[2020] Developer Insight: The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor)

[ Developer Insights - Kit Reveal - State of the Galaxy ]



Hi Holotable Heroes,

The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is heading to the Holotables in spectacular, shiny fashion! From his meek beginnings as a foundling to his transformation into a fully Beskar-clad protector of The Child, Din Djarin embodies the toughness required to survive in the frontier of the Outer Rim. Whether they’re brought in warm or brought in cold, The Mandalorian always delivers his bounty.

Equipped with Whistling Birds, The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is prepared to lead Scoundrels into battle while adding survivability to the faction by dispelling debuffs and equalizing Protection. His immunity to Ability Block and some help from a little, adorable friend add to an already impressive array at Mando’s disposal.

Unlock The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) by heading to his Hero’s Journey when the event launches this week and is permanently available in the Journey Guide!

This is the way.

The Basics:

• The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is a powerful leader that enhances Scoundrel squads.
• While The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is aligned with the Light Side, his abilities work with both Light and Dark Side Scoundrels.
• Using Disciplined Set Up gives you access to Swift Takedown on your next turn.
• You must use Swift Takedown after Disciplined Set Up and all other abilities are removed.
• Whistling Birds last until The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) uses Swift Takedown or is defeated and persists through the end of an encounter.
• Beskar Mandalorian Unique, Protective Intuition, allows Mando to take a Bonus Turn when Scoundrel allies fall below 75% Health. Mando can use this extra turn to protect his allies by equalizing Protection and giving a target ally (and himself) Damage Immunity with Wonder of the Force.
• During this Bonus Turn, you can choose who to protect with Wonder of the Force regardless of who triggered this Protective Intuition.
• GROGU in the pram!!! He’s part of the model so you can see the Child in the roster screen.

Unique Attributes:

• The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) has a unique way of charging up Whistling Birds - Using Disciplined Set Up gives you one stack of Whistling Birds for each enemy, and then Mando gains additional stacks of Whistling Birds whenever an enemy takes damage (max 20 stacks).
• He can only earn stacks of Whistling Birds in the time between when he uses Disciplined Set Up and Swift Takedown and when Protective Intuition is triggered.
• The visual effect for Whistling Birds is also very unique. We used a new animation technique for Whistling Birds that randomizes the flight paths of rockets each time you use it so it looks different every time.
• The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is the first playable character that can ignore Stealth, allowing him to hunt down elusive prey.
• We get to see more of the Child and he has an ability of his own, Wonder of the Force! The Child assists in times of need to protect Mando and his Scoundrel allies.

Inspiration:

• We already used the gunslinger shot for Brown Armor Mando's basic, so putting it on here would have looked redundant. We were looking to make the two characters more distinguishable, so opted to only use weapons that hadn't been used yet. The other Mando has more "range" with the pistol and the rifle while Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) has more of an "up close and personal" feel to his attacks.
• There were several animations that we left on the table with the first iteration of this character. The Whistling Birds and fighting with the Vibroknife were our top 2 favorites that we weren’t able to include last time. The Whistling Birds in particular turned out really well and tie nicely into the mechanics of the kit.
• We specifically looked at the character of the Mandalorian during Season 1 of the show after he has the Beskar armor forged but before he has his signet and jetpack. This means there may be some things you saw the character do on the show before and after that time period that we did not try to replicate with the kit.
• The Child was a major part of the character in this time period as well, so we wanted to make sure he received a prominent featuring in the kit. Unlike IG-11, where the Child is tied to the passive Unique, here the Child is part of an activated ability, Wonder of the Force.

Strategy Tips:

• Swift Takedown is good against a small group of enemies, but it might only deal a small amount of single target damage if there are too many enemy units that can soak up the AoE damage.
• You can use Swift Takedown against enemies with low health since you know which enemy it will target (the next weakest); this means you can finish off badly damaged enemies without wasting extra damage from remaining Whistling Birds.
• Your squad should save abilities that deal damage multiple times for when The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor) is setting up (with Disciplined Set Up) to build up stacks of Whistling Birds.
• You don’t have to target the ally that triggered Protective Intuition with Wonder of the Force’s Damage Immunity, so use it on the ally you want to keep safe.

Squad Suggestions:

• Scoundrels that can deal damage multiple times are very effective for building stacks of Whistling Birds and great at generating Turn Meter for all Scoundrel allies from The Mandalorian’s Leader Ability, Seasoned Tactics.
• Both Seasoned Tactics and Disciplined Set Up trigger on all damage, not just from attacks. DoTs, Expose, Burning, and Deathmark will all trigger those abilities. You may want to consider units like Raid Han, Chewie, Enfys Nest, Kuiil, IG-11 and L3-37 for this squad.
• Mission and Zaalbar are very good in this squad. Zaalbar is a solid tank that counter attacks frequently, calling Mission to assist for additional sources of damage and DoTs. This can provide a Scoundrel squad with a ton of Turn Meter gain outside of their turns.
• The Mandalorian (Beskar Armor)’s abilities are not limited to Light Side Scoundrels, so Canderous Ordo and Bounty Hunters in general can be good partners.

FAQ:

• Why no Bounty Hunter tag? All Bounty Hunters in our game need a Contract and a Payout, and adding these to this version of the Mandalorian would have forced us to limit other abilities of his. This version of the character is arguably not a guilded Bounty Hunter as well, as he spends most of season 1 on the run from the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, and not working with them.