Tips on some ARC-170 lists

By Cloud JT, in X-Wing Squad Lists

I wanted to give the ARC-170 a try, and I'm playing in a Hanger Bay event this weekend. Would like some feedback on this list. I was thinking Rage on Braylen could give him a little more bite and with his ability and Kanan on the Ghost, stress is less of a problem. I was also toying with this one.

If anyone has any other cool ARC lists I've love to hear them.

Interesting lists. For the first one, I know Kanan could be useful, but you really want Han Solo crew to make your attacks count, especially paired with Fire-Control System. You would then be at 97 points, so enough to put Hull Upgrade on the VCX or upgrade the Y-Wing to a Gray. The second one I'd try as is for sure.

Here's one I faced recently and it was very solid:

Norra (Push the Limit, R2-D2, Kyle Katarn, Alliance Overhaul, Vectored Thrusters)

Dash (Push the Limit, Kanan Jarrus, Heavy Laser Cannon, Outrider title, Engine Upgrade)

99 points

Edited by admat

I really like your Ragin' Braylen list! I might steal that, or at least parts of it.

Kanan Jarus helps, but only occasionally. Braylen has many green maneuvers. The 2-turn is about the only one you will want Kanan for, and when you want that you really want that. So I'm kind of on the fence there. I kind of like Weapons Engineer on the VCX even more than the Han Solo recommendation, though Han is good too. (I sometimes run double VCX with Hera on one, Han on the other, and Weapons Engineer on both.) Weapons Engineer lets you set up modified shots in future rounds. But don't drop Hera; she is amazing. Another option is to drop Kanan for Chopper, and put the remaining 5 points into Plasma Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, and Guidance Chips on the VCX. That will help protect your rear a bit more.

I would keep the Y-Wing at PS 2 like you have it.

Interesting lists. For the first one, I know Kanan could be useful, but you really want Han Solo crew to make your attacks count, especially paired with Fire-Control System. You would then be at 97 points, so enough to put Hull Upgrade on the VCX or upgrade the Y-Wing to a Gray. The second one I'd try as is for sure.

Here's one I faced recently and it was very solid:

Norra (Push the Limit, R2-D2, Kyle Katarn, Alliance Overhaul, Vectored Thrusters)

Dash (Push the Limit, Kanan Jarrus, Heavy Laser Cannon, Outrider title, Engine Upgrade)

99 points

That list is amazing, definitely saving and trying it out! I never thought of Kanan on Dash, but he seems like a much better option than Kyle.

I wanted to give the ARC-170 a try, and I'm playing in a Hanger Bay event this weekend. Would like some feedback on this list. I was thinking Rage on Braylen could give him a little more bite and with his ability and Kanan on the Ghost, stress is less of a problem. I was also toying with this one.

If anyone has any other cool ARC lists I've love to hear them.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think those lists play to the strengths of the ARC-170 enough.

I'm not a huge fan of the BTL-A4 title, but even with it i would swap to an auto blaster turret and use those 4 points to add cards to the ARC or VCX.

On your second list, I think Gunner is overkill on Braylen. Any of the 3 point crew would be a better choice in my opinion, and the extra 2 points could be used on Poe for Pattern Analyzer which I think was made for him. Then on Thane, the R2 is only giving you 2 more green maneuvers, and the base 6 have been more than enough for me on the game table. I would recommend R4-D6 as a better 1 point astromech to safeguard you against some high powered ordinance blowing you off the table since the ARC only has 1 agility.

If you are interested, I theory crafted this list the other day and have been waiting for a chance to try it out on the game table.

Good Luck!

ARC-170 SQUAD

100 points

PILOTS

Norra Wexley (41)

ARC-170 (29), R2-D2 (4), Push the Limit (3), Kyle Katarn (3), Alliance Overhaul (0), Vectored Thrusters (2)

Shara Bey (39)

ARC-170 (28), R7-T1 (3), Push the Limit (3), Weapons Engineer (3), Alliance Overhaul (0), Vectored Thrusters (2)

Prototype Pilot (20)

A-Wing (17), Proton Rockets (3), Guidance Chips (0)

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Interesting lists. For the first one, I know Kanan could be useful, but you really want Han Solo crew to make your attacks count, especially paired with Fire-Control System. You would then be at 97 points, so enough to put Hull Upgrade on the VCX or upgrade the Y-Wing to a Gray. The second one I'd try as is for sure.

Here's one I faced recently and it was very solid:

Norra (Push the Limit, R2-D2, Kyle Katarn, Alliance Overhaul, Vectored Thrusters)

Dash (Push the Limit, Kanan Jarrus, Heavy Laser Cannon, Outrider title, Engine Upgrade)

99 points

Norra, Dash. Interesting. I may take stonestokes suggestion and maybe go to Chopper with the Ghost and add torps. I think that could give it even more bite with the Rage Braylen.

I really like your Ragin' Braylen list! I might steal that, or at least parts of it.

Kanan Jarus helps, but only occasionally. Braylen has many green maneuvers. The 2-turn is about the only one you will want Kanan for, and when you want that you really want that. So I'm kind of on the fence there. I kind of like Weapons Engineer on the VCX even more than the Han Solo recommendation, though Han is good too. (I sometimes run double VCX with Hera on one, Han on the other, and Weapons Engineer on both.) Weapons Engineer lets you set up modified shots in future rounds. But don't drop Hera; she is amazing. Another option is to drop Kanan for Chopper, and put the remaining 5 points into Plasma Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, and Guidance Chips on the VCX. That will help protect your rear a bit more.

I would keep the Y-Wing at PS 2 like you have it.

I really like your recommendation of dropping Kanan for Chopper and torps. I think that could give the Ghost a lot of power out the rear like the ARC. Thanks!

I'm playing with this list:

Norra Wexley, R3, Veteran Instincts, Alliance Overhaul, Recon Specialist 35pts

Shara Bey, R2F2, Marksmanship, Weapons Engineer, Alliance Overhaul and Experimental Interface, 40pts

Gold Squadron Pilot, Twin Laser Turret, R2, 25pts

My current arc list is:

Norra (40 pts)

alliance overhaul

tail gunner

push the limit

r2d2

vectored thrusters

Miranda Doni (45 pts)

twin laser turret

c3po

vectored thrusters

thermal detonators

ion bombs

Prototype pilot (15 pts)

chardaan refit

Works quite nicely.

Do what you need to do to prevent focus fire on one ship, sacrifice the a-wing if necessary, and let the two regen ships carry the late game.

So just a follow up, ran the Ghost/Gold/Braylen list at the tournament. Did two matches with it. It didn't hold up as well as I would have hoped. I will say I'm a little rusty on running a Stress hog. Rage did come in handy though which was surprising. His ability is a really cool pairing with it.

I'm thinking about maybe doing some tweaks to it and trying it again. Thanks guys for the ideas!

Thank you! I'm sorry you didn't do as well as you had hoped.

But I thought you might want to know that I took your Ragin' Braylen and inserted him into a triple ARC list and ran that today. He did great! I didn't have the points for Tail Gunner, so he was carrying Chopper instead. I only needed to use his pilot ability twice — it failed the first time I needed it, but worked the second time (which is average). He was the last ship on the board, killing a Z-95 with a range 1 shot out his front firing arc while raging. :)

Thanks again!

Rage/R2-D6/Chopper is an interesting one. With Braylen's ability you shouldn't need chopper all that often and you have it for when you do.

I understand the interaction with R3-A2 as a stress-deliverer, but that's a nice combination for turning Braylen into a flat-out gunship.

Thank you! I'm sorry you didn't do as well as you had hoped.

But I thought you might want to know that I took your Ragin' Braylen and inserted him into a triple ARC list and ran that today. He did great! I didn't have the points for Tail Gunner, so he was carrying Chopper instead. I only needed to use his pilot ability twice — it failed the first time I needed it, but worked the second time (which is average). He was the last ship on the board, killing a Z-95 with a range 1 shot out his front firing arc while raging. :)

Thanks again!

Glad to hear it! I definitely think there's something there with Rage with being able to hopefully clear that stress. I think maybe replacing the Stress Hog with a docked shuttle or maybe inserting Biggs instead would help more.

I would not replace your stresshog for anything in that list.. It's what keeps your low PS pilots in the fray, keeping taps on the enemy arc-dodgers.
I don't think kanan is the best crew in your list for his points. Braylen will shed stress easy enough himself, and your Y-wing wont shed the stress properly anyways.
Consider replacing him with Ezra Bridger, that gives you both TL + calculation focus on every shot (assuming you will be stressing like a mad dog!).

For the last points you could put in a flechette torpedo to threaten arc dodgers further.

Looking at trying a three-strong ARC-170 list for the weekend.

I'm trying a squad without Norra Wexley (largely because I'm a contrary so-and-so).

The starting 'building blocks':

  • Shara Bey - Alliance Overhaul, Trick Shot, Vectored Thrusters
  • Thane Kyrell - Alliance Overhaul, Vectored Thrusters
  • Braylen Stramm - Alliance Overhaul, Gunner, R3-A2

I figure that Weapons Engineer and M9-G8 are great, but I'm not sure who to bolt them onto. If you attach them to Shara, others can spend her target locks, which is cool, but M9-G8 rewards you for maintaining the lock and for locking friends, and Thane's ability supports rotating locks between ships mid-combat phase. Recommendations for who to put 'Gate' and the Ugnaut on?

Whoever doesn't get the Weapons Engineer should have a Tailgunner, because it's cheap and awesome (and specifically a combination of trick shot and tailgunner makes the ARC-170 a dangerous thing to chase through obstacles), and that leaves 2 points left. I don't have any PS8 or 9 types, so I'm less bothered about initiative. My thoughts for spending them are:

  • If M9-G8 is on Thane, I could put a Targeting Astromech on Shara. Getting a target lock on a red move is nice, but doubly so if I someone else can spend it if needed. Theoretically, Thane could lock Shara and Braylen, and then use Shara's own target lock, allowing you to Koiogran turn the squad and give everyone dice modifiers. On the other hand, ARC-170s don't necessarily need to Koiogran much.
  • If M9-G8 is on Shara, Braylen could have Flechette Torpedoes and Guidance Chips. Because he can spend Shara's target lock, he can fire them without any actions himself, and that gives him one moderately nasty shot up his sleeve - which can still trigger gunner if it misses, potentially triple-stressing a target.
  • Regardless of where you put M9-G8, you could put a Seismic Torpedo on Thane (although it's probably better if M9-G8 is on Shara). Being able to spend an action to detonate a rock or debris is nice, because I often see aces hugging terrain, and it's not unheard of to have arc on the rock but not the ace. I know ARC-170s with vectored thrusters can thread the needle well between obstacles, but we're only talking about removing one.

Thoughts? Recommendations?