AAANNNDD DEFENDERS

By Timathius, in X-Wing

hooray for sweet art on marek

He is, bizarrely enough, launching missiles.

He's has Guidance Chips to manufacture that crit.

Think it could be a viable build? Would have to be D, though, so might as well add a Beam. 42 points with Calculation, TIE/D, Tractor Beam, Homing Missile, Guidance Chips.

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Edited by Goseki1

Now instead of just a "why Glaive instead of Vessery" question, it's a "why Glaive instead of Maarek" question. That 1 point buys you a PS and a decent ability over a Glaive.

The big draw of the Glaive is that you can take three of them with X7 and have four points for upgrades between them. For example make them all ps8 and have a one point bid if you want them all operating at top tier PS with the likes of the Inquisitior, Omega Leader and Poe.

Or run them beside Stele like shown in the article.

Oh, definitely. I'm not saying you never do it, but for only 1 point, you need a good reason. Although Maarek + Adaptability is PS 8 for the same cost as Glaive + VI, but he has an ability and sweeter artwork.

Holy crap! Those defenders are killer!

Ryad is AMAZING and is begging for PTL and Engine Upgrade. Wow. Green K turns. Wow.

Yes please.

No special synergy with either title, though.

But yeah, I can't see a situation where I'd ever take a Glaive unless I already had Ryad. I guess if I really thought it was vital to get to PS6, but... I don't think it would ever be THAT vital.

Yeah, I think her title is just whatever you want her Defender to do. You can go cheap and be fine, you can go high offense TIE/D and be fine. You could go HLC and have a badass ship PTLing all over the place and laying down TL/Focus 4-dice shots left and right.

This is true but I still feel that the era of hlc defenders has passed just because of how good the titles are.

X7 turns them tanky and /d turns them into better jousters/glass cannons so hlc to me feels like minimal draw.

I'm so glad I pre-ordered two of these bad boys.

Simply....YES!!!!!!

Can't wait can't wait can't wait!!!!

I'm a young boy of 20 again DEFENDING the empire with my buddy Maarek Stele.

Edited by GrimmyV

hooray for sweet art on marek

He is, bizarrely enough, launching missiles.

He's has Guidance Chips to manufacture that crit.

Think it could be a viable build? Would have to be D, though, so might as well add a Beam. 42 points with Calculation, TIE/D, Tractor Beam, Homing Missile, Guidance Chips.

With his ability he can use AHM to stick a brutally crippling crit on a high shield ship in the first round of shooting. Or one shot Corran and any other two hull ship.

hooray for sweet art on marek

He is, bizarrely enough, launching missiles.

He's has Guidance Chips to manufacture that crit.

Think it could be a viable build? Would have to be D, though, so might as well add a Beam. 42 points with Calculation, TIE/D, Tractor Beam, Homing Missile, Guidance Chips.

I'm not sure, but I've been thinking about it. Cannon and EPT slots could vary, but Homing Missiles are the core upgrade. You'd use the missiles for either a single high quality shot against a high defense ace or because you're trying to alpha strike something down at long range. I'd need to double check the math, but at first blush, I think the Homing Missile supported by Chips is stronger for trying to one-shot a TIE fighter in an opening exchange than the cannon + Primary combo, particularly when you you can fish for a nasty crit that could cripple or finish off a ship that isn't dead from the dice.

hooray for sweet art on marek

He is, bizarrely enough, launching missiles.

Maybe FFG thinks his ability goes well with Concussive missiles and Guidance Chimps

Need to get my vassal league games in before this nonsense. ;)

Ryad is AMAZING and is begging for PTL and Engine Upgrade. Wow. Green K turns. Wow.

Yes please.

No special synergy with either title, though.

But yeah, I can't see a situation where I'd ever take a Glaive unless I already had Ryad. I guess if I really thought it was vital to get to PS6, but... I don't think it would ever be THAT vital.

Yeah, I think her title is just whatever you want her Defender to do. You can go cheap and be fine, you can go high offense TIE/D and be fine. You could go HLC and have a badass ship PTLing all over the place and laying down TL/Focus 4-dice shots left and right.

This is true but I still feel that the era of hlc defenders has passed just because of how good the titles are.

X7 turns them tanky and /d turns them into better jousters/glass cannons so hlc to me feels like minimal draw.

Probably, but she can do it cheaper and better than the current crop of Defender pilots can because she can lay down the 5-K-turn (or 2 t-turn if it works in the situation) and make that HLC hit even harder. PTL is only okay with TIE/D (I know Hobo will come here and put a hex on me for saying that) because its extra action is split between 2 attacks, unlike Predator, whose utility is doubled with 2 attacks. I think her strongest build will be x7, probably, because she can K-turn short and keep the primaries up close, but frankly, I won't argue with any build for her.

What I love about Ryad is the flexibility. You don't *have* to turn your straights into K-turns. So not only can you adapt to many situations, your opponent has more guesses as to what you might do.

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

GREEN K-TURNS!?!?!?!?!

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

It is cheaper, but you still have to have a focus token. You get a third thing to spend your focus token on, but still need that token.

GREEN K-TURNS!?!?!?!?!

No. Green K-turns at 4 different speeds, that can be straights, if you want them to be straights after all the PS 1-4 stuff has moved.

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

Then again, Marksmanship is like a focus on both the cannon and the primary attacks and you can save the crit for the primary shot. Calculation doesn't take an action, but it spends the only focus token you had. If you can afford the extra 2 points, Marksmanship is superior in a /D.

Oh, it's a good day. A very good day. Only thing to make it better would be a change to shipping announcement.

What I love about Ryad is the flexibility. You don't *have* to turn your straights into K-turns. So not only can you adapt to many situations, your opponent has more guesses as to what you might do.

This was my exact thought. As long as you aren't bumping, you can just sit and wait to see where everyone lower PS is sitting and decide if you want the k or the straight. Lower PS squads will just get wrecked by her. You can even pair her up with an intel agent shuttle (Tie or Lambda, your choice), and throw something crazy like say, Stay on Target on her, and then you can adapt to higher PS pilots too. Ya, she will get stress with SoT, but with the titles, she will still be either a) getting an evade, or b) getting two shots. I love it.

Edited by Kdubb

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

I'd love to try something like

Maarek Stele

Calculation

Tie/D

Tractor Beam (make it easier for Countess to hit targets) = 37

Countess

PTL

Tie X7 =35

Omega Leader

Comms

Juke = 26...

Fun 98 point list with some wiggle room!

Edit: wrong values...

Edited by Goseki1

The countess also makes a pretty legit case for Outmanuver I think. When blocking your k is exceedingly difficult and sometimes your k is actually straight it feels pretty ok to be doing dirty things with that ept.

That a scrub pilot like the Countess gets to do green K-turns is total BS. She's only PS5. How could she possibly merit such an elite maneuver when she's not even a Royal Guard TIE pilot?

Sincerely,

Tetran Cowell

FFG finaly gives the best abilities to not_top_PS_pilots!

The countess also makes a pretty legit case for Outmanuver I think. When blocking your k is exceedingly difficult and sometimes your k is actually straight it feels pretty ok to be doing dirty things with that ept.

Man, Outmaneuver is one of those cards I wish gave you an extra dice instead of reduce agility... It's such a bummer when you run that or Wedge and the opponent is flying a Deci or Ghost. I like your thinking though.