Hi all,

Our meta is extremely defender heavy, from double defenders with palp to triple defenders. Most of these list contain "the countess" with PTL, X7,MKII and Vessery with X7 and MKII. These filled up with a glaive or palp around are devastating.

Im looking for suggestions that can reliably deal with these list, any suggestions would be welcome.

Ive tried Dengaroo, party bus with scouts, deci whisper and cant seem to find a list that nails them

The list my friend took first with at a recent event (we have a load of defender players in my meta, myself included):

Dash Rendar (55)

-mangler cannon

-outrider

-engine upgrade

-kyle katarn

-ptl

Miranda Doni (45)

-tlt

-ion bomb

-conner net

-EM

-advanced slam

It would have a terrible match up against u-boats, but against defenders miranda strips tokens and dash does damage. Ion against defenders is super effective.

I've not face double Defender and Palp. But i've come up against "Triple D's" a fair amount.

I have had some success with this list (can't remember where I got it from);

Bossk (48) - YV-666

Crack Shot (1), Homing Missiles (5), Dengar (3), 4-LOM (1), K4 Security Droid (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Tel Trevura (51) - JumpMaster 5000

Push The Limit (3), R5-P8 (3), Punishing One (12), Hull Upgrade (3)

Noob alert - what's a U-boat?

Noob alert - what's a U-boat?

JumpMaster 5000

Autoblaster Turret, Homing Missiles, Crack Shot, Bombs, Omega Leader, VCX-100... There are ways but I agree, the Defender is tough now. It should though, the ship is so costly.

Miranda with Homing Missiles can remove a Shield to roll 5 dice, with Target Lock and Guidance Chips, and no evade token can be use against it. That can help. The K-Wing is a superb bomber too. The VCX-100 with Fire-Control System and Autoblaster Turret can be solid too, but you need good support.

Palob

TLTs

Palob with TLTs

Sabine bombs

Homing/plasmas do well

And ARCs actually do stupid well, it just takes a long **** while against hot greens. R2d2 norra soloed 3 of them, though. Only lost 1 game due to time and a bad splitting up of the squad

Stress surprisingly matters and you dont see how until you start counting how many focus results they roll

Palob

TLTs

Palob with TLTs

Sabine bombs

Homing/plasmas do well

And ARCs actually do stupid well, it just takes a long **** while against hot greens. R2d2 norra soloed 3 of them, though. Only lost 1 game due to time and a bad splitting up of the squad

Stress surprisingly matters and you dont see how until you start counting how many focus results they roll

Yeah, forgot about stress generation and TLTs. Also, I can't wait to finally be able to try the ARCs... next week! :-)

Palob

TLTs

Palob with TLTs

Sabine bombs

Homing/plasmas do well

And ARCs actually do stupid well, it just takes a long **** while against hot greens. R2d2 norra soloed 3 of them, though. Only lost 1 game due to time and a bad splitting up of the squad

Stress surprisingly matters and you dont see how until you start counting how many focus results they roll

Yeah, forgot about stress generation and TLTs. Also, I can't wait to finally be able to try the ARCs... next week! :-)

in a week, don't do this

this is bad

Good defender counters are:

TLT (preferably with overclocked or R4-B11)

Zuckuss

Palob

Outmaneuver (or Wedge)

Carnor Jax

Old Teroch (and some other of the bew wave like Shadowcasters)

Bombs/Homing missiles

Dash

Ghost (with and without autoblaster)

Rey plus Finn

Omega Leader

IG-88B (or other gunner/luke)

I have been doing well with Ion turrets and stress bot.

Chopper VCX-100

-FCS

-Ion Turret

-Kanan Jarrus

-Ghost

-Ion Projector

Sabine Attack Shuttle

-Lone Wolf

-Autoblaster Turret

-Intel Agent

-Phantom

Gold Squadron Pilot Y wing

-Ion Turret

-R3-A2

Keep Sabine docked as long as possible so you can get the end of combat Ion shot.

There's is no hope, surrender and accept your punishment scum the empire has come for you!

what the hell is a "punishment scum the empire"?

Noob alert - what's a U-boat?

JumpMaster 5000

Usually more specifically a Contracted Scout with Deadeye, Overclocked R4, Guidance Chimps, and a torpedo or two.

what the hell is a "punishment scum the empire"?

I'm phishing for pedants and grammar Nazis, why do you hate my hobbies

I've run a 3 defender list 4 times and only won once. So they are definetly beatable (though I admit I kinda suck with defenders, and my build isn't fully optimized, but still). I know at least one game the dice were very poor on my side.

Based on my losses, these are all good counters

Aces

4+ dice attacks with at least one modifier

Auto Blasters

Better 3 defender builds

Anything which doesn't let them use their free evade (assuming TIE/x7 title) is good. Homing missiles hurt.

I really like TIE Defenders (from playing a lot of TIE Fighter videogame as a kid), and I'm about to flush my Defenders and walk away from this game because they suck so bad.

I haven't tried a Palp+Defender list because I can't bring myself to drop $113 for an Imp Raider (Amazon price as of last Monday) for just one card, but a 3x Defender and 2Defender+Decimator list will get completely pineapple roflstomped by a traditional PalpAces (Vader, Inquisiter, Fel, whatever) list. Defenders will get beat like a redheaded stepchild by "Bro Bots". Dengaro (sp?) will pown Defenders like the fist of an angry god.

Yeah, I'm tired of getting shitstomped, and I'm really regretting every getting started with this game.

You didnt go for the shuttle did you

This is why i bring conner homings lrs deathfire as the third "defender"

I really like TIE Defenders (from playing a lot of TIE Fighter videogame as a kid), and I'm about to flush my Defenders and walk away from this game because they suck so bad.

I haven't tried a Palp+Defender list because I can't bring myself to drop $113 for an Imp Raider (Amazon price as of last Monday) for just one card, but a 3x Defender and 2Defender+Decimator list will get completely pineapple roflstomped by a traditional PalpAces (Vader, Inquisiter, Fel, whatever) list. Defenders will get beat like a redheaded stepchild by "Bro Bots". Dengaro (sp?) will pown Defenders like the fist of an angry god.

Yeah, I'm tired of getting shitstomped, and I'm really regretting every getting started with this game.

How the hell do you lose to brobots with defenders?

I've never lost to brobots, my mate who's never flown imps before took defenders against them and won easily pre buff.

How do you fly them are you trying to stay in close? Defenders work best at range performing slashing attacks and then breaking off.

I think the Defender dial is actually fairly predictable, and arc dodger I think should do well. I just had great success with the list I posted earlier Regen Poe, Wired StressX RedVet, and 2 Prototype As.

Defenders can be out flown. Blocking and action denying are your friends. Dice mods like Poe's ability, Predator, etc are also your friends.

Lists that do terrible against Ds are anything with 1 agility.

So the best list I have come up with (shout out to ficklegreendice for the help with Miranda) is:

Ezra Bridger: PTL, TLT, Chewie, Hull Upgrade

Miranda: TLT, Homing Missiles, Long-Range Scanners

Gold Squad: TLT

Three TLT's rips through defenders. Homing Missiles blanks out the evade dice, you can spend a shield to roll 5 dice and you get to acquire the target lock on turn one. Ezra is near impossible to kill and is a one of those pilots that is best with a stress, which means you get all the tokens or one token and some arc dodging. I really like this build for the current meta (at my local shop at least).

arc dodgers work great, jax, 4 lom crew, are also great counters, old teroch is a nice one as well.

I have a list im going to try Thursday when I get the new models.

Fenn rau

-ptl

-title

-autothrusters

Old teroch

-ptl

-title

-autothrusters

Manaroo

-rec spec

-unhinged

-ptl

100

I think it should do pretty well vs defenders

I fly Palp Defenders (Ryad, Vessery, Palp shuttle) regularly, and I have a decent record with them. I have played against my friend's scum list and he slays me no matter how I try and approach it. It's all about control and token robbing, and it is absolutely devastating to any imperial aces list. Unlike rebel control/regen, all the ships have 3 dice attacks so they can punch through aces and defenders alike, especially after stealing all their tokens. He calls it "no tokens, no problems"

No Tokens, no Problem (99)

4-LOM (36) - G-1A Starfighter

Adaptability (0), Advanced Sensors (3), K4 Security Droid (3), Cloaking Device (2), Mist Hunter (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Old Teroch (31) - Protectorate Starfighter

Fearlessness (1), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Stealth Device (3)

Palob Godalhi (32) - HWK-290

Veteran Instincts (1), Blaster Turret (4), Recon Specialist (3), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Moldy Crow (3)

4-Lom continually takes his action, does a red maneuver, and at the end of the round drops the stress on someone. He often tries to block in order to deny actions as well. Then he gets Palob flying around stealing evade tokens, and old teroch stripping focus and evades... its brutal. Also, they're all PS7, so he can move them and fire in any order he chooses. It's a smart list, but you've got to practice it, as there's a lot of shenanigans involved.

Had a small tournament yesterday. 5 players. 3 were double Defender lists.

I ran my Fenn PartyBossk list.

Fenn with PTL, AT and Title

Bossk with Fearlessness and the standard bounty hunter trio of Dengar 4lom and Zuckuss. List rounded out with two PS1 Z95's.

It melts Defenders so well. Nothing so sweet as 4lom taking away a token (I'm still unsure which one is best but I lean towards the evade) and Zuckuss saying nope to any paint they roll. Combo that with Fenn rolling 5 dice with Target Lock and Focus and you can punch through one really quickly. We don't have any Palpcplayers atm so he would mitigat a little but I don't think enough.

The weakness is that Defenders should excel at getting behind Bossk but I found with good set up and flying you can make that difficult and can always have Fenn lurking to jump them if they do.

I didn't manage to win due to going aggressive with Fenn to kill a ship. Left me rolling 5 naked greens in defence needing 2 evades and only getting one. Lesson.. don't let Fenn die before the endgame, headhunters aren't so great at dealing with them!

Bossk makes a mess early in before inevitably dying when the opponent gets sick of Zuckuss. Should allow any surviving Headhunters and a well flown Fenn (ie keep him safe as he is super squishy) to have the late game advantage.

2 Defenders Vs Fenn and it's game over but he can out turn one easily enough that their K's don't get the job done is what I'm finding