Rebel captive, party bus, high PS (Poe & Vader especially), stress control, sabine k-bombers, autoblasters, tlt, homing missiles and Ventress - these are the main enemies of the Phantom.

Basically, these days you have to run sensor jammer if you're investing in an expensive phantom, which helps dial the party bus and tlt down a bit. But then 4 red with a focus is not much better than 3 with tl & focus, so you're losing a big part of why you brought the ship in the first place.

Still a great ship, but that sky's getting a little bit smaller all the time for the phantom...

Whisper, colission detector, trick shot, acd and hot shot copilot should be fun.

Dive in amongst the rocks and have fun lurking about like the alpha predator you are.

Whisper, colission detector, trick shot, acd and hot shot copilot should be fun.

Dive in amongst the rocks and have fun lurking about like the alpha predator you are.

Sounds really fun, but copilot is 4pts - and this looks like a budget whisper to me! PS7 is pretty dangerous ground these days for a phantom.

I'd be tempted to call it a day at 36pts with your build, and invest elsewhere for once the party piece has gone pop!

I've got one, totally offensive, that I enjoy playing from time to time to shock people.

Whisper (32)

VI (1)

FCS (2)

ACD (4)

Agent Kallus (2)

Echo (30)

VI (1)

FCS (2)

ACD (4)

Rec Spec (3)

Scourge (17)

Total of 98pts.

Against all the mid PS stuff out there, the phantoms tear open holes that let Scourge's ability shine. Shredding a double Ghost build in 5 turns is hilarious.

Maybe now that we have the TLT and Partybus shenanigans, FFG should resend their nerf of the Phantom! I mean, I just started playing this year, and I haven't got the chance to run an OP Phantom yet....stink!

Awful idea. The nerf was perfect. They are actually fun to play and play against now. And imo pretty perfectly balanced as well...

I think both whisper and echo have a place in current meta as well. Whisper (especially buzzsaw) is a pretty good counter to defenders, being able to dodge them better than most other things and with the firepower to actualy push through. Whisper is also a solid pick vs the resurging rebel regen. I think Whisper is set for a return to the tables.

I have lots of "awful ideas", don't get me going haha! What is a buzz-saw Whisper build anyway?

Not to prod the cow too much, but un-nerfing the Phantom imo is the right choice nowadays. The game has matured beyond being very easy for pre-nerf Phantom.

How would that help anything? Changing the decloak back wouldn't really help Phantoms against the the things that scare them now and would return them to something that squads that lack high-PS arc dodgers or turrets have very little chance against.

My wackiest build that I want to make work so far is

Whisper

Juke

Stigma particle accelerator

Fcs

Rebel captive

Definitely causes some weird looks when you don't run VI and ACD

I was reading one of the many threads on the TIE/sf and I came across a post lamenting the state of the TIE phantom. I was surprised: the TIE phantom's never been a bad ship in the mechanical sense (whether it was bad for making a mess of the Wave 4 and 5 metagames with its incredible power is another question.) But it's also a ship that's dropped off the radar and I got to wondering why. The conclusios I reached were that firstly it ceased to be a forgiving "easy win" after the decloak change, Soontir took its place as the master of not being shot when Autothrusters came out and finally that everyone was simply bored of it.

As a result the TIE phantom has been mostly forgotten for the last few waves and any synergies with new upgrades haven't been fully explored.

The build challenge is this:

Come up with either the most powerful TIE phantom build you can using all the new tools available or the wackiest one that flies and plays in a completely different way to the established norm.

Include any support ships your TIE phantom build needs to work.

I was joking when I posted that BTW

Well mostly - I find it slightly ironic that most ships, including the lowly X-Wing, still have one or two pilots that find their way to the top tables ( Biggs forever, and lately during TripleJump dominance, Wes Janson) , yet we are inundated with calls to "fix-the-x-wing!!"

In contrast the Phantom has enjoyed fairly solid support since release, but seems to be a little on the wane lately, doesn't attract a great deal in the way of diverse builds, and yet isn't subjected to similar hyperbole

I've been flying this with decent results

Wacky phantom: Sigma with Sensor Jammer, Stealth Device, and Rebel Captive.

Cloak and stay cloaked until the end game. Fly into the middle of things. People can't help but shoot at a phantom when they have a chance, and this one is tough to damage. Alternate version substitutes Mara Jade for Rebel Captive.

That's pretty interesting. I think Mara Jade could be great there - it use it as an ultra-aggressive blocker with the added bonus of causing stress. If you get a block in, that's one (or more) less shot coming it's way.

Worth noting you could decloak prior to activation to help get into position, then re-cloak following your move.

35 points is a hefty chunk of points though, regardless of it's ability to frustrate. What would you run alongside it as the damage dealers?

You guys are missing the most fun new phantom

(41)

"Whisper" (41) - TIE Phantom

Snap Shot (2), Fire Control System (2), Intelligence Agent (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Decloak. Ship moves into range one. You get to attack. Palp to modify, free target lock, focus if you hit. If Your actual move is blocked, or would land you on a bad spot, recloak now. If it's safe, or you can land the kill shot at ps 7, then stay uncloaked and keep blasting. Cloak at the end with either a huge pile of tokens or no threats nearby.

Echo, collision detector, vi, rec spec, acd. Be anywhere, anytime

That's actually the build i run. With debris clouds and collision detector, you dial in a green, run over a debris cloud and then clear the stress with the green.

If you are using your maneuver to hit the debris then you would recieve the stress after your green maneuver clears stress. It you are decloaking through the debris then performing green maneuver later in the round would clear it.

I'm not sure which of those you are describing.

Oops sorry. Yeah, i decloak over the debris cloud and then use the green to take the stress off.

I'm not sure if it was mentioned in this thread or another but Lightnened Frame might be an interesting upgrade on some cheap Sigmas if it comes in as 0 or 1 point modification.

Wacky phantom: Sigma with Sensor Jammer, Stealth Device, and Rebel Captive.

Cloak and stay cloaked until the end game. Fly into the middle of things. People can't help but shoot at a phantom when they have a chance, and this one is tough to damage. Alternate version substitutes Mara Jade for Rebel Captive.

That's pretty interesting. I think Mara Jade could be great there - it use it as an ultra-aggressive blocker with the added bonus of causing stress. If you get a block in, that's one (or more) less shot coming it's way.

Worth noting you could decloak prior to activation to help get into position, then re-cloak following your move.

35 points is a hefty chunk of points though, regardless of it's ability to frustrate. What would you run alongside it as the damage dealers?

Ryad, Wampa, and another TIE, or perhaps Omega Leader, Wampa, and a lightly optioned Carnor. With 65 points to play with there are a lot of Imperial options.

It's expensive, but I have to wonder about the synergy between Hotshot Copilot and Sensor Jammer on VI Whisper. She's shooting early, so whoever she's shooting spends their focus before they could use it on their SJ-modified result.

Not going to hit as hard as the usual FCS version but 4 dice is no joke.

I ran her tonight with The standard VI, ACD, FCS build with Hot Shot Copilot riding shot gun. Unfortunately my opponent never even took a focus during the game, so it was 4 points wasted. I ran her with 2x Delta Squadron X7s and they absolutely shredded Bossk and Fenn.

Unfortunately my opponent never even took a focus during the game, so it was 4 points wasted.

Denying the focus action entirely isn't four points wasted.

Hotshot Copilot does seem like it's got mileage on a phantom. Pairing it up with Sensor Jammer & Juke should offer double fun.

That is very expensive, though.