Kannan-Dash... or 58 Dash 2.0

By Palomarus, in X-Wing Squad Lists

So I am not breaking any real ground here with Dash, as swapping out the Kyle crew in the Standard 58 Dash build (Dash, Engine, HLC, Title, Kyle, and PtL) for the new Kannan Crew has been talked about here before.

But I do have to say that after running it twice last night, that having Dash's entire dial save the k-turn open to me was AWESOME!! I know that he suffers a bit without the free focus from Kyle. But for me at least, the better options for movement meant that quite a few times he was able to forget the Boost/BR actions entirely as a 3 turn got me where I needed to be so he could TL and Focus for his actions.

I wanted to try and bust out some of the new toys I got last night... so I paired Dash with an Attack Shuttle Sabine... and man oh man was she hard to take out. And with a little tweaking to her build, a real threat as well!

So on to the list I am considering:

Dash (Engine, Title, HLC, PtL, Kannan, and Procket) (61)

Sabine Attack Shuttle (Chewie, Juke, TLT, and Hull) (36)

So it comes in as is at 97 pts...but there are a few things I am not sold on:

Prockets : Like the idea of having a last chance range 1 threat for Dash, and I had some points to spare.

Hull : Was thinking that with Sabine a Stealth Device might be better....since with Juke she is always going to grab Evade...3 dice with evade is good for her.

In the end, Corran may still be the better choice... but for now I am really loving Sabine with TLT Juke!

having in mind you now have al the dial available, I think It would be possible to remove the engine upgrade and save 4 points

It's true you could, but what would you do with those points anyways in a 2 ship build where the ships are pretty much maxed out?

Plus boost is so good for positioning I found it still useful in the games I played with him.

This is my Kanan-Dash list.

Dash Rendar (36)

+ Outrider (5)

+ Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

+ Kanan Jarrus (3)

+ Push the Limit (3)

+ Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

Jan Ors (25)

+ Moldy Crow (3)

+ Twin Laser Turret (6)

+ Engine Upgrade (4)

+ Kyle Katarn (3)

+ Predator (3)

It is incredibly fun to play! With Kanan opening up the dial, I don't find Engine as necessary on Dash any more. You don't have the free focus from Kyle, but you will very rarely if ever need to both Boost and Barrel Roll in the same turn, so you'll regularly be able to Focus or TL (or both) for modified 5-dice shots (thanks, Jan!). With the mod slot freed up, APL lets you use the expanded dial to block aces that might otherwise get in your doughnut hole.

Jan stores up a few Foci with the Crow early on, then continues to get them from Kyle once in combat. I find I like Kyle over a RecSpec, because even though the latter stores more tokens early game, Kyle makes sure you have a defensive token even on the turns you Boost with Engine to keep up with Dash. Predator is great because it mods both TLT shots, and I find TLT compliments Dash's HLC nicely. A hammer and a scalpel.

This list's weakness is its relative squishy-ness: only 15 health behind 2 Agility. If you're careful you can have Focus for defense, but it's going to be creative flying that does the most for your survivability.

To that end, the best part of the list is Kanan. Yes, he opens up Dash's dial, but he opens up Jan's, too! If you know you can get away with a green move on Dash, you can save Kanan's once-pre-turn stress removal for Jan's hard 2 (possibly into Boost) that's sure to catch opponents off guard!

My favourite build for Sabine will always be Kyle Katarn, PTL, TLT and hull. Being able to barrel roll (cartwheel) across the map is just too fun to watch.

So I was able to get two more games in with the Dash-Sabine list, and I have got to say that now more than ever I am sold on the Kannan Dash vs the Kyle Dash!

First game I had to face a Poe Fat Han build, and the results of having a Kannan allowed me to boost in behind the Poe with a 3 Turn the turn after I had TL/Focus'd Han, and was able to get Poe off the table with no return fire from either ship.

And the second game I faced off with Glitter Crack Brobots.... and that's the only thing that kept me alive was the fact that I had Kannan. I did a bone head mistake and allowed both Brobots to get Sabine in arc at range 3 on the third round, and then coupled with the dice...saw here blasted off the board without doing a single thing. So here I was, lil old Dash at full health vs two full Brobots...and Kannan allowed me to pull out the win!

Sure it was a LONG and grinding game for him, tossing out mostly unmodified dice at the stupid 3 evade plus AT ships...but after 1.5 hours I managed to get the job done!

Truth be told I am not sold on Sabine as a wingman yet, and honestly I am considering tossing a Lothal Rebel in there just to gum up the works for the enemy and see if that pairs any better!

Truth be told I am not sold on Sabine as a wingman yet, and honestly I am considering tossing a Lothal Rebel in there just to gum up the works for the enemy and see if that pairs any better!

Funny you should say that, because I've been having a blast with this as a wingman for Dash 2.0:

Lothal Rebel (35)
Fire-Control System (2)
Hera Syndulla (1)
Ezra Bridger (3)
Total: 41
Edited by FuturistiKen

Interesting, I might have to try your build this Thursday.

... Although I wonder if adding the Tactical Jammer to the Lothal Rebel would be worth it? Allow Dash to use it as an obstruction as he flies around?

Interesting, I might have to try your build this Thursday.

... Although I wonder if adding the Tactical Jammer to the Lothal Rebel would be worth it? Allow Dash to use it as an obstruction as he flies around?

Great minds, my friend...

I've had some success with it so it's definitely worth a try. I ended up dropping it for the initiative bid so my Lothal Rebel would shoot before generic U-boats but they haven't shown up a lot in my meta so I think I'll go back to the Jammer.

So I managed to get 3 games in last night with the VCX as a wingman for Kannan-Dash, and it went really well for the most part. I wrote about them in detail here if anyone is interested:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/206303-getting-back-into-the-cockpit-mistakes-will-be-made/

In the end, and I am not sure why exactly, I went with Chopper with FCS, Hera, and Han for some reason. Over the Lothal Rebel with FCS, Hera, Han, and ABT for the same price tag. I guess I figured that if I was going to be shoving the VCX down peoples throats, his ability might trigger more. But I only got it to go off once in the three games I played. granted that was a single turn block of both Tycho and Poe...but truth be told I think the Auto Blaster Turret would have done a better job all around for me.

Also Han was pretty much wasted, not triggering a single time in the games I played. But this might have been a different story if I had the ABT on it. All in all, I like the VCX as Dash's wingman a lot. And I will try out the Rebel ABT build and see how that does.

Also, I think that the Tactical Jammer may have only triggered once in all of the 3 games if I had equipt it...so its probably a better idea to leave it off for init anyway. Now if Biggs was along...I could definitely see it making its points back. But Dash is just to far away most times for it to be relevant.

Been wondering about this list. Got a small one-day event coming up, and I'm planning a kanan-dash combo, but it's his support I'm not sure on. Sure, Ezra lacks Sabine's manoeuvring capability but he's a fair bit more tanky. I do like the Sabine option though. Is an interesting choice.

YT-2400: · Dash Rendar (36)

Push The Limit (3)

"Mangler" Cannon (4)

· Kanan Jarrus (3)

· Outrider (5)

Attack Shuttle: · Ezra Bridger (20)

· Lone Wolf (2)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Hull Upgrade (3)

· Hera Syndulla (1)

A-Wing: Prototype Pilot (17)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

I really think that you want Push the Limit on Ezra, so you can key off his pilot ability each turn. And also remember that Kannan can also work for his stress as well as Dash's if he is within range 1-2 of Dash. So you can keep Ezra's dial more open on the turns when you don't need the double action from Dash!

And as for Dash... I am just not a fan of the Mangler Cannon and dropping Engine Upgrade on him at all. Sure it allows you to squeeze in an A-Wing for blocking. But the sacrifice to his damage output and maneuverability seems a poor trade off to me. You are basically paying 45 points for him to have a 3 red dice turret...and a Chewie Falcon comes in for just 46 points with C-3P0 and title. And would arguably last longer and still put out about the same damage as Dash and not be susceptible to getting bad crits...which I always seem to get with Dash!

But give it a try, and let me know how it does...I'd love to be proven wrong! ; )

... then I could toss some more goodies on my Chopper VCX that I run with Dash!

I really think that you want Push the Limit on Ezra, so you can key off his pilot ability each turn. And also remember that Kannan can also work for his stress as well as Dash's if he is within range 1-2 of Dash. So you can keep Ezra's dial more open on the turns when you don't need the double action from Dash!

And as for Dash... I am just not a fan of the Mangler Cannon and dropping Engine Upgrade on him at all. Sure it allows you to squeeze in an A-Wing for blocking. But the sacrifice to his damage output and maneuverability seems a poor trade off to me. You are basically paying 45 points for him to have a 3 red dice turret...and a Chewie Falcon comes in for just 46 points with C-3P0 and title. And would arguably last longer and still put out about the same damage as Dash and not be susceptible to getting bad crits...which I always seem to get with Dash!

But give it a try, and let me know how it does...I'd love to be proven wrong! ; )

Regarding Ezra: yeah, that thought occurred to me about ten minutes after I posted that list. On balance I think I prefer Sabine, but Ezra's solid too for similar points.

This is a sort of "Dash-Lite" build; yeah he lacks the manoeuvring options and raw damage output of the standard SuperDash, but he's consistent and reliable. I reasoned it thusly:

Benefits:

  • Consistent 3-dice attacks with TL or Focus (occasionally both) from Dash at any range
  • Less MoV given up if he dies early
  • With Kanan, he doesn't need Engine as much, if at all - between barrel rolls and his full dial, the boost is no longer essential for me, but YMMV of course.
  • 3-ship build is an extra gun (makes up a bit for Dash's lower damage output), a blocker, an additional target
  • No doughnut hole in a meta where Palp-aces builds are becoming more and more prevalent (and sooner or later you will get an ace in your hole no matter how well you fly - so the threat is reduced a lot)

Drawbacks:

  • No 4-dice attacks on Dash (partially mitigated with extra ship)
  • No boost (partially, arguably fully mitigated with Kanan)

Granted both drawbacks might be considered fairly significant, but I think it's a YMMV kind of thing. I've yet to test this, however - which may prove me wrong.

I see your points, and they are all valid to be sure.

But what makes you choose the Mangler Dash over a Chewie YT for the same role? Does the BR make that much difference?

Exactly the thread I was looking for! I'm very new to the game, playing for less than a month and also running a Dash/Kannan combo with VCX-100.

I was running Dash at 58 with Outrider and HLC, Kanan, EU and PTL, but also found that I didn't really need the boost action and probably should have been using TL a lot more. So I changed my list to:

'Tank and Flank' (99)

Dash, Outrider, HLC, Kanan, PTL, (54)

Lothal Rebel, Dorsal turret, Lando, Chewy (45)

Dash does his thing staying outside of range 1, move/barrel plus a TL or focus each turn.

The VCX is there to tank with Lando and Chewy giving it more durability.

Keen to get some feedback on the viability. Is there a better way to kit the VCX for increased mobility to keep stuff in the awesome 4/5 dice primary arc that won't make it too squishy with 0 evade?

EDIT. Re the Mangler, I tried squeezing some points by dropping the HLC for a Mangler Cannon on Dash for several games and also to mitigate against the doughnut hole, but especially against things at range 3 with Autothrusters I was never getting a damage through. Again I'm new to this, but in my very limited experience the 4 dice seems just that much consistently better.

Edited by Essexkiwi

I see your points, and they are all valid to be sure.

But what makes you choose the Mangler Dash over a Chewie YT for the same role? Does the BR make that much difference?

The other thing I like about it is that you don't have to care about range at all in terms of your damage output, so your range positioning is all about the defence. It gives you less to think about and simplifies decisions a lot, which while being a bit more of an esoteric aspect of the game can pay dividends in a tournament when the pressure and fatigue can lead to mistakes creeping in. The less factors you have to consider, the easier your ships are to fly.

Edit: As far as the whole "vs R3 Autothrusters" thing goes - yeah, 4 dice is obviously better than 3. It does make the build fly differently to the standard superdash, since it is beneficial to get enemy ships inside your arc, but that's offset a bit by the fact that those ships can't hide in your doughnut hole if you take a mangler. So, although you may do less damage per shot, not only do you deny opposing ships that "safe zone", you can also maintain a constant rate of fire. More shots means more chances to do damage.

To be honest it's a personal preference thing in my view. I personally don't like the hole so I don't use the HLC, but I totally get why the HLC is a strong choice.

Edited by McQuirk

Here's another idea for a dash supporting Ghost :

Lothal (35)

Engine (4)

Hera (1)

Chopper (0)

Fcs (2)

Super mobile, immune to Stress and can boost even after a 5k (for a damage)

Disclaimer : haven't actually put this on the table yet