My Rebel players generally try to pick different heroes when they start a new campaign, but there have been exactly two times that a hero has been so good that a different player selected it for the directly subsequent campaign. The first time this happened, it was Mak, simply because one of my players mistakenly thought he seemed like a relatively straightforward shooter hero.
The second time this happened, it was with Vinto Hreeda- because he's just that good.
When people think of multi-target damage dealers, the prototypical example tends to be Fenn. His splash damage is indeed pretty impressive, and can be really punishing for a careless Imperial who bunches up his units too much.
But generally, Fenn isn't too terribly difficult to play around. With Vinto, though- even with his built in abilities of Boltslinger and Thread the Needle, he can deal multi-target damage and there is nowhere to hide. Generally, I tend to look at it this way- Fenn is a brute, throwing around blast like nobody's business. But Vinto he's more of a surgeon, clearing the board by selectively hitting strategic and low health targets.
Let's take a look at a few of his cards.
Shot on the Run might well be one of the greatest 1XP cards you can get in this game. I mean, look at that! For a single XP, you not only increase your speed by 1 (which alone would be worth it) but you also give yourself the option to more than likely add one unmitigated damage to any figure in your line of sight.
Right off the bat, this is a fantastic example of Vinto's awesome synergy. Let's say Vinto performs a move and an attack in a turn. With his attack he can use Boltslinger to hit an additional enemy with free damage. Then, after his move (augmented by that extra speed) Vinto can throw another free damage on an enemy in his line of sight- which, by the way, is significantly expanded with Thread the Needle. Right there, with a single XP spend, Vinto is already a force to be reckoned with.
With almost all of his abilities, Vinto is the kind of hero that makes the Empire hesitant to field regular Stormtroopers. But Merciless makes him also the kind of hero that makes bigger units like Trandoshans or the AT-DP also extremely vulnerable. I guess it heavily depends on the other heroes in your group and what they're capable of, but I've found that Vinto is an absolute nightmare when he has this much versatility.
Another weapon that just seems tailored to Vinto is the DDC-Defender.
May the Force be with you!
The second time this happened, it was with Vinto Hreeda- because he's just that good.
When people think of multi-target damage dealers, the prototypical example tends to be Fenn. His splash damage is indeed pretty impressive, and can be really punishing for a careless Imperial who bunches up his units too much.
But generally, Fenn isn't too terribly difficult to play around. With Vinto, though- even with his built in abilities of Boltslinger and Thread the Needle, he can deal multi-target damage and there is nowhere to hide. Generally, I tend to look at it this way- Fenn is a brute, throwing around blast like nobody's business. But Vinto he's more of a surgeon, clearing the board by selectively hitting strategic and low health targets.
Let's take a look at a few of his cards.
Shot on the Run might well be one of the greatest 1XP cards you can get in this game. I mean, look at that! For a single XP, you not only increase your speed by 1 (which alone would be worth it) but you also give yourself the option to more than likely add one unmitigated damage to any figure in your line of sight.
Right off the bat, this is a fantastic example of Vinto's awesome synergy. Let's say Vinto performs a move and an attack in a turn. With his attack he can use Boltslinger to hit an additional enemy with free damage. Then, after his move (augmented by that extra speed) Vinto can throw another free damage on an enemy in his line of sight- which, by the way, is significantly expanded with Thread the Needle. Right there, with a single XP spend, Vinto is already a force to be reckoned with.
I guess I get what Pinpoint Shot is trying to do, by basically guaranteeing a damage, an additional damage from Boltslinger, and a Weaken. I just don't think it holds a candle to Shot on the Run.
In my personal experience, if you really want this card, it's probably for the reroll. Generally, with the builds of Vinto that I've seen, he's not really all that strain heavy (far from it, even) so the extra endurance won't really pay off.
I think there are better cards for him.
Remember that synergy we talked about earlier? Here's another example of how Vinto's abilities just so effortlessly build off each other.
The +1 Accuracy doesn't hurt, either.
This ability further gives Vinto more damage output, but perhaps more importantly, it's versatile. It might not be the first card I'd pick up for him, though, since we can do a lot better than a single extra damage per activation for 3XP.
Honestly, I see this blaster as a more interesting version of Dead On. Let's say you roll a damage and a surge- that's two damage with Pierce 1, so a decent enough chance of getting a hit on the victim- but it also comes at the cost of a Strain.
It's a free attack, but it's with a crappy weapon. I'd skip this one.
Rapid Fire is really cool, and again just goes to show Vinto's easy synergy- with Thread the Needle and Sharpshooter, Vinto can practically sting every enemy in a room.
And that's not even mentioning this card's awesome reroll capabilities. Even so, that being said, this wouldn't personally be my first pick up for Vinto at 4XP...
Maybe I'm wrong to not choose this over Rapid Fire, but here's my reasoning- Vinto is already a multi-target damage dealer. Rapid Fire makes him better at that, sure. But Merciless? It also makes him a good single-target dealer, and that kind of versatility is simply invaluable.
With almost all of his abilities, Vinto is the kind of hero that makes the Empire hesitant to field regular Stormtroopers. But Merciless makes him also the kind of hero that makes bigger units like Trandoshans or the AT-DP also extremely vulnerable. I guess it heavily depends on the other heroes in your group and what they're capable of, but I've found that Vinto is an absolute nightmare when he has this much versatility.
It's probably because I don't tend to see Vinto paired up with a ton of surge abilities (as you'll see in a second) and because Vinto doesn't tend to accumulate much strain for those extra surges to remove, but I just feel like this card ironically completely falls off his synergy wagon.
Sure, it's always goot to have those extra surge cancels when defending, and that along might make this card worth it. But I guess I'm just kind of surprised that this card didn't add to Vinto's mobility or damage output (directly).
I would probably never attempt the mission for it.
That being said, if you were to get Desperado, I'd pair it with the DXR-6. With Vinto's already solid range and a good source of surges, there's little penalty for a double red ranged attack like this- could be pretty brutal.
Another weapon that just seems tailored to Vinto is the DDC-Defender.
It's not a great weapon, but Boltslinger obviously benefits from the extra attack each round, and that would give you enough unmitigated damage to kill off a rStormtrooper without even needing to attack it once.
I might add something like a Disruption Cell to it to give you a little more damage output (and accuracy).
Anyway, that's just a few thought on Vinto Hreeda, one of the biggest thorns in my Empire's side.
I'll be out of town next week, but I hope everyone enjoys Infinity War!
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