In first edition Kallus was always the go to crew for phantoms until wave 14 Krennic came out. Now that Krennic can't give himself optimized prototype and Kallus does not convert evade dice, who is the go to crew for the phantoms? Nothing really jumps out at me. Could still be Kallus but the nerf to Kallus and the overall less dice on the platform seem to make him less useful. Maybe Seasoned Navigator for Whisper paired with advanced sensors, but I don't see that being too relevant for the other, lower initiative pilots.

Vader and Sloane seem to be popular and quite effective. Vader sets up Whisper for hard hitting Juke attacks and Sloane helps the rest of your list - works best with a mini-swarm.

None is perfectly fine. You don't need to fill every slot, indeed, nor should you.

Kallus is great, he's no longer limited to a single ship.

Vader is great.

Krennic is great with FCS.

Otherwise that's about it.

Generally, in a vacuum looking at just the ship, Darth Vader crew along with Juke on a Phantom is ridiculous synergy. If you need a spot to carry a squad wide supportive crew, Phantom is also a solid spot. Otherwise, it's not a high priority. The highest priority upgrade on any Phantom is Juke, especially Whisper.

Seventh Sister is a pretty good way to deter your opponents from doing red maneuvers or linked actions.

Best crew is phantom crew

Ie, no one ?

theyre crazy potent and efficient just with Juke!!!

otherwise, I agree that Kalkus is really good at his cost and Vader has incredible synergy. I, however, prefer to keep my 2 agi and 5 health ships as cheap as possible

since the innate phantom already packs all it'll need with Stygium array, I'm not inclined to add much to it beyond juke

I put Sloane on Echo the other day and she brings the pain.

Vader seems good on both named.

Kallus seems meh.

Thing about new kallus that I really like is his condition "bounces" after the target is destroyed. Played well, it's almost like Expertise except it works when stressed

While it seems redundant with the action, it actually matters a lot because it saves you focus on defense or it gives you mods after rolling/bumping/obstacling all while being relatively cheap

I think in most cases that "none" may be the correct answer.

However, Vader is very effective, particularly on Whisper.

Sloane is great with a swarm alongside.

I'm not convinced on Kallus but as others have mentioned him he could be quite good.

Really, there's nothing wrong with running any of the phantoms with just Juke.

I really want 0-0-0 crew on one, but then you have to have Vader somewhere as well and that starts getting expensive.

Vader has obvious synergy with Juke, and is best if it fits your budget.

Grand Inquisitor is more expensive and probably not as good as Vader in most lists, but he does have the potential to save a Phantom's bacon by giving it a panic Cloak action if needed, or maybe even just the ability to grab another token/reposition if needed after an opponent reveals their dial. Can even help a Phantom react to higher PS enemies.

Other than that, I'd probably go crew-less.

Now, what's everyone putting in the Sensor slot? I'm having a hard time between Collision Detector or Advance Sensors.

1 hour ago, ArbitraryNerd said:

Now, what's everyone putting in the Sensor slot? I'm having a hard time between Collision Detector or Advance Sensors.

I think most the common answer is going to be nothing. I don't feel at all compelled to fill slots on this chassis.

That said, Collision Detector is probably my first choice for that slot. Keeping rocks from affecting your decloak is huge.

I think FCS is also still fine here but requires you know what enemy ship you're going to focus on and get a lock on it early, so probably bad in a Swarm meta.

I don't feel compelled by Advanced Sensors but that's mostly because of the cost, and is what's keeping me from considering any of the sensors, really.

AS is 15% of Whisper's points. That feels bad to consider it that way. Of course, a Phantom that can't cloak is in a bad situation but it's a better situation than in 1st edition. But also, since the chassis is so inexpensive, losing a phantom that can't cloak doesn't feel that bad. Boosting it's cost messes that latter point.

Collision Detector for sensor slot, and it’s not close. It really changes the calculus by making you far more unpredictable.

It may be pricey, but Whisper with Vader, Juke, and Collision Detector is my early pick for favorite 2.0 ship. You’re cracking 75 points, but I’ve found it work every one. Vader sets up the Juke nicely. When you nail Wedge and he has to decide whether to eat a damage or take an unmodded range 3 shot on a Lambda and get a modded range 2 in return? Feels good. Feels real good.

It makes Whisper one of the best closers in the game.

It may seem not fair play or/and total y useless but I wish to try this:

Imdaar Test Pilot — TIE Phantom 44
Collision Detector 5
Darth Vader 14
Stealth Device *
Ship Total: 69

My idea is to stay cloaked as long as possible. Is that worthless?

Collision Detector or nothing unless you have Krennic.

5 minutes ago, player2422845 said:

It may seem not fair play or/and total y useless but I wish to try this:

Imdaar Test Pilot — TIE Phantom 44
Collision Detector 5
Darth Vader 14
Stealth Device *
Ship Total: 69

My idea is to stay cloaked as long as possible. Is that worthless?

I've been rolling 5 defence dice with my Defenders quite a bit. They have a strong tendancy towards failure...

Gonk

2 hours ago, Cuz05 said:

I've been rolling 5 defence dice with my Defenders quite a bit. They have a strong tendancy towards failure...

Range three through a rock green dice roll well below average, that's just science.

JUKE

VADER

JUKE

SLOANE

JUKE

BID

JUKE

GRAND INQUISITOR IS COOL TO

I have this strong tendency to buck trends and conventional wisdom. So while I’d love to reccomend something other than Juke, @Boom Owl has the right of it. Put Juke there and it’s always the right choice. Crew as wanted, but always Juke.

because every one of those ideas is a valid one. Though I’d probably go Seventh Sister over Grand Inquisitor. The stress turns off decloak evade.

Both defenders and phantoms should always have juke. There is no debate on that one. They are the two only ships that just GET the evade token and juke has always been crazy strong.
(mild argument for Ryad because Daredevil lawls but different topic)

But yeah pretty much any of the force users are great on them. Vader for improved offensiveness (tokenstrip or flatout damage) and Sister for counter-maneuvers (you got behind me with a kturn? broll onto a rock...haha) are awesome.

double named phantoms with vader and 0-0-0 + juke. why not?

Sloane sounds like an outstanding option if Whisper's being run alongside a TIE swarm.

12 hours ago, millertime059 said:

because every one of those ideas is a valid one. Though I’d probably go Seventh Sister over Grand Inquisitor. The stress turns off decloak evade.

Oh, good call -- I stick with Vader or bust, but I liked the option for a panic action... But that's TOO much panic.

1. Vader
2. Kallus
3. A Porg