Closed Lanes: Legion is Beginning to Feel Like a One-Way Street
November 18, 2024
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In this article we’ll go over all the recent points updates from Star Wars: Legion.
Atomic Mass Games dropped a surprise update on us last week with points changes for a number of units and upgrades, which we’ll go over below. Importantly, they also committed to doing this once every six months, which is a massive improvement from their previous stated goal of a balance update every 18-24 months.
They also told us the remainder of the rebalanced units will be previewed in April of next year, that most named characters will be getting a new card (except Operative Luke, rip) and updated physical card packs would be released in Summer of 2025 (better late than never?).
This update is pretty clearly meant to shave off the tallest growing weeds, so to speak, with an emphasis on nerfs to the obviously best stuff rather than some kind of comprehensive look at making every unit good, which both fits with AMG’s previously stated balance philosophy and makes sense in light of the impending changes to another swathe of unit cards coming next year.
There was also a rules update that changes how a number of different abilities work, which we’ll go over first as it’s not technically faction specific (though it’s clearly targeted at one specific interaction).
Steady, Charge, and Relentless (basically, abilities that give you a free attack after a move) no longer trigger when it is not that unit’s activation. This has massive implications for Yoda in particular, who would often use Guidance to get a free move/attack out of Bad Batch, Anakin, ARCs, Wookiees, or any unit on his two pip turn. Between the removal of claimable objectives with 2.6 and now this, I think Yoda’s value is really in the tubes now, as they’ve removed a lot of the utility that made Yoda a cerebral support piece and seem to be pushing him more into “dive in, whack things with light stick” identity that they seem to be trying to pigeon hole most force users into.
Although clearly not the intended target of this nerf, this also has big implications for Palpatine, who would often use Pull the Strings to get a free move/attack out of Vader, Snows, Dews, or Imperial Royal Guard. This really kills the Vader/Palp list (and maybe Palp in general), which makes me especially sad as I found that archetype to be quite fun without being overpowered or a negative play experience.
Other implications of this nerf include standbys; taking a standby in melee was a common thing to do for melee units with charge (again, especially force users) to allow them to go early in the turn and preserve their ability to attack while still keeping a target engaged. Between the withdrawal change and this, melee units will have a really hard time now keeping units in melee with them that don’t want to be there.
Overall this feels like a very heavy handed way to deal with the Yoda/Bad Batch combo, which was arguably not even really that good (or at least not as good as other stuff GAR could be running). I would have rather seen them deal specifically with just Yoda or Bad Batch if they felt that was the issue rather than ruining this interaction for everyone else.
Alright, let’s get on to the points changes, which are much more positive.
Let’s be real, Republic needed to get whacked with the nerf bat. Since the new edition release, Republic took 9 of the 13 Grand Tournament wins and occupied more than half the spots of the top 8 in those tournaments while boasting a win rate well north of 60%. There were a couple of pretty clear list archetypes doing all that damage as well, centered around Anakin, ARCs, and Commandos, and each of those got slapped with some pretty big increases.
Yeah, this was needed. It might not be enough, honestly; Anakin is still a brick house that gets around quickly and slaps you repeatedly with the best lightsaber profile in the game, all while making you reluctant to kill units. I’m a bit disappointed they didn’t also look at some changes to the Tempted keyword which is the biggest negative play experience element in Anakin’s kit, but a 15 point bump is a start.
Commandos got some massive buffs from the 2.6 changes (infiltrate utility increased, the cover changes further improving the lethality of their small but reliable dice pool), and they were already a top tier unit before that. This was clearly overdue, though 15 might be a bit much. We’ll see.
Delta got a noticeably smaller hit than their generic counterparts, reflective of their limited use compared to the much cheaper, nearly as effective normal guys. I’m not sure the fact that they’re only 15 more than the generics (instead of 25) is enough to make the difference but I’m curious to see how people use them. 105 points is a lot to pay for a four wound unit no matter how many keywords it has.
ARCs were the third leg of the Anakin-led efficiency stool and got an increase to match, though more modest than Anakin and the Commandos. Six points isn’t a lot, though it adds up when you combine it with the increase to the other piece that was central to the “standard” ARC build, the Clone Commander squad leader upgrade.
On stream AMG admitted they hadn’t anticipated how good Reliable was on red save units despite hundreds of test games. Ignoring the apparent internal contradiction in that statement, I appreciate the candor as well as the increase to this upgrade card, which was clearly necessary. The Clone Commander was the only squad leader people were really taking and was the perfect compliment to naked ARCs, obviating the need to take a heavy weapon at all. Now it is a much more reasonable package at 94 points which still feels perfectly serviceable for what you are getting without feeling hyper efficient like it did before.
This increase goes hand in hand with the ARC increase above and looks to hit the quadruple sniper strike 501st archetype that had become popular. I’ll be curious to see how much of an impact this actually has (two points isn’t a lot) but combined with the increase to the base unit and the commander above you’re still looking at +16 points total to each full/strike detachment pairing which is a hefty sum when you want to run four of them.
This is a big increase on a personnel upgrade, but it looks like they were trying to hit treat/repair generally in this update and the Medic was probably one of the more efficient examples of that across the factions. These guys are still useful but not a “I’ll just take three of them” like they were before.
He look, it’s not all increases! Let’s face it though, this is a drop in the bucket when you consider the massive nerf Yoda got from the Steady/Charge/Relentless change above and he’s probably pretty bad now.
These were some welcome handouts to a unit that really got hurt by the CRB cover changes and never really recovered, then got increased along with all the other speeders to preemptively (and erroneously, I think, given their fragility) account for a perceived increase in value with the new 2.6 objectives. This brings them back in line (hopefully) with their new place in the increased lethality environment of 2.6. I’m a bit sad that the other speeders didn’t get the same kind of love. I’m not sure this is actually enough to make you want to take the guns (they might still just be best naked, that Speed reduction is a real drawback) but it’s something.
There are only two changes here, and they’re both targeted at the same list (B2 spam with repair bots).
Look at how they’ve massacred my boy! Okay, yeah… this did need an increase. 12 points was clearly too cheap when they could now heal spammable red save units. A ten point increase is a lot though, and this poor little guy now goes from the previously cheapest primary healbot to the most expensive. This one felt a bit heavy on the stick to me but some increase was definitely warranted.
This one is funny to me as I don’t think many folks were actually running these except me, but I personally think they were a nice cheap extra body on a B2 unit (which is why I was taking them!) so I find it hard to quibble with this change.
This is pretty clearly a placeholder update until the Rebels get the rest of their new cards in April, reflected in the presence of only two changes here to a faction that has been struggling a bit.
AMG confirmed Luke will not be getting a new card in April, which puts this decrease into a bit more context. This is all we’re getting with Luke. Don’t get me wrong, a 10 point cut is solid and probably makes him decent, but Luke has suffered a lot from some of the rules changes over the years and despite all his tools he still feels a little outdated. I would have liked to see him get some more offensive beef (like Anakin), another training slot (so you can take both ITF and Tenacity), and some updates to his hand full of setup cards to make it a little splashier, but 10 points is 10 points.
I don’t really see where this is coming from, as this upgrade wasn’t really used for Rebels at all, but it’s pretty clear they were trying to hit Treat across the board, so I guess this makes sense in that context. If they don’t like that mechanic I’d rather see them change it then do random increases to units people don’t really use.
Only one change here, but as my friends from 5280 like to say, “the best Empire buffs are GAR nerfs,” so… you know. Be excited?
Joking aside, Empire is clearly still waiting for the rest of their card updates.
This thing was definitely getting more use than the Rebel one, because Vader. This increase feels more justifiable given an across the board hit to Treat.
Yeah, Scout good. AMG admitted on stream they didn’t appreciate how good Scout would be in the new edition (though clearly they had an inkling, because this used to be 2 points), but props to them for owning it and making the adjustment. 8 might be too much now, especially for a gear upgrade, but there might be some situations where you still take this. I personally think people will be moving towards taking stuff with native Scout or Scouting party and just leave Recon behind at this cost.
This feels overdue given the AI changes (the AI part of these upgrades used to be a real drawback, now these upgrades are basically all benefit). It mostly effects Snails but also is a minor hit to spiders and Crab droids. I still think it’s funny that these are neutral upgrades given the only vehicles with programming slots are Separatists, but maybe this is future proofing.
Lots of nerfs to the primary GAR list archetypes, some very minor stuff elsewhere. Overall, a solid placeholder update until we get the rest of the unit cards, and I’m excited that we’ll get these every six months now. Regular balance updates like this, even if it isn’t a long list of changes, show that AMG is paying attention and appreciates the effect unit balance has on enjoyment at all levels of the game.
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3 Responses
Well thought out article (as always). The Republic cost increases are insufficient and will barley move the needle. Republic dominance will continue.
Cheers
What happened to Operative Luke?
Just say it, 2.6 sucks. There you go. Now I said it so you don’t have to