Throughout the Regional season I've been studying the game intently and have gotten a ton of play experience, and I've noticed some of the components of a list that make them effective in the current meta. I've come up with a list of these components with some examples for those that are not obvious:

Pilot Skill Level

Primary Weapon Turret

Large Base Boost

Stress/Control

Autothrusters

Heavy Laser Cannon

Damage Mitigation

Action Economy

Action Independence (ex. Predator, C-3P0, RAC ability)

Action Denial (stress+ion, blocking)

Forced Damage (ex. Gunner, IG88-B ability, Vader crew)

Critical Damage

Now looking at the regionals results, there are 4 lists that have appeared a high percentage at the final tables:

Brobots (most IGB&C)

RAC/Fel

Dash/Corran

Han+3Z

Now let's look at how proficient these lists are in the categories I detailed above.

Brobots: 8/12: Pilot Skill Level (VI), Large Base Boost, Autothrusters, Heavy Laser Cannon, Damage Mitigation, Action Economy, Forced Damage, Critical Damage

Brobots are very versatile and can be built in many different ways, but some of the staple upgrades are VI/PTL/Pred for the EPT slot, Adv Sensors/FCS, Autothrusters, and HLC or Mangler Cannons. Because of their versatility they might sacrifice some advantages over others depending on play style.

RAC/Fel: 10/12: Pilot Skill Level, Primary Weapon Turret, Large Base Boost, Stress/Control, Autothrusters, Damage Mitigation, Action Economy, Action Independence, Forced Damage, Critical Damage

With the standard set up of RAC with Pred/VI, Gunner, Rebel Captive, Ysanne Isard, Engine Upgrade, and Soontir with PTL, AT, Title, Stealth Device/Shield Upgrade, this list boasts 10/12 categories that are, in my opinion, successful in the current meta. It is no surprise that this list has won so many regionals.

Dash/Corran: 5/12: Pilot Skill Level, Large Base Boost, Heavy Laser Cannon, Damage Mitigation, Action Economy

Typical list includes Dash with PTL, HLC, Title, Kyle Katarn, Engine Upgrade, and Corran with VI, R2-D2, and FCS. Most might throw in Dash with PWT's, but frankly he plays very differently, and has a serious weakness that can be exploited by any PS8+ pilot. What this list lacks in these categories it makes up in raw power and mobility.

Han+3Z: 7/12: Pilot Skill Level, Primary Weapon Turret, Large Base Boost, Damage Mitigation, Action Independence, Action Denial, Forced Damage

The typical Fat Han build comes with Gunner, C-3P0, Engine Upgrade, Predator/Lone Wolf, and the title. Depending on the opponent, the 3Z's are used to deny actions/maneuvers by blocking to keep Han safe. With Han's ability, Predator, and Gunner, he's able to keep the damage going while focusing on evading if he's taking heavy fire.

Hopefully this helps identify what to include in your lists to either combat the current meta, or join it. I'd like to hear your thoughts and if you think there are any other components/lists that are driving the current meta!

but are they really dominating? Last I can remember, there was a chart documenting the regional results that had Aggressors, Interceptors, VT-49s, YT-1300s, and Z-95s all occupying slots for the most used ships

So they're not really "dominating" as much as "co-dominating" which is what the content of the post alludes to, but not the title

anyway, having played against this list far more times than I'd ever want to, I can say Soonts really isn't a big deal. Cheri's been around from Wave 5, hiding behind "Whisper" at that time, and has now endured under the guise of another, far lesser arc-dodger.

Soonts is a great ship, especially in the current environment which seems to be little more than elite ships with 2 sources of guaranteed damage mitigation (evade + thrusters in this case; only exception being the VT which gets Ysanne and then a ****ton more health than anyone else), but compared to the last incarnation of the RAC + toadie list he isn't anything special.

unlike whisper, Soonts:

1. has a very standard offense of 3 dice + focus, especially since you almost never see TC on him since he gets too squishy without thrusters and another defensive mod (compared to four dice primary + FCS)

2. gets completely screwed by universal sources of action denial, such as blocking or obstructions, not to mention external sources such as piling on additional stress. losing his actions turns soontir into the world's most expensive Alpha Squadron pilot. (compared to ACD, whisper's assigned focus, and FCS; none of which care about losing the action step to blocks or asteroids, and of which only ACD cares about stress)

3. cannot move before he moves (ala de-cloak), making him surprisingly predictable. When stressed, his repertoire of green maneuvers lets him turn little better than a B-wing (all the 2 speed turns, 3 straight; 4 straight). He can ignore these maneuvers to open up his dial, but he will carry the stress with him and be very vulnerable. This also leads to him potentially losing shots if forced to move defensively, since he can neither decloak nor pack a PWT.

meanwhile, there's RAC

RAC packs

1. attack and action independent control (Rebel captive), which is particularly devastating for poor Aggressors (good luck chasing the fat bastard without red maneuvers) and non-thruster PTL ships (Corran and Dash)

2. a PWT (host of advantages, mainly allowing him to forgo the decisions that soontir would have to; making no distinction between defensive manuevering and having a shot)

3. hefty, garanteed defenses (unless stressed, RAC gets free evades from isanne. 16 combined health is still 16 combined health, regardless of action--which typically wouldn't help with 0 agility, anyway)

4. action-independent, nearly full modified offense. Between predator, his ability, and gunner, RAC can fart out perfect to near perfect rolls on every attack.

5. high PS (8) arc-dodger (large base boost, exacerbated by PWT advantage letting him maneuver how he wishes with minimal to no consequence)

I've seen RAC overlooked many times because he is, essentially, a sh*tty Han. While technically true from a damage mitigation standpoint (c3po + evade to just evade), RAC has unique access to rebel captive and a more potent action-independent offense (focus --> crit as opposed to re-rolls which are sometimes redundant with predator)

Make no mistake, Soonts is a powerful ship and a late game carry (can't exactly block and shoot him with only one ship), but RAC carries the list.

but are they really dominating? Last I can remember, there was a chart documenting the regional results that had Aggressors, Interceptors, VT-49s, YT-1300s, and Z-95s all occupying slots for the most used ships

Those included appearances of ships.

I've done some further analysis, and this is the final table wins/final table appearances of specific lists:

Brobots: 8/24

RAC/Fel: 13/19

Dash/Corran: 5/10

Han+3Z: 5/10

Brobots get there often but don't always close. RAC/Fel are winning most of their appearances.

Depending on your definitions, my best list at the moment only has 4/12. Two others are maybes. So I guess that means I'm still anti-meta, hooray!

Basically you've just shown that a bunch of 2 ship lists dominate.

Thanks MoV.

Hmmm, only 7/12... that's it, I'm switching to RAC/Fel...

...and now I'm stuck for the rest of the afternoon trying to build a squad that's 12/12

So a TIE swarm, which has been in several top 8s and I think won at least one Regional? Has only maybe 2 or 3/12:

Pilot Skill (but only with Howl)

Action Denial (blocking)

maybe Action Independence (Howl's reroll, but only while she's alive)

How is it managing to hold on?

it's not

compared to its showings in previous waves (including 5, i.e the wave in which the 2 ship deluge began to slow unabated), the presence of tie fighters has plummeted considerably

now B-wings and Z-95s have taken the mantle from Ties, and only B-wings come to predominantly hold their own as a swarm (Z-95s are most often found on zipoffs of heaver's fat han + talas list , not counting the one that managed to sneak into the BBBB convention). Note, however, that while B-wings are popular they are still noticeably less present than Z-95s and the typical stuff (Fell, IGs, VTs, YT-1300s etc.) forming a sort of 2nd tier (ito popularity) alongside Dash.

in most of these swarm lists, though, sheer numbers account for every missing category. No control? Blocking is a form of control, and you got lots of ways to block (i.e lots of ships to block with). A ship got denied actions? you got more ships. A ship took damage? You got tons more ships. Action economy? How about 5 focus across all my generic goons?

etc.

the only thing that swarms can't approximate are PWTs and m.o.v hoarding, nor the sheer ease of only having to worry about 2 ships across multiple games

So a TIE swarm, which has been in several top 8s and I think won at least one Regional? Has only maybe 2 or 3/12:

Pilot Skill (but only with Howl)

Action Denial (blocking)

maybe Action Independence (Howl's reroll, but only while she's alive)

How is it managing to hold on?

Player skill and match ups can affect results of course, but the lists I've described are far and above more consistent.

In comparison, TIE swarms have appeared in 4 final tables, and have won 1.

player skill always affect outcomes of the game, even the extreme cases of dice-fest between opposing PWTs is decided by how well the 2-ships from either list coordinate fire against one another (assuming the dice behave, but that's always the case with PWTs)

problem is the Swarm is far more skill intensive (more ships), and managing it while stop-gaping gushing m.o.v wounds gets bloody tiring

As a RAC-Fel flyer, I like the write up. And, as Ficklegreendice say, the pilot's skill has a lot to do when determining the outcome of a match. I have made some bad manuevers with RAC and Fel, and gotten into trouble. Simply flying RAC-Fel/Whisper is not a guaranteed win!

I do occasionally swap RebCap for Mara Jade though. I find myself stuck in parking lots quite often with the Decimator, and Jade comes in handy in those situations. However, when my opponent sets up a Phantom or BroBots, I really long for RebCap!

Apparently Han+3Z is near anti-meta now with a 5/12. ;-)

Apparently Han+3Z is near anti-meta now with a 5/12. ;-)

ironically, Paul Heaver's original Han + 3 Talaz was made exclusively to deal with the deluge of fat hans

how? Instead of Gunner + C3po, he used r2-d2 + c3po to out-fat the other fatties

I count 7/12, though (PS, PWT, boosties, mitigation, economy, action independence, forced damage ala gunner)

I think it's because Soontir is essentially invincible to other turrets, and the list has a Fat boosting turret also which matches their opponent's fat turret and also stomps everything that's a 'normal' ship. Chiraneu's ability with predator and gunner on a turret is about as game ruining as you could possibly get.

A swarm could vaporize the Deci and then get a full win/clock out Soontir, but no one plays them due to the disadvantages of a swarm. Various BBBB(Z) lists would also have a decent chance. Certain control lists can autowin against Whisper/Soontir and deci also but good luck beating anything else. But with all the dumb power upgrade stacking and nuanceless 2 ship builds nowadays, half the game is won in the list building phase.

RAC/Fel is dominating because Han and Fel are in different factions. Can you imagine?!?

New player here, I'm confused on the out of 12 thing how do you get 7/12 and such?

Wow, just a really excellent analysis by OP and ficklegreendice (at least as far as this relatively new player is concerned), implications of the thread's title aside. Some issues I hadn't even considered before were identified for me. I still have a lot to learn but now at least I know what it is I need to study! This is what makes this community awesome. Keep it up, guys!

RAC/Fel is dominating because Han and Fel are in different factions. Can you imagine?!?

ah, but Han does have mini-Fell

apparently just being discovered in the recent regionals (which makes me very sad that Jake's being run as a PWT floozy and not the leader of a 5 A-wing squad )

You completely overlooked what makes Corran Horn Powerful - regeneration and area denial.

The ability to take hit in order to have a good position but then regenerate is obvious, so I doubt that it needs an explanation. However, one of Horn's greatest attributes is that he can cause severe damage over the course of a single turn. If you move into Horn's path, you risk having 2 sets of 4 red dice thrown at you (typically with at least some modifiers). This can create area denial for anything that is fragile or which quickly sheds hitpoints. When combined with Horn's regeneration, it can mean that he gets two attacks in while the opposing player's return fire has a chance of being worthless.

New player here, I'm confused on the out of 12 thing how do you get 7/12 and such?

I listed 12 components of the current meta that are seeing success. I'm showing how many of those components are included in each list.

"Because stuff that's good against a fat turret isn't good against a nippy arc-dodger and vice-versa."

You completely overlooked what makes Corran Horn Powerful - regeneration and area denial.

The ability to take hit in order to have a good position but then regenerate is obvious, so I doubt that it needs an explanation. However, one of Horn's greatest attributes is that he can cause severe damage over the course of a single turn. If you move into Horn's path, you risk having 2 sets of 4 red dice thrown at you (typically with at least some modifiers). This can create area denial for anything that is fragile or which quickly sheds hitpoints. When combined with Horn's regeneration, it can mean that he gets two attacks in while the opposing player's return fire has a chance of being worthless.

I consider his regeneration as a form of damage mitigation.

And yes, I guess I could consider Corran's ability as "Forced Damage"? Capitalizing on great position on two R1 shots instead of one and possibly being arc dodged next turn is a good way to force damage through, specially with FCS and after stripping tokens.

Dash/Corran is a very special list. I think it requires the most skill to win with, specially if flying against PS8+.

but are they really dominating? Last I can remember, there was a chart documenting the regional results that had Aggressors, Interceptors, VT-49s, YT-1300s, and Z-95s all occupying slots for the most used ships

So they're not really "dominating" as much as "co-dominating" which is what the content of the post alludes to, but not the title

anyway, having played against this list far more times than I'd ever want to, I can say Soonts really isn't a big deal. Cheri's been around from Wave 5, hiding behind "Whisper" at that time, and has now endured under the guise of another, far lesser arc-dodger.

Soonts is a great ship, especially in the current environment which seems to be little more than elite ships with 2 sources of guaranteed damage mitigation (evade + thrusters in this case; only exception being the VT which gets Ysanne and then a ****ton more health than anyone else), but compared to the last incarnation of the RAC + toadie list he isn't anything special.

unlike whisper, Soonts:

1. has a very standard offense of 3 dice + focus, especially since you almost never see TC on him since he gets too squishy without thrusters and another defensive mod (compared to four dice primary + FCS)

2. gets completely screwed by universal sources of action denial, such as blocking or obstructions, not to mention external sources such as piling on additional stress. losing his actions turns soontir into the world's most expensive Alpha Squadron pilot. (compared to ACD, whisper's assigned focus, and FCS; none of which care about losing the action step to blocks or asteroids, and of which only ACD cares about stress)

3. cannot move before he moves (ala de-cloak), making him surprisingly predictable. When stressed, his repertoire of green maneuvers lets him turn little better than a B-wing (all the 2 speed turns, 3 straight; 4 straight). He can ignore these maneuvers to open up his dial, but he will carry the stress with him and be very vulnerable. This also leads to him potentially losing shots if forced to move defensively, since he can neither decloak nor pack a PWT.

meanwhile, there's RAC

RAC packs

1. attack and action independent control (Rebel captive), which is particularly devastating for poor Aggressors (good luck chasing the fat bastard without red maneuvers) and non-thruster PTL ships (Corran and Dash)

2. a PWT (host of advantages, mainly allowing him to forgo the decisions that soontir would have to; making no distinction between defensive manuevering and having a shot)

3. hefty, garanteed defenses (unless stressed, RAC gets free evades from isanne. 16 combined health is still 16 combined health, regardless of action--which typically wouldn't help with 0 agility, anyway)

4. action-independent, nearly full modified offense. Between predator, his ability, and gunner, RAC can fart out perfect to near perfect rolls on every attack.

5. high PS (8) arc-dodger (large base boost, exacerbated by PWT advantage letting him maneuver how he wishes with minimal to no consequence)

I've seen RAC overlooked many times because he is, essentially, a sh*tty Han. While technically true from a damage mitigation standpoint (c3po + evade to just evade), RAC has unique access to rebel captive and a more potent action-independent offense (focus --> crit as opposed to re-rolls which are sometimes redundant with predator)

Make no mistake, Soonts is a powerful ship and a late game carry (can't exactly block and shoot him with only one ship), but RAC carries the list.

Precisely! Making the transition from RAC/Whisper to RAC/Fel I was surprised how little damage output Fel actually has, game after game. By comparison, his range 2 shot is very close to an unmodified 4-dice shot, which is what Whisper would do on the first round, before FCS.

What's even worse, is that attack is deeply coupled with defense on Fel. Most of the times you will need a boost/BR + focus for a *nice* shot. A nice shot leaves you with one evade/focus token to use for defense, which in my experience is equivalent to being dead in the water. It's super important to "token up" with Fel at all times where there's a risk of more than one ship firing at him (or just one turret, especially one with gunner). If he's tokened up for defense, he might not have more than a range 2-3 shot, which is pretty lackluster. And if you do get a nice shot, you still have a lot of variance in dice results, since you have only one modification (focus). Taking a chance to get a good shot only to find yourself half-exposed, then rolling one hit is quite frustrating. It just seems to me like a high-risk, maybe-reward ship+pilot.

RAC on the other hand is a beast. Predator + ability is stronger than a single focus, coupled with gunner and an action, you have surprising chances of getting 3 hits. Unfortunately, getting consistent 3 hits is not enough. Problem is, everybody recognizes him as the threat (65 points, hello?) and he can't run forever.

Yea I find whisper with chirpy much scarier than fel with chirpy. A big part of that is the 4 dice attack with fcs, but also the fact that stress and/or blocking doesn't hurt whisper nearly as badly as it hurts soontir.

Soontir is the better choice for going against turret lists though I'll admit, as AT really helps a lot, especially with stealth.

People just are in love with auto thrusters and afraid of the phantom nerf, so fel just sees so much more play now than whisper, which is just fine with me!!

I played several times with a swarm, 5 A + 2 Z, against RAC+Fel, and won all but one (in 60 minute games, that one game went to time, with RAC having 1 HP left). I usually gun down RAC and then simply run from Fel; if he follows I set up a wall where all can shoot him at range 2 - killed him twice that way.

Took that list to a tournament last week but was unable to make the cut due to a critical maneuver mistake on my side that kept RAC alive for 3 more turns than he should have (down to 2 HP), giving Whisper time to gun down enough ships to give him the lead. No way to kill Whisper with As and Zs :-)

Got a 100:0 vs a Z swarm list in that tournament, the Z swarm was unable to damage the As thanks to the 3 green dice and an occasional evade token when critical. The list did also play well vs Corran Dash, killing Dash and ignoring Corran.

So in my experience that A and Z swarm is pretty strong, but unforgiving if you make mistakes. You have to fly very bold in the beginning to have enough time for finishing the point fortress, then withdraw. I used to play TIE swarm in the past, but that's a no go in the current meta., the AZ swarm is much more reliable (almost no one-shot-kills except Phantom at range 1)