This unit guide for Star Wars: Legion will cover Agent Kallus, the Hunter of Specters.
Agent Kallus is an Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) Agent known for tracking down and dealing with rebel sympathizers. In Star Wars Legion, Agent Kallus is a commander for the Empire, bringing a diverse toolset as both a strong combat unit and support.
Points 90 base, 115 with Armament: Kallus’ base cost is 90 points in line with Director Orson Krennic but 10 points more expensive than General Veers. Kallus Jumps up to 115 points if you equip his armament which is the same cost as Iden Versio with her DLT-20A. Overall Kallus is on the expensive side for a non-force user, but he is worth his cost due to his flexibility.
Defense: Agent Kallus has 6 health behind non-surging red saves giving him an effective 12 health without accounting for Pierce. While not as tanky as Iden with Nimble, this is the same health as a 6 man storm trooper unit. Because of this, Kallus is able to survive multiple attacks with a great health pool and save. In melee, Kallus’ Bo-Rifle Staff gives him Immune: Pierce, allowing him to survive an engagement with a saber wielder.
Offense: Kallus has a very consistent damage output. His RK-3 Blaster Pistol fires at Range 2 and with an aim from Tactical averages ~2.3 damage. While this shot is not the most impressive it will very consistently push 1 damage with Pierce through heavy cover. His J-19 Bo-Rifle Blaster fires at Range 3 and averages 2.5 damage unaimed or ~3.25 aimed. This means with Offensive Push Kallus can move and fire at Range 3 with two aims resulting in an average of 3.25 damage with Pierce. This is a consistent 2-3 damage through heavy cover with Pierce. Overall, Kallus does not have huge dice pools, but with Tactical, has reliable Pierce damage and can be expected to take 2-3 models off the table each turn even through cover.
Utility/Support: Kallus brings great utility to any list through his Command Slot, Contingencies 2, and Cunning. Contingencies 2 is sadly under-utilized in most Empire lists because heroes are so expensive in the faction. That being said, it does open the door for some multi hero lists such as Double Bounty, Kallus Vader, and Empire Hero Hammer. Cunning is his best utility keyword; automatically winning draws can be devastatingly powerful in the right circumstance. Cunning can combo nicely with Contingencies. You can place Kallus’ command cards in his Contingencies and swap to a Kallus card in the event that you tie.
Mobility: Kallus’ base mobility is average being speed two with no other mobility keywords outside of Tactical. Kallus can become extremely mobile with Ascension Cables. Because he has two command cards giving him a free recover action, Ascension Cables give Kallus scale for 3 turns. This makes him almost as mobile as a jump unit. This combined with Cunning and his 1 pip, allows him to safely dive on a first activation making Kallus a great play maker or objective player.
Filling the command slot is optional with Kallus. The upgrade taken in the command slot is heavily dependent on the list you are piloting.
Aggressive Tactics is most useful in a list where Kallus is supporting a Shore Trooper Gunline (Shoreline). Shore Troopers synergize well with this card because they gain a free aim token when given an order, and do not surge on defense or offense. Outside of a Shoreline, Kallus does not need Aggressive Tactics as it will most likely not be valuable enough to justify the 15-point cost.
Improvised Orders is a great card in lists that have poor order control. For example, a Kallus Double Bounty list would bring Improvised Orders. This upgrade is great for delaying the activation of a focus piece, because you can shuffle its token back into the stack the first time you draw it, effectively allowing you to delay its activation.
Empire core units have a difficult time dealing with suppression. Strict Orders is a great way to remove a suppression off of Kallus and any other units that struggle to be effective when suppressed.
Taking Vigilance is an option when running a list with Iden Versio, or Darth Vader. Iden Versio has Nimble, so Vigilance allows Iden to have a dodge for the entire game. Darth Vader can make use of Vigilance by holding onto an early dodge to use once he dives into the enemy lines.
Similar to Command upgrades, Training is optional on Kallus. If you are short on points it is ok to leave this upgrade empty. That being said, Kallus does have two amazing options for Training upgrades.
Kallus synergizes great with Offensive Push. He has two command cards that give him a free recover, allowing him to use Offensive Push 3 times. He already has Tactical 1 but since his weapon is Lethal 1 and needs an aim to activate Pierce, getting a second aim is great.
Seize is a strong card in lists where you have poor order control or more than one focus piece. Seize allows you to have one more turn with an order, which can save Kallus if he is in a difficult position.
Because of Kallus’ two free recovers, Ascension Cables are a great option to give him vertical mobility and allow him to ignore difficult terrain. While there are technically other options for the gear upgrade, Ascension Cables are the only worthwhile choice. If you are short on points this slot can be left open but I would not underestimate how valuable this upgrade is.
While the J-19 Bo-Rifle is expensive it is worth the cost. The gun not only makes him a deadly shot at Range 3 but turns Kallus into a mini Jedi. Combining Charge, Immune, Pierce, and mobility from Ascension Cables, Kallus can fill a similar role as a Jedi. It is worth noting that Kallus cannot solo a jedi because of his small dice pool and lack of Force Push, but the J-19 Bo-Rifle does give him a fighting chance if caught out by a saber wielder.
Kallus’ general role in most armies is to be a Range 3 skirmisher fighting alongside the rest of your range 3 units, while also supporting the army with his command cards. Because of his mobility with Ascension Cables and J-19 Bo-Rifle Staff, Kallus can also flex into a melee threat and objective player similar to a Jedi. All this together makes him flexible and able to fill whatever role you need him to at the time.
Kallus 1 pip command card Face Me! is amazing. First, this card combined with Cunning is an automatic win for priority. Also, when combined with Seize the Initiative can give any of your Commanders or Operatives priority when it is needed most. This is great when you need to finish off a powerful unit at low health by guaranteeing that you will get to attack first. This card also makes Agent Kallus hard to damage on the turn it is used. Agile 1 gives you a free dodge whenever you move, and Block allows you to gain surge to save on defensive rolls. This means that if Kallus double moves into melee and charges using his staff, he will have two dodges and two aims for the turn allowing for a devastating attack and rock-solid defense. Finally, his card prevents enemies from withdrawing from an engagement with Kallus. On the surface you may be thinking “well force users can just force push him out of melee”, while this is true the objective of this card is not to trap force users. The main way aggressive melee dives are countered is by withdrawing and allowing your entire army to shoot the melee threat. This card allows Kallus to safely dive into any unit in the game (beside force users and vehicles), meaning Kallus can go deep with an aggressive play and then safely sit in melee with a unit for the rest of the turn. This is also very effective against non-force using melee threats like Wookiees, which are becoming more common. The cherry on top for this card is that it gives him a free recover allowing Kallus to flip his staff and recover any exhausted upgrades. Face Me! is an amazing command card overall, that has tons of value and potential plays.
ISB Investigation is Agent Kallus’ two pip command card giving out two orders: one to himself and one to another unit. This card has Cunning since it is attached to Kallus. It gives a completely unique and powerful effect. ISB investigation allows you to prevent your opponent from playing certain command cards on the following turn, which can be devastating if timed correctly. Some examples of what you can do are:
Ruthless Tactics is a well-rounded card. It brings both order control with 3 orders total and gives a solid easy to use effect through observation tokens. Observation tokens allow you to re-roll one attack dice. Each attack gives one observation token and if they have suppression tokens equal to or greater than their courage, they gain 2 observation tokens. Being able to re-roll dice with observation tokens is great for increasing damage of any attack. Overall, this card creates a turn where you have solid order control and amplifies your damage against a few targets with observation tokens.
While Kallus has a great well-rounded kit and command hand, he also comes with a drawback in the form of his flaw, Developing Sympathies. If Kallus is wounded, your opponent can play his flaw which gives Kallus 4 suppression tokens if he performs an attack. While this flaw can cause Kallus to panic, it is not quite as crippling as it may seem. Kallus has two other command cards that give him a free recover allowing him to remove all the suppression the following turn; also Kallus can choose not to attack if the suppression would be a huge issue. This card is typically quite negligible during a game. It usually results in Kallus being suppressed the next turn and losing one action, which is not the end of the world. It is important to be aware of the flaw, because losing an action or panicking on a key turn can easily flip the game in your opponent’s favor.
Agent Kallus allows you to take two extra command cards as contingencies. This means you can bring 8 command cards total, not counting Standing Orders. Contingencies are great for bringing more situational command cards or in a multi-hero list. I typically always put Face Me! in contingencies because this allows you to upgrade any 1 pip to have cunning and win a tie. The second contingency is much more flexible. In a two hero list such as Kallus/Bossk, I bring Coordinated Fire as my second contingency since it can be situationally powerful. In a multi-hero list such as Kallus Double Bounty, or Kallus Vader you can use the contingencies to fit extra command cards that you normally would not be able to bring.
The following two lists are what I consider to be the current most competitive lists with Agent Kallus.
Kallus Bossk is my personal favorite list to run Kallus in. Because Kallus and Bossk are both order hungry, this list brings 4 Captain RT-97C Stormtroopers, and 3 Sniper Strike Teams. These units are timing neutral and do not need orders to be effective allowing you to focus on your main pieces: Kallus and Bossk. Kallus’ role in this list is to fight at range 3 along with the rest of your gun line, but because of his mobility and large health pool, he can also be a play making character and dive into enemy lines. Ruthless Tactics can be used as a pseudo Lying in Wait, giving tons of re-rolls to Bossk. Cunning is a great way finish off low health Bounty targets.
This list is an efficiency Shoreline. It uses Aggressive Tactics to give surges to the two Shoretroopers whenever possible and combos with Target 1 for a free. In this list, Kallus and your Shoretroopers are your focus pieces while the rest of the list is timing neutral and do not need orders. Coordinated Fire can result in a devastating turn with most units having at least 2 aims per shot. This list relies on solid gunline play and tries to maximize your red saves with Aggressive Tactics and the number of re-rolls you have from Aims.
The following two lists are still solid lists, but I believe that they are slightly more situational and less robust than the previous two.
The number one question I received after releasing my article about double bounty last month was my thoughts on Kallus’ Double Bounty. This list allows you to take 3 powerful heros and not have to skimp on command cards. Cunning plus Boba Fett is great for recover the supplies allowing for a quick get away with the center box. This list can absolutely shred armor between 3 surge to crit and pierce heros. So, if you expect your meta to be armor heavy, Kallus Double Bounty could be a great counter pick. Cunning combined with two bounty hunters makes collecting a bounty a real threat. This list has some great tools under its belt but can struggle against some gunlines like Rex Gunlines, because DLT Stormtroopers cannot keep up. Overall, this is a super fun choice to play and has some great tools to win games with.
This list brings along General Veers, primarily to hand out aims with spotter and provide even more recovers with Imperial Discipline. Every unit beside Veers and the snipers benefit from free recovers, making it an excellent choice to bring Veers over an Imperial officer. This list is also an efficiency gunline and relies heavily on well-timed trades. Because of Offensive Push and Imperial Discipline, it is decent on more mobile objectives allowing the core units to move and still have aims for their shots. Similar to the Shoreline list, Coordinated Fire can result in a devastating turn.
When most people see Kallus, they often tunnel vision on contingencies and its potential. Sadly, I think Kallus is slightly too expensive to be run alongside Vader, or many other Imperial heros in a competitive fashion. That being said, competitive or not, who doesn’t want to run an army full of your favorite characters!
Kallus Vader allows you to give Darth Vader Cunning, which can be deadly. Contingencies makes space for 5 of Vader’s command cards as well as all of Agent Kallus’. This list lives or dies on Vader and his ability to engage. Be patient and willing to hold back Vader until the right moment because Darth Vader, like all Jedi, cannot stand up to focus fire. Once Vader engages the opponent, he has multiple ways of keeping himself safe. He can suppress your opponent’s entire army with Master of Evil and hurl any fleeing units with Vader’s Might. This list struggles to get past 9 activations since Kallus and Vader are both so expensive. If running the Dark Lord of the Sith with an ISB agent is the flavor you are looking for, then this list is sure to result in fun games.
Have you ever wanted to run a list with 4 heroes but don’t want to be a Rebel army? Well, I have a list for you. This list gives up on trying to make Empire core units work and instead brings 4 great heroes instead of heavies in your core units. The list has better order control than it may appear on the surface. Tactical Strike gives out 4 orders, which allows you to control all 4 of your hero’s during that turn. Each hero can also use Seize the Initiative giving an order on a single turn where they do not have one from a command card. This works wonderfully if you just want to bring as many named characters as you can while also still having an effective list.
Agent Kallus is a flexible commander for the Empire, able to fit well in almost any list. While expensive, Kallus is both a great unit in combat and has powerful support abilities through his command cards and Cunning. Because of his flexibility Kallus is great as a solo leader of a gunline as well as augmenting another focus piece like Bossk, Iden, or Vader. Overall, it is hard to go wrong with Kallus if you are able to manage his flaw and also leverage the unique powers of his command cards.
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3 Responses
Great article. While I don’t think Kallus is going to pull the Empire up from the bottom of the 4 factions, he definitely adds some versatility to a faction that’s definitely struggling for some identity. Thanks for the info and suggestions!
Not sure how Kallus gets 2 aims from his 1 pip card?
He has tactical om his unit card….dohhh