I am resurrecting and modifying my SC list for regionals. It was a swarm list with low PS centred around Etahn. The only trouble I had with the list was facing phantoms. So I am planning to drop Etahn for a new ace to specifically counter phantoms. I have at most 36 points to spend on a single ship, or I could switch out a z-95 and spend 49 on a phantom-hunting pair.

Right now I am leaning towards Luke + VI + EU + R3-A2. Luke shoots first and stresses, phantom can't recloak and swarm finishes it off. I also considered Ten Numb + mangler for the sure critical but feel Ten would likely die after putting 1-2 hits on the phantom and he isn't helping the swarm do damage to the phantom. Flechette + calculation would bring the stress effect back but has limited damage output.

What do you consider the best phantom hunter pilot (or pair of pilots) in the game fitting my points limits?

Stress wing wins. Go forth and conquer.

He's also a great swing against swarms and ptl. He's not overly fond of hlcs though.

Ten Numb + Mangler + VI = 36 right on the dot

Unstoppable crit and you shoot/move after they can re-cloak, you could possible kill a Phantom before it even fires. He also does pretty good work against the Soontir Fels you are bound to see. You'll need to keep him in the back and sniping to keep him from getting focused down early.

Luke is also decent with stressbot, but he's not going to put out the same amount of offense.

Stress wing wins. Go forth and conquer.

He's also a great swing against swarms and ptl. He's not overly fond of hlcs though.

Not familiar with the term "stress wing" but I am assuming you are talking about Luke with the stress mech?

Stress wing wins. Go forth and conquer.

He's also a great swing against swarms and ptl. He's not overly fond of hlcs though.

Not familiar with the term "stress wing" but I am assuming you are talking about Luke with the stress mech?

yeeeeeeessssssss

Stress Wing is the exact same configuration as you listed (V.I, R3-A2, EU)

It could theoretically work with Wes, but I have found him to be incredibly lacking without Luke's always-on ability (legitimately had a game veruss Jan + HLC dash where Wes double-stressed AND removed Dashes tokens, only to get one-shot by 5 unmodified dice).

Luke's been far more reliable, and he hits a good balance of being good against elite ships (PTL, phantoms) and against swarmy bastards (ability).

Stress wing wins. Go forth and conquer.

He's also a great swing against swarms and ptl. He's not overly fond of hlcs though.

Not familiar with the term "stress wing" but I am assuming you are talking about Luke with the stress mech?

yeeeeeeessssssss

Stress Wing is the exact same configuration as you listed (V.I, R3-A2, EU)

I won't claim to have come up with the configuration myself - think I saw it on another thread here today. Just didn't realize it was common enough to have its own nickname.

wouldn't a ten numb with a stress cannon be better against a phantom if Etahn is another ship? the phantom would get hit and stressed to prevent a recloak, or even an ion cannon to keep it in arc

I am getting rid of Etahn to pick up another anchor for my list - sure Etahn and Ten are great together but that leaves you with at max a 4 ship list, which is weaker against large ships and rebel swarms which are even more common than the phantom. I am hoping to keep at 6 ships.

Nera with flechette torpedoes is two lots of 360 stress IIRC

wouldn't a ten numb with a stress cannon be better against a phantom if Etahn is another ship? the phantom would get hit and stressed to prevent a recloak, or even an ion cannon to keep it in arc

Then you have to rely on PS 5 Etahn trying to keep a higher PS Phantom in arc. If you VI Ten Numb his PS 10 and will shoot before the Phantom has time to cloak. With Mango the Phantom is only rolling 2 defense die. If you get lucky and get 3 hits, you have a chance of crippling or even straight up killing the Phantom in one shot. The Fletchette cannon or Ion is nice for control, but remember the Phantom can now decloak while Ioned. Its not as easy to pin down with an Ion Cannon as it used to be.

Mangler Cannon is the way to go on Ten Numb.

Stressing the phantom after it's gotten to re-cloak (and take a free focus for Whisper) isn't nearly as useful as stressing them out beforehand. You also need a TL to fire the torpedo, so first turn in range you are not going to be able to get it off.

Even with Ten, the Stress Wing remains that sole reliable middle-finger to cast at a phantom before it can re-cloak

if only Horton could take V.I and R3-A2 (+ flechette = double the stress, double the fun)

I forgot that the phantoms can now decloak while stressed, so mangler is the better choice. as for Nera use dead eye and B-Wing/E-2 with a recon spec to get past the TL issue. that way you can have a focused torp attack

I forgot that the phantoms can now decloak while stressed, so mangler is the better choice. as for Nera use dead eye and B-Wing/E-2 with a recon spec to get past the TL issue. that way you can have a focused torp attack

the phantom could always decloak while stressed

What it could not do was re-cloak (advanced cloak device gives you a free cloak action, which you can't take if you are stressed)

The errata changed this: ionization no longer prevents de-cloaks

I forgot that the phantoms can now decloak while stressed, so mangler is the better choice. as for Nera use dead eye and B-Wing/E-2 with a recon spec to get past the TL issue. that way you can have a focused torp attack

You are still allowing them to attack and cloak first unless you have higher PS. So with Nera you are shooting 3 v 4 and probably won't do any damage - all the stress does is force them to do a green next turn. All your lower PS pilots have to now shoot at the cloaked phantom. With Luke, Luke and all lower PS pilots can now shoot at an uncloaked phantom. Likely result = dead phantom.