Here is my list as it currently stands, I am new to flying decimators so I have no idea on what upgrades to put on it. Any input is appreciated!

TIE PHANTOM: · "Whisper" (32)

+Veteran Instincts (1)

+Fire Control System (2)

+Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

VT-49 DECIMATOR: · Commander Kenkirk (44)

+Predator (3)

+Ysanne Isard (4)

+Rebel Captive (3)

The total is 93/100

You could include any of the following crew on the Decimator to maximize it's full potential:

- Moff J

- Mara Jade

- Gunner

Personally, I'd go with Gunner because with a 2-ship build you must damage a ship with every turn.

Add the moff and it gets even more tanky...Mara would be redundant if you take the captive. I also like lone wolf as it improved both your offense and defense...once you get that def die. And with a two shop list staying in the lone wolf zone gets much easier.

I disagree that Mara is redundant with Rebel captive. The two play completely differently and have different uses. Rebel captive is used against higher PS ships that shoot first, limiting their maneuverability, eliminating things like PtL. Mara is best when fighting multiple lower PS ships, as you can get behind them, stay at range 1 and keep them stressed so they can't turn.

I like running the rear admiral with both Mara and the captive. He is super maneuverable and can stay out of arc really well when the opposing ships are stressed

Add the moff and it gets even more tanky...Mara would be redundant if you take the captive. I also like lone wolf as it improved both your offense and defense...once you get that def die. And with a two shop list staying in the lone wolf zone gets much easier.

Mara can be redundant, but if you're facing a swarm you could potentially stress a lot of ships. If you're facing another 2-ship build, Mara will be less helpful.

Bump up to rear admiral crickets, use gunner, vader, captive.

Now you have 4 points left and take couple good options.

1. 4 point initiative bid aka whispers always shoots first.

2. Determination in crickets which is hilarious when you discard crits and a 97 point bid.

3. Engine upgrade on crickets to arc dodge stuff. No initiative bid.

4. Expose, crickets has a semi focus to modify dice.

5. Predator and a 99 point bid.

With this build look at your opponents list and ask yourself what needs to die first. Howlrunner? Dead on the first or 2nd combat round guarenteed. Whisper? Dead on the 2nd combat round guaranteed. Fel? Same thing. Rebels with shields might last a round longer but the gist is send crickets after the priority target. You don't have to go kamikaze and vader every round but h3 kills it and then eventually dies and whisper cleans up.

I disagree that Mara is redundant with Rebel captive. The two play completely differently and have different uses. Rebel captive is used against higher PS ships that shoot first, limiting their maneuverability, eliminating things like PtL. Mara is best when fighting multiple lower PS ships, as you can get behind them, stay at range 1 and keep them stressed so they can't turn.

I like running the rear admiral with both Mara and the captive. He is super maneuverable and can stay out of arc really well when the opposing ships are stressed

With only 3 crew slots using two to cause stress is redundant though...what if the higher PS guy is already at range one? If there were 4 slots maybe not so much. My point is he is playing the tank decimator...he should play off that strength...choose one or the other as far as stressors are concerned.

You could include any of the following crew on the Decimator to maximize it's full potential:

- Moff J

- Mara Jade

- Gunner

Personally, I'd go with Gunner because with a 2-ship build you must damage a ship with every turn.

I would go with Mara Jade, she is the bomb. Predator give you a poor man's TL, take the focus action and you are probably going to hit every round.

You could include any of the following crew on the Decimator to maximize it's full potential:

- Moff J

- Mara Jade

- Gunner

Personally, I'd go with Gunner because with a 2-ship build you must damage a ship with every turn.

I would go with Mara Jade, she is the bomb. Predator give you a poor man's TL, take the focus action and you are probably going to hit every round.

Predator let's you re-roll no matter what it's hardly the poor man's TL, taking focus and predator significantly ups your chance to hit.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/forum/428-x-wing-squad-lists/

What do you all think about running Ysanne, rebel captive, and gunner on the deci and then using my left over 2 points to give the phantom tactician?

Everything is perfect with two exceptions:

1. Up Kenkirk to Chiraneau

2. Give Chiraneau Engine Upgrade

The list is ridiculously competitive and Chiraneau can pull enemy ships off the board like it's going out of style.

Here's a build I've done very well with.

It's a fun list.

Echo

Veteran instincts

Advanced cloak

Fire control systems

Recon specialist

Rear admiral

Predator

Engine upgrade

Ysanne

Rebel captive

Now I've seen a lot of people like Gunner on the decimator but I'm not a huge fan of it.

Yes you want to maximize your dmg output, but my way of thinking is it'll do you no good dead

Which is why i like predator with engine upgrade.

It'll allow you to boost for your actionwhich helps dodge arcs.

If your opponent had four ships and you dodge one or two arcs, your doing pretty good. Dodge all four... Excellent!

With rear admiral chireaneau pilot ability at range 1-2 you have a mini focus, and predator gives you a mini target lock.

Echo has obvious weaknesses, but i find most tend to focus on the decimator which is what you want.

That leaves Echo alone to do her thing.

If you come across high ps lists, use echo to go for their escorts and keep away from their higher ps ships.

Once the decimator takes enough dmg Ysanne kicks in and gives you a free evade which again when boosting around dodging arcs keeps him alive longer.

Plus don't forget rebel captive. First ship that shots at him takes a stress.

So if you face a Whisper list, keep echo far away from whisper.

Then if whisper only shot is at the decimator, no recloak for you.

Also works great against the fat dash builds. Dash with ptl does not like double stress.

I use to go with expose and experimental interface but i really like predator and Engine upgrade.

Even if he gets blocked he still gets two mini actions and only the right crit card will stop it

I'm against vader on the decimator

Some like it but for a ship that costs 50-60% of your list doing two dmg to it is not a good idea.

Ya you can hurt a phantom, interceptor buy a smart player will keep them far away and use whatever else he has to focus it down. Sending in his big guns yo finish the job, and if he does enough dmg that first round, and you don't manage to kill his ships come second turn you'll be dead or pretty close, so you may only get 1-2 uses out of him.

I'm a firm believer vader should stay on the shuttle

Everything is perfect with two exceptions:

1. Up Kenkirk to Chiraneau

2. Give Chiraneau Engine Upgrade

The list is ridiculously competitive and Chiraneau can pull enemy ships off the board like it's going out of style.

I don't have an engine upgrade card and I just personally prefer to not proxy things (don't care if others do) so for right now that isn't an option for me.

Borrow from a friend?

I may have won an 18 person event with:

Echo - VI, ACD, FCS, Rebel Captive

RA Charineau - Engine, VI, Vader, Gunner

That said, I'm not convinced that this the best build. The reason is that it is entirely dependent on what you face. The meta hasn't settled from Wave 5, and we're going to get hit with Wave 6, so until it settles I don't think there is a best build.

I may have won an 18 person event with

Did you win?

I love Expose+Experimental interface+Mara+Reb Captive on Chippy. Even if you're bumped or you bump to deny a shot you can EI expose off the free Isard evade action and Chip has the pseudo crit focus. It's brutal at range 1.

Here's a build I've done very well with.

It's a fun list.

Echo

Veteran instincts

Advanced cloak

Fire control systems

Recon specialist

Rear admiral

Predator

Engine upgrade

Ysanne

Rebel captive

Now I've seen a lot of people like Gunner on the decimator but I'm not a huge fan of it.

Yes you want to maximize your dmg output, but my way of thinking is it'll do you no good dead

Which is why i like predator with engine upgrade.

It'll allow you to boost for your actionwhich helps dodge arcs.

If your opponent had four ships and you dodge one or two arcs, your doing pretty good. Dodge all four... Excellent!

With rear admiral chireaneau pilot ability at range 1-2 you have a mini focus, and predator gives you a mini target lock.

Echo has obvious weaknesses, but i find most tend to focus on the decimator which is what you want.

That leaves Echo alone to do her thing.

If you come across high ps lists, use echo to go for their escorts and keep away from their higher ps ships.

Once the decimator takes enough dmg Ysanne kicks in and gives you a free evade which again when boosting around dodging arcs keeps him alive longer.

Plus don't forget rebel captive. First ship that shots at him takes a stress.

So if you face a Whisper list, keep echo far away from whisper.

Then if whisper only shot is at the decimator, no recloak for you.

Also works great against the fat dash builds. Dash with ptl does not like double stress.

I use to go with expose and experimental interface but i really like predator and Engine upgrade.

Even if he gets blocked he still gets two mini actions and only the right crit card will stop it

I'm against vader on the decimator

Some like it but for a ship that costs 50-60% of your list doing two dmg to it is not a good idea.

Ya you can hurt a phantom, interceptor buy a smart player will keep them far away and use whatever else he has to focus it down. Sending in his big guns yo finish the job, and if he does enough dmg that first round, and you don't manage to kill his ships come second turn you'll be dead or pretty close, so you may only get 1-2 uses out of him.

I'm a firm believer vader should stay on the shuttle

This is exactly the list I came up with too. Only had the chance to use it once but it did very well. The mini focus + mini target lock allows the Decimator to Boost every single turn, if he needs to, and still get good damage output, whilst also arc-dodging. Once the evade token starts coming in, he becomes quite difficult to deal with.

Echo meanwhile, noddles around doing her own thing.

The only real threat is a PS9 turret (i.e. Han) setting its sights on Echo, but that's not too difficult to avoid when you have her level of maneuverability.

This is what I want to try:

Echo

- veteran instincts

- advanced cloaking device

- fire control system

37 points

Rear Admiral Chiraneau

- expose

- ysanne isard

- gunner

- experimental interface

62 points

99/100 points total

Any ideas on how well this will work?

I've tried the expose and experimental interface on the RAC a few times.

It's a good build, but i am not overly fond of a stressed decimator.

Only has 3 green maneuvers and I found the best way to make use of it, was to not use it every time

Range one shots or when it's best to do a green maneuver

Predator and Engine upgrade I found more reliable and has a good dmg output and harder to kill.

With two ships you want to limit how many are goi to be shot at

This is what I want to try:

Echo

- veteran instincts

- advanced cloaking device

- fire control system

37 points

Rear Admiral Chiraneau

- expose

- ysanne isard

- gunner

- experimental interface

62 points

99/100 points total

Any ideas on how well this will work?

I wouldn't take Gunner. With 4-5 dice and Chirpy's ability - as it means you won't miss very often.

Put a Rebel Captive/Mara on board instead or give Echo a Navigator?

Here's a build I've done very well with.

It's a fun list.

Echo

Veteran instincts

Advanced cloak

Fire control systems

Recon specialist

Rear admiral

Predator

Engine upgrade

Ysanne

Rebel captive

I'm against vader on the decimator

Some like it but for a ship that costs 50-60% of your list doing two dmg to it is not a good idea.

Ya you can hurt a phantom, interceptor buy a smart player will keep them far away and use whatever else he has to focus it down. Sending in his big guns yo finish the job, and if he does enough dmg that first round, and you don't manage to kill his ships come second turn you'll be dead or pretty close, so you may only get 1-2 uses out of him.

I'm a firm believer vader should stay on the shuttle

Very similar to a build I brought to a Store Championship, but I'm a firm believer of Vader on a decimator (I never leave home without him ) The key is selective usage.

What? Howlrunner has 1 hull left after you did a TL+mini Focus on her with Chirpy? If she survives (i.e. Echo is not in position or some fluke chance she survives Echo), that means at least 2 more damage on a 0 agility ship due to all the rerolls. Plus, Echo can shoot at someone else now instead of trying to finish HOwl.

Wait, that B-Wing pointing at you with TL and Focus in R1 just happens to have 1 hull left after you attacked, and when PS2 comes around, you're gonna get bunred with up to 4 hit/CRITS?! Just Vader him and take the 2 damage instead.

Definitely different style, but I would not dismiss taking Vader on a decimator, ever.

Otherwise, here are some builds that are fun:

Echo

VI, ACD, FCS

RAC

VI, Engine, Rebel Captive, Gunner, Vader

99 points

VI is great against phantoms, non VI Han, and Soontir, because it lets you kill them (via Vader) before they can shoot back (now my story above about the PS2 B-Wing can apply to almost any pilot).

Echo

VI, ACD

RAC

Predator, Engine, Rebel Captive, Vader, Ysanne

99 points

A more defensive RAC but Predator still helps with the offense. Unfortunately Echo is a lot more defensive.

Echo

VI, ACD, FCS, Recon (my favorite build)

RAC

Predator, Engine, Rebel Captive, Vader

100 points

No Ysanne, so you have to be more careful with RAC

The only down side with RAC is the endgame 1:1 vs Kenkirk, especially a Kenkirk like this:

Kenkirk

Lone Wolf, Engine, Rebel Captive, Ysanne, Gunner

Almost no way to kill unless you get lucky or start off with 3-4 more hull than Kenkirk.