Just having a look at an idea with help of Veterans, and using the Defender without using the Title.

Maarek Stele (40)

- Mangler Cannon

- Calculation

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (60)

- Predator

- Gunner

- Agent Kallus

- Engine Upgrade

Chiraneau is the main threat, picking the biggest threat on the board and pushing through damage to strip tokens and shields. Stele then follows in afterwards and pushes through those Crits. Not exactly a complex build but i think worth a shot.

Ryad with PTL and HLC is a pretty legit non-title build as well.

Maarek Stele

- calculation

- Tie/D title

- Ion Cannon.

Saves 1 squad point.

Potential damage: 3 Dice attack plus 1 Damage plus 1 Ion token. Calculation is the same for both builds.

Your version: 3 Dice attack, one hit of which can be changed to a crit.

It seems to me that quite a lot of the time the extra damage (which, as a 2nd shot, is more likely to hit since the target might have had to use a focus or evade - bear in mind that the cannon shot comes first) is preferable. If you face a lot of ships with plenty of shields, then simply doing more damage (plus control, due to ioning.) is better, but if your local matchups feature less shields, then you might be right to go for criticals.

Just having a look at an idea with help of Veterans, and using the Defender without using the Title.

Maarek Stele (40)

- Mangler Cannon

- Calculation

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (60)

- Predator

- Gunner

- Agent Kallus

- Engine Upgrade

Chiraneau is the main threat, picking the biggest threat on the board and pushing through damage to strip tokens and shields. Stele then follows in afterwards and pushes through those Crits. Not exactly a complex build but i think worth a shot.

Mangler is a waste of points on a defender. It already has 3 attack and spending 4 points just to turn one hit to a crit (and ignore a green die at R3) is a terrible deal.

The ONLY reason NOT to run a title on a Defender is so that you can put an HLC on it. If you are not putting an HLC on it, then you are essentially working with an inferior build. Keep in mind that the titles exist for a reason (and they are REALLY good), so you kind of need a REALLY good reason to not use them (unless you just want to handicap yourself...)

Also, agent Kallus is basically a waste of points on Chiraneau. It provides almost no benefit defensively (except on the very rare occasions you have a green die and happen to roll an eyeball on it against the one ship you declared Kallus' effect on). It also only really provides a benefit on offense at R3 (where Chiraneau's ability doesn't work) except on the very rare occasions when you roll two or more eyeballs against the one ship you declared Kallus' effect on.

If you want to really maximize Maarek's crit potential, the most effective way imho is Palpatine:

Chiraneau w/ predator, palpatine, rebel captive & engine upgrade = 64

Maarek w/ predator & X-7 title = 36

100

Same idea: Chiraneau strips shields, Maarek piles on the crits (Palpatine gaurantees you always get a crit, although you may roll some naturally, of course). And best of all, X-7 discourages opponents from going after the Defender (and becomes golden in the late game when Chiraneau is gone).