If the Defensive Retrofit slot is king, the Weapons Team slot is the crown prince — and sometimes the real power behind the throne. This is one of the most coveted upgrade slots in all of Armada, offering huge boosts to damage output, command flexibility, and general ship performance.
Most factions have strong options here, and the best Weapons Team cards are practically stapled to certain hulls. The one exception? The poor droids — the CIS don’t get nearly as much love in this department.
We’ll start with the generic Weapons Teams — the bread-and-butter cards you’ll see across factions and fleet types — before moving on to the unique and faction-locked options.
Generics
Fire-Control Team
Too niche, even for 2 points. Yes, you can build corner cases where it works — a Kraken Providence DN with ACM + Heavy Ions, or a Dodonna build with ACM + XX-9s — but in most situations you’re better off keeping things simple and effective. Why not just put Ordnance Experts, Local Fire Control, or Boarding Troopers in that slot instead?
Dropping it to 1 point won’t change much; it’s still a build-around card that rarely justifies the slot. If it’s going to stay, it needs a full rework. Moving it to Support Team or Offensive Retrofit doesn’t feel right either — better to redesign or leave it in the dumpster.
Flight Controllers
A carrier staple since day one — but 6 points is a lot, unless you're commanding 4+ squadrons.
In an ideal world, I’d make it cheaper but cap it at boosting a maximum of three squadrons per activation. That would keep it potent but reduce the “death ball” effect. Another tweak would be to ban Rogue squadrons from benefiting — no more roguing in during the Squadron Phase, then getting commanded with a boosted alpha at the top of the next turn.
Do we want to give Rogues even more relative power when commanded? Probably not. Still, as-is, it’s good — maybe too good in the right fleet — but not fundamentally broken.
Gunnery Team
This one’s fine. You don’t see it everywhere anymore, but it still earns its keep. Cost is right, effect is clear, and it does its job. Honestly, I think you’d see it more often if other Weapons Teams weren’t cheaper and better in certain roles.
Local Fire Control
This card exists to give Rebels and Imperials access to Salvo — a mechanic introduced with the Clone Wars sets. For that, it’s priced very reasonably at 4 points, even with the Weapons Team slot cost and the requirement to swap out (presumably) your least useful defense token.
You could make a strong case that this is actually a 5+ point upgrade — but raising the price would undermine its core purpose: to give Imps and Rebs access to a whole new defensive mechanic. At 4 points, though, it creates a pricing conundrum for the entire category. If LFC is 4, why aren’t Sensor Team or Veteran Gunners also 4? On the flip side, if LFC went up to 5, those other cards would feel fine where they are.
It’s also worth noting that LFC enables some slightly questionable double-Salvo builds (Luminara comes to mind). In general, I think ships that already have Salvo probably shouldn’t be able to take it. Conceptually flawed, slightly troublesome — but also one of the most impactful cards in the slot.
Gets the job done for 4 points. Some might argue it’s too good given how often it appears, but I disagree — it’s the only reliable way to make black dice scary in a world of PDIC, 1.5 evades, and other damage-mitigation tech.
Also, External Racks exist for 4 points, so if anything, the “problem” lies more with Racks than with OE. OE simply ensures your close-range ordnance ships can actually deliver.
Ruthless Strategists
I’m not a fan of auto-damage in principle, but this card has a clear role: countering pesky aces (especially scatter aces) without relying solely on luck.
That said, we’ve all seen what happens when it’s combined with Ordnance Pods and masses of cheap, high-hull squadrons — it can be oppressive. Is it meta-breaking? Probably not, but it does limit future design space and risks warping certain matchups. For now, though, it’s just another flavour of playstyle we live with.
Sensor Team
A decent effect if your dice pool is large enough, but at long range — where this shines most — getting a big enough pool is tricky.
At 5 points, it’s a tough sell compared to other Weapons Teams. I’d drop it to 4 to make it competitive, but honestly, that alone won’t suddenly make it a go-to choice.
Veteran Gunners
The insurance policy against bad rolls. Great card, but it’s up against equally great competition in this slot. Is it worth 5 or 4 points? You decide — I don’t think it’s inherently better than other options, just different.
Weapons Battery Techs
A solid effect that deserved its drop to 4 points. If other Weapons Teams get a points shave, maybe this one goes to 3 — maybe. As-is, it’s in a decent spot and sees occasional but not overwhelming use.
Unique / Faction-Locked
Clone Gunners (GAR only)
A generic in function but locked to the Republic. Absolutely amazing if you build around them and have reliable access to Concentrate Fire tokens — and at 4 points, they’re a bargain for what they can do. Their efficiency only reinforces the argument for trimming the cost on Sensor Team and maybe Veteran Gunners, which offer less consistent payoff for a similar price.
Gunnery Chief Varnillian (Imperial unique)
A solid card, but her heyday faded along with the Onager’s dominance (and its double Weapons Team slots). She really shines with Salvo builds, which puts the Imperial Venator in the spotlight — but outside of that, her opportunities are limited. Correctly costed for what she does, but her usefulness is currently capped by the meta and ship availability.
Caitken and Shollan (Rebel unique)
Incredibly potent and very flexible — at 6 points they’re a steal. They probably belong at 7, maybe even 8, given how reliably they can fix dice pools. If Ordnance Experts are the gold standard for black dice, C&S are the platinum tier for rerolls of any colour.
Verdict
The Weapons Team slot is stacked with strong cards — and for good reason. It’s one of the most powerful upgrade categories in the game, second only to Defensive Retrofits in raw impact. That means the duds (hi, Fire-Control Team) stand out sharply against the meta staples.
There’s also a pricing ripple effect here: cards like Local Fire Control, Ordnance Experts, and Caitken & Shollan deliver exceptional value at their current costs, which in turn makes middle-tier cards like Sensor Team and Veteran Gunners look overpriced even if they’re “fair” in isolation.
Faction Gaps & Slot Rarity:
CIS and GAR could definitely use some more unique cards in this category. In a way, they already kind of have one with Asajj Ventress — but she’s an Officer, likely because fitting her into a faction with so few Weapons Team slots would have been a squeeze. The new ARC Quarren Gunship and the Command Munificent both have Weapons + Offensive slots, so maybe there’s more design room coming in the future.
On the GAR side, there’s an entire roster of Jedi who could make excellent boarding teams or other thematic Weapons Team upgrades.
It’s also worth noting the overlap with other slots — Ventress aside, we have Officers like Governor Pryce (dice fixing) and Krennic (rerolls) who are effectively Weapons Teams in disguise. That tells you just how rare and valuable this slot really is.
Next Up:
Offensive Retrofits — the grab bag of squadron toys, brawler tech, and a few of Armada’s more “what were they thinking?” designs.
