Hey ladies and gents,

I will be acquiring the Shadow Castsr next week and I have been using a squadron builder to try and make a list that suits me. I want to take advantage of at least 1 tractor token, but pilots I like, IE Fenn, will shoot before any tokens are handed out.

So can you help a brother out and tell me what you have found works with the likes of Ketsu and Asajj.

Cheers

Arch

TLT carriers aren't bad, particularly if you can get one of the Tractor Beam tricks working. Make a Lancer Tanky (Sabine's good for that) and the likes of the Fang Fighters can work well with the distraction.

Ventress with a couple BMST Z-95's is fun to put in people's face.

I'm toying around with a list using Asaj and IG88B at the moment, now I just need the funds to buy the shadowcaster haha

I've had moderate success with:

Asajj with push the limit, engine upgrade, shadowcaster title, latts razzi.

2 x Z-95s with black market slicers

1 x TLT Y-Wing with unhinged astromech

I say moderate because it lacks decent damage output against high agility targets. I probably won't take it to tournaments but it is interesting to see how stress dependent lists change their behaviour.

Ketsu w/VI doesn't have any problem, you can pair her with anyone you want.

Ventress wingmates that I liked:

-Ketsu

-4Lom+Z-95 (4Lom+Quadjumper soon)

-2xTLT

-IG-C (w/IG crew on her)

-2xProtectorates

-2xScyks

-4xZ-95 (3xQuadjumpers soon)

-Trandoshan Slaver

-Emon Azzameen (tractor+bombs)

-2xEnforcers

-Guri+Z-95

-Any mix of above.

Consider that I like to run her with PTL, or Attanni Mindlink. The choices above are all with one of these 2 elite upgrades (:

Don't worry, you can run the caster into a lot of compositions!

PS: a tip on Ketsu. Her's ability still works even on bumps. Go and bump, or try to predict others PS9+ and work as a blocker.

You can bump, then tractor away in the combat phase (barrel roll normally) and shoot your target down.

She is way more fun to play than Ventress (even if her is more solid, ofc)

Since the day of wave 9 release I've been flying.

"Pulling teeth"

Ketsu, vi, Dengar crew, title, engine

Binayre pilot, concussion missile, bmst, chips

Fenn, fearlessness, title, Autothrusters

Ketsu and Fenn is an absolute terror for small based ships, and the concussion on the z means it's a threat. I haven't flown much since heroes of the resistance came out, and vi Rey is a pain to deal with. But I love flying ketsu and Fenn.

I obviously haven't tried it out, but thought about an ion Scyk to add even more control. I am lucky that my local meta thinks Dengaroo is easy mode stupid and requires little skill, but the flip side of that is there is a lot more Defenders and Palp about.

honestly, I really think the title is about the last reason you take the caster. It can be infuriatingly limited (especially since it's ultimately dice dependent), and it costs an arm + a leg to equip

just sling in either stim sabine with dengar or latz asajj with ptl/predator, gyros on either with optional EU on Asajj, and you're good to go. Asajj especially is a massive pain in the ass in the late game

and then you don't have to worry about your wingmates' ps either

t-beams will help keep your r4 aggro TLT thugs alive, though

Anyway, don't forget that the strongest thing about the Tractor is to boost/barrel over obstacles. Don't know why all think only about -1 Agility.

Actually, I found more valuable pushing the enemy onto rocks. For the damage, blocking from fire, and the succesfully skipping action+another roll for the damage. Remember that if your guide is on the rock, you get all the malus.

In fact, I simply don't care about -1Agility. My thoughts.

I had a lot of fun with this:

Ketsu:

PTL

K4 Security Droid

Engine Upgrade

Bossk:

Crackshot

Dengar

4-LOM

Zuckuss

Homing Missile

Glitterstim

Guidance Chips

Shooting that Homing Missile into -1 agility ship that you've put onto a rock is just beautiful.

I have thought about using Bossk, I find he can be outmanoeuvred easily enough, but saying that..... 1 shotting Ryad or Vessery would be glorious. Maybe with the release of the new crane, that would make Homer Bossk even better.

I'm used to flying large ships without a pwt (aggressors, bossk & Boba) so I use ketsu like a battering ram, though I usually try and ram her in the flank while Fenn and the head hunter head up the middle.

Fickle is right that the boost/barrel roll is huge, but with mindlink being rather popular in the UK meta plus defenders, minus agility is huge.

I've landed biggs with 2 tb tokens and boosted him into r1 of Fenn.

Moved a t70 that had blocked Fenn so he could kill it, while them putting a second t70 onto a roid.

Put 1 arc onto a rock and hit the second so Fenn can kill it before it shoots.

Put biggs into r1 of Fenn, while pushing an arc into r3 of Fenn so I get Autothrusters.

Reduced back draft to 0 agility, letting me kill him so his tl wouldn't help vessery.

Flew past vessery (who had barrel rolled to not block ketsu and end in the front arc) only to move my arc backwards and land 2 damage, then a concussion missile finished him off.

I rarely use the mobile arc with ketsu, but it's nice to have, and the title is totally worth the 3 points on her.

Cheers for your anecdotes guys and gals. Have helped me out a lot. I think I will be giving Bossk/Ketsu a go as well as Fenn/Ketsu/pirate. I like how they all fly. Defenders are big here so I think the Caster title will be very much appreciated.

In fact, I simply don't care about -1Agility. My thoughts.

You should.

Lowering the agility of a ship is huge - and given you can't move large ships with tractor beam (and large ships are prevalent), your school of thought would consider tractor tokens useless against many ships.

As it stands however, reducing a ships agility is a massive boon - if you can reduce it by two you're looking at guaranteeing most of the damage you'll roll against most targets.

Don't ever underestimate turning an agi 3 ship into an agi 2 ship. Or an agi 2 ship into an agi 1 ship... And so on.

In fact, I simply don't care about -1Agility. My thoughts.

You should.

Lowering the agility of a ship is huge - and given you can't move large ships with tractor beam (and large ships are prevalent), your school of thought would consider tractor tokens useless against many ships.

As it stands however, reducing a ships agility is a massive boon - if you can reduce it by two you're looking at guaranteeing most of the damage you'll roll against most targets.

Don't ever underestimate turning an agi 3 ship into an agi 2 ship. Or an agi 2 ship into an agi 1 ship... And so on.

Of course I do...that wasn't the point of my discussion Do you really think that I can forget that effect?

My thing is that a lot people consider the title just as something useless if you don't have other ships to shoot at the target. That's completely wrong! This is a game of maneuvers, and move an enemy ship is THE clue of the tractor beam IF you know the game.

-1agility is just a nice boost.

My thoughts, of course

I wouldn't mind running this actually, gotta give it a go.

A fellow squad mate tried fearlessness Boba and found that at ps8 he just wasn't good enough to catch aces.

With ps9 ketsu and a decent initiative bid you might be able to tractor them into arc of Boba, but that requires good flying between the 2 of them.

I've considered running a fat bossk alongside ketsu, as bossk with mangler cannon likes ships with low agility

I think that pairing them with TLT Y-wings is a good option. It's more solid and reliable than other options. The list that I've had fun flying is:

If Mr. Heaver thinks dual TLT (**** things) Y-Wings are the best to fly with one, he's probably exhausted all options and that's the best mathematically. However, if I get to the point of purchasing one of the crazy painted, mini Star Trek Reliants, then, I'm ignoring Heaver (cause I'm not that smart) and looking at this possible combo (that's probably been thought of a thousand million times):

Asajj Ventress (50) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft Fearlessness (1), Dengar (3), Glitterstim (2), Glitterstim (2), Shadow Caster (3), Gyro Targeting (2)

IG88-B (50) - Aggressor Crack Shot (1), Fire Control System (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Glitterstim (2), Autothrusters (2)

Ventress

-PTL

-gyro targeting

-Latts Razzi

-Shadow Caster

-BMST

-rigged cargo chute

IG-88C

-PTL

-HLC

-fire control system

-autothrusters

-BMST

I have been making variants of these 2. Have another one with autoblaster cannon, accuracy corrector, & cluster mines with no illicit upgrade on either

If Mr. Heaver thinks dual TLT (**** things) Y-Wings are the best to fly with one, he's probably exhausted all options and that's the best mathematically.

it's not necessarily just mathematical

TLTs and asajj can fly similarly, i.e not right at the opponent

similarity in positioning might also make them more effective wingmen than arc-locked ships

maybe

since it comes with the crew ive been trying to find a way to make use of the IG88 ships as a buddy.

Issue im finding is the abilities are either lackluster for a caster or kinda situational (kill a ship get a shield or boost for free evade is all you got to pick from, both of which i'd rather have latts crew and fly something else instead of the IG88)

since it comes with the crew ive been trying to find a way to make use of the IG88 ships as a buddy.

Issue im finding is the abilities are either lackluster for a caster or kinda situational (kill a ship get a shield or boost for free evade is all you got to pick from, both of which i'd rather have latts crew and fly something else instead of the IG88)

problem with ig-88d is you're never going to be flying something as good as another aggressor with ig-2000

mostly because ig-88d is eating a crew and not a title slot