Yes. Fenn Rau (Sheathipede).

No, the issue isn't really with the pilots themselves but rather the combination of upgrades available to them. Not one of them are, in and of themselves a NPE.

As for Fenn Rau, he isn't really a problem. Unless of course you are playing a two-ship list dependent on tokens for mods, then you will likely have a really bad time, but that is on you.

Nym might, the other two won't.

I'm working on a series of X-Wing metagame history blogs. Miranda is the most consistent pilot at featuring in the Top-20 (she's appeared in 90% of the months since release). I didn't count Lowhhrick as he's not been out a year, but he's appeared in 100% of the months since release.

3 hours ago, Estarriol said:

Yes. Fenn Rau (Sheathipede).

Yeah, Fenn in his Over-pede seems to be the most prevalent guy out there but he's not making the top meta pilots in the Juggler for some reason.....

He also appears in lists not doing so well, which drags him down a little.

My guess is QD could muscle into top 3.

Yeah, I agree that Miranda is pretty locked in. She’s been a major part of the meta for awhile now and that won’t change without outside influence.

Lowy has good odds of staying up there. He’s one of the successful Biggs replacements, so he ends up in a bunch of Rebel lists, even alongside Miranda.

Like @Stay On The Leader said, Nym is the most likely to drop down. He’s got the Nymiranda build to boost him up, but with other Rebel lists and Scum lists, he may get dragged down.

Replacements for the third slot might be Quickdraw with her being a major component of the Imperial meta, Rebel Rau with his place in a major meta list and various other Rebel lists.

Less likely is Ventress due to general poor performance of Scum lately, but she seems to be the major piece of Scum lists, so I thought I’d mention it.

Miranda, low, Fenn will be tops. Good as a list on their own. Good in other lists. Just very efficient, synergistic pilot skills and chassis.

15 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

He also appears in lists not doing so well, which drags him down a little.

My guess is QD could muscle into top 3.

That was going to be my guess, too.

I suspect Asajj would make top 5 or so, maybe top 3, if it weren't for the fact that she lacks any top tier allies to play with. As it is she can carry games on her own, but she gets dragged down by basically anything you bring alongside her.

I don't think it's possible to dislodge Miranda from the top spot without a nerf to either her pilot ability, frame(dial?), TLT or some serious power creep. I'm pretty sure Nym will drop from third - he can't counter the PS11 (11+, apparently) meta, plus tanky TLTs.

Second and third though... It's tough. The big bidders have already been called:
Quickdraw (all round awesome)
Asajj (tanky and shooty)
Fenn (massive team buff)
Low (massive team buff, strong and ludicrously cheap ship)

They've all got strong bids for second and third, but I think a few other ships are in with a chance:

Gunboat (either Nu or Rho, but not both)
Lothal Rebel (weighed down by the people still taking Kanan)
Dash (as good as ever, with new tricks in each passing wave).
RAC (hard counters a lot of the current Meta. The HotCop version pretty much wins against all 2-2.5 ship lists)

The top 5 is a good deal more open, but it'll probably swing based on what the media coverage leads people to believe will be popular.

Top three pilots has a slight change, yay! And perhaps the top six are better info:

1.		Miranda Doni		K-wing	215 4.0%	80 64.0%	45.84%
2.		Lowhhrick		Auzituck Gunship	301 5.61%	79 63.2%	41.18%
3.		"Quickdraw"		TIE/sf Fighter	319 5.94%	84 67.2%	40.03%
4.		Ezra Bridger		Sheathipede-class Shuttle	155 2.88%	66 52.8%	43.98%
5.		Captain Nym		Scurrg H-6 Bomber	148 2.75%	68 54.4%	45.69%
6.		Fenn Rau		Sheathipede-class Shuttle	270 5.03%	78 62.4%	39.4%

I don't think I'd noticed quite how stupidly wordy Fenn's ability is before now.

And the top six ship types simply mirrors the Pilot list, logical I guess:

1. Rebel – Sheathipede Class Shuttle, Fenn Rau - Ezra Bridger

2. Rebel - K-wing, Miranda Doni

3. Rebel - Auzituck Gunship, Kashyyyk Defender - Lowhhrick -

4. Rebel - Scurrg H-6 Bomber, Captain Nym

5. Imperial - TIE/sf, "Quickdraw"

6. Rebel - Attack Shuttle, Ezra Bridger

It's really difficult to correlate top ship *types* when most if not all ships have at least one pilot which is just awful.

The top ships are going to change real quick when the new FAQ drops, if my sources are right

10 hours ago, Babaganoosh said:

The top ships are going to change real quick when the new FAQ drops, if my sources are right

If you are right, it better be real quick, FFG will just about have a mutiny on its hands if they drop an FAQ within 3 weeks of Worlds with no warning. If this is the case there will be significant discontent towards any players aware of an FAQ change this far in advance that have the knowledge that the meta's going to change and they had a lot longer to test than everyone else who gets blindsided a few weeks out..

I, for one, would love them to drop a big nerfhammer three weeks before worlds. Splat everything that even resembles ´ overpower´´ !

And then let people bring whatever they love to fly that they think has a chance. It would make for the most diverse tourney yet, with the most skilled players...

Go for it FFG!

13 hours ago, Babaganoosh said:

The top ships are going to change real quick when the new FAQ drops, if my sources are right

2 hours ago, Larky Bobble said:

I, for one, would love them to drop a big nerfhammer three weeks before worlds. Splat everything that even resembles ´ overpower´´ !

And then let people bring whatever they love to fly that they think has a chance. It would make for the most diverse tourney yet, with the most skilled players...

Go for it FFG!

I'd love it if they released a FAQ a day before a major tournament. I'm not flying the kind of things they target, and those that will have a problem with it will get more games in in those three weeks than I will in three months, so I'm sure they'll cope somehow.

Of course, every single play tester and each play tester's friends are going to have a huge advantage, but that's not new, either.

23 hours ago, Babaganoosh said:

The top ships are going to change real quick when the new FAQ drops, if my sources are right

Wow.....maybe? Hopes on that fact 'round here.

12 hours ago, Mace Windu said:

If you are right, it better be real quick, FFG will just about have a mutiny on its hands if they drop an FAQ within 3 weeks of Worlds with no warning. If this is the case there will be significant discontent towards any players aware of an FAQ change this far in advance that have the knowledge that the meta's going to change and they had a lot longer to test than everyone else who gets blindsided a few weeks out..

Yeah, but if players are honest, they know what needs to be nerfed; it's rocket science.

11 hours ago, Larky Bobble said:

I, for one, would love them to drop a big nerfhammer three weeks before worlds. Splat everything that even resembles ´ overpower´´ ! And then let people bring whatever they love to fly that they think has a chance. It would make for the most diverse tourney yet, with the most skilled players...Go for it FFG!

It would be so very refreshing!

I think TLT might get a nerf before worlds. At least that is my hope. Without TLT Nym and Miranda are not as good.

19 minutes ago, AngryAlbatross said:

I think TLT might get a nerf before worlds. At least that is my hope. Without TLT Nym and Miranda are not as good.

I too think that this card has created monsters of simply powerful ships....adding the Ghost to your Miranda Nym list. I think Miranda, if she couldn't regen on TLT would be simply versatile and good, not the best **** ship in the game (that no one ever heard of pre-expansion save a few guys that really need to get outside more). Even if TLT was basically gone for OP ships, Worlds top table has had a non-TLT Miranda anyway. Plus, with TLT gone from glory, the Ghost and Nym having to rely on other methods that are stinking great anyway, but maybe they'd fall a bit too and open up the game.

Let's hope @AngryAlbatross, lets hope.

4 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

Yeah, but if players are honest, they know what needs to be nerfed; it's rocket science.

While that may be true, they don't know when the nerf will happen. Unless these players have inside info, for them it's a coin toss: prepare for the actual meta and risk a nerf happens before worlds, or prepare for the hypothetical meta and risk no.nerf happens before worlds.

That's why IMO FFG should avoid dropping game-changing FAQs just before major events: it provides a pretty big advantage to anyone who knew about it beforehand.

Bodhi Rook - he's the pilot.

46 minutes ago, LordBlades said:

While that may be true, they don't know when the nerf will happen. Unless these players have inside info, for them it's a coin toss: prepare for the actual meta and risk a nerf happens before worlds, or prepare for the hypothetical meta and risk no.nerf happens before worlds.

That's why IMO FFG should avoid dropping game-changing FAQs just before major events: it provides a pretty big advantage to anyone who knew about it beforehand.

There's almost always a major event coming nowadays.

The System Opens have run from November to June this year, often with more than one per month, and 2018 Nationals have started already. At no time would it have been "before major events."

I actually think it would be way more fun if nerfs were dropped as close to major events as possible. You could see who is actually good and can adapt quickly (and get way more data points that testers have an unfair advantage if they're the only ones, over and over again).