[2022] Developer Insights: Eighth Brother

[ Developer Insights - [url="https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/254858/kit-reveal-eighth-brother/p1?new=1"]Kit Reveal[/url] ]



Hi Holotable Heroes,
Eighth Brother, a Terrelian Jango Jumper who once served the Jedi Order only to become a member of the Inquisitorius, is coming to the holotables! Eighth Brother tussled with Kanan Jarrus and hunted down enemies of the Empire before meeting his ultimate fate at the hands of Maul.
Staying on theme for the Inquisitorius faction, Eighth Brother makes use of the Purge debuff. It is worth noting that he can consume stacks of Purge to do extra damage and inflict Jedi enemies with a variety of debuffs. Eighth Brother has a plethora of ways to give him an edge in battle, be it by consuming Stealth to give himself buffs or inflicting foes with Accuracy Down, Blind, or Burning.
His Omicron Leader ability gives the Inquisitorius a boost in Territory Wars, where he causes all enemies to lose Max Health whenever a Jedi gains Taunt from a Unique ability, and can dispel Critical Hit Immunity from Jedi and inflict them with Vulnerable.
Below, we take a dive into the developers’ motivations and inspirations while creating the kit for this new character.

The Basics:
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[*] Eighth Brother is an Inquisitorius Attacker that is constantly gaining and losing Stealth every other turn.
[*] His Unique, Hunting a Shadow, turns this cycle of gaining and losing Stealth into Health and Protection recovery and several buffs.
[*] Eighth Brother’s kit aims to deal damage to the entire enemy squad and focuses on applying a deluge of powerful debuffs: Ability Block, Accuracy Down, Armor Shred, Buff Immunity, Burning, Healing Immunity, and Speed Down (and Blind if the target is a Jedi!)
[*] While he can apply Purge to Jedi on his basic attack, Eighth Brother’s primary way to apply Purge is through using one of his Special abilities while he has Stealth.
[*] As with the rest of the Inquisitorius faction, Eighth Brother’s Leader ability also targets a specific Jedi; In this case, General Kenobi.
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Unique Attributes:
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[*] All of Eighth Brother’s Basic and Special abilities cause him to gain Stealth.
[*] Eighth Brother can quickly spread a stack of Purge to all enemies on his first turn with his Special 1, Photon Grenades, which enables other Inquisitorius allies to perform devastating attacks.
[*] When Eighth Brother loses Stealth, he gains Accuracy Up and Potency Up which can help apply all those debuffs from Special 2.
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Inspiration:
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[*] The kit draws its inspiration from the second season finale of Star Wars Rebels “Twilight of the Apprentice” where Eighth Brother stumbled upon Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka while he was hunting Maul on Malachor.
[*] His Photon Grenades are drawn from that initial fight where he leaps back and flings the colorful explosives at Kanan and Ahsoka.
[*] Our animation on Photon Grenades has a direct visual callout to the Inquisitor’s most unique use of their lightsabers: the helicopter-style flight enabled by the repulsorlifts built into the hilt.
[*] His lightsaber, while very much traditional in style and function of the Inquisitors, also has a buzzsaw capability which he attempted to use against Ezra. We used this as the basis for his Bladed Hilt ability.
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Strategy Tips:
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[*] Eighth Brother is a good candidate for going first in the Inquisitorius squad. Open with Special 1, Photon Grenades, for a colorful blast that damages the entire enemy team and then, combined with his Unique, Hunting a Shadow, it will apply Purge to all enemies!
[*] Try to find the right opportunity to use Special 2, Bladed Hilt. You will sometimes want to save it for when the target has 5 stacks of Purge and you can apply a huge number of strong debuffs like Armor Shred.
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FAQ:

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[*] Eighth Brother’s Unique, Hunting a Shadow, only applies Purge to all targets only if he had Stealth at the start of his turn.
[*] His Leader ability’s Omicron, More Than Enough, only applies to Taunt that is granted from a Jedi’s Unique abilities in Territory Wars. This does not affect Taunt that is granted by Special or Leader Abilities, such as from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker for example.
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[*] This works similarly for the Blind from his Leader ability that is applied when Jedi enemies gain Foresight from Jedi Unique abilities. This only applies to Foresight that is granted from a Jedi’s Unique abilities and does not affect Foresight that is granted by Basic, Special or Leader Abilities.
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[*] What do I need for Eighth Brother’s Legacy Tier?
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[*] Second Sister, Ninth Sister, Seventh Sister, and Eighth Brother all at Five Stars or higher
[*] The reward for beating this is 4 Omicron Materials, Portrait, and “Shadow Hunter” title
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