Jarrod Kelvin - Hero Review

Jarrod Kelvin is a tank. Between his many XP cards and his Parry ability, he is very hard to kill. This proves really helpful in almost every mission and I would highly recommend him. He comes with J4X-7 who I'll call "Jax" in this article. As you can see by looking at Droid Mastery, Jarrod Kelvin can deploy Jax as a companion. Looking at Jax's card, he's okay. His Supporting Fire ability is great if your hunting down a single target and his blue die with automatic Pierce 1 has a chance at getting damage through. His highs are survivability, speed and attribute tests. His lows are a low damage output and a pittance of heath for a tank. Now, let's look at some builds for Jarrod Kelvin.

Build #1

For this first build, I'm going to make Jarrod Kelvin survivable. I'll keep his starting Vibro-Claws get Double Vibrosword with High Impact Guard and Laminate Armor. Of course, I'll get Mutual Progression and Explosive Reflexes. I'll add Balanced Approach and call it good. He now has 4 exhausts for a block and has a black die with +1 block. This is really good and will make him the tank he is.

Totals: 1850 Credits 7 XP

Build #2

Okay, now that I've shown that Jarrod can be amazing, lets focus on Jax. First, your going to want Mutual Progression because it helps both Jarrod and Jax immensely. Then, get Slicer Upgrades and Mechanical Master. This will allow Jax to activate twice per round, be focused when he attacks and be able to interact like a hero. Then, for Jarrod, I would get Punch Dagger for some cheep and consistent damage. Additionally, I would add Forward Momentum to give either Jarrod or Jax some extra speed.

Totals: 400 Credits 10 XP

Build #3

Jarrod Kelvin comes with Vibro-claws. Unfortunately, he can't sell these, but remember, you can not bring them to a mission. But in this build, I'm going to use them. Why? Jarrod Kelvin has a fantastic card called Leaping Slash. It requires you to perform an attack with Vibro-claws and truthfully, I would use the Yellow-Yellow combination to recover a strain and gain a damage power token ( I don't expect damage from this attack late in the game). Then, you attack with another melee weapon. I'm going to choose Punch Dagger again for this build. When combined with Explosive Reflexes (changing the blue die to a yellow die) and High Impact Guard it yields about 5-7 damage consistently. You can increase this by spending a damage power token or using Jax's Supporting Fire ability. Then, for some basic defense and utility I would get Mutual Progression - literally Jarrod's best class card - and Balanced Approach. This rounds out the build and will give Jarrod some additional options. Defensively, you have a black die with automatic +1 block with two weapons for Parry and a exhaust for a block in High Impact Guard. So ya, Imperials, try to hit him.

Totals: 900 Credits 10 XP