Databank Download: Count Dooku, Separatist Leader & MagnaGuards

SWP03Count Dooku, Separatist Leader, and MagnaGuards

Today’s Star Wars™: Shatterpoint preview features one of the people most responsible for the Clone Wars and the fall of the Jedi Order: Count Dooku, Separatist Leader, escorted by his MagnaGuard droid protectors.

With a turbulent past that shaped him into a particularly dangerous adversary, Count Dooku is a man of ambition and capability. He was once an idealistic Jedi Master who eventually withdrew from that order, ostensibly to reclaim his family title and fight corruption. But it was not long before he was turned to the dark side and secretly became a Sith Lord, Darth Tyranus, playing a key role in fomenting a galactic war between the Separatist Alliance and the Galactic Republic. A lightsaber duelist of proven mastery, Dooku would fight toe-to-toe with legendary adversaries like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even Jedi Master Yoda.

Count Dooku is a tactical and considered combatant who can punish those who move on him recklessly. He boasts a wealth of reactive options, especially when his MagnaGuard are close by. And though known more as a finesse lightsaber duelist, he is quite deadly at range, able to inflict tremendous damage drawing on the dark side of the Force to unleash force lightning.

As Leader of the Separatist Army, Dooku’s forces enter battle with swift but strategic efficiency, positioning himself and a key ally to best exploit their capabilities. The count savors nothing more than mocking enemies who make foolish mistakes, pointing out their errors and exploiting them. Surely You Can Do Better allows Dooku to spend Force to neutralize strike results on an enemy attack, turning aside all but the most impressive blows. Those that find themselves without any strike results remaining in their attack roll may receive the retaliation of Twice the Pride, Double the Fall, allowing Dooku to move on an attacker and strike back. Dooku can further punish such Brave, but Foolish adversaries who deal injury to himself or his allies, offering another opportunity to intercept foes or attack those already engaged. This ability also refreshes two spent Force.

In some respects, Count Dooku is a remnant of a different era—when duels among lightsaber wielders were more common. He is a master of the Form II Makashi, a style where his skill was acknowledged as supreme. This Stance, which is especially ideal for melee duels, offers strong advantages both offensively and defensively, including high Melee Attack and Melee Defense stats. His Duelist Training defense Expertise Chart in this Stance includes chances to turn an attacker’s critical results into failures, which combines with Surely You Can Do Better to make Count Dooku quite difficult to catch off guard. This Stance’s Combat Tree offers substantial damage output as well as opportunities to reposition, shove, expose, or strain the enemy.

His alternate Force Mastery Stance gives up some melee prowess in favor of powerful attunement to the Force, especially well-suited for striking at a distance. Sith lords who can hurl Force Lightning have always been terrifying to confront, and Count Dooku has no shortage of power in this regard. The amount of damage he can inflict with lightning exceeds even his lightsaber. In this stance, Dooku’s Combat Tree can potentially let him recover from small scrapes, as well as interfering with the enemy in a variety of ways, including disarming them. And while he is less effective attacking in melee in this stance, he retains strong defensive stats.

With his unique defensive style, it may behoove Dooku’s adversaries to risk his Force Lightning and attempt to defeat him with ranged fire at a distance. Closing on him to pin him in melee is a perilous proposition, particularly when he is flanked by MagnaGuard combat droids armed with their sparking electrostaffs.

These MagnaGuard droids have been programmed with Protection Protocols that allow them to remain near Separatist Alliance Primary Units as they move around the battlefield, allowing them to intercept any foes who may be closing in on a high priority target such as Count Dooku. Each MagnaGuard is a proven Bodyguard, allowing them to provide some cover for nearby allies. Beyond this, possibly their most useful defensive quality is their ability to Intercede, which makes it impossible for foes engaged by a MagnaGuard to target allied primary or secondary characters with attacks.

The simple but useful Defensive Programs Stance of the MagnaGuards serves them well, providing sufficient melee capability combined with a relatively versatile combat tree.

That completes our look at the sinister but refined Count Dooku and his MagnaGuard protectors.

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 Twice the Pride Squad Pack at your local game store or through our webstore today.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!