SW Armada: Top Five Upgrades
What are the best upgrades in Star Wars:Armada?
Over it’s five waves Star Wars:Armada has released a lot of upgrade cards. Like most games, some of these cards are good and some are bad. It’s only a few that come to true dominate the game. These are the cards that are must haves for casual and competitive players alike. The cards that dominate and drive the meta. The cards that get lists named after them. Today we take a lot at what I considered to be the five best upgrade cards in Armada. Just a note, for these purposes we will not be looking at ship, squadron, objective or admiral cards. I have included title cards. That being said, lets dig in.
5. Engine Techs
Engine techs has been one of the most important cards in the game since it was released. It is almost certainly the most taken support team option across both faction. The ability to to get extra movement is a real game changer for a lot of ships. In particular the MC80 Assault and Commande versions almost rely on it to be competitive. Pretty much any ship that can take a support team upgrade has to at least consider taking engine techs.
4. Assault Proton Torpedoes
Like engine techs above Assault Proton Torpedoes have come to dominate their upgrade slot in the current meta. Engine techs however never really had competing card in its slot. Assault Proton Torpedoes however did and does. In fact all of the other ordnance upgrades can be viable choices. In particular Concussion Missiles, released at the same time as Assault Proton Torpedoes(APTs), was a direct competitor, and it wasn’t always clear which one would end up more popular. However recent meta has some that APTs are by far more popular, and a number of builds rely on them. They have great synergy with Admirals like Sato, Dodonna and Screed. There ability to bypass shields and deal straight up extra damage has become a real game changer.
3. XI7 Turbolasers
XI7 (X17?) Turbolasers are not as dominant in their upgrade slot as the above cards. Despite this I think that they are one of the best cards in the game. Now there are a lot of good turbolaser upgrade cards, and picking which one fits your play style and ship is important. For me it’s hard to outfit a heavy hitting ship without putting these on it. Their ability to help focus damage, and effectively make one set of defense tokens useless, is key when you are throwing out big broadsides. In addition XI7’s were really the first must have card in Armada. Back in Waves I and II, they were the card people were trading for, and buying ships just to get. The card that everyone wanted and no one had enough. Though their popularity may have declined they remain one of the most powerful cards in the game.
2. Raymus Antilles
Raymus Antilles is really an amazing card. While Rebels have always had great ability to play the command and token game, Raymus is their top card in that regards. Alone, his ablity to gain an extra command token is great, but coupled with the Rebels many options to change or swap round tokens, really makes him an amazing card. He the centerpoint card of a number of powerful ship load outs, from unsinkable behemoths that regain massive amount of hull or shields each turn, to heavy carriers commanding waves of squadrons. In the right combo’s he can almost be a mini admiral. While in certain situation there are better officers, I would say there is no better overall officer than Raymus Antilles.
1. Demolisher
No single card has half as much effected on the game and the meta as Demolisher has. Demolisher is one of those rare few cards that allows a ship to fundamentally change or ignore a core game rule. The ability to fire after moving is such a powerful and massive change that it has caused entire lists to be built around this one card. Aside from the fact that DeMUS (Demolisher and multiple small unit) fleets have been a major player in the meta since pretty much day one, the fact is that Demolisher will play a major role in any fleet it is in. Moreover, no title, or card is as tied to a ship as Demolisher is. It is pretty much next to impossible to image a fleet that takes a Gladiator Star Destroyer and doesn’t also take Demolisher. For both it’s sheer power and it’s influence on the overall meta, Demolisher is my clear top upgrade card.
Final Thoughts
Well there you have it. Obviously these are just my top picks, and there is room for debate on some choices. In addition as the meta is always changing so two will the top cards change. For now though, these are, to me at least, the top five upgrades.
Well that’s it for today BoLS fans. Let us know what you think of this list, and what your top cards are, down in the comments!
