Back before discovering the hilarity that is the Scum HWK-290, I usually flew Dash+Wingman. Dash remained the same (58pt Super Dash) but the Wingman kept changing and I eventually stopped playing Dash before I ever settled on one I liked.

Last night, looking at my collection, my eyes fell upon the humble, oft-looked-down-on U-wing; in our area its basically thought of as Expertise: The Expansion. I browsed the forums a little bit for inspiration, tossed a few things together, and ended up with this monstrosity.

Dash is his same usual highly-maneuverable self, but this Cassian build is surprisingly disgusting. The sheer action economy means I'm having multiple focus tokens and/or TL in any given round, and the positioning ability of that Barrel Roll from Expert Handling allows the U-wing to really just durdle about.

Dial in a Green 1
Advanced Sensors to Focus/TL
Experimental Interface to Expert Handling
Barrel Roll back, receive 2 stress (1 from EI, 1 from EH)
Execute dialed-in maneuver, clearing 2 stress with Inspiring Recruit, receiving 2 Focus tokens with Kyle Katarn.

I only got to test it in a few games so far, but each one of them has been a victory without ever losing a ship (Though half points was given up on one or both in nearly every match).

I played this list during the Mindlink era with Flechette Torpedo instead of Plasma. I enjoyed it, but there were some glaring weaknesses. Cassian was super vulnerable to high PS alpha strikes, which have only become more common recently. Have you played that kind of matchup?

2 minutes ago, jmswood said:

I played this list during the Mindlink era with Flechette Torpedo instead of Plasma. I enjoyed it, but there were some glaring weaknesses. Cassian was super vulnerable to high PS alpha strikes, which have only become more common recently. Have you played that kind of matchup?

I have not, sadly no one is playing it in this area. Most are still running Nym w/ TLT or AB, alongside Dengar.

I ran a similar Cassian build recently and found the reliance on a pre-move barrel roll pretty restricting (and easily block-able). You can get something similar for less points if you replace EI and Expert Handling with Rage.

Someone also suggested replacing Kyle with Finn (and Rage) if you really wanna GET NUTS.

I also played the Raging Cassian with Finn. 2 attacks in a game was a good day. The ship usually got killed or outmaneuvered in the first pass. Experimental Interface and Expert Handling are the best way for Cassian to overcome the U-wing’s inherent weaknesses.

I would really really really like to believe that the U-Wing can be viable, but I just don't know. You're right about the action economy on that build, it is very reliably provided for. However, I just don't know if it can keep arc with such a limited dial, even with the ability to barrel roll.

17 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

I would really really really like to believe that the U-Wing can be viable, but I just don't know. You're right about the action economy on that build, it is very reliably provided for. However, I just don't know if it can keep arc with such a limited dial, even with the ability to barrel roll.

You can fix that by switching Kyle and Kanan.

I'm torn.

That Cassian is some serious janky ****. I mean, amazing. Barrel Roll with TL and double focus? Yeah.

But Kyle/Kanan swap also makes sense to me. Being able to pull hards on the U-Wing, even if you only get a single focus, is cool, but giving up double focus TL? Plus, Dash getting an extra Focus is also big. Something which has stuck with me is an observation I read once on Kyle vs Kanan: Kanan is better at dodging arcs, but Kyle is better against things you can't arc dodge. On the other hand, If Dash stays close enough to Cassian, Cassian can use Kanan, due to the range bubble... I think that's probably best.

I may have to borrow that Cassian, he looks like so much fun.

1 hour ago, Greebwahn said:

I would really really really like to believe that the U-Wing can be viable, but I just don't know. You're right about the action economy on that build, it is very reliably provided for. However, I just don't know if it can keep arc with such a limited dial, even with the ability to barrel roll.

What I noticed playing it was that a barrel roll to the back on the right/left, followed by a bank left/right, led to the U-wing really not moving much at all. The next turn you just reverse the roll & bank and you've essentially not moved that far forward over 2 rounds.

22 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I'm torn.

That Cassian is some serious janky ****. I mean, amazing. Barrel Roll with TL and double focus? Yeah.

But Kyle/Kanan swap also makes sense to me. Being able to pull hards on the U-Wing, even if you only get a single focus, is cool, but giving up double focus TL? Plus, Dash getting an extra Focus is also big. Something which has stuck with me is an observation I read once on Kyle vs Kanan: Kanan is better at dodging arcs, but Kyle is better against things you can't arc dodge. On the other hand, If Dash stays close enough to Cassian, Cassian can use Kanan, due to the range bubble... I think that's probably best.

I may have to borrow that Cassian, he looks like so much fun.

The only thing I'm unsure of is the interaction between Kanan & Inspiring Recruit when they're on different ships. I do know that Kanan already doesn't trigger Kyle if they're on different ships, but I'm unsure if using Kanan to remove a stress off a U-wing would then trigger the Inspiring Recruit on the U-wing to remove a second stress.

Wait wait wait. Are you saying Kyle’s ship has to remove its own stress to trigger his ability? Using Kanan from another ship isn’t “you” removing a stress token because “you” refers to the ship in question? I could see that, I guess, but there’s nothing in the FAQ about it that I saw, and that seems awfully nitpicky...

19 minutes ago, Innese said:

The only thing I'm unsure of is the interaction between Kanan & Inspiring Recruit when they're on different ships. I do know that Kanan already doesn't trigger Kyle if they're on different ships, but I'm unsure if using Kanan to remove a stress off a U-wing would then trigger the Inspiring Recruit on the U-wing to remove a second stress.

Hrm...

Kanan text: "Once per round, after a friendly ship at Range 1-2 executes a white maneuver, you may remove 1 stress token from that ship."

Inspiring Recruit text: "Once per round, when a friendly ship at Range 1-2 removes a stress token, it may remove 1 additional stress token."

I'm not sure what the consensus ruling is, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't really work together. The friendly ship at range of Kanan never removes a stress--instead Kanan does. So probably Inspiring Recruit can't remove the second stress. That said, you'd certainly be able to AdvS the Expert Handling and clear just that one stress, but have no other actions. That might be enough sometimes.

It also occurred to me that if Dash ended his activation close to Cassian, he would have had his PTL stress cleared by Diego Luna's pilot ability anyhow, and probably wouldn't need Kanan next turn. It's a shame the rulings probably don't go in it's favor, since these folks would have great synergy.

3 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Hrm...

Kanan text: "Once per round, after a friendly ship at Range 1-2 executes a white maneuver, you may remove 1 stress token from that ship."

Inspiring Recruit text: "Once per round, when a friendly ship at Range 1-2 removes a stress token, it may remove 1 additional stress token."

I'm not sure what the consensus ruling is, but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't really work together. The friendly ship at range of Kanan never removes a stress--instead Kanan does. So probably Inspiring Recruit can't remove the second stress. That said, you'd certainly be able to AdvS the Expert Handling and clear just that one stress, but have no other actions. That might be enough sometimes.

It also occurred to me that if Dash ended his activation close to Cassian, he would have had his stress cleared by Diego Luna's pilot ability anyhow, and probably wouldn't need Kanan next turn.

What really makes me wonder is that the ship Kanan is on is the one remove the stress, and Inspiring Recruit doesn't specify that the ship has to remove a stress from itself, just that it triggers when a ship removes stress.

And yea a few times I would have Dash setup to where Cassian could remove his stress without needing Kanan.

20 minutes ago, Innese said:

[...]and Inspiring Recruit doesn't specify that the ship has to remove a stress from itself , just that it triggers when a ship removes stress.

Here's the phrasing which just occurred to me: If it doesn't count as Cassian removing stress for the purpose of Kanan, then Kanan's ship is the one which is removing stress. Therefore, a friendly ship at Range 1-2 is removing a stress token and Dash/Kanan is a target for Inspiring Recruit. As such, Kanan could remove one additional stress token, for two total. You won't get Kyle procs, but still... a BR and another action is still pretty good action economy.

25 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

Wait wait wait. Are you saying Kyle’s ship has to remove its own stress to trigger his ability? Using Kanan from another ship isn’t “you” removing a stress token because “you” refers to the ship in question? I could see that, I guess, but there’s nothing in the FAQ about it that I saw, and that seems awfully nitpicky...

The ship with Kyle has to be the one removing the stress. See WINGMAN in the FAQ

W ing m an

The ship with Wingman equipped is the ship that is removing the stress token. Therefore, if a ship with Wingman removes a stress token from another friendly ship that is equipped with Kyle Katarn (crew), that ship is not assigned a focus token from Kyle's ability.

Wow, huh. Good to be aware of.

Here's a Cassian Dash build I've had fun with:

(61) YT-2400 Freighter: •Dash Rendar (36)
Smuggling Compartment (0)
Counter-Measures (3)
•Outrider (5)
Push the Limit (3)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Proton Rockets (3)
•Rey (2)
Scavenger Crane (2)

(39) U-Wing: •Cassian Andor (27)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Pivot Wing (Attack) (0)
Adaptability (+1) (0)
Fire-Control System (2)
•Jan Ors (2)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)

Total: 100/100

Here it's Dash that gets crazy action economy with two actions plus Rey focus which Jan can convert to evade as needed. Cassian uses engines to keep up and try to stay out of danger so he can keep clearing Dash stress.

Just flew this earlier today. I really enjoyed how this U-Wing flies. Didn't win--I didn't Boost on Dash (I was greedy with Focus/TL, since Cassian's crit the turn before was Major Explosion into Direct Hit), and he got blasted apart on the 2nd turn of the engagement when Boba still got arc for Cluster Missiles on a 2-hard bump. Cassian fired away over the next few turns, Asajj escaped at 1 HP, but I had to turn the other way due to table geometry, and I never got a chance to come back around on her. I did some serious damage to Boba while chasing him, but Asajj was able to circle back in and I took 6 damage in a single turn, despite double focus.

It's incredibly fun to fly this U-Wing. Although I just realized I was missing the Plasma Torpedo... Oops.

I'm also probably not the most expert Dash player (particularly PTL), and I don't know if an arc-dodger is what I personally want to pair with it. It struck me that Rey would work well too, and might suit my playstyle more. I think I might drop the torpedo for Rey with Expertise/Finn/Kanan/HoR title/Countermeasures and of course:

I'm so stealing that Cassian crew load out. I was running an EI/EH/IA Han solo with C3PO/Title for a little while (Barrel Roll and evade or focus evade) but the Kyle element is epic. Love that. Gonna do it with Rey.