So for the longest time I had wanted to use bombers and with the punisher and extra munitions coming out, I figured I would give it another shot. I currently only have 1 bomber(but I am buying a 2nd when I find one). I recently flew Jonus with 2 HLC space cows with him, and that list was surprisingly fun.

Now to the point. Are there any decent ways to fly Rhymer other than not flying Rhymer? Prockets seem like they could be fun as with cluster missiles when paired with Jonus or having predator. Any other builds that might be good?

The upcoming Advanced Homing Missiles look to be made for Rhymer, IMO. We don't know much about them other than they are cheap and only fire at Range 2. But Rhymer can extend that to 1-3, so that has to be good for the price.

I flew him with Vader and Squad Leader and a Defender. He had two Apt. The Defender did a great job distracting my enemy. Unfortunately I misjudged a few movment rounds and could not get Rhymer to range 2 in time to deliver the horrible beating I had envisioned.

Extra munitions, an APT, and Push the limit doesn't seem too bad. Not /too/ bad on points.

Add More bombers! Hefty wing of bombers comming your way is nasty

I really enjoy him with Prockets and Prdator.

though I really want to play him with APT, PTL, and EU haha. Arc Dodging!

Rhymer is one of my favorite pilots. I would recommend giving him some wingmen who might hit even harder so targeting priority is a problem for your opponent.

Yeah, PTL is almost a must. Honestly, its so much easier to get ordnance off with two actions and high PS. Rhymer really just has a problem of FFG being kind of short sighted when they crated him. Under current rules of ordnance, Rhymer has a normal overcost of something like 3 or 4 points, atrociously overcosted, and then adding expensive upgrades like ordnance to boot.

If the Scimitar is 16 for PS2, then Rhymer should be technically 21 or 22. WOW A FIVE POINT TAX. HOLY DANG FFG GET YOUR ACT RIGHT.

Jonus too has a pilot ability tax. Though, in his case, might be more worth while. but by pilot skill alone, he should cost 20.

Do note that some pilots really do need the tax. Keyan is an example of a super powerful ship with a little tax.

Rhymer is NOT worth 5 extra points of wasted tax.

So another way to play him, is to give yourself/that player 3 or 4 points of free upgrades. That should go a long way to helping.

Rhymer's problem is twofold.

First is that the TIE bomber for 16 points really performs like a Z-95 headhunter with a slightly faster dial. It has 2 firepower and that 6 hull really doesn't last long behind 2 agility. It may have slightly more durability since crits are not that common and the damage deck doesn't deliver that much extra damage. At least it can't be one shotted by an HLC in which the Z-95 certainly can so a little bit more durability but not by much for 4 more points. You could just slap a shield upgrade on a Z-95 and have a tougher headhunter for a Bomber.

As for Major Rhymer it is centered around a set of upgrades that really don't do well, missiles and torpedoes. Now I will admit that most people misuse the ability and try and slap something like Proton Rockets and APT on him. Major Rhymer is not to make range 1 weapons range 1-2 it is to make range 1-2 and 2-3 weapons range 1-3.

Now as for what has been spoiled. Well we do know extra munitions will come out and for 2 points it will double two missile slots, the other torpedo slot, and the bomb slot. Now the problem with that say you fully load up Maj Rhymer is that you can't guarantee that he will get to shoot off all 6 missiles/torpedoes and the 2 bombs for the game since he still is 6 hull behind a meager 2 agility. Also arc dodgers are still a thing and trying to pin them in arc with a red TL token is still hard.

There is also an adv homing missile torpedo which has been partially spoiled. It is a range 2 in which Rhymer can easily make 1-3 making the most use out of his ability and it is 3 firepower for 3 points and requires a target lock. Other than that nothing else is known about the effects although it can be speculated from the homing missile card that it won't require you to spend your target lock so you can reroll red dice if needed. Now will 4 Adv Home Missile (AHM) shots for 8 points be worth it? Well that depends if Maj Rhymer can fire 4 homing missile shots, the target lock is a very restrictive ability. From what I have seen with TIE bombers from Scimitar to Major Rhymer, from wave 3 to post wave 6 meta; is that he might get 2 shots in before buying the farm.

I still like the tag team of Rhymer and Jonus. They really do work well together but agreed with the posters saying less is more. 2 good hard shots and 1-2 mid range shots are plenty for a tie bomber. They aren't tanks, more like a bomber jet. Extra munitions is such a missed opportunity I feel. It will benefit bulky tanks like a firespray way more than a star fighter boom runner. Ah well, keep trying with those bombers they are not bad ships at all. The generics are more useful than most trash and I think they look cool. The Interceptor is still king of cool in my book but a bomber is 2 or 3 easy for empire style.

If only Rhymer's ability affected allies as well, he might have been worth the cost.

I nearly won a store championship with a Rymer build. I wasn't supposed to play, but we only have 15 players and I didn't have my stuff, so I used the stores.

I came in 4th when 4-1. It worked because people didn't expect it. Let me tell you I took down a VT-49 in nearly one turn, it was awesome fun!. Problem I encountered was a Phantom list before the nerf. He took out Rymer quickly and got some major crits on me.

Rymer, Assault Missiles, Cluster, Push, Seismic, Munitions Failsafe

Jonus, Ion Pulse, Cluster, Push Seimic, Munitions Failsafe

Academy

Academy

Will be adding Extra Munitions for sure. Probably as generic Punisher too.

I ran rhymer, push the limit and two proton torpedoes, with howlrunner and a mini swarm. He feasted on the tears of Emon . . .

rhymer is nd will always be incredibly overpriced (4 ******* points up from jonus)

best you can do is go over to armada, where he is not only viable but pretty **** bonkers

Yeah I tried to run a list with Rhymer Jonus and Capt. Kagi(I really like lambdas and I didn't want people target locking). I proxied extra munitions but I put way too much on Rhymer and too little on Jonus, then proceeded to maneuver Rhymer terribly, close enough for Jonus but I couldn't get the shots off that I wanted. Guy was running a Vader with ATC proxy so he just arc dodged me easily, tho Kagi did help to deny him free crits on my bombers. I still lost but a nice learning experience

Rhymer had Cluster missiles and APTs with PTL and extra munitions on him but I only got off 1 of the APTs. not sure whether to try him in another squad or just hold off for now

Play Armada. In X-Wing, Rhymer is as useless as ordnance. As his ability pushes rockets and torpedos, he does not even make sense with bombs. Rhymer might come into his own if there will ever be an ordnance fix, but the scanners are blank on this.

If only Rhymer's ability affected allies as well, he might have been worth the cost.

If only Jonus could use his own ability.

I ran him with dual APTs and PTL with Soonts and 2 Academies, worked pretty well

I think Jonus biggest hurdle is that Imperials don't use secondary weapons that much. There is only 3 small base ships that can us secondary weapons. The Defender is expensive and the only one that has access to the cannon. Teh Bombers have enough weapon slots to make use of jonus abilities. Everything else such as the TIE advance can use Jonus ability only once per turn. Same for most of the large base ships. Only having a single missile or torpedo slot really dosn't synergize with Jonus that well.

Jonus works good with only 4 Imperial ships. Other Tie Bombers (of course), Tie Defenders, Shuttles, and Firesprays. Every other ship really doesn't work that well with jonus and the points you spend on munition armed generics is never worth it.

I'd suggest busting out the mad rhymes to show dominance over your opponent as is only fitting for the badest MC in the Empire, Major Rhymer.

I'm Major Rhymer and I'm here to say,

The Empire gonna kick your butt today.

Aint no surprise that you get beat,

When you face the might of the Imperial Fleet!!!

(flash gang signs as necessary)

If there is one card that FFG just needs reprint with a lower cost its Major Rhymer. He really needs to be 1 point more than Jonus. Not 4.

There are ways to make Rhymer work, but it doesn't help with his (already mentioned) overcost. Maybe when the new Adv. Homing Missile comes out.

Cluster Missiles going to R3 are good vs. low agility ships (fat turrets). I see Rhymer as the only way I'd ever use Adv Proton Torps, but that is even more expensive.

Rhymer in a 100 point game does seem a little overpriced. Rhymer when there's a CR-90 or Transport on the board in epic? That's a different story altogether.

Rhymer with Extra Munitions is 28 points. VI and a Homing Missile would put him at 34. He'd have 2 shots that are HLC equivalents, with an extra kicker against Evades. I don't hate this at PS9. He's not very tough, but he's not super squishy. He is probably too squishy to put many more points in than this, though, and that's a problem.

Is there any decent way to increase his durability to protect the admittedly massive offense he can bring?

Brainstorming:

Lone Wolf

PTL (Focus for defense while keeping up target locks)

Lots of close range threats to draw attention away

Large Ship with Tactical Jammer

I personally like to kit out Rhymer with APT because they are so scary. PtL helps get those sexy 5 hits, and with EM he is a 37 point monster that will be public enemy #1, but probably smash at least 1 face in the process. The hard thing here is to provide him some cover so he can get in and deliver. These are some of the things I use to help him out:

• Black Squad w/ Draw their Fire to save him from a crit or two
• Determination (if you don't go the PtL route

I think if you go with Rhymer you really just have to go the full glass cannon route and give your opponent really hard choices. A naked Phantom does this role well, as does an interceptor with Opportunist. Both are strange builds, to say the least though.

Rhymer - PtL, APT, Homing, EM (42)

Sigma - Sygium, FCS (29)

Sigma - Sygium, FCS (29)

I personally like to kit out Rhymer with APT because they are so scary. PtL helps get those sexy 5 hits, and with EM he is a 37 point monster that will be public enemy #1, but probably smash at least 1 face in the process. The hard thing here is to provide him some cover so he can get in and deliver. These are some of the things I use to help him out:

• Black Squad w/ Draw their Fire to save him from a crit or two
• Determination (if you don't go the PtL route

I think if you go with Rhymer you really just have to go the full glass cannon route and give your opponent really hard choices. A naked Phantom does this role well, as does an interceptor with Opportunist. Both are strange builds, to say the least though.

Rhymer - PtL, APT, Homing, EM (42)

Sigma - Sygium, FCS (29)

Sigma - Sygium, FCS (29)

Guess what I'd kill first. In range 3 or from behind.

Maybe Rhymer could make a shot before killed.