[2022] Developer Insights: Admiral Raddus

[ Developer Insights - Kit Reveal]
The Rebellion’s most prominent fleet commander, Admiral Raddus, is making his way to the holotables! This Mon Calamari Admiral breathes new life into the Rogue One faction with abilities Protective Shot, Blue Squadron Air Support, and Inspiring Maneuver. Raddus is key to adding the Spark of Rebellion to his allies, as well as enabling them to Upload the enemy’s top secret plans to give Hope to his allies on the battlefield. Admiral Raddus’ Grand Arena Omicron will give players a powerful Rogue One squad, so be sure and collect this character in the brand new Marquee event, SPARK OF REBELLION, coming this week.


The Basics:

• New Rogue One Leader who boosts their Grand Arena Championship viability
• Provides powerful buffs and bonuses for Rogue One Allies
• Fun debuff mechanics - lots of value for having multiple stacks of Expose
• Empire enemies are punished for gaining bonus Turn Meter

Unique Attributes:

• Admiral Raddus’ Unique prevents Jyn from being defeated if Admiral Raddus is present.
• Spark of Rebellion is a new buff for Rogue One allies - Gives Offense, Speed and when the character attacks they have health and protection recovery.
• Upload - A charged up action that enables a 1-time use per battle ability: Hope.
• Hope is a new granted ability - Requires 100% Upload progress to activate. Revive all allies, and all allies recover 100% Health and Protection.

Inspiration:

• Admiral Raddus commanded the Rebel’s flagship, Profundity, at the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One.
• His surname would go on to grace the name of Admiral Ackbar’s flagship in The Last Jedi, Raddus.
• Emboldened by Dash Rendar breathing new life into the Solo squad, we envision a similar path for Admiral Raddus and the Rogue One characters.
• Protective Shot and Inspiring Maneuver are named in homage to his appearances in the comics where he is supportive and tactical.
• Blue Squadron were the only starfighters that were able to make it through the planetary shield on Scarif, so Blue Squadron Air Support was the perfect name for the AoE damage and debuff cleanse.
• We introduced the Download mechanic in fleets with Dash Rendar’s Outrider, so in a twist and a strong tie to Rogue One, a ground force including Admiral Raddus will have Upload. Jyn Erso’s presence makes Upload go much, much faster.

Strategy Tips:

• Rogue One faction has plenty of characters to choose from, but the callouts to Jyn Erso specifically make her a staple in his squad.
• Characters who have Spark of Rebellion are great for taking out units like Iden Versio and her troops as this buff prevents revives on units defeated by the buffed character.

FAQ:
How does Upload work?

• Upload progress happens whenever you use Blue Squadron Air Support, resisting debuffs, damaging enemies who have the Expose debuff, and using allies’ Special Abilities. Additionally when Jyn Erso uses any ability she will gain Upload at a faster rate than normal. When this reaches 100% progress, Admiral Raddus gets a bonus turn, and the once-per-battle ability Hope can be activated.

Why does Admiral Raddus have the Rogue One tag? He wasn’t part of the unit that comprised Rogue One.

• We looked at the precedence set by Bistan, who also has the Rogue One tag, but was actually a door gunner in Blue Squadron. Giving Admiral Raddus the Rogue One tag allows us to have the synergy we were looking for in the kit without having to get exhaustively wordy.