X-Wing Upgrade Guide- Missiles

Last Updated: 4/13/2018 through Wave 13

X-wing is a game that has been around for a few years now. The number of ships, pilots and upgrades can become a little overwhelming for those that are new or infrequent players. So today we’re going to continue going through all the different upgrade types and giving some quick points on how best to use them. For each we’re going to give the following information:

Ranking– We’re going to rank each card within an upgrade slot. This is an imperfect ranking as the usefulness of any card is mostly determined by how and where you use it. But it’s an easy number to grasp and can serve as a starting point when trying to pick your upgrades.
Combos– What are the best pilots, ships or upgrades to pair with this card. When we look at upgrades that can only be equipped to with a limited number of ships, we may skip this section.

Other Guides

Crew and Droids
Elite Pilot Talent
Ship Upgrades
- Illicit
- Modification
- System
- Tech
Weapon Upgrades
- Bombs
- Cannons
- Missiles
- Torpedoes
- Turrets

This month we’re acquiring a target lock and taking a look at the missile upgrade slot. Long regarded as worthless points, ordnance of all types has seen a comeback in the past year thanks in large part to Guidance Chips and Extra Munitions. GC is a free upgrade that ensures at least one of your dice would score a hit. Extra Munitions reduces their cost burden as for just two more points your one shots became two shots. Needless to say, both of these upgrades pair well with all Missiles. Additionally, Scavenger Crane is a worthwhile upgrade to help give your ordnance multiple uses on ships with an illicit slot but no torpedo slot.

On another note, the common perception is that missiles all require you to spend a target lock to fire, but in reality, only three do so.

Ships with a Missile Slot

Rebel

A-Wing
K-Wing
Scurrg H-6
YT-1300
YT-2400
Z-95

Empire

Alpha Class Starwing
Firespray-31
TIE Advanced
TIE Advanced Prototype
TIE Aggressor
TIE Bomber
TIE Defender
TIE Punisher
TIE Silencer
TIE/sf

Scum

Firespray-31
Kihraxz
M12-L Kimogila
M3-A Scyk
Scurrg H-6
YV-666
Z-95

Ranked List

Harpoon Missile
Cruise Missile
Unguided Rockets
XX-23 S-Thread Tracer
Scrambler Missile
Proton Rockets
Homing Missile
Concussion Missile
Cluster Missile
Assault Missile
Advanced Homing Missile
Ion Pulse Missile

Advanced Homing Missile (K-Wing/TIE Punisher Expansions)

Cost: 3 points

Attack(Target Lock): 3, Range 2

Discard this card to perform this attack.

If this attack hits, deal 1 faceup Damage card to the defender. Then cancel all dice results.

Ranking– 11
- A relatively cheap missile it has several things holding it back. Three attack dice, only at range two and a max of two damage (if you pull a lucky double damage crit)
Combos
- Major Rhymer (TIE Bomber Pilot)
  - Rhymer’s ability can completely change the nature of this missile. Instead of just range 2, you can now fire it at all ranges.
- Wampa (TIE Fighter Pilot)
  - While Wampa himself can’t carry missiles, giving him a wingmate with AHMs means you have multiple ships that can completely bypass your opponent’s shields.
- Proton Bombs (Bomb)
  - Another ordnance card that can ignore shields. Combine together to not care about shields

Assault Missile (Millennium Falcon/Slave 1/Z-95/TIE Bomber Expansions)

Cost: 5 points

Attack(Target Lock): 4, Range 2-3

Spend your target lock and discard this card to perform this attack.

If this attack hits, each other ship at Range 1 of the defender suffers 1 damage.

Ranking– 10
- The effectiveness of this missile has gone down over the years as swarms have decreased in popularity.
- It is still useful for board control as your opponent will not want to cluster his ships together for fear of the splash damage.
Combos
- Ruthlessness (EPT)
  - If you’re going for splash damage, why not get even more? (Side note, in one casual game against an opponent not paying much attention this combo killed 4 of 6 TIEs in one round from two ships firing it).
- Lieutenant Blount (Z-95 Pilot)
  - Every attack Blount makes counts as a hit which would allow him to trigger the splash damage even if his main shot does no damage.
- Redline (TIE Punisher)
  - One of the three missiles that require you to spend your target lock, Redline’s extra target lock ensures his shots are still accurate.

Cluster Missile (A-Wing/TIE Advanced/Assault Carrier/Imperial Raider Expansions)

Cost: 4 points

Attack(Target Lock): 3, Range 1-2

Spend your target lock and discard this card to perform this attack twice.

Ranking– 9
- Before the timing chart changes this missile used to be very valuable for things like Airen Cracken, FCS, Tactician and other trigger on attack abilities. But now that the two attacks are technically classified as one attack it loses that advantage.
Combos
- Predator(EPT)/Expertise(EPT)/Dengar(Crew)/Lone Wolf (EPT)
  - Abilities that let your get dice modification on every attack roll gain extra value when you’re making multiple attacks.
- N’dru Suhlak (Z-05 Pilot)
  - N’Dru gets an extra attack dice on every attack if no allies are nearby. He can get double four dice attacks for a nice heavy hit.
- Redline (TIE Punisher)
  - One of the three missiles that require you to spend your target lock, Redline’s extra target lock ensures at least one of the two shots are still accurate.

Concussion Missile (A-Wing/TIE Advanced/Millenium Falcon Expansions)

Cost: 4 points

Attack(Target Lock): 4, Range 2-3

Spend your target lock and discard this card to perform this attack.

You may change 1 of your blank results to a Hit result.

Ranking– 8
- This missile pairs especially well with Guidance Chips as it almost guarantees two hits (you could still roll four focus results) and has very high odds of four hits. It is a very no frills missile but does give you a reasonably accurate four dice attack.
Combos
- Redline (TIE Punisher)
  - One of the three missiles that require you to spend your target lock, Redline’s extra target lock ensures his shots are still accurate.

Cruise Missile (Alpha Class Starwing/Scurrg H-6 Expansions)

Cost: 3 points

Attack(Target Lock): 1, Range 2-3

Discard this card to perform this attack.

You may roll additional attack dice equal to the speed of the maneuver you performed this round, to a maximum of 4 additional dice.

Ranking– 2
- This missile can be a little to pull off effectively. Wanting to go four or five forward to get full power from the missile can teleplay your intended maneuver. But that can also be a benefit. Your opponent will always be leery of moving in such a way as to let you take such a maneuver, which might make them choose to stay close, giving you range one attacks.
Combos
- Contraband Cybernetics (Illicit)
  - Many red maneuver are speed 4 and 5. With CC you can flip around and still get actions to target lock and fire off your missile at full power.
- TIE Defender
  - This is not a combo you see often, due to it preventing you from using the /x7 title, but with Defenders white 4 k-turn they could be quite scary with these equipped.

Harpoon Missile (Guns for Hire Expansion)

Cost: 4 points

Attack(Target Lock): 4, Range 2-3

Discard this card to perform this attack.

If this attack hits, after the attack resolves, assign the “Harpooned!” Condition to the defender.

Ranking– 1
- The new standard for missiles. You don’t have to spend your target lock to use it. It has the potential to do four damage on a hit, plus a damage when the condition clears plus splash damage.
Combos
- Ruthlessness (EPT)
  - If you’re going for splash damage, why not get even more?
- Lieutenant Blount (Z-95 Pilot)
  - Every attack Blount makes counts as a hit which would allow him to trigger the condition even if his main shot does no damage.

Homing Missile (A-Wing/Inquisitors TIE/Kihraxz/Slave-1/Assault Carrier Expansions)

Cost: 5 points

Attack(Target Lock): 4, Range 2-3

Discard this card to perform this attack.

The defender cannot spend evade tokens during this attack.

Ranking– 7
- The note about preventing your target from spending evade tokens is often overlooked. Great way to waste your opponent’s action if they took an evade.
Combos
- Long Range Scanners (Modification)
  - Gaining a Target Lock at the start of the game is an excellent way to get your missiles off in the first attack, but the upgrade does prevent you from getting a new one after you fire your ordnance. Since Homing Missiles do not require you to spend the TL, you can keep it for future rounds.
- Miranda Doni (K-Wing Pilot)
  - I would be remiss without mentioning Miranda specifically for this missile as she has performed well with it. She can use her ability to make this a five dice attack to great effect.

Ion Pulse Missile (TIE Defender/Z-95 Expansions)

Cost: 3 points

Attack (Target Lock): 3, Range 2-3

Discard this card to perform this attack.

If this attack hits, the defender suffers 1 damage and receives 2 ion tokens. Then cancel all dice results.

Ranking– 12
- One of the few ways to ion a large ship in a single attack. Potentially useful against Aggressors, Lambda, or Upsilon’s as they have just a regular forward arc.
Combos
- Deadeye (EPT)
  - Controlling a ship’s movement can be very situationally useful. With Deadeye you have more control over when and against whom your fire this against.

Proton Rocket (Imperial Raider/Rebel Aces/YT-2400 Expansions)

Cost: 3 points

Attack (Focus): 2, Range: 1

Discard this card to perform this attack.

You may roll additional attack dice equal to your agility value, to a maximum of 3 additional dice.

Ranking– 6
- This missile is one of the few ways to reliably get five attack dice in a single attack which can make it pretty devastating.
Combos
- Jake Farrell (A-Wing Pilot)
  - Jake can take the focus necessary to fire this missile and then get a free boost into range one to be able to fire it.
- YT-2400 (Any Pilot) + Smuggling Compartment (Modification) + Countermeasures (Modification)/Stealth Device (Modification) + Scavenger Crane (Illicit)
  - I tried to come up with a combo that would allow you to fire Proton Rockets more than once at five dice. Unfortunately, any ship that can take missiles and Extra Munitions would have to take Stealth Device which is very unreliable. With Countermeasures, you can pull off multiple attacks with Proton Rockets after every two kills even after getting hit. Yeah, it’s not very good either.

Scrambler Missile (TIE Aggressor Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

Attack (Target Lock): 3, Range: 2-3

Discard this card to perform this attack

If this attack hits, the defender and each other ship at Range 1 receives 1 jam token. Then cancel all results.

Ranking– 5
- A missile that does no damage is always questionable. But for two points you can mess with your opponent’s effective actions.
- Great in a swarm setting as jam tokens clear one at a time. If you can get a stack on a ship it’s wasting actions for awhile.
Combos
- Juke (EPT) / Sensor Jammer (System)
  - If you can prevent them from taking focus tokens in future rounds with jam tokens these upgrades become more effective.

Unguided Rockets (TIE Aggressor Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

Attack (Focus): 3, Range: 1-3

Your attack dice can be modified only by spending a focus token for its standard effect.

Ranking– 3
- This is the only missile that does not require you to discard it.
- This is ranked so highly because for a mere two points it effectively gives any ship that can carry it an extra attack dice that can be used the entire game.
Combos
- TIE Aggressor/TIE Bomber/TIE Punisher/Starwing (w/title)
  - The only ships with dual missile slots and therefore the only three ships that can equip this missile.
- Lightweight Frame (Modification
  - You can get five TIE Bombers or TIE Aggressors with this and Lightweight Frame for five ships with six health and effectively three attack and three agility.

XX-23 S-Thread Tracer (Inquisitors TIE Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

Attack (Focus): 3, Range: 1-3

Discard this card to perform this attack.

If this attack hits, each friendly ship at Range 1-2 of you may acquire a target lock on the defender. Then cancel all dice results.

Ranking– 4
- At one point this is a great filler. Since it works at range 1-2, you can fly a relatively loose formation and still give out TL’s.
- Does no damage so not very useful in a 2-3 ship squadron.
Combos
- Z-95 (Any)
  - A simple, cheap missile to throw on a swarm of Z-95’s or just a single Z-95 that is serving as filler for your squad.
  - Airen Cracken gets a special shout-out because with this he can give all nearby squadmates a Target Lock and then a bonus action from his ability.
  - Lt. Blount also gets a shout out because his ability will trigger the missile’s ability even if it’s technically a miss meaning he can’t waste it.
- Vaksai (Title)
  - With Vaksai, these become free on a Kihraxz. If you aren’t using your missile slot, definitely load one up.