So as the game continues to head towards tricks and impressive combinations. Few pilots begin to stand out as obvious hard and soft counters.

First, however, let's go over the dangers facing squad building and important pieces to remember.

Poe and any combination of upgrades (Namely lone wolf and shield regen with autothrusters). Requires a focus for his ability and probably the droid ability as well.

Omega Leader, dangerous foe with the native ability to shut down modifications to die rolls. Combined with comm relay and juke he is practically able to hit anyone he gets that lock on.

Juke in and of itself seems to fit on a few other ships as well, it pairs well with any EPT Tie F/O. It would also go well on Green squadron pilots as their second EPT.

Dual IG's rely on boost for that free evade action since they are such good shooters.

Pretty much every ship in the game on a competitive standpoint has become a combo group for those tokens and locks to keep them effective and not just a generic fighter.

So my first thought was the demi-god Palob. Those tokens are ripe for the taking and not only are you stealing the required token, you are effectively turning their elite fighters into overcosted, high pilot skill, generics. Outfitting is a little more difficult with a hwk. Do you go for the blaster turret setup? or play it defensive and go with the TLT. Being scum his options for crew are limited but he can take that great illict upgrade Glitterstim. If you have an idea on a Palob setup please let me know I would love to hear it!

Captain Kagi also has peaked my interest. Forcing target locks on him can really hurt those alpha bombers on the horizon, and make any of the ATC Advances have to focus on a target they would rather not. Kagi pairs well with Rebel captive, gunner, advanced sensors, and EU in this setup. While expensive it does make him a dangerous and mobile first target for your opponent.

Carnor Jax is hard to ignore, even though we are seeing less of the interceptors, a defensive Jax can really shut down those combos. However jax suffers more now due to comm relay. Since they can turn 1 evade and there isn't anything you can do to stop the juke.

Wes Janson. a ship almost completely forgot amongst new and shinier ships. With VI at ps10 he is probably the only ship that can wreck anyone for any reason. Being able to shut down target locks, focus, and evade tokens makes him a must include with the new lineup. In my eyes if Wes had been swapped out for Poe, he probably would have won the world event.

Hope this opens some eyes to anyone feeling overpowered by some of the new abilities!

Note with palob: you turn ONE guy into an overpriced generic. If you're not careful, the other assholes will light you up

Amazing pilot, though; highly underrated

I ran a 3-Scum Hawk list in our last local tournament specifically for the Poe love-fest.

Palob rocks.

Finished 2nd.

Palob's also getting some tech in dorsal turret

Not amazing, but for 26 points with title he doesn't have to be

You go Palob with TLT, a PS 5 Crackshot + Glitterstim Kirahxz, and 2 TLT Y-Wings. Once the Mist Hunter comes out, generic ones should be good also.

Basing your entire list around having all HWK's or facing Poe isn't a good idea. Just throw one of the named ones into a list.

My favorite load our for palob is tlt recon and 1 point ept of choice (vi, rush, crackshot, reflexes). I mostly use vi as I run him with other 7s. Recon is great when you're getting shot at but even better when they dont. Focus modifiers for both tlt shots. I've tryed moldy crow instead of recon but seems I run out of them before too long and nobody let's me steal their tokens unless it's a swarm.

I do not like TLT on Palob and Mux because their pilot ability only reaches to range 2, but you are trying to stay at range 3 with TLT for defensive reasons. For Palob, my goto build is with blaster turret, opportunist, and moldy crow for 31 points. You can swap the tile for recon spec if you are worried about focus availability.

Palob does have a strong pilot ability but he still has 5 hp, 2 evades, and one of the slowest dials in the game. He's also annoying as **** so people will hard focus him quickly. Just ask Biggs how fast 5 health disappears when focused down.

Oddly, in the last tourney with the three hawks, Palob was the last one standing in the one game I lost. Dace was gone first in every match, and people seem to hate Mux more than Palob.

Oddly, in the last tourney with the three hawks, Palob was the last one standing in the one game I lost. Dace was gone first in every match, and people seem to hate Mux more than Palob.

I suppose if I'm killing 3 hawks you kill them in order of most annoying to least. I would order that mux > palob > dace but it depends on the build probably.

Wes has always been really good at PS 10. One of the few pilots that have stayed relevant from the transport expansion.

Simply Palob + Ion Turret is a great build. He has easy access to TL+F with his ability to set up a very accurate Ion Turret.

Now that Integrated Asteomech exists, I definitely agree with Wes+VI+Integrated Asteomech + Cheap Astromech. R3A2 is probably still used on the BTLA4 Y Wing, so maybe Targeting Astromech or the 1 pt one that lets you trade hits above 2 for stress to increase longevity.

returning to Wes, I actually flew him quite a bit way back in the dark ages of Wave 5

he was the original Stress Wing^tm made explicitly to counter the omnipressence of whisper with PS 10 r3-a2 + token removal, which also happened to check super Dash + corran. Problem was, the X-wing was too stupidly fragile and he'd get routinely one-shot by unmodified attacks (why do you think I chose this user name?)

but now, Integrated will turn that into two-shots instead

Wes - 29

*BB-8 (2)

*V.I (1)

*Integrated (0)

[32]

he's no bb-8 + PTL wedge, but he serves a different, more defensive purpose by slapping off TLs/focus/evades etc. This guy'll piss off lord vader to no end (until Vader starts running VI exclusively, ofc) and he's got some shenanigans with PS 10 bb-8 rolls into self-blocks or just orientating his arc to use his ability

don't know what to fly him with (defaulting to a bunch of B-wings, as per usual), but I'm sure someone will have a stroke of genius

returning to Wes, I actually flew him quite a bit way back in the dark ages of Wave 5

he was the original Stress Wing^tm made explicitly to counter the omnipressence of whisper with PS 10 r3-a2 + token removal, which also happened to check super Dash + corran. Problem was, the X-wing was too stupidly fragile and he'd get routinely one-shot by unmodified attacks (why do you think I chose this user name?)

but now, Integrated will turn that into two-shots instead

Wes - 29

*BB-8 (2)

*V.I (1)

*Integrated (0)

[32]

he's no bb-8 + PTL wedge, but he serves a different, more defensive purpose by slapping off TLs/focus/evades etc. This guy'll piss off lord vader to no end (until Vader starts running VI exclusively, ofc) and he's got some shenanigans with PS 10 bb-8 rolls into self-blocks or just orientating his arc to use his ability

don't know what to fly him with (defaulting to a bunch of B-wings, as per usual), but I'm sure someone will have a stroke of genius

Genius maybe not, but Jan Ors + Dorsal Turret, and Keyan + HLC + Opportunist would be hilarious for a round or two. Good old 6d HLC shots.

He seems like he'd pair really well with other ships packing Opportunist though.

Palob is a pilot I love in theory, though in practice he always seems to get killed first. My opponents REALLY don't like him. Palob with ion turret or TLT is a simple and decently cheap setup that works well, though rec spec is a nice addition as well, as it really helps any HWK survive longer.

Palob is a pilot I love in theory, though in practice he always seems to get killed first. My opponents REALLY don't like him. Palob with ion turret or TLT is a simple and decently cheap setup that works well, though rec spec is a nice addition as well, as it really helps any HWK survive longer.

I run Palob as a wingman for Bossk, give him bodyguard and he makes Bossk agility 2 which increases his survivability no end, especially when Palob draws fire like he does.

Been using this combo to a very powerful effect.

Boba, VI, EU, Tact, Glitter

Palob, VI, Blaster turret, Recon specialist, EU, Moldy Crow

Leechos, Bodyguard

If you can get boba up front of a swarm or joust list he becomes unkillable in the first round of combat. 3 Agi from bodyguard, rerolls, and glitter. He ate 15 Dice from a z swarm not taking a single point of damage.

I'm also thinking about a new combo with proton rockets, recon specialist on boba and leechos with bodyguard. It's way more effective than the one time countermeasures card, and allows me to pop glitter for the defense half of the engagement.

Palob has been more than a star in the matches, allowing me to force opponents to target lock leaving them vunerable to boba's attacks.

Nice!

Doobleg used to run a similar list last season to great effect, doing well in both a couple Regionals and in the Team Covenant Open.

IG88B + VI + HLC + FCS + Autothrusters

Palob + VI + Recon + Blaster + Moldy Crow

Leeachos + Bodyguard + Hull Upgrade

or really close it.

Putting Engine on Palob and using that Boba totally makes even more sense and has less weakness to high PS Aces than IG88B. Engine HWKS certain do feel under appreciated! Though, I imagine it was the proliferation of Primary Weapon turrets that would 2 shot a HWK, or get unanswered shots at range 3 that were really the HWKS downfall.

Pablo w/ TLT, Bossk, Moldy Crow and your choice of EPT, but wired it pretty good, since you actually don't care all that much about the stress (between Bossk triggering and stealing stuff). Always save focus tokens for defence.

He pairs particularly well with an auto blaster turret Kavil for protection.

Bringing HWKs up against someone who never faces them, often end up losing and wondering what the heck just hit them. They've enjoyed their quiet, and under-appreciated, status for a long time but I think now they're getting the attention they don't want. I've played them just enough locally that the guys at the FLGS now tend to target any HWK I put on the table, be it Rebel or Scum.

Kagi will be interesting once the Long Range Scanners come in, as he'll be the immediate counter to them anywhere on the map, standard or Epic play. He can pretty much shut down ordnance simply by being anywhere.

Palob (and the source of my opponent's frustrations) would be given Blaster Turret, along with the Crow, and VI. He'd be accompanied by Kavil in his Y-Wing, also with a Blaster Turret, Opportunist, and an R4 Astro. The joy of having Palob strip tokens to open up the Opportunist shot, and if out-of-arc for Kavil giving him 5 dice Blaster Turret with the free TL from R4... well, it'd be amusing to see their expression. That combo can be difficult to pull off against someone who expects it, so Kavil + TLT + Swarm + Unhinged is also good for picking ships apart.

Torkil is also fun to strip someone down to PS 0, as I don't see Roark in our local area at all. Bouncing Poe & BB8 down to the end of the line, and then pouncing on them with everything is also fun. Packing a Hotshot Blaster in a Z95 with Munitions Failsafe is good for those opportunity shots when you need it.