I have gotten in about 20 or so games now with the CIS and I am just going say I love Kraken. You think he might be hard to trigger, but he is really not that hard at all. You might think he can only work in lists with at least four or more ships, and well you would be wrong once again. Kraken is so good and I really have almost no desire to use a different CIS, other then to get experience using them. Mar Tuuk being the only other one that temps me to abandon my love for Kraken. So why is Kraken so good and why should you use him?
Kraken gives you a strong red objective choice in Ion Storm. One thing the clone wars factions currently struggle with is a good red objective. There is always surprise attack as a default and that is a good objective; it's just not going to bring in a large amount of points. Ion Storm on the other hand, is so good with Kraken it gives all your ships ICB. I was able to score over 100 points with this objective in one of the Kraken lists I have run. The ability to run a strong red scoring objective should not be overlooked when taking Kraken as your commander.
Assault: Ion Storm
Defense: Abandoned Mining Facility
Navigation: Infested Fields
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Kraken (30)
• Wat Tambor (5)
• Medical Team (1)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Tide of Progress XII (2)
= 115 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 77 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 80 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 80 Points
Squadrons:
• 6 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (48)
= 48 Points
Total Points: 400
Ease of Trigger, a lot of people were saying it was going to be hard to get Kraken to trigger. I have not found that to be the case even in lists with only 3 ships. Ships going speed 2 you will be in medium range of ships in most cases after activating in round 2, and once you are in medium range you will stay there for a good little while. CIS ships are slow or like to stay slow and being close you your opponents ships is not a huge deal as you could just take point defense Ion canons to help boost your survivability. It is always a good idea to focus your firepower on one target at a time so your ships naturally start to cluster up around the target you're attacking and Kraken gives you a buff for doing that, this is even the case when playing with a lower number of ships. Saying Kraken is hard to trigger is just flat out incorrect, he rewards you for focusing your fire and that is what you should do to kill ships.
Providence Carrier (105)
• Kraken (30)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• External Racks (4)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Invincible (5)
• Early Warning System (7)
= 175 Points
Munificent Star Frigate (73)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)
= 82 Points
Munificent Star Frigate (73)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)
= 82 Points
Squadrons:
• 4 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (44)
• 2 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (16)
= 60 Points
Total Points: 399
More dice, or more consistency? Why not both? Kraken makes this debate a non-issue practically when paired with IF on a providence. From my little bit of playing with the providence that I have done they have two issues. First their damage output is fairly similar to a munificents, and require more upgrades then just LTT to be as consistent as the munificent Kraken helps alleviate this. Kraken lets you lean into taking upgrades that help boost a ship's damage output while still maintaining consistency needed to win games.
Providence Carrier (105)
• Kraken (30)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• External Racks (4)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
= 163 Points
Providence Dreadnought (105)
• Boarding Troopers (3)
• External Racks (4)
• Point Defense Ion Cannons (4)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Invincible (5)
• Thermal Shields (5)
= 131 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
= 70 Points
Squadrons:
• 4 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (32)
= 32 Points
Total Points: 396
Flexibility, the fact that Kraken can turn dice into accuracies should not be overlooked. I rolled 9 damage out of a providence side arc after triggering QBTs and IF and found I really wanted to get an accuracy to lock up the players small ship’s brace, without it the ship probably would have gotten away. In an odd way Kraken can also let ships that are about to die attack a salvo ship will have few concerns baring ECM because well I can lock up your salvo.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can’t have a Kraken list that is chuck full of squadrons ether. As I have already said you don't need that many ships to make Kraken work, and I have had some success with playing him in a heavy squadron list.
Providence Carrier (105)
• Kraken (30)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
= 150 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
= 73 Points
Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Reserve Hangar Deck (3)
= 73 Points
Squadrons:
• 2 x Vulture Droid Fighter Squadron (16)
• 4 x Droid Tri-fighter Squadron (44)
• 4 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (44)
= 104 Points
Total Points: 400
Once we start to get more tournament data with clone war factions involved I would not be surprised to see Kraken as one of the best performing commanders. As much as I love him, we will have to take a break for awhile while I get more playtime with other Commanders both from the Republic and CIS. It will be hard to say goodbye, but I will no doubt get him back to the table before too long. Kraken is stellar and might be my favorite commander in the enter game at this point in time. How do you feel about Kraken? How have you used him? Until next time have a great week!
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