Databank Download: General Grievous

SWP06General Grievous

Today’s Star Wars™: Shatterpoint preview features perhaps the most recognizably infamous silhouette from all of Star Wars—the four-armed, quad-lightsaber-wielding dervish of death known as General Grievous! This bad-tempered leader of the Separatist Alliance proved himself to be a formidable foe even the Jedi did not engage recklessly.

General Grievous was once a male Kaleesh warlord who was eventually augmented with extensive cybernetics to such an extent that most of his organic body is just a memory. Grievous plays a central role in the Clone Wars as one of the highest-ranking officers of the Separatist Droid Army, where he commanded large forces and fought alongside other prominent leaders of the Separatist Alliance. It was under Count Dooku’s guidance that Grievous, in his new body, became skilled enough with lightsabers to duel Jedi with his advanced limbs letting him coordinate the motions of multiple lightsabers at once. It is particularly terrifying to consider that the lightsabers he wields were taken as trophies from the Jedi he has hunted down and killed.

It is certainly understandable that anyone watching Grievous march Onward alongside his accompanying battle droids would find it hard to believe he is not entirely a machine. He often uses his extra limbs to help him Scuttle with spider-like alacrity, effortlessly climbing walls and even ceilings to reach otherwise hard to reach locations. This also helps when chasing down nimble Jedi, which he greatly enjoys doing.

It is perhaps no surprise that General Grievous is particularly adept at facing such formidable foes, as he is quick to remind his foes that I Have Been Trained in Your Jedi Arts. This allows Grievous to deal out substantial damage even if surrounded by enemies, striking any unfortunate enough to be standing near. His Appetite for Destruction coordinates his own attacks with other nearby battle droids, prompting them to join the fray or advance on a vulnerable objective. Nothing pleases Grievous more than wounding adversaries, by which he gains Another Fine Addition to My Collection. This revitalizes Grievous for his own battle successes, removing some of his damage, or possibly refreshing Force tokens if the wounded foe happened to be a Force User.

hough he does not use the Force himself, General Grievous has access to two powerful Stances that let him stand toe to toe with those who do. Quad Arm Attack is his preferred melee Stance, where he adopts a posture particularly well suited for blending enemies with multiple lightsabers. Indeed, he cannot attack with his DT-57 Annihilator Blaster in this Stance. This is compensated by the extremely high damage potential of his Combat Tree, as well as his punishingly aggressive Attack Expertise Chart with these lightsabers. In comparison, his Whirling Blades Defense Expertise Chart is not particularly strong but might prevent glancing blows from harming him.

His other Stance, Cunning Warlord, is best employed when at some distance or if he needs to act more cautiously. This stance is still aggressive, in a different way, allowing Grievous to wield his DT-57 Annihilator Blaster to fire at long range with considerable effectiveness. The Combat Tree offers a number of tactical options both offensively (Pin, Shove) and defensively (Heal, Reposition, Jump), and has reasonably good damage output. He can still engage in melee with his lightsabers in this Stance, albeit with fewer of them, represented by a weaker Attack Expertise Chart. But his Cybernetic Enhancements Defense Expertise Chart in this Stance is quite strong, able to reduce critical results and offering some defensive movement. Combined with the fact that General Grievous is a particularly durable character, he can be quite difficult for enemies to neutralize.

That’s it for our first look at General Grievous! There are few things more fun than combining Grievous with a droid-heavy army, including Kraken and various battle droids.

Make sure to check back for our next Star Wars: Shatterpoint Unit preview, where we give you a first look at how your favorite characters from the Star Wars galaxy translate into the gameplay of Star Wars: Shatterpoint. Pre-order your own copy of the Appetite for Destruction Squad Pack at your local game store or through the webstore today.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!