Axe, Back Tactics

I recently brought Axe and Kickback in a Republic list, it was mostly just to have more aces to trigger Unduli. However I found the Axe Kickback duo to work really well. I was a bit surprised so I ran the list a second time and again found Axe and Kickback to be quite formidable particularly with Unduli. Even without Unduli I think if you are looking for a Republic light screen I think both are highly worth considering, let me show you why.

First Axe is interesting, reducing damage is always good, but he has escort so he really only helps other escorts, and the vast majority of the time that means they are just attacking Axe other then other escorts, however when paired with Kickback and some smart positioning they can become an incredibly effective duo.

With Kickback you can move distance one after you attack, it's a really simple effect, but why does this work so well? In many cases fighters are kind of clumped up into a few fighter groups so they can stay within activation range of a ship. If you are able to get Axe engaged with one squadron on the outskirts of a fighter group engaged with only one or two squadrons then bring Kickback in attack one of the fighters Axe is engaged with hopefully killing it then push kickback into engage the rest of the fighter group while staying at range 1 of Axe.

Axe comes in engaging one squadron

Kickback comes in and finishes off the squad axe was engaged with

kickback moves in to engage the rest of the fighter ball

Axe later engages one squadron repeat as long as you can.

Now the fighter group has to attack Kickback who has two braces so they have to deal with the brace+Axe’s effect 2 damage becomes zero 3 damage becomes one and the same with 4. It's not too hard to see how this can make Kickback extremely annoying with Axe nearby. If a squadron group is without grit Kickback with Axe just out of engagement range can tie up nearly an entire squad ball single handedly or just add in a few buddies for kickback to escort and tie up grit squadrons as well. Things start to get even more crazy when you add in commander Unduli to ready Kickbacks brace (you can ready Axe’s from my understanding) and/or Implacable to absorb a little bit of damage, and I would imagine repairing Kickback with Admiral Yularen would also be quite nice. It should also be noted that Ahsoka Tano ace can help Kickback get out of trouble if he has already activated and needs to jump out, she can let him attack and then Kickback's ability will trigger letting him get out of trouble or if you have him near the station get him some heals. Ahsoka, Kickback, Axe with Kickback on the station will make Kickback nearly impossible to kill.

As I said I was quite surprised how effective and annoying both Axe and Kickback can be when played in this way. While both Axe and Kickback are a bit slower so they might not get the jump on groups of squadrons, so this tactic might be harder to pull off but I was able to utilize it in my two games I tried it out in. Even with that I was still really impressed with their performance, and I think its a pair worth exploring particularly when looking at small fighter coverage options for the Republic. But what do you think? Have you tried out Axe and Kickback together? If so, what was your experience? Until next time have a great week!