Just wondering about him because I haven't seen him mentioned much, and his ability stacked with Glitterstim seems really good.

Mainly I ask because I am going to a small 8-man tournament in a few weeks and Scum are the dominant faction in the local meta. I know at least one of the entrants is using him, but I don't know what with. Also considering using him myself but I feel like his dial makes it difficult to impose him on the game if he ends up out of position after the initial joust.

Any thoughts on how to use him and what with?

I don't have much experience tbh. However, I think that the Khiraxz dial is one of its saving graces. Having 5 k-turn and 1 hard turn are very useful options to have and allow any khiraxz to keep guns on target in a variety of situations. He's a bit squishy though. My feeling is to put him in a list with someone else equally dangerous, or at least, a ship that can draw some attention away from TBC. also probably best to keep him cheap. I would think crack shot + glitterstim is all you really need to get some value out of him...

Such was my thought, all it takes is a mangler or 2 and he's toast.

I was thinking something like

Talonbane, Stim

Kath, LW, Outlaw Tech, Engine

2x Binyare

But i've no idea how scum lists synergise so I fully expect this list to be rubbish.

I like that Kath build---use it as a decoy to get the rest of your ships into a good flanking position. Kath k-turns, gains a focus and next turn green moves to clear stress and keep enemies in rear arc for as long as possible. Also keeps lone wolf active, because as kath flies away, the rest of your ships are flying toward the enemy in opposite direction to maintain that Lone Wolf distance...

I've been thinking about getting a Kihraxz myself, but its more for crackshot and glitterstim than anything else. If I did use a Kihraxz, it would be Graz hanging back as much as possible (for a wider firing arc) with his extra defense die. Not sure how to use Talonbane at all - its a powerful ability, but VERY dependent on situation.

going to be difficult without the mist hunter providing scum lists with the bulk they need to round out the general squishiness of their non-Y ships, but

Xizor (V.I, Virago, FCS, thrusters) [37]

Cobraaaaaaaaaaaaa~ (Crakcshot, Stims) [31]

Cartel Marauder [20]

Banana pirate [12]

Strikes me that he gets utterly shafted by range 3 secondaries. I know my Dash + Ten/Keyan lists will spanner him, Ten in particular being able to slip those crits through. Even better if Dash has chipped the shield off first.

He's a powerful jouster, IF he doesn't get mangled (ba-dum) first. Or HLC'd for that matter. Or Torpedoed. Or in fact just shot at by anything that isn't a primary weapon.

Maybe you could send up a load of other stuff to engage enemy ships while he slow-rolls up behind, but I imagine that's easy enough to spot and counter without a much greater threat somewhere else - hence the idea of Kath to decoy and Binyares to block. Ehh, I don't know. There's a guy in my FLGS that swears by Cobra, but I can't for the life of me figure out why...

Haven't got him out there yet, but I picture EU and PTL being the natural upgrades. Double focus if your trying to range 3 snipe or tl/boost + focus to make the most of his extra attack die at range 1. Dice odds say you should have him close and shooting to make the most of his ability

If you're looking for synegy in scum stick to 1 ship type, hawks or ig's. The rest seems designed to work independantly, relying on threat mismanagement from your opponet to open up oppertunity for your other ships

Yeah secondaries screw TBC over, at least on defense. Fortunately that's only half of his ability, because nothing can take away his 5 die primary attack (well, unless you can't get into R1...)

I played against him once and my opponent had IG88 plus a star viper in front, slow-rolling Talon in behind. It worked in so far as I didn't target Talonbane right away, but as soon as I could I did, because no one wants to take 5 red dice to the face. In fact, talonbane was not able to get Range 1 on any of my ships in that particular game, although it was just one game. But for that reason, I would possibly consider engine upgrade on him. Of course, that makes it even harder to build a list with him...

I don't have much experience tbh. However, I think that the Khiraxz dial is one of its saving graces. Having 5 k-turn and 1 hard turn are very useful options to have and allow any khiraxz to keep guns on target in a variety of situations. He's a bit squishy though. My feeling is to put him in a list with someone else equally dangerous, or at least, a ship that can draw some attention away from TBC. also probably best to keep him cheap. I would think crack shot + glitterstim is all you really need to get some value out of him...

I understand the 1-turn, but why is the 5 k-turn considered special? I've seen this referenced before, not sure I understand it strategically.

I also don't know how to synergize S&V lists, but so far I've figured out that less expensive is better, as I get less upset when they blow up...

Talonbane lends himself to Swarm Tactics.

Bodyguard lends itself to anyone else who wants to protect Talonbane. I used a HWK-290 with Moldy Crow and Bodyguard and it was pretty effective.

I got Talonbane to throw 5 dice twice into a Decimator (Had I had Glitterstim 1 of those turns would have gone much better both offensively and defensively).

The problem was keeping the HWK in range to use bodyguard, and finding a 3rd ship. I also didn't take crew on it, and had I had Recon Expert, that might have gone better.

My third ship was Guri, who could also have been the bodyguard, and done some focus shenanigans.

As a new S&V player, my favorite EPT is Bodyguard, and my second favorite is Draw Their Fire.

I'm going to try two Khiraxz PS5 pilots, 1 with Bodyguard, 1 with Draw Their Fire, and Bobba Fett...

I don't have much experience tbh. However, I think that the Khiraxz dial is one of its saving graces. Having 5 k-turn and 1 hard turn are very useful options to have and allow any khiraxz to keep guns on target in a variety of situations. He's a bit squishy though. My feeling is to put him in a list with someone else equally dangerous, or at least, a ship that can draw some attention away from TBC. also probably best to keep him cheap. I would think crack shot + glitterstim is all you really need to get some value out of him...

I understand the 1-turn, but why is the 5 k-turn considered special? I've seen this referenced before, not sure I understand it strategically.

I guess because you can gain a lot of distance, maximising the chances that your opponent will still be in your arc afterwards (gives you the largest possible board area to shoot at) assuming you are passing your opponents ships on a joust. Also it gives you space and time to recover with a green in the subsequent round and manoeuvre into a better board position. Shorter flips give you less space.

Maybe - not certain on that one myself, but those are my first thoughts.

I understand the 1-turn, but why is the 5 k-turn considered special? I've seen this referenced before, not sure I understand it strategically.

Basically its because the 5 k-turn is so much harder to block. Consider a situation where talonbane (or any khiraxz) is squaring off around R3 or maybe just barely in R2 against lower PS ships. Its a common spot to end up on the initial pass (although not always). It just happens to be approximately 5 base lengths a part though. Since the enemy ship is lower PS, he moves first, but can't k-turn because it will be blocked (assuming a 4 k-turn, the most common in the game). Talonbane however can reliably k-turn with the 5, regardless of what move the opponent picks. Even if there is a group of ships and they try some k-turn blocking shenanigans, such as two rows of ships where the opponent reveals the dial for the back row (they bump into the front just to block k-turn spots) or a TIE fighter and the infamous 1 hard turn + barrel roll backwards to sit in that same 4 k-turn spot. Neither tactic works against a 5 k-turn though, because if you were 5 base lengths away from the opponent, the 5k clears (and you have R1 if the opponent made short moves expecting you to bump).

My third ship was Guri, who could also have been the bodyguard, and done some focus shenanigans.

As a new S&V player, my favorite EPT is Bodyguard, and my second favorite is Draw Their Fire.

I'm going to try two Khiraxz PS5 pilots, 1 with Bodyguard, 1 with Draw Their Fire, and Bobba Fett...

I could see maybe using bodyguard on a support HWK, but putting it on Guri is a waste of her abilities. She's a hard hitting ace in her own right, and forcing her to stick R1 to an ally ship really limits her potential. Especially considering how no other small base scum ship has a segnors loop, so once ships try to turn around,you will start losing R1 to each other, or else bump into each other in a desperate attempt to stay close...

I understand the 1-turn, but why is the 5 k-turn considered special? I've seen this referenced before, not sure I understand it strategically.

Basically its because the 5 k-turn is so much harder to block. Consider a situation where talonbane (or any khiraxz) is squaring off around R3 or maybe just barely in R2 against lower PS ships. Its a common spot to end up on the initial pass (although not always). It just happens to be approximately 5 base lengths a part though. Since the enemy ship is lower PS, he moves first, but can't k-turn because it will be blocked (assuming a 4 k-turn, the most common in the game). Talonbane however can reliably k-turn with the 5, regardless of what move the opponent picks. Even if there is a group of ships and they try some k-turn blocking shenanigans, such as two rows of ships where the opponent reveals the dial for the back row (they bump into the front just to block k-turn spots) or a TIE fighter and the infamous 1 hard turn + barrel roll backwards to sit in that same 4 k-turn spot. Neither tactic works against a 5 k-turn though, because if you were 5 base lengths away from the opponent, the 5k clears (and you have R1 if the opponent made short moves expecting you to bump).

My third ship was Guri, who could also have been the bodyguard, and done some focus shenanigans.

As a new S&V player, my favorite EPT is Bodyguard, and my second favorite is Draw Their Fire.

I'm going to try two Khiraxz PS5 pilots, 1 with Bodyguard, 1 with Draw Their Fire, and Bobba Fett...

I could see maybe using bodyguard on a support HWK, but putting it on Guri is a waste of her abilities. She's a hard hitting ace in her own right, and forcing her to stick R1 to an ally ship really limits her potential. Especially considering how no other small base scum ship has a segnors loop, so once ships try to turn around,you will start losing R1 to each other, or else bump into each other in a desperate attempt to stay close...

Thanks! Those actually both helped me, I tried Guri w/ Bodyguard my first tournament (with Talonbane no less) and it didn't go well. I really like Scum and have played enough now for both of these to click.

Bodyguard is indeed utter garbage and poor Guri deserves better, so good on you for changing that

the only pilot who should take even more than a single whiff of that putrid waste of design space is Palob, provided he is absolutely dripping in excess focus

otherwise, it's just paying 2 points to turn yourself into a big, focus-less target and wasting a slot that could be occupied by a more useful upgrade

More importantly, first thing we all have to come to grips with when using Cobra is this: he's never going to be Soontir, nor Corran, nor Xizor, nor even Poe. He's scum's Wedge, a brittle glass-cannon with high burst and basically no survivability no matter what you do to him

build him to emphasize those qualities (stims + crackshot are quite awesome) and don't worry about anything else, because you'd just be wasting points. At best, we can add to his mobility with cloaking device (though, tragically, we can't turn him into a legitimate ace with Stygium because FFG decided to butt **** cloaking device with unnecessary RNG)

If you want an actual survivable, late-game ace, invest in Xizor

I gave Talonbane Predator once. The only reason he didn't get aced right out the gate is because my opponent wanted to take down my Proton Rocket Scyks before they had a chance to lunch their payload. At first I thought Predator was the way to go, but lately I'm agreeing more and more with Crack Shot + Glitterstim.

Thanks for the inputs to this folks. I've got a few ideas about how to play him, if ever.

Also feeling reassured that I can easily counter him if I end up against him in a tournament!