Before the nerf to the Phantom, Echo could decloak right before she moved right? But her pilot skill was still 8 at best. So her final position was still known to several high PS arc dodgers before they moved even Pre-nerf. So is it the nerf that caused her to all but disappear from seeing play or was it something else? More importantly, is there still a viable way to build/fly her for those of us who are late to the game?

That's how it used to work, yes. The nerf, along with a lot of other factors. Changing meta, no shields, reliance on green dice, TLTs, being ONLY as high as PS8 to even get those green dice, auto-damage from bombs... It's just little things, one after another, that took phantoms off the table.

Viable ways to fly her are the same now. VI, FCS, ACD, and pray they don't have any turrets or autodamage. I still often bring her out for friendly game nights, it's a very rewarding experience to wind up somewhere that you didn't even see coming. Fly what ya love!

Echo was always more rare than whisper, because of the p.s. 8 decloak, after the nerf, many people played phantoms much less. Echo is actually quite good in the modern environment, because she is extremely good at avoiding bomb drops. And with an intel agent, she can be used to great effect - although things like high p.s. TLT (miranda / nym) and even low p.s. tlts are going to be tough to deal with. Kylo Ren can also cause quite a bit of havoc - but it's easier to jump into range 1 of a single TLT with echo because of the decloak options. And avoiding arcs / getting shot at can make kylo not as powerful as he would be vs something like Corran Horn - still it's a risk.

As long as you bring something that can make up for the weaknesses of Echo, Echo can be viable in a tournament match. Just don't expect her to always survive - and as such you'll take MoV hits. in casual play or low level tournaments - she can wreck faces

Echo flown alongside Chiraneau carrying Palpatine and Kylo has made a couple of Store Championship appearances so far this season. You do regular Phantom things to anything PS7 or below, and use Kylo to PS0 anything at PS8 or above that will make Echo's life difficult.

What they need in an Imperial Bomb technician <crew> so they can carry bombs and drop them.

I've been toying with a list which includes a TIE Shuttle with 2 Intel Agents to support the decloaking decision for Whisper and Echo.

I always liked Echo with ACD, Recon Spec, Lone Wolf, and Sensor Jammer. Its more expensive than Whisper, but can shut down TLT's pretty hard. Paired with something that covers the weaknesses like Rear Admiral with Palp and Kylo, its a pretty good ship. Even a TIE bomber with Intel Agent and Kylo would be a good pairing, then put your favorite other ship in.

Probably the best wingman for Echo is RAC with Kylo and Palp. Take anyone who's a major thread, give them PS0, let Echo do Echo things.