Developer Insights: Supreme Leader Kylo Ren

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Hi Holotable Heroes,

Today we are exploring some of the most unique aspects of Galactic Legends Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and particular interactions that may trip you up when reading through the kit.

[Developer Insight - Kit Reveal]

The Basics:

• Supreme Leader Kylo Ren is one of the first two Galactic Legends to be released along with Rey.
• Supreme Leader Kylo Ren is primarily focused on dealing damage and increasing his strength over the course of an encounter, but he doesn’t care about keeping his squadmates alive throughout the battle.
• His stats grow over time through a new effect called Siphon and can be very strong in longer encounters.
• Supreme Leader Kylo Ren’s Galactic Ascension event, Heir to the Dark Side, takes you through Kylo’s story in The Rise of Skywalker up to the battle atop the wreckage of the Death Star. At this point in the story (and the part of Kylo’s journey that this unit represents), Kylo is still held by the Dark Side and is consumed by his goal of crowning himself the ruler of the galaxy.

Unique Attributes:

• Ultimate Ability: Depths of Rage - Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has multiple thresholds at which you can activate his Ultimate ability and provide 1, 2 or 3 turns of his Aggressive stance. While in this stance, Kylo is immune to damage and detrimental effects, he can't be defeated, his Siphon is doubled, and his abilities have no cooldowns. You’ll want to wait for the Ultimate to fully charge if you think your squad can weather the enemies’ attacks for a few more turns.
• New Mechanic - Siphon Mastery - Siphon Mastery represents Kylo learning your techniques and fighting style over the course of the battle. The Siphon icon doesn't do anything on its own but it represents the percentage of stats stolen when used in conjunction with other abilities.
  • An ability that uses Siphon will specify which stat it will steal from an enemy unit. In the case of Kylo’s Special 2, Furious Onslaught, Kylo steals Mastery based on how many stacks of Siphon he has.
  • You will want to use Kylo’s Basic and Special 1 to gain stacks of Siphon and then use Special 2 to steal Mastery based on the number of those Siphon stacks.
  • To ensure that Kylo can Siphon Mastery even from units that don’t have Mastery, the amount of Mastery Kylo gains is based on his Mastery and Siphon stacks, and then the target loses the same amount that Kylo gained.
  • Note: Most characters have a base Mastery of 0 regardless of if they have their Relic unlocked. Mastery can go negative, and when it does, the stats that it affects for that particular character will be decreased rather than increased.
• Galactic Legend Unique - This is a special Unique for both Galactic Legends that reduces damage from percent Health damage effects and massive damage effects, causes them to take massive damage from destroy effects (excludes raid bosses), and makes them immune to stun effects.
• Galactic Legends will have high base stats when maxed out, including Speed

Inspiration:

• Despite not having many new Force moves in Episode IX, Kylo goes through considerable character development while retaining his signature aggressiveness.
• We wanted to capture his straightforward nature in this kit along with his imposing presence and confidence.

Strategy Tips:

• Supreme Leader Kylo Ren can lead a wide variety of Dark Side teams as none of his abilities directly reference the First Order.
• You’ll want characters that can synergize well with the extra Critical Damage and Advantage his kit provides but also units that can keep Kylo alive while he powers up.
• One of the most decisive moments in a battle will be when you decide to use Kylo’s Ultimate. You really want to hold out as long as possible before using it - the later thresholds cause his aggressive stance to last longer, but each additional threshold requires less charge to reach than the previous one. This makes it far more efficient to use Depths of Rage at full charge (100 charge spent for 3 turns), but the ability can still be used earlier if desired (60 charge spent for 1 turn).

Special Interactions:

• Pay particularly close attention to his Unique 1, Press the Advantage, which encourages you to stay away from spamming Turn Meter effects on your team. However, you should use it sparingly as your squad can build up Max Health and Protection over the course of the battle.
• Press the Advantage also allows Kylo to be immune to Taunt effects. This does not mean he ignores Taunt on the enemy squad; rather, he is immune to gaining Taunt, Marked and Deathmark status effects.
• Siphon Mastery is useful against units without Mastery as Mastery can go negative, so even units without Relics are vulnerable to losing stats.
• Supreme Leader Kylo Ren’s Leader ability, Supreme Leader, will allow Dark Side allies to regain Advantage whenever Advantage is removed without scoring a Critical Hit. Examples:
  • The buff is dispelled by another ability.
  • The buff expires when it reaches its max duration without being used.
  • The buff is consumed without scoring a Critical Hit (i.e. General Hux).
  • Note: Advantage is not removed when damaging units that have Critical Hit Immunity.

Squad Suggestions:

• There are many solid Dark Side squads for Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, but the most obvious synergy is with First Order units that can specifically interact with Advantage and Critical Hits.
• General Hux, Sith Trooper, Kylo Ren (Unmasked) and First Order Stormtrooper make a fairly survivable team that can help Supreme Leader Kylo Ren achieve a strong start to finish the battle.
• While General Hux's Max Health and Max Protection will be reduced when he gains bonus Turn Meter from Kylo's Leader ability due to Kylo's Unique, Press the Advantage, it's still incredibly useful to bring Hux in order to give Supreme Leader Kylo Ren bonus turns.