Force users, Vader crew is king

By Greedo_Sharpshooter, in X-Wing

Not all factions are created equal.

Is it just me or is Vader Crew stealing the headlines as the most popular crew card that uses the force?

When you see Whisper with Vader crew in action on the table you are left thinking how good Vader crew actually is.

Scum have Asajj and Maul crew who are not making many competitive lists I have seen, maybe thats because they are *cough* overcosted *cough*

The newer clone wars factions and FO look set to unleash some cool Darkside cards.

Luke pilot is getting used a fair bit. Thats because he is a Boss, even without supernatural reflexes he is a really solid pilot.

Where is the love for SCUM force users/crew? Maybe they will benefit from a points reduction in the upcoming points rebalancing?

You’re overlooking Kanan, though you aren’t the only one.

His ability is powerful, but he’s often worth the cost purely for the force charge.

Just now, SpiderMana said:

You’re overlooking Kanan, though you aren’t the only one.

His ability is powerful, but he’s often worth the cost purely for the force charge.

What is Kanan's ability?

1 minute ago, SpiderMana said:

You’re overlooking Kanan, though you aren’t the only one.

His ability is powerful, but he’s often worth the cost purely for the force charge.

That regenerating force charge that Vader gives to whisper is super useful.

We've got two failed Sith, both of which are expensive, one we share with the Rebels. I'm no expert on the CW oe Rebels series, but aren't there more option not hard alligned with a faction? Even if we get Sing I don't think she'll be another force user since, like Zuccus and the Findsmen, her force sensitivity got retconned out... 😒

9 minutes ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

What is Kanan's ability?

Pilot Card (VCX 100): "While a friendly ship in your firing arc defends, you may spend 1 Force Charge. If you do the attacker rolls 1 fewer attack die."

Crew card: "After a friendly ship at range 0-2 fully executes a White Maneuver, you may spend 1 Force Charge to remove 1 stress from that ship."

Edited by Hiemfire

Kanan crew is the same as 1st edition, except you use a force to do it. after a friendly ship at 0-2 completes a white maneuver, it can remove a stress.

Vader is $$$

I think Palp is underrated, but I also think the current meta's stifling of lower I pilots is suppressing his true potential

palp is really great on a generic reaper, as the ship is surprisingly mobile and also prone to not getting actions when its fat *** keeps bumping into ****

Edited by ficklegreendice

Vader should be king. But scum have their own busted force user, they call him palob..

Maul is pretty decent. The main thing hindering him is that scum has plenty of access to dice modifications without needing to drop 13 points on Maul.

Vader crew is good, but the whisper chassis is what makes him really excel, because she can reliably get him into range for his ability AND she carries juke for the 1-2 punch

Vermeil is also a great Vader caddie

Issue is people paying way too little for I 5+

Kanan Crew is super good, but Rebel players continue to run Wedge instead of exploring things like Rebel Han.

6 hours ago, Carnor Rex said:

Vader should be king. But scum have their own busted force user, they call him palob..

Palob’s not a force-user. He’s just a lore-master who knows how to exploit the power inside of a good pen.

Is Vader too cheap, though, or are the others too expensive? Would swapping the point costs of Vader (14) and the Grand Inquisitor (16) lead to them both seeing play?

Vader is too cheap, Maul is too expensive.

Asajj is too expensive but also the Lancer has a lot of dead upgrade slots (illicits and mods are not what they once were).

6 hours ago, Quack Shot said:

Kanan Crew is super good, but Rebel players continue to run Wedge instead of exploring things like Rebel Han.

Maybe because they've already had years of flying large transports, and just want to enjoy finally being able to fly small ships again.

6 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Maybe because they've already had years of flying large transports, and just want to enjoy finally being able to fly small ships again.

I was definitely a tad disappointed by how uncompetitive Wedge was when I started X-Wing roughly 2 years ago, so I get the excitement...

But there is a bit too much focus on flying only what is known/talked about as being viable meta. And there always has been, to a degree, it’s just that everything is more balanced than many realize, and they continue to only fly the same few ships because that’s what they see winning players are putting on the table.

Vader and Kanan probably the only two really worth using. Kanan because his cost saves you from grabbing Engine Upgrade on the Falcon so he's actually pretty cheap if you were already paying for the Engine.

18 minutes ago, SOTL said:

Vader and Kanan probably the only two really worth using. Kanan because his cost saves you from grabbing Engine Upgrade on the Falcon so he's actually pretty cheap if you were already paying for the Engine.

Would you say the others are overcosted in general, or just in comparison to those two? How would you price Seventh Sister and Palpatine?

I think Force has been quite cautiously costed. Most of them could use a few pts being knocked off.

1 hour ago, SpiderMana said:

I was definitely a tad disappointed by how uncompetitive Wedge was when I started X-Wing roughly 2 years ago, so I get the excitement...

But there is a bit too much focus on flying only what is known/talked about as being viable meta. And there always has been, to a degree, it’s just that everything is more balanced than many realize, and they continue to only fly the same few ships because that’s what they see winning players are putting on the table.

Possibly, but that's a bit of a blanket statement. Just because someone plays a ship that's part of the meta doesn't mean they're playing the ship because it's part of the meta.

Personally, I actually try flying different things every week, and never bother paying attention to the meta, and I still haven't flown any large-base Rebel ships, simply because when I fly Rebels, I want to fly fighters.

Maul's point cost will be justified when we see what dark side powers he can use. For now, he does feel overcosted. The nice thing about Whisper with Vader crew is that with more and more people using him, it helps define the meta... which helps me use the right squad to beat him :)

Vader crew is really good, but I feel like he's costed fairly. Vader flying shotgun in a Phantom is the issue. I think they should drop the crew slot for a gunner slot.

Agree. If you could make a Striker in 1.0 that didn't have a bomb/gunner you can make a Phantom in 2.0 that doesn't have a crew

Or just convert it to a Gunner slot.

46 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Possibly, but that's a bit of a blanket statement. Just because someone plays a ship that's part of the meta doesn't mean they're playing the ship because it's part of the meta.

Personally, I actually try flying different things every week, and never bother paying attention to the meta, and I still haven't flown any large-base Rebel ships, simply because when I fly Rebels, I want to fly fighters.

Wedge is probably a bit of both, though. Whisper, Redline, Teroch, Guri, Boba are all meta staples, and protorp Wedge just murders them. As long as there's lots of mid agility I5 aces around, Wedge will be a near autoinclude if you plan to bring any X-Wings.