Opening a discussion on who everybody thinks is going to be the best Dreadnaught Hunter. I'm an Empire player and Maarek Steele is at the top of my list for the best DH. Being able to choose which effects take place is going to be unfairly good. Couple that with with at least 2 crits going in with Adv. Targeting computer and Marksmanship. If you are lucky you could take hard points offline before it can even fire. Second is a tie between Major Vynder and Darth Vader. Vader is also in a X1 so he has a guaranteed crit with ATC and he's Vader so he's just reliable damage overall, on the other hand Marksmanship can work with torps so you can get 2 in with Vynder. Outside of the Empire I've only dabbled into the Resistance so I don't know what other factions can bring.

Edit: Fixed the image, thank you Hiemfire.

I am a rebel and republic player but even i saw the value Maarek Steele brings to the table. Especially being able to choose which precision shot effect you can deal to the enemy huge ship. For the Rebels in my opinion the best Dreadnaught hunter is either Corran Horn or Gavin Darklighter. Gavin obviously bc his ability gives him a guaranteed Crit and if you give him marksmanship that is 2 Crits. But i Like corran horn bc he can shoot twice. Applying marksmanship (if equipped) on both attacks her performs. He can first shoot proton torpedos, get a double crit through. then follow up with his ability. And if you have a rebel transport nearby next turn you can get rid of the disarm token and do it again. For the Republic its less clear in my opinion, no ones ability to my knowledge interacts with Crits and damage cards. Maybe Matchstick in the Y-wing with VTG, Dorsal turret, and marksmanship. get two attacks, trigger Marksmanship both times. Trigger D. Hunter both times. Maybe oddball in Y-wing or ARC. do red action, get target lock, shoot proton torpedos get that crit in, plus another with marksmanship, Trigger D. Hunter. Long story short, if you put D. Hunter on ANY platform you need to put on marksmanship, its only a single point and and provides an automatic trigger for D. Hunter bc the requirement for both is Bulls-eye arc. and against an huge ship, it will be very easy to get the requirement.

I feel like Cartel Spacers with Heavy Laser Cannons will be pretty solid. 32 points gets a 4-dice attack that ought to be pretty easy to line up. Upgrading to Tansaari Point Veterans for higher Initiative might be worth it, but at 4 points for that initiative step is kind of expensive.

*e* Not for the "Dreadnaught Hunter" card, but just good against huge ships... see the next posts.

23 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I feel like Cartel Spacers with Heavy Laser Cannons will be pretty solid. 32 points gets a 4-dice attack that ought to be pretty easy to line up. Upgrading to Tansaari Point Veterans for higher Initiative might be worth it, but at 4 points for that initiative step is kind of expensive.

Dreadnaught Hunter is restricted to i4 or higher, so unfortunately your cheap generics don’t make the cut!

Personally, I’m thinking anything that can take cannons and/or which has easy access to double mods will be a strong contender.

Proton Torpedoes are also an obvious benefit in this role.

E-Wings and B-Wings are probably top choice for Rebels, with T-70’s being first choice for Resistance...

Oh yeah... that card.

I figured folks were just discussing folks who wanted ships for killing Huge ships in general...

Yeah sorry for the confusion, I'm not forum savvy enough to get the actual image to show up and not just a link. I don't think DH benefits from cannons too much (just Autoblasters for now). Anything that can guarantee crits is going to push DH to the next level (like Marksmanship or Proton Torps).

Edit: Just thought of Passive Sensor/Fifth Brother Whisper with Marksmanship. That would be nasty.

Just copy and paste the image's URL into the body of the post.

Torani Kulda definitely comes to mind. Nevermind, small base only... Going to fiddle a bit to make sure, but I think the requirements kill the upgrade for S&V... AB/Marks Genesis Red and Serrisu aren't going to last long enough for the upgrade to earn its cost. Maybe Kavil but I doubt it. This has me cringing but it looks like for S&V this is another Fang centric upgrade...

One thing I've seen brought up over again is combining Dreadnought Hunter with Wing Leader. But the more I look at it, I'm convinced that few, if any, ships will have two command slots, so they probably won't combo. But I guess we won't know for sure until Epic Battles is released.

4 hours ago, AegisAngel said:

I don't think DH benefits from cannons too much (just Autoblasters for now)

Bear in mind that huge ships can regen shields, so you want as much potential to punch through them as possible.

B-Wings with HLC to strip shields from long range and Autoblasters for when they close in for the kill will be potent dreadnaught hunters...

Poe Dameron with HLC would be an incredible Dreadnought hunter, and that nobody's said it is kind of insane.

5 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Poe Dameron with HLC would be an incredible Dreadnought hunter, and that nobody's said it is kind of insane.

The only issue Poe might have is trying to get the face-up damage cards. Since he's I-6 he will probably have to deal enough damage to drop the shields and get a crit through since there won't be many allies attacking before him that can deplete the regenerated shields on the ship. I suppose it may be a good use case for Swarm Tactics.

We were discussing who would be the best pilot for the card Dreadnaught Hunter. HLC is useless for it because it can't crit. I've been pouring over cards and upgrades for Scum and I can't really come up with anything. Nothing they have can push crits like Empire (Fifth Brother gunner, Tie X1) or Rebel (Gavin Darklighter). Probably use Mauler as Swarm Tactics battery for my Raider to make it shoot at I5 instead of 0. Use Jendon to acquire locks beyond range 3, have Bombardment Specialist and 2 calculates to push the primary up to range 5 and open up with primary and Turbo Laser to knock shields off for Maarek and Vynder.

Edit: added list thought process

Yeah Scum doesn't have anyone natively that I can think of that get crits regularly. Graz may be an okay candidate. Shouldn't be too hard to get him behind a huge ship and he'll be throwing 4-5 attack dice. Plenty of crit chance there and I4 is a good spot for this card, hopefully you have shields down.

About the swarm tactics point, the huge ships might be immune from initiative changing effects. bc Swarm tactics would be OP in a lot of situations.

5 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Poe Dameron with HLC would be an incredible Dreadnought hunter, and that nobody's said it is kind of insane.

No he wouldn't.

You can't crit with HLC, so you can't ever deal a face up damage card with it.

Your dreadnought hunters are going to be anyone with easy access to crits. He's already been mentioned, but Maarek is clearly the best choice thanks to the big synergy of his ability, Marksmanship, ATC and the DH bullseye requirement.

Proton Torp carrying Rogue Squadron Escorts are also going to be prime candidates, as they can shoot a 4 dice, fully modded attack with an auto crit after other friendlies have already stripped the regenned shields that turn. Gavin's also an excellent choice if you can spare the extra points.

17 minutes ago, GuacCousteau said:

No he wouldn't.

You can't crit with HLC, so you can't ever deal a face up damage card with it.

Your dreadnought hunters are going to be anyone with easy access to crits. He's already been mentioned, but Maarek is clearly the best choice thanks to the big synergy of his ability, Marksmanship, ATC and the DH bullseye requirement.

Proton Torp carrying Rogue Squadron Escorts are also going to be prime candidates, as they can shoot a 4 dice, fully modded attack with an auto crit after other friendlies have already stripped the regenned shields that turn. Gavin's also an excellent choice if you can spare the extra points.

Maarek isn't in the Resistance. HLC prevents critical dice results but it does NOT prevent the precision shot condition from being applied, as that card says you may do if the shot was in bullseye. Guess what Poe can do with HLC. HLC is good, raw damage too. Honestly, T-70s are right up there. They can compete in Epic and never have to open their S-Foils because, what, are you gonna' miss such a big target with your bullseye? As if.

6 hours ago, joeshmoe554 said:

The only issue Poe might have is trying to get the face-up damage cards. Since he's I-6 he will probably have to deal enough damage to drop the shields and get a crit through since there won't be many allies attacking before him that can deplete the regenerated shields on the ship. I suppose it may be a good use case for Swarm Tactics.

I6 Swarm Tactics would be a good trick on Poe.

Have we mentioned Pure Sabacc/Whisper with Fifth Brother? Why not throw Marksmanship on them, too.

30 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Maarek isn't in the Resistance. HLC prevents critical dice results but it does NOT prevent the precision shot condition from being applied, as that card says you may do if the shot was in bullseye. Guess what Poe can do with HLC. HLC is good, raw damage too. Honestly, T-70s are right up there. They can compete in Epic and never have to open their S-Foils because, what, are you gonna' miss such a big target with your bullseye? As if.

The Precision Shot bonus for being in the proper arc is part of a face up card being dealt (a Crit in other words) to a Huge ship. Cards from hits are still dealt face down. HLC = no Precision Shot bonus due to not being able to crit at all with the weapon. If you want to run Poe as a Dreadnaught Hunter use Auto Blasters + Marksmanship from outside the Huge ship's Front Arc, Advanced Proton Torps or Proton Torps.

Gavin Darklighter would seem to be a good candidate for Dreadnaught Hunter, especially since he would also help whatever pilot was the second Dreadnaught Hunter in the list, assuming they fly together.

Gavin + rogue squadron escort?

both have dreadnaught Hunter, marksmanship, FCS, maybe proton torps if you want to sink in a lot of points.

Kylo Ren.

Searches the entire deck (not just 3 like Maarek) and you bypass all the shields.

Oh wait... Pilot only.... so guess it depends if the Huge ship damage deck have Pilot crits.

I just remembered one combo to save some points. Instead of going full hatchet man with Vynder you can slim him down and run Assault Config with auto blasters and Marksmanship. I'm curious how gunboats are going to interact in wings. Let's say I have 3 gunboats in the wing with Vynder in the lead, if Vynder SLAMs do the other 2 also get disarm tokens? From what i can tell now is no. Their actions are independent of Vynder, they just magically appear in formation.

1 hour ago, AegisAngel said:

Let's say I have 3 gunboats in the wing with Vynder in the lead, if Vynder SLAMs do the other 2 also get disarm tokens? From what i can tell now is no. Their actions are independent of Vynder, they just magically appear in formation.

Bro don’t scare me like that. My nightmares can’t take that.

12 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Maarek isn't in the Resistance.

I was speaking generally at that point, not replying.

Hence the spacing.

12 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

HLC prevents critical dice results but it does NOT prevent the precision shot condition from being applied

Uh, yeah it kinda does.

You can only apply the Precision Shot bonus when you deal a face up damage card, i.e. when you crit. Normally, there's also an arc condition as well. All Dreadnought Hunter does is allow you to bypass the arc requirement, it doesn't let you apply Precision Shot if you haven't already critted. Read the text again.

HLC cancels all crit results even after things like Marksmanship. You can't ever deal a face up damage card with HLC. So you can't ever apply Precision Shot with it.

If you want a Resistance specific carrier, I'm not sure they really have a standout pilot. I'd be tempted to say something like a pair of Black Squadron Aces with Proton Torps and Targeting Synchronizer or Plasma Torps and Marksmanship.

Poe's best use would just be for easy double modded ProTorps, but that's an expensive piece to field in an Epic game. You could probably get by with just Poe and Marksmanship, to be fair. Give him BB-8 so he can double mod without stress and then just get him to range 1.

Black Squadron Ace is probably the best DH the resistance has probably. I4 so they can shoot after the 5's and 6's and the ability to take torps. This way they can push crits through after the shields have collapsed. Fortresses are going to be interesting though. Use Teene and Vinnie with proton bombs and trajectory sim to deal up to 3 crits. Since there is barely any chance that a huge ship can dodge 2 bombs and rattled from Teene will do extra crit. Won't cause precision hit (unless they do a bomb specific one) but will still be devastating and open them up to everyone else.