It has been a tough road for Jyn Erso in Star Wars Legion. Like a new toy at Christmas we all wanted to play with her at first, but then we all stopped. I think we could come up with several reasons why we stopped using her in Legion but I think the real reason is because she’s very difficult to use.
I know what most of you are thinking… it’s not because she’s difficult to use its because she’s bad. I just don’t think that’s the case, she has her uses and she has a particular play style and I just don’t think that most of us have figured it out yet. I believe a lot of the time the mistake that we make with her is by using her Infiltrate keyword and placing her in danger immediately. I really do think that this is a bad use of Jyn that even I am guilty of on numerous occasions. I think in order to play Jyn correctly in Star Wars Legion we need to take a look at the source material that she came from: Rogue One.
Let’s take a look at her behavior in Rogue One: she sneaks around, she is never on the front line and she always uses her surroundings to camouflage her real behavior. So, if we took just that for what it is, do you think we should drop her on a center objective immediately? Does she seem like someone that you would place in the center of the board in order to make a giant power play? Is she someone who faces the enemy head-on? The answer to all of this is: no.
Brief overview of Jyn Erso in Star Wars: Legion
How should we play Jyn Erso?
If you have ever played Dungeons & Dragons, or really any Fantasy game at this point you’re probably familiar with a rogue. I think we can take a lot of things from the Rogue class and apply them to Jyn.
- Sneak Attacks – Jyn Erson has some really interesting things going for her that most Rebels don’t have: at range 3 she has sharp shooter 1, pierce 1 and Quick Thinking. If you are in a good position, you have an opportunity to deal at least 1 wound or delete one mini per turn and also get a suppression on an enemy unit. Jyn is best served when flanking an enemy unit and forcing them into an uncomfortable decision moment during their turn.
- Swashbuckler – Jyn is at her best during round 0 and round 1. With her infiltrate keyword she can position herself on the board that makes your opponent think about what they’re going to do or rethink what they were trying to do. The biggest mistake that gets made with her is placing her in the center of the board on an objective with no cover. I believe that you can still place her towards the center of the board but allow her some cover, maybe even line of sight blocking so that she can position herself in a way to punish anyone else who’s going to come for that middle objective. For instance, let’s say Boba was to make his way to the middle of the board to grab an objective, you can use Jyn’s range to try and make him earn it and suppress him or even move into melee to tie him up.
- Mastermind – I think another big part for Jyn is the keyword teamwork. there is opportunity here with the right counterpart such as Sabine or Leia to take full advantage of the teamwork keyword. “Trust goes both ways” is a great card. This is the card you play when you’re in the thick of it, when you’re really trying to bear down on an objective and you have some other units that are working with you towards that same goal. A scenario you could see with this card play is multiple core units and another hero like Sabine all trying to hold down I board edge or an objective. You can now inspire 2 units and start bouncing dodge tokens with Jyn and Sabine with quick thinking and nimble.
These are just a few examples of treating Jyn like a rogue. There are many more and if you would like a better understanding or reference you can do a quick Google search of playing as a rogue in D&D and I think this will give you some great ideas.
What are some complementary units for Jyn Erso?
There are a number of good compliments to Jyn on the rebel side and I think in order for her to work the way she should you need to consider some of these units first:
- Sabine Wren – Sabine is a great support unit for any list, however I believe that Sabine and Jyn are particularly amazing together. These two units are a great one-two punch, and with their command cards they really feed off of each other. Both “Complete the Mission”(CTM) and “Legacy of Mandalore”(LoM) get fantastic use with this combo, for instance a well played CTM can stop Sabine from getting suppressed in a critical moment. Also, as mentioned earlier in this post bouncing dodge tokens with “Trust Goes Both Ways” and Quick Thinking is really strong.
- Leia Organa – Leia is just the pinnacle of complimenting units for all other heroes and Jyn is no exception. Once again the highlight of this combo is the command card support. Using “Coordinated Bombardment” to clear a path for Jyn so that she can get in a great position. Also playing “No Time for Sorrows” or “Somebody has to Save Our Skins” in a perfect moment can help Jyn be her best.
- X-34 Landspeeder – The landspeeder can be used to either distract your opponent from what Jyn is doing or to get her out of a jam. Pulling the space truck up at an opportune time and hauling Jyn to another location can be a valuable move to help get Jyn to a better objective or location.
What are reasonable expectations for hitting something?
Jyn has a number of weapon options and ranges that can be effective if used right. Using the Damage Simulator Tool that Kyle built we can do a few breakdowns of what are reasonable expectations by weapon.
A-180 Rifle Config
Hits with no Cover
Wounds – Non-Armor White Defense Dice with Surge with no Cover
Crit
Wounds – Non-Armor Defense Red Dice with no Cover
A-180 Pistol Config
Hits with no Cover
Wounds – Non-Armor White Defense Dice with Surge with no Cover
Crit
Wounds – Non-Armor Defense Red Dice with no Cover
Collapsible Tonfa
Hits
Wounds – Non-Armor White Defense Dice with Surge
Crit
Wounds – Non-Armor Defense Red Dice
I believe that Jyn’s inherent value lies in her ability for board control. She has a ton of upside and abilities that when played correctly can make her a valuable asset. Also, as we see the growth of Legion through clone wars and the additional Civil War units that will be coming out, such as the operative Luke and Vader that we will see Jyn’s value increase over the next year.
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As suppression becomes more of a thing in the game danger sense and Jyn’s pip 3 command card will also become more relevant in the game, I’ve had a lot of success with her but you have to play subtle with her, if you want a blunt instrument you want Luke or Sabine. Jyn wants to lead from the front but not be a target either.