My oh my, we begged Wizards of the Coast for a
better Dash Rendar and did we get it or what! Dash
Rendar, Renegade Smuggler is infinitely better than
his older version, and this is a Dash that is seeing
a lot of play in the competitive game, for good
reason.
First things first, you will not be playing Dash for
his base statistics... seeing as they are abysmal at
best. For a pretty hefty 28 cost, you get a decent
70 hitpoints, and an absolutely abysmal 15 defense,
6 attack, and 10 damage. Thank god that Dash Rendar,
Renegade Smuggler has some useful abilities,
otherwise we'd put a fork in him here. First and
probably least important, Dash Rendar RS (Renegade
Smuggler, the abbreviation I will be using for the
rest of this review) is a Pilot, so he can benefit
from commander effects that help those. And here is
where things start getting good. To help Dash's
rather lame defense, he has Evade, a great defensive
ability, which gives him a 50% chance to dodge
nonadjacent attacks, which is a MAJOR help to Dash
Rendar RS. Granted, Dash Rendar RS will still fall
incredbily fast to characters who can base him, but
this is an excellent start.
His other abilities really make Dash the offensive
juggernaught that he has became in competitive Star
Wars Minis. Dash has a deadly combination of Double
Attack, Greater Mobile Attack, Twin Attack, and
Oppurtunist. Oppurtunist fixes his low damage and
attack problem... As long as Dash Rendar RS attacks
an already activated enemy, he gets the standard 20
damage and a much improved 10 attack. And then there
is Double Attack / Greater Mobile Attack / Twin
Attack. Greater Mobile Attack allows Dash to move,
shoot up to four times (against the same enemy, or
two against one enemy and two against another), then
move again. If he attacks an already activated
enemy, his damage potential reachs 80, which is
great for a 28-costing figure. I don't think this
needs any clarification: This is good.
Dash Rendar RS is also a follower, so there are
quite a few combinations that will make Dash even
better. Combine him with the heavily
tournament-popular General Obi-Wan Kenobi, and as
long as he is within 6 squares of a friend, he will
gain +4 attack and +4 defense. This gives him 14
attack with Oppurtunist (which is a very respectable
ammount!) and a much-better 19 defense to increase
his surviveability. The new Grandmaster Yoda (coming
out in Jedi Acadamy) or the old Grand Admiral Thrawn
will also work, giving him +3 / +3. Darth Vader,
Legacy of the Force and General Windu will grant him
an extra attack, giving him Triple Attack, that
means he would be able to shoot 6 times per turn.
Put him in a squad that is activation-heavy or using
an activation-slower like Admiral Ozzel, and you can
get Oppurtunist on the character you want more often
than not. Most of these commanders can also use Mas
Ameda, so Dash will be able to run free not have to
stay within 6 of the commander to get these bonuses!
Even in a squad without something to this effect,
Dash can impact your team for the better and since
he is fringe, you could easily fit him into a lot of
squads.
100 points: 2.5/5, He's not too great here simply
because at 28 points, he won't fit well with the
uber beatsticks in this format that dominate it. He
also will rarely get any useful commander effects,
and he can be a pain to try and fit into a squad.
Further, the melee beatsticks that rule this format
can base him and kill him off pretty quickly. Then
again, he could be ok since generally opponent teams
are low-activation in 100 points, so try him out
here if you'd like.
200 points: 4.5/5, Here he can really shine, for the
reasons above in the review. He can fit into an
array of teams since he is Fringe, so he becomes
very useful.
Sculpt: 4/5, Hey! It captures exactly what Dash
Rendar RS does best: Shoot while running.
Josh
Dash Rendar,
Renegade Smuggler (29/40, Very Rare—Imperial
Entanglements; 70HP, ATT 6, DEF 15, DAM 10, DEP 28)
For a lousy seven extra points compared to the
original Universe version of Dash, you’re picking up
a lot of extra bells and whistles. The original
Dash, while a decent shooter, was pretty weak and
kind of overpriced for what he brought to the table.
Renegade Smuggler really remedies all that. While he
loses 10 points on his damage score, he picks up
both Double Attack and Twin making it possible for
him to deal 40 points of damage against a single
target (bumped up to a whopping 80 if you make him a
late round activation thanks to Opportunist). One of
the biggest problems the original Dash had was his
weak defense score (which Renegade Smuggler still
has) but nothing to protect himself. Renegade
Smuggler has both Evade and Greater Mobile Attack.
This means he’ll be able to make all four attacks
every round but isn’t forced to stand in one place
to do it. Even if you can’t get him fully out of the
line of fire, Evade will give you a chance to extend
his life by avoiding damage. As an added bonus, he
picks up an extra 10 hit points compared to the
original Dash which means your opponent will have to
use one more attack on him to bring him down
regardless of whether they deal 20 or 30 points of
damage in a hit.
While he’s much better than the original Dash, he
still has the problems that the original Dash does
in his stats. Both his attack and defense scores are
very weak. Even with his Opportunist, he’s only
going to be boosted to a +10 to hit which may still
have trouble hitting your opponent’s larger targets.
His defense of 15 can also be bolstered but it’s
still a problem you’ll have to deal with when you
run him. Use Greater Mobile Attack as much as
humanly possible to keep him out of the line of
fire. Evade is always helpful, but I’ve always found
that relying on saves is a dangerous way to go. You
can take advantage of it, but the Greater Mobile
Attack will be much more reliable in keeping
Renegade Smuggler alive.
100 POINTS: Here, he’s a pretty good addition to the
right squad. Renegade Smuggler is a solid shooter
and as long as you don’t have to activate him early
in the round, he can be pretty nasty. He’ll be
best-paired with a mid-level beat stick (a 50-60
point piece would be ideal), so you can include him
and leave yourself with some points for a few grunts
to give you a few extra activations in your turn.
SCORE: 3
200 POINTS: With all the additional support that you
can bring in at the 200 point level, Renegade
Smuggler will be a very solid addition to a squad.
Being Fringe, he’s an excellent candidate for Master
Kota’s commander effect which makes him a stronger
attacker and raises his defense to a much more
acceptable level. With plenty of pieces to synergize
with him, Renegade Smuggler will be very effective
Special Abilities:
Unique. Pilot
Double Attack
Evade (When hit by an attack from a nonadjacent
enemy, this character takes no damage with a save of
11)
Greater Mobile Attack (Can move both before and
after attacking. This character can make extra
attacks even if he moves this turn, but he must make
them all before resuming movement.)
Opportunist (+4 Attack and +10 Damage against an
enemy who has activated this round)
Twin Attack (Whenever this character attacks, he
makes 1 extra attack against the same target)
Hello All… DarthMalstrom's back with a review of one
the most valuable new pieces in the game, Dash
Rendar, Renegade Smuggler. This Dash is the new
Dashing Lando, and he seems to be popping up in
every squad out there. And there is good reason.
When we look at his stats they may look a little
low, with +6/10 Att/Damage.. but he makes up for it
with his abilities. Like the old Dash he has
Oppertunist so he can attack at +10 against
activated characters. The old Dash had 20 damage,
this new one has a 10 base damage… but he has
Double, Twin and GMA. Which means he can move and
attack either two characters twice, or one character
four times. Don't forget the +10 Dam from
Oppertunist and Dash can now put 80 on you. This
puts Dash in an elite group of shooters who can move
and still get off four attacks.
Dash's defence is a low 15, but to make up for it he
has Evade, which means he might be able to escape
some damage. He also has 70 Hit Points, instead of
the original Dash's 60, which makes most people hit
him four times, or three if they do 30. Unlike the
other Dash, this Dash also has pilot, which gives
him access to a couple commander effects, most
nottibly Jag Fel's Gregierous which gives him +14
attack if an ally is within 6.
Dash's biggest plus is that he is a medium costing
fringe follower, so he could fit in almost any
squad, and get a lot of different commander effects.
You can boost him in so many different ways it is
crazy, sky's the limit.
Onto the ratings…
100 pts 5/5: In 100 Meleers rule, and one great way
to deal with Meleers is to hit and run. Dash is
great at that.
150/200 pts 5/5: The more points the more commanders
you can bring. Try giving him an extra attack with
Vader LoTF, General Mace, or an unnamed Jedi to
appear later… try beefing his attack with Kota, GoWK
or Malak. There is so much you can do for him. You
can give him force with HoloSid and let him reroll
his evades. I could keep going. The lession is Dash
is here to stay for a long time.
