In a 3 ships list (e.g with Whisper and Vessery) ?

I think given all the praise for OL I have missed something.

Thanks a lot in advance

Juke+Comm relay (the stuff OL comes with) are pretty powerful against a ship that OL has locked. Juke without letting your opponent modify dice is basically an outmaneuver that triggers all the time. At the same time, it's just as hard for that opponent to shoot at OL as it would be to shoot at Dark Curse, and OL is holding on to an evade for whenever the firer's dice roll hot. All this together means that OL is very good at closing a game out, as well as being a thorn in the side of big (40+ point) ships. The only thing I'd consider adding to it is a stealth device, for maximum annoyance.

In a 3 ship list, OL locks something, Whisper and Vessery gang up on it. OL doesn't usually want to spend her lock, which helps Vessery. OL can hang back and take juking potshots while the other two get in R1 for maximum hurt. Then, if the game runs close, finish it out by just tailing them with OL and getting dice mods from focus, while their last ship cannot do the same to you.

Swarms are the thing OL least wants to see, as locking down a single academy doesn't do much. Luckily for me, swarms haven't been too common in my neck of the woods.

Ok I see you don't spend the TL and keep at range to finish the game basically. But any dice roll is stil a threat with him.

Ok I see you don't spend the TL and keep at range to finish the game basically. But any dice roll is stil a threat with him.

Sure, but they're unmodified dice rolls and thanks to Comm Relay she'll have an evade when she hits combat every time, and once the Target Lock is down if she has a shot she has no reason not to take a focus. Three green dice with full modifications often beat unmodded reds - the average damage of even four unmodified red dice versus that defense is just 0.18.

So, the real thing is that Omega Leader can, with her otherwise pitiful attack, hit enemies that no one else in the game can(barring Wampa/Blount). All the token stacks mean nothing. Even additional dice from range and obstructions mean little, when you can't mod them.

OL is the only ship that can take a range three, obstructed shot at a tokened Soontir Fel, and STILL tag the Baron (I know, I've done it or similar more than once!).

The additional trick to OL is to know when to take a hit so you can keep your Evade token, because Juke is your bread and butter. If you've got someone in your sights, you really only spend the evade if you're about to die or take a crit. Otherwise, eat some damage and slap whomever is in your sights/locked silly.

The bit of advice I'd give is:

Make sure they want to shoot someone other than Omega Leader.

OmegaL is at her nastiest as an endgame closer - at that point, you probably win. I've downed Corran, Soontir, Vader, Inquisitor, AND Dengar with her before. On the other hand, she's at her weakest when the game is just starting, and with her on the table your enemy KNOWS the game plan: Keep her alive until the end.

So force their target priority upward. Make your other ships must-kill targets. Homing Missile Gamma Vets, Wampa, TIE/D Vessery, Conners Deathrain, ZetaL, Palpshuttle, and so on. Lately I've been using Rage/Baffles Quickdraw because he can dish out soooo much damage, making him a perfect match for OmegaL: QD dies early on in exchange for their highest-threat ship, and you still have 43 points after buying both of them.

I'm still trying to find the perfect other ships to match with the pair, though. Huh, Patrol Leader w/ Vader suddenly occurs to me...

Don't be too afraid to spend her evade if it means dodging a crit - the one time I've lost with her I got too focused on Juke and ate a Major Explosion that drew a Direct Hit.

Does Swarm Leader make sense on OL? Throwing around 4 or 5 dice with her ability sounds kind of scary.

OL + Duchess seems like a double fun Ace combo but the points don't really save you enough to get to 4 great ships...palp mobile and...19pts...snapshot Mauler Mithal? Not exactly a big improvement over the double ace palp Wampa list.

Does Swarm Leader make sense on OL? Throwing around 4 or 5 dice with her ability sounds kind of scary.

No cause you loose Juke. Juke>any number of dice.

When using Omega Leader, it's also important to remember that your first attack with her after acquiring a target lock will result in a blank and an eyeball. It will happen every single time, and you just have to accept it until you can start taking focus actions. I call it the Omega Special.

To see what is the best use of Omega Leader i recommend matches with the Howard's .

Highlevel matches are always educational.

J. Howard vs P. Heaver

Awesome thanks for the great advice and references !

When I used it a couple of times my opponents did not know the rule related to evade tokens (yes it's a modification !) and used their token despite OL's ability, so that explains as well why I found it a bit frustrating !

Now I know.

The best use of OL is when you can keep her alive until there's only one ship left on the board and it doesn't have Expert Handling, Countermeasures, or the Black One title.

If she gets ganged up on, she's vapour.

Does Swarm Leader make sense on OL? Throwing around 4 or 5 dice with her ability sounds kind of scary.

No cause you loose Juke. Juke>any number of dice.

That's probably an over simplification because, juke on OL is basically crackshot - which forces 1 extra hit through green dice and therefore similar to adding a free hit. So there are times when swarm leader is better.

eg Juke: you attack roll 2 hits, defender rolls 2 evades, you juke 1, he takes 1 damage.

Swarmleader: you attack, cancel 2 evades off friendlies, roll 4 hits, defender rolls 2 evades, takes 2 damage.

Also there will be times when you attack a 0 agility ship or your opponent rolls no natural evades, juke is useless and you would have rather had the extra attack dice.

But then theres the downside to swarm leader - having to cancel evades off friendly ships - that may be ok in a swarm (but as OL is PS8 - it is likely you opponent will shoot after you and know which ties lack defensive mods) but could really be a detriment in a 3 ship list as per the OP.

Here's something that might be fun, and very aggressive:

I found this to be useful with OL: http://midwestwargaming.com/x-wing-omega-leader/

Does Swarm Leader make sense on OL? Throwing around 4 or 5 dice with her ability sounds kind of scary.

No cause you loose Juke. Juke>any number of dice.

That's probably an over simplification because, juke on OL is basically crackshot - which forces 1 extra hit through green dice and therefore similar to adding a free hit. So there are times when swarm leader is better.

eg Juke: you attack roll 2 hits, defender rolls 2 evades, you juke 1, he takes 1 damage.

Swarmleader: you attack, cancel 2 evades off friendlies, roll 4 hits, defender rolls 2 evades, takes 2 damage.

Also there will be times when you attack a 0 agility ship or your opponent rolls no natural evades, juke is useless and you would have rather had the extra attack dice.

But then theres the downside to swarm leader - having to cancel evades off friendly ships - that may be ok in a swarm (but as OL is PS8 - it is likely you opponent will shoot after you and know which ties lack defensive mods) but could really be a detriment in a 3 ship list as per the OP.

The main thing is that OmegaL is unparalleled as an endgame closer. 1v1 it wins, but at 2v1 or more it loses quickly. The longer she lives, the more she will pay her points back.

Swarm Leader turns the ship carrying it into an early game railgun, capable of throwing tons of dice if properly supported but as that support is eliminated the EPT becomes useless - therefore the longer its carrier lives, the less it pays its points back. Also, the pilot wants to have consistent dice modifiers while still being able to maneuver - Vessery with his free target lock, Vader with his double actions, and so on.

The pilot and the EPT are exact opposites, and putting them together doesn't make the ship strong both early and late game - it hampers the late game and gives you the urge to throw OmegaL into the fray early-game where she's most vulnerable.

Juke+Comm Relay+OmegaL works because it's highly self-sufficient and is a perpetuating Crackshot. Swarm Leader requires... well, a swarm.

Don't get me wrong, Swarm Leader is something that I'm thinking about a LOT and has a ton of nasty potential, but it is just a wrong fit for OmegaL.

Yeah, ran numbers after initial consideration for OL & Swarm Leader. The edge cases where you'd do more damage are marginal, and it is obviously best when going up against zero/low agility targets. Juke has a more broad spectrum of ships it threatens, and allows OL to do what she does best -- be a self-sufficient flanker, then a late game tank/ace killer.

As soon as OL loses one or two of her buddies, she'd lose the Swarm Leader ability, and you'd have spent three points that really weren't likely worth it -- remember, she's still NOT using her Target Lock for mods, so more dice isn't always the way to go.

If you're really hungering for Swarm Leader, I think Vader or Vessery are going to be the most interesting Imperial carriers (though I look forward to more testing).

Double post, but oh well.

The "best" use of OL includes babying the crap out of her. I've begun running OL with Jendon, who has Palpatine and the title.

You set it up so that OL has a TL & Evade during round one, and will be fully modded by the beginning of combat.

Paired with Vessery, it almost feels like you didn't pay a silly amount of points JUST for the Omega Leader setup (even though that's exactly what you did, you scrub)!

Does Swarm Leader make sense on OL? Throwing around 4 or 5 dice with her ability sounds kind of scary.

No cause you loose Juke. Juke>any number of dice.

I've done the maths.

• O.Leader with Juke (Focus & T.Lock set) vs 2 green dice = 1.4 damag

• O.Leader with Swarm Leader (Focus & T.Lock set) vs 2 Green dice = 2.3 damage

So rolling 2 extra dice that you can Focus up is worth more than Juking down one defense dice. Sounds good so far!

BUT

• ANY OTHER TIE with Swarm Leader (Focus & T.Lock to spend) vs 2 green dice with Focus = 2.5 damage

So at the point where you're rolling 4 dice spending the target lock is potentially worth more than Omega Leader's ability blocking their use of Focus. This obviously changes depending on their dice/tokens but it highlights that Omega Leader may not necessarily be the Swarm Leader carrier you're looking for.

The bit of advice I'd give is:

Make sure they want to shoot someone other than Omega Leader.

OmegaL is at her nastiest as an endgame closer - at that point, you probably win. I've downed Corran, Soontir, Vader, Inquisitor, AND Dengar with her before. On the other hand, she's at her weakest when the game is just starting, and with her on the table your enemy KNOWS the game plan: Keep her alive until the end.

So force their target priority upward. Make your other ships must-kill targets. Homing Missile Gamma Vets, Wampa, TIE/D Vessery, Conners Deathrain, ZetaL, Palpshuttle, and so on. Lately I've been using Rage/Baffles Quickdraw because he can dish out soooo much damage, making him a perfect match for OmegaL: QD dies early on in exchange for their highest-threat ship, and you still have 43 points after buying both of them.

I'm still trying to find the perfect other ships to match with the pair, though. Huh, Patrol Leader w/ Vader suddenly occurs to me...

Don't be too afraid to spend her evade if it means dodging a crit - the one time I've lost with her I got too focused on Juke and ate a Major Explosion that drew a Direct Hit.

Now, using OL as bait isn't always the best answer as her effectiveness as a closer is undeniable. But as a tool in your box, it bears keeping in mind.

The bit of advice I'd give is:

Make sure they want to shoot someone other than Omega Leader.

OmegaL is at her nastiest as an endgame closer - at that point, you probably win. I've downed Corran, Soontir, Vader, Inquisitor, AND Dengar with her before. On the other hand, she's at her weakest when the game is just starting, and with her on the table your enemy KNOWS the game plan: Keep her alive until the end.

So force their target priority upward. Make your other ships must-kill targets. Homing Missile Gamma Vets, Wampa, TIE/D Vessery, Conners Deathrain, ZetaL, Palpshuttle, and so on. Lately I've been using Rage/Baffles Quickdraw because he can dish out soooo much damage, making him a perfect match for OmegaL: QD dies early on in exchange for their highest-threat ship, and you still have 43 points after buying both of them.

I'm still trying to find the perfect other ships to match with the pair, though. Huh, Patrol Leader w/ Vader suddenly occurs to me...

Don't be too afraid to spend her evade if it means dodging a crit - the one time I've lost with her I got too focused on Juke and ate a Major Explosion that drew a Direct Hit.

Agree about target priority. I would even say OL is great the other way around, where she is taking heat for someone else. With her standard build coming in at 26 points, she is not a bad sacrifice piece due to her relative low cost, with the added bonus of being able to make the enemy's best gun purely rely on luck. A lot of people know how scary OL is late game, and will try to kill her first. You can use that to lure them into the arms of your big guns.

Now, using OL as bait isn't always the best answer as her effectiveness as a closer is undeniable. But as a tool in your box, it bears keeping in mind.

I played a game where I baited a Ghost with OL. It chased her the whole game, but could not punch through her defense, at all.

Meanwhile, Vessery and the Palp Shuttle took out Dash for a victory.

I mean, it wasn't the prettiest match I ever had, but it was pretty funny considering OL had one hull after the first round of combat (got pincered by both Dash and Ghost, and their dice were good, took everything to keep her on the board).

Sometimes, OL doing no damage is just fine.

Yup, I've been there too - sometimes her reputation draws so much hate that it puts blinders on the opponent. Won against a Dengaroo list just because of that, in fact - he failed to realize just how nasty ZetaL was until after it and Backstabber had focused Dengar down while Dengar was chasing OmegaL.

But you win battles by understanding how your opponent wants to win and making sure that they think they're winning until suddenly they're not. Or as good ol Sunny Tzu said, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Sacrificing OmegaL to down his threats with your other ships is valid in some situations. It's just not the doctrinal usage of her.

On 2016-12-05 at 9:21 PM, ArbitraryNerd said:

The additional trick to OL is to know when to take a hit so you can keep your Evade token, because Juke is your bread and butter. If you've got someone in your sights, you really only spend the evade if you're about to die or take a crit. Otherwise, eat some damage and slap whomever is in your sights/locked silly.

Many player, myself included would use the evade. The next turn you wont have a fosus because you will need your action to get the evade back. IMO thats much better than taking dmg. I would keep it only on rare occasion, like if my opponent has 1 hull left and he shot before me.

I personally find omega leaders damage to underwealming. And often she can just get blasted by the rest of the list anyways and you were better off with something else for the points. Paying that much for 2 red dice does not feel great. Zeta leader on the other hand is fantastic for the points.

That's my opinion on omega at least, right now I just don't value her that highly. At least right now the meta has some high HP low agility ships and omega is almost as bad as a 12pt tie at doing damage to them, sure you are tankier but are not a threat offensively, especially if you get into a cycle of spending your evade. If you do start spending your evade the you have no mods to your own red dice and are doing even less damage. Juke is nice and all but if you are averaging 1 damage a turn who cares.