Of all the builds that I use, or face, this style of list is the one that brings the most fear to both myself and my regular opponents.

The list that's been nigh-on unbeatable with us is:

Blue B wing - ion cannon

Blue B wing - ion cannon, E2 refit, tactician

Gold Y wing - ion cannon turret

Gold Y wing - ion cannon turret

The list seems to have it all:

Manoeuvrability

- B wings do what they do

- Y wings have turrets, so don't need it

- ion weapons stop the opponent's manoeuvrability meaning that it has the upper hand

Survivability

- look at all that health!

- 2/3 ship builds have a hard time focussing down a single ship, especially where they're floating 1 forward the whole time

Damage output

- B wings can get into an ion-d ship and shred it at close range

- ion, whilst only doing one shot at a time, is death by a thousand cuts, especially when opposing ships can't get things in arc

This list has been through every 2/3 ship high PS build that we can think of. It annihilates large ships. It's made a mockery of tie swarms.

The only things that have beaten it so far are a rebel swarm (XXXZZZ, but others are available) and Fat Han lists are roughly 50:50 on it.

How do you beat this list, or others like it?

Interested in both lists & general tactics.

Looking forward to some lively discussion!

Range, agility and mobility. That's a seriously slow moving force there so anything quick using canons to snipe from range 3 is going to give it fits. Don't get drawn into a brawl with it, just kite and pop. IGs with Autothrusters (B & C for preference I think) would give it nightmares using this tactic. Even if a single lucky ion shot from a B gets through it's not necessarily a disaster as it takes both Bs sneaking hits through to effect the large base ship.

Duel ig probably don't stand a chance.

Panic attack excels against ships that don't like stress

Fortunately, there's only one stress dealer in that particular build, and it only operates at Range 2. The Ion Turrets also only work at range 2, and the Aggressors require two Ion tokens each to be affected. I think the Aggressors would handle this list OK. Try to stay at range 3, focus down the B-Wings first (and the Tactician first), then go to town on the Y-Wings.

IG-88B might be wasted against this particular list, though.

Focus fire. 1 green dice ships go down hard especially against lots of attacks. Swarm builds will work well as the ion control effect gets dissipated the more ships you put against them. It might ion a few ships but if you spread your fleet out and come in from varied angles rather than lockstepped into a block, it will reduce the odds of being escorted off the board.

I do believe IGs have a good shot at this list. As previously stated they prefer fighting at Range 3, they have the agility to evade incoming attacks, require 2 tokens to get ionized and can pack a punch. 2 shots with HLC can potentially kill any ship in that list, and the Tactician is not that dangerous since the B-wing is so slow in comparison to the IGs.

Don't take only two ships, especially against the mass Tactician. Stress attacks thrive on crippling elite ships because elite ships rely on action economy to become the equivalent of several smaller ones. There's a reason the old wisdom was four, and with the phantom fixed high numbers have a chance again.

As for how to beat massed ion weaponary, if you can't dodge it make the 1 straight the move you want to do, or use a ship that can reposition after moving like the TIE interceptor, provided you dodge the Tactician.

And don't be afraid to explore mid pilot skill! At a max PS of 2 you've got no pressure to outbid.

That list's weakness? Low agility. Massed firepower like a TIE swarm or heavy firepower like an M3-A (which with HLCs will love those ion tokens to slow their approach) will rip them apart.

This list doesn't look as scary as the original panic attack or panic attack 2.0 to be honest. The stressdroid with BTL title can really take things to the next level.

Actually a trio of phantoms using their decloaks to help stay at range 3 should wreck that list badly.

Don't get hit.

The three elite Autoceptors seems like it should do pretty well. OK, when one of them gets ioned he's buggered, but generally when an Interceptor gets hit its buggered anyway, but they don't get hit.

Ig88 don't sit at range three forever.

It's a fast moving ship.

Panic attack is great to stress them, and block

Wouldn't be first time I've chewed them up and spit them out with three b on the table

Action denial makes it easier to kill them, and three green dice is not always guaranteed evades.

Fast and maneuverable ships and the more the merrier

Fly Carnor Jax. Take a risk to juke through the middle of the formation. Don't get shot. Be permanently out of range and firing arcs. Profit.

Right, Deroche?

Alpha Strike ships are also good. I'd love to fight this list with my 4 Tie Bombers list. If you can put the smack down and take out 2 of their ships super fast, the rest should be pretty easy to take on.

Take out the B-wings first as they can actually do damage beyond just Ion Cannons. His goal is to Ionize you and then get you at R1. Take out the B-wings before that happens.

Of all the builds that I use, or face, this style of list is the one that brings the most fear to both myself and my regular opponents.

The list that's been nigh-on unbeatable with us is:

Blue B wing - ion cannon

Blue B wing - ion cannon, E2 refit, tactician

Gold Y wing - ion cannon turret

Gold Y wing - ion cannon turret

The list seems to have it all:

Manoeuvrability

- B wings do what they do

- Y wings have turrets, so don't need it

- ion weapons stop the opponent's manoeuvrability meaning that it has the upper hand

Survivability

- look at all that health!

- 2/3 ship builds have a hard time focussing down a single ship, especially where they're floating 1 forward the whole time

Damage output

- B wings can get into an ion-d ship and shred it at close range

- ion, whilst only doing one shot at a time, is death by a thousand cuts, especially when opposing ships can't get things in arc

This list has been through every 2/3 ship high PS build that we can think of. It annihilates large ships. It's made a mockery of tie swarms.

The only things that have beaten it so far are a rebel swarm (XXXZZZ, but others are available) and Fat Han lists are roughly 50:50 on it.

How do you beat this list, or others like it?

Interested in both lists & general tactics.

Looking forward to some lively discussion!

Any kind of swarm. A storm of 2 dice attacks will destroy this list.

Post raider you could go two x1 TIE Advances with accuracy corrector and stealth and always evade/ defensive focus with them, and then fill out the rest with tie fighters.

I would always try and focus down one ship at a time. I'd split your swarm up into two groups and try to pincer.

Also, 3x Tactician B Wings and a gold squadron with an ion turret and the stress Bot is simply a better list. Tactician doesn't damage cap you and when an agressor or soontir gets two or more stress they die soon after.

Tie Swarm

Soontir Fel + Thrusters seems like an obvious thing. If the tactician even hits you at Range 2, you have done it wrong. And good luck Ioning from Rng3 or out of Arc. Similar can be said for Turr.

Essentially, high Agi-ships with Thrusters seems like they should easily handle this. I'll second Dual Aggressors as well

Soontir Fel + Thrusters seems like an obvious thing. If the tactician even hits you at Range 2, you have done it wrong. And good luck Ioning from Rng3 or out of Arc. Similar can be said for Turr.

Essentially, high Agi-ships with Thrusters seems like they should easily handle this. I'll second Dual Aggressors as well

I have to say that I love seeing Soontir. If your ships are fanned out, It's very hard for Soontir to escape the net. I've played against some good Soontir/Whisper players, and I haven't had too hard of a time getting a stress on them. Once I get the one, things go down hill quickly for the Soontir/Whisper.

The only squad that I really feared flying against with Panic Attack, was a Swarm. There's just too many ships to lock down. You have to fly very differently to beat the swarm.

5 Alpha Squadron Pilots w/ AutoThrusters. That's a good list to beat it. Sit at R3 and fire as much as possible.

5 Alpha Squadron Pilots w/ AutoThrusters. That's a good list to beat it. Sit at R3 and fire as much as possible.

15 hull vs 32.... I don't think this is as easy as you may think. Also it's a lot harder for a Non PTL interceptor to "Sit" at R3. Interceptors don't really slow roll that well, they want to move.

More dice

Panic thrives in the wave 5 meta of derivative bull and 2 ship lists. The larger and more point efficient your squadron, the easier time you'll have

The only squad that I really feared flying against with Panic Attack, was a Swarm. There's just too many ships to lock down. You have to fly very differently to beat the swarm.

XXXZZZ, BBBBZ, Etahn + 5Z, 8 TIEs, and even the old-fashioned Howlrunner + 6 TIEs should have a lot of success. Control builds get better and better as the number of ships they have to control shrinks, so bringing more ships is a surefire way to get a handle on them.

The question of whether two IGs could do it is an interesting one, and I suspect it depends on luck and the specific control build. The one the OP is talking about (with just one Tactician) is probably on the easier end for IGs to handle, but a list with more stress (and more varied sources of stress) would be a lot more difficult.

Build lists that don't need actions to be successful. EPTs like Predator or Lone Wolf do not require an action. If your entire list will be handcuffed by stress, you will run into issues against a panic build. I have a duel Starviper build that could care less if they get their action or not. Stress means nothing to this build. Their actions help and make the list more effective, but its important to consider the effects of loss of action on your list when building.

Dom took this squad to Nationals, and I think it would do very well against Panic Attack or Control builds in general.

BH

x2 OGP

Doomshuttle.

4 big ships with a ton of hull and shields and they really don't care if they have actions or not. B's really don't like the Big Bases. It can be hard to get around them.

I played 4 Tactician B Wings against a dual agressor build and kind of stomped it. They ditch stress easily with all the green they have, but they're super dependant on actions and segnor's loops and k turns. Once you can repeatedly keep at least 2 stress on them they're doomed. Same thing with soontir. Yeah, he ditches stress easily and gets a focus every time tactician triggers, but once he's double stressed the PtL shenanigans stop and he's as easy to kill as a TIE Fighter.

Interesting discussions all.

I must admit that my experience mirrors mrfroggies and vorpals.

Keeping interceptors etc at range 3 is pretty difficult in practice. Although, I am taking away "fly better" as part of this exchange - and I agree that this is something I, and we as a group, need to work I on!

I also agree that more tacticians are better, but we're limited by cards and are running tournament practice. We also have very limited experience with scum - hopefully that'll change in time!

Stone - that's very important and was brought home to me recently with a decimator and Ysanne - looked good on paper, but being constantly stressed meant that it was of no use to me!