Hey all X Wing Theory crafters. As without a release date even close to being announced, it's time to theory craft the hell out of the upcoming Wave. I love The Fang and I love Old Teroch and Fenn Rau. I have been swapping between VI and Fearlessness on Old Teroch for a few reasons. Fearlessnessnessnessness is a no brainer, his ability requires you to do everything that Fearlessness requires to trigger. But VI can be great to get that first shot in against PS 8 and below targets, I am guessing you want to move second so you know exactly where high PS targets are going to be.

So whats your thoughts? Am I missing an EPT completely?

JBRS I hoping for your special kind of love on this one

Well, carnor jax is a similar pilot in a similar craft. His go-to ept's are VI and PTL. Fearlessness synergizes well on terry, so I figure it's between those three.

Opportunist lol

Stay on Target like the article stated seems like an interesting choice.

edit: wrong pilot oops. i need to go to bed. was thinking kad solus

I would go for VI. You shoot before, and move after many of aces, and you most likely wont get arc-dodgers in arc if you move before them, let alone in range 1!
I've seen arguments for PTL as well, but I think it depends on your meta.

Hmmmm . . . PtL is nice for repositioning, although you can't really turtle too much without the evade action. VI has obvious benefits, but also forces him to give up dice mods.

I think Lone Wolf might be a solid choice for this fella. Obviously, that depends on the rest of your list, but the passive rerolls will really help him, especially on defense. Plus, he doesn't mind getting blocked quite so much that way--which is good, because given his ability, he's going to be getting up-close-and-personal a lot, and that generally leads to being blocked.

Vi. Just maul Soontir

I would go for VI. You shoot before, and move after many of aces, and you most likely wont get arc-dodgers in arc if you move before them, let alone in range 1!

I've seen arguments for PTL as well, but I think it depends on your meta.

You don't actually need them in arc for your ability to trigger (as long as someone ELSE - like fenn rau - has them in arc to take advantage of it). Just need to be in THEIR arc at range 1.

Vi. Just maul Soontir

You seem to be mistaken, they haven't added Darth Maul yet

Expose.

They'll both be in the back of the binder anyway.

Huh I missed that it didn't have evade, well as that's the case you want to max offense fearlessness.

The more I think about it, the more I think VI isnt worth it here. His abillity requires range one in arc, so playing him as a blocker (easier for lower ps), so push for double action to block or fearless for synergy.

Yeah its Gotta be push. You'll want to block the ship that you're stripping from. Boost and roll give you the best equipment to do that.

Opportunist lol

If you are taking Opportunist on him you might as well save 3 points and take Fearlessness. Fearlessness will trigger anytime he'd be able to strip tokens and shoot at the tokenless ship triggering Opportunist. Fearlessness doesn't generate a stress and is a hit result instead of an extra die.

Opportunist lol

If you are taking Opportunist on him you might as well save 3 points and take Fearlessness. Fearlessness will trigger anytime he'd be able to strip tokens and shoot at the tokenless ship triggering Opportunist. Fearlessness doesn't generate a stress and is a hit result instead of an extra die.

Hence 'lol'

I think VI is where you need to be with him. The goal is to maul Aces like Soontir....so moving after them is key. You have to have be in their firing arc, so Soontir will just get out of the way.

I think VI is where you need to be with him. The goal is to maul Aces like Soontir....so moving after them is key. You have to have be in their firing arc, so Soontir will just get out of the way.

Yup. Vi with a good initiative bid to make sure you can get the move.

With how much he's playing with close range, I want to try Intimidation.

I think VI is where you need to be with him. The goal is to maul Aces like Soontir....so moving after them is key. You have to have be in their firing arc, so Soontir will just get out of the way.

If you want him to both strip tokens and take the kill shot himself, I'd say Veteran Instincts. Fearlessness is nice too, but getting lined up on PS8+ aces is hard.

If you 'tag team' - so Old Teroch flys into their arc and strips tokens, whilst Fenn Rau gets into range 1 outside their arc (he'll still get an extra die, even if he can't trigger Fearlessness), then moving first is better. In that case, Intimidation is actually a very good idea, or else Push The Limit (depending on the green dial, which we've not seen yet) for combined boost/barrel roll to 'inch' to the right spot.

I think it's mandatory that you go VI in order to have a chance at stripping the higher skill aces.

depends

if you're running something like double pfighter (Rau and Terry) with bumpmaster manaroo, you don't need VI because bumpmaster manaroo will set up ace kills for you and you can use Terry to counter torpscouts and Dengars that Manny can't do anything about

dont need VI then

if Opportunist wasnt so bloody expensive that would be glorious on him since he'd get it quite a bit.

In practicality though probably PTL so you can properly sit in someones face. Im willing to bet many people have issues predicting to get range1 without a barrelroll or boost, since i see that alot around here (overshot and bumped or didnt go fast enough and range2)

if Opportunist wasnt so bloody expensive that would be glorious on him since he'd get it quite a bit.

He'd probably be able to get it to trigger occasionally when he's shooting at a target that has already spent (or didn't take) green tokens by his PS. Any time that his ability is stripping tokens Fearlessness would be a better upgrade (ok, maybe against Opportunist would have an edge against Omega Leader).

his ability goes off at the start of the combat phase though. Everyone has tokens.

Its a bad idea purely because of the cost though. Long as hes range 1 (i dont THINK his ability required them to be staring at each other) he'll strip tokens and then fire with opportunist. If it was a 2pt ept i'd probably use it on low PS ships alot, but 4 is asking for your Ace of your list (i.e. strongest pilot) to take it to get the most use out of it, but theyre usually attacking against tokens..so...

edit: reread his ability i had it backwards. Even less reason to take opportunist lol

I don't really like VI on him. Sure, with an initiative bid it's the easiest way to trigger his ability, but if you use your action to reposition and trigger his ability, you're going to be tokenless unless they're also in your arc, in which case the title gives you an Evade. Heaven help you if don't get your target in arc, because then you're getting no defensive tokens. Naked reds (supported by Predator, a Target Lock, or the Emperor) vs naked greens, at Range 1, heavily favor the reds. If you're playing lower PS and/or you lose the Initiative bid, it's wasted points and a wasted opportunity for a better EPT.

I think you view his ability as something of a "blocking zone". This is a zone that certain targets really cannot afford to land in. Against these higher PS targets, you just make a zone that they either spend actions to get out of, or they don't get the benefit of those actions. You then just need a ship that can exploit them spending actions on movement instead of defense. I'll leave that to your imagination, but there's plenty of options. Against lower PS targets, it's a raw offense ability. You move in, drop their tokens, get your own free tokens, and sink 4 dice into them.

Considering these factors, I think PTL is a great option. It lets you hunt low PS stuff better, and lets you better set up good no-go zones against higher PS ships (while taking a Focus for defense). I'm sure there's other good options as well, but PTL is a pretty good place to start, and is overall stronger than VI, even against PS 8-9.