Don't get me wrong, I definitely love the Tie/x7 a lot. Ryad in an x7 is really sweet. But I've also gotten some good work out of a high PS Tie/D with an Ion Cannon or Tractor Beam.

Vessery: Tie/D, Ion Cannon, Veteran Instincts. 43 points. 41 if you for the tractor beam.

I suppose its more expensive and probably not as optimal as the x7 point for point, but unloading lots of dice quite satisfying. Being able to Tractor beam/ion one target and light up another, or unload into a single target, is quite effective. Or instead of VI go for Predator for rerolls on your 2 attacks.

Are people just down on it because its overpriced relative to the x7?

It suffers from what I call Tel Trevura syndrome. You see, Tel is a great pilot at PS7 with an elite slot and a great ability. However, the other jumpmasters are just so good and optimal in playing this game that poor Tel never sees play. It's the same thing with TIE/D and x7. TIE/D is a great upgrade, but x7 pushes Defenders even farther into greatness.

Vessery is about the only good Tie D Defender, but for some reason you get a discount for a far greater bonus in X7 or are asked to dump more points into a defender in order to even use Tie D.

I love the tie/d for Vessery.it gets pricy trying to run two though.

6 minutes ago, Estarriol said:

I love the tie/d for Vessery.it gets pricy trying to run two though.

Yeah, price is definitely the big obstacle here. Double Ds doesn't leave you with much leftover.

Tie d Vessery is awesome, can get pricey, but is a great tool in the meta, afraid of getting k wing bombed, ion cannon them. With trick shot I can pretty easily set up awesome shots behind debris. But with out double modds, the other defenders seem to suffer with tie d. And let's face it x 7 makes them the most consistent ship in the empire

I did once win a tournament with a TIE/D Vessery. He's super fun in the right squad. The problem with him- and any TIE/Ds, is that he's expensive and fragile.

6 health over 3 green doesn't sound fragile, I know! But he can only modify his defense dice once- with a single eyeball token. And he's costing a minimum of 36 points- tractor cannon but no EPT.

Given how _scary_ he is, all those things mean he will be focused first, hardest, and melt.

X7 is definitely the easier option, and the safer one, but TIE/D can really put the hurt on a ship.

One list I run a lot is;

Vessery: V.I, TIE/D, Tractor Beam

Rexlar Brath: Predator, TIE/D, Ion Cannon

Scimitar Sq. Pilot: Fleet Officer, Twin Ion Engine, TIE Shuttle

Tractor Beam scares the heck out of anything that has at least 1 evade dice. I've seen Rey MELT from combined fire from Brath an Vessery, and with F.O they can modify both shots.

I actually consider TIE/D the better title just because it's anti-everything-meta, if you're shooting at an ace with Tractor Beam they're going to spend everything to avoid that first shot, that opens them up for the second round of shooting

1 hour ago, Warlon said:

X7 is definitely the easier option, and the safer one, but TIE/D can really put the hurt on a ship.

One list I run a lot is;

Vessery: V.I, TIE/D, Tractor Beam

Rexlar Brath: Predator, TIE/D, Ion Cannon

Scimitar Sq. Pilot: Fleet Officer, Twin Ion Engine, TIE Shuttle

Tractor Beam scares the heck out of anything that has at least 1 evade dice. I've seen Rey MELT from combined fire from Brath an Vessery, and with F.O they can modify both shots.

I actually consider TIE/D the better title just because it's anti-everything-meta, if you're shooting at an ace with Tractor Beam they're going to spend everything to avoid that first shot, that opens them up for the second round of shooting

Exactly my point. But your squad needs to be solid because he will go down first. I run him with trick shot and Ion cannon, omega leader, and vader, and it's great because if they do kill vess first, the others can win the rest of the fight if you got a little work done first

I love TIE/D. I've taken them to major tournaments and had some success. When the titles were first spoiled, I thought D would have more meta impact due to the damage and control it offered. However, I didn't anticipate the alpha strike meta. U-boats were hard to deal with, but managable. Once Bossk-Dengar or Bossk-Ketsu lists started showing up, 5-dice Fenn Rau, most any other thing with Zuckuss, etc., the defenses of a TIE/D just couldn't quite keep them alive long enough (in my opinion) to make their offensive power work.

You can get lucky, and you can outplay people, but super-high damage attacks can take too much off the board too fast. I feel like TIE/Ds are about 1 card away from prime time in the current meta. If I had a missile slot card that worked more-or-less like Countermeasures (call it Defensive Flares, or something), something to just let the Defender avoid the worst of an initial salvo and then get into close range where it can tear stuff apart, I think they'd have some serious legs.

Old title-less Defenders with Heavy Laser Cannons used to be able to outright anything higher PS than themselves due to the massive shot they were putting out, and could outmaneuver arc dodgers thanks to the K-turn. Now, though, even high PS stuff is is slamming major damage, so the cheaper, tougher x7 makes sense in most cases.

It should be noted that an extremely aggressive squad did well recently, getting second in the Mustafa open. It had Quickdraw, Vessery/D, and Pure Sabacc for a ton of massive attacks thrown downrange.

I love the /D title and wish that FFG could just swap the price on it and X/7. Then it would be a very tough choice between the two. If /D gave even a 1 point discount to the cannon being equipped that would make it so solid. I wonder if the price limit on the cannon choice was raised would Mangler /D's be good enough to unseat the X/7's? They would certainly be scary as hell.

19 minutes ago, TheOz said:

I run him with trick **** and Ion cannon

Heh. Snicker.

10 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

Heh. Snicker.

Wow my out auto correct did that lol. I guess it shows how much I cuss normally lol

I loathe the /D as a Rebel player. The double tap is brutal. Put Flechette canon, Ion canon or tractor Beam and it is a right awful thing to fly against.

I have a lot of fun with the D, but tend to put it on Ryad. Why? Because with a tractor beam, her main goal is to be as annoying as fudge, knocking enemy ships out of position. So, the unpredictable maneuver, plus an unpredictable replacement of an enemy starfighter, is a hoot. Then, just for spite, you can shoot 'em, too.

I find it funny how a lot of people are looking for counters to X7 Defenders when the TIE/D title is a counter.

The fix counters the fix.

3 hours ago, Evenflow30 said:

It suffers from what I call Tel Trevura syndrome. You see, Tel is a great pilot at PS7 with an elite slot and a great ability. However, the other jumpmasters are just so good and optimal in playing this game that poor Tel never sees play. It's the same thing with TIE/D and x7. TIE/D is a great upgrade, but x7 pushes Defenders even farther into greatness.

I wouldn't call that an apt description. lol

I've been playing him with Bossk since May 2016. Made Top 8 at 2 of 4 Regionals with them. I actually prefer Tel to Bossk in the list, though both are excellent.

But like you said, everyone overlooks him due to the other Jumpmasters, but Tel's still great.

The /x7 title and /D titles have a great disparity, though.

I like running double tie/D, but yea fragile. but fun I tend to play super aggressive with them, backstabber and mauler can be fun with two basic Tie/d's.

1 hour ago, MegaSilver said:

I wouldn't call that an apt description. lol

I've been playing him with Bossk since May 2016. Made Top 8 at 2 of 4 Regionals with them. I actually prefer Tel to Bossk in the list, though both are excellent.

But like you said, everyone overlooks him due to the other Jumpmasters, but Tel's still great.

The /x7 title and /D titles have a great disparity, though.

I thought I was the only one! I wrote that because I too play Tel but I've never seen anyone else play him! In fact they're my two favorite scum pilots. The thing I find best about your post though is I used Bossk and Tel at a store championship, I got 10th though.Glad to see I'm not the only one who likes that combo. My build was:

Tel: punishing one, VI,k4, r5-p8

Bossk: VI, Zuckuss, 4-lom, Dengar, Hound's Tooth, hot shot blaster

My current build after much fiddling is:

Tel w/pred, gonk, r5p8, hull, title, cargo

Bossk w/crackshot, mangler, 4lom, zuckuss, dengar, ID

if you go to the 2016 regional page and look at the Murray KY regional, youll see the first version of the list. (And where I reinforced the notion that IDs are mandatory on YVs after the fact for me.)

My go-to is a pair of TIE/D Defenders at PS8 with a TIE fighter running interference. Do a 1-2 combo with Tractor Beam on Vessery and Ion on Rexler.

25 minutes ago, MegaSilver said:

My current build after much fiddling is:

Tel w/pred, gonk, r5p8, hull, title, cargo

Bossk w/crackshot, mangler, 4lom, zuckuss, dengar, ID

if you go to the 2016 regional page and look at the Murray KY regional, youll see the first version of the list. (And where I reinforced the notion that IDs are mandatory on YVs after the fact for me.)

I've never used ID on the YV, but I can see how that white stop can help with more maneuverable ships when you have a boatload of stress on it. I've been using EMP device to good effect on YVs lately. I usually do the 1 banks to purposefully get enemy ships that managed to get behind it at at r1 and pop off EMP. As long as the ship is angled and not straight on behind the YV the next round the straights from being ionized usually get me out of enemy arc (again as long as the other ship is angled) and another 3 turn next round gets me back on the attack.

Tie/sf help a lot a Tie/D Vessery.

Tie/D is expensive and fragile just like the original, X7 help to stay a live longer.

But tie/D is more fun and fluff.

TIE/D is actually a pretty decent counter to x7--ion sucks--but x7 is better against everything else. That said, Defenders really aren't on top of this Paratanni meta.

Paratanni is shenanigans.

I haven't even played against the list and I already don't like it.