Updated: Jun 24
Lord Maul is an angry man who will take that anger out on your opponent’s units … and himself! He can hit like a truck but also goes down surprisingly quickly if he gets caught out.
Lord Maul is available in the Shatterpoint core box.
Main card
When it comes to primary attributes, 8SP and 3 force are pretty standard. Nothing much to see here.
Abilities
Maul’s health profile is quite strange for a primary: 11 stamina but only 2 durability. That’s tied for the most stamina of any unit in the game at release, but he’s the only primary with 2 durability. There are design reasons for this *cough* see last two abilities *cough* but the durability doesn’t concern me too much. It’s fairly rare that the last point of durability will come into play.
Force Speed is very good. In some situations you’ll with you had Force Jump, but you can’t have everything. First activation if you need to move up elevation you can usually Force Speed fist then climb, so it’s like you did a move action then Force Jump. The main thing you lose is you can’t climb when engaged with a non-wounded enemy.
There is No Place to Run is a pricey ability with a base cost of two force, but as we’ll see shortly the cost isn’t a big deal. The effect is fantastic though! A guaranteed pull effect on an enemy miniature is very good for objective play and to get someone into attack range. As an added bonus the defender is exposed. This makes Maul a fantastic primary-hunter or mando-killer since those unit types tend to lean on strong defensive expertise charts. An 8 dice Dark Rage attack onto General Anakin Skywalker in Form V Shen averages 2 successes after defense dice normally. When Anakin is exposed that jumps to 3.5 average successes after defense. Against Bo-Katan Kryze an expose jumps you from 2.8 successes to 4 in the same situation, on average.
Revenge, I Must Have Revenge is a big deterrent for enemies wanting to wound Maul with melee attacks. You can’t really even push him out of melee range because he can dash back in for retaliation. If you’re on the other side of the table trying to wound him with a melee attack, I’d suggest pushing him onto lower elevation or giving him a pin if you don’t want to be chopped in half yourself. The 5 dice might not seem very threatening, but due to his next ability it’s going to be way more than 5.
Sustained by Rage is integral to Maul’s kit. He doesn’t help your strike team directly with any of his abilities, but being able to take damage instead of spending force means there’s more to go around for everyone else. Additionally, damaging himself ramps up his offensive consistency considerably. A turn 1 play I’ve used often is move action plus Force Speed, then There is No Place to Run, taking damage for both abilities. This combo gives Maul exactly three damage to get one extra die as he attacks his poor, exposed target. It also means that I Must Have Revenge will always trigger with at least 8 dice, which is a legitimately scary attack. Be careful to not go too crazy with self-damage though, as giving away an easy wound on Maul could hurt quite a bit, especially against enemies that get bonuses for wounding primaries.
Dark Rage
That’s a lot of damage! Even Flex Seal might not be able to save your heroes when Maul is done with them. There’s also a lot of shove effects, and usually I’d say “hmmm, they are kinda late in his tree”, but given his expose effects and extra dice that doesn’t concern me too much. It is worth noting that his offensive expertise don’t add that many results compared to some other primaries, opting for direct damage instead.
Defensively this stance leaves Maul quite vulnerable. Only 5 defense dice base and 3 expertise is only giving him a single block (the heal and jump are useful but not as good as a block in my opinion). This is very much a glass-cannon type stance for Maul.
Sinister Cunning
Sinister Cunning gives Maul much better defense with more dice, a better expertise chart (two blocks with only one expertise? Yes please!) and a ranged option to play more cagey. Note that the ranged option will not get extra dice from Sustained by Rage. This tree gets a shove on the first box plus a reposition on the second. That’s two great positioning effects plus four damage. Combine that with Maul’s pull ability and he can change the objective math in a hurry. The branch gives you an option between two great status effects, then the fourth spot has a double heal to help with that damage you probably gave yourself.
It is notable that, unlike most other primaries, Maul has no way to mitigate enemy crits. Be weary of that if you’re facing units that can crit reliably (screw you, MagnaGuards!).
Synergy & Wrap Up
| + Pros | – Cons |
| Big damage dealer | Can be a glass cannon |
| Hard hitting retribution attack when wounded in melee | No crit mitigation on defense |
| Doesn’t need to spend force for abilities | Lacks support abilities for strike team |
Maul works great as an independent operator. He doesn’t need help to do his thing, which is dishing out damage and being angry. He’s a great addition to any strike team that is force hungry elsewhere (like mandos) because he doesn’t need force himself.
He does have a lot of tags which could result in stronger synergies as the game grows.
