Updated: Jun 24
I will preface everything with this: I haven’t clicked yet with Asajj. Some people swear by her, but I haven’t seen it yet. She does have some unusual triggers and I played most of my games with her early on, so perhaps I was just too much of a noob to understand (critically saying “was” there, I am clearly a super pro now). So take these opinions with a grain of salt.
Asajj Ventriss, Sith Assassin is available in the Shatterpoint core box.
Main card
Asajj brings 8SP and 3 force, which is pretty standard. Nothing much to talk about there.
Abilities
Not really important currently, but it is interesting that Asajj lacks the Sith tag despite being a “Sith Assassin”. Keep that in mind if we ever get Sith synergy.
Asajj is on the squishier end of primaries with 9 stamina and 3 health, but she has some abilities to heal or be squirrely.
Dathomirian Dexterity is just Force Jump that Asajj can use twice. That’s good, but also burns a decent amount force. Nice to have the option at least. Once Asajj gets injured you probably aren’t spending four force to double jump in a turn.
Force Push is a great effect and is costed as such. Base 2 force usually means a premium ability and that’s true here. A guaranteed way to move an enemy character is especially big in the objective game where you can change the math on contesting. This ability means Asajj can often swing multiple objectives in one turn, between wounding units, moving around, and pushing people off. Two force is a lot, but if you somehow got it for free …
Riposte is the melee version of Deflect. Most other force users at release have Deflect to send damage back at range, so sending damage back in melee is a change-up. It’s not necessarily better or worse compared to Deflect. Still good, especially since it’s free until she’s wounded/injured.
Slip Away is probably the trigger I missed the most with Asajj, so stay vigilant for the opportunity! It means that Asajj can charge in aggressively, then when certain allied units attack someone she’s engaged with she can – slip away – to safety. A reposition plus a hunker token means she can get somewhere where it’s hard to attack her, but if you do manage to attack her she’s got extra cover. This extra out of activation movement provides another way Asajj can be dynamic in the objective game.
Sith Assassin gives Asajj extra perks for wounding enemies of all types, with more rewards for higher level enemies. I was tempted to label this as a “win more” effect, but I don’t think that’s fair. So far it seems no lead is safe in Shatterpoint, so I’m not sure “win more” is really a concept that applies in this game. You always need to keep the pedal to the metal. Healing is great since she’s a little flimsy, force refresh is great since she can spend a lot of it, and extra movement is always good.
Form II Makashi
The combat tree for Form II Makashi strikes me as quite back-loaded. I would like it more if it was more evenly distributed, but perhaps that would be too good. Asajj is averaging 5.4 successes before defense, with 2.6 of those being crits. Turns out 7 dice with a chance at 2 crits on one expertise is great for crit generation. So she can very reliably get a couple moves down her tree, which is probably why the really good stuff is in spots 3 & 4. The tree gives a lot of options at the expense of a high spike potential – you’re maxing put at 4 squares no matter what happens. If you want to shove enemies off objectives, this is your tree, and it will be quite reliable at doing so if the enemy doesn’t have crit mitigation defensively.
Getting a triple heal or free active ability (probably force push) in the forth spot is very spicy. When positioning Asajj for an attack remember to also stay within range 3 of a force push target just in case.
Defensively this stance is pretty lackluster. It has no crit mitigation and doesn’t add a ton of blocks. A free jump is nice but 4+ expertise will be rare. Only 5 dice at range is a bit scary, especially since she doesn’t have Deflect as a ranged deterrant. All the more reason to use Slip Away to avoid being gunned down.
Jar’Kai
This is the stance I’m using for Asajj most of the time, unless I need healing or a shove. You’re still getting a free active ability in the forth square, and in the first 3 you get a choice between pure damage or damage plus statuses galore. The offensive expertise is a bit less crit-heavy than Makashi but still very comparable, and you get one extra attack dice.
Defensively it’s pretty much all upside compared to Form II Makashi. The defensive dice are the same and the expertise is better since it adds crit mitigation. You lose the jump at 4+ expertise but whatever.
Synergy & Wrap Up
| + Pros | – Cons |
| Very mobile | Force hungry |
| Great in the objective game | Timing sensitive |
| Super high ceiling | A bit squishy |
If you forget about Slip Away, then Asajj doesn’t really care about synergy. But I do think often forgetting Slip Away is a big part of why she hasn’t clicked with me, so you probably want Dathomirian or Separatist Alliance units in your strike team. She works well with droids in that they don’t spend much force and she can be pretty force hungry.
Overall, I think Asajj is a bit of a glass cannon and quite timing sensitive, so that’s a consideration in squad building. Her ceiling is clearly quite high though, the deal-breaker will be how reliably she can reach those heights.
