Hi All,

My current campaign is going to end and I was thinking of starting a new one. I haven't tried a HWK in HotAC and I want to see how feasible it is. Anyone try it yet? Any good builds? There is another thread where this came up and I was just curious.

Good luck getting it to defeat those TIE Fighters...

Depends what else is in the squad...are you trying to make it a 'dogfighter' or a support ship?

• Rebels have a lot of crew and pilot abilities which can make ships into focus token pez dispensers.

Firepower

• A turret is a given
  • Even the Synched Turret, because you're only getting one reroll out of the ability
  • Ion Cannon Turret is nice (because you're getting a 3-die, no-prerequisites-to-fire attack, but that 1 damage limit is a problem against swarms...)
  • That leaves twin laser turret (good but lazy), blaster turret (acceptable when paired with recon specialist and Moldy Crow or expertise), dorsal turret (pretty awful) or autoblaster turret (not bad if you can get a shot with it)
• Anything - crew, elite upgrades, whatever, which is Arc-locked is going to be....so so.

Durability you can definitely do...

• If you expect to be attacked by many, many TIE fighters, consider Flight Instructor - against PS1 opponents, it's a reroll of 1 green die.
• Top off with a Pulse Ray Shield for cheap shield regen

Manouvrability

• Cloaking Device & Vectored Thrusters lets you shimmy-shake a long way to the side.
• The way AI pilots pick their moves does make decloaking much less effective, though, as they react to where you are 'now'.
• The first and most important thing I'd pick up would be Sabine Wren's ability. A free boost or barrel roll and the HWK can dance pretty well (probably well enough to support an autoblaster turret). You are basically just turning it into a cut-price attack shuttle at this point, though.

I did post this in the other thread but posting here for relevance.

I built a HWK-290 like this:

EPT's/Pilot abilities: Predator, Garven, Miranda, Kanan

Turret: TLT

Illicit: Scavenger crane

Crew: RecSpec

Mods: VT, Stealth Device, shield x2

2 hours ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Good luck getting it to defeat those TIE Fighters...

If you are a support ship, you don't really need to defeat the Tie Fighters. Also, TLT does good clean up.

@Magnus Grendel: I think ICT is good for missions with installations. I think I'd probably eventually get both TLT and ICT to swap based on mission.

Stealth Device and Scavenger Crane is a great idea. Never thought of Flight Instructor, either. Interesting.

If I did it, it would probably be Support. What are good support options out there?

I haven't got to play in a HotAC campaign yet, but when I do, I really want the combination of Moldy Crow, RecSpec and the abilities of Kanan Jarrus and Esege Tuketu to work.

20 minutes ago, Yearfire said:

I haven't got to play in a HotAC campaign yet, but when I do, I really want the combination of Moldy Crow, RecSpec and the abilities of Kanan Jarrus and Esege Tuketu to work.

Or Kanan and Garven Dreis.

Someone shoots at an ally? Spend a focus to drop the attack by one die then hand said focus to the defender to use on the attack. When the majority of incoming fire is 2-dice attacks from TIE fighters, that's insane.

Oh - bonus comedy (if you don't treat pilot abilities as unique) - two pilots, each with Esege and Garven's abilities. Need a focus? spend the other pilot's and then give it straight back to them....

2 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Or Kanan and Garven Dreis.

Someone shoots at an ally? Spend a focus to drop the attack by one die then hand said focus to the defender to use on the attack. When the majority of incoming fire is 2-dice attacks from TIE fighters, that's insane.

That's even better!

The range limit might be a problem for both builds. Maybe Autoblaster turret is best?

7 minutes ago, Yearfire said:

That's even better!

The range limit might be a problem for both builds.

Not really - Garven is a nice Range 2 bubble and Kanan works out to range 2 as well. As long as you're looking at a squad of HWK-260s, A-wings and X-wings, TIE fighter shots from range 3 aren't much of a big deal.

At that point, a range 2 turret should be fine - I wouldn't want to recommend an autoblaster turret unless you've got the ability to dance around (vectored thrusters, Sabine Wren's ability, that sort of thing)and a blaster turret is a poor call when you're lobbing out focus tokens like a deranged ring-spewing hedgehog who's just landed on spikes.

Ion Cannon Turret is fine in a co-op squad - I'll believe Heychadwick re installations (not played any such missions yet) but more importantly if you've got a mate with a primary weapon 3. tazering a target so they can blow it apart next turn is a perfectly sensible use of your time.

4 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Ion Cannon Turret is fine in a co-op squad - I'll believe Heychadwick re installations (not played any such missions yet) but more importantly if you've got a mate with a primary weapon 3. tazering a target so they can blow it apart next turn is a perfectly sensible use of your time.

There are a number of missions where one hit with an Ion shot will fulfill that objective, instead of trying to make a hack attempt. It's a lot easier with Ion this way. It's also good if you are trying to capture the Shuttle, etc.

So if you could take Maj. Rhymers ability


Would TLT still be the best option? I tend to say yes, which is a bit depressing.

HWKs work best as a support ship in my opinion. Recon Specialist is obviously a must (although you could probably get away with Jyn Erso too) and plenty of defensive upgrades like Shield Upgrade and Hull Upgrade.

I think Esege’s ability is pretty much a must as well. Garven is good, but if you’re taking Ion Cannon Turret (which is my suggestion), you might not be spending that many focuses anyway. Some sort of reposition would really help you out, like Vectored Thrusters or Engine Upgrade (or Sabine Wren Pilot ability). Airen Cracken and Thane Kyrell’s abilities might help you out.

If you’re running one of the campaigns where HWKs also get illicits, I am a huge fan of the Stealth Device + Scavenger Crane idea. Actually, anything with Scavenger Crane is great in HotAC!

I have seen offensive HWKs played as well, with Blaster Turret and the standard offensive upgrades like Shield Upgrades, Predator, Expertise, Chewbacca, etc. I’m not going to say it’s good, I’m just saying that I have seen it!

18 minutes ago, Hannes Solo said:

So if you could take Maj. Rhymers ability


Would TLT still be the best option? I tend to say yes, which is a bit depressing.

Used him in Defenders of the Empire.

Rhymer's ability is awesome paired with expensive ordnance and other abilities but I think the TLT is a bit of a waste; closing up the 'blind spot' is nice, but if you're using it with a turret, you might as well use it to get one of the 'proper' turrets to fire at range 3!

Mind you, you can find some much nastier combinations in the Imperial lists. The Inquisitor + Mauler Mithel's ability combined is pretty nasty.

I've got a HWK right now in HotAC. I love the HWK but it doesn't generally suit my playstyle, so I'm kinda mashing my playstyle with it.

I've got a PS4 HWK with Engine Upgrade, Autoblaster, Sabine Wren, Cluster Mines, Autoblaster, Lone Wolf, and Cloaking Device.

21 hours ago, DragoonKainKatarn said:

I've got a HWK right now in HotAC. I love the HWK but it doesn't generally suit my playstyle, so I'm kinda mashing my playstyle with it.

I've got a PS4 HWK with Engine Upgrade, Autoblaster, Sabine Wren, Cluster Mines, Autoblaster, Lone Wolf, and Cloaking Device.

Is Sabine crew worth it without Extra Munitions (a modification in HotAC)?

I think I'm leaning towards Stealth Device and Scavenger Crane.

You know, getting Garvins ability with Moldy Crow, Recon Spec, and Blaster Turret seems pretty good! Dish out one Focus to fire and another to modify. You know, could go Expertise and just use Focus to fire turret and defensively. Predator could also be good. TLT will not let you share Focus as you are too far away.

Ok...extra thoughts...do I edit or post new?

Starting off is always the question of how to go with a HWK for me. I think I would do:

Mouldy Crow title

Recon Spec

Jess Pava ability (re-rolls with allies)

Stealth Device

Pulsed Ray Shield

Ion Cannon Turret or Blaster Turret

Thoughts?

Maybe Engine Upgrade for 2nd Mod. Not sure.

Next EPT can be Kannan from Ghost where you spend a Focus to reduce attack die. Could be good if banking Focus tokens.

EPT for 7th could be Garvin or Esege.

This type of a ship would have you as support and mildly effective in combat, I think. You can live through some attacks and regen at least a shield each time. Have enough Focus for attacks and defense with 3 dice for either. Be around allies for rerolls on both, too. Higher EPT's give buff abilities to friends.

A buddy of mine has been using Sabine's pilot ability on the HWK and it has been doing wonders for its maneuverability.

4 hours ago, SabineKey said:

A buddy of mine has been using Sabine's pilot ability on the HWK and it has been doing wonders for its maneuverability.

I've been using it on my X-wing to good effect. It's very nice.

8 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

I've been using it on my X-wing to good effect. It's very nice.

While I didn't do it for this campaign, having an X-Wing with PTL/Blue Ace/Sabine/Hera is something I really want to play with.

51 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

While I didn't do it for this campaign, having an X-Wing with PTL/Blue Ace/Sabine/Hera is something I really want to play with.

Blue Ace is nice. I went PTL, Sabine, and Predator. I also went with R2-D2 for an astromech, so I can do the free move, bonus move, green to remove stress, get a free shield, and then get my normal action. To be honest, I found myself not really needing actions, so I used Squad Leader a lot.

7 hours ago, heychadwick said:

Is Sabine crew worth it without Extra Munitions (a modification in HotAC)?

I think I'm leaning towards Stealth Device and Scavenger Crane.

You know, getting Garvins ability with Moldy Crow, Recon Spec, and Blaster Turret seems pretty good! Dish out one Focus to fire and another to modify. You know, could go Expertise and just use Focus to fire turret and defensively. Predator could also be good. TLT will not let you share Focus as you are too far away.

There's another bomber, a Y-Wing, so it's giving Sabine extra uses (such as kill stealing )
Extra Munitions is on the shopping list though.