General Pong Krell appears in the Clone Wars TV series in Season 4, Eps. 7-10 and is mentioned in a couple of others. He is an obvious fan favorite and many people would like to see him added (eventually, I know there are many characters on the waiting list). Before I suggest his move set, I will explain a bit about him for those who may be unfamiliar. Pong Krell is a Jedi Master and General who belongs to the Besalisk race (the same creature that Obi-Wan sat down with in the diner in Attack of the Clones asking about the Kamino bullet. His name was Dexter Jettster). A couple of things that really stood out to me about Pong were his 4 arms and his combat style, Jar’Kai, due to him wielding twin saberstaffs (double-bladed lightsabers – like Maul/Savage) of green and blue. They had really cool sound effects in the episodes and I would love to hear the same sound in the game.
Under the order of Palpatine, General Krell replaced Anakin for a time on the hostile planet of Umbara, taking over the 501st legion (Rex, Fives, etc.). Pong was very arrogant and disliked the Clones. He said, “I will not be undermined by creatures bred in some laboratory!” He seemingly and carelessly sent them on countless suicide missions and never heeded to their advice about strategy. Pong eventually ordered the Clones to attack each other, saying that the enemy dressed in their same uniforms. After a short battle, the Clones realized that Pong deceived them into fighting one another. They attempted to arrest him back on the base where he engaged in an epic battle against the Clones. Despite his “overweight” appearance, Pong was very quick and agile, able to block multiple blaster bolts at once from the Clones. He was later caught and imprisoned where he confessed that he foresaw the fall and demise of the Jedi Order and the Republic, with a new power replacing it. He wanted to be a part of the new power, thus immersing himself in the Dark Side. He served Count Dooku at that time and betrayed the Galactic Republic. He was later executed by the Clones.
Seeing as he is a Jedi and technically an undercover Separatist, I think it would be really neat if he had both tags – especially if we see a buff among the Separatist characters – that way he can be in different team setups. He wasn’t an apprentice of Dooku and wasn’t trained in the ways of the Sith yet, so he shouldn’t be one. He was more of a Grey Jedi at that time IMO.
The following move sets are all Omega’d (no Zeta):
General Pong Krell
Dark Side, Jedi, Separatist, Support
Power 8,500 . Health 19,750 . Speed 133 . Max Damage 5,600
Basic: Jar’Kai
Deal physical damage to target enemy with a 50% chance to attack again. If the target is suffering any negative status effects, inflict Defense Down and Offense Down for 3 turns. If these negative status effects are already applied, there is a 30% chance to Expose the target enemy.
Special: Ruthless Tactics
Cooldown – 4
Deal special damage to all enemies and inflict Stagger for 2 turns. There is a 50% chance to inflict Daze for 2 turns on Light Side enemies that are hit by this attack. If more than one Critical Hit is scored, General Pong Krell gains Evasion Up for 3 turns.
Unique: Battalion in Disguise
When a Light Side enemy attacks an ally, there is a 30% chance they deal the same amount of damage to one of their own random allies. In addition, if a Clone enemy scores a Critical Hit, inflict Tenacity Down for 3 turns. If a Clone enemy defeats an ally, inflict Speed Down for 3 turns. (This ability is no longer in effect after Pong Krell is defeated – unless he is revived).
Unique: By the Book
Allies start the match with *By the Book* (yellow font). In addition, General Pong Krell has a 30% chance to inflict Expose to himself for 1 turn when attacking a Taunting enemy.
(By the Book: Gain Speed Up and Defense Down for 2 turns. This buff cannot be dispelled.)
Move set explanations:
His Basic is pretty daunting. He was a great attacker in the episodes and he cut through countless Clones. Dealing such debuffs seems fair.
Ability Level Bonus
2 +5% Damage
3 +10% Expose Chance
4 Offense Down and Defense Down Duration +1
5 +10% Damage
6 +10% Expose Chance
7 +15% Damage
8 (Omega) add 50% chance to attack again
I like his Special a lot because it inflicts Stagger on any enemy team and is an “In your face” to Light Side teams (Wiggs) by having a chance to inflict Daze, like Darth Maul does, based on Krell’s Potency and the enemy’s Tenacity. Also take note that it is a 4 turn cooldown once Omega’d so it has its toll if you have low Potency on him and don’t inflict any debuffs which would result to him just using his basic a lot (which isn’t bad). This makes up for it being “too OP” and unlike Krennic’s, Maul’s, and Anakin’s 3 turn AoE Special cooldown, to name a few. Also notice that his speed isn’t the best so it will take time for him to reset.
Ability Level Bonus
2 +5% Damage
3 +10% Daze Chance
4 Cooldown – 1
5 +10% Daze Chance
6 +15% Damage
7 Evasion Up + 1
8 (Omega) add inflict Stagger for 2 turns.
His first Unique isn’t really good per say, but it does have anti-Clone synergy for when you come up against them in Arena or GW by inflicting Tenacity and Speed Down. This can even be a good counter to the Meta Rex/Fives teams. I think it’s suiting for what he did on Umbara.
The really good part about his unique though is an enemy potentially inflicting damage to one of their own allies, just like what Krell manipulated his enemies (the Clones) to do. I like to think of this as the opposite of Magmatrooper’s basic ability of “Line of Fire.” Also notice how its Light Side enemies only seeing as Krell didn’t manipulate Dark Side enemies.
As soon as you unlock him, I want the original text to read:
“When an enemy attacks an ally, there is a 10% chance they deal half the amount of damage to one of their own random allies. In addition, if a Clone enemy scores a Critical Hit, inflict Tenacity Down for 1 turn. If a Clone enemy defeats an ally, inflict Speed Down for 1 turn. (This ability is no longer in effect after Pong Krell is defeated – unless he is revived).
Ability Level Bonus
2 Bonus Effect +5%
3 Tenacity Down Duration + 1
4 Bonus Effect +5%
5 Speed Down Duration + 1
6 Bonus Effect +10%
7 Tenacity Down and Speed Down Duration + 1
8 (Omega) Deal full amount of damage to own random ally.
– That’s gonna make people really want to get to that Omega.
Based on his 2nd Unique, his low Speed is somewhat made up for in the beginning of the match. Like in the episodes, he ordered the Clones to march quickly, despite how fatigued they were and their constant pleading for a rest. This ultimately lowered their “defenses” when they were ambushed so I think it is suiting.
The “Expose when attacking a Taunting enemy” makes sense too because he was caught by the Vixus monster which is what “Exposed” him and ultimately got him caught/killed after going after the taunting Clone Trooper on the other side of the Vixus.
As soon as you unlock him, I want the original text to read:
“Allies start the match with *By the Book* (yellow font). In addition, General Pong Krell has a 90% chance to inflict Expose to himself for 1 turn when attacking an enemy.
(By the Book: Gain Speed Up for 2 turns and Defense Down for 3 turns. This buff cannot be dispelled.)”
Ability Level Bonus
2 Expose Chance – 10%
3 Expose Chance – 10%
4 Expose Chance – 10% and Defense Down – 1
5 Expose Chance – 10%
6 Expose Chance – 10%
7 Expose Chance – 10%
8 (Omega) Chance to Expose only when attacking Taunting enemies.
This will rush players to max out these abilities seeing as he can help his team be viable to go first with his Speed boost yet Krell is potentially exposed when facing Shoretrooper teams or other eventual taunters. He is viable in many teams – especially Jedi and Separatist, but he wouldn’t be bad in Rebel or Empire with his Speed Up unique ability in the beginning of the match. Of course, if two teams ran him with an Omega then it would essentially cancel out the speed buff and each team would have Defense Down which can make things interesting.
Also take note that he wouldn’t be too good on a Maul-lead Sith team since he isn’t a Sith because he will frequently get exposed, have Defense Down, and be an easy target without getting Stealth from Maul.
Thank you devs and all for reading this.
