Nightsisters! Who to Lead?
Heya! Yep, another Nightsister question. You really have to squeeze all you can out of them to stay semi-effective. I was hoping someone could give me a more detailed and updated answer to this! I'm not trying to say one is objectively better than the other, I'm only asking. This is mostly concerning the Arena. But, interested in other aspects as well!
TL;DR How important is Asajj's leader skill in today's game? Why?
Talia Nightsister Nimbleness: 16% Evasion with a 50% chance to recover 5% max health on dodge. Asajj Nightsister Swiftness: Gain 28 speed and 25% chance to remove 10% Turn Meter.
With the current dodge meta, why not Talia as a Leader? They're releasing anti-evasion characters, but they're not prevalent enough (yet) in my opinion to warrant not *considering* Talia over Ventress. There isn't as much to talk about for this leader skill as Asajjs' due to the nature of RNG. You either completely null an enemy attack (and possibly gain HP), or you don't. It's a gamble. Aside from Initiate, Nightsisters are pretty frail. A higher chance to take zero damage has value.
The Nightsisters attempt to make up for their lack of powerful attacks and strong defense with TM manipulation and Control. Asajj's Leader skill plays to this advantage. With the NS getting a higher speed, they have a higher chance to get much needed stuns and other effects needed to gain a footing in the match before they're wiped out. You're attacking more often while the enemy is attacking less, basically. But, is it a big enough boost to give up evasion? Maybe! It pushes Asajj over 100 (126), which means she can act at turn 8 rather than turn 11. Which means she's acting on the same turn as the average meta character. This gives her a chance (with some luck) to stun someone before major damage! And, possibly a chance to dispel any troublesome buffs before the enemy buffs become too much of a problem or miss her chance to dispel important buffs. Without her speed buff, odds are she's going last. Resulting in her giving up a chance to get an early stun, but a definitive chance to dispel early buffs. Maybe even grab a kill to activate Rampage after her sisters weakened the enemy (though, probably not enough).
Something to consider! Stormtrooper Han has the same speed as Asajj when ST Han has no speed buff and Asajj has her own leader skill. With the same speed, they're both ready for their first action by turn 8. If ST Han goes first, he will likely use Draw Fire. Asajj will act in the same round, able to dispel this taunt before it causes too much damage. BUT! If Asajj goes before ST Han (up to RNG), he will get his taunt off and you'll have to wait until Asajj goes again before you can dispel it unless you stun him. With ST Han's team gaining TM each time you attack him, you're in dire trouble.
Acolyte acts on turn 6 rather than turn 7. Not important, as far as I know.
Old Daka acts on turn 7 rather than turn 8. Pretty important for stun chance on characters with less than 143 speed.
Initiate acts on turn 8 rather than turn 9. This puts her in the average speed zone (meta), giving a chance to grant Buff Immunity.
Talia acts on turn 8 rather than turn 10. This is important! Acting on turn 8 rather than turn 10 means there's a chance her heal isn't needed and you can instead use Harrowing Assault to get a DoT up on someone. By the time she gets a second action, you're probably going to want to use her heal after a barrage from a meta team (assuming your stuns landed and you're still alive). Meaning on her third turn, she can use Draining Strikes on someone with a DoT to get more health back than she normally would have. If you act on turn 10 (so, without Asajj as lead), the chance of you being able to safely use Harrowing Assault to apply a DoT are smaller and effect how much HP the fragile healer that sacrifices her own HP to heal will have. You'd have to hope Initiate was able to get a DoT up with her basic.
Kind of sold myself on Asajj by typing it out, but not ready to completely close the door on Talia.
So! While Asajj's Leader skill seems much better while the team is under player control, Talia's leader skill seems to favor the AI, which in turns favors RNG since synergy combos are generally lost and targets are random. I think that has some merit in the Arena. Talia is a gamble while Asajj is the safe bet. Is the Risk:Reward ratio on par to allow Talia? Asajj is still up to RNG in a way since you're probably depending (sometimes even desperately, such as the case with ST Han) to get a stun with either Asajj or Old Daka.
P.S. Nightsister Acolyte should get the bonuses of Sacrificial Magicks when used from stealth or on a crit, not on deathblow. Give Initiate a special attack that isn't so basic! Fix Asajj's AI. Buff Asajj and Talia HP (and/or boost Talia's basic damage without reliance of a DoT). Make Old Daka older.
Edit: Extremely tired and fairly sick when typing this up. Sorry for typos and incorrect math/numbers!
TL;DR How important is Asajj's leader skill in today's game? Why?
Talia Nightsister Nimbleness: 16% Evasion with a 50% chance to recover 5% max health on dodge. Asajj Nightsister Swiftness: Gain 28 speed and 25% chance to remove 10% Turn Meter.
With the current dodge meta, why not Talia as a Leader? They're releasing anti-evasion characters, but they're not prevalent enough (yet) in my opinion to warrant not *considering* Talia over Ventress. There isn't as much to talk about for this leader skill as Asajjs' due to the nature of RNG. You either completely null an enemy attack (and possibly gain HP), or you don't. It's a gamble. Aside from Initiate, Nightsisters are pretty frail. A higher chance to take zero damage has value.
The Nightsisters attempt to make up for their lack of powerful attacks and strong defense with TM manipulation and Control. Asajj's Leader skill plays to this advantage. With the NS getting a higher speed, they have a higher chance to get much needed stuns and other effects needed to gain a footing in the match before they're wiped out. You're attacking more often while the enemy is attacking less, basically. But, is it a big enough boost to give up evasion? Maybe! It pushes Asajj over 100 (126), which means she can act at turn 8 rather than turn 11. Which means she's acting on the same turn as the average meta character. This gives her a chance (with some luck) to stun someone before major damage! And, possibly a chance to dispel any troublesome buffs before the enemy buffs become too much of a problem or miss her chance to dispel important buffs. Without her speed buff, odds are she's going last. Resulting in her giving up a chance to get an early stun, but a definitive chance to dispel early buffs. Maybe even grab a kill to activate Rampage after her sisters weakened the enemy (though, probably not enough).
Something to consider! Stormtrooper Han has the same speed as Asajj when ST Han has no speed buff and Asajj has her own leader skill. With the same speed, they're both ready for their first action by turn 8. If ST Han goes first, he will likely use Draw Fire. Asajj will act in the same round, able to dispel this taunt before it causes too much damage. BUT! If Asajj goes before ST Han (up to RNG), he will get his taunt off and you'll have to wait until Asajj goes again before you can dispel it unless you stun him. With ST Han's team gaining TM each time you attack him, you're in dire trouble.
Acolyte acts on turn 6 rather than turn 7. Not important, as far as I know.
Old Daka acts on turn 7 rather than turn 8. Pretty important for stun chance on characters with less than 143 speed.
Initiate acts on turn 8 rather than turn 9. This puts her in the average speed zone (meta), giving a chance to grant Buff Immunity.
Talia acts on turn 8 rather than turn 10. This is important! Acting on turn 8 rather than turn 10 means there's a chance her heal isn't needed and you can instead use Harrowing Assault to get a DoT up on someone. By the time she gets a second action, you're probably going to want to use her heal after a barrage from a meta team (assuming your stuns landed and you're still alive). Meaning on her third turn, she can use Draining Strikes on someone with a DoT to get more health back than she normally would have. If you act on turn 10 (so, without Asajj as lead), the chance of you being able to safely use Harrowing Assault to apply a DoT are smaller and effect how much HP the fragile healer that sacrifices her own HP to heal will have. You'd have to hope Initiate was able to get a DoT up with her basic.
Kind of sold myself on Asajj by typing it out, but not ready to completely close the door on Talia.
So! While Asajj's Leader skill seems much better while the team is under player control, Talia's leader skill seems to favor the AI, which in turns favors RNG since synergy combos are generally lost and targets are random. I think that has some merit in the Arena. Talia is a gamble while Asajj is the safe bet. Is the Risk:Reward ratio on par to allow Talia? Asajj is still up to RNG in a way since you're probably depending (sometimes even desperately, such as the case with ST Han) to get a stun with either Asajj or Old Daka.
P.S. Nightsister Acolyte should get the bonuses of Sacrificial Magicks when used from stealth or on a crit, not on deathblow. Give Initiate a special attack that isn't so basic! Fix Asajj's AI. Buff Asajj and Talia HP (and/or boost Talia's basic damage without reliance of a DoT). Make Old Daka older.
Edit: Extremely tired and fairly sick when typing this up. Sorry for typos and incorrect math/numbers!
