I love the ship in lore and design, and I wanted the ion pulse missiles and predator so I pulled the trigger before seeing the price of Rexler Brath (37), holy cow that's expensive, but the stats seem strong.

Are there any reliable lists for this craft? I've seen some defender hate on the forums, is it flyable in competetive lists? Just curious. I own firespray, imperial aces, 1 core, 1 most wanted, HWK, falcon and the star viper - but feel free to post lists that include components beyond these packs.

Thanks in advance!

Depends on your definition of viable.

Totally viable for casual play.

Depends on who you ask and how you fly them.

The best word for the TIE defender is controversial.

I'm a huge fan of the TIE defender. I decided to run a 3x Delta + Ion Cannon list to a local tournament. Now, I usually end up in 1st or 2nd at these casual, local events. Not this time: 9th place. It was just sad. I still like them, but I'm just not seeing how they can be competitive. There may be something to 'cracking the code' and figuring out how to fly them, but I'm still struggling with that. As a TIE interceptor fan, I may have to radically change the way I maneuver to get them to work.

A Delta pilot with an HLC packs a mean punch and cost just as much as Rexlar. That being said, I think the Raider Expansion is going to bring some more life to this ship since Col. Vessary will love to team up with most Tie Advanced pilots, particularly if they're rocking the Advanced Targeting Computer. Free Target Locks for days...

Depends on your definition of viable.

Its viable in casual play. In tourney play not so much

The problem many dont like as you see is the points cost for just the chasis and no upgrades

Depends on your definition of viable.

Competition-grade viability: So a Tie D mixed with other good ships, flown by a veteran.

Making the cut is within reach.

Top 4 is generally not.

Local tournaments it's totally viable. I won a 14 man running a souped up rexlar. As for large tournaments Vessery is in fact viable if you can keep target locks up for him. It's just pretty much zero people run them competitively. But the math does back Vessery and my experience backs Brath. I haven't tried generics yet but I heard good things about HLC generics with jonus

I think I'm going to try a vexler/vader build in the future after the new titles come out.

You can compete with defender lists, but you will work a lot harder at it than most other lists.

They are very fun though.

I've found that defenders don't stand up well when your opponent decides that they need to die first. Pairing them with another ship to take the heat off can work well if your opponent takes the bait, but that's difficult given the rather hefty point cost sunk into the ship. I haven't figured out a reasonable way to make them tanky.

I suspect that ATC Vader will pair nicely with Vessery, in that people will be shooting at Vader first, and Vader can focus+evade to shrug it off. Maybe something like:

Darth Vader (29)

Advanced Targeting Computer (1)

TIE/x1 (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)

Lone Wolf (2)

Soontir Fel (27)

Push the Limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Facing any of those ships endgame is going to be painful.

The Tie Defender is my favorite Imperial ship of all time. I wish it were top tier. It's not.

It does really well for casual play, but... It eats too many points to be a filler ship. And it's not quite deadly/tanky enough to be a centerpiece in its own right. And so I'm sad.

Having said all that, it's only slightly worse for it's cost than the X-Wing. So if your opponent runs those, you should be ok to run Defenders.

I've had success with Defenders in tournaments. They are tough and hit hard. I do agree that currently the named pilots' abilities do not match up well with Imperial mechanics. The Raider and the Advance fix will help with this.

If the speculation/card-squinting on the Twin Ion Engine Mk II upgrade included with the Punisher is correct, the Defender may be somewhat more viable soon, albeit still overcosted.

Honestly though, it comes down to fun. If you like flying the Defender, practice with it. The white 4K is a neat trick, and as you play with it more you get better at bluffing with it.

Depends on your definition of viable.

Competition-grade viability: So a Tie D mixed with other good ships, flown by a veteran.

I've done pretty well with Defenders in low-level local tournaments (3 wins, 2 2nd place finishes, 1 4th place; your local meta may vary), but have had not experience of any kind at Regionals or higher. It takes some practice, and some of your success might come from people not really understanding how the Defender flies. That sort success may or may not last. That being said, there are some real advantages to them that are not obvious unless you mess around with them a bunch first. I only ever take mine with HLCs, really, and typically with one of the named pilots (I go all out). You might be surprised what you can do with that sort of offensive power in a fast-moving small base can accomplish. They're not by-the-numbers efficient, but they're interesting to fly, and you can do some good stuff with them.

It's a special ship to fly and quite fun in friendly games, but it's not viable in competitive play. I had some success with RAC/Vessery but that's the best i could do with defenders. As soon as you go against a really good list with Defenders they always seem to have very good answers to a defender.

Rexler with HLC predator and four ties is fun you block with the academy pilots while rexler smiles from range.

When the raider arrives Vader, vessery and the third pilot of your choice will annihilate plenty of lists.

Firespray with recon specialist and a pair of defenders is fun.

Chirpy paired with vessery is also solid.

They are not interceptors if you try knife fighting with them you'll have a bad day, use your speed to keep your distance early game.

Tournamentwise using a TIE defender won't cripple you like a pre-fix TIE advanced would have (the game's one and only truly bad ship, although many ships have a couple of dodgy pilots), but it's no easy button. It's in the same area as the generic X-wing: it's good but better exists. If your plan is absolute optimisation it's not the ship for you. You certainly can win with it though.

That being said, Vessery's synergy with the Advanced Targeting Computer TIE/x1 is incredible.

I'm a fan of taking one of the named pilots with minimal upgrades - either Rexler with Predator, or Vessery with VI if I'm short on points. Being PS8 and usually being able to K-Turn to where the opposing ships were after a head-to-head pass is really nice.

You can compete with defender lists, but you will work a lot harder at it than most other lists.

This.

Saw two different Defender lists take second at Store Championships in my area - one, a Vessery/Kenkirk combo (ended up losing to both named pre-FAQ Phantoms), and the other was when I took Rexler+Predator alongside Carnor Jax and a Royal Guard to the final table (lost to a Fat Han...). It's not a bad ship, but it's definitely not the absolute best you could do. Still, a solid, capable ship in the right hands.

And to back that up, I think it's a viable enough ship that I plan on taking Vessery+VI as part of my list to Regionals.

Vessery works well with ei chir. Really well.

With the arrival of the new Advanced X1, I think that people will simply prefer to include just another advanced in their squad rather than a defender, since IMO they'll prove to be more cost-efficient, maneuverable and tanky in the long run than their cousins.

Just for the comparison, for 30 points, you have a naked PS1 Defender or a PS9 Darth Vader with ATC.... For 37 points, you have a PS1 Defender with HLC or a PS9 Vader + ATC + Predator + Engine Upgrade.

Also, I believe that the mysterious upgrade included with the Punisher, while nice, won't be enough to make Defenders more competitive, especially having those shiny X1 TIEs next to them in the hangar. It's going to happen like with the 'Munitions Failsafe' upgrade. Yes, it's nice and all, but ordnance had still some fundamental problems that weren't truly solved with that card. Defenders have so many fundamental problems that they will still require more work to put them in line.

Vessel with Lone Wolf/ion cannon and two sigmas with FCS,Stygium, intelligence agent.

Fel with PTL, auto thrusters, targeting computer and two deltas with ion cannons