maul with the grunt. Then, Maul is
free to abuse his Triple Attack goodness (with Sith
Rage) against a character, all in one turn which is
pretty handy.
Overall, however, Maul Apprentice was not the Maul
we were looking for. He's not really what the Sith
needed, they have plenty of beatsticks. It's also
kind of sad when the essense of Maul is instead
captured by another figure (the new Asajj Ventress,
reviewed last Friday), so will will wait yet again
for the next Maul. I would argue that this Maul is
also a tad overcosted, which also does not help his
case.
100 points: 1.5/5, I'd have trouble believing he
could hold his own here.
200 points: 2/5, With the support I talked about, he
could be used. But the Sith have better options, in
my opinion. Wow, I can't believe I just said that...
when one of the least supported factions in the game
has better options than you... you must suck pretty
bad.
Sculpt: 3.5/5, One of the only reasons to get this
figure, but even that is somewhat dissapointing.
Josh
Darth Maul, Sith
Apprentice (5/40, Very Rare—Jedi Academy; HP 110,
ATT 11, DEF 20, DAM 20, DEP 43)
Maul’s first
appearance in the Sith faction is definitely
interesting. However, I’m not too certain
interesting is necessarily good. With a figure model
based off an expanded universe action figure of
Maul, it’s definitely a different look for the evil
Sith apprentice. However, not only does he get a
make over, his stats and special abilities do as
well. Coming with the standard Maul Triple Attack is
pretty normal, however Maul apparently spent a
little extra time training during his early days as
a Sith and learned Vaapad Style fighting techniques.
Giving Maul and increased critical hit range is
always nice since he’s got three attacks to pull off
a critical if he doesn’t have to move.
Looking at
Maul’s Force powers also shows a little difference
from previous Mauls. While he’s still got Sith Rage
to boost his damage, he comes with Knight Speed and
Lightsaber Riposte. Both of these are solid
abilities. However Maul’s biggest problem is that he
only has two Force points to begin with. Admittedly,
the Sith do have the Sidious, Hologram Force battery
to give Maul renewal, but Sidious, Hologram is
really fragile and Maul will have to either remain
within six spaces of him, or you’ll need a few
equally as fragile Mouse Droids to make that work
well.
100 POINTS: Maul might be
effective here since Sidious, Hologram is a
relatively cheap Force battery and most people won’t
want to waste time trying to take it down while
Maul, Sith Apprentice is charging them. However, the
entire squad will likely need to be built around
giving Maul as much access to Force Renewal from
Sidious as possible. This means you’ll have trouble
bringing in enough pieces that can do damage. Maul
is a pretty formidable opponent thanks largely to
Vaapad Style, but I still don’t think he has enough
damage dealing power to really make an effective
stand at this level. SCORE: 2
200 POINTS: Here, where
there is plenty of room for support to both protect
Sidious, Hologram and still bring in damage dishing
pieces, Maul becomes a lot more effective here. I
still don’t think he’ll be anything really game
changing, but with enough Mouse Droids and Sidious,
Hologram, he can be a threat. SCORE: 3.5
Gunnar "Darth
Malstrom" Malstrom
Darth Maul,
Sith Apprentice (Sith VR)
Cost: 43
HP: 110
DEF: 20
ATT:11
DAM: 20
Special Abilities:
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Triple Attack (On his turn, this character can make
2 extra attacks instead of moving)
Vaapad-Style Fighting (Scores a critical hit on an
attack roll of natural 18, 19, or 20)
Force Powers:
Force 2
Knight Speed (Force 1: This character can move 4
extra squares on his turn as part of his move)
Lightsaber Riposte (Force 1: When hit by a melee
attack, this character can make an immediate attack
against that attacker)
Sith Rage (Force 1: +10 Damage on all attacks this
turn)
Hey guys DarthMalstrom back with the Sith version of
Darth Maul. Why Maul was never a SIth before was
beyond me. He was dead 10 years before the
Separatist movement even began, but when Clone
Strike came out there was no Sith faction. Instead
of judging him against other Maul's (which makes him
the cheapest and weakest Maul) we should judge him
against the other Sith around the same cost as him.
He is the cheapest unique Sith (except for HoloSid),
and his stats are about the same as Nihilus. He is
one point cheaper, he has -1 Attack, +1 defense, and
+10 Hit Points. His special abilities are much
better than Nihilus. He has triple instead of
double, and Vaapad. Now where Nihilus shines is his
force powers, Maul not so much. Maul has Riposte,
which is pretty helpful, he also has Sith Rage which
if he is based can deal 90 damage. He also has
Knight Speed, which might help basing an opponent at
the end of the round, but with the cost of the Sith
characters you are probably not going to out
activate many people.
I think the biggest problem with Maul is that he is
not the figure that we wanted. We wanted the
mega-beast Maul. The Triple, Twining, Stealth having
beast. But when you think about it, Maul was not
that Jedi. On his big reveal to the Jedi he was
killed by a padawan, pretty weakly if you ask me.
Though Maul was pretty awesome, he died before he
really became that Sith. And the fact that he died
so easily in the movie can also be seen in his mini.
He has no defensive abilities at all, and not really
any way to give him any except for +2 from Jolee
Bindo.
Now onto the ratings…
100pts 2/5: This format is very melee friendly, and
he is okay. The good thing about him is that if you
use him you can bring in another character as well.
You will probably still get destroyed by Bane or
other Boba or other beasts.
150pts 3/5: He can do better here, with more room
for help. Malak DLotS can give him +4, HoloSid can
give him Force Renewal.
200pts 3/5: Here you get even more room. Maybe you
can run Sidious and try swapping in Maul to take
full advantage of Triple/Rage.
