Drea Renthal

By Magnus Grendel, in X-Wing

So - someone was talking about pilots they'd never used, and someone mentioned Drea Renthal.

Her trick of cycling target locks with R4-B11 sounded great when she came out, but with only two torpedoes it was never that big a deal.

Then Twin Laser Turret let her maintain fire with all the dice shenanigans you could want...but didn't get around the problem that as soon as she lost her lock (which can happen in many different ways now) she'd be buried under a ludicrous pile of tokens and never get another action.

Anyway - I was wondering about Manaroo - because theoretically, Manaroo lets her gain new target locks as needed which can recycle on demand.

The problem is what else to put in a squad. Manaroo is fairly expensive and I'm not sure Drea is worth the cost of an expensive support ship - so you want a fairly capable ace that Drea occasionally nicks the support for to 'correct' her aim.

Anyone tried this? Does it work?

I really like this idea and have built a squad around it:

Y-Wing: · Drea Renthal (22)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Extra Munitions (2)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Guidance Chips (0)

· R4-B11 (3)

JumpMaster 5000: · Manaroo (27)

Deadeye (1)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Extra Munitions (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

K4 Security Droid (3)

Feedback Array (2)

Unhinged Astromech (1)

Z-95 Headhunter: · N'dru Suhlak (17)

· Lone Wolf (2)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Guidance Chips (0)

Glitterstim (2)

It can eliminate a uboat in the first turn if flown correctly, and Drea is a huge threat for the entire match if the Y-Wing survives, so ideally N'dru should be positioned as the first ship to die after firing the missile. Tomorrow I'll play test it!

i think Drea is one of the most underrated pilots out there

One neat Renthal trick is to have a 1 point missile slot taken up by XXS23 thread tracers, if there's a spot in your list, since it can re-establish a lock through stress...

One neat Renthal trick is to have a 1 point missile slot taken up by XXS23 thread tracers, if there's a spot in your list, since it can re-establish a lock through stress...

Tracers need a focus, no clue to a full stressed Drea.

One neat Renthal trick is to have a 1 point missile slot taken up by XXS23 thread tracers, if there's a spot in your list, since it can re-establish a lock through stress...

Tracers need a focus, no clue to a full stressed Drea.

And Y-Wings don't have missile slots, he meant that someone (like a Z-95 with GC) could pass Drea a TL by hitting a ship with its tracers.

One neat Renthal trick is to have a 1 point missile slot taken up by XXS23 thread tracers, if there's a spot in your list, since it can re-establish a lock through stress...

Tracers need a focus, no clue to a full stressed Drea.
And Y-Wings don't have missile slots, he meant that someone (like a Z-95 with GC) could pass Drea a TL by hitting a ship with its tracers.

Oh that's why :-/...got it

Edited by Cerve

i think Drea is one of the most underrated pilots out there

Truth

Drea is the only "torp scout" capable of protorps with rerolls (tl to fire, use ability and use tl to reroll protorps; chip)

No deadeye, sadly, but we can't have everything

Fenn Rau (28)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)
Drea Renthal (22)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
R4-B11 (3)
Manaroo (27)
Adaptability (0)
Outlaw Tech (2)
R5-P8 (3)
Feedback Array (2)
Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)
Total: 99


So you have Manaroo for in case Drea lose TL, but also to buff Fenn Rau. It is also built to be really a PITA to try to take it down.
Edited by Wildhorn

Hmm....

One neat Renthal trick is to have a 1 point missile slot taken up by XXS23 thread tracers, if there's a spot in your list, since it can re-establish a lock through stress...



I was wondering if Attani Mindlink might be an idea; Manaroo works well with it. Probably K4 droid as getting that target lock is key.

I can see an Attani Mindlink working with Guri...

  • Manaroo - Attani Mindlink, K4 Security Droid, Unhinged Astromech,
  • Guri - Virago, Attani Mindlink, Advanced Sensors, Autothrusters
  • Drea Renthal - Twin Laser Turret, R4-B11

  • Manaroo - Attani Mindlink, K4 Security Droid, Unhinged Astromech,
  • Guri - Virago, Attani Mindlink, Advanced Sensors, Autothrusters
  • Drea Renthal - Twin Laser Turret, R4-B11

Some one at our store played stuff very similar the this for a while. Eventually he subbed in Kavil for Guri and made a torp alpha followed up by Autoblasters and feedback arrays. did well with it for a while but got very unlucky at a tourney and only went 2-2 haven't seen it since.

A friend of mine ran Manaroo/Drea/Palob for a while - Palob with the Wired/Zuckuss/TLT, Drea with the TLT/R4-B11 and Manaroo was done up as a super bumpmaster with PTL, RecSpec, Paintbot, Feedback Array and APL's, I think.

It was squishy, but those TLT shots melted 4 points of damage per turn without fail, and he had a reasonable matchup vs aces. It looked like a lot of fun to fly.

Edited by Bonza

I ran this squad for a while:

Drea Renthal (22)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Plasma Torpedoes (3)
R4-B11 (3)
Guidance Chips (0)
Manaroo (27)
Deadeye (1)
Plasma Torpedoes (3)
Overclocked R4 (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Contracted Scout (25)
Deadeye (1)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
Extra Munitions (2)
Zuckuss (1)
Overclocked R4 (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Total: 100
As Veterans just came out, I designed this squad to fight all those imperials that hide between a ton of green dice. I'm standing 8:1 with it and won a small tournament 4:0. I only lost once because I let my ships get divided through the rocks - totally my mistake. My records for what I killed in the first round of shooting:
- 2 Tie Advanced Prototypes before shooting back
- 3 Tie Advanced Prototypes before shooting back
- 1 fully loaded Tie Bomber before shooting back
- Ryad
- IG88 (B?)
- Carnor Jax and half a Defender
If you kill half of the opponents list in the first engagement, you're in a pretty good position. Enemy ships just melt under the raw firepower. The trick is that Manaroo can help out the Scout but if necessary also Drea (allthough that shouldn't happen), but she's not only support. With her torpedo she can also put some hurt on the enemy.
I like the list a lot but I don't know if the new tools against stressed ships will hurt it too much. Time will tell...
Edited by cybu