Thoughts on Decimator list for tournament

By Goseki1, in X-Wing Squad Lists

So, with the Chirenaeu build (Predator + engine upgrade) I lost against:Soontir Fel with push the limit, stealth device etx

Connor jax with Push the limit stealth device etc

Omega leader (the one with the ability to stop you modifying Dice if he target locks).

His Jax had 1 hull! After he got my Decimator down with a few well placed crits his Jax quite easily stayed out of the Firesprays arcs and eventually died. IWith the Firespray only having 5 PS I couldn't figure out how to get out of rsnge/get a lock on him. I should have maybe flew as far away as possible and tried to lead him through asteroids, I don't know. It was very interesting but I wish I had something with higher PS.

I'm guessing they stayed far enough away that your Mara Jade didnt trigger often. PTL does not like stress, so maybe a Rebel Captive would've been more appropriate. At the very least it would neutralize actions for a round by one of those flankers.

Somewhat off-topic... how would a "Rebel" captive stress out Imperial pilots shooting at Imperials ships? I've no clue. :D

Oh sorry, it was the first Chirenaeu and Firespray build I used, so no Mary Jane. I do have a Darth Vader crew card on the way and I have thought of a build I could have used that to great effect on today...

I'm guessing they stayed far enough away that your Mara Jade didnt trigger often. PTL does not like stress, so maybe a Rebel Captive would've been more appropriate. At the very least it would neutralize actions for a round by one of those flankers.

Somewhat off-topic... how would a "Rebel" captive stress out Imperial pilots shooting at Imperials ships? I've no clue. :D

Mara Jade has no affect on ships that use push the limit. If you read the card carefully, you'll notice the part where it says it only deals stress if the target doesn't already have stress ;)

Its great against jousters, but Rebel Captive is better against aces (particularly high PS ones). I guess even imperial pilots have a conscience? Answering that question is getting a bit too metaphysical, I think ;)

Edited by blade_mercurial

I'm guessing they stayed far enough away that your Mara Jade didnt trigger often. PTL does not like stress, so maybe a Rebel Captive would've been more appropriate. At the very least it would neutralize actions for a round by one of those flankers.

Somewhat off-topic... how would a "Rebel" captive stress out Imperial pilots shooting at Imperials ships? I've no clue. :D

Mara Jade has no affect on ships that use push the limit. If you read the card carefully, you'll notice the part where it says it only deals stress if the target doesn't already have stress ;)

Its great against jousters, but Rebel Captive is better against aces (particularly high PS ones). I guess even imperial pilots have a conscience? Answering that question is getting a bit too metaphysical, I think ;)

Rebel Captive isn't seen a ton these days, but as Blade says, it's money against Imperial Aces. Toss everything at Vader and get him to pop first (or even just run) and you'll have a very confused looking Soontir on your hands, as he contemplates how to shoot at the ship with Rebel Captive.

I'll have to see if I can get hold of rebel captive at some point. For now I think I'll try

Rear Admiral chirenaeu (46)

Predator (3)

Darth Vader (3)

Total= 52

Krassis Trellix (36)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Recon specialist (3)

Total = 46

With an initiative bid of 98. I could put Moff Jerjerrod on, to turn a critical hit to a normal Hit once, perhaps sacrificing Darth Vader if I don't feel like I need him,depending on what I'm facing.

Or Tactician to try and stress aces out, though they can just clear on the next move and PTL anyway unless they were already stressed.

Or saboteur to potentially face up a hit card.

Thoughts welcome!

Edited by Goseki1

I'm guessing they stayed far enough away that your Mara Jade didnt trigger often. PTL does not like stress, so maybe a Rebel Captive would've been more appropriate. At the very least it would neutralize actions for a round by one of those flankers.

Somewhat off-topic... how would a "Rebel" captive stress out Imperial pilots shooting at Imperials ships? I've no clue. :D

Mara Jade has no affect on ships that use push the limit. If you read the card carefully, you'll notice the part where it says it only deals stress if the target doesn't already have stress ;)

Its great against jousters, but Rebel Captive is better against aces (particularly high PS ones). I guess even imperial pilots have a conscience? Answering that question is getting a bit too metaphysical, I think ;)

You right, dawg.

Edited by SPARTAN VI

I'll have to see if I can get hold of rebel captive at some point.

Don't be afraid to get your hands on a Lambda Shuttle. They used to be considered sub-par, but when Electronic Baffles comes out I fully expect it to revitalize them.

I may at some point, I think just now for the most part the ship doesn't fit a list I want to play!

Are Mangler cannons not considered good, and what about Ruthlessness? I've not seen them used at all.

I was thinking about my weaknesses today and also watched some chaps playing each other one with an a wing mini swarm and one with a tie swarm which also showed me some weaknesses with my flying style/the Decimator. I'm thinking of running with the below but will need to purchase a ship for the mangler cannon first:

Rear Admiral chirenaeu (46)

Ruthlessness (3)

Darth Vader (3)

Gunner (5)

Total= 57

Krassis Trellix (36)

Mangler Cannon (4)

Recon specialist (3)

Total = 43

For 100 total.

The Mangler cannon is one less Dice but has the opportunity to turn a Hit to a critical. Krassis can reroll one Dice, andrecon specialist gives two focus for offense defense.

Meanwhile Ruthlessness can help mess up swarms, particularly if he gets he gets a few early hits, Gunner will help the Dice chances against high evasion Ties/A wings. With Darth Vader and the huge hull count, aces like Soontir don't stand a chance, they can't stop the Vader crit from hitting right?

In my game today and generally when I've flown two ships, particularly when the Firespray has a cannon, my ships are well out of range of each other so friendly fire shouldn't be an issue. And if stressed, this doesn't stop Ruthlessness or Darth Vader correct?

Really grateful for critique on this, particularly any concerns over Mangler cannon use on Krassis. Thank you again, apologies for the spam!

I've been looking to try this out myself. There's a casual tourney this weekend at a local shop that I'll probably be flying it at. If I like it, I might take it to the real deal (store championship at a different shop).

I know Decimators aren't typically seen as competitive in tournaments, but I have fun with it the most, so I like using lists with it involved somehow.

97 points

Pilots

------

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (62) VT-49 Decimator (46), Veteran Instincts (1), Darth Vader (3), Gunner (5), Rebel Captive (3), Engine Upgrade (4)

Soontir Fel (35) TIE Interceptor (27), Royal Guard TIE (0), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2), Stealth Device (3)

ive been using this list for a while now, still getting used to it.

krassis trelix 36

mangler cannon 4

recon specialist 3

43

captain oicunn 42

intimidation 2

anti pursuit laser 2

mara jade 3

ysanne isard 4

moff jerjerrod 2

55

total 98.

but by reading the comments i think ive been using ysanne wrong. any help on that would be great :)

I'm actually a big fan of captain Oicunn. He has a fun ability, he is cheap, he leaves you lots of points for other ships rather than one Ace.

Captain Oicunn- Predator

Grand Inquisitor - PTL- AT- Title

Doom shuttle.

If you can borrow or prox Emperor i advice:

Kenkirk

+Palpi

+Ysanne

+Pred

+Eu

GL killing that beast. Tested. And pair it with some heavy hitter like Phantom below (minus FCS).

If you cannot get palpi:

RAC

+Pred

+Vader

+Ysanne/Captive

+EU

And pair that with:

Whisper

+Vi

+Fcs

+ACD

Very solid list. Better then Deci+Firespray IMO. You may swap Ysanne for Captive and then Vader for Gunner and Pred for VI as you like, as long as you keep 1 defensive and 1 offensive crew member.

Edited by Vitalis

What about (I have not yet tried it):

• “Whisper” TIE Phantom
Agent Kallus Fire-Control System Veteran Instincts Advanced Cloaking Device
59 points
• Rear Admiral Chiraneau VT-49 Decimator
Stay on Target Gunner Navigator Mara Jade
RAC can fly anywhere, theoretically ending of arcs and Kallus on Whisper allows a target priority. I think it might work for lower skill pilots, but RAC will have problems with anything above PS8.
I am also thinking about Tactitian instad of Kallus.
Or this is too crazy?





Firespray-31, Krassis Trelix 48pts



Upgrades:


Concussion Missiles ( 4 )








“Mangler” Cannon ( 4 )

Mercenary Copilot ( 2 )

Slave-1 ( 0 )

Extra Munitions ( 2 )




















blank.gif?v145











VT-49 Decimator, Captain Oicunn 52pts



Upgrades:


Expose ( 4 )








Dauntless ( 2 )

Engine Upgrade ( 4 )


I've used thiis list a few times to great effect, But I honestly believe a Decimator with a High PS ace is much better

Edited by Bradmini

Cheers, I think youre probably right. The Firespray is decent, but against well flown aces at such a low PS it's dead in the water. My issue with using Whisper are twofold really, I've not had huge amount of experience piloting it, and I imagine it goes down quickly against Aces of the same pilot skill where my opennent has initiative.

Or a 9+PS Han.

I think at my normal X-wing evening I will definitely try and practice with Whisper, but for the tournament this weekend I'll go with the firespray. With Whisper I can try some fun stuff with experimental interface and expose on the Decimator too.

As no-one is reccomending Mangler cannons or Ruthlessness I'll reconsider these.

Edited by Goseki1

Protip: do not stress Whisper. He really hates stress.

I am a newbie at this and have never flown Whisper. Why does Whisper hate stress more than another ship?

I am a newbie at this and have never flown Whisper. Why does Whisper hate stress more than another ship?

Because the advanced cloaking device that lets him recloak after an attack doesnt work when stressed.

So I think I'm going to go with the below for my final list this weekend.

Darth Vader is purely there to help against unshielded aces/nearly dead ships. I figure I can target lock/focus and then experimental interface to expose getting 4-5 red Dice, an eye will get automatically turned to a critical by Chirenaeus ability and the rest I can reroll with target lock.

I know I could take Ysanne to use her ability and expose but I'm not really sure how good one evade will be against focused fire. Also was going to try Ruthlessness but think I'd prefer to try this in a less competitive environment first.

I get that this leaves me open to stress attacks, but there's not a huge amount I can do about it.

Krassis has the mangler cannon purely because the points fit and is able to reroll a Dice withoit taking predator. I realise Krassis is probably the weak aspect of this list but until I'm more confident flying as Whisper or practice with other builds (will be trying a palpatine Decimator and vader advanced combo next week once the ship etc arrives) it'll do. Grateful for any last minute suggestions or tips for tomorrow though!

Rear Admiral Chirenaeu (46)

Expose (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

Darth Vader (3)

Krassis Trellix (36)

Mangler Cannon (4)

Recon Specialist (3)

99 Total

Edited by Goseki1

Came fourth with the above list out of (I think 18) so quite pleased.

1st Round

Soontir Fel, Connor Jax, Omega Leader

Won fairly easily in all honesty. Though he lasted longer than I would have liked.

2nd round

Dash with outrider, HTC etc

2x blue squadron B wings

Lost significantly, primarily due to unanswered HTC hits and not being able to close in on Dash.

3rd round

Tycho and jake a wimgs

Ten niumb b wing

Won fairly easily.

4th round

Tie advanced Darth vader

2x class squadron punisher with 2 proton missiles each, 2 bombs each and auto thrusters

Very very close match, the bombs did no damage but shut me out of a lot of the playing field and the missiles decimated my... Decimator. Really fun match though.

5th round

same as 2nd,margin of loss was much lower but I still lost (this guy came first place unsurprisingly)

6th round

Poe regenerating Shields, wedge regenerating Shields and some bandits. Killed a bandit and nearly killed both wedge and Poe but got really sloppy and landed on some asteroids denying me vital shots, and had a few bad crits whilst Poe and Wedge flew off regenerating Shields.

So yeah I came fourth overall, got 2 C3po cards, a plastic range ruler and a nice coin. Quite impressed for my first tourney and I'll have to rethink my list.

Expose and experimental interface were fun, but the stress left me wide open to blocking after. I really probably should have taken an engine upgrade as many suggested...

Krassis in the Firespray was... Interesting but she didnt perform as well as hope and imagine she is where I'll see big changes if I continue to run a Decimator.

Came fourth with the above list out of (I think 18) so quite pleased.

1st Round

Soontir Fel, Connor Jax, Omega Leader

Won fairly easily in all honesty. Though he lasted longer than I would have liked.

2nd round

Dash with outrider, HTC etc

2x blue squadron B wings

Lost significantly, primarily due to unanswered HTC hits and not being able to close in on Dash.

3rd round

Tycho and jake a wimgs

Ten niumb b wing

Won fairly easily.

4th round

Tie advanced Darth vader

2x class squadron punisher with 2 proton missiles each, 2 bombs each and auto thrusters

Very very close match, the bombs did no damage but shut me out of a lot of the playing field and the missiles decimated my... Decimator. Really fun match though.

5th round

same as 2nd,margin of loss was much lower but I still lost (this guy came first place unsurprisingly)

6th round

Poe regenerating Shields, wedge regenerating Shields and some bandits. Killed a bandit and nearly killed both wedge and Poe but got really sloppy and landed on some asteroids denying me vital shots, and had a few bad crits whilst Poe and Wedge flew off regenerating Shields.

So yeah I came fourth overall, got 2 C3po cards, a plastic range ruler and a nice coin. Quite impressed for my first tourney and I'll have to rethink my list.

Expose and experimental interface were fun, but the stress left me wide open to blocking after. I really probably should have taken an engine upgrade as many suggested...

Krassis in the Firespray was... Interesting but she didnt perform as well as hope and imagine she is where I'll see big changes if I continue to run a Decimator.

Meta in your area....is weird at least for me:)

And, correct me if im wrong but you ended 3-3? 4-2? 2-4? Cause you didnt wrote some outcomes. Just curious cause none of those scores is 4th place score in swiss. Maybe 4-2 with decent mov. Just curious.

Edited by Vitalis

Sorry, won 3 lost one to get top 4.

Lost my first round 4 battle, and then lost the (pride only) battle for 3rd place

I really like the top 4 coin/medal you get. It's utterly pointless but is shiny and heavy and I love it.

As for the meta, I live/play in Edinburgh, Scotland for what it's worth. I know there were a few guys with dual IG88s (one chap flew one of his right off the table XD) and someone else with a y wing stress/tlt build and another with a thug y wing build but otherwise the event runners commented on how nice it was to see such a varied ship list at the event.

As for my list, I love the Decimator but want to try a tank build. I've ditched expose and experimental interface for determination and engine upgrade. I've also ditched Vader for Ysanne which leaves me open to soontir etc, however, I realised I almost did more damage to myself killing soontir with Vader than Soontir did to me. I figure if I can target lock or focus and shoot soontir each turn that's 3-4 semi/modifiable Dice he needs to defend against, which still worries me to be honest, but green Dice can only hold out so long! Connor Jax will be a bugger at range one as will Omega leader with a lock on, but Omega leader will barely be able to damage tank Decimator.

With Palpatine and Issard, as long as I'm not stressed I can negate 2 damage a round and with Determination I can discard almost 1/4 of critical hits. I got a LOT of crits at the tourney and more than half were pilot crits so this seems like a great upgrade.

However I'm aware that not having Gunner or predator isn't great and that not having Vader makes aces a pain. So I'm not sure how I feel about this. Issard would be a big loss, but I wonder if Vader is a bigger one.

Also not sure what to pair it with. Either an advanced with points to spare as below, or I'd like to give Krassis another go with an Ion Cannon. I can set her after the smaller irritants to ionise, get behind and kill whilst Kenkirk does his thing maybe? I'm not sure.

Kenkirk 44

Determination 1

Engine Upgrade 4

Emperor Palpatine 8

Ysanne Issard 4

61

Darth Vader 29

Predator 3

Stealth Device 3

Title + Advanced Targeting computer 1

36

97 total

Or Decimator as above with

Krassis Trellix 36

Ion Cannon 3

39

Total with Kenkirk: 100

Edited by Goseki1

The Kenkirk Decimator build performed really well tonight. Chap I was playing using X-wing found it fairly difficult to keep in arc an flinch damage through the Dice/palpatine, focus and Free evade. I still took damage if course but it lasted way longer than it would have without the tank build.

However, I did very much miss having Chirenaeus ability or predator though, so may rethink a bit. Didn't get to fly with an advanced this week so will try that pairing next week. I'm convinced that a Firespray isn't the right pairing for what I have in the Kenkirk /Palpatine build (points wise).

If I had Wampa etc I'd love to try a mini swarm build.