Hey guys, just wanted peoples opinions on the imperial firespray and its pilots. Is it a bit underpowered? Just right? What would you change to make it more balanced?

It doesn't get used much, but I think that's mostly because of faction strategy. Imperials have basically 3 archetypes: Swarm, Interceptor arc-dodgers, and Chirpy. Firesprays aren't as overwhelming/annoying as Swarms, aren't as maneuverable as arc-dodgers, and aren't as overall strong as Chirpy (who has better overall health and a turret).

I think that they are fine, the only one I don't like is Kath Scarlet, as others have stated that is an ability that we don't want triggered. I don't think we see them played as much because they are not as new and shiny as other toys.

Clearly you just need to use three Firesprays!

I pretty much only run Krassis on the Imperial Firespray.

As Warsmith noted, Kath is of questionable utility, and IMO Boba's ability is garbage.

Is the Imperial Firespray lacking? In a word, yes.

To be more specific, it has a few things going against it:

1) It is not as resilient as you think it should be. Low shields makes it susceptible to crits and 2 agility is not anything to get excited about. Sure you can Evade, but then your hitting power sucks.

2) They can get expensive so they make a fat target because of #1. The dial is great for a Large ship, but it is too big to arc-dodge effectively.

3) You can't upgrade them very much. Sure they can take ordnance, but everybody knows how inefficient ordnance is. That leaves you with a Cannon, Crew, Title (the Titles are meh), and Modification. Not much to work with.

4) The Decimator fills the Firespray role (resilient anchor of a squad) better than the Firespray.

5) The Scum Firespray pilots are way WAY better than the Imperial options.

All that being said, I run a Bounty Hunter with Gunner for 38 fairly often.

To reiterate what others above have said, the abilities on the imperial Kath and Boba are not very good, esspecially when compared to thier Scum counterparts.

Bobas ability is quite narrow and as has been said time and time again 95% of the time your original move will still be the best when you go to move him, even if your running Fettigator.

Kaths ability triggers so rarely that its not worth much, even in builds I have seen more recently with mangler cannon to get more out of the ability , due to crits being canceled last, its a bad ability that has marginal effect only when you miss.

Krassis is OK but requires a Cannon and lacks an EPT, I do wonder if he would be more playable if he had one, but that goes for basically all ships without an EPT really.

Triple naked bounty hunters are still strong. Krassis is good, but needs an EPT to push himself into the top tier.

I think that they are fine, the only one I don't like is Kath Scarlet, as others have stated that is an ability that we don't want triggered. I don't think we see them played as much because they are not as new and shiny as other toys.

I've had a helluva lot of fun playing Kath with Calculation, Mangler Canon, and Rebel Captive. Throw on a Proton Bomb if you have room.

Her ability triggers often enough. And when it doesn't your'e throwing out crits left and right. Calculation is more useful than you'd think. Often only one eyeball comes up.

Another problem is that the Slave I title card is one of the few titles that don't add much to the ship.

Compared to other large based imperial ships, yes the imperial Firespray is a bit underwhelming, but it was never really meant to be in the empire anyway.

That said I recently tried a Fett, Turr(opponent was using Fel other wise I would have used him ), Backstabber list, and had tons of fun with it (I still lost, though).

Their biggest issue is that their scum versions are so much better. The imp versions don't quite turn into proper 50 point ships.

They're not bad ships though. But imps right now have their super stars at right about 35 points (fel, vader, whisper, etc). With arc dodgers, it's all about having the proper bait for your opponent. A nicely equipped firespray comes in around 50 points. A fully loaded firespray only ends in tears. This leaves a funny gap of around 15 points to fill. Sure you could add a tie, but that's still not as effective as filling that gap with just a larger ship instead (ie decimator).

I really like Kath +mangler, predator, recon but I swapped out the 48pts for patrol leader with Vader gunner recently. So I guess it is underwhelming at the moment.

Another problem is that the Slave I title card is one of the few titles that don't add much to the ship.

It adds extra munitions now, nothin to be ashamed of.

What would you change to make it more balanced?

Get rid of it. Firespray shouldn't be an Imperial ship in the first place.

I would agree that Scum Firesprays have drastically better abilities, and far more chemistry with the rest of their faction. Not so with Imp 'sprays.

Not only do the scum versions have better abilities, but you get the mando mercs with a ept slot, and the ability to take illicit upgrades on any of them which is huge.

Having successfully run many different builds all incluiding the firespray and defender over the past few months means I'll disagree with most of you.

Being able to put rebel captive on a firespray is quite nice.

My most successful build is Boba+VI+HLC+Rebel Captive and Rexler+Predator+HLC+StealthDevice. I've only lost 3 games out of about 20 with this build against swarms, dash builds, chirpie builds, etc.

Another very successful build which I started flying again was 2 bounty hunters and Soontir+PTL+TC+AT+RGtitle. I've only lost 1 game out of about 12 with this build and in fact am taking it to a summer tournament this Saturday.

If anyone is interested in how I do with the list, just respond here or message me privately on the forum as I usually don't post battle reports and the like.

I personally love that the bounty hunter is only 33 points. Being able to put a loaded soontir with 2 of them is actually quite awesome. I prefer to use TC rather than SD on Soontir. His hits have to count.

What would you change to make it more balanced?

Get rid of it. Firespray shouldn't be an Imperial ship in the first place.

I would have to disagree, as far as the Slave 1 part of that ship is concerned anyway. Fett loved working for the Empire and was very regularly in their employ. The Empire paid good, usually, and represented law and order, which Fett believed in.

Not to mention, the years of Empire rule saw a lot of hunters getting rich off Imperial bounties. Makes sense to have at least some in their list.

What would you change to make it more balanced?

Get rid of it. Firespray shouldn't be an Imperial ship in the first place.

I would have to disagree, as far as the Slave 1 part of that ship is concerned anyway. Fett loved working for the Empire and was very regularly in their employ. The Empire paid good, usually, and represented law and order, which Fett believed in.

Not to mention, the years of Empire rule saw a lot of hunters getting rich off Imperial bounties. Makes sense to have at least some in their list.

Edit: Also, the Empire was known for employing mercenaries from time to time. Hunters often hire out as such.

Not only do the scum versions have better abilities, but you get the mando mercs with a ept slot, and the ability to take illicit upgrades on any of them which is huge.

The ability to take 3 Bounty Hunters is much, much stronger.

The issue with the Imperial Firespray pilots is that they aren't the new shiny, and require a little bit more thought and skill into using them. I mean, you can't hide from the Fettigator. Kath has some nasty ways of dishing out stress now. And Krassis is always fun with an HLC. And soon, the Firespray can be Agent Kallus's personal ship.

Not only do the scum versions have better abilities, but you get the mando mercs with a ept slot, and the ability to take illicit upgrades on any of them which is huge.

The ability to take 3 Bounty Hunters is much, much stronger.

The issue with the Imperial Firespray pilots is that they aren't the new shiny, and require a little bit more thought and skill into using them. I mean, you can't hide from the Fettigator. Kath has some nasty ways of dishing out stress now. And Krassis is always fun with an HLC. And soon, the Firespray can be Agent Kallus's personal ship.

Don't get snobby about it. Scum Firespray builds can take as much if not more thought and skill thanks to the extra upgrade type and the new ships to be used as squadmates. Both can be successful obviously, but Imp spray abilities are just a bit lackluster - primarily comparing the two Bobas and Kaths. Krassis' ability is at least on par with Emon, and the ability to fit 3 Sprays in an Imp list, if you wanted, is a definite perk compared to the EPT Scum generic. So realistically, I'd say the low-end pilots on the Imp side take the cake, but the high end Scum pilots trump.

That said, I am looking forward to my next 150 point match....... Krassis. Jonus. Deathrain. Jendon(?). Loads of munitions and bombs. Nuff said.

I think that they are fine, the only one I don't like is Kath Scarlet, as others have stated that is an ability that we don't want triggered. I don't think we see them played as much because they are not as new and shiny as other toys.

I've had a helluva lot of fun playing Kath with Calculation, Mangler Canon, and Rebel Captive. Throw on a Proton Bomb if you have room.

Her ability triggers often enough. And when it doesn't your'e throwing out crits left and right. Calculation is more useful than you'd think. Often only one eyeball comes up.

I tried that build but I actually found just calculation sufficient, but ultimately I swapped her for fcs whisper for the same points.

What Imperial Firespray. Where. No, that's a Bounty Hunter ship. What, you telling me he's getting paid off? Someone be paying you off that's what! Dat aint no Imperial craft.

Honestly, I like all three Imperial Firesprays. Calculation and the Mangler made Imp-Kath pretty obnoxious to fly against... especially if you throw on a Rebel Captive... Trellix is a one man wrecking crew with his built in Predator-esque ability, and Imp-Fett is probably slightly too expensive but **** fun (and effective) with the Fettigator strategy. Pre "nerf" I was giving my local meta some fits when I busted out Fett with VI, Navigator, and Engine Upgrade against a bunch of lists with Whisper.

And recently I've also been pairing two Bounty Hunters with Manglers and Tactical Jammers with Captain Jonus! Sure, the Jammers usually just force the enemy to shoot at whichever Firespray is closest, but that is much better than them going straight for Jonus.