I mainly think of Bo-Katan as a force multiplier for Mandalorian units. As such, if I'm taking 1 or 2 mandos she usually isn't one of them. But once we get to 3+ mandos, she's definitely a favourite. She's a flexible unit that brings things a heavy-mando list lacks otherwise.
Bo-Katan Kryze is available in the Shatterpoint core set.
Main card
4PC is pretty normal for a secondary, not much to see here. Given her role in seasons 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian I'm sure we'll get an alternate version of Bo eventually. Even so, all of this Bo's abilities will work with mandos from any era, she just needs clone wars units in her own squad.
Abilities
For a secondary, 8 stamina and 2 durability is a bit low. However, Bo does have some defensive abilities to shore this up.
Pride of the Mandalore is an ability that gets better the more Mandalorians you have. Being able to jump someone around at the start of Bo's turn can be big in the objective game. Mandos don't love being pinned, so you can also use this to make a friendly mando try to move and lose the pin instead. Note that Bo can't use this on herself, but she can use it to put someone in an optimal position to trigger Mandalorians Are Stronger Together later in her turn, see below.
Jet Pack is a standard Mandalorian ability and it's good! Bo is already very mobile, so she may not need to spend the force on it. However, she does prefer melee and sometimes you just need a liiiittle extra distance to get into engagement. Jump is also handy for getting out of engagement and onto a higher elevation.
Mandalorians Are Stronger Together is a pretty standard Mandalorian ability. As mentioned, Bo can use Pride of the Mandalore to get a friend in position to proc this reaction. Note that it does require a move action, so Jet Pack won't trigger it. Once you are injured you're probably still paying force to use this reaction because of all the knock-on effects (see below).
Mandalore Will Survive is finally the first ability that separates Bo from Gar Saxon, Merciless Commander. She can get the free focus action from Stronger Together and turn that into dash and a heal, that's lots of action efficiency! Note that, as per this forum precedent, she has to dash then heal. This can be a problem if she outpaces her heal targets. Mandalorian-focused (pun intended) lists tend to lack healing, so Bo helps a lot here. Taking two damage off may not be super consequential, but taking off a couple conditions can big.
Some of Us Serve a Higher Purpose is the main reason I'm taking Bo-Katan. Protection to shave a damage off each attack plus Steadfast to resist shoves is great. B1s get Protection when contesting active objectives, but often they can be shoved off the objective and lose the benefit. Combo-ing Steadfast and Protection makes both better! The range 3 bubble can be deceivingly small, so fulfilling that plus contesting an objective can be a bit tricky. I try to keep Bo central an use out of activation moves (if available) to move that bubble around as the battle shifts.
Concentrated Assault
Bo is fairly consistent between melee and range, the only difference being one extra attack die in melee. I don't love her tree either. It has a lot of shoves but they are late in the tree. It's not that she has a disappointing attack, it's more that her attack is nothing too special. Pin is a great condition, but you don't get the awesome pin plus shove combo until you get at least 4 successes past defense dice. That scenario isn't super likely since she only averages 5.5 successes before defense.
Only 4 defense dice in all situations is not great, especially since Bo will almost never have a hunker token to get extra dice. Her expertise offset this a bit since she can get 2 blocks on only 1 expertise. She'll definitely be wounded faster than you may expect if she isn't getting Protection from Higher Purpose.
Synergy & Wrap Up
+ Pros | - Cons |
Big defensive buffs for mandos | Defensive aura can be tricky to pull off |
Better mobility than even your average mando | Attack tree can be underwhelming |
Bo brings some much needed defensive buffs and healing to a mandalorian team. She gets better and better the more mandalorians are in her strike team. Mathematically she doesn't care much about melee vs. range but she'll likely be in melee most often since she wants to stay central. As such, my preferred support to pair with her are the Mandalorian Super Commandos. They love melee and want to be up in the scrum with Bo. Gar Saxon, Merciless Commander is also a great choice, particularly because he can use his Mandalorians are Stronger Together to reposition Bo and, consequently, her defensive aura. Maximizing the value of Some of Us Serve a Higher Purpose can take a mando list to the next level.
Comments