I've found that their offense tends to be a bit limp because of the lack of native access to red rerolls. But support them with Targetting Synchronizer, Predator, Lone Wolf, Targeting Computer etc and they're excellent flankers and arc dodgers.

But that's in a meta where arc dodging is a bit questionable, so...

It's great fun to fly, but Pure Sabacc is the only one that's actually worth using since he has a decent shout at doing some damage before he inevitably dies. Duchess is hot expensive garbage (she and I are not on speaking terms), and Countdown, while good in theory, has his ability sidestepped by too many things. And all of the Strikers are hard-countered by turrets (particularly TLT's), since your one advantage (mobility) is gone.

Outside of Sabacc, the only use I can see for the ship is as a cheap, mobile blocker. And even then, you're probably better off with a cheaper Academy TIE for that.

I have not flow the Tie Striker a lot, but I have found that more often than not, whenever my opponent's list included them, my list somehow included a lot of Z-95s or other 2 dice attack ships. Lightweight frame becomes far less interesting when that happens.

I flew Sabacc at worlds and finished 6-3. Would have been 7-2 but in my last match Sabacc blanked out with all his red dice at the worst moment and allowed Miranda to get away and regen. That list had 3 TLTs and was very nasty vs my list, but I was still only one RNG away from getting into the top 32.

Got whooped by Justin round 2 with Sabacc getting one-shotted in the first round of shooting. So it might not be good against Dengar Tel either. Or I'm just not as good as the World champ.

I've only flown Pure Sabacc and Duchess so far, but I've found them both great value for their points.

Pure Sabacc is a massive distraction away from the rest of your list, or a very dangerous flanker if left unchallenged. I've been flying him with Expertise, AA, and Lightweight Frame of late, which is almost certainly too many points in a single TIE Striker, but it results in some very consistent damage while being able to evade or focus for defence.

Duchess has one build only in my opinion - VI, AA, and Lightweight Frame. With those, she's at almost Phantom levels of maneuverability, and the ability to use your AA or not as the situation demands is excellent. She's not great at damage output that said, but at only 26 points she can drop in easily alongside other ships that punch harder.

2 hours ago, Jarval said:

Duchess has one build only in my opinion - VI, AA, and Lightweight Frame. With those, she's at almost Phantom levels of maneuverability, and the ability to use your AA or not as the situation demands is excellent. She's not great at damage output that said, but at only 26 points she can drop in easily alongside other ships that punch harder.

I've tried that build (among many) but for 26pts you'd be better off with Omega Leader. Super-mobility is all well and good, but if you can't hit the broad side of a barn and die as soon as you're breathed at, it's irrelevant. Besides which, AA's and PS10 don't make for much of an arc-dodger, and certainly not when compared with any ship that can Boost and Barrel Roll in a single round. Her ability is deceptive, also: it isn't something you can really decide 'on-reveal', since the move you dialed in has to account for your choice and won't often be transferable to a different choice.

Every single game I've had with Duchess has been the same, regardless of build or opponent. She finagles around the board for a bit, showing off how awesome she is, then dies at the first sign of combat because her shot missed and her defences (even with LWF) are inadequate. I even had the stupid cow get taken out at Range 3 by an A-Wing, when she had Lone Wolf active. Repeated experiences like that, both in my own games and observing others, have led to me developing a phrase: 'Strikers being Strikers', which relates to their alarming tendency of exploding as soon as any firepower comes their way.

Fundamentally I think the Striker is flawed - it isn't cheap enough for how vulnerable it is, and it isn't effective enough on the game to justify including it over just about any other use of the points (Sabacc notwithstanding). And that's not even getting started in the fact that turrets (and TLT's especially) completely shut it down.

I've been flying striker lists almost exclusively for the last two months and have won four three-round tournaments (out of five) with three strikers in the list every time.

What are the lists? Well, they basically involve General Hux and advanced sensors on a shuttle (Upsilon or Lambda) flying alongside them. When they're tokened up they become incredibly survivable, and throwing 13 base attack dice in 4 shots is nothing to scoff at.

I can't say for sure that they're top tier just yet, so I'll report back here after the European Championship in which I'll almost assuredly be flying a triple striker list.

7 hours ago, Keffisch said:

Horrible, they die to the same thing as other arc-dodgers do, only faster/easier, due to the lack of thrusters and poor action economy.

You have to build to that. I basically run Pure Sabacc as an imperial biggs. People want that 4 die primary out of the way fast, so they frequently shoot him first. With 3 agility, he has similar survivability to biggs (outside of not having the droid to reduce incoming damage) and is a few points cheaper how I run him. And if they shoot him first, it leaves my better end-game ships on the table longer. Meanwhile, if they DON'T shoot him first, he gets to punish them with 4-5 die attacks, and Targeting Synchronizer on backdraft means he usually does reliable damage.

On 23/05/2017 at 10:59 PM, NakedDex said:

I have 3. I'm tempted to get 2 more, but given the price of them in Ireland, I'll wait until I can get a deal. They're close to €20 these days for small ships here.

Solution:

Countdown - Adaptive Ailerons, Hell Upgrade

Imperial Trainee - Adaptive Ailerons, Lightweight Frame x 2

Academy Pilot x 3

Welcome to the block party.

Hell Upgrade sounds amazing, what does it do?

35 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Hell Upgrade sounds amazing, what does it do?

It's just your common-or-garden Hull Upgrade, but on Countdown or Tel Trevura it warrants a change in vowel.

On 5/23/2017 at 3:42 PM, FTS Gecko said:

I really want to fly five of them. I'm not sure I really want to buy five of them.

I just bought #6 last night for Escalation! Im thinking of running them with a Tie S/F...

I haven't lost a game running all Strikers yet! Throwing 3-4 red dice on five ships causes a lot of damage early on, depleting most builds in early rounds.

13 minutes ago, Plainsman said:

Throwing 3-4 red dice on five ships causes a lot of damage early on, depleting most builds in early rounds.

That was my philosophy flying five Carterl Marauders. 15 focused attack dice is usually enough to squash a ship in the opening round f combat, epecially if you can get a block in. At the same time, 5 health behind 2 agility can usually survive 1-2 attacks back.

I had great results with the list, but not so confident in it now we've got 5-6-7 dice attacks running around. Marauders were great, but Strikers can do it better with repositioning and the possibility of adding an ace like Countdown or Pure Sabaac into the mix.

My experience has also been that they die very quickly. But Sabacc has been pretty great at getting damage in before he dies at least!
I will have to try expertise on him instead of Predator. Saving that focus for defense could help!

Sabacc is great as a cheap threat that can take heat away from your other ships, or dish out serious punishment if ignored.

I enjoy Countdown as well, as he's not prone to being melted by accident, and can do some pretty stupid things and pull out ahead, as long as he isn't stressed and is only getting shot by one enemy. Yeah, TLTs burn him down, but they do pretty much everything Imperial, so at least he drew some heat for a couple turns. And a three dice primary attack value isn't anything to sneeze at. Pairing it with Quickdraw w/ Targeting Analyzer had some interesting results last night as well, though I'll do some more testing.

I was also testing Expertise Vader in the list, and he's still squishy as hell, unfortunately (though I'll try a couple more times, I did fly too aggressively... And I DID win without losing anything... But it wasn't a meta-level performance).

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

That was my philosophy flying five Carterl Marauders. 15 focused attack dice is usually enough to squash a ship in the opening round f combat, epecially if you can get a block in. At the same time, 5 health behind 2 agility can usually survive 1-2 attacks back.

I had great results with the list, but not so confident in it now we've got 5-6-7 dice attacks running around. Marauders were great, but Strikers can do it better with repositioning and the possibility of adding an ace like Countdown or Pure Sabaac into the mix.

Out of curiosity, have you tried 5 zealous recruits? I've run 5 cartel marauders in the past, haven't tried 5 recruits yet. Curious how the extra agility + reposition actions would compare to the extra shield on the kihrazx

Haven't tried 5 x Protectorates yet. Head to head, I'd probably favour the Kihraxz, but against other lists the utility of the Protectorates is probably better.

Both fall short of 5 x Strikers though, I imagine.

Just got back from a store championship. Flew the three named pilots and was trying to decide on a shuttle, as I hate/despise Palp and have never used him. Was going to go Kagi + Mara Jade, to absorb TLs, and bumrush lists and stress them. But, last minute change had me take Col. Jendon + title. This let me hand out TLs to my strikers and set them free for a nice alpha strike of my own.

First match was crack swarm. I set up far away from swarm, and Jendon handed everyone TLs on howl runner. I spread out. Dutchess got behind the swarm, who went for countdown, and Sabaac and Dutchess got a range 2 on howl and TLs enabled her to die. Countdown and Jendon took out another. Next round, Zeta leader ate it. From there, it was over. Got all but 1, before time. Win. 85-0.

Second match was double SF and Deathfire. Target synched and missles. We both spent 40+ minutes maneuver, I TL Deathfire with Jendon on all my strikers. He still lived, lol. I turned away and went for an SF. Sabaac died to a Deathfire bomb. I got an SF. Win 38-25.

Third match, Dash Miranda. I got destroyed. Turrets suck. Loss 0-100.

Forth match was Asajj, Palob, Findsman. Awesome match. Went to the last shot. Was half Jendon and countdown vs half Asajj. Last shot of game, Asajj stresses countdown, gets him down to 1 hull, tractor beam him on rock. Poof, he dies. I lose 85-78. So close!

2-2, close to a 3-1. Jendon was alright. Was hard to establish and handout TLs midgame though.

One of our Mynocks somehow managed to win Bakersfield store champs with 3 Strikers and a Hux Shuttle...