Rogue Squadron- Subjective Ship Rankings- Rebels

Toward the end of last year, I set upon a project to try and rank all of the X-wing ships using an objective set of criteria (Imperial, Rebel, Scum). The goal was a pure look at stats. The results were…mixed. While I stand by that methodology and still consider it a worthwhile exercise, it really did only look at a part of what makes a ship good. The biggest flaw was it lacked any way to objectively look at pilot abilities.

I wanted to give it another go, this time in the opposite direction. So, I’m going entirely by gut feeling. This feeling is influenced by tournament performance, my experience with the ships/pilots, ship base stats and inevitable personal preference. I based my Imperial ships in three categories (Stats, Builds, Pilots) but decided that was more complicated than it needed to be. So for the Rebels, I’m just looking at two things, base ship stats and the pilots, primarily the “best” pilot of the ship.

To be clear, I am not averaging the ships category rankings to determine overall place. That’s still based on gut. The categories are mostly to help that because it’s hard to rank 20 things.

Categories

Stats
- How is the Dial?
- What upgrades/actions does it have access too?
- Can you make affordable and effective builds?
Pilots
- How do the best pilots stack up?

Rankings- Worst to Best

20th Place – Z-95

Stats- 20th
- It’s just so bland. The scum at least as an illicit slot to spice it up.
Top Pilots- Bandit Squadron- 18th
- I want to like Blount but his ability is a one time use. Cracken used to have a place but a Sheathipede or Ahsoka do it so much better. So the best pilot is the efficiently cheap Bandit Squadron.
Overall Comments
- I flew a mixed swarm of Bandits and A-wings during store championship season once to decent effect. But these days swarms don’t hold up and even then, it wasn’t a very fun list to fly.

19th Place – B/SF-17

Stats- 17th
- It has a lot of bomb space. The combo of Tech and System is good. Primary weapon turret is good. It’s just competing against a lot of other good things.
Top Pilot- Crimson Specialist- 20th
- I really like the idea behind this ability. Unfortunately, at PS4 it really doesn’t work out as useful as you want it to be.
Overall Comments
- I admit part of this ranking is based entirely on exposure. I haven’t really had much chance to fly these ships.

18th Place – U-Wing

Stats- 15th
- It has good potential with crew, system and torpedo. Lots of wacky builds. Unfortunately, those builds end up feeling too pricey.
Top Pilot- Cassian Andor- 19th
- Cassian’s main advantage is an EPT. Maybe the new pilots coming will prove amazing.
Overall Comments
- I like the look, feel and place in the Star Wars universe of these ships. In my RPG campaign I immediately gave my PC’s access to a U-wing because it was just such a perfect ship for them. For X-wing…it fails to deliver. But it still hurt to rank it so low.

17th Place – TIE Fighter

Stats- 16th
- Thanks to the special upgrades that can make it unattackable and give it crew plus illicit the stats of this ship are actually fairly decent. Without that it be a toss up for bottom with the Z-95.
Top Pilot- Captain Rex- 17th
- It was hard to pick a top pilot. Sabine is fun to fly. Ahsoka makes the best use out of Captured TIE. But Rex probably works the best as a magnet for attacks. As anyone who has ever tried to kill a one health TIE fighter knows, when they should die easily they just don’t.
Overall Comment
- This is an interesting ship but as an Imperial ship it feels out of place. Sure, Rebels steal them all the time. But I know I don’t sit down to play Rebels and really want to fly a TIE.

16th Place – HWK-290

Stats- 19th
- One die attack. No K-turns. Killer. Sure, it can have a turret but you have to pay for it. And if you get Boba’d you’re SOL. That said, its a decent cheap crew carrier.
Top Pilot- Jan Ors- 14th
- As a support ship, this ship is great. All three pilots have interesting abilities to help. Jan is the most useful in the current state. I have a soft spot for Kyle though.
Overall Comment
- This is a ship you want to like more than you do.

15th Place – Attack Shuttle

Stats- 13th
- It’s not a bad stat line overall. Some red hard turns but at least it has them. Turret and crew to use. Three attack dice.
Top Pilot- Sabine Wren- 13th
- Sabine’s ability is crazy fun. Pre-maneuver boost/barrel roll gives you lots of position potential and you can PTL off of it for three actions and no stress when you take a green maneuver.
Overall Comment
- Low health and no generic pilots limit options on these ships. Zeb is three points cheaper than a Rookie X-wing and has barrel roll. Unfortunately, four health just has too much potential to be zapped in one good attack. No target lock action also reduces their damage potential.

14th Place – E-Wing

Stats- 14th
- Cost is what really drags this ship down. That and two hull points. One bad proton bomb and you lose a third to half your list.
Top Pilot- Corran Horn- 4th
- Double attacks whenever you want? Yes, please. Sure, you don’t get to shoot the next round but neither does the ship you probably just destroyed.
Overall Comment
- Much like the A-Wing, TIE Defender and StarViper, these ships need a title that reduces their cost by a few points. And they would love a generic pilot with an EPT.

13th Place – B-Wing

Stats- 18th
- So many red maneuvers and so slow.
Top Pilot- Keyan Farlander- 11th
- Keyan turns one of the ships flaws, the plethora of red maneuvers, into an advantage.
Overall Comment
- These used to be all the rage. There are a lot of low agility, high health Rebel ships that are doing well so it’s surprising that the B-wing isn’t. But they lack two things the other ships don’t; damage mitigate/regeneration and non-primary arcs. No astromech slot and they have to sacrifice their modification slot for a crew. Of course, with five shields, if they could regen, they might be broken.

12th Place – A-Wing

Stats- 10th
- Great dial, affordable package (with Chardaan). Two hull though. And two attack dice.
Top Pilot- Jake Farrel- 12th
- Jake is crazy fun to fly. Especially with Intensity and PTL. Stupid build but fun.
Overall Comment
- A-wings are always just short of being great. They’re fun. And they can become incredibly hard to kill at times. But usually they take their cue from Phoenix Squadron and blow up a lot.

11th Place – Y-Wing

Stats- 11th
- It’s got a turret slot and space for torpedoes or bombs. But the dial is crap. Good health though.
Top Pilot- Gold Squadron- 15th
- I love Horton. But you can’t beat Gold Squadron’s efficiency. Without an EPT, he’s just so expensive.
Overall Comment
- Between turrets and potential as bombers the Y-wing still hangs on as a functional ship.

10th Place – X-Wing

Stats- 12th
- The baseline blah state line. FAA and Integrated Astromech help it though.
Top Pilot- Wedge Antilles- 8th
- No one wants to fight Wedge.
Overall Comment
- Maybe, just maybe these will get a boost with the next wave? As the namesake for the game, its always been sad they are overshadowed.

9th Place – YT-1300

Stats- 9th
- Primary weapon turret, lots of health, double crew slots. Expensive to outfit but get some value out of it.
Top Pilot- Rey- 9th
- Han was a dominant figure for a while but Rey is now the stronger pilot. With advantages on offense and defense, she’s a tough opponent. Pairing her with Finn really makes her shine but that’s why on her own she’s kind of middle of the pack.
Overall Comment
- In some ways, it hurts to rank the Millennium Falcon so far down the list. But, it really shouldn’t be in the middle. It’s a good ship but the beauty of X-wing is maneuvering, which, thanks to its turret, isn’t as important. At least Rey requires it.

8th Place – YT-2400

Stats- 8th
- While it only has a two dice attack, it does have two defense dice instead of the YT-1300’s one. It also has barrel roll and a great dial. All that edges the 2400 just above the 1300.
Top Pilot- Dash Rendar- 1st
- Dash’s ability just breaks the game. It’s great and has allowed him to never truly leave the meta.
Overall Comment
- A decent overall ship.

7th Place – Sheathipede

Stats- 7th
- This is like a cheaper ARC-170. Dual arcs, crew + astromech, no generic pilots. That ten point savings costs you four health and a slightly worse dial. But you also gain Coordinate which is very useful.
Top Pilot- Fenn Rau- 7th
- Fenn is the perfect support pilot. Coordinate at PS 9 or 11. Then his ability can really help keep ships alive.
Overall Comment
- Was originally lukewarm on this ship but it’s potential as a support ship has had it grow on me.

6th Place – Auzituck

Stats- 6th
- Reinforce. That’s the main thing this ship has going for it. But it’s pretty great. Double crew and a generic with an EPT also gives its some fun build options.
Top Pilot- Lowhhrick- 6th
- The new Biggs. Little more expensive but lasts a few rounds longer.
Overall Comment
- Another ship I was lukewarm on at first. But they are tough. And scary in numbers. I kind of wish the U-wing had filled the place of this ship. With the side doors it would be a great 180 arc ship.

5th Place – ARC-170

Stats- 3rd
- I have a fondness for these ships that may not be proportional to their actual effectiveness. But I just love the build options. Crew plus astromech on a sturdy platform with strong offense.
Top Pilot- Norra Wexley- 13th
- Norra has a pretty good ability. Unfortunately, you really need to build around it which reduces it from “always great” to just “can be amazing.”
Overall Comment
- Coming with Vectored Thrusters really helped this ship. It entered the game with an option to gain some reposition power. And while you often won’t want to equip it, having that right out of the gate kept it from floundering.

4th Place – Scurrg H-6

Stats- 5th
- This ship is too good in its build options. Crew, salvaged astromech, double bomb, missiles, turret, torpedoes, system. Pretty decent dial for a non-arc dodger. Comes with barrel roll.
Top Pilot- Captain Nym- 5th
- Obviously, he’s the best Rebel Scurrg pilot.
Overall Comment
- It’s a good thing this is mostly a Scum ship. I can’t imagine what a Sabine (crew) backed swarm would do.

3rd Place – K-Wing

Stats- 4th
- The fact that ships has a native turret both makes it great and hinders it. If it didn’t have that native turret, it could be cheaper, which would make it more effective as an ordinance carrier.
Top Pilot- Miranda Doni- 2nd
- The fact that Miranda can either boost her offense or regenerate shields is amazing. Being able to equip TLT really makes it amazing because that two attack gives her choices in how to use it.
Overall Comment
- Some people hate the look of this ship but I love it. It really looks like its role of a mean ship.

2nd Place – T-70 X-Wing

Stats- 2nd
- Is it fair to rank it 2nd? Maybe not. But the combo of tech and astromech really open the doors to a lot of fun combos. And six health (plus integrated or autothrusters) can make it quite tough.
Top Pilot- Poe Dameron- 3rd
- Again, Poe may not justify this high of a spot. But it is a very useful ability, giving you free mods on attack and every defense roll. Advanced Optics was built for him.
Overall Comment
- I admit a fondness for this ship biasing me. But since this is my ranking that’s just going to happen. The game is called X-wing after all. They should be ranked high (I just wish the T-65 was as well).

1st Place – VCX-100

Stats- 1st
- Four dice attack, with an auxiliary arc and a turret as back up? Very scary. Combined with a ton of health, system and two crew and you have a lot of build potential.
Top Pilot- Kanan Jarrus- 16th
- All of the pilot abilities are a little disappointing. Hera would be great, if she were PS 9 or had an EPT. Chopper fits but isn’t stellar. The Lothal almost won just for efficiency. But Kanan can work well to keep yourself or an ally alive.
Overall Comment
- Another clear bias showing with my love of Rebels. But this is backed up with tournament data too. The Ghost is doing very well for itself.