Which is the strongest faction in 2.0?

All factions are equal right? FFG have worked hard to make them so. Did they succeed or is one stronger right now?

I know there is little data from events other than the Coruscant Invitational.

Consider these factors: ships, pilots, upgrades. Value for points investment. Likely tier one squads.

Exclaimer - I am a Scum player and have Scum bias. My opinions are just that... my opinions. Like most of us here, I'm rather new to 2.0 and trying to make sense of whats good and whats not. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say SCUM is strongest. Scum has the most options right now. Scum Boba Fett/marauder/Han gunner is drawing some hate despite not being played at Coruscant Invitational. Jakku Gunrunners are undercosted for what they do. Palob/Moldy Crow is quickly becoming one of the most feared scum ships. Drea is the new scum Howlrunner pushing annoyingly durable scum swarms into tier 1 status. Guri/outmaneuver is going to be a wrecking ball in the hands of a skilled player. scum has more options besides the few ive mentioned here, they are simply the ones that stick out to me right now.

I like the scum YT-1300 especially the generic pilot. Scum Han will be popular, but I'm not convinced he is better than the other stuff scum has in its arsenal... there just seem to be other stronger options right now.

All factions are equal now. A lot depends on player's preference. What works for one person doesn't always work for another. There is a lot of equal list building. There is play style. Not one faction is the most powerful to all players.

I think they did a good job at balancing them all.

I have to say that Scum probably has the single most underpriced tool in Han gunner (not counting Luke gunner, of course). I mean, you see Boba with nothing else but Han gunner on it, proving that people effectively think he's worth at least 7 points, and that's with Boba being a somewhat imperfect vehicle for Han. But that's just one unique card. I think everyone has very strong options, and most of the stuff that isn't top tier is still viable, or at least workable, with a little effort and imagination.

There doesn't seem to be much hype around the Rebels at the moment, but I think they're fine. Even if their crew (and some of their larger ships) could do with a bit of a cost reduction to open up their options a bit more, there's still plenty you can do within the faction. And of course the X-wing is in a pretty solid place, which I think is really important to the game of X-wing. Everything seems pretty wide open right now.

The strongest faction is whichever is played the best

Abd all must bow to the fickle Lords of green

Whatever people lost to last game is the "strongest" faction... was that way in first edition, it will stay that way in second edition.

"i cant counter this ship because i refuse to change my build or playstyle in anyway it's clearly overpowered and the best"

I can remember in a large tournament when I harpoon missiled i tie in a swarm, the next round he K-turned all his ties in formation including the one with the harpoon... I killed it causing one damage to the entire swarm. For the rest of the game all I heard was complaints about harpoon and how overpowered it was. I am not saying harpoons were not strong its just the player refused to even attempt to counter play it in anyway.

The strongest faction isn't the one with the single strongest list or single most potent upgrade, it is the one with the largest number of viable combinations. For me the jury is out on that one though Scum isn't looking great.

39 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

The strongest faction isn't the one with the single strongest list or single most potent upgrade, it is the one with the largest number of viable combinations. For me the jury is out on that one though Scum isn't looking great.

i see what u did there. Reverse scum bias

so what do u think is the strongest list or most potent upgrade? keeping in mind we have limited data from competitive events.

6 minutes ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

i see what u did there. Reverse scum bias

so what do u think is the strongest list or most potent upgrade? keeping in mind we have limited data from competitive events.

Reverse Scum bias? Meaning that I don't see us in as good a spot as you do?

2 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

Reverse Scum bias? Meaning that I don't see us in as good a spot as you do?

so u like scum but just think theyre not quite as good compared to other factions?

I have seen a lot more Scum and Imperial squads on the tables, which isn't a conclusive rating of "strongest", but it seems like Rebels are having a harder time finding table space in my location. I'd say all are fairly equal, with Imperial lists slightly edging out the others due to their mid-range aces like Whisper/Soontir/Redline being very economical in points for what they bring to the table.

cheap bombers with barrage rockets and jonus look really good value. mix in an ace like vader or whisper/echo and uv got urself a strong contender for a tier 1 list. lots of variations possible. vader crew is very strong and im expecting to see him riding shotgun on plenty of imperial squads.

6 minutes ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

so u like scum but just think theyre not quite as good compared to other factions?

Correct. To me allot of our ships were over adjusted out of viability during the transition from 1.0 to 2.0. We have one maybe 2 strong combinations (Fenn or Boba + Palob + 0-1 and Tractor Swarm), 3 very solid don't bother taking ships (Lancer, Jumpmaster, and Scurrg), and a field of questionable choices.

That's pretty subjective especially to your play style. I have played lists from all three factions on vassal, and won with each of them. I feel like I have more competitive list building options in Imperials and scum, but I haven't had a chance to fully explore Rebels.

Scum seems to have the best toolbox and control pieces. Empire has some ruthless efficiency and very reasonable priced aces.

I've yet to put my finger on what rebel faction has as a core building block. Luke + Blount and... somethings? I don't really know.

In over 30 games of 2.0 I have not played rebels once.

I think in 6-8 months it'll be New Republic, right now I believe it's still undecided. Each faction has it's own aces, arc-dodgers and strong support craft. It all depends currently on matchup, synergy of the lists, and as always those green dice.

Re: Rebels

Yeah, don't really like the feel of em (buff the ****** arc!). For me personally, rebels consists entirely of the Xwing, moldy crow, and Sabine shuttle

All other ships seem very onedimensional to me, which is why I cherry picked the guys who could frakkin boost

Republic

The N1 swarm is soooo OP

28 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

Re: Rebels

Yeah, don't really like the feel of em (buff the ****** arc!). For me personally, rebels consists entirely of the Xwing, moldy crow, and Sabine shuttle

Don’t count out Blount!

Scum and Imps seem like they're on a fairly level playing field right now. Scum have some nice single ship combo's which adheres to their faction identity. The same goes for Imps with their solidarity in numbers.

Rebels feel a bit behind the curve at the moment, nothing really clicks in the rebel faction, their identity is a bit muddy right now. The Phalanx style play that the rebels are supposed to have just doesn't seem to amount to much at the moment. That and the large bases and crew are mostly overpriced.

All of this could change with some cost adjustments though.

And as others have said, a good pilot can fly anything well.

1 hour ago, Hiemfire said:

Correct. To me allot of our ships were over adjusted out of viability during the transition from 1.0 to 2.0. We have one maybe 2 strong combinations (Fenn or Boba + Palob + 0-1 and Tractor Swarm), 3 very solid don't bother taking ships (Lancer, Jumpmaster, and Scurrg), and a field of questionable choices.

ah ok. gotchya. pretty much agree with you here xcpet for the 2.0 jumpmaster being very solid. Lancer and Scurgg are way better value. jumpmaster got the **** nerfed out of it. I think Lancer pilots arent that bad, ppl just liking the scum YT-1300 right now as its the newest scum ship. scum bombers arent as good as cheap imperial bombers and dont get slot for barrage rockets Scurrg has decent dial but cheapest is 46pts compared to 28pts for imperials scimitar squadron. Scurrg has turret slot but its just too pricey for my tastes. Wout TLT the Scurrg is left out in the cold, unless you want to pay 52pts for initiative 2 ion cannon platform. Scum Y-Wing can do that for a mere 38pts.

1 minute ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

ah ok. gotchya. pretty much agree with you here xcpet for the 2.0 jumpmaster being very solid. Lancer and Scurgg are way better value. jumpmaster got the **** nerfed out of it. I think Lancer pilots arent that bad, ppl just liking the scum YT-1300 right now as its the newest. scum bombers arent as good as cheap imperial bombers and dont get slot for barrage rockets Scurrg has decent dial but cheapest is 46pts compared to 28pts for imperials scimitar squadron. Scurrg has turret slot but its just too pricey for my tastes. Wout TLT the Scurrg is left out in the cold, unless you want to pay 52pts for initiative 2 ion cannon platform. Scum Y-Wing can do that for a mere 38pts.

" 3 very solid don't bother taking ships (Lancer, Jumpmaster, and Scurrg)   " You misread... All three have been reduced to non-viability...

29 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

" 3 very solid don't bother taking ships (Lancer, Jumpmaster, and Scurrg)   " You misread... All three have been reduced to non-viability...

agree generics for these ships are not worth it. i wonder if Dengar w title is any good (my guess is No... The jumpmaster just cannot repel nerfs of this magnitiude!).

Nym might be worth it with Havoc + Trajectory Simulator + Genius. At init 5 Nym is going to be potential problem for swarms.

Asajj at first glance seems over priced. 84pts compared to Boba Fett 80pts. but maybe those force tokens are better than i think they are with Asajj's built in stress/green token stripping ability.

12 minutes ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

agree generics for these ships are not worth it. i wonder if Dengar w title is any good (my guess is No... The jumpmaster just cannot repel nerfs of this magnitiude!).

Nym might be worth it with Havoc + Trajectory Simulator + Genius. At init 5 Nym is going to be potential problem for swarms.

Asajj at first glance seems over priced. 84pts compared to Boba Fett 80pts. but maybe those force tokens are better than i thin they are with Asajj's built in stress/green token stressing ability.

I guess you're thinking Genius on Nym Havoc for the option to drop late (Genius drop can't use Traj Sim), I guess for 4 pts (the cost of the Havoc title) it can be useful, but then you're looking at having Nym right in the sights of his intended targets. 10 hp can disappear for an Agil 1 med base. 67pts for Nym with Havoc, Traj Sim, Genius and both Protons and Seismics. 64pts with Bomblet instead of Proton and Seismic if you want some sort of reload ability. 1 shield to load 2 more bomblets... It works, but really doesn't fit the role well enough for the cost involved.

4 hours ago, heychadwick said:

All factions are equal now. A lot depends on player's preference. What works for one person doesn't always work for another. There is a lot of equal list building. There is play style. Not one faction is the most powerful to all players.

I think they did a good job at balancing them all.

^^ This in its entirety.

You can fly what you enjoy flying in 2.0! I love interceptors, but the whole bomb and crazy ordinance meta made them not enjoyable. 2.0 getting rid of the silliness has bought back the old ships that were dusty as ****.

I think Imperial has the most diverse competitive list building options, Rebels have some really powerful tools that I don't think have been fully utilized, and Scum has a narrower range of competitive options but the ones they do have are equally as good as any other faction's best.