Character Strategy - Zam Wesell

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EA_Jesse
663 posts SWGOH Dev Team
edited August 2016
Zam Wesell

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Lightning fast Scoundrel attacker that inflicts Evasion Down and detonates bombs

Unlocks at 3 Stars (50 Shards)

Available from Chromium Data Packs

Abilities
BASIC Attack – Detonating Shot:
  • Deal Physical damage to target enemy, immediately detonating any Thermal Detonators. For each Thermal Detonator that explodes in this way, Zam gains 10% Turn Meter for each living Scoundrel ally. [Upgrades increase the Turn Meter Gain and Damage]
SPECIAL Attacks
  • See What Sticks – Place Thermal Detonators on all enemies that explode after 2 Turns with a 40% chance for Zam to gain Speed Up for 2 turns. [Ability Upgrades increase Speed Up Chance, Increase Damage and Reduce Cooldowns]
  • Electro-goggles – Inflict Evasion Down on all enemies for 2 turns with and Expose the primary target for 2 turns. This attack can't be Evaded. [Ability Upgrades add Turn Meter Gain, Reduce Cooldown and Increase Evasion Down Duration.]
Unique Ability
  • Shapeshifter – Zam gains 10% Evasion. This bonus is doubled while suffering a negative status effect. Whenever Zam Evades an attack, she also dispels all negative status effects on herself. [Ability Upgrades increase Evasion %, Adds Evasion Up, and Evasion Up Duration.]

General Strategy

Zam Wesell is a champion of bomb detonation. Her basic attack can detonate any thermal detonators (bombs) currently on the target which will front-load this damage. In addition to this she also has the ability to expose and apply evasion down on enemy targets.

Hero Synergies
  • Zam will obviously gain the most synergy from other scoundrels which will help her survivability through increase evasion percentages.
  • Zam will also shine in teams that are applying thermal detonators regularly. Units like Jawa Engineer, Greedo, and Nute Gunray are good examples of this. Her basic will detonate these and apply the damage immediately, which can be quite considerable.

Where to Use
Zam Wesell brings an interesting flavor of self-sustaining survivability through evasion, while applying evasion down to enemy targets which will help a lot in arena against dodge teams. Being able to detonate bombs will increase her value in scoundrel arena teams due to being able to apply damage immediately.
Community Manager for Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes | Follow me on Twitter - Darokaz
Post edited by Conduit23 on

Replies

  • Zombie961
    1819 posts Member
    Zam + B2 = middle finger to Dooku
  • RangerVortex
    214 posts Member
    edited June 2016
    $300 + $300 = not losing to OB

    Enough reason to not care about Arena
  • The fix for detonators is a character who can detonate them with no two-turn wait. Greedo thanks you.
  • Nute says holy s***
  • I have a feeling we're going to start seeing more and more scoundrel based teams in the arena than we do at the moment
    -Spud, ally code 337-127-347
  • Not likely atm, but Dengar may change that since he apparently has decent health.
  • Igor08
    221 posts Member
    Is her base speed faster than Ackbar+leader bonus?
  • Gank_Killer
    1817 posts Member
    edited June 2016
    her max speed (151with no bonuses) is higher than ackbar with leader bonus (113 + 25).
  • Sounds so good on paper...yet...my 7* Gear IX Zam disagrees. I lol'ed at the "self-sustaining survivability" part especially.

    Everyone, she has no healthpool. Period. On top of that, no armor, no defense. She gets two or three turns in, even nearly maxed. Her basic hits 1800 fully geared. She rarely evades even though that's supposed to be "her thing". I've gone over this in other threads but I thought this would be an appropriate place as well.

    She is not worth much of anything unfortunately. Bottom line. From experience.
  • Who did you run her with? I'd think Greedo and Nute would be a must, to maximize the Detonator pop. Should dodge a lot with Dooku or Ben lead, but she only gets her own bonus dodge if she has negative status effect. Armor and Resistance are very low, with such low health pool, she's very squishy. The wording of Shapeshifter leaves some room for interpretation I think. +18% Evasion when suffering negative status effect", this is not a +evasion buff, so when she receives a crit she also gets +Evasion buff. Base evasion (5%) plus 18% when debuffed (23%) plus +Evasion buff (48%) plus dodge leader (63%) is kinda sick. Yeah, you have to be debuffed and receive a crit hit. With that evasion she either gets Offense Up to help with her damage, or gains TM to her already very speedy kit.

    Maybe you just haven't found the right squad for her? Or maybe she just doesn't theorycraft well, I dunno, I don't have her.
  • Who did you run her with?

    At this point I've tried countless combinations from speed leaders, crit leaders, multi-attack leaders, ran her with Greedo as well as Lando. There's slight differences in performance, but very slight. The ONLY one I haven't tried her with is Nute because I never thought there was a place for him/it so I never unlocked that toon. With the amount of effort I've tried through challenges, DS battles, and raids, to get a fair and honest opinion, she just doesn't cut it. Period. She's a paper warrior.
  • What about an all Thermal Detonator team? Cad (L) Zam (dodge), Nute(stealth), Greedo (dodge), Mob Enforcer(31k HP, 17k protection)? Ok who am I kidding, replace ANY of that team with Rey and you're already better. Because nerf Rey. I'm on a nerf Rey kick. Wish I had a scoundrel team, looks fun.
  • I appreciate your diligence, @K_G0sling! I have no ETA but Zam will be getting a post-release nudge-in-the-upwards-direction at some point.
  • RJ__Brando
    1500 posts Moderator
    Screenshot_20160625-070854.png

    OK, so I waited a few days before judgement. There are a few issues with this character, making it extremely difficult for her to be useful.

    Order of Attack on AI is the biggest hurdle:

    As most have mentioned, she uses her bombs first, then goggles, then basic. There are two main flaws in this. The first issue are the bombs detonate by the time she uses her basic, therefore missing out on her TM gain. The second issue is, by leading with bombs, Rex/Ackbar/Elder cleanse them immediately!

    Most have suggested just switching to goggles first, then bombs, then basic. This doesn't work either. The reason lies within her supporting casts order of attacks. For example;

    -Zam uses goggles
    -Greedo/nute throw bombs
    -Zam throws bombs
    -Greedos/nutes detonate before she uses her basic
    -Zam uses basic, only detonating her own bombs
    -Now have to wait 5 turns for supporting casts cooldown

    The AI never capitalizes on the additional dets in play. Not to mention, 5 turn cooldowns from supporting scoundrels is way too long to be useful.

    The sad reality is, unless you guys tweak her, she is a useless character. Her kit takes too long to set up, and the ai doesn't even use the proper order of attacks!!

    Please fix this because I would truly love to use her in PvP

    Ps, she'll also benefit from you fixing Cad Bane's leadership.
  • LordAlvert
    1193 posts Member
    RJ__Brando wrote: »
    Screenshot_20160625-070854.png

    OK, so I waited a few days before judgement. There are a few issues with this character, making it extremely difficult for her to be useful.

    Order of Attack on AI is the biggest hurdle:

    As most have mentioned, she uses her bombs first, then goggles, then basic. There are two main flaws in this. The first issue are the bombs detonate by the time she uses her basic, therefore missing out on her TM gain. The second issue is, by leading with bombs, Rex/Ackbar/Elder cleanse them immediately!

    Most have suggested just switching to goggles first, then bombs, then basic. This doesn't work either. The reason lies within her supporting casts order of attacks. For example;

    -Zam uses goggles
    -Greedo/nute throw bombs
    -Zam throws bombs
    -Greedos/nutes detonate before she uses her basic
    -Zam uses basic, only detonating her own bombs
    -Now have to wait 5 turns for supporting casts cooldown

    The AI never capitalizes on the additional dets in play. Not to mention, 5 turn cooldowns from supporting scoundrels is way too long to be useful.

    The sad reality is, unless you guys tweak her, she is a useless character. Her kit takes too long to set up, and the ai doesn't even use the proper order of attacks!!

    Please fix this because I would truly love to use her in PvP

    Ps, she'll also benefit from you fixing Cad Bane's leadership.

    #fixtuskenshamanfirst @CG_Conduit23
  • I haven't played with her much yet but she seems to pair well with Jawa engineer
  • RJ__Brando
    1500 posts Moderator
    Saidon wrote: »
    I haven't played with her much yet but she seems to pair well with Jawa engineer

    Who isn't a scoundrel.....see the issue??
  • One of the biggest issues I've found and don't like is the limits of leadership ability. My favorite moments is when I can take an Ally. Than you have double leadership skills. Yours and the Ally. There are some killer teams to be built if all abilities unique and none leader only. I wish that system was revamped. Maybe allow all special abilities and have a list applied to all squads to choose your squad ability available to all. One battle maybe ya want speed, another you want tenacity, one for turn meter up, another for enemy turn meter down and so on. Maybe make you spend omega or new form of payment to make it a permanent squad battle ability you collect or spend an Omega to apply it per squad battle as needed and / maybe allow as many temporary upgrades if an as affordable and or needed for that battle like 7-E neutral. I still have that at one star and need it to Farm Ima Guima. The Emperor wrecks me everytime and I can't solve him. I need to take him out first turn or I'm done for. I'm open to suggestions while I'm here. ; )
  • One of the biggest issues I've found and don't like is the limits of leadership ability. My favorite moments is when I can take an Ally. Than you have double leadership skills. Yours and the Ally. There are some killer teams to be built if all abilities unique and none leader only. I wish that system was revamped. Maybe allow all special abilities and have a list applied to all squads to choose your squad ability available to all. One battle maybe ya want speed, another you want tenacity, one for turn meter up, another for enemy turn meter down and so on. Maybe make you spend omega or new form of payment to make it a permanent squad battle ability you collect or spend an Omega to apply it per squad battle as needed and / maybe allow as many temporary upgrades if an as affordable and or needed for that battle like 7-E neutral. I still have that at one star and need it to Farm Ima Guima. The Emperor wrecks me everytime and I can't solve him. I need to take him out first turn or I'm done for. I'm open to suggestions while I'm here. ; )
  • Any interesting and complicated heroe = An useless heroe on PvAI. Shame of AI.
  • Kracken
    81 posts Member
    My first 7*, disappointed heavily. Don't even use her in PvP.
  • Kracken wrote: »
    My first 7*, disappointed heavily. Don't even use her in PvP.

    Ah man, don't loose hope. Her designer even specifically said, "I have no ETA but Zam will be getting a post-release nudge-in-the-upwards-direction at some point."

    I feel your pain though in the current situation. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
  • I feel your frustration, I do. But dagnabbit, why are they fixing a character that nearly no one has yet, but STILL neglecting poorly designed ones?
  • RJ__Brando
    1500 posts Moderator
    I feel your frustration, I do. But dagnabbit, why are they fixing a character that nearly no one has yet, but STILL neglecting poorly designed ones?

    I believe it should take priority since it's a P2P newly released toon....
  • Dear EA, a few ideas for raids. Hoth with wampa, tatooine with sarlac, degobah with swamp monster
  • Gank_Killer
    1817 posts Member
    RJ__Brando wrote: »
    I feel your frustration, I do. But dagnabbit, why are they fixing a character that nearly no one has yet, but STILL neglecting poorly designed ones?

    I believe it should take priority since it's a P2P newly released toon....

    I don't think it should take priority, they've already had broke-**** characters for months now that are F2P. They never should have released a new character while still having so many broken ones, it's poor management.
  • SpeedRacer
    1037 posts Member
    edited July 2016
    I agreed, no priority for Zam, besides she's only p2p. We have a big line of toons waiting for bug fixes.
  • DarthPurgatory
    626 posts Member
    edited July 2016
    Did they ever get around to fixing this toon? I saw a Community Update a few weeks ago where they said she would be addressed in the next patch or one after...but I don't recall any patch notes specifically addressing doing anything with her. Have I missed something or did they just...not do it yet? Still on the table?
    Porgatory demands fresh souls.
  • xReDeMpx
    1690 posts Member
    Did they ever get around to fixing this toon? I saw a Community Update a few weeks ago where they said she would be addressed in the next patch or one after...but I don't recall any patch notes specifically addressing doing anything with her. Have I missed something or did they just...not do it yet? Still on the table?

    No idea tho I still love using Zam she is very good when set up correctly. She just has a very specific way she has to be used
  • I hid her and Nute behind Teebo, paired with Rey and Old Ben and found them surprisingly effective. I'll admit though, most of it was because the stealth functioned as it should bouncing around and offering her longevity enough to do what needs to be done. I remain optimistic that as I take her from G9 to 10 she'll find more usefulness.

    I'd really love to find her a primary spot in my Rebels Arena squad to counter those annoying Evade teams, but she's still just too squishy. Health and Prot mods can only do so much without sacrificing Potency, and I need Crit on her to be effective at damage as well. Otherwise she still hits too weak, even with an Omega on Basic.
    Porgatory demands fresh souls.
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