I've been looking at combining him with Epsilon Leader...
Zeta Leader?
CrackShot isnt very easy to get right now. Really dont get how people can justify 6 of those kits for the 6tie swarm/crack lol
Yeah, my collection has two Kihraxs and I ordered a Houndstooth from CoolStuff due to their sale basically to round out my old-school set of bounty hunters....that'll give me three total. They shoulda come with the M3-A, then I'd have five.
CrackShot isnt very easy to get right now. Really dont get how people can justify 6 of those kits for the 6tie swarm/crack lol
Yeah, my collection has two Kihraxs and I ordered a Houndstooth from CoolStuff due to their sale basically to round out my old-school set of bounty hunters....that'll give me three total. They shoulda come with the M3-A, then I'd have five.
Another one will be coming in Imperial Veterans, too.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I like running ZL with wired and Weapons Guidance. Fly in, focus, and attack with 3 (or 4) dice. Depending on what you roll you have a lot of flexibility on how to modify your attack dice. No eyeballs and at least one blank? Use weapons guidance. A bunch of eyeballs? Reroll them with wired, then if needed spend your focus token to change any eyeballs or 1 blank to hits.
I haven't done the math but it gives you really good odds of ending up with all hits/crits. And you can run ZL alongside howl runner for even more reroll shenanigans.
That's a really decent ship with excellent offense and decent defense for only 23 points.
This is how I like ZL as well. With a focus, guaranteed one more hit than you roll, and free reign to reroll an eye to try and save your focus when you roll something like hit hit eye.
Crackshot is never a bad idea either
I've been looking at combining him with Epsilon Leader...
Unfortunately that really doesnt help.
his pilot ability goes off before anybody shoots, and Zeta Leader* gets stressed when he shoots. It would clear him for next round but he probably did a green maneuver anyway, since the only white TIE/fo moves you'd be doing anyway are long-distance ones and you probably dont want to go that far if you already shot once.
Edited by Vineheart01I'll 3rd running him with wired and weapons guidance. Part of the list I played at regionals. (With standard omega leader,wampa and 3 academies.)
Every opponent asked, "so what does zeta leader do again?" and whenever i used wired, "wait, so wired lets you do that? That's a pretty good card"
Keep in mind, though, is that this build on him is all offense, no defense, so fly accordingly
Wired is a hard card to use except on a few choice fliers. Most of the ways to stress yourself out involve another EPT, and NOBODY should remained stressed and sac their action to reroll focus. Far far better off clearing it and assigning a focus 9/10 of the time.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I like running ZL with wired and Weapons Guidance.
Weapons Guidance wired is the build I'm going to try next with Zeta Leader.
I went 5-1 at regionals with Zeta Leader, Wired, Comm Relay. Vader drew aggro so Comm Relay was only marginally useful. Wired is so good on ZL. The only other option is crackshot for a swarm.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I like running ZL with wired and Weapons Guidance.
Weapons Guidance wired is the build I'm going to try next with Zeta Leader.
I went 5-1 at regionals with Zeta Leader, Wired, Comm Relay. Va der drew aggro so Comm Relay was only marginally useful. Wired is so good on ZL. The only other option is crackshot for a swarm.
I can also vouch for the Wired + WG version. I tried it out with a bunch of the PS1 TIE/FOs also with WG. I hated the PS1 guys with it, but Zeta leader was pretty decent.
Wired is a hard card to use except on a few choice fliers. Most of the ways to stress yourself out involve another EPT, and NOBODY should remained stressed and sac their action to reroll focus. Far far better off clearing it and assigning a focus 9/10 of the time.
Slightly off topic, but if you wanna see wired wreck-face you gotta try this build:
28 Palob w/ Wired, TLT, Zuckuss.
Edited
by CRCL
True, clearing stress and taking an action is always preferable to carrying it. However it is also very nice to be able to not have to worry so much about stress and be able to take a better move when the time is right. I also think it has a lot to do with psychology as well. A hyper offensive build almost telegraphs what you want to do, and like it's been said, Zeta Leader wants to use his ability and carrying stress prevents that. The addition of Wired, and Weapon Guidance too I'll argue, helps you be more agile after using that ability, and that in and of itself is where the real value of this build lies. Sure you have a great ship with a good middling PS pilot and you can be very aggressive and clear stress and keep shooting, but now you have more options on how exactly you can modify your dice and there is a good chance to keep your token for defense. Flexibility in the shooting phase with how you modify your dice isn't something that is very common and if you do see it it's usually on our side, the Imps. Who else can look at a 3 dice roll and have so many options to modify both the initial roll AND the reroll? Yes, I realize this is all dependent on having a focus token, and being able to use your ability to proc Wired, so how does it make for a good argument as to why Zeta Leader can carry stress in this build? Once you fly him a few times people will quickly learn that Zeta Leader can shoot it up pretty darn good. He'll start getting blocked or targeted by those higher up the PS chain. But wait! How do you know he's going to not just pull a Hard 3 and squib out? He can chose to do so with more confidence than usual thanks to Wired. Weapons Guidance reinforces your opponents thought process that ZL is going to be a rinse and repeat pocket ace.
Some really great ideas coming in and I'm surprised ol' ZL got this much attention reply-wise. I am going to keep flying him and try out some other ideas that have been suggested. I think Zeta Leader and Wired + WG is good enough to warrant a name so I'm going to go ahead and name him. This may give rise to a naming convention for the myriad ways you can build a Wired Zeta Leader...
Wire Guided. Pretty self explanatory. Alludes to his accurate attacks as well as the aforementioned maneuverability.
Hotwired. Maybe this is Zeta Leader with Wired and Comm Relay?
Hardwired. This one is inspired by ZL + Wired + Hull! This was a great idea and it was what I was originally going to try. Again self explanatory.
Are any of these hitting any receptors for anyone or am I way out? What about Tony Danza? That might be a good name for Wired and Guided ZL, cuz he's like the boss of the Zetas and you never really knew what was gonna happen from week to week with Tony, just like how you never know what ol' ZL is gonna do from round to round! How did Tony manage to stay 'the Boss' anyways? Haha!
I've been looking at combining him with Epsilon Leader...
Unfortunately that really doesnt help.
his pilot ability goes off before anybody shoots, and Zeta Leader* gets stressed when he shoots. It would clear him for next round but he probably did a green maneuver anyway, since the only white TIE/fo moves you'd be doing anyway are long-distance ones and you probably dont want to go that far if you already shot once.
Imagine a Zeta Leader with PTL, or grouped with a Youngster with PTL. Take two actions, get stressed, Epsilon remove stress, use Zeta ability. Also means Zeta Leader could still use the ability after doing a red maneuver. Not to mention, even in how you thought I'd use him, there are 6 white moves on the TIE/fo dial, including 1 and 3 hard turns. Those could be useful.
While I admit it's not a "Holy crap, this is some amazing synergy" situation, it's deeper than you elude to. The bit I don't like in particular is that Epsilons ability is Range 1.
Edited by slowreflex
I've been looking at combining him with Epsilon Leader...
Unfortunately that really doesnt help.
his pilot ability goes off before anybody shoots, and Zeta Leader* gets stressed when he shoots. It would clear him for next round but he probably did a green maneuver anyway, since the only white TIE/fo moves you'd be doing anyway are long-distance ones and you probably dont want to go that far if you already shot once.
Imagine a Zeta Leader with PTL, or grouped with a Youngster with PTL.
Youngster doesn't get to share PTL. His ability only works with EPTs with an action.
yeah if youngster worked with his EPT in general, holy crap TIE swarms would be insanely overpowered. Though i atleast wish PTL would work.
Imagine 6-7 TIEs zooming around with Youngster giving them all Juke or Outmaneuver or Intimidation (send one to ram into someone, others get to hit him harder) or.. or.. or..
Yeah, i can see why its only actions lol. Though you can do mass Expert Handling or Marksmanship or Expose, bout the only ones i can think of that isnt one use. None of which are super good on TIEs though lol.
yeah if youngster worked with his EPT in general, holy crap TIE swarms would be insanely overpowered. Though i atleast wish PTL would work.
Imagine 6-7 TIEs zooming around with Youngster giving them all Juke or Outmaneuver or Intimidation (send one to ram into someone, others get to hit him harder) or.. or.. or..
Yeah, i can see why its only actions lol. Though you can do mass Expert Handling or Marksmanship or Expose, bout the only ones i can think of that isnt one use. None of which are super good on TIEs though lol.
Bah... back to the drawing board...
There is a little something fun I just whipped up. Not the Tony Danza build for ZL, but there he is with what else, Wired and some other goodies! Also the 'Quis and a little VIIA Whisper to boot!
I thought that with two such dodgy pilots Zeta Leader needed a little more durability.
Therein lies the danger of the First Order TIEs, for 26 points I'd rather take the "classic" Omega Leader.
zeta leader with wired and weapons guidance. consistent 3 hits.
Just out of curiosity, whats the ruling on Zeta Leader and Yorr? Does Zeta have to retain the stress to get extra die, or does he declare it, get the extra die, but Yorr actually receive the stress?
Wording on both cards make me think the answer is no since Zeta Leader is not rolling an extra die then stressing, he is receiving stress to activate. If Yorr takes that stress instead of Zeta, can Zeta be said to have received a token?
Wording on both cards make me think the answer is no since Zeta Leader is not rolling an extra die then stressing, he is receiving stress to activate. If Yorr takes that stress instead of Zeta, can Zeta be said to have received a token?
Yep.
From the FAQ , page 8:
CAPTAIN YORRIf, through his pilot ability, Captain Yorr intercepts a stress token that is part of the cost of triggering an ability on another ship (such as Soontir Fel or Opportunist), that ability’s effect does not resolve.
If Captain Yorr intercepts a stress token that was the result of an ability (such as Push the Limit), that ability resolves, then Yorr receives the stress token.
Normally i'd say thats kinda ballucks but self-stress isnt that big of a deal. You never do it unless you have an escape-goat already planned next turn.
I plan my movements 2-3 turns in advance. Both because it makes me set my dials way faster than most people, but also because it removes this "oh crap...i shouldnt have done that...where am i going to go now" issue. Any time i barrelroll or boost to get a shot/dodge an arc im re-arranging my future moves before i do it to make sure i didnt shaft myself.
I put Expert Handling on a Decimator a LOT. Stresses him out almost every turn because i love shaking targetlocks and you'd be surprised how powerful of a cockblock a largeship with barrelroll can be lol. I actually swapped Engine Upgrades with Anti-Pursuit because people kept slamming into me so much. That stress has never screwed me over because i KNOW im going to clear it next turn anyway.
Yorr is to prevent stress tactics from the enemy more than self-stress. Hes really hard to soak up K-turn stress with since he cant turn for jack, therefore might be forced to go a different direction just to not hit the board edge next turn (or 2). Hes great for shutting down Rebel Captives, Mara Jade, R3-A2, Tactician, or any pilots i cant think of that force stress on their targets.