...Actually he never was really. But I can't get over the U-wing and trying to make, at least, a tier 2 Cassian list (if not a tier one).

But the more I thought the harder it became to find stuff that synergized with him. Here are the list of things that I can think of that could take advantage of his clear stress ability (Admittedly some are kind of a stretch):

EPT's: Opportunist, Elusiveness, PTL, Expertise, Rage, Expert Handling on a non-barrel roll ship, lightning reflexes, Stay on Target, Daredevil

Pilot's: Jan Ors, Nien Nunb, Ello (no apparent damage) Asty, Biggs with R4, Red maneuver heavy ships (Attack Shuttle/Bwing)

Crew: Kyle Katarn, Inspired recruit, StressHog Y wing/Braylen

So.... kinda hard... Looks like the easiest thing to do is combo with EPT's. Rage + Inspired recruit+ Kyle Katarn? Anyone got some ideas? Lets theory craft and see how we can optimize this! Other ideas??

Thinking of trying some rage builds. Also snapshot, sabine crew, EM, and a bomb. I so badly want the ship to work; the first 'new' ship design I really like.

Hopefully we get a K2SO crew member that grants a bonus when you remove a stress token from yourself or a friendly ship.

I still feel like the star pilot of the U-Wing is Bodhi Rook, as he enhances your entire squad.

I'm just going to throw in my favorite U-wing build:

U-Wing: •Cassian Andor (39)
Pivot Wing (Attack) (0)
•Swarm Leader (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
•Finn (5)
•Rey (2)

3x A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (20)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)
Push the Limit (3)
Adaptability (-1) (0)
Chardaan Refit (-2)

Total: 99/100

Cassian was my choice because he is the only U with an Elite slot. In practice though I do use his ability constantly to fully open an A-wing dial. Speed 2 green maneuvers are nice, but getting those hard 1s (and the other maneuvers) back is great when you're using the As as blockers.

I've seen him flown alongside Rey to good effect. I know Kanan is the preferred option for endless slooping/Expertise activation (in fact the lad running Cassian had Kanan on the U-Wing to double down on stress relief), but it worked quite well.

My only squadron so far is Cassian with Ello and Poe, I'm winning quite a lot but I'm not feeling a huge amount of benefit to having Cassian as opposed to say, another X-Wing. Except that he's a great guy and I love the U-Wing, obviously! I've been thinking Heff or Bodhi might be worth a try instead.

One good benefit is being able to remove stress from Ello since I play him with Expertise. He has been my main threat in all the games so far.

My next purchase was going to be some A-Wings so maybe that is the way to go for more effect. I've also seen someone run him with Sabine Wren as crew and attaching bombs. Handy since the U-Wing seems to end up facing the wrong way quite a lot.

I'm very new to the game anyway so currently just enjoying flying the U-Wing around.

Didn't like his character in the movie so....let's not.

Just now, clanofwolves said:

Didn't like his character in the movie so....let's not.

Booooooooo!

I haven't had a chance to test this out yet... but I really want to try Cassian with Hera, Advanced Sensors, and Expert Handling.

Barrel rolling and then hard stop sounds hilarious.

I want to try Cassian with tactician and inspiring recruit, then fly it next to a stresshog and Chopper flying a VCX with Hera crew and flying it as a big blocker with a turret for nearby ships.

Everybody deals out stress.

I'm a little surprised we aren't seeing Cassian crew more.

I'm finding Cassian crew is kind of hard to use. It requires some next level planning to really get anything out of him that you can't get from the 1point cheaper Intel Agent.

In all honesty, I use Cassian for the EPT, which is kind of annoying because I never really get to prof his ability with the squads I run.

i have tried Heff but he isn't quite my cup of tea.

That is a funny issue with many ship models. The builds is rather bipolar where either it is an ace or it is a generic. But it always seems that all ships have one good pilot and that pilot may or may not be unique. For E-wings it is Corran Horn, for TIE Fighters it is Academy pilot. The only ship that I think breaks this mold was the Jumpmaster and post Veterans TIE-Defenders which all just got nerfed. So if a ship has more than one good pilot will that make it OP?

As for the U-wing it has been said before it is the Rebel shuttle (although I still want a stolen Lambda). Thus it is better at its cheapest and as a support ship. Well I don't know if blue is the default pilot I have seen a lot of Bohdi but yeah as I said only one pilot. If it is unique there will be only one of thsoe ships at a time, if it is non-unique then there will be 2-4 ships.

17 hours ago, WAC47 said:

I haven't had a chance to test this out yet... but I really want to try Cassian with Hera, Advanced Sensors, and Expert Handling.

Barrel rolling and then hard stop sounds hilarious.

Haha I dunno could this be good? Like Dash except worse? I guess you do get a perma stop with Hera

14 hours ago, Yoda Man said:

In all honesty, I use Cassian for the EPT, which is kind of annoying because I never really get to prof his ability with the squads I run.

i have tried Heff but he isn't quite my cup of tea.

Heff/with Sabine/zeb is fun for running into the thick of it. He seems more practically useful than Cassian, though surprisingly more expensive with a bomb heavy combo build like that.

I actually always use Cassian for the EPT as well....hence my pain. Picking a named pilot only for EPT and not because of the pilot talent feels kinda bad.

My Favorite Cassian build is a buzzsaw variant:

Cassian, Hera, Ezra, FCS, title, ept (VI or Score to settle). Is a lot of fun but ultimately you still have to build a squad around using his ability, since you can't use it on yourself....

17 hours ago, Hawkstrike said:

I'm a little surprised we aren't seeing Cassian crew more.

14 hours ago, nitrobenz said:

I'm finding Cassian crew is kind of hard to use. It requires some next level planning to really get anything out of him that you can't get from the 1point cheaper Intel Agent.

Yeah I think the problem is you will need a lot of flight time with his crew card. I've been really interested in a CassianCrew/Boshek thing but am afraid to start. The possibilities seem so nebulous and how exactly do you build a squad around it best? Both on one ship? One each on two ships?

My guess is, eventually, someone will both optimize it AND fly it well enough to win a major tourney simply by shutting down ships (especially with the x7 nerf)... but it will take a long time. Maybe I should start practicing....

If anybody has thoughts on optimizing a Cassian/Boshek squad I'd be super interested.

I've flown this quite a bit and it has been effective:

Scary Rey

Rey (45)
Intimidation (2)
Finn (5)
"Zeb" Orrelios (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Millennium Falcon (1)

Cassian Andor (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Operations Specialist (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Pivot Wing (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I love this Cassian build. He can boost away to safety, switch to landing mode. Then turn around, and with Gunner, opspec, FCS, he gets full mod shots, or tosses a focus to his squadmates, in this case Rey who always wants a focus. His ability allows her to Kturn every round, so she doesn't need Kanan. She can even land on debris, he clears it, and she has an open dial next round.

Another trick, is to drop FCS for accuracy corrector (can drop Title on Rey) in this same build. Then Cassian can automatically cancel his dice, and toss a focus to anyone range 1-3, kinda like a Manaroo, if he absolutely needs to, like for instance Poe who got Hot-Shotted by RAC, or Rey who is range 1 without a focus. At PS8 that is really powerful, then Gunner gives him another shot for at least 2 hits guaranteed, and if he misses he tosses another focus. I prefer the FCS build, but if I flew Poe, I would probably want a guaranteed focus token to toss to him.

I've flown Cassian a couple times with this build. It's not bad and can be fun to fly:

Cassian Andor (27)
Rage (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
Kyle Katarn (3)
Pivot Wing (0)

Use Advanced Sensors to Rage before revealing a green maneuver, Inspiring Recruit clears both stress and then Kyle Katarn assigns 2 more focus tokens to the ship.

So, what I'm hearing is that the consensus is that the U-Wing in general and Cassian Andor (crew) were DOA cards that couldn't hack it in the competitive game? Like some of us were saying at the start despite so many people claiming that the U-Wing and its crew cards would be good?

A fun Cassian/Rey list I've been working on.

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

Cassian Andor (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Gunner (5)
Operations Specialist (3)
Pivot Wing (0)

Total: 99

U Dash Bro?

I have not decided on my Dash configuration yet BUT here is what I have for Cassian as a Kyle Kartan/Stress Giver / Wingman support ship ...

Cassian Andor (27)

Adaptability (0) or Veteran Instincts (1)
Accuracy Correctors (3)
Flechette Torpedo (2)
Gunner (5)
Operations Specialist (3)
Pivot Wing (0)
Munition Failsafe (1)

Dash Rendar (58 point configuration)

Aim to miss with the Flechette Torpedo (Cancel your die Accuracy Corrector, do not add the 2 hit results.) You deal stress. Gunner and Operations Specialist kick in giving a focus + a reroll. (If you miss again the Operations Specialists is not limited to "once per round").

I thought about possibly putting Expertise + Jan Ors (Crew) on Dash to get that evade token, but I am not sure yet what configuration would work best for Dash.

I've had some great success with this list:

Cassian Andor (27)
Intimidation (2)
Enhanced Scopes (1)
Inspiring Recruits (1)
"Zeb" Orrelios (1)
Pivot Wing (0)
Tactical Jammer (1)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R4-D6 (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Corran Horn (35)
R2 Astromech (1)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Rage (1)

Yes it involves Biggs, but with careful flying it keeps Cassian alive for longer and of course protects Corran. Cassian makes a fantastic blocker and doesn't care if he is bumped because as long as he has someone in arc he can still shoot at them. You can see me fly the list in this video:

On 27/03/2017 at 9:56 PM, wurms said:

I've flown this quite a bit and it has been effective:

Scary Rey

Rey (45)
Intimidation (2)
Finn (5)
"Zeb" Orrelios (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Millennium Falcon (1)

3 hours ago, Ebak said:

I've had some great success with this list:

Cassian Andor (27)
Intimidation (2)
Enhanced Scopes (1)
Inspiring Recruits (1)
"Zeb" Orrelios (1)
Pivot Wing (0)
Tactical Jammer (1)

Hmm. You don't get Intimidation to proc for Zeb, but it works for other ships. Never thought it would be worth it.

On 27/03/2017 at 10:36 PM, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

So, what I'm hearing is that the consensus is that the U-Wing in general and Cassian Andor (crew) were DOA cards that couldn't hack it in the competitive game? Like some of us were saying at the start despite so many people claiming that the U-Wing and its crew cards would be good?

Yup. It is a big Wave I X-Wing. It has an extra three hitpoints and one third the manoeuvrability. The 0-k is rubbish and almost never useful, the 0-stop is somewhat useful if you can park it where you can blaze away. The only useful thing about is it is a cheap large base. Bodhi is good in Epic. That's it.

10 hours ago, Lampyridae said:

Hmm. You don't get Intimidation to proc for Zeb , but it works for other ships. Never thought it would be worth it.

While it doesn't work for Cassian directly, focusing fire with the other ships in your fleet gives you the best of both worlds.