X-Wing Tier List - Rebels

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted something to really get people thinking I’m an idiot. What better way to do that than giving an opinion about something. Everyone loves tier lists, right? That sounds like a good way to easily display all the ways I am wrong.

F-Tier

What makes a ship just the worst? Why does this ship receive a failing grade? It was hard to do this, because I love the HWK, and have a soft place in my heart of Kyle and Jan. This was one of the first ships I bought after the core set and the Falcon. Kyle was in my first 1.0 tournament list almost a decade ago.

The core trouble with these has mostly to do with cost. Excluding the generic HWK pilot, all of the Rebel HWK’s have the Moldy Crow title baked into the ship. While that is an excellent title, it bumps the cost of the ship all the way up to six points, which for the frame is just too much. The pilots can not pull their weight at that cost, which leads to them never being flown. If Rebels still had access to some two point ships, you might be able to justify flying one. If the Moldy Crow was changed to only given a two die forward arc attack, you could bring the price of the whole ship down a point and let it fill its role as a support ship.

D-Tier

This slot also pains me because I love the Ghost. Its look, the show Rebels, its loadout. But it’s expensive for zero agility and no mobile arc. It is paying for its four dice forward primary but is too cumbersome to take advantage of it. One of the big problems is you can never make use of the title and dock a shuttle. The Attack Shuttle is not part of Standard play, so no rear three die attacks. The Sheathipede is not a bad value but tacking four points on top of seven or eight makes that combo almost your whole list.

The ARC works better for the Republic. Most of the pilots are kind of meh and just don’t quite have enough loadout to make themselves work. One agility is a dangerous spot to be in currently.

C-Tier

These are your real middle of the road ships that overall feel a bit lacking.

On paper, the Fang Fighter should excel with its three agility and three attack. They cost five points which is already a bad place. Their loadout isn’t quite enough to do anything with. There are some really cool Mandalorian only upgrades but they either don’t have the right slots or enough loadout points. The torpedo slot is essentially worthless on them.

The Y-wing doesn’t bring enough to the table for four points. They have lots of loadout slots but only enough points to either bring a torpedo or something else. At four points, I feel they should have ample loadout to take whatever you want, or should have a more restricted loadout but be only three points.

The Sheathipede isn’t too bad at four points but given they all cost the same, Fenn Rau is by far the best value with the most loadout and initiative. AP-5 has a solid ability but no loadout. He should cost three with that loadout. Same with Zeb. Ezra’s not great but at least has the Force.

The Gauntlet feels a bit like Ghost; big, expensive, lots of loadout options, forward attack, and hard to justify. The two agility shores it up very nicely compared to one or zero that most large bases have. Ezra feels like a decent value at 7pts thanks to his one Force but Chopper only has two more loadout and costs the same.

B-Tier

Like the C-Tier, these are average ships but compared to C, feel a bit more worth it.

The Z-95 sucks but with all pilots only costing three, its an adequate filler ship. Blount and Cracken both have good abilities, and Cracken gets you an I5. But that’s it. There aren’t enough named pilots to really make use of that to swarm anything.

The B-wing is a solid platform held back by low agility and lower speed. It’s far from the powerhouse it has occasionally been but its still a solid choice, especially with some of its pilots.

The Falcon is not breaking any records right now but is still just a solid choice. You have lots of pilot options, and BOY Han even comes out at a discount. I almost made it A

A-Tier

The A-tier. Good solid ships useful in many lists.

X-Wings are the core of the faction. The game is called X-Wing afterall. For a long time in 1.0 they were a joke ship. Now they aren’t the best ship and you could argue they are more appropriate in B-Tier but they’re still solid. You have enough pilots at four points you can take a not terrible five X list. You have some of the best pilots in the faction in them. Their loadouts aren’t breaking but they don’t actually need much to work.

The TIE is probably a surprise to show up here. But given the Rebels spread of ships, its one of their few three agility pieces and one of their few cheap pieces. Ezra and Sabine both work great as a filler, far better than the Z-95s.

S-Tier

What makes a ship the best of the best? Flexibility, affordability, and effectiveness. The A-Wing brings it all. You have a spread of costs from three to five points. Each pilot feels like it’s worth that price, as opposed to some ships where a cheaper pilot makes all the other feel too expensive. Three agility and maneuverability keeps them engaged and useful in any scenario. Their firepower isn’t great but they do have a fair number of upgrade options to supplement that.