Davith Elso - Hero Review

Davith Elso is one of two Jedi heroes in the game (Diala Passil is the other) and is my personal favorite. Compared to Diala, Davith is much more of an offensive hero, while Diala focuses more on support and defense.

Davith Elso, Codename "Hawkbat", has 11 health and 4 endurance. This is okay, I guess. The 4 speed and white defense die are also underwhelming as well as his attributes. But his abilities is where he becomes a great hero. First off, he has Cloak and Dagger. This allows him to gain surge to hide, which is pretty good. This ability set the tone of Davith jumping in and out of the shadows. While hidden isn't super powerful, it combos quite nicely with his weapon, Heirloom Dagger. Truthfully, as far as starting weapons go, Davith can really deal some damage. His next ability is one of my personal favorites - Force Speed. This allows him, for 1 strain, to gain two movement points once during his actiation. This means that you could take 3 strain (1 for Force Speed, 2 for the standard strain-to-movement point) to gain 4 movement points. Although this is kind of cool, I find Force Speed is better used with a move action to make him one of the fastest heroes in the game. However, this means that you will probably wan't to give him some way to recover strain, such as Bacta Pump.

Build #1

To begin I'm going to build out Davith as lightly as I can with 3 essential class cards for his success. The first is Covert Operative. This card makes hidden far more accessable and powerful for Davith. First, he begins each mission hidden - useful for staying clean late into the first round. Additionally, Covert Operative allows Davith to spend a hidden token to apply +1 block. While this is decent if this is your last attack, you are missing out on the surge when you attack and the extra defensive bonus that hidden gives you. Lastly, Covert Operative states that after you defend, if you did not suffer damage, you may gain the hidden condition. This combos well with both his white defense die (dodge) and the second sentence on Covert Operative (Davith can spend a hidden condition to apply +1 block. Then, if he rolled well enough to block the attack, he can regain the hidden condition.) All and all, Covert Operative should be in just about every Davith build you do.

For attack I'll add Davith's very own Shrouded Lightsaber. Although the green-yellow dice combination is not very good, the surges are where the money's at. Surge to pierce 3 will make Davith hit hard against survivable units and because he can gain hidden so easily, the surge to 2 damage (can be used only while hidden) is great too. As a final boost to his attack I'll take another fantastic card for Davith - Falling Leaf. This takes his mediocre green-yellow attack and turns it into a solid green-yellow-yellow attack pool. And, with all of those surges that you will get (green-yellow-yellow will almost certainly get 2+ surges) you can spend 1 to recover the strain for Falling Leaf.

Totals: 6 XP

Build #2

Davith can also be built into one of the most survivable heroes in the game. First I'll give him Embody the Force. This card not only gives him +1 endurance (great for resting) and +3 health, but also allows him to exhaust it to apply +1 damage or +1 block. Additionally I'll add the always good Covert Operative. Finally, I'll add Laminate Armor. This will give Davith 17 Health (11 regularly +3 from Embody the Force and +3 from Laminate Armor) and 2 exhausts for blocks (as well as Covert Operative allowing him to spend the hidden condition to gain a block). This paired with the 1/6 chance of getting a dodge makes Davith Elso one of the most survivable heroes in the game.

Totals: 700 Credits 5 XP

Build #3

In the past two build I've been focusing on lighter builds for Davith - but truthfully, if you can get your friends to agree with you, he needs to be build with a heavy build, consuming plenty of credits and XP. This investment will make him survivable, fast, hit hard and unpredictable. First I'll start with Shrouded Lightsaber. I choose this weapon specifically because (with the green-yellow combination) it surges quite well. I will also use both of it's modifications slots to add on High Impact Guard and Balanced Hilt. This will make hidden quite powerful. Additionally I'll add Covert Operative for extra hidden usage. Additionally, I'll add the quite powerful Falling Leaf to this build. For this first time in the Hero review, I'll also add Davith's other 1XP card Elusive Agent . This will allow Davith to stay clean and keep strain off of him. Finally I'll add one of Davith's most ferociously attacking cards - Fell Swoop. This allows Davith to spend 2 surges to become hidden, move 2 spaces and then perform another attack. This is incredible and with the green-yellow-yellow (the last yellow from Falling Leaf) Davith is sure to surge enough to activate this. Using this build, you can make Davith a relentless attacker while he stays relatively safe with his hidden condition. Finally, I would add Embody the Force. This card is not the most exciting or innovative card in his class deck. However, it is one of the better ones. By increasing his all around efficiency, he can become on of the best heroes in the game.

Although I do not usually talk about Reward Cards (because in some campaigns it will be impossible to get), I want to talk about them here. Davith Elso's reward cards is insanely powerful. I will admit that the side mission you must win in order to get it is difficult, I still think I need to talk about this. Radiant Holocron is exceptional.

Here's how it works:

1. Davith performs an attack with his green-yellow-yellow attack pool (use Falling Leaf to get the last yellow die)

2. Use your surges to punch as much damage through and then exhaust Fell Swoop

3. Move, become hidden, and then attack again using Fell Swoop

4. Again, you will get a lot of surges because now you are hidden.

5. Now exhaust Radiant Holocron to ready Fell Swoop

6. Use all those surges you just got to activate Fell Swoop Again

7. Use your next action to attack.

This is insane. You just got 4 attacks in one activation or 3 attacks in one action! I decided to test roll this activation and I got 10 damage when working against a black die! The surge to pierce 3

Totals: 850 Credits 15 XP

Davith Elso is a very versitle hero. If you have friends who want him to be incredible - you can make that work. If he just needs to be survivable - he can work with that position as well. For this versatility, he is, in my opinion, one of the best heroes in the game.