First Order Orientation - What To Fly?

When I ran through the recent point changes for First Order I said that I thought the faction was full of A-Tier ships and pilots but had nothing truly S-Tier.  I've seen a lot of players starting to look more at the First Order faction in the last few weeks, but as it's historically been one of the least played factions a lot of players aren't really sure where to start.

Jump into Scum and you know you'll need a Firespray, jump into Empire and it's rapidly obvious you'll want Darth Vader, Soontir Fel or Grand Inquisitor.  Want to play Separatists?  You'll want a bunch of Vultures and Hyenas, most likely.

For First Order I think the picture is really muddy as there's never really been a fixed 'here's how to win with First Order' type of squad that's consistently risen above.  At the back of end of last year we saw the Avenger Swarm do well, then suddenly the TIE/fo was 25pts and FOcho appeared... then seemingly disappeared just as quickly and it was a time for Concussion Missile TIE/sfs.  And while all this was going on what was happening with faction hero Kylo Ren and his new running mate Major Vonreg, who many players had expected to make a splash?

In short if you're thinking about dropping into First Order it's hard to really know for sure what squad you should be trying to make.  It turns out that there's a good reason for this: it's because they're virtually all good squads and no two First Order players can agree on the best way to do things.

To help introduce players to the faction I was going to try and write a blog that shared a bunch of different First Order squads that I've seen people flying and then I had a better idea... let's get those players to do all the hard work for me!

So here's four First Order players from the First Order channel on the X-Wing Second Edition Discord telling you about their favourite squads and why they're cool and you should definitely play them.  

Now if you don't mind I'm going to put my feet up for a bit, like this model in a stock photo pretending he's not too tall and handsome to have a real job like a normal person.

First Order Ace Lads (FOALS)

• Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer)
• Major Vonreg (TIE/ba) - Daredevil
• Rush (TIE Silencer)
  (190)

Introduced by Battlebrow...

I’ve been running this squad since before the points change and now it’s even cheaper. Running Vonreg with Daredevil,and then naked Kylo and Rush is a solid ace list that ends up at 190 now, giving you room to add some toys like Advanced Optics, Sense, or Hate - whatever you prefer!.

Main strategy with this list is to put Rush into combat quickly, taunting the enemy to chase him. If they’re gullible (or greedy) enough they will go after him, freeing you up to get Kylo and Vonreg on the flanks. Just be careful not to engage with Rush on turn one otherwise you may end up in a bad spot (I may or may not have lost him to four range three attacks once). Usually you will want Rush engaging on turn two, while setting up the flanks for Kylo and Vonreg. If the enemy ends up halving Rush, get him out of there so he can fix any crits and come back in as an i6 ace.

Kylo and Vonreg will also likely want to be on opposite sides of the board so you can use them as bait too if the enemy is wise enough to ignore the i2 silencer. Kylo and Vonreg are your endgame pieces, so try to keep one of them untouched as long as you can. 

It's also completely Hyperspace legal and in Hyperspace there's a lot less Initiative 6 pilots around and it gets even better!

 

Holo, TN & 3/sf

• Holo (TIE/ba) - Proud Tradition
• Zeta Squadron Survivor (TIE/sf) - Special Forces Gunner
• Zeta Squadron Survivor (TIE/sf) - Special Forces Gunner
• Zeta Squadron Survivor (TIE/sf)
• TN-3465 (TIE/fo)
  (197)

Introduced by Elred...

This list started off from the Kylo, TN, 3 Zeta Survivors list who got a decent track record a few months back (top8 at LVO), I adapted it with the /ba when I was trying to make good lists for the chassis. I settled on this variant with the 2 gunners after I noticed gunnerless SF had a lot of trouble handling both Boba and 3 AGI list like 5 Jedi.

The gist of it is you have a jousting block of TN and the 3 TIE/sf (gunners in the back) that will aim to engage the opponent at range 1 if possible, to maximize the damage output from TN. Holo more of less follows the block (on a sideline before turning in or directly behind) to provide evades if engaged early, then will dump strain on the safest target (usually the gunnerless Zeta who is the most unattractive target in the list). This list has a strong engage round thanks to TN providing a lot of spike damage, and will also have strong follow-up thanks to the survivors back arc, allowing for unexpected maneuvers and blocks that don't cost you shots if the rest of the opponent squad overshoot your blocker. The gunners are here to provide extra damage from the front but trying to milk them as much as possible is a trap, it's more often than not the correct decision to focus > rotate rather than slooping directly after engage.

Overall it's a very balanced and efficient list that can challenge anything in the hyperspace meta, the key to it being using TN to maximum effect (either as bait or as crit battery), Holo in a flexible ace/damage/support role and the /sf back arc to setup killbox and cut off escapes.

And you can find Elred proving the list's effectiveness in a series of videos from a recent lockdown tournament in France.  It looks like the Semi-Final and Final are yet to be uploaded to Youtube and (spoiler alert) Elred features in both, but here's one of him dismantling a fellow First Order squad during the Swiss rounds...

Ben Swolo

• Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) - Instinctive Aim, Advanced Optics, Proton Torpedoes
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet (TIE/fo)
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet (TIE/fo)
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet (TIE/fo)
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet (TIE/fo)
  (194)

Introduced by TriggerHappyTaco...

This squad really puts the “swole” in Ben Swolo. The list is set up to provide Kylo everything he needs to carry the team. He is equipped with a torpedo that can be fired without the lock, using an optics focus on a blank result and a force on an eye result. Firing without the lock gives a 63% chance of 4 hits, slightly less than the 71% if a lock were used instead. This loadout helps him threaten fragile I-6 pilots that move after him. Fenn, Vader, Fel, and Wedge are all deathly afraid of this threat, which can swing an unfavorable ace matchup back in Kylo’s favor. 

Then come the four Cadets. This efficient distraction can force your opponent to pick their poison: They could spend their time slowly taking out the TIEs (They’re surprisingly durable, as anyone who has played against the FOcho will tell you) while Kylo screams in on the flank. Alternatively, they could chase Kylo, only to have him slip away with the TIEs bearing down from your other flank. Either choice is bad for your opponent.

All in all, this squad is a fantastic choice if you enjoy flying Kylo. It gives you all the tools you need to set Kylo up for success in the late game. I would recommend using rocks or debris fields to prevent enemy ships hiding from Kylo’s torpedo behind those pesky gas clouds. The squad works well against almost all squad archetypes, especially lists that include boba.  I’ve had a lot of fun flying this squad in the past, and hope you do too!

Ride Eternal, Shiny & Chrome

• Major Vonreg (TIE/ba) - Daredevil
• Captain Phasma (TIE/sf) - Fanatical, Special Forces Gunner
• Major Tavson (Upsilon Shuttle)
• Lieutenant Rivas (TIE/fo)
  (198)

Introduced by Dave (SOTL) - that's me, btw, I'm back from putting my feet up...

This is probably the squad I've been playing most over the last month or so, and if you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen me sharing some of the highlights of my deepening love affair with Captain Phasma as pilot of a TIE/sf.  Much maligned since she arrived in Hotshots & Aces I'd go as far as to say that I think she's the best of the named TIE/sf pilots, especially when used in conjuction with Tavson.  Usually a named TIE/sf becomes the most obvious and easy target in your squad as it only has 2 Agility in a faction full of efficient 3 Agility ships but Phasma breaks that rules as she can pass damage off to nearby ships, and it makes her a very tough target to kill.

What I love most about this squad, though, is that it's got a bit of everything in it.  I've got a blocker in Rivas, I've got an ace in Vonreg, I've got a jouster in Phasma and I've got a big gun shuttle in Tavson.  But I've also got coordinate tricks, synergies to unlock between Phasma's ability and Tavson's ability, extra dice mods for Rivas and Vonreg, surprising Coordinate moves or Jam actions.  It's only ever been a fun list to put on the table and just whizz about with and in the key Phasma/Tavson axis there's a real core of steel to the squad as well.

What it's really good at is giving the opponent no targets they really want to attack.  Lieutenant Rivas is a little throwaway filler ship that takes much more effort to kill than it's really worth, if you shoot at Major Tavson he tends to stack up on Target Locks for the whole team and exact his revenge (TL himself, coordinate Phasma to TL, then Rivas picks up a TL too) but if you go after Captain Phasma then you're giving me more green dice to roll and half of it winds up being passed off to Tavson to trigger all the revenge attacks anyway.  So long as I'm careful to keep Vonreg out of harm's way this list presents a real Hobson's Choice of unattractive targets that tend to hit you back harder than you hit them.

Chase the ace and you've got a lot of red dice sitting at your back.  Try to break down the jousting block and it's probably going to take much longer than you expected and hurt more than you'd like.

And it has an Upsilon Shuttle in, which is a ship that I've long had an unreasonable attraction to dating all the way back to first edition.

 SUMMARY

That's four players who've each shared very different First Order squads that they've been enjoying and winning games with.  That really highlights the strength of the faction to me - there's so much stuff that's competitive you can take lists in multiple directions and really spend months and months just exploring all the different options.  In fact not only were those four very different squads but they also included at least one of every ship in the faction - there's literally nothing unplayable in First Order!  

And we did all that without hitting on other popular archetypes like Kylo & 3 Provocateurs, Avenger Swarm, triple Silencers, FOcho, a block of TIE/sfs loaded with Concussion Missiles, or other ace squad options like Kylo/Vonreg/Tavson or Kylo/Vonreg/Cadets.

Although the First Order is a faction that's missing out on the truly standout individual pilots that push a faction to the top of the game like a Boba Fett, Whisper or the simple Trade Federation Droid there's such a wealth of good stuff just below that level that's waiting for players to explore and discover.  It doesn't really matter what ships you buy because they're all good, and you can assemble them together in almost any combination and have it be effective.  With the Xi Light Shuttle just around the corner I don't think I'll be looking far beyond the boundaries of First Order space for the near future.

Now bring on the First Order Bomber and the TIE Dagger.  All remaining systems will bow before the First Order!