[2021] Developer Insight: Lord Vader

[Developer Insights - Kit Reveal ]



Hi Holotable Heroes,

Anakin has fallen! In his place Lord Vader has risen and is ready to bring peace to his new Empire by any means necessary. Red tape? He’ll cut through that! Bureaucracy? He’ll cut through that! Guards at the Jedi Temple? He’ll [REDACTED BY ORDER OF THE EMPIRE].

More machine than man now, there was a time after Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi and before he became a helmeted hooligan in which Lord Vader was possessed by passion and consumed by rage. The following Developer Insights explain how that period was used as inspiration to create Galaxy of Heroes’ next Galactic Legend as well as his kit.

The Basics:

• Dark Side, Galactic Legend, Attacker, Leader, Empire, Sith.
• Although Lord Vader has both tags, his kit focuses on synergizing more with the Empire faction than Sith. He’s also great with Dark Side Unaligned Force Users, such as Maul.
• Lord Vader brings balance...to the Galactic Legend units, as he is the Dark Side response to Jedi Master Kenobi, our most recent Light Side Galactic Legend.

Unique Attributes:

• At the start of battle, Lord Vader’s leader ability, “My New Empire,” converts Protection to Max Health for himself, Empire, and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies. This is similar to how Darth Nihilus’ lead converts his team’s Protection to Health.
• Lord Vader’s Ultimate ability, “End of the Galactic Republic,” is intended to be reusable throughout the battle. It’s not a one-time ability like some of the other Galactic Legends’ transformative abilities.
• Lord Vader’s Unique, “Twisted Prophecy,” grants him a stack of the “Underestimated” effect at the start of each other character's turn. The more stacks he has, the more powerful his Basic and both Special abilities become! Even better is that once Lord Vader earns stacks of “Underestimated” they remain on him and cannot be removed.
• In addition to having Protection converted to Max Health, Lord Vader’s squad receives various benefits at different thresholds of their Health (35%, 50%, and 80%).

Inspiration:

• Lord Vader’s Ultimate was themed to showcase the unbridled rage he exhibits at several points during Revenge of the Sith.
• We’ve wanted to add Fallen Anakin to Galaxy of Heroes for a long time. Being able to design Lord Vader as a Galactic Legend allowed the design team to really capture the power he wields before he’s maimed by Kenobi on Mustafar.
• We chose the designation “Lord Vader” because at this point in Revenge of the Sith, he’s had the title bestowed upon him by Darth Sidious, but he’s not yet in his armor, providing the opportunity to create another Vader in the game that is visually distinct and unique in flavor.
• The name for the buff “Underestimated” comes from his line during the final moments of his duel with Obi-Wan on Mustafar.

Strategy Tips:

• Lord Vader’s squadmates act as “batteries” that “charge” him up. Specifically for Mastery, which is a core part of his ramping damage.
• His team often benefits from having debuffs and losing buffs, which is a bit unusual, but creates interesting gameplay strategy. Whenever a debuffed Dark Side ally takes damage, Lord Vader gains Ultimate Charge. Whenever a Dark Side ally loses a buff, Empire and Dark Side Unaligned Force User allies gain Mastery. Piett seems like a good fit.
• Speaking of Piett, using Inevitable Failure to inflict “Marked” on Lord Vader is actually a solid move, but maybe not obvious. Breaking it down, “Marked” gives Lord Vader a forced Taunt, and when Lord Vader takes damage, his Ultimate gets charged since Marked is a debuff. When Piett uses his Basic while Lord Vader is Marked, it calls Lord Vader to assist, which can be pretty fun if Lord Vader’s Ultimate ability is active.
• By now, you’ve probably figured out having Maul on the squad is a huge boon for Lord Vader. Along with strong Dark Side Unaligned Force User synergy, Lord Vader is able to ramp up Ultimate charge more quickly when Maul damages himself, which is a core part of Maul’s kit.
• Harkening back to Darth Vader’s kit, Lord Vader also has Damage Over Time synergy, which is particularly strong considering enemies with DoTs cannot gain bonus Turn Meter because of Lord Vader’s Unique.

FAQ:

• Why does Lord Vader have the Empire tag and Empire synergy even though the kit is based mostly on his time from Revenge of the Sith? Recall that during the attack on the Jedi Temple, Darth Sidious says, “Now, Lord Vader, go and bring peace to the Empire.” Lord Vader then says it himself to Obi-Wan Kenobi during the battle on Mustafar; ”I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire”.
• In addition to the above, Lord Vader having strong Empire synergy makes sense because it gives the Empire its own dedicated Galactic Legend.
• To avoid confusion when using “Unshackled Emotions” while Lord Vader has “Ashes of the Republic,” we’ll point out here that the “inflict Ability Block for 1 turn” portion applies to the whole enemy team, while the “increase target enemy's cooldowns” applies only to the target enemy.