Clone Commander Cody - Unit Guide

Commander Cody is one of the coolest and most popular clones in all of Star Wars. I think he tends to get a little overshadowed by his less By-the-book brothers like Rex, Fives, or Echo. He has been one of my top 3 clones and top 10 Star Wars characters since I was a kid.

He is an incredible Secondary in Shatterpoint. I think he has a place in a ton of Clone-based lists. He's no Rex but I think he is solid as your second choice Secondary. Let's see how we can use him to the greatest effect.

• 4 Points Cost
• 0 Force
• 9 Stamina / 2 Durability
• Secondary Unit | 212th - Clone Commando - Clone Trooper - Galactic Republic

Like all 4 pointers in the game, Cody is in the most flexible spot. 4 Points mean he can be taken with anyone in any combination. What really matters is that he fits with Obi, Ani, Lumi, and Hopefully all other future Clone/ Jedi Primaries. The zero Force value doesn't need much of an explanation.

His durability is really not too bad, but 9 Stamina is in the range of one-hit wounds from most primaries.  He has a reasonable amount of defensive tech to keep him alive, but I would highly suggest keeping him as far away from Primaries and Melee units as possible.

His tags are interesting. Naturally, he has the golden ticket Galactic Republic tag that allows him to benefit from all of the fun goodies, especially Obi's hunker stuff. Clone Trooper allows him to benefit from Rex's Bring it on, Clankers, I might add is pretty incredible. The 212th tag is doing nothing for him and neither is the quite curious Clone Commando tag. I would be surprised if they did not include those tags for a reason, so hopefully, there are some 212th and Commando abilities coming.

We've Got a Big Problem - This Tactic Ability is so good. It is a little weird to get him in position for it, but once you do it is amazing. Personally, I use it to simply buff Cody's attack if I can Focus with him, if not, it's a great way to help out some Jedi. Besides positioning, the other issue I've found is if you don't take advantage of the expose with Cody himself it can be a waste. There's a pretty good chance your opponent will be able to get rid of the expose by the time another one of your heavy hitters is pulled. You can try to set this up a bit by reserving a Jedi. After you go with Cody you have to hope that your opponent can't clear the expose and then when it's your turn you go with the reserved Jedi. This should work out pretty well most times, but not always.

Defensive Maneuver - As with all Clones so far, Cody has access to the ability that makes the Clone machine work. Defensive Maneuver is great on him for a few reasons. Just like with Rex, I am using this every chance I get on Cody until he's wounded. It helps out his defense significantly by giving him cover and since most of the time he's perched up on a building, it's cover 2+. It also gives him a little Dash if you need it. Cody's hardest issue to get over is his positioning. He needs all the help he can get to move him into a relevant position and stay there. All of that combined with the fact that he can Heal and Dash if he discards his Hunkers means he's going to get significant Defensive and Offensive assists just by having one or more Hunker tokens. Unless you really need to use this to get into a sniper position without using up an action, you should wait to see how your attack goes. He gets a free Ability on his combat tree. It's perfect for Defensive Manevyer since sometimes it's not something you want to shell out for. All of that said, I would still recommend not using up all of your Force doing Defensive Maneuvers. Your Jedi need some love too.

Say Goodnight, Clanker! - This ability is absolutely necessary to use every time Cody attacks. In every game I have played with Cody, it has been an absolute waste of time and actions for him to attack without a focus. If you Focus with Cody, not only are you rolling 9 dice, but you're also ignoring all cover (which is always, but 9>6 no cover dice). This paired with his expose ability means you're almost always doing 5-9 damage plus conditions. Most abilities in this game are not so black and white, which I like, but in this instance it is. Defensive Maneuver ->Focus->Attack->Profit.

I'm no mathematician so this could get a little rough.

Without a focus, he's averaging 1.75 Crits and 2.25 Strikes for a total of 4 average successes after expertise but before defense dice. Most of the time, defense dice should block all of these strikes meaning he's only getting 1-2 net success. 1-2 will give you 2-4 damage and a pin, which is not much better than a Clone support shooting. That's also assuming you're not shooting at someone like Obi-Wan who can turn one of your Crits to fails.

Now, with a focus, he gets 9 dice. That will average 2.125 Crits and 3.375 strikes for a total of 5.5 successes after expertise but before defense dice. Most units will, on average, block 2 of those strikes giving you 3.5 net successes after defense. Round up for .5. 4 Succsesses will give you 5-7 damage, a pin, and a strain or 2 shoves. That is significantly better in terms of damage and conditions. This is damage and conditions worthy of being attached to a Secondary unit.

Bring it Down! - As good as Cody is offensively, his main goal is to support your list via conditions and this ability. This is why you bring Cody. If you do not have 2 different Clone Supporting units, I would probably tell you to take Rex, Ahsoka, or even Barriss before you consider Cody. If you do have 2 different Clone Supports then Cody is a really solid contender for second pick after Rex. This ability takes 501st from okay to good and takes 212th and Commandos from good to amazing.

Concentrated Firepower

This stance is quite good. It can get some major work done when you need it to, and it is pretty reliable when it comes to scoring low damage. At first glance, it looks like Cody is range agnostic just like Rex, but this could not be further from the truth.

At range 5 he's rolling 6 base dice or 9 with a focus. He is also ignoring all Cover with this shot which makes it so much better. His ranged expertise is also quite good. Instead of generating more successes that can be blocked, he is generating more raw damage that is unblockable. If you roll 2+ expertise he starts getting crits as well. This also lends itself to the unblockable aspect of his expertise.

In melee, He's rolling a semi-decent 6 attack dice. It's not a lot, but it could be worse. What makes this a bad choice is really 3 major things:

1. The opportunity cost is pretty massive. Instead of rolling 9 really solid, cover ignoring dice, you're choosing to roll 6 meh dice.
2. His melee expertise is not good. Sure, it generates some crits, but not reliably enough to make it worthwhile.
3. His defense is also conditionally worse in melee. He wants to be sitting up high and far away from any engagements so he can get cover 2+. In melee, he doesn't get that.

His combat tree is wonderful. It caps out at 8 damage off of 6 successes, or 9 if you roll at least one expertise. He gets one Pin almost always, which is very good with his 212th buddies since they have Coordinate Fire: Pin. It will allow you to up your damage by one essentially. If you go down the bottom branch you also get a strain, but that branch is mostly for pure damage output. His top branch is where things get interesting. 5 Successes will give you 6-8 damage, a pin, 2 shoves, and a free Defensive Maneuver. If your main objective with him is to deal raw damage, you can do so pretty reliably.

His defenses are... not great. 4 defense dice at range and in melee is not good. That only averages 1.3 blocks or 2 blocks after expertise. 2 blocks will do something, but against the larger dice pools, it won't do much. This is a major reason why I keep preaching Hunker Cover and Terrain Cover for him. I would also suggest keeping a healer nearby so you can take some damage off when he inevitably gets some.

Before we move on to strike teams and list building I want to show a chart that I've made to help you understand where and how to use Cody. He is one of the most position-dependent units in the game and it shows. He needs to be doing so many things at once that it can be difficult to get a lot of value out of him. You need to be in a spot where can Focus -> Attack every turn, contest one objective, be close enough for heals, and be in a spot where your clone supports can benefit from his reroll aura while also contesting objectives.

This is an example of where I like to get Cody, preferably if there is some easy-to-get elevation nearby as well. I don't mind putting him in a similar spot on the left or right objectives if necessary, but then his Attack and Aura ability ranges are half-wasted. This position allows you to attack units on almost all Objectives and allows you to support your clones on 4 out of 5 objectives. This is not an end-all-be-all chart, but it is a representation of how I have found the most success with Cody. This also puts him in range to effectively threaten all six of the mid/bottom objectives in one move. Another upside to this placement is that he should be accompanied by at least one Primary, sometimes two who can keep melee threats off him and potentially, depending on who it is, heal him should he need it.

Squad and Strike Team Ideas

Before I wrap up today's article, I am just going to cover a few different Squads and Strike Teams I have tried, I recommend trying, or I think could be good.

Pure Clones

• General Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • Commander Cody
  • 212th Clones
• General Anakin Skywalker
  • Captain Rex
  • 501st Clones

This is the basic clone list. Cody is here to support the Clone Troopers and to potentially help Jedi through Exposes.

Defensive Gunline

• General Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • Commander Cody
  • 212th Clones
• Luminara Unduli
  • Captain Rex
  • Clone Commandos

This list is designed to get as much out of your clones as possible. Through Cody's Support Rerolls your Clones should be putting out a good amount of damage and conditions. Add all that in with Lumi's heals, Obi's Hunker abilities, and Rex's Hunker heals, and you have a very tanky gunline that hits like a truck.

That's all for Cody! I have really enjoyed using him so far, I hope that with the release of more clones, he gets put into more of a spotlight over Rex or Ahsoka. I think he is probably one of the harder units to play and get right but once you do he can be a real asset.

Thanks for reading!