Is it really true that his highness Xizor was known about all the way back in November 2014?

Must have lost track of all the time that has gone by since then.

So we fast approach November 2016 and there is still no preview for a Starviper buff.

It took several YEARS to fix Darth Vader.

It is taking several YEARS to fix the Starviper.

Perhaps we'll get that T-65 fix in 2018. Their first try was 'integrated astromech', which does make Wes Janson & Biggs decent. Now we just wait several years till the next T-65 buff.....

Essentially he can roll into range 1 and get a 4 dice attack and ignore the bonus dice coming back at him (because that potential hit is shifted to a mook). If you keep his meat shields behind him they will be at range 2.

You just need to look at the power of Biggs to see that his ability is great. The major difference is that that Biggs can protect anyone but tends to die fast. You do need to make Xizor a threat to capitalise on your opponents ability to deal with him, but at 3/4 attack dice that is not difficult for him to be a significant threat.

Apologies for the self quote. But it seems almost 2 years later it appears that the prophesy has come to pass. Ruthlessness is the card Xizor has been waiting for.

If you like Xizor, try this build:

34 Xizor w/ VI, AT.

33 Manaroo w/ Adapt, K4, Unhinged, Feedback.

33 Scout w/ Deadeye, Zuckuss, Plasma, EM, OCR4, Chips.

0 Initiative.

Manaroo blocks then passes her tokens off to the scout or possibly Xizor. Xizor stays near the scout to pass off damage if shot at, the scout is a pseudo Dengaroo build. He hits like a train, whilst tanking hits with OCR4-Glitterstim.

I'm not a big fan of Push The Limit on him - a Starviper's dial is amazing but the green dial is merely okay.

I'd suggest the following thoughts:

• Build Prince Xizor to make his combat ability not dependent on actions. That way he can use his whole dial, even when stressed, and/or it means his action is free to boost or barrel roll, further improving a Starviper's impressive manoeuvrability.
• You're never going to win a pilot skill race; the best you can do is PS9, and Vader & Poe Dameron are out there. A better bet may be to accept you're going last occasionally and use your slots to make you dangerous.
• A Starviper isn't that evasive - lacking the evade action, you've got three green dice with focus. He's not as hard to kill as you might think unless he's got a buddy.

Y-wings are nice, but unhinged Y-wings aren't actually necessary - a Starviper isn't that fast. Like a lot of scum ships it has no speed 3 turn.

The Z-95 is a nice ship; firstly it's disposable, secondly it looks nice in Black Sun colours, and thirdly it's a cheap caddy for Illicit slots - feedback arrays are nice insurance against someone playing boost/barrel roll dancing to avoid Xizor's arcs of fire.

I'd recommend Xizor have one of the following: Fire Control System, Predator, or Lone Wolf. Predator is more tactically versatile than FCS, but FCS does give you a target lock you can use to fire torpedoes - FCS/Glitterstim is a very nice way to get an advanced proton torpedo shot (because you can use boost/barrel roll to line up the shot and still get a 5-hit attack off).

Lone Wolf is a weird pick given Xizor's ability; but it picks up nicely once his wingmen go down, and once active it's a very powerful ability.

Pairing him with big ships is a nice idea - especially jumpmasters.

What I don't get is why the mighty necromancers are so skittish: they rez and run.

Prince Xizor is an interesting pilot. His Highness' ability is outstanding at face value, but any further examination reveals a serious flaw.

His Grace can shunt hits that are not cancelled to his faithful companions. Combined with a bulky, inexpensive, and loyal companion such as the Syndicate Thug, this is a potent combo. You use His Excellency's three defense dice to cancel results, and hits that are not cancelled are absorbed by his true and loyal companion, the Syndicate Thug.

However, this assumes that the enemy will have the gall to target His Royalness, instead of focusing their attacks on his companion. Instead of His Grace's three defense dice, the Syndicate Thug is now protected by one defense dice, and will surely be destroyed.

How can the Noble and Just Prince Xizor make use of his ability, if the enemy is given an obvious route to counteract it?

The answer is that His Worshipfulness must exploit the enemy's reluctance to target him directly and punish them for it. His Highness' ability alters the natural target priorities of the enemy, and this is the effect that we must exploit to truly unlock His Highness' power.

We must turn His Grace into a monster.

By over-powering his Highness through upgrades, we can punish the enemy for attacking the Prince's companions instead of him. The key is to turn Prince Xizor into a threat that should not be ignored - because the enemy cannot efficiently focus him down.

His Highness could be made into an early or late-game threat. Here are two examples:

Early Game Threat:

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[unnamed Squadron]

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Click to change squadron details

100 points

Pilots

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Syndicate Thug (18)

Prince Xizor (44)

StarViper (31), Push the Limit (3), Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6), Virago (1), Advanced Sensors (3)

Mandalorian Mercenary (38)

Firespray-31 (35), Recon Specialist (3)

The threat here is that His Grace delivers an advanced proton torpedo to a target of his choice. Normally, any ship carrying such a weapon is singled out and destroyed before it can deliver its payload. Prince Xizor's protective ability should give him the chance to deliver the torpedo and deal a heavy blow to the enemy. After the APT is spent, he is still a potent threat with PTL + AdvS.

His Highness is supported by two bulky companions, neither of which is a more appealing target than he.

Late Game Threat:

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Xizor's Punching Bag

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100 points

Pilots

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Syndicate Thug (18)

Prince Xizor (38)

StarViper (31), Stay on Target (2), Virago (1), Advanced Sensors (3), Inertial Dampeners (1)

Boba Fett (44)

Firespray-31 (39), Veteran Instincts (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Here, His Worship is outfitted as a super-maneuverable late game killer. The effectiveness of a very similar setup, for IG-88D has been explored by SableGriffon.

Here, His Grace is supported by his faithful Syndicate Thug companion, and the deadly Boba Fett.

In both cases, the lists exploit the inability of the enemy to effectively directly address His Highness Prince Xizor. They must either waste their fire directly attacking Prince Xizor, or waste it attacking his companion directly. In either case, His Highness is afforded protection. By avoiding enemy fire, His Grace can either deliver a punishing blow early on, or survive to the late game where His domination will be complete.

PICTURES MAKE BETTERS!

I played my old list with Xizor and did very well. I destroyed Bro Bots and did well against Fat Turrets. It was the rise of TLT's that made me put him away.

Prince and the New Power Generation:

Prince Xizor: Veteran Instincts, Flechette Torpedo, Autothrusters, Virago, Fire Control System, and Inertial Dampners

5 x Binayre Pirates Z-95

The ability to block with the Z's was fantastic. Also, stressing a key enemy at the right moment was crucial to winning with the list, which is why I took Flechette Torpedo. With this list, I was able to have Xizor last until the end game and he was great at winning then.

If I were to change it for the current meta, I might drop the Z's to 4 and throw on Black Market Slicer Tools and maybe a PS bump for them.

since we're still going, I gotta say I've never given a crap about TLTs with Xizor

the guy's a PS 9 (VI) boost ship, TLTs are fodder. Even in the hayday of wave 7, a single Blacksun Ace and a few pirates made the low agility ships basically a complete non-issue. If you liked Ys (basically the most competent ship Xizor could run before the jm5k), you could ALSO use TLTs to kill TLTs.

In the late game, Xizor v a Y, it was a done deal.

and now that you can tech in JM5ks, TLTs are even more of a complete joke against him

I'm not a big fan of Push The Limit on him - a Starviper's dial is amazing but the green dial is merely okay.

I'd suggest the following thoughts:

• Build Prince Xizor to make his combat ability not dependent on actions. That way he can use his whole dial, even when stressed, and/or it means his action is free to boost or barrel roll, further improving a Starviper's impressive manoeuvrability.
• You're never going to win a pilot skill race; the best you can do is PS9, and Vader & Poe Dameron are out there. A better bet may be to accept you're going last occasionally and use your slots to make you dangerous.
• A Starviper isn't that evasive - lacking the evade action, you've got three green dice with focus. He's not as hard to kill as you might think unless he's got a buddy.

Y-wings are nice, but unhinged Y-wings aren't actually necessary - a Starviper isn't that fast. Like a lot of scum ships it has no speed 3 turn.

The Z-95 is a nice ship; firstly it's disposable, secondly it looks nice in Black Sun colours, and thirdly it's a cheap caddy for Illicit slots - feedback arrays are nice insurance against someone playing boost/barrel roll dancing to avoid Xizor's arcs of fire.

I'd recommend Xizor have one of the following: Fire Control System, Predator, or Lone Wolf. Predator is more tactically versatile than FCS, but FCS does give you a target lock you can use to fire torpedoes - FCS/Glitterstim is a very nice way to get an advanced proton torpedo shot (because you can use boost/barrel roll to line up the shot and still get a 5-hit attack off).

Lone Wolf is a weird pick given Xizor's ability; but it picks up nicely once his wingmen go down, and once active it's a very powerful ability.

Pairing him with big ships is a nice idea - especially jumpmasters.

I still think VI is necessary on Xizor to be able to compete with many of the top aces we see, namely the ubiquitous soontir fel. In several of the games I've played recently, PS9 and a modest initiative bid were key to the late game. The repositioning ability (combined with excellent action economy) of many PS8-9 aces these days is just too powerful to ignore. Xizor can't reposition as well as these aces since he doesn't play well with PtL / he needs the PS9 to be able to react to enemy aces.

If he was PS8 it might be a different story because at least then you could expect to compete with PS8 aces like Inquisitor, Carnor, and theoretically Poe. But sadly Xizor was in the first Scum wave when the developers were trying to make scum work at lower PS values by giving them great abilities. I bet that if this expansion had shown up in the second or third wave of scum ships he would have gotten the Dengar or TBC treatment. As it stands, Xizor flies an expensive arc-dodger ship and those only really shine competitively at the top PS levels.

eh...

okay I absolutely agree with VI xizor being the best (also because you can take FCS to free your ept slot) and PTL being far too restrictive with the dial

but Xizor isn't really an arc-dodger unless he has to be. He's more like Poe, a complete and utter jouster until the going gets too tough and Xizor needs to get going

his ability is really powerful and allows you to throw yourself into normally suicidal situations only to have your opponent ignore you in favor of far more effective targets to shoot at

eh...

okay I absolutely agree with VI xizor being the best (also because you can take FCS to free your ept slot) and PTL being far too restrictive with the dial

but Xizor isn't really an arc-dodger unless he has to be. He's more like Poe, a complete and utter jouster until the going gets too tough and Xizor needs to get going

his ability is really powerful and allows you to throw yourself into normally suicidal situations only to have your opponent ignore you in favor of far more effective targets to shoot at

That's definitely true (and I think I hit on that pretty well two years ago ). The PS9 is vital in the late game to shut down surviving aces, and can be very useful in the midgame these days. Early on he should be with his buddies tempting enemies to target him unless he's facing something that can really push damage through.

Always looking for ways to play my Starviper, especially if it's someone other than Guri. Could something like this not be fun and dare I say even strong?

Prince Xizor (40)

Elusiveness (2)

Virago (1)

Autothrusters (2)

Sensor Jammer (4)

Kavil (27)

Dorsal Turret (3)

Tel Trevura (33)

Draw Their Fire (1)

“Gonk” (2)

Between his ability to shift damage onto either Tel or Kavil and Tel's ability + DTF + Gonk, Xizor seems almost untouchable, and a Tel regen jump will take a fair few shots before going down. Kavil seems to me to be the weakest link, but since he'll be sticking by Xizor, a range 1 out-of-arc dorsal shot could still be mean...

you don't want to stress the viper, the dial is too cool without stress and doesn't have enough greens with stress. elusiveness in general is also just bleh, especially when the enemy has focus (which, hey, they will because jammers)

and the largest problem with the above list is that the offensive output is just going to leave you wanting. If you want a DTF (which gonk really won't keep alive) manny will have you covered far more effectively while also improving your offense by bumping enemy ships (denying their defensive AND offensive mods) and running feedback array while feeding your squad either a TL or focus

manny with DTF and feedback costs the same as Tel without upgrades, so you save 3 points from gonk (more like "bleh") and DTF

which is enough for TLT on kavil

drop elusiveness to VI and you get Rage on Kavil. tada!

though honestly I think Xizor is wedded to FCS. you don't want to gamble on barely modified dice, even with manny running around (besides, she can give you focus after you sloop for full mods!)

plus it gets you unhinged on angry Kavil, which is basically necessary if you ever want to Rage more than once

EDIT I also liked the fact that they're all PS7, i'm obsessed by lists with equal PS atm...

equal PS is a great thing to have

but so is manaroo