I've been trying to decide on some wingmen for Whisper. My build for whisper is pretty standard

Whisper: VI, FCS, gunner, ACD

For wingmen I was either thinking of taking:

4x Black squadron pilots + crackshot, this one is pretty straight forward tactically a basic mini crack swarm

Or a little more outside the box;

2x Tie S/F Zeta specialist + accuracy corrector, Title, LWF

The idea for this set up is to try to obtain shots from both S/F pilots out the primary and aux arc each turn with the accuracy correctors for higher potential of damage.

I've already tested the black squadron pilots and I know they work. I guess my question is whether or not the Zeta specialists are worth trying to take with Whisper or if I should just stick to the Tie Fighters?

You are at 104 points with the Black Squad TIEs with Crackshot.

The pair of Zeta Specialists with Accuracy Correctos aren't going to have much in the way of teeth their two dice attacks are going to have trouble pushing damage though against a lot of targets.

Maybe combine the two ideas? This has a scarier TIE/sf with a pair of Academy Pilots to use as blockers.

"Whisper" (32)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I think buzz saw whisper is asking a little too much these days, your almost better off leaving him crewless and fitting better wingmates, like omega leader and the inquisitor or a defender, giving your opponent a harder target priority. If you do run crew though I highly recommend rebel captive, it makes whisper a bad target for certain ships and controls their dial, giving his own maneuverability a big advantage. Or run him with three pilot skill 1 strikers or something like that. If whisper is the best target, he will always have a tricky game

Buzzsaw or Reb Cap Whisper are the only Whispers worth running, and even then, it's not worth running right now.

Shelve the Phantom, at least in the competitive scene, until after Kylo hype has died down. Otherwise, enjoy getting killed in two rounds max.

1 hour ago, ArbitraryNerd said:

Buzzsaw or Reb Cap Whisper are the only Whispers worth running, and even then, it's not worth running right now.

Shelve the Phantom, at least in the competitive scene, until after Kylo hype has died down. Otherwise, enjoy getting killed in two rounds max.

Operations Specialist might be a decent crew on Whisper. It guarantees a focus token as long as Whisper gets to shoot at someone. Any other tokens that get generated by the rest of your squad are just gravy.

Kallus isn't a bad choice either.

Intel Agent is nice to help make better decloak decisions.

To be honest I wreck people with him with no crew, just accept that fenn is a crappy matchup and you need to kill him before he closes in on range one, hence is why I sometimes run him with the hilarious doom bomber, with vader and tactician. Stress him and vader him after a whisper attack and he could be done. But nowadays almost any creative and unique list will have at least one bad matchup. But kallus is also great on him. But I'd much rather leave him with no crew and a good initiative bid, or just have other threats in your list so if you do lose whisper, it's not the end of the world

2 hours ago, WWHSD said:

Operations Specialist might be a decent crew on Whisper. It guarantees a focus token as long as Whisper gets to shoot at someone. Any other tokens that get generated by the rest of your squad are just gravy.

Kallus isn't a bad choice either.

Intel Agent is nice to help make better decloak decisions.

I have no idea how I didn't think of Ops Spec! Even better, it can be on a friendly ship, if they happen to have some more space, meaning Whisper can Kallus it up (I don't like Kallus vs Gunner or RebCap, but I feel a lot better about him with Ops Spec).

Honestly, I feel like Intel Agent isn't worth the point, most of the time. Experience tends to cover its niche fine.

50 minutes ago, TheOz said:

To be honest I wreck people with him with no crew, just accept that fenn is a crappy matchup and you need to kill him before he closes in on range one, hence is why I sometimes run him with the hilarious doom bomber, with vader and tactician. Stress him and vader him after a whisper attack and he could be done. But nowadays almost any creative and unique list will have at least one bad matchup. But kallus is also great on him. But I'd much rather leave him with no crew and a good initiative bid, or just have other threats in your list so if you do lose whisper, it's not the end of the world

There's always this. I just don't like accepting notably bad match ups with a ship that, even on a budget, is very expensive. I can get a Defender that is a sturdier platform, if I'm starting to cut things from the Phantom.

sadly unless the Phantom has Palpatine on it's side it's going to die way too fast

1 hour ago, mad mandolorian said:

sadly unless the Phantom has Palpatine on it's side it's going to die way too fast

I don't think Palp is the issue. Whisper is pretty self-sufficient, in terms of defense, and the major threats to Phantoms aren't going to be defended against much better with Palp -- Gunner/Kylo RAC is going tear through them regardless of if you have Palp or not.

Everything else, you're supposed to rely on tricky positioning and arc dodging, which Palp doesn't necessarily help with (other than allowing you to worry a bit less about not taking the evade token).

2 hours ago, ArbitraryNerd said:

I don't think Palp is the issue. Whisper is pretty self-sufficient, in terms of defense, and the major threats to Phantoms aren't going to be defended against much better with Palp -- Gunner/Kylo RAC is going tear through them regardless of if you have Palp or not.

Everything else, you're supposed to rely on tricky positioning and arc dodging, which Palp doesn't necessarily help with (other than allowing you to worry a bit less about not taking the evade token).

whisper relies on shooting first, not arc dodging, if she can dodge an arc that's just a bonus, the downside of phantoms is that if they don't have ACD to save their action or are whisper they are rolling unmoded dice and THAT's where palpatine helps, as will it if the first TLT/gunner strips tokens

Arc dodging is always better than shooting first. No chance of being shot is infinitely better than small chance... but yes, a clocked Whisper often doesn't worry too much about being in arc - but those green dice are buggers.

As such the worst things for Whisper are a Ps9+ RAC, Falcon or Dengar. Can't arc dodge and may well shoot second.

So so wingmen need to cover this "gap". Kylo (in some form) to get them to PS 0 looks good or something that can really put the hurt on these ships - not sure what that would be though... possibility inquisitor staying at range over a few turns or an ordnance laden alpha strike (that's hard to get when Whisper is almost half the list).

Eirher way enjoy. I love flying Whisper.

I think Pure Sabacc is a good inclusion in a Phantom list or any where you want to confuse target priority. He's pretty cheap and acts as a 4 attack dice slinger if not dealt with. Slap VI on him and he's at 8 and shooting before most things so if the 9s and 10s don't shoot at him, he's going to make them feel it. Kinda allows you to bring Whisper into the fight a little more fearlessly.

Then I also think ordnance carriers can't be ignored so the inclusion of a Bomber might be good. Proton Torps and Prox Mines are my flavor but build to suit. Basically all 4 dice attacks if left alone so Whisper could make it to end game.

TIE Phantom: · "Whisper" (32)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire Control System (2)

Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Gunner (5)

TIE Striker: · "Pure Sabacc" (22)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Lightweight Frame (2)

Adaptive ailerons (0)

TIE Bomber: Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Proximity Mines (3)

Guidance Chips (0)

-- TOTAL ------- 98/100p. --

I'm a big fan of Whisper. Took her to the top 16 of last year's MA regionals, and only struggled with her when I wasn't prioritizing arc dodging over shooting first.

That being said, paired with the right Kylo RAC, the Decimator really could give the Phantom an easier time. Dropping Dengar/Vader to PS 0 is crushing, you just need to make sure that RAC is built to land a crit against a shield.

Vs Dengar(oo), Hot Shot isn't going to be very effective. Gunner may be, and Palp May be, but you need more damage mods. Predator, which has perfect synergy with the Damaged Cockpit critical, is a solid choice, but it's still not a perfect match up.

Vs Vader, it's not that difficult. Gunner would work wonders. Palp could probably push the damage through as well.

If you keep Whisper in reserve until her major threat is stymied, at least somewhat... maybe she's still worth bringing. But you're really hoping that your opponent isn't prepared for this.

When I have some time, I'll consider doing some testing, but Kylo RAC might actually be the perfect wingmate for Whisper, in the current meta. Nothing else helps her counter those threats half as well.

Played a couple of games last night vs a Dengar list (that had initiative).

Whisper with Kylo crew and Vader worked a dream. Dengar was Ps0 after first shots fired, and then much easier to manage. Trick was to keep Whisper cloaked at range 3 (and preferably behind a rock) until Kylo was on. When Dengar was PS0 Whisper could decloak - recloak as much as he wanted :-) with the "usual" 4 green + focus + evade defence :-).