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So I've acquired a 2nd Scyk recently, and to be honest, I'm not really sure why I did it (I keep saying it was to fill out an Amazon.com order to get free shipping). I've had absolutely no success with the first Scyk I bought, and I've used it many times. It just doesn't seem to have any kind of role to fill, its too expensive to be a decent swarm ship (the z-95 is better), too frail to be a gun boat with the Heavy Scyk title (y-wings with the title perform this role much better), and just seems to not have enough to make it a reliable interceptor (the new Khilrax seems to be taking that role). The fact that its a S&V ship that can't get illicit upgrades is another downside.

I love the ship's design, the maneuver dial and action bar are decent enough, but its just missing something. The Heavy title should have been 0 points given the cost of each of the upgrade slots its can gain, and it obviously should have had the illicit slot standard. Since FFG isn't in the habit if reducing points cost on pilot cards without sacrificing an upgrade slot (there's no upgrade slots to give up), and there aren't any upgrade cards that will specifically help it in the next two waves, I think these little guys will remain useless for a long time, which is a real shame.

So I submit this question to you, fellow Dakkanaughts, have you had ANY luck making the Scyk work? Any ships combos or upgrade builds that make it click?

To put it in simple terms: in what list would a Scyk provide some unique capabilities that would not be better fulfilled by just using Z-95s or Khiraxzes?

The Scyk has a pretty good dial, with a lot of 1 and 2 speed maneuvers and quite a bit of green. The Z-95 dial has the desirable 1 straight, but is otherwise worse. Annoyingly, the Khiraxz has a very similar dial, and so is basically just as maneuverable. So we can't rely on Scyk's dial to differentiate.

The Syck has the PS5 generic pilot with the EPT, which gives us lots of options - a Z-95 can't be so flexible unless you take a named pilot. Frustratingly, the Khiraxz also has this, so it's tough to differentiate the two. The PS5 scyk is 6 points cheaper, and has an extra defense dice, but that comes at the huge cost of 1 less attack dice and 2 less total health.

And of course, the scyk can take secondary weapons. Cannons are obviously desirable, but most munitions are overpriced unless you have a specific use in mind.

So: how can we leverage the Syck's 3 defense dice, it's secondary weapon options, it's EPT slot and it's PS5 to overcome it's low default offensive output and it's fragility?

EPT's that give you bonuses at the cost of stress are interesting, since the Scyk has the green maneuvers to shake it off next turn. You can use Push the Limit to focus+lock, which is like having pseudo accuracy corrector (or couple it with stealth device and do focus+evade, for very high levels of survivability). Opportunist lets you get another attack dice, for two points cheaper than a mangler cannon (an interesting option in a Palob list). Elusiveness is a cheap way to avoid damage while also preserving your action economy. Stay on Target gives you the ability to arc dodge or chase any ship PS4 or lower. Lone Wolf gives a defensive and offensive buff to a single scyk who's acting as a harasser (and it works with your secondary weapons). Wingman and Squad leader lets you buff friendly ships.

The best games I've had with Scyks was using a single Tansarii point veteran with Elusiveness and a Heavy LaserCannon, flying alongside a squad of 6 z-95's. The Syck's job in this list is to keep enemy ships at range 3 as much as possible and act as a "credible threat". The Z-95 swarm is ultimately more dangerous, but the Scyk will quickly make back it's points if your opponent don't spend enough resources on killing it quickly.

Cartel Spacers are basically a lost cause. I had one sort of interesting game using Ion Cannons to lock down the enemy squad, but they would get shut down if they faced turreted ships or swarms. Both of the scyk generic pilots should probably be 2 points cheaper.

Laetin A'Shera is severely hampered by his lack of an EPT. If you do use him, it makes a lot of sense to take a Stealth Device.

Serissu is overcosted, and her ability is deceptively bad. Compare to Howlrunner: her ability triggers each time a friendly ship fires, giving you on average 5 to 7 re-rolls a turn. Serissu's ability only triggers when enemies shoot - best case scenario, you'll get 8 re-rolls facing a swarm list, but more often you'll be facing a two or three ship list and only get 1 to 3 re-rolls a turn. Building her out as a dogfighter wastes the benefits of her pilot trait. The best thing I could think of doing is flying in formation with a squad of Khirax fighters to buff their defense dice.

I feel that the Scyk is the worst ship overall in the game right now - it doesn't have enough interesting gimmicks to overcome it's fundamentally bad cost-to-capability ratio. Until it gets something like a TIE Advance fix, my attitude is going to remain "oh, you have a Scyk in your list? it must be a 'fun list' then".

 DanielBeaver wrote:
To put it in simple terms: in what list would a Scyk provide some unique capabilities that would not be better fulfilled by just using Z-95s or Khiraxzes?

The Scyk has a pretty good dial, with a lot of 1 and 2 speed maneuvers and quite a bit of green. The Z-95 dial has the desirable 1 straight, but is otherwise worse. Annoyingly, the Khiraxz has a very similar dial, and so is basically just as maneuverable. So we can't rely on Scyk's dial to differentiate.

The Syck has the PS5 generic pilot with the EPT, which gives us lots of options - a Z-95 can't be so flexible unless you take a named pilot. Frustratingly, the Khiraxz also has this, so it's tough to differentiate the two. The PS5 scyk is 6 points cheaper, and has an extra defense dice, but that comes at the huge cost of 1 less attack dice and 2 less total health.

And of course, the scyk can take secondary weapons. Cannons are obviously desirable, but most munitions are overpriced unless you have a specific use in mind.

So: how can we leverage the Syck's 3 defense dice, it's secondary weapon options, it's EPT slot and it's PS5 to overcome it's low default offensive output and it's fragility?

EPT's that give you bonuses at the cost of stress are interesting, since the Scyk has the green maneuvers to shake it off next turn. You can use Push the Limit to focus+lock, which is like having pseudo accuracy corrector (or couple it with stealth device and do focus+evade, for very high levels of survivability). Opportunist lets you get another attack dice, for two points cheaper than a mangler cannon (an interesting option in a Palob list). Elusiveness is a cheap way to avoid damage while also preserving your action economy. Stay on Target gives you the ability to arc dodge or chase any ship PS4 or lower. Lone Wolf gives a defensive and offensive buff to a single scyk who's acting as a harasser (and it works with your secondary weapons). Wingman and Squad leader lets you buff friendly ships.

The best games I've had with Scyks was using a single Tansarii point veteran with Elusiveness and a Heavy LaserCannon, flying alongside a squad of 6 z-95's. The Syck's job in this list is to keep enemy ships at range 3 as much as possible and act as a "credible threat". The Z-95 swarm is ultimately more dangerous, but the Scyk will quickly make back it's points if your opponent don't spend enough resources on killing it quickly.

Cartel Spacers are basically a lost cause. I had one sort of interesting game using Ion Cannons to lock down the enemy squad, but they would get shut down if they faced turreted ships or swarms. Both of the scyk generic pilots should probably be 2 points cheaper.

Laetin A'Shera is severely hampered by his lack of an EPT. If you do use him, it makes a lot of sense to take a Stealth Device.

Serissu is overcosted, and her ability is deceptively bad. Compare to Howlrunner: her ability triggers each time a friendly ship fires, giving you on average 5 to 7 re-rolls a turn. Serissu's ability only triggers when enemies shoot - best case scenario, you'll get 8 re-rolls facing a swarm list, but more often you'll be facing a two or three ship list and only get 1 to 3 re-rolls a turn. Building her out as a dogfighter wastes the benefits of her pilot trait. The best thing I could think of doing is flying in formation with a squad of Khirax fighters to buff their defense dice.

I feel that the Scyk is the worst ship overall in the game right now - it doesn't have enough interesting gimmicks to overcome it's fundamentally bad cost-to-capability ratio. Until it gets something like a TIE Advance fix, my attitude is going to remain "oh, you have a Scyk in your list? it must be a 'fun list' then".

That's about as exhaustive a breakdown of the M3-A as I've seen, and its just plain depressing. I guess those two Scyks will just stay on the shelf until I play another Epic game and run out of Z95s.

Sadly, I think the ship is so fundamentally flawed, that the only real fix would be new pilot cards and/or a new, zero point title that adds on what the ship desperately needs (which will invalidate the Heavy Scyk title).

The basic ship is only overcosted by a couple of points - for example, 7 Scyks (98pts) vs 8 Headhunters (96pts) would be still be a close fight. But combine that with the overcosted title (overcosted by one or two points), and you're talking about going into a fight at effective handicap of 4 to 8 points - that matters in competitive games, and is problematic even in casual play.

I don't feel like the Scyk is really overcosted and I don't think the Kihraxz is strictly better than the Scyk

Lets compare the 2 directly
For 23 points
Black Sun Ace Kihraxz
Vs
Tensarii Veteran Heavy Scyk with Mangler Cannon

Both are Pilot skill 5
Both have 1 shield
Both have similar maneuvers available
Both have 3 attack dice

Advantages of the Kihraxz
2 Increased Hull points
4 Attack dice at range 1
Immune to Munition Failure Critical
Illicit Slot and Missile Slot (tho no one using Missile...)

Advantage of the Scyk
1 Increased Agility
No bonus defense for opponent at range 3
1 Additional Green Maneuver
Evade action
Barrel Roll action
Convert's a Hit to a Critical
Immune to Weapon Malfunction Critical

I definitely do not find the Scyk to be inherently underpowered.

 Talamare wrote:
I don't feel like the Scyk is really overcosted and I don't think the Kihraxz is strictly better than the Scyk

Lets compare the 2 directly
For 23 points
Black Sun Ace Kihraxz
Vs
Tensarii Veteran Heavy Scyk with Mangler Cannon

Both are Pilot skill 5
Both have 1 shield
Both have similar maneuvers available
Both have 3 attack dice

Advantages of the Kihraxz
2 Increased Hull points
4 Attack dice at range 1
Immune to Munition Failure Critical
Illicit Slot and Missile Slot (tho no one using Missile...)

Advantage of the Scyk
1 Increased Agility
No bonus defense for opponent at range 3
1 Additional Green Maneuver
Evade action
Barrel Roll action
Convert's a Hit to a Critical
Immune to Weapon Malfunction Critical

I definitely do not find the Scyk to be inherently underpowered.

This is a good assessment, but the two things I highlighted are critical - the extra evade dice does a lot less for the scyk than the extra 2 hull for the Khiraz. Since only 3/8 sides of the defense dice have evades, you would need to roll that extra evade dice 5 times before you are getting equivalent durability (3 times if you're focusing every turn). And because the Scyk has so little hull to act as a buffer against the chance of bad rolls, the odds are worse in practice - when you have a bit of bad luck with scyks, your ship dies.

(to say nothing of the illicit slot, which can host some good cards)

So the difference basically comes down to die rolls and how good you are manuevering.

If you get your defense rolls and are better at using the scyk superior manueverability, you'll do better. If you want something that is more forgiving of errors or bad die rolling, use the Kihraxz.

I've had awesome fun using a 4hlc scyk list with serrisu and three generics. The opponent doesn't take it seriously until you throw 16 red dice in his face at range 3.

It's the ultimate glass cannon, but if you can get a couple of nasty opening salvos in, you've every chance of winning. I've taken a firespray off the board first turn of combat. (Half the opponents points.) I've annihilated brobots, a rac/whisper list and the three amigos x-wing list.

I've also been stomped several times with the same list. I wouldn't take it to a tourney, because it's too hit or miss, but it's lots of fun to fly.

If you get your defense rolls and are better at using the scyk superior maneuverability, you'll do better.

The Scyk and Kihraxz maneuver dials are very similar.


The only definite maneuvering advantage the Scyk has is the Barrel Roll action, which isn't quite enough to overcome the inherent inferiority in jousting efficiency between a Scyk and a similarly priced Kihraxz.

It's not necessarily bad for a ship to have worse jousting efficiency, so long as it has a special trick up it's sleeve to help even the playing field. If the Scyk was in fact significantly more maneuverable (e.g., if it had something more like an A-Wing or StarViper dial), then you could make up the difference by out-flying enemy ships. But if the enemy ship is just as maneuverable as you, has better jousting efficiency, and your ship doesn't have any special abilities to tip the balance... then you're simply going to lose more often against an equally skilled opponent.

The X-Wing is in a similar doghouse - there's just not much that that a generic X-Wing can do that a generic B-Wing can't do better. The saving grace is that some of the X-Wing pilots have good pilot abilities that can synergize with your list (e.g., Wes, Biggs - who are not good on their own, but who amplify the value of the rest of the list). StarVipers and E-Wings are another example - the generics are arguably even worse than Scyks, but their named pilots have really interesting abilities and both see use in tournament play. I explained earlier that I don't think the named Scyk pilots are very good, and the generics don't do anything that the Kihraxz or Z-95 can't do somewhat better... so there's just not any reason to use a Scyk.

If there's any hope for this fighter, it's going to lie in future releases - maybe some new munition or cannon that uses stress and/or defence dice to boost it's damage (something like a proton rocket, but which doesn't cost so much), which would allow you to get a crazy amount of firepower in a little package. Who knows, maybe the new tractor beam will be the perfect upgrade to make the Scyk useful again - sort of like how Autothrusters revitalized TIE Interceptor and A-Wing usage. It's so frustrating that there's no Illicit slot on this ship, as that would open up some interesting possibilities (cloaking device + Serissu maybe?).

Scyk has evade as well, which makes Push the Limit a credible EPT for him to take.

What EPT will you take with Kihraxz?

Push the Limit means that he can Evade and Focus or Focus and Barrel Roll or Barrel Roll and Evade.

Quickly helping him to equalize his missing hull points. Illicit slot is amazing tho.

I greatly disagree with you Talamare. But I'm glad you're passionate about it. The scyk title should be free, and all of a sudden it has a purpose, despite being fragile and having poor pilot cards. It's still not super practical, but it's a glass cannon add on that gives some spunk to a list and serves as customizable artillery where the Z is the cheap swarm ship.

I wish they would fix the star viper as well, free mods for all star vipers anyone?

The biggest kick yo the shin ( scum got me to actually play the game) is that scum came out and had these awesome, unique ships ( in my eyes) and all that's really worth flying is Ywings, hwk and Z95s which are all Rebel ships ( I know the mandalorian and IG ships are useful as well) but having the new cool looking ships be relatively useless, really bites

I agree the scyk title would be better at 0 points, but I don't think they are completely useless. I think there's a difference between tournament play, where everyone is super-competitive, and just playing for fun. I mostly just play for fun, and the scum specific ships are tons of fun. I flew a 4 viper list a few times, which was brilliant fun, and got a couple of wins, (though had more losses). They weren't tabled or anything though.

I'm all about fun, I just think before they throw a ship out there, there needs to be some thought behind its purpose and usefulness or utility. Neither the m3a or the starviper have enough utility to justify use. Or the points prohibit it. I think the tie defender suffers a similar fate. By the time you load the ship to play it, you kind of wish you had just played a different ship. Neither have inspiring pilot cards either which doesn't help.

If you want to take a heavy scyk, the fletchette cannon seems the best idea - it's just not tough enough to justify an expensive cannon. 4 points for an extra attack die puts it at the same price as an alpha squint - not a great fighter but not a bad one - with the edge of a shield and stress attack in return for boost and the potential to hit a ship with multiple damage a turn.

Serrisu is cool but doesn't belong in a scyk swarm. Her ability triggers based on the number of incoming shots, not the number of outgoung ones - so you want her flying wing to something more valuable than her, like a firespray. She's Biggs, not Howlrunner, making you kill her before you can attack her wingman effectively.

Laetin with a stealth device is annoying and the one candidate for a bigger gun. However, he's still throwing probably unmodified dice as you'll want focus or evade to defend and keep incoming fire off you.

I will admit, I do kind of regret buying 3 M3-As. I thought the ships would be good at first. Light yeah, but nippy, able to harass at range or be kitted out with different guns, but then you realise that they aren't really that good and adding on guns is too much of a cost for something so frail.

The fact that the upgrade is a title kinda limits it now too, since anything to try and improve it would be a modification, taking away other modifications it could get. Unless it gets a second title but that seems a bit silly.

You can still do a lot with modifications. For example, a Scyk version of the Twin Ion Engine Mk. II would be interesting, or a modification that gives it Boost. The Scyk right now is basically a TIE fighter equivalent that costs 14 points instead of 12. All they need is a 1 point modification that gives them 3 points worth of value, and they'll be right where they need to be.

The specific solution I would suggest to FFG would be a 1 or 0 point modification that gave the Scyk a free focus token after they perform an action. This would be a great defensive buff for title-less scyks. For heavy scyks, it allows them to get target lock + focus, greatly enhancing the firepower of all secondary weapons.

I just bought a 3rd Scyk the other day. I plan on running 2 Cartel Spacers and Serissu, all with HLCs, flying in formation for Serissu's reroll. Then they'll have a Cartel Marauder (Kihraxz) as a back up.

I'm tempted to run this in the upcoming tournament at my FLGS.

 krodarklorr wrote:
I just bought a 3rd Scyk the other day. I plan on running 2 Cartel Spacers and Serissu, all with HLCs, flying in formation for Serissu's reroll. Then they'll have a Cartel Marauder (Kihraxz) as a back up.

I'm tempted to run this in the upcoming tournament at my FLGS.

I've tried a variation on this list. It doesn't end well if your regular opponents have turret ships. Still, it's fun if nothing else! Good luck!

 streamdragon wrote:

 krodarklorr wrote:
I just bought a 3rd Scyk the other day. I plan on running 2 Cartel Spacers and Serissu, all with HLCs, flying in formation for Serissu's reroll. Then they'll have a Cartel Marauder (Kihraxz) as a back up.

I'm tempted to run this in the upcoming tournament at my FLGS.

I've tried a variation on this list. It doesn't end well if your regular opponents have turret ships. Still, it's fun if nothing else! Good luck!

Which ships in particular do they have a problem with? I used a slightly different ship against my friend who ran a B-wing, E-wing, X-wing, and Fat Han (it was 150 point game), and the 2 Scyks I brought pretty much killed Han themselves within two turns.

IMO, the trick to being successful with Scyks is to maximize their evasion ability. My most successful squad in this game, across all factions, has been Serissu & Laetin Ashera w/ Stealth Devices, and Guri w/ Stealth Device & Bodyguard. I ussually fill out points with N'dru Suhlak w/ Lone Wolf and then stick a couple extra upgrades on the other ships. 4 or 5 defense dice rolls are pretty easy to come by with those 3 ships and when combining their abilities together for re-rolls & buffs, etc. you end up with a exceptionally maneuverable unit that your opponent will have a very difficult time damaging unless your dice fail you, and while it might not hit the hardest I know first hand that its enough to tackle just about any challenge in the game.

One of my Scyk builds was the Tassari Point Vets with Vetran instincts, half kitted out with Fletchette Cannons, the other Half with Ion cannon.

It had merit, or so I thought. I ended up facing a pair of IGs with a suicide Z-95... Stomped me.

Can Bodyguard be used to improve the agility of two ships if you have enough focus? My Scyk / Scyk / Z95 / HWK ion list is fun enough but I'm looking to beef up their survivability and Palob has the focus to do it..

I finally had some success using two vets with Stealth Devices. That kept the points cost low and I ran them in formation...of course, I had a fully kitted out Boba Fett to do most of the damage, but they worked well at picking off the damaged ships in the Fett-man's wake.

 ClassicCarraway wrote:
I finally had some success using two vets with Stealth Devices. That kept the points cost low and I ran them in formation...of course, I had a fully kitted out Boba Fett to do most of the damage, but they worked well at picking off the damaged ships in the Fett-man's wake.

I'm looking forward to trying 2 Cartel Spacers with HLCs alongside Latts Razzi (YV-666). Should have some punch to it.

With the new juke card, a Tansaari point veteran with mangler cannon is a cool 25pts and certain death to large ships. Take a pair with something like Boba Fett could be very effective.

Also, I head a guy ran a list with 3 generic K's and 2 mangler Scyks and did very well. That's a lot of hull and attack dice to chew through, and with the new damage deck, the mangler cannon is a lot scarier than it used to be.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
Also, I head a guy ran a list with 3 generic K's and 2 mangler Scyks and did very well.

? S&V don't get Ks and Rebels don't get Scyks, so I'm not really sure I'm understanding this right.

Khiraxz

 Azreal13 wrote:
Khiraxz

Oooooh derp

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
...and with the new damage deck, the mangler cannon is a lot scarier than it used to be.

How so? I haven't heard anything about the damage deck in the new starter, other than it replaces the current damage deck. So did they up the number of nasty crits that would help me justify Manglers vs HLC?

 Siygess wrote:

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
...and with the new damage deck, the mangler cannon is a lot scarier than it used to be.

How so? I haven't heard anything about the damage deck in the new starter, other than it replaces the current damage deck. So did they up the number of nasty crits that would help me justify Manglers vs HLC?

They evened the deck out a lot. You can no longer cripple Aces with the right draw, but there are no longer a bunch of cards that generics don't care about. (Injured Pilot, Damaged Cockpit and Munitions failure are gone, and weapon malfunction has been replaced by one that affects secondaries and primaries).