Changing Up My ShadowCaster List

By j_man_04, in X-Wing Squad Lists

I've been getting my butt kicked flying with Ketsu and Old Teroch. The main culprit is a Special Forces duo. So, I'm thinking of making a switch to Asajj to throw some stress around:

(100)

Asajj Ventress (52) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft
Push The Limit (3), K4 Security Droid (3), Scavenger Crane (2), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Shadow Caster (3), Countermeasures (3)

Constable Zuvio (29) - Quadjumper
Ketsu Onyo (1), Conner Net (4), Pattern Analyzer (2), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

Kaa'to Leeachos (19) - Z-95 Headhunter
Trick Shot (0), Concussion Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

My biggest concern is the number of points in Zuvio. I'm not sure it'll pay off, but if I can Connor net and tractor beam a SF on its own, Asajj can come in and do some good damage.

Not a scum player, but our local top player has been putting dengar/asajj to really good use. It's a different play style than Deng/Tel, but does some neat things with speed and stress.

Dengar - Expertise, K4 Security, Unhinged Astromech, Black Market Slicer, Punishing One

Asajj - Push the Limit, Latts Razzi, Engine Upgrade.

Played by bringing dengar up the middle to circle in while asajj keeps around the perimeter. Black market slicer for opportunities since dengar doesn't really need his action for much, and assajj wants to boost + action for the most part.

Its a beast to run against

You could try this list

Asajj Ventress (42) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft
Mindlink (1), Latts Razzi (2), Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

Constable Zuvio (28) - Quadjumper
Mindlink (1), Conner Net (4), Pattern Analyzer (2), Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

Old Teroch (30) - Protectorate
Mindlink (1), Title (1), Autothrusters (2)

Yeah, Asajj needs Latts, without her, she is easily dealt with, that stress you toss out is a free evade, if it's mindlink it can be 3 free ones......

13 hours ago, Zucch10 said:

Not a scum player, but our local top player has been putting dengar/asajj to really good use. It's a different play style than Deng/Tel, but does some neat things with speed and stress.

Dengar - Expertise, K4 Security, Unhinged Astromech, Black Market Slicer, Punishing One

Asajj - Push the Limit, Latts Razzi, Engine Upgrade.

Played by bringing dengar up the middle to circle in while asajj keeps around the perimeter. Black market slicer for opportunities since dengar doesn't really need his action for much, and assajj wants to boost + action for the most part.

Its a beast to run against

When you say circle in, what do you mean? I have been running this minus upgrade in Asajj adding torps to Dengar, it is good, but swarms and 4+ ships flown well give it trouble........

Does that list do better against those builds?

13 hours ago, Zucch10 said:

Not a scum player, but our local top player has been putting dengar/asajj to really good use. It's a different play style than Deng/Tel, but does some neat things with speed and stress.

Dengar - Expertise, K4 Security, Unhinged Astromech, Black Market Slicer, Punishing One

Asajj - Push the Limit, Latts Razzi, Engine Upgrade.

Played by bringing dengar up the middle to circle in while asajj keeps around the perimeter. Black market slicer for opportunities since dengar doesn't really need his action for much, and assajj wants to boost + action for the most part.

Its a beast to run against

Dengar Assaj is very good, and there's a lot of flex available as to what to do with the last 5 points - engine on either ship, Plasmas and EM on Dengar, Scavenger Crane and COuntermeasures on either, Gyros and 3 points of bid, all good options.

48 minutes ago, CubsFanSean23 said:

When you say circle in, what do you mean? I have been running this minus upgrade in Asajj adding torps to Dengar, it is good, but swarms and 4+ ships flown well give it trouble........

Does that list do better against those builds?

Our local guys setup butt to butt against the board edge and generally come in on a hard 3. Generally dengar is in the middle of the board And is placed so he can always hit those greens for TL. He pincers with the lancer who doesn't want to really move the mobile arc from its side, giving a 180 arc.

1 hour ago, CubsFanSean23 said:

if it's mindlink it can be 3 free ones......

I don't think I'm following this. Three free evades?

Thanks for the advice. Latts and Mindlink seem to be a popular option. I don't have Mindlink but it can be easily proxyed.

The only thing I don't care for with Latts is removing the stress. Sure it helps keep Asajj alive (which the Caster isn't hard to take down), but it does make the SF very predictable with limited green maneuvers. It's give and take, like most upgrades.

18 minutes ago, jwilliamson12 said:

I don't think I'm following this. Three free evades?

When you are being attacked you can Latts a stress getting you an evade, say you are facing a swarm that k turned behind you and they are all stressed, when they attack, each attack if you don't roll evades you can Latts their stress to get a free evade. You can do this for each attacj, so if you did it to an attani list you could get evades for all the ships attacking you. I pretty much don't run Asajj without Latts. She's great for Attani but you do not have to have attani with the combo.

4 minutes ago, CubsFanSean23 said:

When you are being attacked you can Latts a stress getting you an evade, say you are facing a swarm that k turned behind you and they are all stressed, when they attack, each attack if you don't roll evades you can Latts their stress to get a free evade. You can do this for each attacj, so if you did it to an attani list you could get evades for all the ships attacking you. I pretty much don't run Asajj without Latts. She's great for Attani but you do not have to have attani with the combo.

Oh, I see that now. It's not a once-per-turn kind of thing. That's nice because if you're going up against Mindlink with Asajj, I guess you're likely to be facing a lot of stressed ships.

Here's another idea I've put together with the Asajj/Latts combo:

(99)

Asajj Ventress (47) - Lancer-class Pursuit Craft
Fearlessness (1), Latts Razzi (2), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Black Market Slicer Tools (1), Shadow Caster (3), Gyroscopic Targeting (2)

Old Teroch (30) - Protectorate Starfighter
Veteran Instincts (1), Concord Dawn Protector (1), Autothrusters (2)

Unkar Plutt (22) - Quadjumper
Ketsu Onyo (1), Pattern Analyzer (2), Spacetug Tractor Array (2)

My Quadjumper with Black Market Slicer Tools has been having a hard time keeping up with the faster Asajj so I have been trying Binayre Pirates with their only upgrade being the BMST. Their PS 1 is a good fit for their specialized role and if they get shot up they are a cheap loss, plus they can be blockers simultaneously with using the BMST.

9 hours ago, jwilliamson12 said:

The only thing I don't care for with Latts is removing the stress. Sure it helps keep Asajj alive (which the Caster isn't hard to take down), but it does make the SF very predictable with limited green maneuvers. It's give and take, like most upgrades.

The nice thing with Asajj is that often enough you don't need to take the stress off, because focus + evade is enough on its own. There are also turns where it's particularly beneficial for the other ship to be forced into a green next turn, and then it's worth taking a damage to keep the stress on. A lot of the time, though, I find that the green moves are pretty good anyway, so it doesn't matter if I'm forcing a ship into them.