I was thinking how I never use some pilots as they seem to be almost useless due to the style of the ship, or because they present poor value compared to other pilots of the same ship. Also not seen much mention of these pilots on here or other XWM boards. I would be interested to know if anyone likes/uses them.

Maarek Steel; Hard to chose when Darth is only two points more.

Avenger pilot - Saber is only one point more and has EPT

Fel's Wrath - No EPT and kind of depressing pilot skill. Will become even more obsolete with the arrival of the Imperial Guard pilot that offers higher PS and EPT for 1 less point!

Grey Squadron Pilot - Given the Ys nature, blocking and ion firing, the increase in pilot skill doesn't seem worth the extra investment. tbh I've never bothered much with any Y wing pilots other than the Gold due to the way I use the ship.

Not played Lando much, but then Im not a big fan of the Falcon and I do see it mentioned on here.

Its pretty impressive that the Ties, despite how many different pilots there are, all seem fairly used and useful in their on right, maybe Night beast?

Not played enough with Wave 3 to come to any conclusions.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

I know he's popular with some players, but I'm not keen on Biggs. My x-wings are the core of my squadron, and I don't want one being focused on - even if it's not wedge. To use biggs effectively you have to play in way that exploits the game system to force enemies take shots at long range and/or through obstructions rather than the ship dead ahead at close range. Maybe I'm too much of a rpg-er but I can't make this tactic fit with space dogfighting.

The worst thing about Biggs though? He's one of only two mid price/skill named pilots for the x-wing. Nothing against garven, but I've used him to death. Role on Porkins and Janson!

Maarek got unfortunate with his ship assignation. He would have really shined in an interceptor since his ability is pretty decent by itself, but the high cost of the TIE-advanced plus its low base attack makes it one of the worst possible pilot-ship combinations. Who knows, maybe in the future we'll see Maarek flying on a TIE-Avenger, where he rightfully belongs.

The only remote use I found for Fel's Wrath is on mission play, when you want to secure the kill of a vital target. Other than that, I suspect that everyone simply prefer to field pilots whose abilities don't require them to DIE. (And consequently, usable more than ONCE on the entire match).

I see Lando from time to time, just enough to not consider it 'unpopular'. He definitely has a role on action-efficiency rebel builds.

The other pilots that probably belong on your list...

- Winged Gundark (though, i think this ability is often undervalued)

- Captain Kagi (arguably the support effect with the most reach, but for such a cost nearing 1/3rd of a fleet at 100 points...)
- Arvel Cyrynd (Pilot skill too high to really get the best of his ability, can't boost to collide either)

As for my thoughts....

It's a tough call - because all of the lesser used pilots have abilities that mean something - and lesser used generics come in P.S. batches that can be fairly useful... It really depends on what you are building, and how much space the "Backbone" of your build has.

Consider: Avenger x3 + Obsidian X3 can be a pretty fun swarm to play - it's 99 points, and everything is P.S. 3 - which usually means you can drop a p.s.2 rebel ship before it fires. This also means you have freedom in activation phase for moving as you like.

The trouble happens when we start looking at what is competitive. Lot's of people are min maxing points Try taking a 6 ship build with 3 Saber squadron pilots - you're limited to 3 sabers, 3 academy and only 1 point left for skills - I'd say that the Avenger/Obsidian pairing is more useful...

Grey Squad, Red squad - really all of the mid range squads (p.s. 3-6 with no ability) is a hedged bet against lower pilot skill. Using a y-wing for blocking isn't a bad idea, but they don't have to be blockers - playing with the mid ranged pilots is a waste against elites, but a boon against rookies... This can make a difference in competative play, but it's a gamble that gets expensive when using multiple mid range ships - 4 grey squad y-wings is an 8 point cost - again, some min maxing going on when you look at going 2 gold with 2 photon torps...

So what about the pilots?

Fel's Wrath is essentially 3 more points than an avenger - for 2 a boost in p.s. and the ability to always get his last shot - against Han, or anyone with a higher pilot skill than Wrath - that's the equivalent of 1 more turn of shots. 3 points for an extra attack? not such a bad ability really.

Maarek steele's ability, being a crit machine is nice - but his P.S. means he is getting target locks and firing his missile, he's also more effectively using barrel rolls than the lower skilled advances. There's another issue here with the advanced in general - Vader being the only one you usually see. Granted - Vader's ability is just considered better so you're right, It's again, the idea that you may as well maximize your power for your points - Most pilots look less shiny compared to the top of the line pilots - (exception is probably ibitsam vs ten numb)

I have always wanted to make maarek work and feel he would do better if in future he could use protons for the crit without having to put points into marksmanship.

Otherwise just if his pilot skill was lower and no elite skill he would be firing later when ships had less shields.

Shame

I agree with most of the OP except for Avenger squadron pilot, they are good for when you want to have higher pilot skill than base generics like academy ties and rookie xwings.

I would also add Winged Gundark to the list, as his ability just doesn't seem to trigger often enough to make him worth using. His lower cost due to being a TIE pilot makes it a little better but I can't really see much use for him

There are a few pilots/ships/upgrades in this game that I have a hard time trying to figure out how the creators thought they would be useful, but I just chalk it up to the fact that you can never really know exactly how a game will develop once it's released into the wild

I hope Maarek makes a return as a TIE Defender pilot and finds a worthy place in the game

Lando is pretty awesome actually. I've used him a couple of times and plan on using him again.

Heres a question regarding extra unused pilots: what do I use my 3 extra wedges, arvils, tychos, fel wraths, soontirs, salms ect. for? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they were in the boosters and easy to collect, now i find myself with a plethra of cards I'll never use because I can only field one in a game.

Put them in a safe place for when you accidentally spill soda on your cards and need a replacement. You'll be glad you don't have to spend another $15 to get that named pilot.

Heres a question regarding extra unused pilots: what do I use my 3 extra wedges, arvils, tychos, fel wraths, soontirs, salms ect. for? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they were in the boosters and easy to collect, now i find myself with a plethra of cards I'll never use because I can only field one in a game.

Seriously, you could probably sell any Wave 1 unique pilots on eBay and get a little something for them.

Ill trade em for game night promo cards if anyone has extras. x)