Last Updated: 4/11/2018 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.

– 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 a limited number of ships we may skip this section.

Other Guides

We’re finally at the end of this epic dive through the X-wing crew upgrade. Our final 14 are the most wretched of them all, the Scum crew.

Scum Ships with Crew Slot

Firespray-31

G1-A Starfighter

HWK-290

Jumpmaster-5000

Lancer

Quadjumper

Scurrg H-6

YV-666

Ranked List

Dengar Maul Cikatro Vizago Latts Razzi Boba Fett IG-88D K4 Security Droid Outlaw Tech Bossk Cad Bane Ketsu Onyo 4-LOM Gonk Zuckuss Greedo Unkar Plutt

4-LOM (Mist Hunter Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

When attacking, during the “Modify Attack Dice” step, you may receive 1 ion token to choose 1 of the defender’s focus or evade tokens. That token cannot be spent during this attack.

Ranking – 12 Ion tokens can be a serious downside but with 4-LOM you get to decide when you get one. If you’re facing someone with ion weapons, the decision to use him becomes easier because two ion tokens is the same as one. Since he is one point he is worth the investment.

– 12 Combos YV-666/Firespray/Lancer (any pilot) 4-LOM works great on a large base craft because they can afford to get one ion token with no negative effects. Juke (EPT) With Juke you can turn your opponent’s dice from an Evade to a Focus. If you’ve used 4-LOM as well you are essentially guaranteeing one damage gets through. Twin Laser Turret (Turret) 4-LOM has no restriction on the number of times he can be used and for a small base ship, getting two ion tokens has the same effect as having one ion. So if you use him for one TLT shot might as well use him for both. Electronic Baffle (System) If you really don’t want to ion yourself, you can use 4-LOM and trade that ion for a damage. Ion Discharger (Illicit) With discharger, if you keep an enemy ship at range 1, you can ignore the ion effect until your opponent chooses to ion themselves.



Boba Fett (Punishing One Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

After performing an attack, if the defender was dealt a faceup Damage card, you may discard this card to choose and discard 1 of the defender’s Upgrade cards.

Ranking – 5 At one point you gain the possibility of discarding up to twelve points of an opponent’s squadron. Imagine using Boba to get rid of Punishing One, Emperor Palpatine, Outrider or any other of the expensive but game-changing upgrades?

– 5 Combos Mangler Cannon (Cannon)/A Score to Settle (EPT)/Calculation (EPT)/Marksmanship (EPT)/Mercenary Co-Pilot (Crew)/Greedo (Crew) All of these increase the odds of dealing a face-up damage card so you have more chances to use Boba Fett. YV-666/G-1A (cheap pilot) While pairing Boba with something that increases crit odds seems nice, he’s really better as a damage magnet than anything else. He’s cheap and annoying so your opponent may feel the need to focus fire on the ship carrying Boba. In that way, he can be used as poor Scum’s Biggs.



Bossk (Hound’s Tooth Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

After you perform an attack that does not hit, if you are not stressed, you must receive 1 stress token. Then assign 1 focus token to your ship and acquire a target lock on the defender.

Ranking – 9 Bossk sounds like a nice upgrade but he’s fairly limited. The only Scum ship with two crew slots is the YV-666 and he really needs some ability to get a second attack, like Gunner.

– 9 Combos Gunner (Crew) Bossk gives you the opportunity for a fully modified attack but you need Gunner to be able to make that attack. IG-88D (crew) + IG-88B (Aggressor Pilot) + any cannon If a ship with a cannon has IG-88D aboard and he’s flying with IG-88B he gains the same type of effect as Gunner.



Cad Bane (Scurrg H-6 Bomber Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

Your upgrade bar gains the Bomb upgrade icon. Once per round, when an enemy ship rolls attack dice due to a friendly bomb detonating, you may choose any number of Focus and blank results. It must reroll those results.

Ranking – 10 The Scum equivalent to Sabine, Cad Bane ability isn’t nearly as useful. It gives one bomb better chance of triggering but it is still random. Adding a bomb slot, however, is still valuable.

– 10 Combos Firespray/Quadjumper Both of these ships have a bomb slot and a crew slot. If you add Cad Bane thay can now take Bomblet Generator.



Cikatro Vizago (C-ROC Expansion)

Cost: 0 points

At the start of the End phase, you may discard this card to replace a faceup Illicit or Cargo Upgrade card you have equipped with another Upgrade card of the same type of equal or fewer squad points.

Ranking – 3 Zero point cards are always nice. You lose a crew slot but you can throw it onto a ship that wasn’t using it anyways for no downside. Gaining the option to switch to any Illicit upgrade can be very powerful in a tournament setting when you never know what will be the most effective until you see your opponent’s list.

– 3 Combos Hot-Shot Blaster (Illicit) You normally wouldn’t want Hot-Shot Blaster. But when paired with Vizago you can then switch to any other Illicit because it costs the most. Cloaking Device (Illicit) If you cloak with Cloaking Device and then use Vizago to switch it to another Illicit, you still remain cloaked without having to make the rolls to potentially discard the upgrade. It is in effect a permacloak. Now you can’t attack but you can do other things (Space Tug Tractor Array, EMP Device, Palob’s ability, dropping multiple bombs with Scavenger Crane).



Dengar (Punishing One Expansion)

Cost: 3 points

When attacking, you may reroll 1 attack die. If the defender is a unique pilot, you may instead reroll up to 2 attack dice.

Ranking – 1 Dengar is the reverse Predator and in this day where we see more named pilots than generics he is more than worth the three points. Dice modification is always beneficial.

– 1 Combos Anything Rerolls help every pilot.



Gonk (Punishing One Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

Action: Place 1 shield token on this card.

Action: Remove 1 shield token from this card to recover 1 shield (up to your shield value).

Ranking – 13 Shield regeneration is always nice though this version is much more difficult to pull off compared to the options the Rebels have.

– 13 Combos Experimental Interface (Modification) For a time, this was illegal but it has since been reallowed. With EI you can perform both steps of Gonk on the same turn to recover a shield. Dengar (crew)/Expertise (EPT)/Predator (EPT)/Lone Wolf (EPT)/Fire Control System (System) Any upgrade that allows you continue to modify your attacks without an action pair well with Gonk. Spending actions on shield recovery can be painful if it also means your attacks will suck.



Greedo (Most Wanted Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

The first time you attack each round and the first time you defend each round, the first Damage card dealt is dealt faceup.

Ranking – 11 Greedo’s nice and cheap but he’s a gamble. Taking face up damage cards can hurt and he can make them flow both ways.

– 11 Combos Boba Fett (Crew) Greedo can help trigger Boba. YV-666 (Any) The YV has a ton of shields meaning you won’t be receiving damage cards for awhile. But your targets might.



IG-88D (Shadow Caster Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

You have the pilot ability of each other friendly ship with the IG-2000 Upgrade card (in addition to your own pilot ability).

Ranking – 6 It’s a shame this is IG-88D instead of IG-88E or something. It would be fun for a Quadjumper or Jumpmaster to sloop with a hard turn. For one point this card gives you a lot of fun options. However, aside from pairing with IG-88A, the weakest of the IG’s, it really costs you more than 1pt since you need to add a cannon or engine upgrade.

– 6 Combos Moralo Eval (YV-666 Pilot) + IG-88B (Aggressor Pilot) Since Moralo gains a 180 degree arc for his cannons he’ll get the most use out of getting a second cannon shot. Engine Upgrade (Modification) + IG-88C (Aggressor Pilot) Suddenly all your ships gain repositioning and defense. This combo would work particularly well on Boba Fett, who likes to be at range 1 or a small ship which has more opportunity to boost. Palob Godalhi (HWK-290 Pilot) + Engine Upgrade (Modification) + Autoblaster Turret (Turret) + IG-88C (Aggressor Pilot) Similar to the above but I wanted to call this one out specifically. Palob is annoying to face because of his token stealing. Give him an evade to keep him alive, plus a boost to make use of an autoblaster and he becomes really mean. Throw Fearlessness on and if you are in arc get extra unblockable damage.



K4 Security Droid (Most Wanted/Hound’s Tooth Expansions)

Cost: 3 points

After executing a green maneuver, you may acquire a target lock.

Ranking – 7 Free target locks are nice. It loses some value when compared to Dengar though as, Dengar works all the time, K4 only after a green and they cost the same points.

– 7 Combos Push the Limits (EPT)/Experimental Interface (Modification) Super action economy. Take a green for a TL, then take two other actions. Next round, you’re taking a green anyways to clear your stress. He’s the Scum version of Kyle Katarn. Unhinged Astromech (Salvaged Astromech) More greens to use to trigger the free target lock.



Ketsu Onyo (Shadow Caster Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

At the start of the End phase, you may choose 1 ship in your firing arc at Range 1-2. That ship does not remove its tractor beam tokens.

Ranking – 11 Suffers from the Hera Effect as Ketsu (Pilot) would love Ketsu (Crew), especially combined with Shadow Caster (Title).

– 11 Combos Space Tug Tractor Array (Modification) The easier time you have giving a target a tractor beam token the most use you’ll get out of Ketsu. Can’t get much easier than an action. Tractor Beam (Cannon)/Shadow Caster (Title) The only other, current, ways to get tractor beam tokens. These are harder to pull off but a more reliable combo with Ketsu. If you used them the ship you put the token on will be in position for Ketsu to trigger.



Latts Razi (Shadow Caster Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

When defending, you may remove 1 stress token from the attacker to add 1 Evade result to your roll.

Ranking – 4 Latts has no limit to the number of times she can trigger. She works great as a counter to an Attanni Mindlink list if you can stress them, since the whole list becomes stressed. She is also a great counter to Push the Limits or any ship that has infinite stress (Tycho, Ghost with Hera crew, pre-nerf Zuckuss crew, etc).

– 4 Combos Asajj Ventress (Lancer Pilot)/Rigged Cargo Chute (Illicit) Both of these can potentially gives a stress token out before any combat happens so you have at least one potential evade result. Tactician (Crew)/Flechette Cannon (Cannon)/Flechette Torpedo (Torpedo) All of these are other ways to pass stress out to your opponents. However, they happen during your attack step so if you get shot by higher PS pilots you can only use Latts if they stress themselves.



Maul (Phantom II Expansion)

Cost: 3 points

Scum only. Ignore this restriction if your squad contains “Ezra Bridger.”

When attacking, If you are not stressed, you may receive any number of stress tokens to reroll that many attack dice.

After performing an attack that hits, you may remove 1 of your stress tokens.

Ranking – 2 He has two facets to him. Rerolling attack dice. And clearing a stress after scoring a hit. Both can work together or separately.

– 2 Combos Dengar (Jumpmaster 5000 Pilot) Dengar pilot can’t take Dengar crew. Maul gives his two potential attacks a reroll. Dace Bonearm (HWK-290) Similarly to how using Maul on the Rebel HWK gives Jan to uses, using him on Dace could give you two uses of his ability.



Outlaw Tech (Most Wanted Expansion)

Cost: 2 points

After you execute a red maneuver, you may assign 1 focus token to your ship.

Ranking – 8 Getting a free token after a maneuver that would normally prevent you from getting an action is nice. But it generally doesn’t pass the opportunity cost test as you don’t use it very often. Hera crew would love this as a companion.

– 8 Combos Stay on Target (EPT) SOT makes any maneuver you change it too red so Outlaw Tech will give you a free focus. Attanni Mindlink (EPT) With these two combined you get to share your focus and stress with your whole squadron. If you move first your companion can clear their stress. K4 Security Droid (Crew) Free actions if you take a green or red maneuver.



Unkar Plutt (Quadjumper Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

After executing a maneuver that causes you to overlap an enemy ship, you may suffer 1 damage to perform 1 free action.

Ranking – 16 Similar to a few other abilities that allow you to damage yourself in exchange for an action you wouldn’t otherwise get (Electronic Baffles, Chopper crew). Situationally useful.

– 16 Combos Space Tug Tractor Array (Modification) The general main use of Unkar. You can force a bump and still get a free tractor token on your opponent. Additionally can move them so even though you were touching, you aren’t anymore and can then shoot them.



Zuckuss (Mist Hunter Expansion)

Cost: 1 points

When attacking, if you are not stressed, you may receive any number of stress tokens to choose an equal number of defense dice. The defender must reroll those dice.

Ranking – 14 Pre-nerf Zuckuss was a very powerful ability. If you could set yourself up to not care about stress, which there are a lot of options to do, you essentially made unreliable green dice even more unreliable. Post nerf, Zuckuss is pretty balanced for his cost. You don’t want to use him often when your opponent rolls three evades and you don’t really want to use him anymore on a ship that gets multiple attacks, but he’s still pretty useful. The stress just now has meaning.

– 14 Combos Inspiring Recruit (Crew) Clearing more stress at a time will give you more dice you can modify with Zuckuss. Unhinged Astromech (Salvaged Astromech) More greens to clear that stress. Maul (Crew) You could use Maul as a way of clearing the stress Zuckus gives you rather than for modifying your own dice.



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