Is Heroic Worthwhile?

By AdmiralAckbar96, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Before the Resistance Conversion kits came out, I was really excited try the new “Heroic” EPT. However, after playing a couple of games with it, I’m wondering if I should spend that point elsewhere. It just isn’t triggering. Statistically, there’s a 14% chance that you’ll end up using it if you’re rolling 2 green dice, and a 5% chance that it’ll trigger with 3. With red dice, it’s 6% with 2, and about 2% with 3. Those don’t seem great to me.

Anyways, what has been your experience with heroic? In your opinion, is it worthwhile?

its actually in line with other EPTs like trickshot where its quite situational and can end up being a filler card if u have spare points.

6 minutes ago, Da_Brown_Bomber said:

its actually in line with other EPTs like trickshot where its quite situational and can end up being a filler card if u have spare points.

I agree! I guess my question is this: is there a better “filler” card? For example, crack shot seems a little more useful to me.

Edited by AdmiralAckbar96

crackshot is still good in 2.0. i think ppl have forgotten how good it is. Its going to get used most games, xcept the pones where the ship carrying gets shot b4 it can return fire.

its always brutal having ur evade dice cancelled :( that can really swing the game, esp in the dying stages.

Edited by Da_Brown_Bomber

After watching a Resistance A-wing use Heroic to roll 4 blanks on Defense into natties, I'm convinced

Edit: But really, I feel like that little edge over variance can help in a big way... I'm also atrocious at lining up the bullseye arc.

Edited by Innese

Surprising how you can use it actually.

I had an A-wing the other day with Herioc and predator. Rolling a 4 dice attack and rolled 3 blanks and a focus. So I re-rolled the focus using predator and landed another blank.

Great!

Now I can use Heroic to re-roll the other three dice for hits.

26 minutes ago, Tyhar7 said:

Surprising how you can use it actually.

I had an A-wing the other day with Herioc and predator. Rolling a 4 dice attack and rolled 3 blanks and a focus. So I re-rolled the focus using predator and landed another blank.

Great!

Now I can use Heroic to re-roll the other three dice for hits.

Love it! I hadn’t thought of that.

I actually think its a very good card. Yes, you aren't getting as much result out of it as something like fanatical (please give to resistance, thanks), and you aren't getting huge pay out all the time. Yes, the best situations are the four/five blanks to massive results, and that will happen (and you will just sit there feeling like the luckiest person ever and wondering why the dice gods decided to pull out the rug from under you and then replace it with persian silk or something). It seems like people are disappointed because this is happening less than they envisioned. However, even if it triggers once or twice per game, on either dice, thats already an absolutely massive benefit.

Some games, you'll trigger heroic like a bazillion times and be on fire and it'll feel like the most useful thing ever. Other games, not so much, like once or twice, and it'll feel like your one point investment isn't doing much. However, compare to trick shot, which is a great card but requires either specific flying to leverage it all the time, or you hope that it triggers once or twice a game depending on how it flies out. I have nothing against trick shot, its fabulous and should be worshipped, but for the same price to get a card that still might only trigger once or twice but will land an extra 1-2 damage or save 1-2 health, I'd say thats pretty good.

And of course when you do turn a whiff into a four crits plus fuel leak, well then you nod in satisfaction and tap on your invisible cockpit window like tallie as your opponents ship implodes from the might of your one point upgrade. Probably. Or you just get back luck like me and somehow re roll that into 6 blanks and a crit for yourself.

I still have to put it on a table myself, but here's what keeps coming back to me. On an A-Wing, Heroic is worth the same as 1/5th of a reroll, approximately. A reroll costs 2 points from Predator, or 3 points from Elusive. Heroic is about 1/5th the value of 5 points of Talents, or 1 point. On an X-Wing, the offensive benefit is negligible, but the defensive benefit is 1/3rd of a reroll--1/3rd of the 3 point Elusive, or 1 point. So it isn't more valuable than a single point of upgrade, but it doesn't have fancy requirements to work, like bullseye arcs or red moves. It just requires the right dice luck.

True enough! I'm not saying its the best option, but I'm darn content with it being a backup at least. Predator is better, and much more reliable, but if you need to save a point, having heroic as a fallback doesn't seem like a bad deal at all.

The simple answer is: have you EVER had a full-blank roll screw you over? If yes, Heroic.

2 hours ago, ryfterek said:

The simple answer is: have you EVER had a full-blank roll screw you over? If yes, Heroic.

This. It's not that awesome, because it's 1 point.

It's a gamble, basically. A full reroll, offence or defence, that doesn't stress you, damage you, eat tokens or charges, or in any way place any demands on you is bloody amazing.

Getting it for 1 point is a steal - compare Lone Wolf, for twice the price, which has some pretty harsh positional requirements, costs twice as much and eats a one-per-turn charge for only a single die rerolled.

The reason it's so cheap is that the dratted thing hardly ever triggers, because on a T-70 it'll only go off once in sixty-odd primary attacks and once in seven defence rolls, and it's quite feasible for an X-wing to play a game without that it coming up.

Compare the Galactic Empire equivalent - Ruthless - also 1 point. It's guarantied to trigger for 1 extra hit on an attack roll (probably about the same effect as a full reroll), but a) requires a buddy at range 1 of the target, b) doesn't work on defensive rolls and c) requires you to shoot your buddy at the same time.

I dunno. On the one hand, Crack Shot is probably as likely to trigger in a game as Heroic, and the effect is more 'reliable' since it's positioning dependant and you can 'fly for it'. You can't predict when heroic will pop up to skew the numbers in your favour. On the other, the one thing you can rely on is that Heroic WILL show up when you've rolled straight blanks. Given that that's generally an "Oh, Bugger..." moment, that's when you most want the reroll.

These A-Wings have rear arcs, which I plan on using, and that rules Crack Shot out for me

That’s some pretty great feedback. Thanks!! I guess I’ll keep using heroic.

Buddy flew a T-70 and 3 RZ-2 list last night and Heroic was in play way more than I would have thought. It's all based on chance though, so other games could be different. For 1 point, I like it.