Talk:Biggs Darklighter/@comment-125.237.150.42-20170222213258/@comment-454133-20170222222908

Remember that Biggs' role in life is to die. His pilot ability attracts all the death to his ship, and with only 5 health and 2 agility, his time in this world is limited. His secondary role in life is to make sure the opponent hates him for all the opportunities he forces them to miss (thus extending the life of your fleet, and allowing your other ships to fire be much more aggressive). Mind you, Death and Contempt are fine, upstanding goals, and he's very good at them. :D

He will usually be focus-fired by the enemy team to kill him quickly, and/or hit by heavy attacks to try to knock him out in one shot, so he really needs a defensive focus so he can last as long as possible. Any other toys you put on him are not likely to pay off, because he won't be on the table long enough to get much use out of them.

And since he's going to die, you don't want to make him too expensive. A pricey Biggs both lowers the points you can spend on teammates, and grants your opponent a higher score if time is called.

R4-D6 is popular because it's both very cheap, and a strong way to reduce the damage dealt to him by heavy attacks like Swarm Leader. Integrated Astromech is also super-cheap and will shed one damage card, often a Direct Hit or other disabling crit. At worst IA acts like it effectively gives him 1 extra "shield" that absorbs a damage card.

If you're going the IA route, you may also want your astromech to be dirt cheap because chances are you'll be chucking it out the window sooner rather than later. I'd avoid R2-F2, it's usually not a good investment (it's pricey, uses your action, and only adds 1 agility). R2-D2 is usually reserved for a less doomed ship (that will have time to recharge between hits). However it can be quite viable in a Symbiotic Biggs fleet, which combines him with Kanan Jarrus (Ghost) and even Captain Rex to limit the damage he takes each round.