Four contenders: HH-12, T-21, RT-97C, and DLT-19. Please rank in order of preference and give reasons. For me, it's:

1. RT-97C - 26 points is expensive and it has no special ability, but it's 4 dice up to range 4 (1 red, 3 white). Can potential get past heavy cover at range 4 to kill snipers.

2. DLT-19 - cheapest at 24 points, converts a crit against armor, and gives 2 solid red dice up to range 4. just an excellent weapon, but not #1 anymore in my books.

3. T-21 - 27 points for 4 white dice only up to range 3. Critical 2 is nice but the loss of range is significant. What's the good of Crit 2 if you're out of range?

4. HH-12 - 34 points for a weapon that needs to be readied and is cumbersome. Sorry, 3 black dice at ranges 2-4 and Impact 3 are nice but it can't move and fire and eats up valuable actions to be readied.

That's my evaluation. What's yours? Do you see the RT-97Cv as replacing the DLT-19 for top spot as I do?

If armor continues to be low, that looks like a good summary. With the new vehicles looking good, I might start mixing DLTs and RTs

6 hours ago, TalkPolite said:

If armor continues to be low, that looks like a good summary. With the new vehicles looking good, I might start mixing DLTs and RTs

Pretty much what I’m planning to do.

With the Shoretroopers coming, I don’t think I’ll run more than 3-4 Stormtrooper squad and I plan to buy 2 Heavy packs so it’s gonna be 2 RTs and 1-2 DLTs.

10 hours ago, Stormtrooper721 said:

1. RT-97C - 26 points is expensive and it has no special ability, but it's 4 dice up to range 4 (1 red, 3 white). Can potential get past heavy cover at range 4 to kill snipers.

2. DLT-19 - cheapest at 24 points, converts a crit against armor, and gives 2 solid red dice up to range 4. just an excellent weapon, but not #1 anymore in my books.

3. T-21 - 27 points for 4 white dice only up to range 3. Critical 2 is nice but the loss of range is significant. What's the good of Crit 2 if you're out of range?

4. HH-12 - 34 points for a weapon that needs to be readied and is cumbersome. Sorry, 3 black dice at ranges 2-4 and Impact 3 are nice but it can't move and fire and eats up valuable actions to be readied.

1. DLT-19

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.other stuff

DLT is still head and shoulders above any of the other options, it is dependable and inexpensive.

Depends on the rest of your army, your metagame, and your tolerance for variance. If the rest of your army has anti-armor covered, the RT-97C becomes very appealing. It's also an excellent choice if your local meta is very light on armor. The DLT of course shines in games with a lot of armor on the table, but the low variance is also very appealing to some players.

1 hour ago, buckero0 said:

1. DLT-19

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DLT is still head and shoulders above any of the other options, it is dependable and inexpensive.

completely agree

What if they all cost 0 points. Then which is best? Cause people seem to be arguing about what's cost effective, not what's better. Usually plate was better than maille but maille was more cost effective. Quality is not the same as value.

If the RT becomes the heavy stormtrooper of choice, I wonder if that will bring AT-RTs in greater numbers, or if that would make the T-47 not so fragile?

Just a thought.

2 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

What if they all cost 0 points. Then which is best? Cause people seem to be arguing about what's cost effective, not what's better. Usually plate was better than maille but maille was more cost effective. Quality is not the same as value.

I would still prefer the DLT for the dependability, but I'm sure others would feel differently

DLT is still my preferred weapon of the 4. It provides some degree of consistency where white dice are white dice. Often times, with out an aim token those two reds are my only hits from an attack.

RT-97C is hands down the best... Anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Z-6 volley that removes your entire squad from the board can appreciate that (and it happens way too often).

I still tend to run one to two HH-12s cuz my buddy tends to run armor but I won't pretend that's ideal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SWlegion/comments/cnr63h/deep_dive_stormtrooper_heavy_weapons/

So a guy did some projections. The result is that the DLT is not really a golden god, the RTC-97C has a slight edge on it in normal fire, and if you're just using it at R4 it has quite a bit more edge (especially with aims). If you can afford the slight hop in points, the RT is really worth it. The T-21 is kind of the other end, it performs slightly under the two and obviously lacks the range 4, but really does tend to generate quite a bit of natural crit power, even in excess of the DLT-19 (and obviously, the DLT has no added value vs anything but armor) so they can be very helpful against all the various forms of defense, but if you're shooting guys out in the open anyway it's not necessarily worth the cost. If you were running all Stormtroopers, 1-2 T-21 teams would probably be nice for the specialization, but you might just as well be taking care of that with other units.

I would like to give the T-21 a shot before completely writing it off, I feel against armor it actually has the potential to do better than the DLT if the whole stormtrooper unit fires on a vehicle. I think the RTC will win out just because range 4 is great and the one reliable red dice, but I still think the T-21 deserves a chance. I will probably start off with 1 DLT, 1 T-21, 2 RTCs and mix it up from there after trying that out for a bit.

I think in the long run most Imperial armies will end up landing at 2 DLTs and 2 RTCs as the starting point.

19 minutes ago, UnitOmega said:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SWlegion/comments/cnr63h/deep_dive_stormtrooper_heavy_weapons/

So a guy did some projections. The result is that the DLT is not really a golden god, the RTC-97C has a slight edge on it in normal fire, and if you're just using it at R4 it has quite a bit more edge (especially with aims). If you can afford the slight hop in points, the RT is really worth it. The T-21 is kind of the other end, it performs slightly under the two and obviously lacks the range 4, but really does tend to generate quite a bit of natural crit power, even in excess of the DLT-19 (and obviously, the DLT has no added value vs anything but armor) so they can be very helpful against all the various forms of defense, but if you're shooting guys out in the open anyway it's not necessarily worth the cost. If you were running all Stormtroopers, 1-2 T-21 teams would probably be nice for the specialization, but you might just as well be taking care of that with other units.

Very good read. Do what the math says!

19 hours ago, GreatMazinkaiser said:

RT-97C is hands down the best... Anyone who's been on the receiving end of a Z-6 volley that removes your entire squad from the board can appreciate that (and it happens way too often).

My hands are still up. Math on that guy's website says they're even for # of hits - straight even but the RT is more expensive. Aim token is the only thing that makes it better. Imperials do have some access to Aim though. How many Stormtroopers are you going to take and what's their role? How many packs are you going to buy? With the number of other options, I don't know that you'll take more than 3-4 stormtroopers if even that many. That doesn't tell me that they are the best, just have more potential and different role. Hence, Upgrade packs. add them if you feel you need that role covered. (I take the RT on my Occupier tank because it's cheaper, on a trooper its more expensive)

This last part - I've never seen it happen. Z6 is usually going to do 1 to zilch. That's what I appreciate.

21 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

make the T-47 not so fragile?

That thing should have been made flat out immune to anything smaller than an e-web or a dedicated anti-vehicle weapon like the missile launcher, and let the points fall where they may. It shouldn't be able to be brought down in a hail of small arms fire when we see it surviving hits from those AT-AT cannons. Presumably it has shields that would make 1 or 1,000 shots from E-11's or DL-19's equally ineffective.

End sidetrack.

I would agree. I had a squad of royal guard shoot one down with their pistols......

Will hold my decision until I see them on the field based on my understanding 1 red and 3 whites have about the same hit chances with 3 white having a higher total potential damage.

5 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

That thing should have been made flat out immune to anything smaller than an e-web or a dedicated anti-vehicle weapon like the missile launcher, and let the points fall where they may. It shouldn't be able to be brought down in a hail of small arms fire when we see it surviving hits from those AT-AT cannons. Presumably it has shields that would make 1 or 1,000 shots from E-11's or DL-19's equally ineffective.

End sidetrack.

I’d agree with you lore wise (somewhat), but game wise, that would make it and the AT-ST and Tank, etc very broken.

But it’s funny, cause it doesn’t stop them from trying to shoot at things the size or scale of a snowspeeder with pistols in the movies. Take a look at ESB when the Falcon is escaping Hoth. Sure the Snowtroopers are setting up an E-web, but there are a number of other troopers just firing E-11s. I guess it’s like shooting a pistol now days at an airplane. Most of the time any damage is going to be superficial, but then there’s that one stray shot that hits something important.

Bottom line, the T-47 needs a serious point reduction or something to help keep it in the “air”.

To be back on topic, I’d still say the DLT is king. 2 red, range 4, with Impact at a good price. Also Stormtroopers don’t need more white dice. The two red are essential to make a decent attack.

At least I think its fair to say nothing new makes the DLT a bad choice. I think the addition of Impact 1 adds a level of versatility the other weapons lack. Facing units with at least armor 1 looks to be more common in the near future, further cementing the DLT as an affordable and safe choice. Still, options and new sculpts are always welcome.

23 hours ago, buckero0 said:

This last part - I've never seen it happen. Z6 is usually going to do 1 to zilch. That's what I appreciate.

There's a way you get that average damage math: somewhere someone's rolling 7+ hits every time they attack with their Rebel Troopers (with accompanying red armor whiffing) and elsewhere it's complete trash. In my case my opponent has the luck and I do not, but at least my weapon dice do something. I'll definitely be buying four packs because I always field four stormtrooper squads.

14 minutes ago, GreatMazinkaiser said:

There's a way you get that average damage math: somewhere someone's rolling 7+ hits every time they attack with their Rebel Troopers (with accompanying red armor whiffing) and elsewhere it's complete trash. In my case my opponent has the luck and I do not, but at least my weapon dice do something. I'll definitely be buying four packs because I always field four stormtrooper squads.

Yeah but averages are almost 3 hits with a full squad (at the middle to end of game you're lucky to have a z6 by itself) if there is any cover and average red roll, you might get one damage through. With heavy cover i don't ever get damage through.

I don't roll average and my opponents roll above average.

If there's cover, i don't even shoot anymore bc it's a waste of an action. And at this point, i don't take z 6s much anymore bc its a waste of points usually. I'm better off investing in something that can make some damage go through.

Plus, 8sided dice don't really roll, they just plop