Not including modifiers such as upgrade cards or support ships, which pilot has the straight up best ability? PS and points can be included. In the beginning it was all about:

Wedge Antilles : When attacking, reduce the defender's agility by 1 (to a minimum of "0").

PS9, 29 pts.

But I can't fail to mention,

Tycho Celcu: You may perform actions even while you have stress tokens.

PS8, 26 pts.

As a Rebel player, thought, I'm honestly worried about the upcoming Imperial Aces pilots:

Lt. Lorrir: When performing a barrel role, you may receive 1 stress to use the 1 bank instead of the 1 forward .

PS5, ? pts.

Kir Kanos: When attacking at Range 2-3, you may spend 1 evade token to add 1 hit result to your roll.

PS6, 24 pts.

Carnor Jax: Enemy ships at Range 1 cannot perform focus or evade actions and cannot spend focus or evade tokens.

PS8, 26 pts.

Absolutely ove the idea of Lt. Lorrir's ability, essentially giving TIE/Int a 3rd type of movement action but I'm also insanely jealous. Kanos and Jax, especially Jax, scare the crap out of me though. I almost think they're overpowered. If I could put Tycho in an X-wing I'd feel a little safer. All I know is that the upcoming Rebel Transport pilots better be as good... I'm looking at you PS8 Wes Janson.

Turr or dark curse have amazing stand alone defensive abilities. They are just stuck with a fragile platform.

Soontir Fel,

Free focus after K-Turning.

Darth Vader

Lorrir and Kanos do not impress me too much, as they cannot take Push the Limit to augment their unique abilities.

Darth Vader of course. 2 actions makes him so flexible with upgrades - and even without.

But I fear nobody can beat Wedge. His ability is insane.

We know now 3 of the 4 new Interceptor pilots...

But the abilities of the 4 new X-Wing pilots is still a secret ... so no reason to be worried about the Aces.

You'll get Porkins with a decent PS7.

So I wonder if Evir Derricote is the PS7 pilot in the aces pack - with a support/leadership ability.

...Under the nearly nonexistent leadership of Colonel Evir Derricote, an unimpressive pilot and mediocre officer who was more interested in cultivating his garden than commanding his squadrons, the 181st had almost no discipline and even less motivation ...

But on the other hand, under Derricodes command the 181st was considered as the Empires worst squadron - until the arrival of Soontir Fel, who replaced Derricode. Under Fel's leadership the 181st soon was one of the most elite squadrons.

Since Fel is there, I assume the 181st isn't any longer under Derricodes' command and Derricode was promoted to a general by the time 'X-Wing' takes place. So if the unknown pilot in the Aces pack really is Derricode, we have kind of a paradoxon within the game.

Wedge Antilles.

His ability functions as long as he is capable of performing attacks. Other abilities (especially the most powerful ones) require some other condition, (performing an action, executing a certain maneuver, or having a friendly or enemy ship within a certain range, etc.)

Chewbacca is a close second, as his ability is permanently functioning, but I don't think it's quite as powerful as Wedge's, especially in a Rebel-Imperial dynamic.

Boba Fett, "Dark Curse", Han Solo, and Turr Phennir also have solid abilities that function more or less independently of the state of the board.

no mention of Turr Phennr? Backstabber, Dark Curse, Night Beast etc ships come to mind too

Best ability definitely goes to Darth Vader, no doubts about it

I'm fond of Horton. Basically a free target lock in most cases so with his target lock he'll usually get his full two hits in which negates the hated two attack die of the Y-wing. With upgrades he's even better.

I have to go with Tycho, especially given that the A-Wing dial is the best in the game and the craft is capable of always pulling off surprise moves. Combine him with Push the Limit and you have a rather nasty thorn in the side of Imperial craft.

I'm fond of Horton. Basically a free target lock in most cases so with his target lock he'll usually get his full two hits in which negates the hated two attack die of the Y-wing. With upgrades he's even better.

you cannot reroll dices that have already been rerolled

I'm fond of Horton. Basically a free target lock in most cases so with his target lock he'll usually get his full two hits in which negates the hated two attack die of the Y-wing. With upgrades he's even better.

you cannot reroll dices that have already been rerolled

Source?

No love for Han Solo or Chewbacca?

Han Solo seems too specific to a rarely occurring worse case scenario. Had it function like target lock and allow re-rolls of selected dice vs all, it would be great. But for a whopping 46 points, he's overcosted.

And since you can't use it in combination with marksman or focus, because you cannot re-roll re-rolled dice, it's doubly useless.

Han Solo seems too specific to a rarely occurring worse case scenario. Had it function like target lock and allow re-rolls of selected dice vs all, it would be great. But for a whopping 46 points, he's overcosted.

And since you can't use it in combination with marksman or focus, because you cannot re-roll re-rolled dice, it's doubly useless.

Marksmanship and Focus aren't re-rolling, they're die manipulation. Re-rolls are specifically from Target Lock, Han Solo's ability, Howlrunner's ability, Captain Jonus' ability, Ibtisam's ability, Elusiveness, and Flight Instructor. (I think that's all of them).

By the way, I'm totally for Ibtisam for "Best Pilot Ability"

Also, "Luke Skywalker" technically has greater survivability than any pilot in the game that isn't in a Firespray-31, assuming no defensive actions.

"Under Fel's leadership the 181st was soon one of the most elite squadrons."

No, sir. The correct response is "The" most not "one" of the most elite squadrons.

"Under Fel's leadership the 181st was soon one of the most elite squadrons."

No, sir. The correct response is "The" most not "one" of the most elite squadrons.

Nope - the most elite squadron still is Vaders' Black Squadron

I'm fond of Horton. Basically a free target lock in most cases so with his target lock he'll usually get his full two hits in which negates the hated two attack die of the Y-wing. With upgrades he's even better.

you cannot reroll dices that have already been rerolled

Source?

Rules booklet, page 12. The very bottom of the "Modifying Dice Results" sidebar.

". . . however, a die that has already been rerolled cannot be rerolled again during this attack."

(Bolding in original)

The easiest and most obvious answer is Wedge but recently i have been playing Garven Dreis quite a bit and really like him - especially paired with a Hwk-290 with recon specialist. trick is to get to use the focus before another pilot needs it. sometimes u roll blanks or just hits and cant pass it - man i wish Dreis had an elite pilot skill slot because Deadeye would be a perfect fit for his ability.

Vader has the best ability if ship stats aren't taken into consideration. Focus + Lock beats Wedge's ability. Wedge has the best ability in combination with stats.

The easiest and most obvious answer is Wedge but recently i have been playing Garven Dreis quite a bit and really like him - especially paired with a Hwk-290 with recon specialist. trick is to get to use the focus before another pilot needs it. sometimes u roll blanks or just hits and cant pass it - man i wish Dreis had an elite pilot skill slot because Deadeye would be a perfect fit for his ability.

From the FAQ:

"Q: Can Garven Dreis spend a focus token to modify dice even if he didn’t roll any focus symbols?

A: Yes."

Tycho and Fell have great abilites, but their abilites really shine when they also have Push the Limit. If you want a stand a lone best I would have to go with Vader. It's not just offensive, or defensive it can be what ever you need it to be. His pilot skill 9 make just makes it that much better. It really makes barrel rolls even more awesome.

I'm fond of Horton. Basically a free target lock in most cases so with his target lock he'll usually get his full two hits in which negates the hated two attack die of the Y-wing. With upgrades he's even better.

you cannot reroll dices that have already been rerolled

I'm aware. But a reroll from any source+focus will usually get you a hit on any given die. I never said anything about rerolling twice.

Edit: The thing with Tycho and Soontir, their ships are so maneuverable, with so few red maneuvers, that you almost need a stress causing upgrade to make full use of them.

Horton and Dutch after Vader.

Tycho and Fell have great abilites, but their abilites really shine when they also have Push the Limit. If you want a stand a lone best I would have to go with Vader. It's not just offensive, or defensive it can be what ever you need it to be. His pilot skill 9 make just makes it that much better. It really makes barrel rolls even more awesome.