Mother Talzin, Savage Opress and Nightsister Acolytes
Hello there!
This is the series in which we explain how certain units from Star Wars: Shatterpoint work!
Today we will go with the manipulative dathomirian witch, Mother Talzin herself and her loyal Nightsister Acolytes, as well as her son, Savage Opress, which are included in the Witches of Dathomir Squad Pack.
Mother Talzin
Unit Card
Mother Talzin, Clan Mother of the Nightsister and wielder of ancient dark-side based Magick was a formidable character during the Clone Wars era. In Star Wars: Shatterpoint she is a primary character of Control/Supportive nature.
Obscuring Shadows, her Tactical Ability is quite simple. At the start of her activation you may choose one friendly Dathomirian Unit and then one character in the chosen unit may perform a Dash. You can use this ability to either close the distance between your aggressive character and opponent unit or give a better position to your Acolytes for their Coordinated Fire ability.
Life Drain is an ability that slightly increases the survivability of your Strike Team. Each time, after a friendly Dathomirian Unit deals damage to the enemy by the attack, that friendly unit may immediately Heal[1]. Use this ability as often as possible to get rid of conditions and damage tokens from your units!
Her Identity Ability, Wrath of the Great Mother, shows her concern about her children and subordinates. When one of your units is wounded, Talzin can immediately Dash toward the perpetrator, then make a 5 dice Ranged Attack on him (note that this can only be done if Mother Talzin has range to that unit). This ability not only gives you a pinch of mobility but also more opportunities to heal with her Life Drain ability. Your opponent will think twice before wounding your unit, especially with their low-life ones.
Last but definitely not least ability is Manipulating Hand. This Active ability allows you to choose one enemy unit and then reposition it using a Dash move tool. This is not only a phenomenal control tool. Of course, with this ability you can, for example. move your opponent out of the objective, bring him closer to your carry units. But another secret feature is that this ability can also do damage to your opponent unit right away! How? If your opponent has a Strained Token on the chosen unit you resolve the move, then the Strained Token deals 3 damage to it! Powerful tool, isn’t it?
Stance Card
As befits for a Primary character, Mother Talzin has a two-sided Stance Card, with the first side was prepared for ranged combats and the second one is more aggressive and designed for the hand-to-hand combat.
Great Mother, a ranged-more stance provides her with quite a high amount of defense dice at the start. 7-10 damage is supplemented with up to 3 pushes or Exposed/Pinned condition and even a move at the end of the combat tree. Choose your options wisely and this stance may ruin your opponent’s plans quickly.
Wrath is her close combat stance. 6-8 damage (using a one from the Expertise Chart) is supplemented with nearly a full range of conditions (excluding Pinned) as well as Heal [1-2] and opportunity to activate her Manipulating Hand ability. However, the game designers make this Stance fairly balanced and you cannot give your opponent a Strained condition before activating her Active ability for free (so no 3 free damage 
)
Savage Opress
Unit Card
Savage Opress, younger brother of Darth Maul is a pure aggression himself (with a tanky ability, that’s nice!).
Furious Rush is nothing else than a child of Force Speed and Sprint abilities. Oppress may Rush or Advance, depending on whether he is wounded or not. During the course of the game his mobility may rise significantly this way. However 2 Forces for an Advance may be a little bit pricey.
Now it is time for his Innate abilities, all of them influence one part of his playstyle:
- Overpowering Monster influences his aggressive potential. When he makes an attack targeting opponent Primary unit he adds 2 dice to the attack roll
- Pain is Weakness influences his survivability. Savage Opress has permanent Protection and Steadfast.
- Unwitting Brute influences his mobility. After any allied Separatist Alliance or Dathomirian Primary Unit starts its activation within Range 3 of him, he may immediately Dash.
Last ability in his arsenal is one of the most powerful damage dealing abilities in the game. Dark Fury allows him to choose one enemy in Range 2 and roll 5 attack dice. For each Hit/Crit result the chosen character suffers one damage. Without defense. Need I add that he may activate this ability for free with his Combat Tree? He’s a beast, really.
Stance Card
Unchained Rage is a melee-only stance. However, he is able to deal up to 14 damage with it (activating Dark Fury on the last step of Combat Tree, targeting an attack target)! Literally he can, in certain circumstances, one-shot Vader. If you don’t want to push that much for damage, don’t worry, he is also able to deal Exposed, Strained and Disarmed condition to your opponent 😅
His weak side is definitely Defense. 4 defense dice with such a mediocre Expertise Chart and even protection may not be enough when facing characters such as Anakin, Mace, Vader or Grievous. Well, he’s a glass cannon.
Nightsisters Acolytes
Unit Card
Last part of the pack is the Supportive Unit, Nightsister Acolytes.
Looking at the first two abilities they are kinda similar to the Clones. Acrobatic Advance is a better version of Defensive Maneuver providing you with the Jump instead of Dash. Second ability, Coordinated Fire: Exposed is, as I said in our last article about Mace Windu, the best version of this ability. If you set up your units correctly, your Savage Opress can make an outstanding attack against an enemy unit.
Two other abilities increase the aggressive potential of Acolytes themselves. Darkness and Shadows gives you 1 attack dice, when you have a Hunker on them, while Night Hunter increases their attack pool by 2 dice every time their target is currently engaged with another Dathomirian Unit.
Stance Card
Shadow Hunters, the Stance Card of Acolytes is kinda a multitool. 7 damage is supplemented with Pinned and Exposed Conditions as well as Heal [1], Push and Jump. With such a toolkit you can adapt to various situations and react to the actual board state. However, similar to the Savage Opress, their Defense Expertise Chart is kinda weak.
In the summary, this Squad may be a fine addition to your collection (
), especially when you prefer more aggressive gameplay. Pairs well with Maul and Mandalorians, but the Secondary and Supportive unit in the second squad is a free choice for you. Maul is kind of obvious due to his Dathomirian tag and overall aggression that fits very well for this squad.
If you want to start your adventure with Star Wars Shatterpoint, check our Shatterpoint Guide!
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