Poe - Stresshog - Eaden Vrill

[kopmcginty 609]

Thoughts on his list please;

Poe Dameron (37)

T-70 X-Wing (31), R5-P9 (3), Veteran Instincts (1), Autothrusters (2)

Gray Squadron Pilot (28)

Y-Wing (20), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0), R3-A2 (2), Twin Laser Turret (6)

Eaden Vrill (35)

YT-2400 Freighter (32), Intelligence Agent (1), Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

99pts means could upgrade to Artoo for round 100.

By now I imagine most of us have seen how powerful Poe and the Stresshog can be when well flown. Got me thinking about alternate squad mates to them and remembered Eaden Vrill who in a stressful environment is maybe under rated?

With Stresshog dumping as much stress as it can before it gets taken out (even just two turns of shooting drops 4 stress on the primary target) effectively Vrill is just 35 points for a 3 die PWT. Combination of IA and barrel roll should also see good use of APL. Made the stresshog PS4 just to get it shooting and loading it's stress before Vrills first shot Vrills main weakness of course is that his preferred target is telegraphed from then.

Poe does Poe things and is a powerful endgame piece. His two squad mates make it tough on an opponent that tries to take Poe first as he can disengage while they chip away.

Thoughts?

Edited November 15, 2015 by kopmcginty

[blade_mercurial 2,091]

I like it. Vrill is an underrated pilot imo. One thing to remember with Vrill is that he doesn't necessarily need stress dealers in your own list to get value out of his ability. Every ship has a red move or two on its dial and will need to use it eventually in a match, and then of course there's the ever popular Push the Limit----Vrill loves seeing opposing ships use that!

Having said that, your list might be a bit lacking in damage---you are really going to need to get some mileage out of Vrill and stresshog (before it dies) or else Poe can get overwhelmed. Put that intel agent to good use and you might do fine!

[kopmcginty 609]

Cheers BM that's a good point. I was thinking 3x debris for obstacles for that same reason.

Borrowing a 2400 to test it out before I buy one. It's been on my shopping list ever since I first saw super dash but I've been on a mainly imperial kick for a while now.

Edited November 15, 2015 by kopmcginty

[Hawkstrike 5,410]

Or put Tactician on Eaden for additional stress generation.

[blade_mercurial 2,091]

Or put Tactician on Eaden for additional stress generation.

That doesn't really help Vrill unless the opponent keeps the stress on into the following round.  Vrill's ability allows him to roll +1 attack die if the target is stressed.  Tactician applies the stress AFTER making the attack

[Hawkstrike 5,410]

Or put Tactician on Eaden for additional stress generation.

That doesn't really help Vrill unless the opponent keeps the stress on into the following round.  Vrill's ability allows him to roll +1 attack die if the target is stressed.  Tactician applies the stress AFTER making the attack

Right ... but since an opponent can only clear one stress per turn, if the stresshog and Eaden/Tactician both target the same ship at R2, Eaden gets +1 attack from the stresshog's stress, then lays down his own to ensure the same opportunity next round.

The more stress your list can stack, the better your options for Eaden. I'm experimenting with a list that includes a stresshog, Tactician, and B-wing with flechette cannon or torpedo so there's multiple stress sources. No Poe in that list, sadly.

[kopmcginty 609]

I considered Tactician for the additional stress so its harder to clear etc, but I don't want to be tied to the ships arc.

Also to fit it in I have to drop something. The obvious would be use the leftbover point to make IA into tactician. I think APL and IA gives me more milage overall though. Large base with IA and Barrel roll will be a good blocker and mess with how an opponent flies. Much harder to use as a blocker if I'm worried about my own arc I think.

[BizTheDad 21]

Disclaimer: I'm pretty new.

 

I've flown Poe using all three normal builds -- PTL/BB-8/AT, VI/R5-P9/AT and VI/R2-D2/AT -- and I like using R2 the best. I think it leaves you the option of using the focus for that roll has multiple eyes.

 

I like the overall idea though. That's a lot of HP for only three ships while not sacrificing the green dice like you do going Y's or B's and you can use the turret on the YT-2400 at range 1. I'm gonna play around with this list. Thanks for sharing.

[Panz3r 163]

Haha wow, talk about timing!

I was just looking at Vrill today and came up with a VERY similar list.  Though I had a gold instead of a grey, but thinking about it you probably want the grey so that he can shoot first.  Has anyone tried it?

I've been finding that cheap, large 'wound pool' ships are very effective, especially when they are able to put out a lot of damage.  Cheap firesprays have been my bane lately.

[kopmcginty 609]

Yeah the bump to PS4 is all about slapping that stress on for Vrill from the very start.

I'm really looking forward to trying it out but will be next weds before I can.

It doesn't have the same weakness a lot of synergy or gimmick squads do. Even with no stress around the 2400 would be a nuisance. Love to hear how others get on with it.

[Panz3r 163]

Just so happens my gaming night is tonight.  I will report back tomorrow.

[FuturistiKen 316]

By now I imagine most of us have seen how powerful Poe and the Stresshog can be when well flown. Got me thinking about alternate squad mates to them and remembered Eaden Vrill who in a stressful environment is maybe under rated?

 

 

*unhelpful comment about how Heaver is better than the rest of us and the audacity of thinking we could make his builds work, followed by anecdotal evidence in the form of a story about some non-Heaver player losing horribly while flying a TLT Stresshog, used to support the conclusion that it is ultimately a bad build unless you're name is Paul Heaver*

 

Troll-directed snarkiness aside, I think it's a really cool idea for getting an infrequently used pilot into the mix.  Interested to see how it does for you.

[pchappel 25]

I'm looking at flying something very similar...  Though I think Dash (crew) might not be bad...  Always having clear shots is nice...  Or a Merc Copilot for the potential Critical...

[Panz3r 163]

Played a game last night vs a standard kenkir and VI Vader.

 

Vrill is interesting, while the stresshog is alive and/or in arc vrill hits way above his points.  When the hog is dead or out of arc and no stress around, vrill is decidedly less powerful (obviously).

 

My opponent saw the threat that Vrill + the Y proposed and gunned for the Y right off the back (and rightly so).  I was able to stress the deci and got vrill into range 1, putting 4 damage on to him plus shots from poe and the Y (putting the deci at no shields and a few hull dmg).  After than though his list got behind the Y and it was killed before it could fire again.

 

At this point Vrill and Poe just didn't have the damage output to get through a emperor, kenkir, Isard deci nor could they put anything onto a VI vader.  There just wasn't enough red dice to push damage through faster than vader and kirk could do it back.  There was one turn where vader landed on a debris cloud and then flew through it again for a double stress but between the emporer and some good green dice vrill couldn't finish him off (2 hull remaining) as Poe was off regening shields.

 

Once vrill went down, Poe quickly evaporated.

 

I'm not a good pilot haha, but I wonder if they stress requirement on Vrill is a deal breaker wheras you could just as easily take a fringer with HLC or Mangler for very similar points and consistent output.  Given how good the dial is, getting arc isn't that difficult for the cannon and range 1 out of arc shots are still 3 reds.

 

It needs much more playtesting but from this I think I'm going to give a cheap fringer a try.

[kopmcginty 609]

Thanks fir sharing. Did you have APL and IA on the YT2400. That's actually as big a part of the list as Vrills stress output.

Anyway, Y hangs back at range 3, "should" be good for two turns of shooting. Vrill or not, the stresshog will be primary target so he stays behind the YT who uses IA to block for him. Hopefully lol. Any more than 2 turns of shooting is a bonus but possible while just 2 dumps on 4 stress to your target or 2 lots of 2. That's enough for Vrill to start work with I think.

Here is why I dont like the WSF in this build..

WSF with APL and IA plus the mangler canon is 37pts vs Vrill being 35.

For those extra two points you get a better blocker due to lower PS. Slightly better damage potential due to crits and you take away the opponents R3 extra green.

But you trade away the 360 degree damage that Vrill gets vs stressed opponent as your primary is only 2 reds. Your 3 die attack is arc only and at PS1 you may find even Acadamy pilots arc dodging you! Aces with AT will be happy facing 2 dice for sure. The WSF has no way to get a 4die attack which again using IA Vrill should be able to get a couple times. You could take the title for extra 5 pts to solve the arc issue that but then your 7 pts dearer than Vrill.

Not saying WSF isn't viable but with the stressbot and Poe those 2pts are the difference between Poe getting AT or not. Small difference to the YT but potentially large difference to the the list.

Edit... That said, with WSF being PS1, the Y could go back to being Gold saving 2 points. That's enough for Poe to get AT still.

Something to ponder but I think I prefer Vrill in theory at least.

Edited November 18, 2015 by kopmcginty

[blade_mercurial 2,091]

Edit... That said, with WSF being PS1, the Y could go back to being Gold saving 2 points. That's enough for Poe to get AT still.

 

WSF is PS 2, although its not a big difference since you are less likely to see academies these days (and possibly more obsidians/black squadrons).

[Panz3r 163]

I agree for the most part Kopmcginty.

 

I did run APL and IA and managed to block vader once (APL didn't do any damage though and Poe was at range 3 unfortunately).  I did get vader down to 2 hull but he had some good green dice plus emperor help.

 

Yeah, I made a small error with the Y deployment that made me waste a turn around an asteroid, you should probably get 2 turns of stress out of the Y.  After that though, the Y is usually killed before he can return to the fight leaving vrill unable to really push through much damage.  I suppose he can still setup blocks for poe but poe isn't actually all that super at dealing damage if you want to hang on to that focus token.

 

My thoughts with a WSF with HCL or mangler + maybe dash or recspec would be to slow fly it early potentially getting 2 turns of HLC damage and then kturning/hard turning back into the fight.  With its dial you really shouldn't have too much down time on the HLC.  And the turns you really do have no in arc target you can still turret with your primary and probably do similar damage to a vrill late game.  To me it seems that the WSF actually does more damage in all aspects of the game.  When vrill has stress targets, WSF has HLC shots, When vrill doesn't have stress WSF has HLC and the same primary.  The trade off is that Vrill doesn't need to focus on arc as much making him much easier to fly, is probably cheaper and a better PS.

 

Like I said earlier, I think both have a place but in different roles.  Vrill seems more suited to blocking and knife fighting while the WSF is a durable/maneuverable source of red dice.

 

With all this YT-2400 talk, I'm thinking of trying out the following list Friday:

Wild Space Fringer - HLC + Dash 39

Poe - VI, R5-P9, AT 37

Z95 12

Z95 12

 

 

If you get any test games in with Vrill, please let me know! I'd be super interested in your results!

[admat 486]

Yesterday I ran a build very similar to yours kopmcginty, to great succes:

 

Poe (Veteran Instincts, R5-P9, Autothrusters)

Gray (Twin Laser Turret, R3-A2, BTL-A4 title)

Vrill (Recon Specialist)

100 points  - your build also totals 100 points, not 99, so no room for R2-D2 unless you sacrifice something else

 

I faced dual Aggressors (B+C) for my first game, and scum Boba and IG-88B for my second. Both wins for me, but the second game took longer and was more of a challenge. The Gray was the highlight, piling stress on the enemy ships (and itself of course), enabling Vrill's ability, who managed quite a few range 1 shots with his primary turret, now rolling 4 dice. Very effective, but annoying/frustrating for the opponent.

 

Here's what I faced:

 

Game 1

 

IG-88B (Push the Limit, Mangler Cannon, Advanced Sensors, Seismic Charge, Autothrusters, IG-2000)

IG-88C (same upgrades)

100 points

 

Game 2

 

Boba (Veteran Instincts, Gunner, Inertial Dampeners, Engine Upgrade)

IG-88B (Crackshot, Glitterstim, Heavy Laser Cannon, Fire-Control System, Autothrusters)

100 points

Edited November 24, 2015 by admat

[Shirako 353]

I've been flying this build a lot on Vassal, and I'm a really big fan of it. Eaden punches way above his weight class when the grey squad sets him up, and is still a force to be reckoned with at 5/5 with 2 agi. Also really enjoying Poe, although I think I swapped out his r5p9 for r2d2. Haven't gotten a chance to take on dual pancakes or a real swarm yet, but it has beaten 4 TLT, Palpmobile + aces, and some rebel/scum synergy builds quite handily.

[polmoneys 205]

I've faced the following:

Roark + TLT

Vrill

Gold + stressbot + TLT

Z95

(some upgrades change every match, don't recall but once was IA on Vrill, another APL)

Imo is better than your Poe squad as you have more ships and Roark really helps in giving one last extra shot to a low PS buddy before dying. It also makes Ywing cheaper as it does not need to be PS4. Two TLT carriers guarantee output and YT2400 is the best blocker out there.

Nice games, my Vader/Vessery/Obsidian(x2) are 3-1 but it's a really hard list to face.

[kopmcginty 609]

Interesting. I really like having an Ace finisher but I do like Roarks ability. I just always find him quite a soft target. Helps that of course he likely won't be first target but once the stress out dies he will surely follow quickly?

I'm still in theory stage (game night tomorrow at last) but Vader Vessery sounds pretty manageable? Unless it's VI Vader I'd fancy Poe there especially with IA blocking available to deprive Vader of his actions. Care to share the build so I can think about that matchup?

[polmoneys 205]

Interesting. I really like having an Ace finisher but I do like Roarks ability. I just always find him quite a soft target. Helps that of course he likely won't be first target but once the stress out dies he will surely follow quickly?

I'm still in theory stage (game night tomorrow at last) but Vader Vessery sounds pretty manageable? Unless it's VI Vader I'd fancy Poe there especially with IA blocking available to deprive Vader of his actions. Care to share the build so I can think about that matchup?

The squad I'm describing was the last iteration of my usual sparring trying to hard counter https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/193401-primer-vvoo/?hl=vvoo

Roark makes it harder but still doable...

It looks manageable and that's what I like about it. It hits hard and fast and most people don't figure it out until is too late. If you ever face this Vessery try to kill it asap! It's not the most optimized squad but it's damage output is consitent and can hold it against swarms with Vessery snipping while Vader and Ties reach to R1.

[kopmcginty 609]

That's an interesting list for sure. I'm a huge fan of VI Vader. Lower output than Predator or LW but such a pain to pin down, a little less so without engine though. I like how he boosts Vessery who must hit like a truck.

I do think the large base of Vrill carrying IA and APL should be a huge weapon against that list. Definitely see how Vessery needs to go first but that leaves Vader free to perhaps get on Poe's six. Also Vessery minds the stressbot less than many others. Very interesting.

[Pimpbacca 290]

Moving over from this thread: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/194195-vrillbot-and-friends/

 

YT-2400 Vrill, Recon specialist. (32 + 3)

Stressbot Gray, TLT, R3-A2 (28+6+2) *edit* BTL-A4

Poe Dameron, Vet instincts, R5-P9, Autothrusters (31+1+3+2)

100

 

 

It's funny that you mention Roark, as I was playing around last night with a way of making Vrill hit even harder. I really wanted RS in there as well, but couldn't do it. I came up with this:

 

I call it "Vrill's StressHOrs"

 

Vrill, +HLC & IA

Gray Stresshog

Jan Ors + TLT and Nien Nunb

 

Numb is helping Jan stay unstressed to pass extra dice to Vrill. If unstressed, that's 5 dice in arc Range 2-3.

5 dice range 1 PWT (if opponnent stressed & Jan not).

TLT's to strip tokens and plink away, before Vrill come's in and punches you square in the face!

 

My other thought is to swap out Nunb and IA and put ST on Jan to help Vrill if he needs to shoot earlier.

[Viktus106 1,045]

Been playing against this list recently and I really struggle against it.

Vrill is such a pain that doesn't die and the regeneration Ace if not focused just won't die either.