Hello friends. I am having a bit of trouble beating a particular ship. My usual opponent plays Rexler Brath, and today, he slapped this build on me:

Rexler Brath + TIE/x7 + Twin Ion Engine Mk. 2 + Expertice

I don't recall exactly what else he had on there, but that defender is extremely difficult to kill. I myself haven't killed it yet. The issue I have is, he doesn't care about stress at all, as pretty much all of his moves can clear it, and every turn, it's either a 3 bank, or a 4 k-turn, stacking both a evade and a focus on his ship. Then you have expertise play in, making it a beast on offense, practically ensuring he gets a hit every time, and it's nearly impossible to block it, as he can play it fairly unpredictably, and can k-turn over my ships and all that. So all in all, my question becomes; How does one beat this ship? It wiped a few squads by itself, so any help would be appreciated.

Well, trying to block it is a good start. Stressing him at the start of combat (Asajj) or using ships that strip tokens (Palob, Teroch). Using attacks that don't care about tokens (bombs, autoblasters). Reducing his agility (tractor beams) or eliminating his dice (Crack Shot). Leaning on him with more than one ship. Defenders are indeed hard to kill, but are not impossible.

Ions and stress kill x7s.

Don't get into a turning match - if you have a number of ships, try to have them in a couple of groups coming in at odd angles to one another. If it's a head-on joust back and forth, the TIE defender is winning - if it's having to deal with people coming in from the side, it has a problem.

As noted, blocking is good. A TIE fighter doing a speed 1 turn and barrel rolling back essentially doesn't move - making a nice collision hazard. If he collides when k-turning, he doesn't get his defensive focus or evade tokens and will still be pointing the wrong way.

Ultimately, anything which ignores green dice is good. Homing missiles deny evade tokens. Darth Vader, bombs and mines do damage regardless of what green dice are available.

On 6/16/2017 at 9:58 PM, XxChocodotxX said:

and every turn, it's either a 3 bank, or a 4 k-turn

So now you know where he's going to be. Use this information to your advantage.

On 6/16/2017 at 9:58 PM, XxChocodotxX said:

Hello friends. I am having a bit of trouble beating a particular ship. My usual opponent plays Rexler Brath, and today, he slapped this build on me:

Rexler Brath + TIE/x7 + Twin Ion Engine Mk. 2 + Expertice

I don't recall exactly what else he had on there, but that defender is extremely difficult to kill. I myself haven't killed it yet. The issue I have is, he doesn't care about stress at all, as pretty much all of his moves can clear it, and every turn, it's either a 3 bank, or a 4 k-turn, stacking both a evade and a focus on his ship. Then you have expertise play in, making it a beast on offense, practically ensuring he gets a hit every time, and it's nearly impossible to block it, as he can play it fairly unpredictably, and can k-turn over my ships and all that. So all in all, my question becomes; How does one beat this ship? It wiped a few squads by itself, so any help would be appreciated.

What are you flying? That would help.

Carnor Jax and Old Terroch give x/7 Defenders trouble. Wes with VI and R3-A2 is another head ache. Stress hurts them and blocking hurts them.

What are you flying now?

Old Teroch (26) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Autothrusters (2) , Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Ketsu Onyo (38) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Dengar (3)

Contracted Scout (25) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Intelligence Agent (1) , Rigged Cargo Chute (1)

Total: 100

Eats defenders for breakfast. RAC+Ryad, Palp Defenders, Triple Defenders, they have all fallen. And this was before the x7 nerf. Old Teroch and Ketsu are just brutal. Tractor Beam, strip tokens, hit hard at range 1. Scout blocks them and cargo chute stresses them (or anyone with Expertise like Dengar or Rey).

Glad so many people responded to this. I believe when I flew against him with this particular build, I was flying an experimental squad.

Rey + Title(hotr) + Finn + Cheebacca + Engine Upgrade + Predator

"Snap" Wexley + BB-8 + PTL + Pattern analyzer?

To be completely honest, with this particular build, I had just gotten HoTR and saw Snap's pilot ability and thought "quadruple actions". Reveal a green 2, 3, or 4 speed maneuver = Triggers BB-8. BB-8 triggers PTL, completing maneuver removes stress token from PTL, maneuver triggers pilot ability, and then perform action.

Bottom line however is the X7 title. I'm only grateful he hasn't put it on Ryad.

As far as my ships go, I have exactly 0 scum, so if I need that to counter, it's gonna stink for me...

Your list isn't that bad.

I hate to say it but just git gud with it. Remember he is going to be performing white Ks and 3 banks. So figure out where he's going to be before he gets there.

Use Snap to block him and deny actions.

Maybe swap out push the limit for predator on Rey so she can boost out of arc.

I actually like your list and if you do too, just practice with it.

If you aren't aware, there was an FAQ that changes how the x7 title actually works -- they no longer get the Evade from the title if they are stressed or bump. Bumping, in my opinion, is the real key to beating them. With a large base ship, it's usually easy enough to end in a spot where you both block their three straight, and also their four k-turn. Jumpmasters, with their barrel roll, are obscenely good at this.

When you see the obvious 4k, do your best to not be where their arc will be pointing once they've turned around. Yes, they can barrel roll, but that's it, so you've got some wiggle room to dodge those arcs.

47 minutes ago, XxChocodotxX said:

Glad so many people responded to this. I believe when I flew against him with this particular build, I was flying an experimental squad.

Rey + Title(hotr) + Finn + Cheebacca + Engine Upgrade + Predator

"Snap" Wexley + BB-8 + PTL + Pattern analyzer?

To be completely honest, with this particular build, I had just gotten HoTR and saw Snap's pilot ability and thought "quadruple actions". Reveal a green 2, 3, or 4 speed maneuver = Triggers BB-8. BB-8 triggers PTL, completing maneuver removes stress token from PTL, maneuver triggers pilot ability, and then perform action.

Bottom line however is the X7 title. I'm only grateful he hasn't put it on Ryad.

As far as my ships go, I have exactly 0 scum, so if I need that to counter, it's gonna stink for me...

Chewing through his token stack is going to be painfully tough if you can only put 3 reds on him. Both of your rebel ships will have a hard time repositioning at PS 5 and 6 vs Rexler, thankfully you'll see a lot more Vessery/Glaive or Ryad. I would block with Chewie and try to force Range one shots from the flank with Snap against a tokenless Rexler. It's already been mentioned, but try to look for the turn he is going to 4k. Personally, predictability is the biggest reason I stopped playing the Defender.

46 minutes ago, ArbitraryNerd said:

If you aren't aware, there was an FAQ that changes how the x7 title actually works -- they no longer get the Evade from the title if they are stressed or bump. Bumping, in my opinion, is the real key to beating them. With a large base ship, it's usually easy enough to end in a spot where you both block their three straight, and also their four k-turn. Jumpmasters, with their barrel roll, are obscenely good at this.

When you see the obvious 4k, do your best to not be where their arc will be pointing once they've turned around. Yes, they can barrel roll, but that's it, so you've got some wiggle room to dodge those arcs.

Hold on, let me get this straight. The timing would put this free evade action BEFORE stress is removed from a green maneuver?

1 hour ago, XxChocodotxX said:

Hold on, let me get this straight. The timing would put this free evade action BEFORE stress is removed from a green maneuver?

Nope! Before, it didn't matter if the ship was stressed or not, because the card says to assign a token -- this meant that a stressed Defender could still perform the white K turn and pick up the Evade token (because it wasn't an action). The errata changed it to being a free action, so they can no longer freely K-turn and get that Evade if they're stressed.

The Defender's dial is hot garbage on its own, in terms of shedding stress. Assuming they don't have TIE MK II Engines, their only greens are straights. So you know where they're going, or you know they're not getting that evade, meaning the are MUCH easier to kill/avoid for a turn.

Double stress them and you've neutered them, really.

Even though you're flying Rebel, I just wanted to pop in and say a Jakku Gunrunner (quadjumper) with Spacetug Tractor Array, Intelligence Agent, and perhaps a mine... is hilarious against small aces like TIE Defenders. That little unnamed pilot is a devious mastermind.

"Oh hey there! Yea, I don't care about your green dice -- here, let me fling you into that asteroid. Oh, that made your maneuver plow through and land on another asteroid. Great, you rolled 2 damage from 3 obstacle hits. No no sorry, you're not firing this round. Oh hey, can I talk to you for a moment about the Church of BOMBS? No? No means yes."

If you want a good laugh I'd try Lt Blount with Ion Pulse Missiles for a guaranteed ion, then try to kill it when you know where it will be next turn with your other 80 points.

17 hours ago, wurms said:

Old Teroch (26) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Autothrusters (2) , Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Ketsu Onyo (38) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Dengar (3)

Contracted Scout (25) w/ Attanni Mindlink (1) , Intelligence Agent (1) , Rigged Cargo Chute (1)

Total: 100

Eats defenders for breakfast. RAC+Ryad, Palp Defenders, Triple Defenders, they have all fallen. And this was before the x7 nerf. Old Teroch and Ketsu are just brutal. Tractor Beam, strip tokens, hit hard at range 1. Scout blocks them and cargo chute stresses them (or anyone with Expertise like Dengar or Rey).

On a related note, as long as you get the engagement speed right so that they can't K turn behind Bossk until after at least the second round of firing, Ketsu/Bossk eats defenders for breafast; it routinely one-rounds a single defender. Block it with Ketsu, tractor it off her, shoot it, give it a second tractor token, cluster missiles with Bossk, dead defender, scavenger crane to get the missile back, repeat.

Sabine assisted Cluster Mines are also a good bet. Put them on Miranda and be happy.