This unit guide will cover Moff Gideon: Long Live the Empire in the game, Star Wars Legion.

Moff Gideon is an Imperial Warlord who continued fighting for the Empire long after it fell. As a Commander in the Imperial Faction, he brings both support abilities and combat prowess to the battlefield. This article is a comprehensive guide of Moff Gideon. I will start with a summary of his stats, then I will discuss upgrade options and how to play Moff Gideon. Long Live the Empire!!!

Strengths

  • Support abilities: Ruthless & Observe 1
  • Entourage: Imperial Dark Troopers
  • Two Command Slots
  • Courage 3

Weaknesses

  • Expensive
  • Command cards that require Dark Troopers

Overview

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Points:

Moff Gideon is tied with Iden Versio as the most expensive non-force user commander in the Empire. For this cost you are getting a character that is able to both support your troops and battle effectively against the opponent. He can also take the Dark Saber to become a more deadly melee threat. Adding this upgrade pushes his cost up to 115 points. Gideon is an expensive character, so you need to have a plan to utilize him properly in your army.

Offense:

Moff Gideon is the most offensively powerful support commander in the Empire. Gideon has Sharpshooter 1, Tactical 1, and surge to crit. Gideons Blaster Pistol averages 2.16 hits without an aim and has a median of 3 hits when aimed. He has Tactical 1 meaning you can reasonably expect to get 3 hits when moving then firing. He can also be further augmented with The Dark Saber armament upgrade. This weapon costs 15 points and gives Gideon a deadly melee weapon and Demoralize 1. The Dark Saber Averages 3.16 hits but averages ~4.6 hits when he has two aims (which is possible on his 1 pip turn). This is a great weapon to shred through enemy units once up and close.

NameRangeAvg HitsKeywords
Advanced Combat TrainingMelee1.75 
Gideon’s Custom Blaster Pistol1-22.16Pierce 1
The Dark SaberMelee3.16Demoralize 1, Immune: Pierce Melee, Impact 1, Pierce 1

Defense:

Moff Gideon is the hardest to kill out of the support commanders. He has 5 health and surging red saves resulting in 15 effective wounds (Veers 10 effective wounds, Krennic 9 effective wounds, Imperial Officer 6 effective wounds). This means he can support from middle of the battle unlike other support commanders. His main weakness is Pierce. Moff Gideon has no Pierce mitigation and can be quickly dealt with by piercing enemies.

Utility/Support:

On top of his solid combat stats, Moff Gideon has some powerful support abilities. As a free action he can Observe 1 each turn. While this may not seem like much it is a free re-roll every turn which is nothing to scoff at. He is also the first character to have the keyword Ruthless. This ability allows corps units with a face up order token to take a wound to gain a free extra action. Free actions are amazing for objective play and can steal a game when used properly.

Mobility:

Moff Gideon is an average trooper when it comes to mobility with only speed 2 and no additional keywords. His 1 pip Die at My Hand gives him Relentless which can help extend his range giving him extra mobility on the turn it is played.

Upgrades

Command:

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He has two command slots making him very flexible. You do not have to bring command upgrades, but these upgrades can be amazing in the right army.

Aggressive Tactics

Aggressive Tactics is expensive at 15 points but is useful when paired with units that do not surge such as Dark Troopers and Shoretroopers. The surge can make Dark Troopers and Shoretroopers even harder to kill making them even more oppressive on the table.

Improvised Orders

Improvised Orders is one of my favorite command upgrades. For only 5 points you get to re-draw a token each turn. This ability is great in armies with sub optimal order control. Getting a second chance at drawing a token can help you maintain proper activation timing with your units.

Lead by Example

Lead by Example gives Inspire 2. Moff Gideon has no suppression mitigation in his kit so Inspire 2 can help you hedge against suppression heavy armies.

Strict Orders

Strict Orders is another suppression mitigation tool you can use. Strict Orders pairs nicely with Aggressive Tactics since both upgrades work with units with faceup orders.

Underworld Connections

Underworld Connections is simple, you bring it if you want to have more Mercenary units in your army. The most common usage is for double bounty hunter armies.

Training:

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Seize the Initiative

If you are running an army with multiple order hungry units, Seize the Initiative can help you get better order control for the small cost of 5 points.

Up Close and Personal

If you plan to be aggressive with Moff Gideon and did not bring the Dark Saber, Up Close and Personal can be a great option to make him harder to kill.

Gear:

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I often leave the gear slot empty on Moff Gideon, but if you need to add a few points to your list there are two main options.

Environmental Gear

Moff Gideon has no mobility keywords and Unhindered can help you get your full movement range. This is especially important when playing Die at My Hand to engage the opponent.

Recon Intel

Recon Intel gives you a free speed 1 move when you deploy, and extra positioning is always good. Especially when it only costs 2 points!

Armament:

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The Darksaber

Moff Gideon has only one Armament option but it packs quite a punch. The Darksaber not only increases His combat prowess but it also gives him Demoralize 1. A well-placed suppression token can be used in a variety of ways. You can strip standby tokens before activating and you can add extra suppression on scoring turns to stop units from scoring.

How to Play

General Strategy

Moff Gideon is a support command who can also function as a secondary combat threat. He is played best when attacking alongside other units supporting the army from within the front line. Because both Observe tokens and Ruthless can be used outside of Gideon’s activation, he is fairly timing neutral. I typically play conservatively with him during the early turns then rush in later to help threat saturate. Moff Gideon is great at chewing through troopers and can consistently do 2+ wounds per turn. You have to be careful; he can die quickly to strong attacks with Pierce. Bounty hunters in particular can make short work of Moff Gideon.

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Die at My Hand

Moff Gideon’s 1 pip is Die at My Hand gives one order to himself. This card also gives him Relentless, 1 aim token, and 1 dodge token on the turn it is played. Die at My Hand is great for engaging with The Dark. He can consistently do 5 hits on the turn this card is played because he will usually have 3 aims (1 from the card, 2 from moving into engagement). 5 hits with pierce 1 can cripple many units. While less flashy this card can also be used to do a peekaboo attack. You can move, then shoot for free with Relentless, then move back behind cover again.

You Have Something I Want

Moff Gideon’s 2 pip You Have Something I Want is his most unique command card. It issues two orders, but the cards effect can only be used on Dark Troopers. The card makes it so you can move a Dark Trooper to any part of the battlefield outside of range 2 of opposing units, then you give it a face down order token. This card has two main functions, it can be used to flank/engage, or it can be used to run. You can use this card to make an aggressive play such as dropping a Dark Trooper unit behind enemy lines to threaten an objective scoring unit. It is common on objectives like Recover the Supplies to have one core unit hidden in the back holding your safe objectives. This card gives you the ability to instantly threaten that previously safe unit. Dark Troopers in particular are a great flanking unit since they are so hard to kill and are able to solo multiple enemy units. This card can also be used to run at an important time. You can run away with an objective like a hostage or supply box. Even if you are just having a one health Dark Trooper escape before being killed this can be the difference between winning and losing. Sometimes you just need to save your 200 point Darktrooper in order to win the game on kill points.

Moment of Consideration

Moment of Consideration is Moff Gideon’s 3 pip which gives out 3 orders to either heavy or corps units. The card gives any units with a faceup order token Fire Support. This is great when paired with units that have Sharpshooter and surge to critical such as bounty hunters. Both Shoretroopers and Dark Troopers do not surge to hit making them great candidates for this card. Boba Fett can give Shoretroopers Sharpshooter 2, Pierce 1, and surge to critical. A full Shoretrooper fire supporting Boba Fett averages 7.63 hits. Even if you do not have the points for a bounty hunter, Moff Gideon is a great fire support platform on his own. A well timed fire support can one shot many units causing a massive swing in tempo. Overall, a solid card when used right!

List Building

Gideon Dark Troopers

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This army uses Moff Gideon to lead a hyper efficient gunline. Aggressive Tactics pairs especially well with both Dark Troopers and Shore Troopers. Both units want orders and gain efficiency both offensively and defensively form the surge tokens. The main focus in this army is the Dark Troopers. They are the largest threat and benefit greatly from both Entourage and You Have Something I Want. Moff Gideons main role in this army is to support the Dark Troopers as a linebacker and additional threat.

Gideon Boba Fett

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This army is a slight variation on the previous one opting for Boba Fett instead of heavy weapons on the core troopers. Boba has some great synergies with Dark Troopers and Moff Gideon. Like I previously mentioned Moment of Consideration is great for fire supporting into Boba Fett. Also, Boba Fett’s worst command cards are without a doubt his two pips which leaves you room to play both Pinned Down and You Have Something I Want. Boba Fett flanking alongside a Dark Trooper with You Have Something I Want can put your opponent in a tough place. This army also has a brutal battle deck since you can bring Recover the Supplies because you are playing Boba Fett.

Cursed Double Bounty

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This army is cursed, not because it’s horrible gameplay wise, but because lore wise it is just sinful. If you want to be a contrarian this is the army for you. This army has mortal enemies Din Djarin and Moff Gideon fight side by side on the battlefield. Because Moff Gideon has two command upgrade slots, he is able to run both Underworld Connections and Improvised Orders. Double bounty is often starved for orders and Improvised Orders helps you mitigate this. Beside the flavor, this army is a standard double bounty gunline. Moff Gideon fits nicely as an additional threat alongside the two bounty hunters.

Conclusions

Moff Gideon is one of the few commanders in the game that can fill almost any role. He has strong support abilities and can hold his own in a fight. The main thing holding him back is his expensive cost. I won’t give any Mando season 3 spoilers, but I am interested to see if he will be revisited in Legion at some point in the future. Overall, Moff Gideon is an exciting unit fighting for the supremacy of the Empire. I hope you found this unit guide helpful, till next time!