So I'm looking into a couple of different Han builds. I have flown him only in the current Hyperspace season - both lists included below are Extended. The idea was to pair him with a mini-swarm of Z-95s, A-Wings or a combination.

Han + Lone Wolf + Millenium Falcon + Kanan Jarrus + Chewbacca + Engine Upgrade (111)

OR

Han + Millenium Falcon + Kanan Jarrus + R2-D2 + Engine Upgrade (112)

The first build is my attempt to make Han's offensive capabilities very consistent. The Dice Calculator shows Expected Hits increasing from 2.3 to 2.7 with the addition of Lone Wolf since Han will not need Lone Wolf defensively most of the time. Is Lone Wolf worth the cost for the increased consistency? The other question is how important is R2-D2 - am I correct in assuming R2 would need to trigger 3 times to be worth his cost (very vague idea taken from the cost of Shield Upgrade)? What do you think the best Extended Han build available?

Slimest Version - Han Solo with Lando Calrissian and Novice Technician as it has everything you need and offers quite heavy exploits of the pilot ability.

Slimer Version - Han Solo with Lando, Novice Technician, Trick Shot. You have only 1 Agility and either way want to stick to obstacles. So why not pew pew through them?

Basic Version - Han Solo again with Lando, Novice Tech, but also with Trick Shot and Engine Upgrade. Turns the bulky Falcon into quite the agile menace. It top of at 97 points, leaving you enough to play around with wingmates.

I don't like the Title on Han, truth be told, because he wants to take the Focus more often than not. I really like the Lando Crew, as you can reroll the dice once, if the results are not to your liking. Novice Technician is sadly much better than Chewie, as you can again reroll the die and it can be used every turn. Trick Shot vs Lone Wolf mostly depends how you fly, both are very good options.

54 minutes ago, Schanez said:

Slimest Version - Han Solo with Lando Calrissian and Novice Technician as it has everything you need and offers quite heavy exploits of the pilot ability.

Slimer Version - Han Solo with Lando, Novice Technician, Trick Shot. You have only 1 Agility and either way want to stick to obstacles. So why not pew pew through them?

Basic Version - Han Solo again with Lando, Novice Tech, but also with Trick Shot and Engine Upgrade. Turns the bulky Falcon into quite the agile menace. It top of at 97 points, leaving you enough to play around with wingmates.

I don't like the Title on Han, truth be told, because he wants to take the Focus more often than not. I really like the Lando Crew, as you can reroll the dice once, if the results are not to your liking. Novice Technician is sadly much better than Chewie, as you can again reroll the die and it can be used every turn. Trick Shot vs Lone Wolf mostly depends how you fly, both are very good options.

I prefer Jyn Erso to Lando.

Yes, you can re-roll Lando to try and get a better result, but there's really only a point to Lando if you're getting an evade and a focus. If there's any blank in there then you may as well have just taken the action and guaranteed the better of the two for the situation. Two focuses are the second best result, but still isn't great given you're relatively unlikely to get to use that focus on a single green die. Two evades feels bad, especially if you're only being shot once.

Given that Han has to reroll both dice if he's going to reroll any, I just don't like the odds of getting that focus evade. In my, admittedly limited, experience with Han and Lando crew, even after the re-roll the most common outcome is blank and evade. The only times I've managed the focus + evade is when I didn't really need it.

I'd much rather have control of a single action, and pick focus or evade depending on the situation.

Jyn also helps whoever you're flying with. Giving Luke, for example, the ability to get evades makes him so ridiculously tanky. She's the same cost as Lando, cheaper than the title and helps multiple ships in the list with no penalty. Genuinely think she's up there with Leia and Nien as Rebels' best crew cards.

Agree with you on the title, though. It's a real shame that Millennium Falcon is largely pointless with Han, but works so well with Lando. I often find myself including it on Han out of sheer stubbornness and then getting frustrated when it basically never triggers because I never take an evade action. It is nice in those rare situations you find yourself running and nowhere near an obstacle though. Also, it came in absolutely clutch one time when I ran Han against a list with two Seismic Charge carriers in it.

Partially agree on Novice Technician. To be honest, I'm not super stoked about the risk of him not working even after that's mitigated by Han's re-roll. I also don't think him being every turn really makes much difference; ideally you aren't picking up crits every turn - I've never really struggled with that aspect of Chewie when I've used him. But what makes him stand out is the timing. 95% of the crits you incur will happen in the engagement phase, so being able to flip them straight after is better than having to wait for a whole turn of activation. If you pick up Damaged Engine, you want to be able to flip it before you might have to dial in a turn maneuver. Novice Technician lets you do that. Chewie doesn't, sadly. I'd still argue that ultimately NT won't be that relevant to your success. There's only a few crits that are truly problematic and can't be solved with a little action economy from elsewhere.

So I wouldn't include NT in my slimmest Han build.

I think Engine Upgrade is way more essential, personally. That I6 big base boost is pretty clutch.

I'd say Han + EU is actually a perfectly solid build all by itself.

My preferred order of additions would be:

Han + Engine Upgrade

Han + Trick Shot + Engine Upgrade

Han + Jyn Erso + Trick Shot + Engine Upgrade

Han + Hotshot Gunner + Jyn Erso + Trick Shot + Engine Upgrade

Han + Jyn Erso + Kanan Jarrus + Trick Shot

Han + R2-D2 + Hotshot Gunner + Jyn Erso + Trick Shot + Engine Upgrade.

Hotshot Gunner should be 5 points, not 7, but I still think it's an underrated card on an I6 with two turret arcs.

5 hours ago, dr_syndulla said:

The other question is how important is R2-D2 - am I correct in assuming R2 would need to trigger 3 times to be worth his cost (very vague idea taken from the cost of Shield Upgrade)?

Not exactly. This is an example of how you can't always directly compare outcome and points cost. R2-D2 costs more than two Shield Upgrades, yes. But you can't get two Shield Upgrades on Han if you're running EU, which I value very highly. So immediately R2 gains value over the SU even if you only trigger him twice. I've seen games where he's triggered 4 or 5 times, though, so he can be immensely useful. If you're happy to sacrifice EU, then Shield and Hull Upgrade are a better bet, as they're cheaper and take the half damage threshold to a fairly ridiculous 8. Personally, I'd rather boost out of the way and not get shot at all than make Han harder to grind down, but it does depend on your list and strategy. Sometimes, if you're ahead on points, offering Han as a target can draw out time - it takes longer to go through the dice rolls and modifications if they actually shoot at Han than it does if you dodged and no shot happens. If you're confident they can't gain points on you - i.e if Han has enough health that even if they get all hits, he won't go below the half point threshold or be destroyed - then strangely it's a better tactic to let him get shot. And SU + HU extend your ability to do that

Lone Wolf is... fine. But for a point cheaper, I'd much, much rather take Trick Shot. Basically, Lone Wolf unobtructed is better than Trick Shot obstructed, but Trick Shot obstructed is better than Lone Wolf obstructed. Given where Han likes to spend most of the game, you'll probably find you get more obstructed shots than not. If anything, you want to encourage it because you benefit from it too and that extra re-rollable defence die really helps Han out.

The only thing I don't get with your build is what Kanan brings to the table if you're packing EU. Kanan can be great as an extra dice mod 80% of the time, and a full dial stress remover those occasional times after you needed to red boost. But if you're packing EU, his use cases really go down and he's basically just a minor dice mod you don't really need for a lot of points. He does enable you to go across or land on debris clouds virtually consequence free, which is really great for Han, but I still think he's a lot of points if you already have EU.

But if you want Kanan for debris shenanigans, you don't need EU.

1 hour ago, GuacCousteau said:

I prefer Jyn Erso to Lando.

(...)

But if you want Kanan for debris shenanigans, you don't need EU.

You cannot run two of the same cards on any ship, even if they have the slots for them. So two Shield Upgrades are not available, period.

I understand your point on Jyn Erso and I have to agree, she is an amazing Crew, letting the otherwise bulky Rebels take evades. My idea with Lando is, you usually want to grab Focus, so any result with Focus is a good one. Anything else is just a bonus. Rarely do I get the situation, where both rolls end up blanks or just Evades.

I would then run something like...

• Han Solo: Jyn Erso, Perceptive Copilot, Engine Upgrade
• Wedge Antilles: S-Foils
• Thane Kyrell: S-Foils

For a neat 200/200

I run :

Han + Kanan Jarrus + R2-D2 +title (105pts)

Kanan gives the mini focus that han wants so much , also helps a lot if you did a red boost last turn

R2-D2 is perfect with Han , you will recover one shield every turn with no bad effect

If you can´ t scape enemy arcs the title will help a lot , with R2 the ship will be a tank

Thanks for the responses - definitely gives me some insight that I never considered before. I honestly had to look up when Novice Technician triggers - never realized how critical that timing is compared to Chewy. Basically, I see a few options - either Kanan or EU, no need for both; R2 is better than I have given credit; Trick Shot is probably the better choice for Talent on Han; Falcon title is not worth the points on Han (only reason I included before was for access to the evade action); Jyn and/or Lando seems solid as well. I think I would switch to this version:

Han + Trick Shot + Lando + R2-D2 + Engine

OR some variation of that. Will have to put it on the board a few times, good thing the Barons league is starting up soon.

• Lone Wolf doesn't seem worth it to me, since Han will often already have rerolls. It's not a selective, but still. When paired with a mini-swarm, Lone Wolf seems particularly bad, too many friendly ships can get in the way.
• Trick Shot is totally fine, if you can trigger it. I personally skip it, since I can't get it to work, but it's great if you can.
• I personally hate Lando. Because Han has rerolls, I figure I almost always want to Focus, and Lando very often won't provide me with any Focus tokens. MF title or Jyn are OK, but Evade is usually going to be my 3rd pick of actions on Han. If someone wants evade tokens that don't help them kill stuff, that's their prerogative. I'm not into it.
  • Note: I like Jyn or the MF title a lot more on pilot-Lando, since it can be combined with a Boost action. Evade + Boost to a further range band can go a long way towards limiting damage.
  • I like Focus on Han so much I keep being tempted to add Perceptive Copilot for two Focus tokens. When defending at Range 3 or obstructed or both, they'll get put to use.
• R2-D2 is something I tend to want on Han.
• Engine is good, but I think I'd rather find the points for Kanan. Just seems more flexible. There are times when you'll want to just use one of your blue moves and can use him for the normal use of force.
  • Going Engine + Luke is sweet, but wicked pricey.
• I don't think Chewbacca is any good. The timing can be awkward, since so many crits impact actions and maneuvers, so Chewie only helps too late.

Putting it together, I'd start with R2-D2 and Kanan. Add Trick Shot if I think I can get it to work. That's 102-106 points. Adding Hull/Shield/title is fine.

.... as a side note only: Han is the ONLY pilot I’ve been able to make Bistan Gunner work with. Lots of fairly consistent dice at I6.

Especially good if droid swarms are prevalent in your area.

Perceptive copilot for extra heft or just make your first shot against the lesser important target.

Also... Jake is a great pilot to fly with Han.

17 hours ago, JBFancourt said:

.... as a side note only: Han is the ONLY pilot I’ve been able to make Bistan Gunner work with. Lots of fairly consistent dice at I6.

Especially good if droid swarms are prevalent in your area.

Perceptive copilot for extra heft or just make your first shot against the lesser important target.

Also... Jake is a great pilot to fly with Han.

Never even considered Bistan on Han. Seems fun combined with his ability. I definitely enjoy Jake, will have to give him a shot with Han.

On 6/24/2020 at 1:52 PM, theBitterFig said:

• Engine is good, but I think I'd rather find the points for Kanan. Just seems more flexible. There are times when you'll want to just use one of your blue moves and can use him for the normal use of force.

This. I never considered Kanan being a flexible upgrade in this manner. I always included him just to have the force point for offense. I have found that I only boost with Han from time to time. Thanks for this!

Something like this:

(80) Han Solo [Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter]
(2) Jyn Erso
(12) Kanan Jarrus
Points: 94

(36) Jake Farrell [RZ-1 A-wing]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 37

(30) Lieutenant Blount [Z-95-AF4 Headhunter]
Points: 30

(34) Arvel Crynyd [RZ-1 A-wing]
(2) Predator
(3) Intimidation
Points: 39

Total points: 200

My current 2 falcon list. The goal is to feint line up for the joust then turn and keep circling the bowl blasting away out of the side arcs.

It’s a good boba/fang counter... But it’s strangely boring... like defenders .... ope another 1 bank.... yay

lol.

(80) Han Solo [Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter]
(12) Kanan Jarrus
(14) Bistan
(3) Selfless
Points: 109

(79) Lando Calrissian [Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter]
(5) Nien Nunb
(4) Shield Upgrade
(3) Selfless
Points: 91

Total points: 200