Happy holidays everyone. Old player here that was away from the game for a bit. Just getting back and was wondering if you guys would be as kind as to fill me in on the current meta.

And to maybe answer a few questions.

-are phantoms still doing well? Or have all the wave 5 turrets neutered them into submission?

-How are the A wings fairing? Did the fixes work? Are they competitive at tournaments too?

-Ywings, same thing?

-Falcons were everywhere when I left. I they still flooding the game table? Any new falcon killers on the rise?

-Scum faction, how are they performing thus far?

-Anything else I'm missing? Defenders, space cows, Ewing etc. Whats in? What's not?

Searching the forums trying to answer these myself has been a slow process.

Thanks in advance everyone. Speaking on Advance... how are we on that front?

scum faction is not out yet, falcons are still everywhere, phantoms are still doing well

Scum haven't been released yet, and will really be what shifts the metagame.

Doing so will likely shift it to a mid-PS level, due to all of the crits that are pouring out, and the non-combat damage buffs will help with the Phantom problem.

Oh, and the Advanced got fixed with the new Imperial huge ship. Not only is it viable, we're now playtesting to find out if it's top tier or simply broken.

Phantoms are a lot of fun. I feel like scum have a few anti phantom cards coming out, not sure those cards will see a whole lot of play just yet. If Phantoms start getting beat up, then everyone will just back over to the squints. If you though Fel with stealth device, shield/hull upgrade and push the limit was bad, go google "Autothrusters". There are Outriders and Decimators everywhere since they are the new ship on the block, but I feel like Falcons are still the better of the 3. None of the IG-88 scum abilities have been released yet, so that may change. All we know so far is that he only has a forward firing arc and can a Segnor Loop( it a K turn with a bank template instead of a straight)

We stand at the precipice of the Accuracy Corrector meta. Agility is about to become very valuable. Anything with 1 agility will have a hard time in the upcoming meta.

...

And to maybe answer a few questions.

1. -are phantoms still doing well? Or have all the wave 5 turrets neutered them into submission?
2. -How are the A wings fairing? Did the fixes work? Are they competitive at tournaments too?
3. -Ywings, same thing?
4. -Falcons were everywhere when I left. I they still flooding the game table? Any new falcon killers on the rise?
5. -Scum faction, how are they performing thus far?
6. -Anything else I'm missing? Defenders, space cows, Ewing etc. Whats in? What's not?
7. Thanks in advance everyone. Speaking on Advance... how are we on that front?

...

1. Phantoms are actually doing well against outrider HLC "super dash" builds. The turreted ships act much differently than the fat falcon that they have different strengths and weaknesses. Super Dash weakness is whisper.
2. Thanks to Chardan refit from Aces pack A-wings are ever present. The test pilot also helps giving EPTs to all unique A-wing pilots or allowing you to combo EPTs which can't be done anywhere else.
3. Still used mostly as Ion turrets. There is much anticipation for them with the upgrades in the MW pack.
4. Falcons are still in the top meta. The other turreted ships act differently from falcons and I haven't seen them completely displace the falcon from the top of the meta, but wave 5 is still fairly new.
5. Considering they are not out yet who knows? I think some of the spoilers have been placed on Vassal but without the full faction released it is too early to tell.
6. Too broad of a question to provide a decent answer. Best is to go to a event or facility playing x-wing and find out what you have been missing.
7. There is a Tie Advanced with the recently announced Imperial Epic expansion that has additional pilots and Tie Advanced specific upgrade cards. Still that is a couple of releases away so they won't be returning for a short while.

TIE Advanced with Accuracy Corrector will be good, but Its not going to be that bane of Falcons. Bs, Ys, and Shuttles I can understand. You might see one or two per list, and it will add some variety to the meta, but it's not going to be annihilating everything it comes across at tournaments. (I say this not knowing what the new pilot abilities are or if they adjusted the points on the new advance pilots coming out. These factors could change my opinion)

It won't steamroll (and really it shouldn't), but people in my group have been running proxy games against Fat Han lists and they are a very serious contender.

I agree with you that Bs and Ys should be the most concerned. I expect to see more Xs as they have a better chance to dodge.

Everyone is running as many Tie Interceptors as they can sqweze into a list. It's crazy!

Just kidding about that. I wish I weren't, though.

The big change has been from swarm builds (wave 1-3) to Chips 'n Salsa (wave 4) [1 decked out ships with a mini swarm], and now wave 5 is seeing the emergence of "Hammer and Anvil" builds- 2 highly decked out ships.

What everyone else said. Though depending on how long you've been gone, you might check out a few eye-opening lists. I don't think any of them were anything close to meta changing, but they did help me become a better player. Jonus brothers, Fat Han, Super Dash with Jan Ors to name a few. And I've definitely seen the emergence and proliferation of the hammer and anvil builds (whisper and decimator, dash and corran etc.).

Even with all these changes TIE swarms are still completely viable, at least against anything but non-echo phantoms. (I'm sure that comment will cause a fuss, but that's not my intent.)

You should be able to jump right back in.

<sarcasm> Well, in your absence, the HWK is now the most powerful ship, and people are trying to fly swarms of them. Also, the X-Wing is now the worst ship in the game, in desperate need of a point reduction. </sarcasm>

There is no meta, only Zuul...

<sarcasm> Well, in your absence, the HWK is now the most powerful ship, and people are trying to fly swarms of them. Also, the X-Wing is now the worst ship in the game, in desperate need of a point reduction. </sarcasm>

The HWK is an excellent support ship. Roark is seen a lot to counter Phantoms. I have also seen good Han or Dash with Jan Ors combos. Kyle is a little behind and no one plays the generics.

The X-Wing is another story. It hopelessly fell behind with the advent of phantoms and is now worse in anything than the Advanced after that gets its fix. No amount of /sarcasm will change that. It's also overpriced by 1-2 points in jousting value on top of that.

The X-Wing is another story. It hopelessly fell behind with the advent of phantoms and is now worse in anything than the Advanced after that gets its fix. No amount of /sarcasm will change that. It's also overpriced by 1-2 points in jousting value on top of that.

What a load of claptrap.

I'm unclear on how many times FFG needs to prove that as new releases are deployed, they patch previous expansions before people will stop complaining that the sky is falling.

I'm unclear on how many times FFG needs to prove that as new releases are deployed, they patch previous expansions before people will stop complaining that the sky is falling.

Indeed. I would have thought that after the love given to the Interceptors, the A-Wings, the TIE Advanced etc people would now be willing to admit that - y'know - FFG know what they're doing?

Well others have told you about the meta so I will just say, the people that play the game have lately been constantly screaming sky is falling, and claiming this or that needs a fix while in reality, a small boost would be nice, but they hardly need a full fledged fix.

(people are claiming the X-wing and E-wing are horrible all of a sudden, when really, it's just the generics, and if I may be so bold, generics in general that could use a boost)

Umm, with the power of Bacon we managed to develop an off-topic thread, and our scientists are currently working non-stop to find a way to reproduce this effect to create a repaint/scratch-build thread.

And Welcome Back!

The X-Wing is another story. It hopelessly fell behind with the advent of phantoms and is now worse in anything than the Advanced after that gets its fix. No amount of /sarcasm will change that. It's also overpriced by 1-2 points in jousting value on top of that.

What a load of claptrap.

I'm unclear on how many times FFG needs to prove that as new releases are deployed, they patch previous expansions before people will stop complaining that the sky is falling.

Indeed. I would have thought that after the love given to the Interceptors, the A-Wings, the TIE Advanced etc people would now be willing to admit that - y'know - FFG know what they're doing?

And that they need their conmunity to discuss balancing issues on the forum, with all the diverging opinions that will result, i believe that too!

I'm surprised that you ask about the Y-wing. It didn't do well in Waves 1 or 2 as the meta was still a lot of ships firing. That makes for the Y-wing to be full of holes. Except for the occasional swarm, most lists have only 3-4 ships in them now. I find that the Y-wing does much better in the meta than it did in the early waves. Just a generic Y-wing with Ion Turret lives a lot longer than before.

Personally, I like Dutch with R7-T1 is fantastic. He gets a free boost and the TL.....which he passes on to someone else.

I predict that this summer will have smashed the current meta. With so many ships coming out and so many options, you will see people take ships other than Fat Han, Phatom, and Tie Swarms. Will you still see those? Of course, but you will see a lot of stuff that will be able to take it down, too.

On a no sarcasm base:

[...] The X-Wing is another story. It hopelessly fell behind with the advent of phantoms and is now worse in anything than the Advanced after that gets its fix. No amount of /sarcasm will change that. It's also overpriced by 1-2 points in jousting value on top of that.

Not trying to start a flame war and trying to stay friendly but 'hopelessly'?

You said 'hopelessly fell behind' but it is one of the most fielded ships with unique pilots that has one of the best pilots (Tarn Mison according to the designers) and upgrade combinations out there but the generic seems to be lacking.

I think several ships have become more situational now with Epic being out there. Steele and Bombers are good example. A lot of ships see play in different ways, some only with unique pilots. I think that has some bothered a little and they are hoping for more balance.

FFG will most likely continue to shake up the meta (fix and rebalance the refix and...) as new upgrades are released.

Thanks everyone.

I do wonder with the high population of Falcons why there hasn't been much in the way of anti falcon cards. But I fly Echo and a BH, so what do I know lol.

Thanks everyone.

I do wonder with the high population of Falcons why there hasn't been much in the way of anti falcon cards. But I fly Echo and a BH, so what do I know lol.

Autothrusters will come out with Wave 6.

Thanks everyone.

I do wonder with the high population of Falcons why there hasn't been much in the way of anti falcon cards. But I fly Echo and a BH, so what do I know lol.

It's probably because the rules for turrets are kind of busted that the only way to tackle them without completely overriding some other portion of the game is to be incredibly specific with their counters (ala auto-thrusters) to the point that it automatically makes the upgrade situational. It's a difficult balancing act that could be made easier if they went back and fixed the innate turret rules, but FFG rarely works backwards like that.

I suppose things such as Outmanuever and intimidation work as sort of soft checks because they block 3PO?

the ion pulse missile also works for instant ionization of large ships