As was the case with IG-88's Focused on the Kill, FFG seems to be approaching the revitalization of Vader with a mix of a point reduction, attack improvements, and new abilities. To begin, Vader's cost is being reduced by 5, bringing him in line with his contemporaries (Jedi Luke, if you will), and probably to the maximum cost that players would be willing to pay for a single figure. On top of that, his offense is being buffed via a free +1 damage to all attacks and the ability to re-roll one attack die every attack. This is exceptionally useful when rolling red dice for those rare occasions when the single-damage side shows up (if you've used Elite Gammorean Guards, you're probably familiar with how strong a re-rolled red die is). And last, at the end of each round, Vader gets to move two spaces and then may either use Force Choke or perform an attack with one less attack die (meaning he'll likely perform an attack with two red dice). All in all, a nice set of changes that many players would agree were needed.

Yet, so far I have seen very little discussion on how to build around our new, spry Sith lord. Rebels and Scum have now had months to practice with figures costing 10 points or more - utilizing strong figures in the 2, 3, 4, and 5-point range (C-3P0, Gideon, Hera, Greedo, Vinto). As an Imperial player, I can tell you that Empire will need to take a different approach. In contrast to the Rebels and Scum, which sport great figures at a low cost, many of the Empire's valuable figures cost 6 points or more, making it difficult to keep your activation count high and maintain good offense.

Therefore, I'd like to suggest a few list archetypes, with the goal of getting us all thinking about how Darth Vader will work after Driven by Hatred is available. Let's begin!