Theory: Sequence breaking arena team
Since I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that there's no one single strategy that outshines the others, I've had some fun theory crafting teams that would go against the grain in the current Poe meta, while still being viable.
Many minds are superior to just one, so I'm posting this idea I came up with here, hoping for some input - preferably from good Poe players with experience of their team and it's strengths and weaknesses.
The Sequence breakers
Leader: Old Ben (evasion bonus, +25% turn meter on evade)
Biggs Darklighter (gains +100% turn meter and evasion up when critically hit, special attack: Assisted strike with +75% crit chance)
Jedi Knight Anakin (gains 90% turn meter and +50% offense when any ally dies)
QGJ (Fast DPS, Buff removal/ATK up, gains turn meter when called in for assist strikes)
Emperor's Royal Guard (25K HP, 40% chance to auto taunt when an ally goes below 30% HP, can remove turn meter on regular attack)
The concept
To create many "outs", opportunities to counter, and disrupt early burst damage to the point where you can launch a counter offensive.
The opponent needs to choose their target. Attacking ERG or old Ben is a bad idea. Attacking Biggs makes sense since he only has ~12K HP, but if they crit while not being able to finish him off, they risk an immediate double hit counter with very high crit chance. If Biggs calls in QGJ, then QGJ gets extra turn meter. If he calls in ERG, he may reduce enemy turn meter. If he calls in Old Ben, Ben gains EVA up. If Anakin, he may give buff immunity. Very good vs Poggle builds.
Attacking Anakin or QGJ makes the most sense, but Anakin has a decent HP pool and if he is not one-shotted, ERG has 40% chance to prevent the enemy from finishing him off.
The natural first toon to attack would thus be QGJ. If he's killed, Anakin goes next with a damage boosted AOE.
With two toons capable of boosting their evasion, and gaining turn meter on successful evades, three toons capable of acting out of regular turn order, old Ben being tanky enough to survive and apply his awesome skill, two toons capable of calling in assists, several having turn meter manipulation and ERG having a huge health pool, I think this build may in theory at least be an interesting answer to the current meta.
Do you agree? Am I overestimating these toons' abilities? Am I underestimating the burst damage output of FOTP, Rey and GS? I'd love a serious discussion, preferably without one-liners such as "game is broken", "this won't work/is stupid" , etc. Thanks!
Many minds are superior to just one, so I'm posting this idea I came up with here, hoping for some input - preferably from good Poe players with experience of their team and it's strengths and weaknesses.
The Sequence breakers
Leader: Old Ben (evasion bonus, +25% turn meter on evade)
Biggs Darklighter (gains +100% turn meter and evasion up when critically hit, special attack: Assisted strike with +75% crit chance)
Jedi Knight Anakin (gains 90% turn meter and +50% offense when any ally dies)
QGJ (Fast DPS, Buff removal/ATK up, gains turn meter when called in for assist strikes)
Emperor's Royal Guard (25K HP, 40% chance to auto taunt when an ally goes below 30% HP, can remove turn meter on regular attack)
The concept
To create many "outs", opportunities to counter, and disrupt early burst damage to the point where you can launch a counter offensive.
The opponent needs to choose their target. Attacking ERG or old Ben is a bad idea. Attacking Biggs makes sense since he only has ~12K HP, but if they crit while not being able to finish him off, they risk an immediate double hit counter with very high crit chance. If Biggs calls in QGJ, then QGJ gets extra turn meter. If he calls in ERG, he may reduce enemy turn meter. If he calls in Old Ben, Ben gains EVA up. If Anakin, he may give buff immunity. Very good vs Poggle builds.
Attacking Anakin or QGJ makes the most sense, but Anakin has a decent HP pool and if he is not one-shotted, ERG has 40% chance to prevent the enemy from finishing him off.
The natural first toon to attack would thus be QGJ. If he's killed, Anakin goes next with a damage boosted AOE.
With two toons capable of boosting their evasion, and gaining turn meter on successful evades, three toons capable of acting out of regular turn order, old Ben being tanky enough to survive and apply his awesome skill, two toons capable of calling in assists, several having turn meter manipulation and ERG having a huge health pool, I think this build may in theory at least be an interesting answer to the current meta.
Do you agree? Am I overestimating these toons' abilities? Am I underestimating the burst damage output of FOTP, Rey and GS? I'd love a serious discussion, preferably without one-liners such as "game is broken", "this won't work/is stupid" , etc. Thanks!
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A side note, if ppl are tied for 1000 turn meter, it's RNG who goes first as we all know. I've given someone full turn with Ackbar and had them wait for the enemy to go first anyway, so that may be a pain also.
Old Ben, is purchase only. Jedi Anakin is on 3 nodes - but they are 2 - 16s and a 20. That's a harder farm than Rey. QJG being only available in Cantina ships makes him take a while to star up as well.
It'd be simpler just to give in and get your own Poe it seems. Not that I am going to do that. I will never turn to the dark side!
In game guild: TNR Uprising
I beat the REAL T7 Yoda (not the nerfed one) and did so before mods were there to help
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Plus Poe will make slow enemy teams even slower.
I personally haven't used him. I think that his "auto" taunt could potentially be super good, the only problem is that it is only 40%, which could result in bad things. But overall I think this could be a good team for p2p (because it's a very resourcefull team) to try it out.
Resistance Pilot
Poe
Biggs
Lumi
You mention if Bigs calls RG it reduces enemies turn meter. Chances are if they literally just attacked you there will be no turn meter to remove. Making a counter of Biggs + RG negligible.
RG has a huge hp pool, but he's nothing to fear. Maybe they'll up his taunt chance and make defense up a real buff. Then he may have a purpose outside of tank challenge someday.
If you are talking about this team at maxed gear and level, one must assume you are fighting a team of the same. If that's the case, this team is entirely too slow. Especially if you are going against the current meta. Biggs and QGJ are gone right from the first turn. If they are feeling even more froggy it could be JKA and QGJ gone on the first turn. Leaves you will zero DPS. Even if they only kill QGJ first turn you are left with no DPS. Chances are QGJ and Biggs with both be either one shot on an assist, or killed by a single character attacking multiple turns on one turn which would completely bypass the taunt from RG.
It would be nice if something like this worked. It just wouldn't. Variety in the game would be nice. We just aren't there with the limited roster being what it is. Games needs more time and more characters.
I see the issue of DPS here. Against glass cannons like Rey and GS (not REALLY a glass cannon, but goes down quickly enough) I don't think you need as much attack power, possibly. Especially not once old Ben comes into play and cripples the enemy offensive.
So, you'd have to expect to lose one toon - probably QGJ - before getting an action of your own. When QGJ goes down though, Anakin goes automatically, and ERG may taunt. His AOE isn't great though, I hear. That's a bummer. Gotta remember, in a few days FOTP will get a major nerf to his HP.
Battle scenario
So they've used Poe and spent their Poggle and Rey, taking out QGJ and giving ATK up to their team. Anakin does his damage boosted AOE in return.
Next, GS hits Biggs and crits for ~5.5-6K. Biggs immediately gets EVA up and 100% turn meter. By that point, I think we have 50/50 of him evading the assist attack, considering we're using old Ben as leader (we could say that this is equivalent to the coin toss scenario of Poe vs Poe).
If he doesn't avoid it, he probably dies and Anakin goes again. If Biggs does avoid it, he and a random ally hits AOE weakened Poe (taunting) with a +75% chance to crit. Likely bringing Poe down into the red.
Biggs ~50-60% HP (EVA up)
Anakin, ERG, Ben 100% HP
Poe ~20% HP (ATK up)
GS, Rey, FOTP, Poggle ~85% HP (ATK up)
FOTP either goes for Biggs or Anakin, since ERG and old Ben are bad targets. If it hits Biggs, 50/50 chance of killing, therefore they go after Anakin. If it hits Anakin, he likely goes into deep red but doesn't die, since I haven't ever seen FOTP hit for more than 14K in one shot. Maybe he will hit for more after the update though. For now, I think it's more probable to say he doesn't.
At this point with Anakin in the red, ERG may go off and disrupt the enemy offensive. Let's say it doesn't. Instead, old Ben goes, debuffing everybody and reducing their turn meter, likely saving Anakin from Poggle finishing him off.
Then ERG goes, further reducing the turn meter of one enemy with his regular attack, probably the DPS toon with the highest remaining turn meter - let's say Rey. Thereafter, Biggs and Anakin go, and focus down the weakest toon, likely taking Rey out (AOE+ERG+Biggs+Ani).
Then Poggle goes, and finishes off Ani. Then (ATK down/upped) GS, now without assist attack, goes after Biggs. If he hits (50/50) and doesn't crit, that's likely a 2K hit, which takes Biggs just below 30% HP. This time, let's say that ERG finally auto taunts instead. (If he did crit, Biggs would probably survive by some 1K HP and gain 100% turn meter again - and ERG may still taunt)
Now their FOTP double hits ERG for 9K (ERG has decent evade but let's say both hits connect). Next up is Ben and ERG, hitting GS. Ben gains EVA up. ERG doesn't reduce GS turn meter.
Biggs ~4K HP (EVA up)
Ben max HP (EVA up)
ERG 12K HP (taunting)
Poggle ~90% HP (ATK down/up)
GS half HP (ATK down/up)
FOTP ~80% HP (ATK down/up)
At this point, I feel it could go either way. Poggle hits ERG for negligible damage, GS thumps ERG with his special but doesn't likely kill him. Biggs uses his special to assist attack GS, finishing him off.
Now it's 3 vs 2. Ben attacks FOTP. FOTP finishes ERG, but doesn't likely get another turn after Biggs and Ben focus him down. Then it's down to the old timers, Ben vs Poggle. In my experience, Ben wins that exchange.
I feel this is not at all an unlikely scenario. I have tried to give some good RNG favors to both sides in this battle. If I've massively downplayed the power of the Poe/glass cannon builds, I'd love to be corrected.
I feel that EVA skill is more valuable than it's often getting credited for, likely because the game is young and many don't have a lot of experience facing it. I think the combo of evasion and sequence breaking may just be the key to bringing down the glass cannons.
Sorry about the awfully long post.
You can replace lsdt one with Fives. Being forced to attack Fives isnt fun. With offense Down it is even less fun
Other than that...
Firstly: your team would be many times stronger with Poe instead of royal guard. The way you put it currently, means you willingly give up QGJ, as it will always be killed before first of your characters move. Always.
Secondly: why Biggs, while there are much stronger options available? Totally farmable GS is simply better in every respect
Thirdly: Old Ben is, sadly, not an option unless you invest VERY heavily. And in case you do invest, you will have much better options for your team compared to what you have suggested.
Sid , anakin and snowtrooper is a good trio. Ventress also has death synergy but her meter gain is very inconsistent and she is too slow for our purpose here.
So I suggest GS and Rey to go with the trio.
We have Sid anakin GS Rey snowtrooper.
People will be forced to focus on GS and Rey, but their death will trigger anakin and snowtrooper 's massive AOE.
Or you can go with 88 and Poe. 88 has the best AOE in the game but he needs poe's protection. And Poe is Poe. So Sid 88 anakin snowtrooper Poe
Well... It may be that QGJ isn't gonna make the final cut of this team. I might replace with somebody like Fives. I'll have to evaluate. But the whole idea of this post is to explore the viability of builds that AREN'T Poe based. If I start going down the Poe trail I'll just have the same team as everybody else, and thus not have better or worse chances than everybody else. This is about evolving.
GS won't be able to intercept a Poe build or gain EVA up so it wouldn't bring any synergies into the present team. GS' only advantage over Biggs is it's high DPS.
I do have Ben at 6*, so that's nice
Some fine ideas here! I've looked up Snowtropper and I'll definitely try that hero out in an Imperial team. 25% extra turn meter may be a little too low for this team though? Two deaths= half a turn meter. I'm not sure.
Sid and Ventress are way too squishy to be part of a team that would attempt to survive the initial barrage of a burst damage team with Poe-Poggle, imo. They can both be one-shotted easily.
This is a really cool idea! I'm off to the drawing desk!
His leadership is the key here. Plus he is top speed so he can certainly take his turn before the opponent.
Just curious what's jawa AOE damage at gear 9?
I didn't finish reading it all since I became confused on what happened to Poe. Did someone finish him off after he got into the red?
Old Ben (L)
Royal Guard (off turn taunt)
I'm with you on this idea so far. Get your team more evasion and off turn taunt.
Now, how about we use CT-5555? Now we have 3 people you don't want to target; as he has high health, awesome counter attacking and dodge rating close to Old Ben
Ok so now this is where it gets tricky for me. We probably need to add more offense but we don't want someone who can get one-shot killed. We could also potentially add a healer since the droid/gs/fotp teams don't typically include a healer debuff and our goal is to survive opening round and then wear the other team down.
Kylo Ren - High health to survive against a one shot. If you do attack him and RG gets a taunt off; he will gain a huge offensive bonus to being below half health. Also has a nice AOE attack which gains counter-attack potential. People usually wait to kill him last but there are no other easy targets on this team so far lol.
Ok last spot. Here are a couple options:
Barriss Offee - Huge health pool to avoid being one-shot killed. Pretty much guarantees your team a 2nd round of being nearly full health with RG taunt. Since we don't have much dps this would help us with the "grinding down" strategy to outlast the other team...especially since they will be receiving the Old Ben debuff so our lower dps won't matter as much.
Darth Vader - Don't laugh...he has huge health and with the way dots can now kill someone he will be the number one priority target on this team if you use him as the last spot. If RG gets his taunt off then someone on the other team will be dead on the 2nd turn after a culling blade (also bonus dot from Kylo for more damage). In addition, the RG gains synergy from him, so if you attack Vader you speed up the RG who can then potentially slow down someone on the opposing team. You could even switch him with Kylo and keep Barriss as a 5th member.
Ima-Gun-Di - Could potentially be used here if the Poe team is using droids as then his damage will be outstanding while providing good defensive buffs. Also, vs. droid team you could switch him with 5's or Kylo and leave Barriss as the 5th as an option.
Ugnaught - Another option if you know the other team is droid heavy. He has the highest evasion in the game and gets additional bonus from unique ability vs. droids plus Old Ben leadership. Should make it viable for survival even with average health as he will dodge lots of attacks. He has extra damage vs. droids as well as an aoe attack with stun (vs droids).
In summary, I think I'd go with Old Ben, RG, Fives, Kylo and Vader. Opponent will likely target Vader or Kylo and if RG gets a taunt off it's game over for the opponent imo
Well that's my two cents; love these types of discussions.
I would say, around 2.4k non-crit. On the other hand, basic attacks on debuffed targets often crit for 9+ k
+1. Most here are saying to drop Biggs or drop rg but aren't understanding what they do with this team build. Qgj is the week link in this build because of his low health and he being a threat. Even though he is able to dispel poes taunt and thus give the whole team offense up I don't think he will live this long (that o defense of course, because on offense the AI may not focus him). Instead of him a Barris could be a nice addition to the team, having lots of health and heal equalizer (use her instead of qgj on your last fight just to have a better defense imo). You could maybe even implement Vader, he has a nice health pool and with the next patch coming closers dots will be able to kill.