What is wrong with sexy rex?

By thebrettski, in X-Wing

Unlike some other pilots, Rexler cannot be judged in a vacuum. He is one of the worst pilots when big ships are scarce and one of the best pilots when big ships are popular. He will ruin a meta full of low agility high hull ships but be basically without text (and thus without reason to use him) against a meta full of 2-4 hull high agility small ships.

That's not entirely true.

You ALSO take Rexler because of his Pilot Skill 8. He's the only defender that natively moves after and shoots before Dash. He is also pretty desireable in a PS8 heavy meta (if you see tons of omega leader, inquisitor, etc, etc). He's also the only Defender that can hit PS 10 (if you feel you really really need to).

So I agree he's meta dependent, but more for his Pilot Skill than his ability.

Another reason to take Rexler though is when you do not want to take support ships and just want a single highly independent 'ace' ship.

For example:

4 black squad TIES w/ crack shot = 60

You can run some nice Rex builds in that 40 point slot, and frankly, none of the other Defender pilots are as desireable as Rexler with a mini-swarm incapable of being TL caddies for Vessery:

Rex w/ lone wolf, TIE/D + tractor beam = 40

Rex w/ X-7 + predator (TIE mk 2 optional) = 38 (39)

Rex w/ X-7 + juke/lone wolf + hull/stealth = 40

Not as hard-hitting as Whisper in the same point range, but definitely much harder to kill.

Edited by blade_mercurial

its just so hard to get his ability off.

I ran him quite a bit early on. Never once got his ability off. You have to roll raw dice to not use that focus for the flip to begin with, and thats almost never good. On top of that, he's usually hitting shields, outright killed the ship, or the only damage that dealt a card was a crit anyway.

It just doesnt work. Unless you can support him with other ships to give him targetlocks or free tokens, his attacks are just too insecure compared to Vess or even Ryad to make his ability worth it. Im going to try it with a TIE shuttle once i get my hands on vets but even then im uneasy about him.

Rexy's nothing but rng, and that'll just fial so **** much

Vess gives full mods easily, Rexy has to lose full mods to coin flip facedown cards your target may or may not have after he attacks

personally, there's enough crappy rng in the game as is; don't need to add more of it with a 37 point cost base

What's RNG?

RNG = Random Number Generator.

General term to refer to something not guaranteed/reliable (i.e. Rexler getting an attack roll without a focus face to allow him to use his focus token on his actual ability).

Edited by scott80

So I agree he's meta dependent, but more for his Pilot Skill than his ability.

Another reason to take Rexler though is when you do not want to take support ships and just want a single highly independent 'ace' ship.

For example:

4 black squad TIES w/ crack shot = 60

You can run some nice Rex builds in that 40 point slot, and frankly, none of the other Defender pilots are as desireable as Rexler with a mini-swarm incapable of being TL caddies for Vessery.

How are you always reading my brain?!

I like x7/juke Rexler. But vess is just so good with D/ion for a point more.

So I agree he's meta dependent, but more for his Pilot Skill than his ability.

Another reason to take Rexler though is when you do not want to take support ships and just want a single highly independent 'ace' ship.

For example:

4 black squad TIES w/ crack shot = 60

You can run some nice Rex builds in that 40 point slot, and frankly, none of the other Defender pilots are as desireable as Rexler with a mini-swarm incapable of being TL caddies for Vessery.

How are you always reading my brain?!

Stele with VI, Ion Cannon, TIE/D and Twin Ion Engine Mk 2 is 40 points as well.

And before someone makes the Rexler trumps Chewbacca argument - when have you last seen a Chewbacca? :P

Edited by Polda

Rexler Brath (37):

  • Rage (1)
  • Tractor Beam (1)
  • Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
  • TIE/D (0)

Total: 40 pts

The Inquisitor (25):

  • Push The Limit (3)
  • Proton Rockets (3)
  • Autothrusters (2)
  • TIE/v1 (1)

Total: 34 pts

Captain Yorr (24):

  • Systems Officer (2)

Total: 26 pts

Someone proxied this in my area not so long ago.

As a fan of Rex, I watched the match with great interest (against Dash/Corran). Did not leave disappointed.

So I agree he's meta dependent, but more for his Pilot Skill than his ability.

Another reason to take Rexler though is when you do not want to take support ships and just want a single highly independent 'ace' ship.

For example:

4 black squad TIES w/ crack shot = 60

You can run some nice Rex builds in that 40 point slot, and frankly, none of the other Defender pilots are as desireable as Rexler with a mini-swarm incapable of being TL caddies for Vessery.

How are you always reading my brain?!

Stele with VI, Ion Cannon, TIE/D and Twin Ion Engine Mk 2 is 40 points as well.

And before someone makes the Rexler trumps Chewbacca argument - when have you last seen a Chewbacca? :P

I literally said all of these things in the very first post on this page.

Unlike some other pilots, Rexler cannot be judged in a vacuum. He is one of the worst pilots when big ships are scarce and one of the best pilots when big ships are popular. He will ruin a meta full of low agility high hull ships but be basically without text (and thus without reason to use him) against a meta full of 2-4 hull high agility small ships.

That's not entirely true.

You ALSO take Rexler because of his Pilot Skill 8. He's the only defender that natively moves after and shoots before Dash. He is also pretty desireable in a PS8 heavy meta (if you see tons of omega leader, inquisitor, etc, etc). He's also the only Defender that can hit PS 10 (if you feel you really really need to).

So I agree he's meta dependent, but more for his Pilot Skill than his ability.

Another reason to take Rexler though is when you do not want to take support ships and just want a single highly independent 'ace' ship.

For example:

4 black squad TIES w/ crack shot = 60

You can run some nice Rex builds in that 40 point slot, and frankly, none of the other Defender pilots are as desireable as Rexler with a mini-swarm incapable of being TL caddies for Vessery:

Rex w/ lone wolf, TIE/D + tractor beam = 40

Rex w/ X-7 + predator (TIE mk 2 optional) = 38 (39)

Rex w/ X-7 + juke/lone wolf + hull/stealth = 40

Not as hard-hitting as Whisper in the same point range, but definitely much harder to kill.

I would rather have Maarek with Marksmanship and a tractor beam or flechette cannon. Even Maarek's ability is going to trigger more often than Rexlar's.

I would rather have Maarek with Marksmanship and a tractor beam or flechette cannon. Even Maarek's ability is going to trigger more often than Rexlar's.

If I took either of these pilots, my EPT of choice would be VI with a tractor beam.

To those who say to take Vessery, I say sure, but take Rexlar too!

Put VI and Tractor Beam with TIE/D and TIE Mk II on him, put PtL and Ion cannon with TIE/D and TIE Mk II on Rexlar, and then bring 18 points of backup. Some combination of named TIE and initiative bid seems most likely.

I literally said all of these things in the very first post on this page.

Sorry, I missed that post! :(

I would rather have Maarek with Marksmanship and a tractor beam or flechette cannon. Even Maarek's ability is going to trigger more often than Rexlar's.

I think you will change your mind once you've given that build some table time. Marksmanship Maarek is far too easy to kill.

When running ace + min-swarm, I find its important to make sure both elements are threatening, but also roughly equally daunting to take out. If one is significantly easier, then there's no hard choice for your opponent---he'll go after the easy one every time and you kind of lose an opportunity to get your opponent to make poor targeting decisions.

40 Rexler Brath (37): Rage (1), Tractor Beam (1), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), TIE/D (0)

34 The Inquisitor (25): Push The Limit (3), Proton Rockets (3), Autothrusters (2), TIE/v1 (1)

26 Captain Yorr (24): Systems Officer (2)

Nice list but shackling Brath to a lumbering shuttle might hinder him somewhat. I wonder if Epsilon Leader might be a better option. Not quite as effective at sucking off stress but much easier to keep up with Brath.

Edited by Karhedron

why hasn't anyone even mentioned Tie shuttle with fleet officer for DAT EXTRA FOCUS Rex desperately needs?

I literally said all of these things in the very first post on this page.

Sorry, I missed that post! :(

No worries man, that was more in reply to Polda. Between this and the discussions we've had on Mindlink, I've begun to suspect that we may actually be mindlink ed

40 Rexler Brath (37): Rage (1), Tractor Beam (1), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), TIE/D (0)

34 The Inquisitor (25): Push The Limit (3), Proton Rockets (3), Autothrusters (2), TIE/v1 (1)

26 Captain Yorr (24): Systems Officer (2)

Nice list but shackling Brath to a lumbering shuttle might hinder him somewhat. I wonder if Epsilon Leader might be a better option. Not quite as effective at sucking off stress but much easier to keep up with Brath.

I didn't fly the list myself but, from what I remember, that wasn't much of a concern.

Yorr only needs to suck 1 stress every two turns from Rex. The latter can deal with his own stress next turn and Yorr's big base really helps covering up the needed range. Besides, if the Inquisitor (or even Rex) were to bump, Yorr still saves his ass with SysOff. There was a lot of synergy going on in that list.

Ofc, his (the player's) Lambda flying is sharp, so easier said than done. But it was beautiful to watch.

Edited by K Genesis

Rexlar + Predator is great fun.

Do you need a Defender in your list? If yes, does he need to be PS 10? If yes, then you're stuck taking Rexler. If no, take any other Defender pilot.

I literally said all of these things in the very first post on this page.

Sorry, I missed that post! :(

I would rather have Maarek with Marksmanship and a tractor beam or flechette cannon. Even Maarek's ability is going to trigger more often than Rexlar's.

I think you will change your mind once you've given that build some table time. Marksmanship Maarek is far too easy to kill.

When running ace + min-swarm, I find its important to make sure both elements are threatening, but also roughly equally daunting to take out. If one is significantly easier, then there's no hard choice for your opponent---he'll go after the easy one every time and you kind of lose an opportunity to get your opponent to make poor targeting decisions.

Then put Predator or Lone Wolf on Maarek and defensively focus if you don't want to chase Maarek's ability too hard.

If Maarek deals a Major Explosion crit and the roll ends up as a hit, does the Maarek player get to pick from 3 crits off of it?

Rex destroys ships that depend on lots of hull to stay in the game since they generally have low agility. He can reduce Ghost to a smoldering heap in a few shots. But against higher agility ships, it's just so hard to trigger his ability that it's not worth the point cost unless you really need a high PS ship.

And to that point, Defenders are one of those ships that are not super PS dependent since they're going to dodge a bit of damage and can soak a lot of damage, so shooting first isn't an absolute must like it is for some other ships. You can kit out Vess with TIE/D, ion, crack shot and Mk II for 40 points. Give him a target lock buddy and he can easily do 3-4 damage to a ship in one round which is devastating. And the ion makes controlling small based ships so easy.

So if you're comparing the two, I think Vess is cheaper, does more consistent damage and doesn't require a list get built around him as much. Lots of ships can TL, but only a handful can hand out focus tokens. In a few instances, Rex totally outshines Vess, but overall Vess is much more effective and that's why I pick him.

Problem with Rex is his ability only triggers when most ships are almost dead anyways by the time they get hit (i.e. out of shields and only hull remaining). The few ships, like mentioned above, that he just wrecks aren't worth the point investment in him. Vessery's ability works from start to finish (if he is your last ship remaining, it wont work, but if your opponent left Vessery for last then you problem won anyways). Also, I would rather have Maarek's ability anyways to choose the crit I want to **** them with. "Oh, only 2 hull left Soontir? Here is a direct hit". "What's that Zuckuss? You have a range 1 shot? Here is a blinded pilot." "Boba with VI and Engine Upgrade? Enjoy your PS0 for the rest of the game."

Cant Touch this:

Rexler Brath (37)
Lone Wolf (2)
Stealth Device (3)
TIE/x7 (-2)

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

Total: 75

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