Looking at the new X-Wing pilots coming from the Rebel Transport and Opportunist, could a 3 X-Wing build be on the horizon? Here is what I'd like to try out.

Wedge Antilles + Opportunist + R2 Astromech

Wes Janson + Veteran Instincts

Luke Skywalker + Opportunist + R2D2

The 3 natural attack dice from the X-Wing has always served it well. Giving Wes Veteran Instincts makes sure he shoots first clearing the path for Luke and Wedge to use Opportunist. The droids will do their duty helping to clear stress and giving a benefit while doing so. The idea of Wedge rolling 5 attack dice at range 1 *chills*

Honestly, I still prefer the older version (luke+biggs+wedge), until I go up against fleets with lots of 3 agility.
Might use Wes instead of Wedge in that one, though, for even more interactivity.

I'm still not a fan of opportunist and wedge needs engine upgrade.

Whilst it will do fine against some builds, particularly four ship rebel lists and similar, it will struggle against lists that either have staying power and turrets, or that have significantly more ships than you. 15 hit points doesn't take a terrible lot of effort to kill when it's also only got 2 agility. Sure you can roll 5 attack dice at range one, just don't expect him to be alive for more than about one round of shooting against most lists.

Things that will make your list die in flames:

HSF

Ion Cannon Turrets

TIE Swarms

It could be that we start to see more 3x elite Rebel builds in the post-4, post-Aces environment--but I suspect it's more likely that we'll start seeing two elites with three generic Headhunters. The Zs will be able to screen the elites' approach, block for them, and help clean up damaged enemy ships.

It could be that we start to see more 3x elite Rebel builds in the post-4, post-Aces environment--but I suspect it's more likely that we'll start seeing two elites with three generic Headhunters. The Zs will be able to screen the elites' approach, block for them, and help clean up damaged enemy ships.

Or even three elites and a single Z-95.

I would agree that swarms and ions would be a hard fight for the 3 X-Wings. HSF in another story the fact that Jan shoots first and strips that focus away really hurts Han effectiveness. The return fire of Wedge and no agility for Han would tear big holes in the falcon

Actually, I destroyed a 3x build in our last tourney with bombers and a shuttle. I would say a big alpha strike list would be its biggest threat, although Janson might mitigate that.

I would agree that swarms and ions would be a hard fight for the 3 X-Wings. HSF in another story the fact that Jan shoots first and strips that focus away really hurts Han effectiveness. The return fire of Wedge and no agility for Han would tear big holes in the falcon

Actually yeah, HSF could have some issues if it can't put holes in your ships quickly too.

There is definitely going to be more variety in the 3 elite X-wing builds. I like Porkins in such builds.

While your build is interesting, it seems more fit in taking out a single threat. Anything with redundancy, or even Biggs, will slow it down.

I feel 3X lists suffer in many ways suggested, but I would also add field of fire. You just can't cover as much of the board with possible shots leaving spaces for your opponent to out maneuver you. Maybe 2X1Turret would be doable, but I might say 2X2Turret might help alleviate the issue.

The more I think of it, you can probably pull off the super Ace X-wing list if you focus on mobility rather than offensive output.

For example this is a list I used for a while and it worked very well. (Well this was back in Wave 2).

Tycho + PTL

Luke + PTL + Engine Upgrade

Wedge + PTL + Engine Upgrade

With Wes though, I figure we can do the following:

Luke + Veteran Instincts + Engine Upgrade

Wedge + Engine Upgrade

Wes + Veteran Instincts + Engine Upgrade

Then its all about fancy flying. Being at PS9 and PS10, most lists will move completely before you and shoot afterwards, so the idea is to limit their fire arcs. For turrets, the objective is to stay at RB3. You benefit more from the +1 agility then they do (as you have Wedge). Try to hide behind asteroids and only close when you must. Try not to joust, but if you do, try to have everyone target the same thing to destroy it before it gets to return fire.

Its not mistake friendly, but I cant count the amount of times I wished I could boost when I didnt have it on my bars.

I think HSF would be an easy list to tear through. And you'd be much smarter to attack it at R1 than R3 - you're attacking Han 3 times, the range bonus gives him 3 extra evade dice. He's attacking you once, you're getting 1 extra evade die. Same thing at R1, you get 3 extra attack die vs his 1 extra. You swoop in for a R1 engagement and you're naturally throwing 12 dice, two more for opportunist. So 14 dice against 2 agility. With a F, you should be putting down 3 hits on Wes' attack (vs. .375 evade) and 3.75 on Wedge + Luke, for a total of 10.5 hits vs his .75 evade. Next turn, Wes finishes him off before he can attack. Boom, dead Han. Who's next?

Same thing with alpha strike squadrons - you'll be moving last, so unless they have ST-321, they wont' be able to get TL on you on the first round. You can easily clear off at least one ship the first round, and then the second round when they have TL, you kill off a second ship before it gets to use its ordnance. Now at least half the alpha strike is dead without getting to strike. Sucks to be them.

The reason why 3x squads were never quite as good as 4x is because there really wasn't that much added damage from being elite besides shooting first. Yeah, Wedge could do an extra damage, but Luke is defensive, and in W2, PTL could give them TL+F, but you can get that with mid tiered people anyways. So that left you with Ordnance, which again, you could just put on lower PS people, and really isn't that good on a 3attack ship anyways. Now with Opp, you get to throw extra dice, which you really can't do any other way, and Wes helps makes sure of that with his ability. I can now see a 3X squad becoming at least more competitive.

Which is kind of funny, considering how far Wedge. Luke, Biggs was the runner up at Gencon. 3 X-wings are fine, it just is going to have a bit more variety. And I doubt Opportunist will be in all of them.

Khyros, That is what I keep seeing in my head. At pilot skill 10,9,8 all at the same target would clear just about anything minus big hulking 6+ damage to kill ships. I would love to figure out the dice probability on this attack. seeing how two of these attacks will not be facing no modified dice and even one less dice for Wedge. A tie swarm almost needs Howlrunner to be effective and she'd be gone before the swarm even knew she was there. I think 2 rounds of attacks with the 3 X-Wings within range 2 would kill a YT-1300. Anything less then 6 hits to kill would not last to the second attack if focused on, including Biggs. If anyone is good at the probability math help me see the numbers.

This may have been answered in another post some where before. Wes Janson takes a focus, evade or blue target lock of his target. Does that happen before the defender rolls his results?

If I were to mess around with a three ship, I would try this:

Wedge Antilles — X-Wing 29

PS 9

Engine Upgrade 4

Wes Janson — X-Wing 29

PS 10

Veteran Instincts 1

R7-T1 3

Etahn A'baht — E-Wing 32

PS 7

Veteran Instincts 1

R2 Astromech 1

I really want use opportunist but I think the engine mod will better serve me in the long run.

Khyros, That is what I keep seeing in my head. At pilot skill 10,9,8 all at the same target would clear just about anything minus big hulking 6+ damage to kill ships. I would love to figure out the dice probability on this attack. seeing how two of these attacks will not be facing no modified dice and even one less dice for Wedge. A tie swarm almost needs Howlrunner to be effective and she'd be gone before the swarm even knew she was there. I think 2 rounds of attacks with the 3 X-Wings within range 2 would kill a YT-1300. Anything less then 6 hits to kill would not last to the second attack if focused on, including Biggs. If anyone is good at the probability math help me see the numbers.

Hook Howl up with some BSPs and create a ST Chain and the Simultaneous Attack Rule means at least one round of Howlrunner firepower will get launched. That should be enough to vape at least one X-wing.

I just went through the entire Store Championship winners so far. I don't remember a single rebel fleet that had 3 small base ships. There was a Han + Wedge and a Han + Ibitsam list.

So, probably not competitively. 4-6 ships should be standard post wave 4 and Rebel Aces.

I know they were just added but now there are two 3 X-Wing squads. With the cost so high for the defender, phantom and E-Wing I'm not sure we will see the average number of ships go up. If anything overall it should go down as the empire will have more viable options out side of swarms to run.

Triple X for me has to be:

Wes + VI 30

Luke + R2D2 + DTF 33

Wedge + PTL + EU 37

Wes to strip, Luke to keep his friends alive, and Wedge to bring ze pain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Triple X for me has to be:

Wes + VI 30

Luke + R2D2 + DTF 33

Wedge + PTL + EU 37

Wes to strip, Luke to keep his friends alive, and Wedge to bring ze pain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Thank you for putting engine upgrade on Wedge! Lol he's night and day without it. But as far as the 3 elite build x wing..... I'm prolly not. Not when your going to have choice A wing at your disposals .... 3 high end a wings all with PTL /expose & device!

Triple X for me has to be:

Wes + VI 30

Luke + R2D2 + DTF 33

Wedge + PTL + EU 37

Wes to strip, Luke to keep his friends alive, and Wedge to bring ze pain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Thank you for putting engine upgrade on Wedge! Lol he's night and day without it. But as far as the 3 elite build x wing..... I'm prolly not. Not when your going to have choice A wing at your disposals .... 3 high end a wings all with PTL /expose & device!

Yea, I completely agree about Wedge and the EU. It makes him so much more devastating by being able to get into R1 and dodge arcs. I also think that once Rebel Aces hits the streets my 3 elite builds will also likely start seeing more and more A-wings since I love those buggers so much and they're getting some substantial love. I've already been running a couple four ship rebel builds that feature the GSP with opportunist (without the extra points Chaardan Refit will give me) and have had a lot of success. People write off the lowly A-wing but I think that's going to be changing in the not too distant future.

Triple X for me has to be:

Wes + VI 30

Luke + R2D2 + DTF 33

Wedge + PTL + EU 37

Wes to strip, Luke to keep his friends alive, and Wedge to bring ze pain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I wish there was a way to squeeze one more point out so you could put a R2 on Wedge to help clear that PTL stress.

Triple X for me has to be:

Wes + VI 30

Luke + R2D2 + DTF 33

Wedge + PTL + EU 37

Wes to strip, Luke to keep his friends alive, and Wedge to bring ze pain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I wish there was a way to squeeze one more point out so you could put a R2 on Wedge to help clear that PTL stress.

Unfortunately, I think the EU is the weak link here, from the perspective of squeezing in more points. What it's most helpful for is closing to Range 1 for those face-wrecking shots, but it doesn't do your formation flying any good, and 3 dice with TL and focus is almost as good as 4 dice + TL. So you can drop it, add in an R2 for Wedge, and start thinking about Flechette Torpedoes or a Hull Upgrade somewhere.