Engine upgrade, Title, ATC, Predator. Seen him rip and tear.

I got my sweet backside handed to me by Vader in this exact build last weekend by a my friend who hasn't played in a year.

and I put the list together for him

I did get my revenge (kind of) in the second game when he accidentally fragged vader with a couple of his own seismic charges

I ran Vader with X1, ATC, and Expose this weekend and he did well. You can score 5 hits that way, and in an epic game Tarkin can give you focus, and have the emperor on standby in case you have a blank. Can be quite amazing. You can take risks when you have the Emperor backing you up.

I agree with a lot of others: with the ATC/Engine setup, you don't need an EPT, but Predator, Lone Wolf, and Crackshot are all good choices.

I also agree with heychadwick that Concussion Missiles are almost always a good buy (especially if you're not going for an expensive EPT).

But I wanted to give a nod to a couple of unorthodox choices. The first is Opportunist + ATC + TIE Mk II, espcily with another PS9 pilot in the mix to strip tokens. He can turtle if your opponent focuses on him, or open up with 3 dice plus the ATC crit if he's not threatened.

The other is Decoy, especially with a missile option. Again, the switch depends on whether Vader is the primary target. If he is, he turtles and hands PS9 off to another pilot; if he's not, he keeps PS9 for himself and takes the first at-bat.

I like PTL ATC and eng up grade on Vader.. being ably to TL Focus AND evade at the merge is nice... once TL is established I just evade and focus.. PTL is there for when I need to boost out of a jam!!

ATC EU lonewolf for me

Depending on the rest of the squad, I really love Squadleader on Vader, especially when flying him with other TIE/x1's with ATC. Sure, you're missing out on rerolls, but the ability to grant PS9 actions to any squad member offers so much flexibility:

Got blocked/dodged and can't use ATC, because you don't have a suitable TL? Vader to the rescue! Vader can roll out of arc, but won't have a shot himself? Give a focus to some other guy! Corran Horn wants to gobble up low health Alozen? Lend him a hand and make him Barrel Roll!

In the end game, Vader will always be a beast, with or without Lone Wolf or Predator. But as said, it depends on the squad.

I've found (Vader + x1 + ATC + Pred + EU) is pretty nice. Proton Rockets are iffy on the Advanced if you have the x1 + ATC already on it. You are already getting 3 base primary with an extra guaranteed Crit at range one. Proton Rockets are a single use 1 extra die attack with no guaranteed results.

Proton Rockets are great to punch through high agility defenses, e.g. an Interceptor with Stealth Device, Focus, Evade. In this case you simply need as many hits at once as possible. Crits are still useful, but they only help when you already generated enough hits.

With ATC at range 1, you're not guaranteed to roll 3 hits when attacking at range 1, especially, because you can't use the Target Lock for rerolls, if you want to use ATC. It's as likely to get only 2 hits +1 extra hit as it is to get 3 hits + 1 extra hit. Both have a probability of 42.19%. source With Predator or Lone Wolf, this becomes a little better and you end up with 73.83% to generate 3 hits +1 extra hit.

On the other hand, when firing your Proton Rocket, you should have a Target Lock and Focus available, because you keep your Focus when firing Proton Rockets. In this scenario, you have a chance of 72.42% to roll 5 hits and a chance of 96.56% to roll at least 4 hits. The chance to end up with less than 4 hits is 3.44%. source

In other words: You're very likely to end up with better results than an ATC attack, and it's pretty much guaranteed that you don't end up worse.

I'd still say, that when using Predator or Lone Wolf, the three points are better invested in upgrades that give you a recurring advantage. But when all your pilots have their EPTs, secondary weapons, sensors and crew members, Proton Rockets on Vader become a good alternative to Hull Upgrades on a different ship.

Proton Rockets are a single use 1 extra die attack with no guaranteed results.

Single die?

PRockets: 2 attack dice

Tie Adv. Agility: 3

= 5 attack dice With Focus, and possibly a TL too.

The other is Decoy, especially with a missile option. Again, the switch depends on whether Vader is the primary target. If he is, he turtles and hands PS9 off to another pilot; if he's not, he keeps PS9 for himself and takes the first at-bat.

With ATC at range 1, you're not guaranteed to roll 3 hits when attacking at range 1, especially, because you can't use the Target Lock for rerolls, if you want to use ATC. It's as likely to get only 2 hits +1 extra hit as it is to get 3 hits + 1 extra hit. Both have a probability of 42.19%. source With Predator or Lone Wolf, this becomes a little better and you end up with 73.83% to generate 3 hits +1 extra hit.

On the other hand, when firing your Proton Rocket, you should have a Target Lock and Focus available, because you keep your Focus when firing Proton Rockets. In this scenario, you have a chance of 72.42% to roll 5 hits and a chance of 96.56% to roll at least 4 hits. The chance to end up with less than 4 hits is 3.44%. source

Never tell me the odds!

Why are people talking about using ATC with Missiles?

It's primary only.

People are mentioning builds that have both ATC and Missiles, but no one is talking about getting the benefit of ATC with the Missiles. It especially wouldn't work (besides being primary only) as you would spend your TL to fire most missiles. I think loading Vader with a missile isn't a bad idea if you take ATC. Yes, you can't use ATC with the missile, but at R3 for the start of combat, it's a good thing to use a Concussion Missile on someone.

I agree with a lot of others: with the ATC/Engine setup, you don't need an EPT, but Predator, Lone Wolf, and Crackshot are all good choices.

...

But I wanted to give a nod to a couple of unorthodox choices. The first is Opportunist + ATC + TIE Mk II, espcily with another PS9 pilot in the mix to strip tokens. He can turtle if your opponent focuses on him, or open up with 3 dice plus the ATC crit if he's not threatened.

The other is Decoy, especially with a missile option. Again, the switch depends on whether Vader is the primary target. If he is, he turtles and hands PS9 off to another pilot; if he's not, he keeps PS9 for himself and takes the first at-bat.

I should also state that I think the ATC, EU, and Predator are the all around "best setup" for the most generic situation. That does not mean that other options are bad. Many of the other ones mentioned already (Outmaneuver, etc.) are good options. I purely mentioned the one that I thought was the best all around set up. There are lots of other good ones and I highly encourage people to try out new ones. I hate when things get stale and people only take 1 set up all the time.

What about Vader with Predator, EU, and Sensor Jammer? Also use Carnor Jax in the same list. Vader would be able to turtle like crazy with Sensor Jammer and then Carnor Jax not letting people use their Focus ability. Vader would get at least 1 re-roll from Predator. Yes, it's not as deadly as ATC, but you are hard to kill. In fact, this might be a good option to stick Proton Rockets on Vader. You want people attacking him instead of Carnor Jax. The Prockets just might do that.

There are a lot of synergies out there when combined with other things in your list. Squad Leader is a good one. Way back when the Tie Bomber came out, I dropped Backstabber from my list and took a Scimitar Bomber with Concussion Missile. Vader had one, too. They would be the flanking force. I would have the Scimitar Focus and then get an action to TL from Vader at PS 9. Vader would TL, but have no Focus. The two would fire two Concussion Missiles at the same target. There are few small based ships that can withstand that firepower. I didn't even have Predator on Vader then, but it would help with his re-roll ability. Either that or give him a Homing Missile, instead. It usually means you are throwing out 3-4 hits with each missile on the same target. Vader goes first, but the Scimitar is going later in the turn after everyone has used their tokens. When you start the combat by taking out one of their ships, it's a good thing. After one turn of firing, you can take out one ship. If they happen to have a 3 ship build, then that's 1/3 their list in the first exchange. If it's a big ship, you just knock off their shields and who knows how much more damage.

My advice is that even though I (and others) listed the most efficient Vader, that isn't necessarily the best Vader. I think this game is fantastic at customizing and finding what works for you. As I mentioned with Outmaneuver, it could be more important to reduce their agility by 1 at some points of the game instead of re-rolling one die all the time. An easy example is Fat Han with C-3PO, but an uncloaked Phantom or Soontir Fel is another one. Imagine combining the Outmaneuver with a Homing Missile (and Focus) on Stealth Soontir? No Evade token and he's down one green die. 3 green dice vs. 4 red with TL and Focus. I'll take those odds.

Proton Rockets are a single use 1 extra die attack with no guaranteed results.

Single die?

PRockets: 2 attack dice

Tie Adv. Agility: 3

= 5 attack dice With Focus, and possibly a TL too.

Yes. And a TIE Advanced attacking at range one rolls 3 dice. If it has ATC it gets a fourth die, with a guaranteed crit result.

So the difference is 1.

Sounds pretty unanimous.

Vader + EU + ATC.

Building on Heychadwick's post, just to describe a build not yet detailed:

Vader, Outmaneuver, Accuracy Corrector, Homing Missile = 37 (41 with Engine). Your offense is solid and largely action independent, leaving actions for defense and maneuver. The Homing Missile, particularly if Outmaneuver is activated, is a strong and reliable damage spike for times that the primary guns won't cut it.

Building on Heychadwick's post, just to describe a build not yet detailed:

Vader, Outmaneuver, Accuracy Corrector, Homing Missile = 37 (41 with Engine). Your offense is solid and largely action independent, leaving actions for defense and maneuver. The Homing Missile, particularly if Outmaneuver is activated, is a strong and reliable damage spike for times that the primary guns won't cut it.

That's not a bad list. The AC means your damage output isn't high, but the Homing Missile does help fix that. The worst case scenario for this build would be Stealth Soontir, but the Homing Missile works well. If Outmaneuver kicks in, you drop his green defense by one. He doesn't get to use his Evade token. So, it's just 3 green dice with Focus. Not bad if you can work out the TL and Focus on 4 dice.

If you aren't worried about covering your damage output, you can always go with Cluster Missiles. Not too hard to get within R1-2 and fire them with AC. You use at least one action to maneuver and arc dodge. You then get at least 2 hits with each missile and reduce their agility by 1. That's not a bad deal.

Another benefit of Outmaneuver is against Bro Bots. I still see a lot of them and their high agility can be quite frustrating. Outmaneuver does help reduce his defensive ability and improve your chance of ATC kicking in.