Why isn't Rey/Poe a thing?

By gennataos, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Below is my Rey/Poe list. It seems like the combo of the two should be a force, and it's good, but it's not great. Why is that?

Rey (45)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Finn (5)
Kanan Jarrus (3)
Inertial Dampeners (1)
Smuggling Compartment (0)
Millennium Falcon (TFA) (1)

Poe Dameron (PS9) (33)
Push the Limit (3)
R5-P9 (3)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Black One (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I don't know but believe me I've tried to make it work.

Maybe I just need to fly better but Rey gets burned down fast, then Poe struggles.

4 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

I don't know but believe me I've tried to make it work.

Maybe I just need to fly better but Rey gets burned down fast, then Poe struggles.

I've run into similar results. Rey wants to be aggressive, but Poe wants to pick his shots most of the time, in typical Ace fashion. That results in either Rey getting focused down without enough support or Poe getting caught and killed too early. Maybe the problem is trying to fly Rey too aggressively too early?

try something more like this, keep them separate keeping poe on the outside, if you want drop PA and give him AT, don't use rey like you want to in the beginning, instead blow past them with the EU and kite them, dangle poe as bait if you want to plow something down, but no matter what you do, rey will die to other turrets, but overall you should be able to either kill something quickly first 2 rounds of combat with rey, or more likely use one or the other as bait, then boost to safety and tear them to pieces.

REY AND POE

100 points

PILOTS

Rey (62)
YT-1300 (45), Expertise (4), Kanan Jarrus (3), Finn (5), Millennium Falcon (Segnor's Loop Version) (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Poe Dameron (PS8 Version) (38)
T-70 X-Wing (31), R5-P9 (3), Pattern Analyzer (2), Lone Wolf (2), Integrated Astromech (0)

Edited by Jerval
added list lol
So, the below is one of my favorite lists which currently has 12 wins and 3 losses on my personal scoreboard. Like with a lot of lists, I find this is all about strategy, positioning, approach and luck. Most of my wins have been because I've been able to get Rey into the action while Poe flanks or, if possible, comes from behind. Even though it becomes a bit predictable, I have had a lot of success with throwing Rey around the board via the title and Kanan and getting to a great angle.
What I found in my losses is that if my opponent acts against my list (instead of reacting TO my list) then I'm in trouble and in one game where I had horrible dice rolls (actually my first match) I realized how flimsy both builds can be. I plan on playing with this a bit more as I'm not a huge fan of the Anti-Pursuit lasers (they have triggered maybe 3-4 times in all the matches).
How have you been flying it?
The Farce Awakens (100)
Poe Dameron (41) - T-70 X-Wing
Predator (3), R5-P9 (3), Pattern Analyzer (2), Autothrusters (2)
Rey (59) - YT-1300
Lone Wolf (2), Finn (5), Kanan Jarrus (3), Millennium Falcon (1), Smuggling Compartment (0), Inertial Dampeners (1), Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)
1 minute ago, Jerval said:

keep them separate keeping poe on the outside, if you want drop PA and give him AT, don't use rey like you want to in the beginning, instead blow past them with the EU and kite them, dangle poe as bait if you want to plow something down, but no matter what you do, rey will die to other turrets,

some really good advice here. As I mentioned in my post, keep Poe flanking (read: distracting and unsettling) the enemy and use Rey's unpredictability to keep your enemy off-balance.

What about dropping APL in favor of upgrading Rey to Expertise? When she gets modified rolls she's a beast. Though I do like Lone wolf on Rey.

I also like Sensor cluster R2/D2 AT Poe. He's a tank.

1 minute ago, BlodVargarna said:

What about dropping APL in favor of upgrading Rey to Expertise? When she gets modified rolls she's a beast. Though I do like Lone wolf on Rey.

I also like Sensor cluster R2/D2 AT Poe. He's a tank.

Literally have that planned for the next time I play the list, just didn't want to give advice to the OP based on theorycrafting - have you tried it and if so, was it fun?

I've tried tank Poe but not with expertise Rey. I'm thinking I want to try it this weekend myself!

3 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

I've tried tank Poe but not with expertise Rey. I'm thinking I want to try it this weekend myself!

Next Wednesday can't come soon enough ;)

52 minutes ago, Bojanglez said:
Poe Dameron (41) - T-70 X-Wing
Predator (3), R5-P9 (3), Pattern Analyzer (2), Autothrusters (2)
Rey (59) - YT-1300
Lone Wolf (2), Finn (5), Kanan Jarrus (3), Millennium Falcon (1), Smuggling Compartment (0), Inertial Dampeners (1), Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

I'm interested in this direction. Is Predator that much of an improvement over PtL for Poe? It's only helping on offense, and I'd think Poe would be spending a decent amount of time without a shot.

Just now, gennataos said:

I'm interested in this direction. Is Predator that much of an improvement over PtL for Poe? It's only helping on offense, and I'd think Poe would be spending a decent amount of time without a shot.

This is just a personal thing but I am not a huge fan of PTL on Poe, simply because he needs to not be stressed to get the most out of him. PA is great for doing a red move and getting an action before getting a stress, but in too many matches for me, if Poe ends a round stressed then he is at a significant disadvantage going into the next round. YMMV :)

Haven't flown it in a while, but I love Rey/Poe. Personally, if I'm using PS9 Poe, I want Adaptability on Rey, not VI. I'd rather have the flexibility in move/shoot order.

2 minutes ago, Bojanglez said:

This is just a personal thing but I am not a huge fan of PTL on Poe, simply because he needs to not be stressed to get the most out of him. PA is great for doing a red move and getting an action before getting a stress, but in too many matches for me, if Poe ends a round stressed then he is at a significant disadvantage going into the next round. YMMV :)

I agree, but I've found using PA with a green maneuver to clear that stress from the PtL gives him a lot of flexibility. He always wants that focus token, but may also want that boost for position. A 3-straight + focus/boost from PtL/Poe gets him further than a 4-straight + focus for Pred Poe.

4 minutes ago, ObiWonka said:

Haven't flown it in a while, but I love Rey/Poe. Personally, if I'm using PS9 Poe, I want Adaptability on Rey, not VI. I'd rather have the flexibility in move/shoot order.

Hmm...good point, particularly if Rey doesn't have EU.

6 minutes ago, ObiWonka said:

Haven't flown it in a while, but I love Rey/Poe. Personally, if I'm using PS9 Poe, I want Adaptability on Rey, not VI. I'd rather have the flexibility in move/shoot order.

To touch on this further, why haven't you flown Rey/Poe in a while? What drew you away? I guess, rather than theory-crafting on the best list build, this is the root of my original question. Why is this combo of pilots not good enough to be seen at highly competitive events?

@gennataos don't disagree. I might have to give it another spin, I just hate forcing myself into regularly predictable moves to clear stress. You do make a compelling argument for trying it again this week, however :)

1 minute ago, gennataos said:

To touch on this further, why haven't you flown Rey/Poe in a while? What drew you away? I guess, rather than theory-crafting on the best list build, this is the root of my original question. Why is this combo of pilots not good enough to be seen at highly competitive events?

Mostly simply because I very rarely play the same list these days. I'm not looking for a killer list to practice for regionals or anything like that. But it's definitely a list I would gladly return to.

Just now, Bojanglez said:

@gennataos don't disagree. I might have to give it another spin, I just hate forcing myself into regularly predictable moves to clear stress. You do make a compelling argument for trying it again this week, however :)

It's really hard to do, but when I'm running PtL on anything, I'm trying to not view it as an "every turn" ability, but rather a "great opportunity" ability. That viewpoint, however, makes a case for something like Predator, because it's always on which means that EPT slot is useful every turn.

I do think I'm going to stick with PtL Poe for now and see how it fairs. I haven't gotten in the reps you have with your list. You made a great point earlier about speaking from experience and not just theory. I haven't gained enough experience with my version to truly speak to it's strengths and weaknesses.

I tried Rey and Poe a lot when it first dropped. I think its a decent list and I had a decent win record with it, my build was:

Rey (45)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Finn (5)
Kanan Jarrus (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Millennium Falcon (TFA) (1)

Poe Dameron (31)
Push the Limit (3)
R5-P9 (3)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
Autothrusters (2)

Total: 100

Obviously there have been some new releases which would change that, expertise for example is great on Rey and I'd happily give up engine for it. Kylo Ren and Hotshot co-pilot have become quite prevalent though so I think Poe really struggles with R5-P9 as he loses his focus when he gets shot and probably gets pushed down to PS0 at some stage as well.

The problem I found with it was that Poe doesn't hit quite as hard as you would like for the points he costs.

I'm back on to playing rey with norra now (via a detour of Han plus a warden) and I think the list is slightly better than Rey-Poe sadly (alhough it could be a play style thing)

Ultimately, I still think the list is decent. If you want to play it there isn't any particular reason not too as it will hold up reasonably well against most lists, it just doesn't get a lot of air time because it isn't a meta defining top tier list.

Edited by asters89
2 minutes ago, gennataos said:

It's really hard to do, but when I'm running PtL on anything, I'm trying to not view it as an "every turn" ability, but rather a "great opportunity" ability. That viewpoint, however, makes a case for something like Predator, because it's always on which means that EPT slot is useful every turn.

I do think I'm going to stick with PtL Poe for now and see how it fairs. I haven't gotten in the reps you have with your list. You made a great point earlier about speaking from experience and not just theory. I haven't gained enough experience with my version to truly speak to it's strengths and weaknesses.

Push the limit Poe has some really good synergy with pattern analyser (presming that still works after the FAQ, it certainly did when I was playing it) it basically keeps you stress free as long as you keep doing greens and wern't stressed at the start of the turn.

1 hour ago, gennataos said:

To touch on this further, why haven't you flown Rey/Poe in a while? What drew you away? I guess, rather than theory-crafting on the best list build, this is the root of my original question. Why is this combo of pilots not good enough to be seen at highly competitive events?

I got defeated every time I took it out and got frustrated.

I mean, Rey and Poe aren't a thing because Finn and Poe are a thing.

Oh, you meant in X-Wing? I think it's mostly what people have said. They have really conflicting desires as to how to fly. The advice on using Poe as a flanker might work, though I'd also be tempted to put Tactical Jammer on Rey, and fly PtL Poe behind her. At a cost 1pt it isn't a bad opening combo, as it might serve the keep Poe alive, while giving an aggressive Rey the support that she needs in an opening salvo.

2 hours ago, Kreen said:

I mean, Rey and Poe aren't a thing because Finn and Poe are a thing.

Take your like, bro.

d70281bc3a13022c4162d919bc1391551af780c09cdc72928c39e27f568dd1c0_1.jpg

It's a really good squad, but i think the reason it's not being flown is that people switch out Poe for an even better Regen ship like Norra or Miranda.

The Rey build is really good as it is, Poe is the one that is not quite up there with the best of them at the moment.

I flew my Rey/Poe build today against Ryan/Vessery/Backdraft and did great, following some of the advice in this thread. I presented Poe as juicier target, but didn't leave him out to dry like I've done in the past. If he's ignored and they go after Rey, then Poe will be guaranteed a flanking position. I concentrated fire on Backdraft to remove the easiest target, then ended up with Vessery chasing Poe and Ryan after Rey. That basically flipped and I felt moreso Poe was chasing Vessery and Rey was sort of kiting Ryad. My buddy conceded when both Backdraft and Vessery were dead with Ryad at 1 hull. Poe was at full hull and shields, Rey with no shields and 4 hull remaining. I've yet to defeat his defenders, so I feel pretty good about the win.

4 hours ago, ForceM said:

It's a really good squad, but i think the reason it's not being flown is that people switch out Poe for an even better Regen ship like Norra or Miranda.

The Rey build is really good as it is, Poe is the one that is not quite up there with the best of them at the moment.

Hmmm...I'm unconvinced that either Miranda or Norra are better with Rey than Poe. I understand that they're conventionally better on their own, in a vacuum, but how are they better with Rey?

Edited by gennataos