Beginner's Guide to Factions: Scum

This series describes the strengths and weaknesses of the factions in X-Wing, with this article covering the Scum and Villainy faction. Rather than general statements like "Rebels are more supportive and Imperials are more self-sufficient" (which isn't even true), I'll highlight the factions' strongest pilots and upgrades as well as some of its weaknesses. This can help you choose which factions you want to play and which expansions to prioritize.

For the other two factions, check out the links below:
Rebels
Imperials

1. Attanni Mindlink

Every faction has special ways to get extra actions. Rebels have regeneration through R2-D2 and evades through C-3PO. Imperials have pilots and ships with extra actions, and many of its ships have enough green maneuvers to use Push the Limit. The Attanni Mindlink elite pilot talent is Scum's faction-defining way of generating extra actions. You need three or four ships with Attanni Mindlink for it to shine. You'll usually want a cheap Attanni Mindlink carrier, a strong ship, and either another strong ship or two generics. Ideally, at least one ship will have a turret or a mobile arc. Attanni Mindlink prevents you from performing red maneuvers with multiple ships in the same round, so you may have a hard time turning the list around.

These ships are often used as the heavy lifters in a Mindlink list.

• Fenn Rau or Old Teroch (pilot; Protectorate Starfighter) [1][2]. With 3 attack dice and 3 defense dice, Protectorate Starfighters crave extra actions and Attanni Mindlink gives them just that. Fenn Rau is the more common of the two. He's very strong in close range and has higher pilot skill. Old Teroch provides extra disruption and counters lists which rely on focus tokens.
• Asajj Ventress (pilot; Shadow Caster) [1]. Asajj Ventress can be extremely tanky with an extra action thanks to Latts Razzi crew and her evade action. Besides being a solid jouster, she adds some disruption with her ability to stress enemy ships. Asajj is also great in an Attanni Mindlink list because her mobile arc reduces her reliance on K-Turns. Extra points are usually best spent on the Gyroscopic Targeting modification or on illicit upgrades like Black Market Slicer Tools.
• Generic Jousters (Mist Hunter or M3-A Interceptor) [1][2]. These pilots function as efficient damage-dealers with a medium pilot skill. Unlike most other generic jousters, they have action economy thanks to Attanni Mindlink. They use it for more consistent offense with Target Lock or better defense with Evade.
• Guri (pilot; StarViper) [1]. The StarViper isn't very efficient and you're almost always better off with the cheaper and stronger Fenn Rau. That said, Guri's ability can be especially useful in a Mindlink list. It provides some insurance against bumps, and it lets all of your ships take a different action instead of focus.

Usually, you'll also want to bring one of these as a cheap extra ship. Besides taking the focus for your other ships, they can also be quite disruptive.

• Contracted Scout (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2][3]. The Contracted Scout makes for a cheap third Attanni Mindlink. Its durability and maneuverability makes it a good blocker, and its attack is good enough at close range. You can run it with just Attanni Mindlink, add R4 Agromech to improve its attack, or add Intelligence Agent and/or Rigged Cargo Chute to improve its disruptive capabilities.
• Manaroo (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2]. Manaroo is a strong option for a third Attanni Mindlink, even after the errata which limits her ability to range 1. She'll usually give another ship a focus token while regaining a focus for herself. She can also take and pass a target lock to improve your other ship's offense. If you have more points, you can add to her damage output with Anti-Pursuit Lasers and R5-P8.
• Kaa'to Leeachos (Z-95 Headhunter pilot; Most Wanted) [1]. Coming in at 16 points, Kaa'to Leeachos is the cheapest way to get a ship with Attanni Mindlink. He's otherwise unimpressive, and you may want to keep him out of the fight for a while so he can continue buffing the rest of your squad with focus tokens. If you have extra points, Concussion Missile and Guidance Chips gives him a bit more damage output.
• Palob Godalhi (HWK-290 pilot; Most Wanted) [1][2]. Palob is interesting in an Attanni Mindlink list. Not only does he remove a focus token from the opponent, he can also use his ability to get a focus token for the Mindlink. This can come in handy if all of your ships bumped or otherwise needed to take a different action. He's pretty fragile, so you can either run him light or use Cloaking Device to mitigate his squishiness. Dengar crew is also helpful since it applies to both of the Twin Laser Turret attacks.

2. Jumpmaster 5000

If you were bummed out that you need to buy two copies of the Jumpmaster 5000 expansion for a full set of Attanni Mindlinks, cheer up! The Jumpmaster 5000 is an incredibly strong ship and you can easily have two in one squad. It features a relatively low cost, enough defense to survive a turn of shooting against all but the strongest alpha strikes, unparalleled mobility thanks to its excellent dial and barrel roll, and a vast array of upgrade slots. All four of its pilots have been played to high finishes in Premier-level tournaments.

• U-Boat Contracted Scout (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2]. The U-Boat uses Attanni Mindlink, R4 Agromech, and Guidance Chips for a 92% chance of a 4-hit result with torpedoes. These ships can get both target lock and focus by either taking the target lock action and getting focus from Attanni Mindlink, or by acquiring the target lock with R4 Agromech the previous round. After spending the target lock to shoot the torpedo, it can spend focus to change any focuses to a hit, reroll any blanks with the new target lock from R4 Agromech, and modify a blank to a hit with Guidance Chips. The first build does an extra damage against shields, and the second build strips an important upgrade from the opponent with Boba Fett. Extra points can be spent on crew like Intelligence Agent or 4-LOM for the first build, and on Extra Munitions for the second build.
• Bumpmaster Contracted Scout (pilot; Punishing One) [1]. The Bumpmaster abuses the Jumpmaster 5000's excellent dial and barrel roll action to cover most of your opponent's options. Feedback Array and Anti-Pursuit Lasers lets the Bumpmaster deal damage when blocking. Adaptability is usually used to reduce the Bumpmaster's pilot skill to 2, and can be replaced with Attanni Mindlink.
• Dengar (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2][3]. Dengar's pilot ability gives this expensive ship enough offense to justify his cost. The first build takes advantage of his pilot skill and barrel roll action and enhances his arc-dodging ability. He's similar to Dash Rendar with a much higher pilot skill and the ability to shoot ships at range 1. The second build is slightly cheaper and uses Expertise to modify both of his attacks. The third build is used in alpha strike lists, often paired with Bossk in the YV-666.
• Manaroo (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2]. As mentioned above, Manaroo is a strong option for a third Attanni Mindlink. Spare points can go towards Anti-Pursuit Lasers, R5-P8, Intelligence Agent, and/or illicit upgrades like Feedback Array, Burnout SLAM, or Black Market Slicer Tools.
• Tel Trevura (pilot; Punishing One) [1][2]. The least popular Jumpmaster 5000 pilot, Tel Trevura is still a viable option. The first build takes advantage of Tel's pilot ability with Gonk, R5-P8, and Hull Upgrade. The second build is a pilot skill 9 torpedo boat.

3. Disruption

Scum isn't as good as Rebels for denying actions, but they've got some tricks up their sleeves. They have some strong ships which hand out stress and strip tokens from enemy ships. Scum also has the best ways to hand out tractor beam tokens.

• Asajj Ventress (pilot; Shadow Caster) [1][2][3]. Asajj Ventress is reliable stress control in a great ship. The first two builds are more defensive, while the last adds the Shadow Caster title to also hand out tractor beam tokens.
• Old Teroch (pilot; Protectorate Starfighter) [1][2][3]. Old Teroch has to put himself at risk to strip tokens, but he's pretty durable as long as he has arc on the enemy ship. There are three good options for the elite pilot talent but otherwise the build is pretty standard.
• Ketsu Onyo (pilot; Shadow Caster) [1][2]. Ketsu is one of the few ways to assign a tractor beam token without hitting with an attack. The easiest way to trigger Ketsu's ability is to keep her mobile arc forward. She can bump into an enemy small ship, apply the tractor beam and barrel them off, then shoot them with a range 1 attack. She's not usually played as defensively as Asajj, so you'll generally see her with an offensive crew. Veteran Instincts is especially useful with the Shadow Caster title if your other ship(s) has pilot skill 8 or 9.
• Jakku Gunrunner (pilot; Quadjumper) [1][2]. I usually don't like paying much more than 12 points for 2-attack ships with low health, but Spacetug Tractor Array is amazing. It doesn't require an attack, and it can be used before your opponent moves. You can easily set it up so they have to go over an asteroid twice this turn, or nudge them too close to the board edge. The first build is the barebones setup, but upgrades can make this ship much more effective. Intelligence Agent lets you know exactly how to move the ship (or not move them) to mess them up, and Pattern Analyzer lets the Gunrunner use the tractor beam after a reverse move.
• Palob Godalhi (HWK-290 pilot; Most Wanted) [1][2]. Palob can't strip as many tokens as Old Teroch, but he does it more reliably. Since he steals tokens instead of just removing them, it encourages your opponent not to take those actions. Sometimes he'll get an entirely squad to change their actions, even though he can't steal more than a single token! The two builds here use Attanni Mindlink. If you're not running a Mindlink build, you should probably choose a 0-cost elite pilot talent since Palob doesn't particularly benefit from any of them.

4. Offensive crew

Scum have the best options for crew which adds offensive dice modification or denies defensive dice modification from your opponents. You've already seen several of these, but they're also useful in other builds.

• Dengar (crew; Punishing One) [1][2][3][4]. Dengar is one of the strongest crew in the game. Rerolling two dice is almost as good as target lock, and Dengar gives it to you without limiting your maneuvers! You only reroll one die against generic pilots, but that's still on par with Predator and named pilots are much more popular than ships with pilot skill 1 or 2. The last two builds are ships we've seen before, and the first two are other ideas you can consider.
• K4 Security Droid (crew; Most Wanted or Hound's Tooth) [1][2]. The downside of Dengar crew is it can't be used to shoot missiles and torpedoes, and you can't run it with Dengar. K4 Security Droid grants extra target locks, but requires doing green maneuvers. It's also an extremely strong crew that the other factions would love to have. I've highlighted its main strengths over the Dengar crew in these two builds.
• 4-LOM (crew; Mist Hunter) [1][2][3]. 4-LOM lets you block a focus or evade token on an important attack. He's best used with large ships since they can use it twice before suffering any penalties.

5. Closers

Scum doesn't have the same selection of cheap closers Imperials do, but they have some strong options. Unlike Imperials, several of these are large ships which either get very tanky or deal lots of damage. We've seen many of these pilots before, but it's worth noting them here again. I won't list the Attanni Mindlink version of their builds since Mindlink isn't very helpful when you're down to your last ship.

• Fenn Rau (pilot; Protectorate Starfighter) [1]. Despite the similarities, the lack of an evade action and the Concord Dawn title means Fenn Rau flies very differently from Imperial arc-dodgers. Without evade, he can explode with one or two bad rolls. Still, his offensive and defensive abilities and high pilot skill make him a strong closer. He's most effective if you can stay out of range 2.
• Asajj Ventress (pilot; Shadow Caster) [1]. As mentioned earlier, Asajj is very tanky when she can take focus and evade every turn. Combined with Latts Razzi, she's guaranteed to mitigate 2 damage every round and will mitigate a third thanks to her green dice.
• Dengar (pilot; Punishing One) [1]. We've seen Dengar before. He's a great closer thanks to his mobility and high pilot skill, and because his double-tap ability is very strong in a 1v1. He can be very difficult for small-ship closers to pin down. The downside is he is somewhat squishy for his cost, and he suffers against turrets.

6. Brobots

The Aggressor is an interesting ship because their pilots share each others' abilities. They're quite durable thanks to their 3 green dice and ability to equip Autothrusters, and they can put out good damage with a Heavy Laser Cannon and IG-88B's ability. Their main downside is they're a big-base ship that can't shoot out of its arc. They rely on sloops and K-turns to have shots on their target, so they have a hard time getting action economy. The most common pilots are IG-88B and IG-88C.

• IG-88B or IG-88C (pilot; IG-2000) [1][2]. The first build is the standard heavy-hitting build. Fire-Control Systems with IG-88B's pilot ability means you'll rarely go a round without dealing damage, and Crack Shot can be used to push a key damage through. The second build uses Push the Limit with Advanced Sensors to stay free of stress so red maneuvers stay as options. It also highly maneuverable since it can boost before executing its maneuver. The downside with the second build is the Heavy Laser Cannon version costs 51 points, so one has to use the Mangler Cannon instead.
• IG-88D (crew; IG-2000) [1]. The IG-88D crew lets another ship benefit from your Aggressor pilot's ability. Usually, you'll see IG-88D on a ship with a cannon paired with the IG-88B pilot. You can do this with any YV-666 build, but I decided to highlight a bit of a cheesy build. This build tries to miss with its first attack to then make two attacks: one with IG-88B's ability, and one with Gunner. This works because both are triggered once the first attack misses (even if IG-88B ability's cannon shot hits), and IG-88B's ability doesn't prevent further attacks.

7. Efficient damage dealers

Scum have a couple options for efficient damage dealers.

• Syndicate Thug (Y-Wing pilot; Most Wanted) [1]. Just like its Rebel cousin, the Y-Wing with Twin Laser Turret is a cheap and efficient damage dealer. Unhinged Astromech and R4 Agromech are popular upgrades with extra points.
• Cartel Spacer (pilot; M3-A Interceptor) [1]. The Cartel Spacer is an option for a cheap damage dealer thanks to the errata which adds 1 hull to the Heavy Scyk title. It should survive 2 shots from a 3-attack ship with one offensive dice mod, but it'll die quickly against stronger attacks or if it suffers from bad dice luck.

Scum Weaknesses

Scum is a flexible faction, but it has a couple weaknesses. Many of its small ships are awkwardly positioned. The Protectorate Starfighter wants to fill the role of a closer, but it's fragile and prone to exploding before the endgame. The StarViper is positioned as a heavy-hitting arc-dodger, but it doesn't have the greens or the dice modification to support that role. The Kihraxz Fighter is positioned as a jouster, but doesn't have a 1 straight. The M3-A Interceptor is in a better spot after the Heavy Scyk errata, but it's very dependent on green dice and also has trouble getting action economy to support its dice.

Some of these action economy concerns can be fixed with Attanni Mindlink, but that introduces also introduces problems. Since the Mindlink gets weaker with each ship lost, you ideally want to bring durable ships or keep a fragile one out of the fight. That's either very expensive, or makes some of these fragile ships less suitable for a Mindlink list.

Scum lists can be a bit light on offense. Many of Scum's strongest ships are big ships that sit best around 45 points and up, and it lacks options for damage dealers under 30 points. Scum ships with heavy offense can be a bit awkward to use, like requiring target locks for torpedoes, being fragile, or being hard to maneuver.

Beginner's Guide to Factions: Imperials

[Updated for Wave 11]

This series describes the strengths and weaknesses of the factions in X-Wing, with this article covering the Imperial faction. Rather than general statements like "Rebels are more supportive and Imperials are more self-sufficient" (which isn't even true), I'll highlight the factions' strongest pilots and upgrades as well as some of its weaknesses. This can help you choose which factions you want to play and which expansions to prioritize.

For the other two factions, check out the links below:
Rebels
Scum

1. Great Closers

Imperials have a wide array of ships which are fantastic closers. Unlike other factions, these ships are often cheap enough to fit three of them in a list. It can make target selection for opponents extremely tricky. These ships are also often durable enough to survive a round of shooting and are maneuverable enough to escape the next turn.

• Omega Leader (pilot; TIE/fo Fighter) [1]. Perhaps the best ship in the Imperial faction today, Omega Leader wins almost every 1v1 endgame that doesn't go to time. He pushes consistent damage through with Juke, and being able to modify his dice when his enemy can't makes him fairly durable. He's very easy to fit into lists at just 26 points and forces opponents to deal with him early. Extra points should go toward Hull Upgrade or Shield Upgrade, with Stealth Device being a distant third.
• Quickdraw (pilot; TIE/sf Fighter) [1][2]. A versatile and powerful ship. While his durability isn't fantastic, his pilot ability makes attacking him a Catch-22. Killing Quickdraw early spikes his damage output, but he's very hard to deal with at full health in the end-game. Most builds will use the title, Fire-Control System, and Lightweight Frame. He works with an extremely wide array of EPT and Tech options. Besides the two examples, other interesting EPT options include Crack Shot and Draw Their Fire. Extra points can also be spent on Cruise Missile or Homing Missile for extra damage output.
• TIE/x7 (title; Imperial Veterans) [1][2][3]. Extremely durable ships. It's great in the end-game since it can out-K-Turn its opponent while being very hard to hit. These are some of the easier Imperial ships to fly, and they're a good place to start for beginner Imperial players. The first two TIE Defender pilots are the most popular since they have consistent offense to go with their strong defense. The third is a cheap generic with the same defensive abilities, but doesn't have the consistent offense.
• Darth Vader (pilot; TIE Advanced) [1]. His mediocre offense is a weakness, but he's one of the few ships that can reach PS 11 with both boost and barrel roll. His action economy with focus and evade makes him fairly durable. He's not great when pilot skill isn't as important, but he's a great pick to counter other aces. With extra points, Cruise Missile is a great option to boost his offense.
• Whisper (pilot; TIE Phantom) [1]. Whisper is a dangerous but streaky ship. She can explode the first turn she's shot at, or she can destroy your opponent's list by herself. When Whisper gets to shoot first, she rolls 4 dice on attack and on defense with plenty of tokens to modify them. She has one of the best ways of staying on her target with the "candy cane" maneuver of decloaking to the side and doing a 1 hard turn towards where she came from. While strong, Whisper's vulnerable to disruption (stress prevents her from cloaking), ships with higher pilot skill, and bad dice luck. Agent Kallus is fantastic, but optional. Other options include Rebel Captive and Gunner.

2. Arc-dodging aces

Imperials have some of the best arc-dodging aces. These pilots share five features. First, they have six or more green maneuvers, including green hard turns. This lets them use Push the Limit (elite pilot talent; A-Wing or Imperial Aces) to perform two actions each round at a minimal cost. Second, these pilots have high pilot skill and both the boost and barrel roll actions. Combined with Push the Limit, they can perform a boost and barrel roll in the same turn and have great flexibility in dodging enemy arcs. Third, they have access to the evade action. When they can't dodge arcs, they can focus and evade to become very difficult to hit. Fourth, they have a pilot ability which effectively gives them a third action or denies actions from the opponent. Finally, they can equip Autothrusters (modification; StarViper) to counter turrets. These pilots come in at an affordable 31-35 points, which makes it very easy to fit them into a list.

Thanks to their defenses, these ships are excellent in a 1v1 endgame. They can even win some unfair fights with luck and good flying. These ships depend on their actions, so bumps and stress can get them killed pretty quickly. These ships have recently fallen out of favor due to the prevalence of bombs and higher-PS ships.

• Soontir Fel (pilot; TIE Interceptor) [1]. Stealth Device is optional. Soontir Fel used to be one of the best ships in the game, but he's fallen in popularity thanks to the prevalence of counters.
• Carnor Jax (pilot; Imperial Aces) [1]. Hull Upgrade is optional. Carnor Jax has seen more play recently since he can disrupt lists which depend on focus or evade tokens.
• The Inquisitor (pilot; Inquisitor's TIE) [1]. Sometimes takes Proton Rockets. Very popular since he only costs 31 points and has more health than the TIE Interceptors.

3. Three-crew ship with a turret

The VT-49 Decimator is one of two ships in the game with 3 crew slots. The other is the YV-666, which doesn't have a turret and has a hard time turning around. You'll almost always want Gunner (Slave I or YT-2400 Freighter) in one slot. The other slots can be filled with Darth Vader (Lambda-Class Shuttle), Hotshot Co-Pilot (Heroes of the Resistance), Kylo Ren (Upsilon-Class Shuttle), Rebel Captive (Lambda-Class Shuttle), or Ysanne Isard (VT-49 Decimator). Unlike other large ships with low agility, the Decimator doesn't have access to defensive abilities like C-3PO or Kanan Jarrus's pilot ability. They die very quickly for their cost, which makes the Engine Upgrade modification and arc-dodging especially important.

• Rear Admiral Chiraneau (pilot; VT-49 Decimator) [1][2][3]. The first build tries to miss with the first shot to strip enemy focus tokens, leaving the target vulnerable to the Gunner shot and the wingmate. The second uses Kylo Ren to put Blinded Pilot or Damaged Cockpit on enemy ships. The third also uses Kylo Ren, but has Palpatine to keep the ace alive or force through a critical hit for Kylo Ren.
• Captain Oicunn (pilot; VT-49 Decimator) [1]. Oicunn is a cheaper Decimator with a strong ability. He doesn't use Hotshot Co-Pilot or Kylo Ren as well as Chiraneau does, but Darth Vader and the defensive crew are still strong options. Engine Upgrade is still a strong upgrade for maneuvering, but the lower pilot skill limits Oicunn's ability to arc-dodge.

4. Support crew cards and platforms

Imperials have the best selection of support crew. Most support abilities costs one action to generate an action, or passes a token from one ship to another. Imperials have the best selection of crew which generate additional actions for allies, including Emperor Palpatine (Imperial Raider epic), Fleet Officer (VT-49 Decimator), and General Hux (Upsilon-Class Shuttle). Imperials also have the best ships to put support crew on, so they also take the most advantage of support crew like Operations Specialist (Upsilon-Class Shuttle), Systems Officer (Imperial Veterans), and Inspiring Recruits (U-Wing). Finally, Imperials have the best targets to support with these abilities. Most of their ships have high agility and can make good use of extra focus tokens, and their aces can make especially good use of extra actions and defensive abilities.

• Emperor Palpatine (crew, Imperial Raider) [1][2][3]. Emperor Palpatine's errata makes him less consistent and overbearing, but he's still very strong when supporting aces. It can be used on defense to keep your ships alive or on offense to push through extra crits. The first two options are in the more supportive shuttles. They'll usually be used with 2-3 aces who do the heavy lifting, while the shuttle adds a tanky threat that can't be ignored. The third option is in a Decimator. It's a threat on its own, but you'll only have the points to run it with one ace.
• TIE Shuttle (title; Imperial Veterans) [1][2]. While a bit fragile, the TIE Bomber with the TIE Shuttle is the cheapest way to field support crew. If you have extra points, Rebel Captive is probably the best defensive option.
• Major Stridan (pilot; Upsilon-Class Shuttle) [1]. Major Stridan's ability is great with support crew and his Coordinate action.

5. Swarms

The TIE Fighter is the best swarm ship in the game. Not only are its stats and dial superior to comparable cheap ships, it also has a cheap offensive support ship in Howlrunner and generics with the ability to equip Crack Shot. I list several TIE swarm variations in this post.

• Howlrunner [1]. The force multiplier of your swarm, She often adds 2-3 hits across the rest of your swarm. Expect your opponents to focus her, so don't be afraid to spend actions defensively to keep her on the board.
• Black Squadron Pilot [1]. This is the cheapest generic pilot with the ability to take Crack Shot. Extra points can be spent to upgrade these to named pilots, or to upgrade to the equivalent TIE/fo Fighter for the extra shield.
• TIE Bomber [1][2]. These are a bit more expensive than the TIE Fighters, but they're very durable and have some interesting options. The first build uses Unguided Rockets to get a 3-dice attack. The second build is passes focus tokens with Operations Specialist. Extra points can be spent on Tactician or Intelligence Agent. One ship can also run Darth Vader or Kylo Ren for variety.
• TIE Aggressor [1]. Imperials finally get their Twin Laser Turret carrier in Wave 11. They're less durable than Y-Wings, but have better maneuverability and barrel roll.

6. High-PS alpha strike

Thanks to their cheap aces with missile slots, Imperials can pull off an alpha strike at pilot skill 11 and 10. These ships make sacrifices for their alpha strike, so these ships will have trouble if the alpha strike doesn't work.

• Quickdraw [1]. He probably makes the fewest sacrifices, but the loss of Lightweight Frames is big. Still, he probably functions the best of these three ships after the initial alpha.
• Darth Vader [1]. Losing Engine Upgrade hurts, but Darth Vader still has most of everything he wants.
• The Inquisitor [1]. You can alternatively run him with Proton Rockets for insurance against being in range 1. Unfortunately, this ship sacrifices a lot for the alpha strike and doesn't perform well afterwards.

Imperial Weaknesses

Imperials have a couple weaknesses. First, their ships tend to have less health and rely on green dice to survive. While this can keep them alive longer in the end-game, it means they're vulnerable to bad luck. It encourages you to spend your focus on defense, which weakens your attacks. It also makes your ships vulnerable to disruption. Stress, tractor beams, and automatic damage (e.g. bombs) are all especially deadly for Imperial ships.

Second, Imperials don't have many great options for disruption. Their disruption options tend to be fragile, unreliable, and/or expensive enough to limit their use.



Underrated Ship?

If I had to bet on one ship which is potentially underrated in the Imperial arsenal, it'd be the PS 2 TIE Punisher with Lightweight Frame and Unguided Rocket. It's a 25-point ship with 9 health, 2 agility, and a pseudo-3 attack. Compared to the 25-point naked Jumpmaster 5000, it has better offense but worse maneuverability. The top-tier meta right now isn't very good for jousters, but this ship should be fine in more casual games.

How good is the Twin Laser Turret?

The Twin Laser Turret is the best turret upgrade, and FFG has come out before saying it probably should have cost 7 points. With the recent grumbling about Twin Laser Turret, I thought I might run some numbers and see how good it really is.

Based on calculations using the X-Wing Dice Probability Calculator, the short answer is Twin Laser Turret is strong. It's comparable to a 3-dice attack if you have the token advantage over your opponent, but it's much stronger if your opponent has a token advantage over you.

On the other hand, a Twin Laser Turret Y-Wing is the same price as a Fire-Control Systems B-Wing, so it's not quite the apples-to-apples comparison. The 3-dice attack with focus and target lock has much better damage output. If you have focus and the target is a 2-agility ship with focus, the damage is roughly even across the first two turns of shooting. Still, the target lock takes a round to kick in and the Twin Laser Turret is harder to avoid. I'd say the Twin Laser Turret is still a bit too strong when using an equal-point benchmark.

Even if it's strong, it's hard to say whether Twin Laser Turrets is worthy of a nerf. I'm not sure Twin Laser Turret really pushes ships out, unlike torpedo U-Boats. If FFG were concerned about it, the easiest way to nerf Twin Laser Turret is to allow range bonuses to apply to turret secondary weapon attacks (I'd like to see it applied to all secondary weapon attacks for rule simplicity purposes). This also has the benefit of buffing the other turrets, none of which are strong enough to see consistent play.


Twin Laser Turret vs. 3-dice attack

With focus, against a tokenless opponent:
0 Agility: -0.35 (1.90 TLT vs. 2.25 3D)
1 Agility: -0.13 (1.75 TLT vs. 1.88 3D)
2 Agility: +0.01 (1.54 TLT vs. 1.53 3D)
3 Agility: +0.08 (1.30 TLT vs. 1.22 3D)

With focus, against an opponent with focus:
1 Agility: +0.03 (1.66 TLT vs. 1.63 3D)
2 Agility: +0.27 (1.30 TLT vs. 1.07 3D)
3 Agility: +0.26 (0.90 TLT vs. 0.64 3D)

Without focus, against a tokenless opponent:
0 Agility: +0.25 (1.75 TLT vs. 1.5 3D)
1 Agility: +0.30 (1.47 TLT vs. 1.17 3D)
2 Agility: +0.28 (1.18 TLT vs. 0.90 3D)
3 Agility: +0.26 (0.93 TLT vs. 0.67 3D)

Without focus, against an opponent with focus:
1 Agility: +0.35 (1.30 TLT vs. 0.95 3D)
2 Agility: +0.32 (0.87 TLT vs. 0.55 3D)
3 Agility: +0.24 (0.54 TLT vs. 0.30 3D)

Twin Laser Turret vs. 3-dice attack with Target Lock

With focus, against a tokenless opponent:
0 Agility: -0.81 (1.90 TLT vs. 2.81 3D)
1 Agility: -0.69 (1.75 TLT vs. 2.44 3D)
2 Agility: -0.52 (1.54 TLT vs. 2.06 3D)
3 Agility: -0.40 (1.30 TLT vs. 1.70 3D)

With focus, against an opponent with focus:
1 Agility: -0.53 (1.66 TLT vs. 2.19 3D)
2 Agility: -0.27 (1.30 TLT vs. 1.57 3D)
3 Agility: -0.09 (0.90 TLT vs. 0.99 3D)

Without focus, against a tokenless opponent:
0 Agility: -0.50 (1.75 TLT vs. 2.25 3D)
1 Agility: -0.41 (1.47 TLT vs. 1.88 3D)
2 Agility: -0.35 (1.18 TLT vs. 1.53 3D)
3 Agility: -0.29 (0.93 TLT vs. 1.22 3D)

Without focus, against an opponent with focus:
1 Agility: -0.33 (1.30 TLT vs. 1.63 3D)
2 Agility: -0.20 (0.87 TLT vs. 1.07 3D)
3 Agility: -0.10 (0.54 TLT vs. 0.64 3D)