In this new series, we will lay out builds for particular ships, examining the build’s strengths and weaknesses, and looking to give you pieces to use or inspiration to build off of.

This week’s Featured Build is the TIE/ph Phantom piloted by Whisper.

We’ve equipped her with Juke, Hull Upgrade, and Darth Vader for a total of 75 points.

Whisper is probably the most dodgy of the phantoms since she has a much better chance of recloaking and staying alive. She could easily end up with 2 evade tokens to cash in at the end of the round. Whisper gets one evade when she decloaks per the Stygian Array ability, and if she hits her target she gets a second token. And since she fires at I5, she will almost always be able to utilize Juke to bolster her attacks.

Because she is nearly always toting around an evade, the combination of Vader and Juke helps her to hit her target. Vader is really the key in this build, giving Whisper the flexibility to approach the enemy in myriad ways. You could use his ability to strip a green token, then Juke someone’s defense dice to push damage through. You could use Vader’s force token as an offensive focus to increase that damage total. Or you could save his force for defense on those 2 agility dice.

One particularly mean way that I’ve been able to use Vader is to spend the force for his ability to kill a 1 Hit point ship without a token, and then fire on another ship. In my case, I blocked one X Wing, killed it with Vader, and then removing Luke’s shields.

Use Whisper as a heavy hitter to pick off the outliers of your opponents squad. Use her decloak to set the edge against a formation of ships, pounding the outermost of the ships with Vader and Juke.

Do not use her as a jouster, since her two agility dice will not be enough to support her against sustained fire, and even if it does she will not likely be able to cloak at the end of the round. Instead, use her decloak and 1 turn or bank maneuvers to draw your opponent’s ships away from the formation to be outmaneuvered.

Breakdown

Pros: Flexible in what it’s capable of, solid points cost at a good “ace” price point, hits hard, not susceptible to blocking

Cons: Just 2 agility dice saving an anchor ship, token stackers or coordinated ships could laugh at Vader’s ability, the Phantom can be focused down easily if put into a compromising position.

Countered by: Things with perceptive copilot or other ways to grab more than one green token, swarms of ships whose combined arcs you cannot dodge, damage spike attacks with 4 or more red dice, bombing heavy lists.

Counters: Ships that can only get 1 green token or prefer to take other actions, large ships who are easy to avoid and also to hit, lower Initiative limited pilots who would have issues pinning her down.