Mindlink Bossk - can it work?

By asters89, in X-Wing Squad Lists

So I'm thinking of a making a twist to my Bossk and Ketsu build that I've been playing recently and planning on taking to my next store kit in a couple of weeks.

Ketsu Onyo (38)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
K4 Security Droid (3)
Glitterstim (2)
Burnout SLAM (1)
Gyroscopic Targeting (2)
Shadow Caster (3)

Bossk (35)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
"Mangler" Cannon (4)
Dengar (3)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
Zuckuss (1)
Glitterstim (2)
Countermeasures (3)

Total: 100

So the changes are that I have dropped PTL off Ketsu in favour of mindlink which will hopefully give me action economy without the stress (and which won't be taken away by a bump - as long as Bossk isnt). I've also dropped engine down to gyros, as I was finding I wasn't using engine all too often.

Those points savings let me give Bossk glitterstim and counter measures as well as Mangler (which previously were two combinations I have tried on Bossk but never been able to afford together). Inspiring recruit is there primarily to let Bossk use Zuckuss up to a max of 2 stress and still clear it when needed to focus (and occasionally in case Ketsu manages to get double stressed).

Its a slightly different take on Bossk Ketsu, but is it workable? I've only played 2 games with it so far but from what I've seen it seems to have a bit of potential.

You will potentially stress the crap out of both ships when you start using Zuckuss. I don't think he and mindlink are a good fit at all.

Remember that Mindlink only passes one stress token, and no more. Having all three speed maneuvers as green on the Shadow Caster means he can fairly easily shred the stress, so it's not the end of the world in this list.

I would scrap Stims for Scavenger Crane though on Bossk. Honestly, he's really only going to need the focus for his own shot, Stims isn't gong to see much good use. But recovering Countermeasures is a solid plan that I think bears mentioning. You could drop Countermeasures though and Stims on Ketsu Onyo to throw Homing Missiles and Guidance Chips on Bossk with the Scavenger Crane. A bit more bite, a bit less defense.

4 hours ago, Trudem said:

You will potentially stress the crap out of both ships when you start using Zuckuss. I don't think he and mindlink are a good fit at all.

The thing I've found from flying Bossk and Ketsu thus far is that, with Ketsu throwing tractor beams around, you actually don't use Zuckuss as much as a traditional party bus because in most cases you opponent has less agility that they would otherwise.

3 hours ago, Raven19528 said:

Remember that Mindlink only passes one stress token, and no more. Having all three speed maneuvers as green on the Shadow Caster means he can fairly easily shred the stress, so it's not the end of the world in this list.

I would scrap Stims for Scavenger Crane though on Bossk. Honestly, he's really only going to need the focus for his own shot, Stims isn't gong to see much good use. But recovering Countermeasures is a solid plan that I think bears mentioning. You could drop Countermeasures though and Stims on Ketsu Onyo to throw Homing Missiles and Guidance Chips on Bossk with the Scavenger Crane. A bit more bite, a bit less defense.

Scavenger crane is an interesting idea, I'll lose a bit of defence initially from glitterstim (as I won't be able to convert all focuses on the extra turn of agility) but the chance to have bonus multiple times is an interesting prospect. It might come down to seeing which way the meta goes in terms of typical number of ships in builds.

I'm not sure I'd want homing missiles with the crane as well as a mangler cannon as they are sort of there to do the same job. I think the advantage the cannon has is that it doesn't need to be supported by chips and potentially the crane (thereby using up other slots) which let me take counter measures + another illicit. Although if it turns out that I'm only managing to get limited uses out of the mangler, it might be better to switch just so that I can increase my punching power for those turns when my opponent is at range 2-3 in arc

I think it can work. Id go for a mana link variant

Basic party buss bossk withought 4-lom

4-lom with title

Manaroo

Obviously you can add and take as desired and you end with about 3 pts to spare

Manaroo can green for days to clear stress and with his low ps he will get his action. Then 4 lom gose he is there to clear bossks wake by using his guns or his tractor beam and he should have cleared his stress with his ability. So he can take his action then bossk goes and can red stop if early on in the game or use zukss in combat if its late and it wont affect the other two negatively