Atomic Mass Games just released the long-awaited first balance pass for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. It’s a Krennic-sized batch of changes, with approximately 50 pages of updated print and play cards. Here to try and make sense of the seismic changes are a number of Goonhammer Shatterpoint contributors who share their thoughts on the changes below. Look for more detailed, faction specific reactions in future coverage.
Wake has put together a change log to get a quick glance of the updates here.
I Have Friends Everywhere
While AMG has released a plethora of details in their transmission, very little is detailed on actually making these print and play cards a reality.
Before downloading our remix(s) keep in mind we have our cards sleeved:
There are two different size cards and will need to be printed differently.
- Unit Cards need to be printed full page and can be found here.
- Stance Cards should be printed at 78.125% and can be found here.
McWhat
I’ll caveat my reaction by saying that I rarely get an opportunity to play Shatterpoint anymore. I’m much more of a hobbyist for this game. But these changes still have me excited to get some games in with new and improved rules. In no particular order:
Galactic Republic lists seem much more playable now. Clone trooper supports in particular seem to be at least viable. Anakin looks to be a menace, particularly paired with the new hotness Ki-Adi Mundi. I’m especially happy with the changes to Mace Windu. They addressed his two biggest problems: being hamstrung in squad choice, and feeling obliged to activate him with the Shatterpoint card. He now has much more flexibility. I’m particularly excited to give him a try again. Bonus shoutout to Ponds and Cody for not feeling actively bad to take.
Galactic Empire got a huge normalization pass. The outliers at either end of the power curve got reined in. Hopefully this encourages Empire players to try some new options. Grand Inquisitor in particular looks like he can be a menace now, with that powerful new version of Secrets Uncovered, wowza. No surprise that Third and Fourth Sister both got big glow-ups. Similarly no surprise that Vader, Hask, ISF, and Dark Troopers got toned down. I’m all in on Andor-related Rebels for the time being, but definitely looking forward to playing around with some Inquisitorial Empire lists at some point!
Speaking of Rebels, Jedi Luke is at least worth consideration now that he shares the love with his Identity ability. I can’t speak to Ewoks at all but 3P0 and R2 also look worth consideration, especially with that 25% reduction in cost.
All in all, no huge surprises in here for me. It was pretty obvious what needed to be adjusted now that the game has been out for a while and the designers get more experience and feedback from players.
p.s. AMG, Andor models when? Brasso with a brick, you know you want to!
Samuel Sweeten
Overall, I am very happy with the changes! They breathe life into a lot of the weaker units while toning down the top end. Here are some of my quick thoughts on the biggest winners and losers:
Winner – 212th: These guys seem like auto includes in republic lists now. They are taking the throne from ARF troopers
Loser – Hask: Still looks playable, but more of a mid-tier figure than his previous perch of best in the game. Very comparable to Rex and new Cody now in my estimation.
Winner – Ki-Adi-Mundi: The best Republic Jedi in the game now has help. The Anakin and Mace buffs open up powerful synergies; expect to see KAM at top tables at tournaments everywhere.
Loser – Separatists: I really want to be wrong, but the Magna nerf seems crippling. They have been the life raft keeping Seps afloat for a while now, and with only Asajj buffs to compensate, it seems to me Palpatine successfully eradicated our battle droid friends from their final holds in competitive play.
Winner – Weequay Pirates: Talk about a glow up. Their stats are now very pushed, look for opportunities to play them in lots of different lists, a 9-health steadfast support with shove on 1 and good expertise for 4 points is a steal.
Loser – Padme: The fact that Padme did not get buffed blows my mind. She is one of the least played primaries competitively, and her win rate stats are abysmal. I hope the new ARF SF: Supporting Fire is enough to elevate her turns, but I am doubtful she finds a meta home, especially when everything else around her got a glow up.
Wake
I agree with Samuel, these are overall a pretty good raft of changes, and I am similarly absolutely floored that the Padme box did not get looked at. Already crowded out by other Republic options, I can’t see a world in which she finds a niche outside of a few supremely determined die-hards. A few thoughts in no particular order:
Dark Troopers, MagnaGuard, Inferno Squad: Thank goodness. While I agree with Samuel that the Separatist Alliance got hit fairly hard here, I won’t shed any tears over clearly overclocked MagnaGuard being taken down a few pegs. Anybody who, like me, has been on the receiving end of 5 dice bonus attacks that nevertheless progressed way down their tree as a result of their WILD original expertise will certainly be glad to see it go. Similarly, it’ll be nice to see Empire players have to actually read their dice instead of just being able to say, “I rolled dice, so your unit is now wounded” when playing Inferno Squad! I’ll be interested to see where Dark Troopers land; their expertise is dialed down and the lower Stamina is a big deal, of course, but they still have Immunity: Pin, can’t be moved by diceless displacement, and their offensive output remains the same. They seem like they’re still potentially a useful tool, just not head and shoulders above all other options.
Ahsoka Tano (Jedi No More), General Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Master Mace Windu: these have all had glow-ups of varying degrees, and I think they’re all interesting going forward. Anakin and Mace have the most obvious and immediate appeal (they both look great), but Ahsoka is significantly stronger than she used to be as well. I’m looking forward to getting her on the table when I can force myself to set aside Padawan Ahsoka. Anakin’s “I wounded a Primary or Secondary, so six models dash” is absolutely wild- I can’t wait to give him a go!
Clone Troopers: Samuel’s right, the new 212th absolutely slap. They seem to me like they’re going to be in every Republic premiere list. The 501st and Clone Commandos are both definitely better, but I’m not sure the Commandos quite get there, especially as compared to the 212th. Time will tell. Special mention should be made of the ARFs; while I think it’s a mistake to nerf something for being too good when a huge part of why it was overplayed was that the alternatives were awful, the new ARFS with Supporting Fire: Dash are actually really intriguing to me. They have an additional health, can hang back a little bit more, and open up valuable mobility to the Republic. I actually think they’re reasonably exciting in some lists in their new form. Ponds gives Republic at least a little more play on Never Tell Me the Odds, though I’m not sure he addresses that need entirely, and Cody is certainly BETTER than he was, though I don’t know if I like him more than Rex, for example. He needs to get awful close (Range 3) to Expose enemies with his tactic, and he does not have great defenses.
Scum and Villainy: Cad Bane and Hondo get more eras, the Weequays get better, Aurra glows up…it’s a good time to be bad. Or at least morally questionable.
The Inquisitorius: they look like they’re going to be a ton of fun. I’m almost done painting the whole Republic faction and was thinking about my next project…they may be it.
Speaking of, let’s talk about the one change (or lack thereof) I don’t love: Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter still has the Galactic Republic tag. True, you can’t stuff him in Separatist and Rebel lists anymore to boost their damage output, but one of the least thematic things you can do in the game right now is still powerful and effective- take Darth Vader with a bunch of Republic Jedi and power them up. Hopefully the glow-up to Republic Anakin will crowd this out a little, but I was really hoping to see this one go the way of the dodo, for theme reasons alone. Ah well. Can’t win them all!
Ewoks- I have a buddy who has been almost exclusively playing Ewoks since he got into the game, and he is positively salivating, muttering to himself about “secret ingredients” and saying yub nub a lot. I have a feeling that game nights are about to start feeling a LOT like that Ewok Hunt horror scenario from Battlefront II I’ve heard so much about…
Overall, this is a great first errata by AMG, and I’m really excited to crack open some (old) new stuff!
Jason LePine-Williams
This is the first balance patch for Shatterpoint and I am very excited. Overall, I think it is really good and this should definitely change the meta, and we should see a lot of units on the table that are currently left on the shelf. There are some big winners in this balance patch and there are also some surprising omissions. I won’t talk about all the changes from the balance pass, but I will give you my thoughts on a few units.
Imperial Special Forces: I still think the ISF are strong, the changes bring them better in line, but I still think they are a very strong 4 cost supporting unit. They will still be my go-to pick for Empire supporting units, as they can still pump out damage. I am surprised infiltrate didn’t get toned down or removed, as this still allows you to wound a supporting unit in your opponent’s starting area with the use of Covert Operations.
Gideon Hask: Great change to Defiance Will Be The Death of You. Definitely a much-needed change and really great for the health of the game. Now being only able to turn a miss to a hit for supports is great. He will no longer warp the game around him and give a free hit to some of the most powerful units in the game. He is still a great support unit and I expect him to hit the table a lot, as he has a great revenge trigger, Long Live The Empire, and is still strong offensively and defensively.
Dark Troopers: Great changes to their health and defensive expertise. This brings them in line with other similar 4 cost units. Their Immovable ability is still really strong against units that can displace you, like some Jedi’s with Force Push, and with the expected rise of republic units this will still be very useful. Definitely will still be in consideration for the Empire, but will not be an auto include anymore as Death Troopers and Shore Troopers are strong competition for this slot.
MagnaGuard: With the reduction of one health, and a slight reduction to their melee expertise tree, it brings them closer in line to other 3 threats. I still think they are near the top of the curve for 3 threats. It’s a good change and it would have been more impactful in the first year of Shatterpoint, given you hardly see Separatists on the table these days. Hopefully with this balance patch, and the upcoming Terror from Below Squad Pack, we will see more Separatists.
Jango Fett: The change to Not So Fast is great. It removes a potential negative play experience from the game. That is super important for the health of the game. I am surprised that Capture Wire still costs only 1 force, given Lord Maul’s There Is No Place To Run costs 2 force for a similar effect. I guess the difference is down to Exposed vs Pinned.  Although I think displacing a character and pinning them is very powerful. Also he recovers one less force with I’m Just Looking to Get Paid, which is a reasonable change.
501st: It’s great to see these guys get some love. An extra health, improved expertise and a slight change to their combat tree are all positive signs. I would still take ARF’s over the 501st, but its good to have more viable 3 cost options.
Clone Commandos: Finally they have 7 health, and the extra block on 3 expertise is great, as it used to almost feel like you got punished for rolling high expertise before. Otherwise, they are a solid unit that will continue to see a lot of play on the table, especially in clone centric lists.
ARF Troopers: The removal of Supporting Fire: Exposed is a bit of surprise, but understandable given that ARF’s are the first pick support for Republic.  Although this might be more to do with the state of other clone troopers rather than the supporting fire expose. Changing this to a dash is very exciting. It solves some of The Republics movement issues, and its great on Kitt, and even better on a 3 cost support. I will be using it every chance I get.
Asajj Ventress: She now feels more like an assassin with the much-needed improvements to her melee expertise trees, with Jar’Kai looking very tasty. She is now reliably able to either affect two different units on an objective, by wounding one and force pushing another, or she can impact multiple objectives, especially with the improvements to Sith Assassin, and the replacement of Slip Away for the much tidier Swift Retreat.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Out Of Hiding: The change to Mind Trick is good. Much like Not So Fast, this removes a potential negative play experience from the game. Disarming the opponent attacking an ally is a much more streamlined ability and is a better fit game mechanic-wise. Saying that, it can feel bad when characters that you have paid a premium for get changed.
I am surprised that Queen Amidala and her box didn’t get changed, as it feels like they need a bit of help to get them on the table. Just removing the restriction on some abilities that apply to Handmaidens only, and open them up to Galactic Republic, would be a nice change. Also, I am surprised that Plo’s identity didn’t get a tidy up, as it’s a bit clunky compared to most other identities. Sticking with the republic theme, it would have been good if Padawan Ahsoka and Barriss Offee had their expertise trees tweaked.
Overall I am very happy with the changes and I look forward to trying them out soon.
Ailsa Whyte
The long wait is finally over! A lot of the expected units got touched, although I’m a little surprised to not see adjustments to the Death Trooper Escort or Boushh, on either end of the spectrum. The above takes cover the general vibes of the macro-factions pretty well, so I’ll just dive into specific units that caught my eye.
Asajj Ventress: I’m very excited to get Asajj back on the table; this update does bring her towards the same sort of archetype as Fulcrum Ahsoka, but trading the additional attacks for that fantastic Force Push. However, her expertise is even more stellar and I think long-term Asajj will be the more consistent model on the table, providing you can pick your battles. That defensive expose is fascinating though and I think you will surprise some people with that, flipping back into Jar’Kai and then absolutely lighting them up. As a tag-agnostic model, this is only good new.
Grand Inquisitor: This guy was always a solid piece in Empire lists due to efficient force usage on his activations, and some stellar defensive ability in close quarters, but his identity was often blank and not really a reason to put him on the table. Making his force refresh and stance flipping abilities more granular in application go a long way to making him a more enticing option. In addition, his minions are also seeing a relevant glow up and Fifth Brother didn’t get hit, so I’m already contemplating some heavy Inquisitor GI/Thrawn or GI/Moff Gideon lists, where you can really invest resources into your powerful supporting pieces or scenario mechanics.
Third Sister:Â One of the wildest updates and I am here to see it! Call the Hunt now gives you a pseudo Tactic to use at any point in the activation while already being a solid and flexible ability. Meanwhile, her stats got a big boost defensively, and unless you are massively ahead anyway her rerolls should let her be a shove monster. I believe she will be a great general Empire consideration for anyone bringing Fifth Brother (yes, I’m mentioning him a lot since between other Empire nerfs and a general reduction in CF: Expose, his stocks are only rising.)
Scoundrels:Â It’s great to see a huge increase in the listbuilding options available to Cad and Hondo; particularly the latter as he struggled for 3pt Clone War options unless you took him as a Republic piece. I also believe the Weequay Pirates are sneaky good given their package of 9 stamina, steadfast and an easy shove on 1.
Ewoks: Nice quality of life changes here to the primaries with global dice buff bubbles. Sadly because there wasn’t any improvement to the actual Ewok supports, I have a feeling one of the more impactful changes will honestly be C3PO and R2 becoming a 3pt Secondary, since with FF Leia you can now double dip on the fake Ewok 4 point supports like the Commandos and Pathfinders. In an ongoing theme Leia also kept her powerful Coordinated Fire, so I can see a lot of interesting lists built around her.
Jefferson Powers
Honestly, I don’t play enough to have any real opinions about the rebalanced cards — I’m not sure I’ve ever played the same squad more than once. But I do have a (very minor) quibble: Hondo Ohnaka should have been extended to the New Republic era. He’s part of the Smuggler’s Run ride at Disneyland, and (like it or not) that is considered part of the official canon… 😉
Cody Hawkins
Shatterpoint has had a beautiful 2 year run so far and I can not be more excited for year 3. This update is exactly what we need to keep everything fresh and fun especially on the back of us not having many new releases this year. I’m going to look holistically at this update and only give a couple individual callouts.
The first major realization that I had from this update is that, wounding got nerfed. If your play style is to aggro rush points and win them by damage, then you are going to notice a subtle shift in difficulty. Overall, there are some major hits to expose in that CF: Expose is gone from Galactic Republic and Empire. In addition, Primary Luke Skywalker can now give immunity expose in a massive range 5 bubble to other rebels. There are even minor buffs to characters like Ponds meaning we might see him on the table more and guess what he offers? Immunity expose to clones. Yeah that has always existed but as Clones are now much sturdier with higher health pools and potentially better defensive expertise, there is a reason to actually want that immunity.
Let’s all remember this moment as the LAST time you thought GAR was the push over faction. Clone armor may still be the low end standard, but this army has access to some annoyingly tough abilities. We should see a rise in Mace Windu and Obi Wan Kenobi. I’m also eyeing those Clone Commandos!
If I had to pick a winner to these changes, I would pick General Obi Wan. No, he didn’t get buffed himself but he also didn’t get worse. His model was already so strong with a powerful defensive ability. All he really needed was the supports who can take a hit and use it effectively. With the nerf to Giddeon Hask who has a MUCH harder time adding that strike to his team, I think we will be hard pressed to find good models that can climb over Obi’s team.
That being said, I think that Ki Adi and Plo Koon will have fun too since force push stock is going to rise again. Don’t think you won’t still see dark troopers though!
Tom Reuhl
This is the most significant update since the game launched. It’s very exciting, and I can’t wait to get that core box back into play. I will leave the meta talk to the professionals and give you some hotter takes.
51 Pages! This is a massive update, but I’m disappointed I must print and cut these myself. At $.59 per color page at Staples, we’re at an estimated $30.09 + tax. My time being paid minimum wage at $15 gets me to a squad box. I would have paid for this updated card pack/update kit, which MCP, Legion, and X-wing have received in the past.
Formatting! Jefferson did the brunt of the legwork, looking into print sizes and creating the change log, but I immediately printed these. Upon further discussion and investigation, they are grossly misusing space, ink, and sizes.
If you are going to update that many cards and provide print-ready files, please give multiple options. Here is what I would have loved beyond what we received:
- Individual Print Ready Files per Character updated
- For those who don’t own everyone and don’t want to waste ink
- Low-ink versions of these prints
- Including the black logo; so large up top seems unnecessary since all the copyright information is included at the bottom. Just make the update and logo a cover sheet.
- Stance cards without the black backs
- 13 cards that are absolutely unnecessary to print with the black backing. The speculated intent is ‘Print and fold’ to make it look like the original card, but it’s NOT the original card. We don’t need to pretend it IS the original card, and anyone doing these updates most likely sleeved their cards and does not need more filler.
- 3 cards are just the fronts to change their era (Hondo, Cad Band, and Bounty Hunters.)
Doing some quick math, the unit card is ONLY 20% of the page.
Happy Printing 😉
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