hey guys, i want to play fast attack tie fighters with some beefed up ties. what is the difrfence between the defender and the phantom

Defender has more hp 3 hull 3 shields

3 evades

White kturn

More of a jouster ship

Flies likely bomber

Weakness would be against fast arc dodgers.

Right now only 1 pilot is really worth taking (vessery)

Brath has nice ability But not easy to make good use

Defender are going to be better when imperial veteran is released

Named pilots can get expensive when putting upgrades on them

Can take Cannon slot

Phantom are squishy

Of 4 hp, 2 hull 2 shields

They are not jouster ships

The two elite pilots are good. Whisper Is more the go to.

The generics can be used well if you have a roll in a squad for them.

Can have 4 evade dice when they are cloaked

Only 2 when not cloaked ( and can die easily)

Phantoms hit harder

Phantoms have seen more play competitive than Defender

Phantom are more fun to fly (personal preference)

Has sensor upgrades slot

Weakness can be turrets, and high ps ace lists

The Phantom is an exceptionally hard-hitting ship with lots of customizability thanks to its System and Crew slots (probably the two strongest upgrades in the game). They have low hit points but are very maneuverable and hard to hit in certain circumstances.

Defenders are pretty robust ships with good native Agility and hit points. The don't hit as hard as Phantoms, but can take powerful Cannon upgrades. They have an odd dial that can be tough to use, but can also give you big advantages against a lot of other ships.

Keep in mind, the cloaking mechanics have changed since the Phantom's release, so some information you find on them will be a little out of date. Similarly, a new set featuring Defender upgrade cards is coming out sometime after Wave 8. Either ship is going to be pretty solid supporting a bunch of TIE Fighters, though.

To me the defender is a bit on the spendy side, but putting HLC on a ship with white kturns can allow you to put a pretty nasty static kill zone on the board.... think a one-ship Thach weave. Adding Vessery with his autolock feature into the mix can be particularly withering.

I'd like to add.

I recommend getting both eventually

If you don't mind using proxy cards then I'd say go Defender first

The new title really helped it

Vessery getting to ion then shoot something with his main gun is sweet

That's my two cents

Phantoms I believe are seeing less play since the rule change on how they decloak and twin laser turrets, and stress builds are pretty nasty on them

There isn't much room for error when flying Phantoms, but good fun when they do their job