The guys over at Capital Games has posted a new developer insight. This time they are talking with the designers of Lord Vader. Check i out.
Anakin has fallen! In his place Lord Vader has risen and is ready to bring peace to his new Empire by any means necessary. Red tape? He’ll cut through that! Bureaucracy? He’ll cut through that! Guards at the Jedi Temple? He’ll [REDACTED BY ORDER OF THE EMPIRE].
UNIT NAME: Lord Vader
ALIGNMENT: Dark Side
CATEGORIES: Galactic Legend, Dark Side, Attacker, Leader, Empire, Sith
Legendary Sith Lord who utilizes the actions of others to empower his own potential and is not to be underestimated.
ABILITIES:
Ultimate: END OF THE GALACTIC REPUBLIC
Description: Requires at least 65% Ultimate Charge to activate.
Ultimate Charge: Lord Vader gains Ultimate Charge when he uses Dark Harbinger and when debuffed Dark Side allies receive damage he gains 2% Ultimate Charge, increased to 3% if that ally was an Unaligned Force User.
Lord Vader gains 50% of other Dark Side allies’ current Mastery (stacking) until the end of the encounter, then they lose that much. Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies don’t lose Mastery from this ability.
If 100% Ultimate Charge was used, Lord Vader instead gains 75% Mastery from this ability, dispels all debuffs on himself, takes a bonus turn, reduces his cooldowns by 1, and gains Ashes of the Republic for 5 turns, which can’t be copied, dispelled, or prevented.
Ashes of the Republic: Lord Vader’s abilities gain additional effects; enemies defeated while this is active can’t be revived; Lord Vader is immune to Ability Block, Healing Immunity, and Shock; can’t gain Ultimate Charge.
Basic: VINDICTIVE STORM
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA) Deal Physical damage to target enemy and if Lord Vader has 30 or more stacks of Underestimated, he deals damage again. Each time this ability deals damage in the same attack, it deals 25% more damage (max 50%).
Ashes of the Republic: Deal damage again.
Special 1: DARK HARBINGER (Cooldown 3)
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA) Inflict Buff Immunity and Healing Immunity for 2 turns and deal Physical damage to target enemy. This ability deals 20% more Physical damage on subsequent uses (stacking, max 5 stacks)
Lord Vader gains 1% Ultimate Charge and Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies recover 0.5% Health for each stack of Underestimated.
Ashes of the Republic: This attack also deals true damage.
Special 2: UNSHACKLED EMOTIONS (Cooldown 5)
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA) Deal Physical damage to all enemies and inflict Daze and 4 Damage Over Time effects for 2 turns, which can’t be resisted. For each stack of Underestimated, this ability deals 2.5% more damage, and all Dark Side allies gain 1% Mastery (stacking) until the end of the encounter.
Ashes of the Republic: Inflict Ability Block for 1 turn which can’t be dispelled or resisted, and increase target enemy’s cooldowns by 2.
Leader: MY NEW EMPIRE
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA) Dark Side allies have +20 Speed, +20% Mastery, and +15% Max Health, doubled for Empire or Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies.
At the start of battle, other Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies lose all Protection and gain that much Max Health. If a Dark Side Unaligned Force User ally was present at the start of battle, for the rest of the battle all Empire or Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies take 30% reduced damage from enemy Light Side Unaligned Force User attacks. If all allies are Dark Side at the start of battle, Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies are immune to Fear, Empire Tanks gain Taunt for 2 turns, and when an Empire ally loses Taunt, they are inflicted with Marked for 1 turn, which can’t be dispelled, prevented, or resisted.
Whenever a Dark Side ally loses a buff, Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies gain 1% Mastery (stacking) until the end of encounter. Whenever a debuffed Dark Side ally takes damage, Lord Vader gains 2% Ultimate Charge, increased to 3% if that ally was an Unaligned Force User.
Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies have +35% Critical Chance and Critical Damage when targeting a Galactic Republic enemy. Whenever an enemy critically hits an Empire or Dark Side Unaligned Force User ally, that enemy has -30% Critical Damage (stacking) for 3 turns.
While Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies are at certain Health thresholds, they gain different benefits.
- While above 35% Health: During an enemy’s attack they are immune to Max Health reduction and other damage that is based on Max Health
- While above 50% Health: They are immune to Damage Over Time and Thermal Detonator effects
- While below 80% Health: Can’t be critically hit
Unique: TWISTED PROPHECY
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA) Lord Vader is immune to Turn Meter manipulation and his attacks can’t be evaded. At the start of battle he loses all Protection and gains that much Max Health, and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies gain Speed Up and Stealth for 2 turns.
At the start of each of Lord Vader’s turns, enemies are inflicted with 2 Damage Over Time effects for 2 turns, which can’t be resisted. Enemies with Damage Over Time effects can’t gain bonus Turn Meter.
At the start of each other character’s turn Lord Vader gains 1 stack of Underestimated (max: 60), doubled for Galactic Republic and Jedi enemies.
Underestimated: Vindictive Storm, Dark Harbinger, and Unshackled Emotions gain additional effects.
Unique 2: GALACTIC LEGEND
FINAL TEXT: (ZETA)This unit takes reduced damage from percent Health damage effects and massive damage effects. They take massive damage from destroy effects (excludes raid bosses) and are immune to stun effects.
This unit has +10% Max Health and Max Protection per Relic Amplifier level, and damage they receive is decreased by 30%.
More machine than man now, there was a time after Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi and before he became a helmeted hooligan in which Lord Vader was possessed by passion and consumed by rage. The following Developer Insights explain how that period was used as inspiration to create Galaxy of Heroes’ next Galactic Legend as well as his kit.
The Basics:
- Dark Side, Galactic Legend, Attacker, Leader, Empire, Sith.
- Although Lord Vader has both tags, his kit focuses on synergizing more with the Empire faction than Sith. He’s also great with Dark Side Unaligned Force Users, such as Maul.
- Lord Vader brings balance…to the Galactic Legend units, as he is the Dark Side response to Jedi Master Kenobi, our most recent Light Side Galactic Legend.
Unique Attributes:
- At the start of battle, Lord Vader’s leader ability, “My New Empire,” converts Protection to Max Health for himself, Empire, and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies. This is similar to how Darth Nihilus’ lead converts his team’s Protection to Health.
- Lord Vader’s Ultimate ability, “End of the Galactic Republic,” is intended to be reusable throughout the battle. It’s not a one-time ability like some of the other Galactic Legends’ transformative abilities.
- Lord Vader’s Unique, “Twisted Prophecy,” grants him a stack of the “Underestimated” effect at the start of each other character’s turn. The more stacks he has, the more powerful his Basic and both Special abilities become! Even better is that once Lord Vader earns stacks of “Underestimated” they remain on him and cannot be removed.
- In addition to having Protection converted to Max Health, Lord Vader’s squad receives various benefits at different thresholds of their Health (35%, 50%, and 80%).
Inspiration:
- Lord Vader’s Ultimate was themed to showcase the unbridled rage he exhibits at several points during Revenge of the Sith.
- We’ve wanted to add Fallen Anakin to Galaxy of Heroes for a long time. Being able to design Lord Vader as a Galactic Legend allowed the design team to really capture the power he wields before he’s maimed by Kenobi on Mustafar.
- We chose the designation “Lord Vader” because at this point in Revenge of the Sith, he’s had the title bestowed upon him by Darth Sidious, but he’s not yet in his armor, providing the opportunity to create another Vader in the game that is visually distinct and unique in flavor.
- The name for the buff “Underestimated” comes from his line during the final moments of his duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar.
Strategy Tips:
- Lord Vader’s squadmates act as “batteries” that “charge” him up. Specifically for Mastery, which is a core part of his ramping damage.
- His team often benefits from having debuffs and losing buffs, which is a bit unusual, but creates interesting gameplay strategy. Whenever a debuffed Dark Side ally takes damage, Lord Vader gains Ultimate Charge. Whenever a Dark Side ally loses a buff, Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies gain Mastery. Piett seems like a good fit.
- Speaking of Piett, using Inevitable Failure to inflict “Marked” on Lord Vader is actually a solid move, but maybe not obvious. Breaking it down, “Marked” gives Lord Vader a forced Taunt, and when Lord Vader takes damage, his Ultimate gets charged since Marked is a debuff. When Piett uses his Basic while Lord Vader is Marked, it calls Lord Vader to assist, which can be pretty fun if Lord Vader’s Ultimate ability is active.
- By now, you’ve probably figured out having Maul on the squad is a huge boon for Lord Vader. Along with strong Dark Side Unaligned Force User synergy, Lord Vader is able to ramp up Ultimate charge more quickly when Maul damages himself, which is a core part of Maul’s kit.
- Harkening back to Darth Vader’s kit, Lord Vader also has Damage Over Time synergy, which is particularly strong considering enemies with DoTs cannot gain bonus Turn Meter because of Lord Vader’s Unique.
FAQ:
- Why does Lord Vader have the Empire tag and Empire synergy even though the kit is based mostly on his time from Revenge of the Sith? Recall that during the attack on the Jedi Temple, Darth Sidious says, “Now, Lord Vader, go and bring peace to the Empire.” Lord Vader then says it himself to Obi-Wan Kenobi during the battle on Mustafar; ”I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire”.
- In addition to the above, Lord Vader having strong Empire synergy makes sense because it gives the Empire its own dedicated Galactic Legend.
- To avoid confusion when using “Unshackled Emotions” while Lord Vader has “Ashes of the Republic,” we’ll point out here that the “inflict Ability Block for 1 turn” portion applies to the whole enemy team, while the “increase target enemy’s cooldowns” applies only to the target enemy.
