I am new to the game and I am playing with my 2 kids. We have been trying different combinations of pilots with abilities. Please put down your must have in every list and to help me and my boys out please tell me why.

From what I have played so far I use

Luke with R2D2 with marksmanship. A little pricy but with R2 he regents my shields and with marksman it makes him decent offensively, and Luke is a pretty defensive pilot with his pilot ability.

As far as I can tell, Biggs is a must for any Rebel list, as he takes the fire that would otherwise be going towards your key offensive pilots. Any of the defensive upgrades, droids, or skills are great for Biggs.

For Imperials, there really isn't a must-have pilot. Howlrunner is probably as close as you get, as his ability adds a lot of hitting power to your lists.

For imps, it's tough most builds you can change pilots and have a good build. Howelrunner is the closest.

Rebals Wedge is very good. He neutralizes the agility advantage te Imp ships have and is a ywing/falcon killer. He is a must I'm my rebal builds

Rebels = Wedge (Offense), Luke (Defense), Biggs (All Around)

Imperials = Howlrunner (Buffs everyone)

Wedge is the only must have in my books.

Howlrunner used to be a must for imperials but this will change with wave2 as the interceptors have enough stand alone firepower and will need to operate on their own most of the time to keep boosting ships in their firing arcs.

Once players figure out how to best use the Slave1 and Falcon to maximum potential then these ships will become part of the must have conversation.

I use dutch in pretty much every rebel list. I always want at least one 1 Y wing with Ion Cannon, and you can't be the 5 point upgrade to Dutch for the free target lock.

Darth Vader with swarm tactics for Imps, and Wedge for rebels

There are no "must have" pilots for either side. Not even Biggs for the Rebels.

8x Academy pilots is a good list if played well.

I've done very well with Luke, Horton, 2x Rookies.

Etc.

It all just depends on your playstyle, and the composition of your squadron. Biggs can be handy for Rebels, but is not required for a list to do well. Wedge is very good, but is not required. Vader is a strong pilot, but isn't required.

While this answers your question, I realize that it isn't all that helpful for your underlying intent. You wish assistance in creating strong squadrons. In that regard, I'd suggest either looking on the forums for for lists that other people have created (and the comments about them), or else come up with a few lists yourself and post them on these forums to solicit comments.

Squad lists can vary greatly and still be quite competitive, especially when Wave 2 ships get included.

There are no must haves.

Howelrunner is great, but she is the most expensive TIE in the game. I also Use Vader a lot. But he is really expensive. There are tons of really really good lists that don't have them. Other Imperials I really like are Marel Mithel, Back Stabber, and Dark Curse. I think Dark Curse is the most under appriciated TIE pilot.

As for rebels, I don't really even like Biggs. I would prefer to have a slightly cheaper pilot that doesn't force people to shoot at him. (I find Bigg's power ineffective) It would be good if he could take the hits, or was a ton cheaper. I don't usually even use Luke, though he is good. But he is the second most expensive X-wing Pilot and I prefer Wedge. Really you could run either one, but I think running both just cost too much (it leaves you with only 3 ships, I prefer to have at least 4)

Other than Wedge I really like Dutch, he feeds Wedge Target Locks and Wedge does the killing. (I don't eve use torps)

But the Pilot that I cannot seem to go without (I have played every battle I could with him since I got him and I have yet to lose with him) is Han Solo. The Han Solo/Luke Skywalker (as a crew)/Milenium Falcon title is just the best combo I have found in the game. It leaves you enough points to take two rookie pilots.

Actually the pilots I find indespensible are the un-named pilots. The rookie pilot and red squadron pilot are both great for their points. So are academy pilot and obsidian pilot (I don't care for the black squadron pilot as much)

I agree with Hrathen and Dvang- there's no must-haves. There are pilots that are easier/ more obvious in their application or whatever, but none of them are like unbalanced for the points except possibly Vader.

There's really only one pilot I don't think anyone can fnd a use for currently and that's Marek Steele. Other than that, everyone is viable in their own way.

Coming from a game like Warhammer 40k, I find it quite refreshing to not feel I'm practically forced into taking a particular character to even have a fighting chance at putting up a good fight for my opponent.

Now, all that said, the named pilots do definitely have an advantage over the generic dudes. Don't mistake what people are saying here, or at least what I'm saying, I don't want to speak for anyone else. The named pilots and their special abilties outweigh virtually any upgrade available to a generic pilot. If you take a 4 X-Wing list with generic pilots and play somebody of similar skill who also plays a 4 X-Wing list with a mix of named pilots and generic pilots, it's unlikely you'll win. Wedge's ability, Luke's ability, Howlrunner's, Vader's, Dark Curse's, etc., etc. make them much better than a generic pilot because the upgrades available to those generic dudes do not match what a named pilot brings to the table.

You need to use named pilots in your lists, there's not just one particular pilot that's auto-win.

Not to sound like I'm flat out pimping it, but I'm going to be posting articles about the Wave 1 Rebel and Imperial pilots on my blog all next week. Stop by and check it out if you feel like it. I'm posting about Elite Pilot Talents and Secondary Weapon Systems right now.

http://www.themetalbikini.com

For Rebels, Wedge is about the closest that you will see as a must-have. Wedge and Dutch make a very fine combo.

For Imperials, it depends on how you run your squad. Assuming you have 6 TIEs, if you run them all together, Howlrunner would be a good bet. But if you run them as 2 wings, I'm going out on a limb and say Backstabber is a must-have. His ability triggers at all ranges, which can be very nice if your opponent goes after your other wing. And if your other wing includes Howlrunner, your opponent will likely go after that wing, leaving Backstabber free to do his thing.

I don't have anything specific for the rebels. I think the ships are good enough that named guys don't matter much (at least to me).

But, for the Imps. I like Howlrunner and Winged Gundark together. Howlrunner has when another friendly ship at range 1 is attacking with its primary weapon, it may re roll 1 attack die. Winged Gundark has that when he is attacking at range 1 you may change 1 of your hits to a crit. And if you have Howlrunner you can now re roll a miss. It isn't anything crazy since the game is so balanced but one of those things you are glad to have when the time comes.

Everyone will have that favorite pilot they like to play, but the truth is that there is no must pilot you have to take in order to make a list real good. Just make sure that you are utilitizing abilities and combos well and you don't charge in to reklessly.

Maarek Steele, Winged Gundark, Boba Fett, Grey Ywing, sometimes Fel's Wrath

Duraham said:

The Grey Y-Wing does not fit into the rest of the Imperial squad you describe. Plus if you add in Fel's Wrath it is over the 100 point limit, even without upgrades.

ziggy2000 said:

It is not a team. it is a lineup of pilots which is a must for every list. every list that i want to face against, that is.

woops, forgot to add in Storm squadron TIEadv and Red Squadron Xwing