How am I supposed to use her? Is she only good for FSR builds?

7 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

How am I supposed to use her? Is she only good for FSR builds?

with 2 or 3 wingmen, staying close (most of the time) - she's more often the offensive piece as she's accurate and throws a lot of evades... most people shoot around her if they can.

She's a tough one to build around, opponents don't want to shoot her when she's with friends, so she doesn't offer protection for aces. She's not particularly great by herself so they will shoot her wingmen and leave her for last.

She works best in swarms that like to fly in formation. I still like her with Swarm Leader paired with some snap shot A wings. The Phantom 2 might fill that list in nicely as a support ship.

Is M9 the only astromech worth running with her?

Jess is fairly strong when flown close to multiple ships (so naturally great with Lowhhrick and Biggs). She's pretty cheap (1 point more than a baseline T-70) and her rerolls can go a long way.

For builds, she's generally best with R2-D6 (which grants an Elite upgrade) or M9-G8 (which provides either a friendly ship with a reroll, or forces an opponent's ship to reroll one of their attack dice). Folks often use R2-D6's elite upgrade for Draw Their Fire or Selflessness, since Jess is often one of the last targets an opponent will attack (why bother trying to best her defensive rerolls?), but I've long had a feeling that Crack Shot would be great on her (FSR-type lists often have low offense). Any of the 0-point Elite ugprades (Adaptability, Trick Shot, A Score To Settle) are fine, but none of them really stand out. Integrated Astromech or Autothrusters are a must, and it's fine to be cheap and just take IA. Pattern Analyzer or Primed Thrusters are nice, but highly optional. I had a friend who liked to run Jess with BB-8 and Primed Thrusters, which is a reasonable combo.

Her biggest weakness is that she wants a list to fly together. This makes your squad a bit more predictable.

*edit* The Swarm Leader/Snap-A list seems cool, I've never really gotten into it personally, so it wasn't at my fingertips.

3 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

Is M9 the only astromech worth running with her?

No. She's happy with quite a few.

• R3-A2 - not as much, but re-rolls!
• R2 unit... meh, it's good for ejectin' and extra green if needed
• Flight Assist Astromech makes her happy
• M9-G8 - let's help the team!
• R2-D6 - good for adding an EPT slot. Common on her
• regen droids... hmm.. depends on the list, I s'pose.... don't see that on her much though

2 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

No. She's happy with quite a few.

• R3-A2 - not as much, but re-rolls!
• R2 unit... meh, it's good for ejectin' and extra green if needed
• Flight Assist Astromech makes her happy
• M9-G8 - let's help the team!
• R2-D6 - good for adding an EPT slot. Common on her
• regen droids... hmm.. depends on the list, I s'pose.... don't see that on her much though

I was going to ask about FA astro. He seems to love Wes and Wedge but I haven't tried Jess

3 minutes ago, Mackaywarrior said:

I was going to ask about FA astro. He seems to love Wes and Wedge but I haven't tried Jess

again, depends on the list... but I've been flying her with 3 others with FAA and she didn't get one. Makes her sad to have to boost along natively to keep up.

I like flying her with three A-Green Squadron. I personally like this option for casual games. You could trade out primed thrusters and an A-Wing for 2 head hunters.

•Jess Pava (31) - T-70 X-Wing
•R2-F2 (3), Primed Thrusters (1), Autothrusters (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

Jess is one of my most flown pilots, she is great for adding a bit of offense to relatively defensive lists.

Ideally she wants 2 wingmen, but she's still useful in 2 ship lists. I personally used to run her next to Death Rey to good effect. She's also good next to Kanan. I think Kanan, Fenn and Jess will be my next experiment.

Astro's R2-D6, R4-D6, and M9-G8 are the most useful in my opinion.

I think Jess with Draw Their Fire, next to Lowhhrick and your choice of ace is still a solid combo these days. I think she's a good straight swap for Biggs in that regard (EGO 4000 or whatever we're up to now ?).

2 hours ago, Jadotch said:

I like flying her with three A-Green Squadron. I personally like this option for casual games. You could trade out primed thrusters and an A-Wing for 2 head hunters.

•Jess Pava (31) - T-70 X-Wing
•R2-F2 (3), Primed Thrusters (1), Autothrusters (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

Green Squadron Pilot (23) - A-Wing
Juke (2), Chardaan Refit (-2), A-Wing Test Pilot (0), Autothrusters (2), Snap Shot (2)

If you're taking massed Juke A-wings, Jess with Swarm Leader can be unpleasantly brutal, too.

Jess Pava's greatest advantage is that she's a really good ship that is never the most attractive target in your squad. If you fly Triple T70, for example, Poe is always more dangerous or worth more points, but Jess with her rerolls can dish out a lot of pain. Same is true of other squads.

8 hours ago, Mackaywarrior said:

How am I supposed to use her? Is she only good for FSR builds?

My bro pairs her with 2 Z95s with ordnance or 2 Snap Shot A-Wings. She is my nemesis

12 hours ago, Mackaywarrior said:

Is M9 the only astromech worth running with her?

R2-D6 (the EPT droid) is always a good choice for her depending on the role she is to fill.

I've had pretty good success running her with "Snap" Wexley because he can move around the board enough to regroup with her if they get separated. BB-8 Poe was the other one in the squad (triple T-70's, I know). Because of my experiences running this squad, I believe she can work even outside a formation-flying block of ships. Weave in and out of the battle, and grant rerolls at the most unexpected times. The best was when "Snap" did a Tallon Roll behind an enemy, and boosted in so he was outside their arc, but at range 1 of Jess - Jess got the reroll for offense and defense, and she was the only valid target for the enemy.

19 hours ago, Mrk1984 said:

She works best in swarms that like to fly in formation. I still like her with Swarm Leader paired with some snap shot A wings.

+Jan Ors for 7 dice fun

Lots Jess Pava love here