So consider this list:

Howlrunner (40)
-Elusive (3)
Iden Verslo (40)
-Crackshot (1)
Academy pilot (23)
Academy pilot (23)
Academy pilot (23)
Academy pilot (23)
Academy pilot (23)

Ran as a block, that's a lot of firepower. There are ways to outfly it, but that's not what this topic is about. It's about making lists that the above list has to be the one to outfly. Lists that outtrade the awesome jousting power of the howlswarm.

So what is a Tie swarm afraid of?

Coming out of a Nym meta, the first answer we all think of is "Bombs." Ywings, Kwings, HWKs, IGs,Firesprays, Quadjets, Skurrgs, Tie Bombers, Tie Punishers, Tie Strikers, and Decimators. Of the bombers, IGs, Havoc-titled Skurrgs, and Tie Punishers can use Trajectory Simulator.

The other first though is "Harpoons", but without that option, what other missiles and torpedos offer AoE effects?

Concussion missiles flip nearby ships damage face up, but doesnt damage undamaged ships.
Cluster missiles is much more promicing, able to hit two ties per round for as long as the ammo lasts.
Proton rockets are single target, but a tie block is even wider than a large base ship, so it's easy to line up and has good odds of dropping a tie in 1 shot
...that's pretty much it.

The third thing that stops a tie swarm cold, though, is their 2 die primary. Enough 2 die attacks with reroll will burn through any token based defense, and in 2.0 Lone wolf is 1/round. Only stealth device can handle multiple shots ber round, and only until one hits. But there are several ships that can heavilly modify, and unlike 1.0, there isnt card text saying you have to equip different modification. Tie Interceptor with 5 defense dice, Moldy Crow HWK with 4 defense dice and a focus stack, Fang Fighters with Concordia Faceoff (though watch out for the back ranks being range 2) and 5 defence Khilrazx fighters can all shrug off significant amounts of fire... but once the agility is breached once, stealth is broken and the rest of the ship goes down quickly.

Finally, Arcdodgers who can stay ahead of the swarms maneuvers, outflank it, and nibble it to death. You know the usual suspects- Awings, Tie Interceptors, Fang fighters, ect. This gets back to outflying the ties, so it will be a heavilly skill based matchup.

I agree on TS bombs eating them alive. Punishers could cream a TIE swarm with one lucky round of launched proton bombs.

A load of cluster missile Zs and As with enough initiative to fire first could also deal with them.

However, I think that beefy 2+agility ships could handle it okay. YT 2400s, Norra, maybe jumps (but definitely Dengar), U-Wings (especially Saw with some friends), Aggressors (likely best, because of bombing too). All such ships can take some fire and dish out some serious damage on the inital joust without likely dying, especially if you can avoid getting shot by all of them.

3 hours ago, Greebwahn said:

A load of cluster missile Zs and As with enough initiative to fire first could also deal with them.

Bombers could make a nice mess, too. You lack the garuanteed initiative, but 4 Cluster Missile/Hull Upgrade Scimitars and a similarly equipped Jonus can put out 10 rerolled 3 dice attacks in a single turn.

As an imperial pilot, here’s how I suggest the scum (rebel and regular) deal with it:

Yes concussion missile and bombs are good against it. Using would be my guest for price and survivability. Also, I think the new tie swarm will be more like 4 named and two academy or one support. It will allow much open fly patterns and protect a little the swarm for bombs

Na I want to play this swarm : 3x Alpha squadron pilots (102 pts) and 4x Academy pilots (92 points) = 194 pts ! And when I compare with the 1.0 edition : 102 points and I can't play with them !

This time no rebel bias ! Empire got some buff for generic swarm ! I'm happy about this !

In my playtesting, Boba plus Fenn were stupid tough.

At range one Fenn gets a bonus against every shot coming his way. I throw 5 Tie Fighters shots his way rolled all hits and did no damage. I was at range 1 which was him flying perfectly, Boba was at one hull but Fenn was untouched at the end of the game. My dice were hot I missed a total of one single dice blanking out in the end, three Fangs is going to be very hard to deal with.

My practice Opponent is an upper tir player, in the hands of good scum players it’s going to be rough.

Given the change in terms from unique to limited, I suspect duplicate upgrades on a single model are not permitted period, much like in FFG's other minis games.

As brought up previously, I think the on-paper counter is the Punisher

Trajectory simulator Proton bombs PLUS Deathrain/Redline getting two mods with which to abuse Cluster Missiles

Also pretty sure well flown phantoms will dance circles around the swarm, and are higher I to boot

16 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

" ... the Punisher ..."

Punishers as a viable counter to anything, 2.0 can't get here quick enough!

Yeah, Tragedy Simulator Redline will be one of the strongest Alpha-strike glass cannon ordinance carriers in the game. He'll be whipping TS Bombs into tightly flown swarms, then following up with missiles or torps, as he can carry both fairly reliably.

I think an Inferno Squadron mini-swarm + Howlrunner will be strong against more generic TIE Swarms. Del Meeko really helps out his wingmen defensively, as does Iden Versio. Seyn and Gideon have strong damage output. The likelihood that they can land a hit against a TIE Swarm is strong, then Del and Gideon's abilities start to kick in.

The next step.

Redline + Inferno Squadron [196]

• Redline (44) [60]
  • Concussion Missiles (6)
  • Trajectory Simulator (3)
  • Proton Bombs (5)
  • Skilled Bombardier (2)
• Iden Versio (40) [42]
  • Predator (2)
• Del Meeko (30) [32]
  • Predator (2)
• Gideon Hask (30) [31]
  • Marksmanship (1)
• Seyn Marana (30) [31]
  • Marksmanship (1)

From a head-sim, this should have a pretty fearsome damage output. You can adjust Redline's ordinance package to flavor, I'd consider Seismics to increase AoE or may Ion Missiles to give some control to the squad. If you find you're always hitting Redline with his own Bombs, slap on Ablative Plating.

Otherwise, simply outflying the TIE Swarm or Formation should be easy for a while unless you have a lot of veteran Swarm players in your area.

Totally theoretical right now, but I wonder if effective use of coordinate is going to be extra strong against TIE Swarms. The Howl swarm's especially strong up close because it combines huge firepower with board control. You'll block and vaporize so many things. If you had a coordinating ship, you could reactively take an action on your key ship to avoid the worst of the swarm or to get actions despite getting bumped. I don't know if it's enough to overcome the raw efficiency, but it would be a useful tool.

Eight Z-95's... maybe?

My plan for a TIE swarm is Howlrunner, all Inferno Squad members and an Academy pilot. This costs 193 points, leaving 7 points for Talents on the 5 TIE aces.

Of course this means I have to learn how to fly a TIE swarm again. Which is something I haven't done since wave 2.

1 hour ago, T70 Driver said:

My plan for a TIE swarm is Howlrunner, all Inferno Squad members and an Academy pilot. This costs 193 points, leaving 7 points for Talents on the 5 TIE aces.

Of course this means I have to learn how to fly a TIE swarm again. Which is something I haven't done since wave 2.

Marksmanship is a .5 point shoo-in for Seyn. The miniscule cost means it should just be stapled to her.

9 hours ago, Cubanboy said:

In my playtesting, Boba plus Fenn were stupid tough.

At range one Fenn gets a bonus against every shot coming his way. I throw 5 Tie Fighters shots his way rolled all hits and did no damage. I was at range 1 which was him flying perfectly, Boba was at one hull but Fenn was untouched at the end of the game. My dice were hot I missed a total of one single dice blanking out in the end, three Fangs is going to be very hard to deal with.

My practice Opponent is an upper tir player, in the hands of good scum players it’s going to be rough.

Boba Fenn is something I'm looking forward to try and although I've made a version of it, I'd love to know how that one, who managed to win agasint a swarm, was kitted out. Would you be so kind in sharing the list?

Reinforce is still gonna be pretty solid against them. You basically take one and only one damage per shot...not too shabby.

Aside from that...higher PS. Dash. Arc dodgers. Standard swarm counters.

7 Tie crack-swarm?

Pure and simple: an alphastrike list that can take out 2 TIEs at range 2-3 reliably. Something like XXXX with proton torps.

7 hours ago, MaxPower said:

Pure and simple: an alphastrike list that can take out 2 TIEs at range 2-3 reliably. Something like XXXX with proton torps.

I recall from back in the day that ordnance killing enough regular Ties can bring the swarm down quite a bit.

Ion weapons can also mess up the formation as Ties can't do 1 straight (ones not ionized).

Mix of Cluster and Consussion Missiles can wreck them, too.

I can see some Tie Bombers with higher Init doing it.

13 hours ago, DanteStorm said:

Boba Fenn is something I'm looking forward to try and although I've made a version of it, I'd love to know how that one, who managed to win agasint a swarm, was kitted out. Would you be so kind in sharing the list?

I don’t but I will ask later today,

PM me if I forget to post on here

9 hours ago, MaxPower said:

Pure and simple: an alphastrike list that can take out 2 TIEs at range 2-3 reliably. Something like XXXX with proton torps.

With Iden in the Swarm you'll be lucky to drop 2 Ties. 1 Is doable, but Iden just blanks out best attack (4 hits into triple green dice blankout? Nope, it's Chuck Testa!)

5 minutes ago, Rojek said:

With Iden in the Swarm you'll be lucky to drop 2 Ties. 1 Is doable, but Iden just blanks out best attack (4 hits into triple green dice blankout? Nope, it's Chuck Testa!)

Yup, Iden is SUCH a force multiplier against alphas.

Iden works just once. Use it to save a regular Tie? Or save Howlrunner?

2 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Iden works just once. Use it to save a regular Tie? Or save Howlrunner?

Use it to save whoever dies first, probably.