Here's a pretty decent list, I believe, that I'm looking to start running at local tourneys. I think an 8 point bid will be alright, but would it be better to remove the bomb and just go full bore with a 13 bid? Any other thoughts/criticism welcome.

TIE/sk Striker - •“Duchess” - 63
•“Duchess” - Urbane Ace (42)
Juke (4)
Proton Bombs (5)
•Fifth Brother (12)

TIE/ph Phantom - •“Whisper” - 75
•“Whisper” - Soft-Spoken Slayer (52)
Juke (4)
Collision Detector (5)
•Darth Vader (14)

TIE/in Interceptor - •Soontir Fel - 54
•Soontir Fel - Ace of Legend (52)
Predator (2)

Total: 192/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I have run these 3 pilots together a few times and its a solid list. I tried Juke x 3 and I also tried lone wolf on Duchess + predator on Fel. I'm still not sure which way is better since both have their pro's and con's.

I do like advanced sensors better on Whisper than Collision Detector. Its generally just more useful and makes Whisper a little more unpredictable (yet essentially has all of the same advantages of collision detector). It does eat into the initiative bid, however...

Collision Detector is more useful to me simply because it can allow me to go places that I normally wouldn't with the Phantom, decloaking onto a rock and then moving and firing without any loss of hp/action. And it helps with those times where I don't quite measure the rock correct in my mind...

Really like your list- it looks like it would be a lot of fun to fly. Definitely a skill list that doesn’t leave a ton of room for error or a botched maneuver. I’ll try it out next time I get a game in but nobody is going for big point bids in my local meta. I’d be tempted to swap in Seismics for the Protons to give Fel a stealth device to mistake proof him a bit.

6 hours ago, JLank said:

Really like your list- it looks like it would be a lot of fun to fly. Definitely a skill list that doesn’t leave a ton of room for error or a botched maneuver. I’ll try it out next time I get a game in but nobody is going for big point bids in my local meta. I’d be tempted to swap in Seismics for the Protons to give Fel a stealth device to mistake proof him a bit.

This is more designed to go to a System Open or tournament where I expect big bids and I need to have Whisper moving after other I5s

So a thought I had, while reading other threads, was to replace Juke on Duchess with Predator. It has it's upsides- instead of taking an Evade and using Juke to mod the opponent's dice, I take a Focus and use Predator to get a possible double mod on my own dice. I believe Focus trumps Evade even on defense too, so it is possible to just call that a wash, but I'm not certain on the math.

Another upside is that with Predator instead of Juke I can keep the Proton bomb on Duchess and still have a pretty aggressive 10 point bid. So I have three options really-

A. Duchess w/Juke and Proton bomb, 8 point bid

B. Duchess w/Juke, 13 point bid

C. Duchess w/Predator and Proton bomb, 10 point bid

Any tournament player thoughts on this (I'm thinking about using this in a System Open)?

Honestly, I like Juke/ProBo the most! The bomb is fantastic for area control, and Juke is just annoying to go up against, especially 2 of them in a list

in my opinion, anything under a 10 point bid is a small bid. the real initiative fight is at i5. around 187 points is ideal in my meta. 189 is ok and will let you hand the initiative over to your opponent in most games. going over 190 points is not really an option with a list of all i5 that needs to hand over the initiative in a big tournament.

so my advice is to go with duchess equipped with predator and seismic charges.

On 11/13/2018 at 10:03 PM, Ikka said:

This is more designed to go to a System Open or tournament where I expect big bids and I need to have Whisper moving after other I5s

Personally I don't see the need for a massive point bid for whisper of all thing. When she decloaks, she functionally already tells your opponent your next move, and her only reposition is a barrel-roll, and if she's does that, she's not focussing. You arc dodge with whisper at the maneuver planning level, not with reposition and knowledge of board position. Duchess is much more suited to a bid with her choice of pre move '' boost'' , or sontir with his array of reposition maneuver.

8 minutes ago, DarthSempai said:

Personally I don't see the need for a massive point bid for whisper of all thing. When she decloaks, she functionally already tells your opponent your next move, and her only reposition is a barrel-roll, and if she's does that, she's not focussing. You arc dodge with whisper at the maneuver planning level, not with reposition and knowledge of board position. Duchess is much more suited to a bid with her choice of pre move '' boost'' , or sontir with his array of reposition maneuver.

to countert this predictability I’ve been packing afterburners. I love all upgrades on whisper (collision detector, shield upgrade) but afterburners is fantastic.

Oh yeah I can see how that would be nice. Personally, I prefer Whisper with advanced sensor lately. You pack juke, perceptive copilot, stealth device and advanced sensor, and you just rush straight toward the enemy. You get to ignore one ship by bumping it and advanced sensor to get all your tokens, then you count of focus + 2 evade to easily get 3 evade result on your green dice. (*obviously, don't try this against a jonus swarm, or somewhere with wedge + proton torps nearby, because that's just asking for trouble.)

If bid is THAT important to you, then drop the proton bombs for 13pts. Get over that 10pt hump.

This is a popular list:

“Whisper” (52)
Juke (4)
Collision Detector (5)
Darth Vader (14)

“Redline” (44)
Advanced Sensors (8)
Proton Torpedoes (9)

Soontir Fel (52)
Predator (2)

Total: 190

You know you will face redlines and whispers. I would want the bid more than what a bomb could do against other lists. I5 is a battlefield. Keeping the enemies redline from maybe only getting one torp off is a big win.

I haven't played whisper yet in 2nd edition. But I would want to be the one who is shooting first with it. I would want to guarantee that my juke triggers, increasing the chance to end up with a second evade token before the rest of the ini 5 field attacks.

Therefore I would go for the highest bid possible, in this case your 13 points.