X-wing Pilot Tier Project
Tier lists are about top-level competitive play: which pilots are easiest to use, most consistently effective when used, and most popular... and which are the opposite. This is not saying that you should ONLY use top-ranked pilots, or that you should NEVER use low-ranked pilots; rather, this is to help players be aware of the difference between pilots, when lower-ranked pilots can help them win - and know what is most likely to hit the tables near them.

While tier lists are always somewhat subjective, the goal of the X-Wing Pilot Tier Project is to be as objective as possible, starting with the usage on the List Juggler Time Series Charts , specifically looking at ships which "Made The Cut" and proceeding from there.

As time goes by and different pilots move up and down in usage, the tier list itself will change along with that usage. Ideally, at the start of a new month, the tier rankings will be recompiled with last month's data now included.

I'll start by examining each ship's pilots, opening that examination to community approval, then compiling that into a general faction tier list and moving onto the next faction. Each pilot will have listed in their ranking common upgrades, because judging pilots naked might as well not judge them at all.

In the overview a rough average percentage of use by points spent among top cut players over the last three months will be mentioned, and in each entry will mention the average percentage among pilots used for that ship . So, for example,if the Decimator uses 10% of total Imperial player points, and Rear Admiral Chiraneau is an average of 55% of those points spent, then RAC uses 5.5% of average Imperial player points spent.

For those not familiar with a tier ranking system, here's a brief explanation:

Rank SS is for pilots that are almost unbeatable, with highly specific counters that even then aren't sure things. With Rank SS pilots, a meta either uses them or uses the counter to them (if one exists), with no middle ground. If a pilot is Rank SS, then it needs to be nerfed ASAP. Whisper , prior to the TIE/Phantom nerf, is a perfect example of a Rank SS pilot. If a pilot breaks 10% of overall faction usage, it's a candidate for Rank SS.

Rank S is for pilots which are strong and consistent on their own, requiring little outside support to inflict damage and dodge it, and at an acceptable points cost. Darth Vader is a Rank S pilot; with good action economy, high PS, solid damage output (with ATC), and an EPT slot that's completely open he's always a good choice for a squadron. If a pilot falls between 5% and 10% of overall usage, it's possibly Rank S.

Rank A is for pilots that are pretty good and can function well enough on their own, but either have solid counters or well-known weaknesses. Zeta Leader is an example of a Rank A pilot; he's very strong for his points, has an entirely open EPT for anything but PTL (VI, Predator, Adaptability, Crack Shot, Wired), and his sole downside is being limited to his greens. If a pilot has between 3-5% of overall usage, it may be Rank A.

Rank B is for pilots which are average - neither good or bad - and have downsides to match their upsides, need support to function well, OR are support themselves. Omicron Group Pilot is an example of a Rank B pilot; as the cheapest carrier of Emperor Palpatine he can swing a game in the player's favor but his low durability, terrible dial, and low PS make him vulnerable if used wrong - or if he's your final ship. If a pilot has 1-3% of overall usage then it's probably Rank B.

Rank C is for pilots that a competitive would use only for funsies; they may have highly specific uses but there are just better options to take. Kath Scarlett (Imperial) is an example of a Rank C pilot; while she has an interesting ability, it's so situational that it will rarely get used and she requires so many upgrade points to use when you could get a Decimator/Whisper for just a few points more or Vader/Palpshuttle for a few points less. Anywhere between 0% and 1% of usage gets into Rank C, unless...

Rank F is for "Failure" "Fix me" or "F 'em" depending on your point of view. There is never any reason to take these guys because they're strictly worse than almost anything else. Fel's Wrath is an example of a Rank F pilot; not only is it competing against Fel himself, a non-EPT TIE/IN whose ability only kicks in AFTER it's destroyed - assuming it even has an enemy in arc?
The previous Imperial tier listings are here:
TIE Fighter
VT-49 Decimator
Firespray-31
TIE/FO
And the Rebels have been started here:
X-Wing

Now, for the tier listing!

TIE/PH PHANTOM

This is about today, not tomorrow, and today... Phantoms have 9.5% of Imperial usage, which seems healthy until you look at the stats and realise that 88% or so of that is solely Whisper. But is that really a surprise? TIE/PH are glass cannons, emphasis on the glass , with 4 HP and Agility 2 defensively but 4 Attack! They rely on their cloak to give +2 Agility, set themselves up for movement at the start of the Activation phase, and with the Advanced Cloaking Device can decloak, fire, and recloak, with their main weakness being higher PS enemies. This means that TIE/PH are forever trapped in a PS war: the lower the PS, the more vulnerable the TIE/PH is.

RANK S

"Whisper" (8.5%)

Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Advanced Cloaking Device (39)

Whisper is a known but lethal quantity in X-Wing, with her only open upgrade slot Crew. VI is chosen to win as much of the PS war as possible, ACD is chosen to let him decloak during the Activation phase and recloak after attacking, and FCS is there to make her attacks more lethal - though in a meta with a lot of TLTs, Sensor Jammer is a strong defensive choice. Even with just Crew upgrades, there's a lot of options:

Intelligence Agent makes piloting Whisper even more forgiving as it gives information before she decloaks.

Agent Kallus makes Whisper even deadlier one-on-one for cheap.

Rebel Captive is anti-Ace tech to discourage firing on her while decloaked.

Gunner , while pricey, is about as lethal as Whisper can get - and opens up the System slot for Sensor Jammer.

RANK C

"Echo" (.9%)

Veteran Instincts, Rebel Captive, Advanced Cloaking Device, Fire Control System (40)

Veteran Instincts, Intelligence Agent, Stygian Particle Accelerator, Sensor Jammer (38)

Echo went from one of the easiest, most dodgy ships to use to one of the hardest . Before the nerf, his unpredictable movement helped him win wars against mirror matches; afterwards, his (upgraded) PS8 just isn't enough to defend him against the myriad of Aces at that level or above. He'd mighty unpredictable and with great prediction can land wins, but he's usually at the same price as Whisper for being much, much harder to use.

Shadow Squadron Pilot (.1%)

Just... take everything said about Echo and add in no EPT plus being PS5. Without the ability to arc dodge any Aces whatsoever, a Shadow's lifespan is measured in two or three shots.

Sigma Squadron Pilot (0%)

There is no reason to ever take Sigmas. At PS3, they lose the war to most enhanced generics and tie with the lower-PS enhanced generics, making them a VERY bad bargain for the points.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. You can actually see the moment that the nerf hit; Echo was pretty well represented with the occasional Shadow and Sigma and then WHAM! it's nothing but Whisper as far as the eye can see.

Any thoughts? This does seem pretty clear-cut to me with little controversy. Whisper's top-tier, everything else is taken only if you want a challenge.

2 things: 1) both phantom pilots are women 2) sensor jammer is a very legitimate choice for whisper to fight tlts as even 4 greens are a bit soft to the consistency of that turret.

I like using Echo. It is dead to any aces list, but will eat PS 6 lists if he has initiative. I agree with the assesment, as the meta is more aces than anything. I'm curious to try my build against a U-boat list.

Honestly after the change for decloaking I have rarely seen any TIE Phantoms for a while. I've flown them for fun once with a disruptive Sigma co-piloted by Mara Jade with a Sensor Jammer.

Just for completion sake what is the though on the Stygium Particle Accelerator? Is it too time costing to wait for the right moment to strike or is the Advance Cloaking Device just too important to a Phantom's attack with turrets and Twin Laser Turrets being a big thing?

Honestly after the change for decloaking I have rarely seen any TIE Phantoms for a while. I've flown them for fun once with a disruptive Sigma co-piloted by Mara Jade with a Sensor Jammer.

Just for completion sake what is the though on the Stygium Particle Accelerator? Is it too time costing to wait for the right moment to strike or is the Advance Cloaking Device just too important to a Phantom's attack with turrets and Twin Laser Turrets being a big thing?

I've never used the Stygium, the recloak is way to useful to my build/tactics for me to not take it. It may be useful, but it is probably more useful to the illicit cloak, or a future ship than it is on the Phantom.

2 things: 1) both phantom pilots are women 2) sensor jammer is a very legitimate choice for whisper to fight tlts as even 4 greens are a bit soft to the consistency of that turret.

I thought that both of them were women, but I couldn't find a source on that so I just went with the generic male. Where is the source?

And I like Sensor Jammer too, but Whisper's so expensive that sometimes it's hard to find points for everything.

Honestly after the change for decloaking I have rarely seen any TIE Phantoms for a while. I've flown them for fun once with a disruptive Sigma co-piloted by Mara Jade with a Sensor Jammer.

Just for completion sake what is the though on the Stygium Particle Accelerator? Is it too time costing to wait for the right moment to strike or is the Advance Cloaking Device just too important to a Phantom's attack with turrets and Twin Laser Turrets being a big thing?

If generic Phantoms became a thing, the SPA is probably better than ACD, as it would give them a free Evade token to help survive til they shoot.

I personally like SPA with the Illicit Cloaking Device, as it gives more survivability to ships like Talonbane Cobra without costing a lot more points. But on Phantoms... naw.

2 things: 1) both phantom pilots are women 2) sensor jammer is a very legitimate choice for whisper to fight tlts as even 4 greens are a bit soft to the consistency of that turret.

I thought that both of them were women, but I couldn't find a source on that so I just went with the generic male. Where is the source?

And I like Sensor Jammer too, but Whisper's so expensive that sometimes it's hard to find points for everything.

Honestly after the change for decloaking I have rarely seen any TIE Phantoms for a while. I've flown them for fun once with a disruptive Sigma co-piloted by Mara Jade with a Sensor Jammer.

Just for completion sake what is the though on the Stygium Particle Accelerator? Is it too time costing to wait for the right moment to strike or is the Advance Cloaking Device just too important to a Phantom's attack with turrets and Twin Laser Turrets being a big thing?

If generic Phantoms became a thing, the SPA is probably better than ACD, as it would give them a free Evade token to help survive til they shoot.

I personally like SPA with the Illicit Cloaking Device, as it gives more survivability to ships like Talonbane Cobra without costing a lot more points. But on Phantoms... naw.

I'm actually curious as to whether or not the Phantom is the answer to U-boats.

It is cool to see the data used like this :-) ty!

I don't have a great source other than:

Whisper was referred to in the preview article for the phantom as a "She". Other than that, II don't think we know anything.

Echo has been referred to as both a He and a She in official articles. So we know even less.

I think most players have accepted that both are female.

End of Line

2 things: 1) both phantom pilots are women 2) sensor jammer is a very legitimate choice for whisper to fight tlts as even 4 greens are a bit soft to the consistency of that turret.

I thought that both of them were women, but I couldn't find a source on that so I just went with the generic male. Where is the source?

And I like Sensor Jammer too, but Whisper's so expensive that sometimes it's hard to find points for everything.

Honestly after the change for decloaking I have rarely seen any TIE Phantoms for a while. I've flown them for fun once with a disruptive Sigma co-piloted by Mara Jade with a Sensor Jammer.

Just for completion sake what is the though on the Stygium Particle Accelerator? Is it too time costing to wait for the right moment to strike or is the Advance Cloaking Device just too important to a Phantom's attack with turrets and Twin Laser Turrets being a big thing?

If generic Phantoms became a thing, the SPA is probably better than ACD, as it would give them a free Evade token to help survive til they shoot.

I personally like SPA with the Illicit Cloaking Device, as it gives more survivability to ships like Talonbane Cobra without costing a lot more points. But on Phantoms... naw.

Tanky echo with Kallus, SPA and Sensor Jammer is kind of a thing. Generics can work if you go for the RecSpec/SPA token turtling route but you will only be shooting every other turn. But yeah, Phantoms are extremely unforgiving to play with and their counters are basically an autolose to go against.

And the only thing that works even half-well against a Phantom's counters is Whisper herself, because she can be cloaked with multiple Focus tokens to hide behind - RecSpec is another crew I've seen in the lists that makes sense to me, stacking up multiple Focuses.

I'm perfectly fine with having Whisper female, I like having more gender equality in my games. And it leaves things open for hawt HowlrunnerxWhisper rule 34...

*ahem*

AANYWAY, I'm not seeing much disagreement with the rankings, and with the downfall of TLTs I see why Sensor Jammer has fully fallen out of favor with the reported lists - but it does deserve to be mentioned in Whisper's entry. Or should I move the discussion about what upgrades are common to the general entry?

Echo could possibly be both. These are aliens maybe.

Sigma 6 list was cool and the sigmas can be fun blockers with a punch.

And the only thing that works even half-well against a Phantom's counters is Whisper herself, because she can be cloaked with multiple Focus tokens to hide behind - RecSpec is another crew I've seen in the lists that makes sense to me, stacking up multiple Focuses.

I'm perfectly fine with having Whisper female, I like having more gender equality in my games. And it leaves things open for hawt HowlrunnerxWhisper rule 34...

*ahem*

AANYWAY, I'm not seeing much disagreement with the rankings, and with the downfall of TLTs I see why Sensor Jammer has fully fallen out of favor with the reported lists - but it does deserve to be mentioned in Whisper's entry. Or should I move the discussion about what upgrades are common to the general entry?

Is this about what is common or what is effective because those aren't always the same.

Echo could possibly be both. These are aliens maybe.

Aliens as Imperial pilots ??? Heresy!

And the only thing that works even half-well against a Phantom's counters is Whisper herself, because she can be cloaked with multiple Focus tokens to hide behind - RecSpec is another crew I've seen in the lists that makes sense to me, stacking up multiple Focuses.

I'm perfectly fine with having Whisper female, I like having more gender equality in my games. And it leaves things open for hawt HowlrunnerxWhisper rule 34...

*ahem*

AANYWAY, I'm not seeing much disagreement with the rankings, and with the downfall of TLTs I see why Sensor Jammer has fully fallen out of favor with the reported lists - but it does deserve to be mentioned in Whisper's entry. Or should I move the discussion about what upgrades are common to the general entry?

Is this about what is common or what is effective because those aren't always the same.

Well, it can be about what's effective against certain solutions, which is why I DID put Sensor Jammer in there.

-

I strongly disagree with your rating of Echo... yes, she's not seeing much play at the moment, but that's not the whole story.

Echo is one of the hardest ships in the game to fly, because we as players never normally put a 2-bank template to the side of one of our ships, but she is also the absolute queen of misdirection. When you take those six decloak options, then consider the nice dial and BR, there's so much she can do. I mean, take a look at her potential meanuevers...

Plus, with PS coming down due to the shift to ordnance, her PS8 is looking a lot stronger. She also only clocks in at 35pts if you want to build her budget (or 36 with IA, who becomes more valuable the lower your Phantom's PS), and that's a very nice price for a very capable ship. Just my 2c ...

Early Wave 8 results suggest that the PS war may be over, and certainly Jumpmasters are keeping a lot of the Phantom's big problems out of the meta.

Whisper is now in ~25% of Aces builds and I think Echo is becoming viable if you can bid initiative.

These rankings may be appropriate for past data sampling but I think we could be seeing it change.

Uh. If you had read the initial opener, you would have noticed the intention to update the rankings once a month, probably in the first few days.

It's also possible that this will go into Sozin's website and the Ranks will be updated automatically depending on usage. I haven't talked with him about how possible that is, but I'm sure he's thinking about it.

And Whisper's 'made the cut' usage still remains fairly constant throughout the last six months or so; she's good but so unforgiving that if you're good at flying her she'll win you games.

Honestly banjobonito, the PS wars aren't quite over yet; higher PS is still a reasonable way to beat triple U-Boats, otherwise Palpaces would be dead as 4BZ, and Wedge use wouldn't be on the rise. The PS8 that Echo hits is really, REALLY crowded; there are only 6 pilots with PS9 to tie or beat VI Whisper, and only maybe four or five viable pilots that can go 9+ with VI, but nearly twenty with PS8 to tie or beat Echo, and lots of PS6/7 pilots aren't welded to EPTs and can take VI to match/beat him as well.

Echo may be slippery, but he also moves before some very dangerous ships and can't recloak until after they've fired.

-

I strongly disagree with your rating of Echo... yes, she's not seeing much play at the moment, but that's not the whole story.

Echo is one of the hardest ships in the game to fly, because we as players never normally put a 2-bank template to the side of one of our ships, but she is also the absolute queen of misdirection. When you take those six decloak options, then consider the nice dial and BR, there's so much she can do. I mean, take a look at her potential meanuevers...

Plus, with PS coming down due to the shift to ordnance, her PS8 is looking a lot stronger. She also only clocks in at 35pts if you want to build her budget (or 36 with IA, who becomes more valuable the lower your Phantom's PS), and that's a very nice price for a very capable ship. Just my 2c ...

As Echo is my most favourite ship and the one I've flown the most of all ships in X-wing, I totally agree with above.

The best upgrade for Echo is without doubt Recon Specialist, as the 2 focus makes Echo Offencive and Defencive at the same time.

Any other crew will not add as much offence or defence, not even Kallus.

(The reason behind this is that Kallus is mostly used against the opponents highest PS target. Now, the thing is that Echo is 8, and the highest of your opponent will either be lower/same, and then your ACD will save you, OR they are higher, and then you need to outmaneuver them. In those situations, it's often better to make something completly crazy and aim for Another ship with Echo. This will both shake their Ace, but also hurt another ship.)

Rebel Captive is not good either, becuase if you play with Echo, you either kill fast, or get killed fast, and R.C. won't do anything to kill faster.

The best defence of all though, is great outmanuvering.

If you cannot predict you'r opponents moves, or if you cannot see all possible moves of Echo in you'r inner eye, then you will Die Hard. This is why Intelligence Agent also is a bad choice. You follow your heart, and if your heart is'nt strong enough, you should play with Whisper or another ship!

As for system slot, the Sensor Jammer is good no doubt, but for 2 Points less you get FCS wich makes you kill faster.

Also, Sensor Jammer is only great against TLTs and what you do with Echo against those is:

1. Stay out of range 3 and shoot something else, and

2. get inside range 1 with great movement and blast them down.

TLT Carriers will 99% of the time be lower PS than you!

So... Echo is the best ship in the game, paired with good companions of course.. But only a few agree with this

As for the lower PS phantoms, I will some day try 4x sigmas! 16 attack dice!

Also disagrees with your low rating of Echo, she is a top-ace and flown right can solo numerous lists, even against very skilled players.

Even now, after the phantom decloack is nerfed, Echo has so many wild decloack possiblities that she still retains a lot of that unpredictability that made the phantom so strong pre-nerf.

My favoirite build for Echo is:

Echo (30)

Lone Wolf (2)

Agent Kallus (2)

Sensor Jammer (4)

Advanced Cloacking Device (4)

Total 42 pt.

My tip:

Assign Agent Kallus to the most stress dealing ship in the enemy list (Stressbot or ships with Tactician or Rebel Captive) with Agent Kallus, if there are no stress dealers, then their top damage dealer. That usually brings a scare your enemy, and I if you cannot outthink your opponent using Echos wild decloack, then arc dodge using the barrel-roll, and if that is not possible then the evade-token (and Palpatine) is your best friend.

I recently flew Echo and Whisper against HLC-crackshot-FCS Brobots flown by our long time Regional Champion. In our first engagement he managed to one-round-shoot a cloacked Whisper using HLC-Crack-FCS IGGB/A, and in the following to rounds my Tie/fo blocker also felt a lot of Robot-pain, leaving Echo to clean up this sector.. and to my big surprice she did!!

(Of course by then the brobots had suffered substantial damage, used up their crack, and lone wolf now kicks in every time).

-

Overly defensive much?

Anyway, aside from the tone of your post I broadly agree. At the moment of seems only 3 ships regularly get 9+ PS (Vader, Fel, Whisper) but there's a lot more sitting at 8. I think you can run Echo if you bid to ensure shooting first, or have a high PS teammate to chase the other aces.

Whisper is already back, and I think Echo is waiting just outside the door.

So far I've done five of these, and the guy doing the Rebels has done two, and in every single one of the threads I've had to repeat the fact that this is intended to move with usage stats and change, much as the game does.

It's not defensiveness so much as being bored of repeating myself. Though somehow the paragraph disappeared which stated that it is intended to move with usage stats and change every month or so (once it's compiled), so that needs to go back in.

For the Echo fans: there are people using Echo (he consistently gets 1.5% of Imperial usage from entered players), but a lower amount of people getting cuts with him (actually about 1.1%) - which does make sense to me, because if you're confident enough to bring Echo to the table, then you're good enough to at least place with him.

However, despite the fact that Whisper represents only 7% of what people bring to tournaments, she consistently nets 8.5% of what makes it into a final cut. That's a solid gain, represents that she's a good ship, and ugh, should probably be represented in the numbers somehow - what ships are brought by fewer people but make more cuts, and what ships are brought by more people but make LESS cuts. I may have to go back and revise data.

If you're making the cut with Echo in tournaments, have you entered the data into list juggler? The larger the sample size, the more accurate the data from it, and the better these lists are. I like the idea of rec spec on Echo and that would be what I'd reach for first, but not a single list in list juggler had Echo with that - it's all reb captive.

All you guys who're saying that Echo is dead to aces.

Lone Wolf, Kallus, Sensor Jammer, ACD.

Add Palpatine for the lols.