How do we drop a defender in one round? Any ideas? I have a few... Most do not "seem" so competitive though :/

If you remove a defender first exchange with crackshot or ordinance, you are probably in the black. Building a squad that is meta savy with this strategy from the outset might be tough, but a squad that can remove a Defender [x7, "of course"(Bane voice)] reliably, puts the fear of dice in to most any other ship.

How different might the squads look with this build strategy?

Conner Nets, Ion Bombs, Ion Cannons, Ion Turrets, Ion Pulse Missiles, Ion Torpedoes.

What speed 3?

Those are great when they work. I want ruinous reds removing the D.

Yup. Ions are fantastic. I had a Ryad locked down by ions for 4 turns the other day, while the rest of the ships were engaging her wingmates. Suddenly the most agile Defender in the fleet becomes the most predictable. It's not a one-turn-kill, but it can either set one up, or give your other guys enough time to deal with someone else. Bonus points if you catch them after a stress move.

Party Bossk is a pretty solid start.

Bossk VI homing missile chips 4LOM Zuckuss

43 points

Ndru VI homing missile chips 23

Scout adaptability k4 plasma torp chips extra munitions 33

It should delete a defender in one round, then you have another scout torp, or 2. Seems mostly playable in the meta too.

Jumpmasters will do them an injury. Crack Swarms too.

Warden Conner net advanced SLAM intel Agent

you don't really need to drop them in a single round to win, but ordnance can do it with focus fire

if you're using conner nets, you probably won't one-round them but you will probably two-round them almost guaranteed with your squad if you're good about setting up sabine conners into sabine seismics the following round, killing them after they've only gotten a shot off

sabine seismics is actually rather surprisingly easy to set up with miranda, since basically every **** defender will be sub-PS 8 or be suboptimal (VI vess and Rexlar) and the predictability of the white 4k makes it easy to formation fly while covering the space where the defenders could land behind you such that they'll either get blocked or fly into the guaranteed 2 damage

See my "Flattened by the Party Bus" thread. One ship, one round, no Defender. The other enemy ship in that exchange was Scum Boba packing Homing Missiles, and he didn't even have to fire.

I've done in a Defender in one round with multiple ordnance carriers (Homing Missiles) but it took the focus of fire of the list to pull it off.

Or maybe a well plotted Proton Bomb followed up with an Advanced Homing Missile or Wampa strike ...

Ask your opponent to fly off the mat?

I say, if you can't beat em, join em

A sledgehammer. Turn them to dust. Literally.

Other than that Omega Leader is nice but can get obliterated by the Defenders buddies. Crackshot swarms work better.

Tractor Beams work wonders, hit with a tractor (maybe drag it onto a rock maybe not) and all of a sudden you drop it down to an X-Wing level in durabilty, I played in a local event today and lots of Defenders were present (I ran 3, there were 3 builds with 2, lots of Vessery though no build was the same and plenty of Ryads, though only I used Glaives)

I want to see squads that can drop a defender in one round. Wampa advanced proton torps is cute.

I think homing missile is the way to go with ordinance. Sadly, crackbots are going to leave a defender on a hull or 2 frequently, though they probably have the nuts to win.

TIE Swarm.

U-Boats.

The more complex you try to make your list, the less likely it is to work.

The meta is no different than it was pre-Vets. The Defender is just another tool in a massive toolbox of Imperial ships. All the same stuff applies.

Maybe you'll get lucky though and Defenders in Palp lists won't happen. Cause if it does then you're boned kinda.

It is a ship designed to take punishment, you should be focusing on taking it out in 2-3 rounds instead. Otherwise your list will become a one-trick pony.

X7 can laugh of one missile/torp attack but not three.

But defenders don't joust so catching one in all three arcs is easier said than done.

Crack/Glitter IGs can drop defenders in one round if they can focus their fire.

I'm not as afraid of defenders as I thought I would be.

5 Y-wings with autoblaster turrets. All those fancy tokens, all for naught.

Crack/Glitter IGs can drop defenders in one round if they can focus their fire.

I'm not as afraid of defenders as I thought I would be.

Pfft my defenders have never lost to any variety of brobots even before the vets buff.

Crack/Glitter IGs can drop defenders in one round if they can focus their fire.

I'm not as afraid of defenders as I thought I would be.

Pfft my defenders have never lost to any variety of brobots even before the vets buff.

surprisingly, yeah same boat here

and I'm talking no-title PS 1 Deltas with freaking flechette cannons

that white 4k and small base are just too strong against obstacle fearing aggressors

plus if they can't k or sloop but you can, well there's no real way for them to hurt you

Exactly flown right you can spend 2/3rds of the game behind the aggressor never getting shot.

Pre-x7, Crackbots were reasonably capable of deleting a Defender if they had a little bit of luck.

That Evade token might make it one HP too far, though, and while Agressors are lovely ships, for all their slooping glory they're terrified of Defenders, because they're the one ship that does the k-turning joust even better.

I have no idea why anyone is afraid of Defenders. They have only one blockable k-turn. Their kturns are often impeded by the sheer size of large bases. cannot arc dodge very well. can't get to Ace PS without losing much needed actions. die to alpha strike.

o wate i noe

cuz no1 noes how to blocké

not knowing how to block is a biggie in x-wing

but defenders do have a white 4k, meaning they can literally repeat that maneuver round after round until nothing's in the way anymore

they're no palp aces (esp no thrusters), but they're big and beefy with a combination of solid health + 3 agility that only the aggressor gets to enjoy otherwise

fear of them, though, is probably flavor of the month induced thanks to Veteran's (REALLY freaking overdue) release

they're good; very very very good ships now, well worth considering alongside the current staple of usable generic jousters (which seems to be only the crack Tie and the JM5k, while it's got torps)