Every year I write this same article, use the same thumbnail, and make the same intro joke. Sometimes it’s just nice to have something steady and reliable in this crazy world. Unfortunately, Shatterpoint falls more into the “crazy world” category than “steady and reliable” these days. Back in February it was announced that development would be slowing down for the game and, while we still don’t know exactly what that means for the future, there were certainly less releases this year. As such, this article is still a bit shorter than normal, so I’ve tossed in a bonus buying guide for mission packs at the end of this article.
For those interested in prior releases, part 1, part 2, and part 3 are linked here. For the uninitiated, the overall premise is simple: what would I say if a new player asks “Hey, I just bought X-Box, what should I buy next?” Of course, if they had just bought an Xbox I’d tell them to try Zero Company (I may or may not be finishing my third playthrough at the time of writing this).
Once again, we are assuming a player has bought the core set and we aren’t considering duel boxes. Ideally we want a two box pairing that gives a strong basis for building future lists, has strong theming, and is at least moderately competitive.
Without further ado, let’s get going! I‘ll start with all 2026 releases, then revisit some old releases with some new pairings.
2026 Releases
Secure the Future
Baylan’s box is a bit of a tricky one. The eras and point costs are limiting and the keyword synergy can be difficult to make work. However, Leia & Co. are coming to the rescue! Get it? Princess Leia doesn’t care much about her friends’ tags, which is handy here, and brings some much needed out of activation movement to the team. Luke is a force user with a gun, providing Shin with extra opportunities to follow up with her own attack. The rebel team also generates a lot of hunkers to synergize with Baylan’s … everything. The attacking expertise scales well if they want to spend those hunkers. Leia also generates extra attacks for more ooportunities to use hunkers and Luke loves to get threee expertise for a guaranteed shove.
My Loyalty, My Life
Morgan/Moff isn’t a paring I see much, but I still think You have Something I Want is a great two-box pairing for Morgan. It’s just solid overall, decently thematic, and provides a fantastic jumping off point for building out Morgan lists. Since Moff’s crew carry the same era as Morgan, she can elect to fill out her eight squad points with Death Trooper Escort and Dark Troopers rather than Enoch and Night Troopers.
Morgan is a strong and versatile character. With these two boxes you’ll be able to find success with her on the table and can easily expand your collection to utilize her in new and interesting ways.
Updates
Delta Squad, Form Up
I previously suggested buying the Bad Batch box as a companion for Delta Squad. While that is still a fine choice, especially if playing nothing but clones is your style, it wouldn’t be my #1 choice. Mace brings a ton of force and potential defensiveness to the team, plus Delta Squads loves the Supporting Fire: Dash on the ARF. Since they mainly have tactic moves, the end of attack trigger can help them get into position mid-activation. Since we’re assuming you already own a core set, Rex can easily replace Ponds to fill out Mace’s seven squad points.
Sev & Scorch are mainstays of current lists. Since most primaries operate at 8sp, Ponds is a popular choice as a 3pc secondary to complement their 5pc. His Forward Scout also lets them get into the fight faster, though it risks them getting shot at early, too. If you always want to rock Delta Squad as a complete set then maybe Mace isn’t the box pairing for you, but if you’re OK with dropping Boss (or even Fixer) sometimes then you’ll want the Jedi master and his friends.
Maximum Firepower
Veers got a huge glow-up in the most recent May update, and I think Krennic’s box is clearly what you want as the two box pairing. Veers went from seven to eight squad points, meaning he’s playing a point down if you’re rocking his box as is. That’s not the end of the world, but Krennic is spoiled for choice with two 4pc supports so he can easily donate one to Veers to leave the Snowtroopers at home. Beyond just filling up points, Veers loves Death Troopers for the added mobility (like the ARF, they have Supporting Fire: Dash). Without them, Veers will feel slooooow. Both Veers and Krennic love Stromtrooper synergy, so they work well enough together on a team.
If a Snowtrooper Lieutenant and Shoretrooper on the table together bothers you, perhaps look elsewhere (or build a frozen beach table). For most intents and purposes, though, this pairing should be a solid start to your Veers journey.
Wisdom of the Council*
OK, this one has the asterisk because it’s only kind of a recommendation. Usually I don’t discuss the duel packs since they don’t have a complete squad. You Cannot Run was also quite expensive on release considering it only had two minis (if you like the diorama then great, but many found it a bit disappointing) but I think now you can get it on sale relatively easily. So, with all that being said, this box pairing can actually work quite well assuming you have the core set. Mundi, Vader, and Obi work well together because of how Mundi synergizes with their abilities and the interactions with the Galactic Republic and Jedi tags. Assuming you own a core set then Vader’s squad can be filled out with 501st clones.
Mission Packs
So you’ve got the core set and you’ve tried Shifting Priorities, but now you want to dive into some of the other missions – where should you start? Fear not, below I have ranked my 100% objective, not at all vibes based ordering of which mission packs to buy when. I’ve also hyperlinked the relevant guide that I’ve written up for each mission in case you want to check that out, too.
- Strategic Positions
I love Strategic Positions! It feels like a relatively fair mission set and the flow of the game is usually quite enjoyable. The layouts enforce a good amount of central gameplay, especially early on, while also encourage getting out and grabbing the corners. The second and third struggles rely on a different priority mechanic than most missions, which many people see as an upgrade (at worst it’s a lateral move, i think slightly positive). The Tactical Advantage mechanic offers some interesting choices for each players, though it may be a big jump going from the pure vanilla nature of Shifting Priorities. - Sabotage Showdown
This was the first non-core set mission released and it does a good job of staying relatively simple while adding in a bit of spice compared to Shifting. The first struggle of Sabotage will always have the same layout and can often feel like it devolves into two lanes, rather than being a full team working together. This isn’t always the case, of course, and changes as the game evolves, but something to keep in mind. It is probably the mission where it’s easiest to win two struggles in a row, meaning both more comebacks for the player losing struggle 1 but also more 2-0 games. Sabotage works for almost any list in the game (I usually say if a list is bad on Sabotage it’s just a bad list) so you can play almost anything you want with it. - Never Tell Me the Odds
Odds is a demanding mission, which makes it great for gaining a competitive edge but also tough for learning the game. As such I’ve listed it near the end of this list, even though it’s a mission I enjoying playing quite a bit. The wide midline objectives, and generally wide spacing of the layouts, demands a lot of speed from your team and can deemphasize aura-type synergies. Odds is definitely a mission some lists will not enjoy playing, so I wouldn’t want it to be the only option I had, but it can be very fun and useful in the right circumstances. - First Contact
This is my personal bias, but I really, really dislike First Contact. For casual play it takes waaaaay too long since the mechanics of struggles two and three conspire to slow scoring down. Competitively the layout switching mechanic is quite random and just not something I personally enjoy. Some people love this mission, and maybe that will be you, but if I woke up tomorrow and it wasn’t in my collection I wouldn’t miss it (if I even noticed it was gone, because I rarely pull it out). With some tweaks I think it could be a very fun beer and pretzels type of mission, but for now it’s not something I can recommend with a clear conscience.
Wrap-Up
Well, that’s it I guess. There weren’t many releases this year and the balance pass in may was smaller than 2025’s. Despite the doom and gloom some are spouting, I think Shatterpoint is a still a great game and hope new players are open to getting into it. Less releases don’t matter if you have 130+ new units to discover! In a cruel twist of fate, maybe all the sales I’ve seen on Shatterpoint boxes can help get new players into the game. It can start with a two box pairing, then who knows where it can go from there …
