Which (if any) hard-to-obtain toons would be worth my attention?

Roc_Laivindur

Here's my toon list: https://swgoh.gg/u/roclaivindur/collection/
I've been running almost entirely f2p since last April, have a solid set of toons built up, but some of the most popular toons now (DN, SiA, SiT, DT, DK, Chaze, Jyn, Kylo, Maul) are not necessarily the easiest to farm or gear, and I'm struggling with which, if any, I should look to integrate into my plans, or ignore them all for now and take some of my existing up to g11.
In arena I recently switched from rebels+Palp to Zader/EP/RG/TFP/Boba, and that's stabilized my position for now, but DN and Rex leads look enticing, and perhaps others will be joining that list soon.
Current plans: In ~7 more HAAT raids, I'll have 5* GK, so figured he and R2 should be a priority regardless, and I'll either run them under a Rex lead, or I'll go with a DN lead to counter all the Rex teams popping up (which would require Sith Trooper, maybe Assassin as well).

MistahShowtime

I would say Maul is your best bet to focus on followed by Kylo. We'll have to wait and see how Fulcrum Ahsoka changes things in the future but for now those two are top tier.

Roc_Laivindur

Isn't Maul already starting to fall off the map due to the Rex leads? Or is he still pretty elite where you are and looking to stay there for a while? I'm slowly building him up in the guild store, but still barely at 5*, so hadn't thought he'd be a top priority, more of "we'll get there eventually." Might reconsider, though the thought of starting another toon right now from g1 isn't super appealing

MistahShowtime

The worst part of gear is G9 to G11. For you, I say Maul because he would be more useful with your toons. Rex needs GK, DN, Chaze or at least a combination of them and you have none of those. You have some good Sith though that would be much less difficult to finish gearing along with Maul instead of basically starting a whole new team. You can then do Kylo and replace a Sith with him later.

Another option could be Rebels. You have Wiggs, Lando, STH all g11. You could finish HS, Leia, or R2 for a 5th while building up Jyn in the meantime.

Juex777

Rebels is always a safe bet in this game..... Chaze in particular. Plug and play anywhere.... So baze would be your hard to get toon.

Juex777

Maul is not difficult to get and doesn't even qualify as an to answer your question. Who knows how long he'll be around.... Might fall out of the top 20 like Zader did.

JaminSpace

If I were you I would gear up Kenobi and use him instead of Royal Guard in your current squad (I would also try immediately if Shoretrooper works better than RG).

You don't have any important Sith geared (Nihilus, SA, Savage, SiT/Maul), hence Maul or Nihilus lead is not an option. Moreover, there are more R2D2 than Zaul in the top spot right now, so Mauls time has passed.

If you want a different team, save your zetas and go for Jedis. You already have Qui-Gon, Anakin and Yoda well-geared, who are very powerful with GK and R2D2.

Roc_Laivindur

Thanks, @JaminSpace, confirms more of what I've been sensing lately. Kenobi is still 3 weeks away, but I may be able to use that time to save up gear so he's at least a quick g10. Jedi are still not super popular in the arena shards though, so even if that's what I'm closest to, would it still be a struggle to hold rank? I do have 34 zeta mats currently, so not long until I could give one to QGJ and one to Yoda, build a third for R2.
I may try my g10 Shore in the meantime, see if he helps me hold rank on defense any better than RG has (still regularly dropping from 20 to near-40 every night).

Roc_Laivindur

@Juex777 I'd definitely be on board with Baze, except I also don't have Chirrut started at all. Farming and then gearing both of them is so far away for me, I don't consider it anything more than a super longer-term strategy I may start working on slowly at some point; but certainly not something I'd begin working on in earnest anytime soon.
I've considered a DN-led squad as well, but since he at least needs Sith Trooper, it just seems unwise (and a little lazy) to throw out an arena squad with two 5-star toons, so they might be more of a future thing.
Seems I'll want to stick with Zader for the short term, maybe try out Rex/Boba/EP/STH/B2 (if I think I can finish the latter's final 2 gear levels without getting in anybody else's way). Once Kenobi is unlocked I want to be ready to quickly get him and R2 ready for whatever squad seems to need them most (potentially Jedi, perhaps Rex), and then maybe focus my efforts at that point either on DN/SiT/SA or Chaze.

Juex777

I started farming then both a while ago and seemed like super long term for me too. Now I have Chirrut at 6 star. Working towards 7. And baze is at 5 stars working towards 6. Gearing them slowly but soon that will be my main focus. Not ready for prime time, but at some point all of a sudden I'll have Chaze ready for action. They're already viable if not for gear at this point. I'll probably unleash them with a 7 star chirrut and at least a 6 star baze. Everything awesome that has longevity in this game takes a long term building approach.

As far as instant improvement on offensive.... Zylo was my best investment, but he's not difficult to get.

Juex777

DN is viable at any stars. Unusual, but you just lack a few thousand health at base stars. Certainly easy to the that 4th star. Doesn't need to be maxed. Just the gear. I feel a little foilish because I am starring him up so I can use him in raids. However, don't notice any difference iin arena. Using the shard shop, wasting hundreds if not thousands of Shards from most game modes, with maxed out character shard purchases.

Juex777

I like shore and have used him for ages..... But maxing him is definitely much lower priority to me than baze

kaze0718

GK and Nihlius are pretty much plug and play into any kind of compositions. My current arena top 20 is so diverse, it has rebels, rex leads, zauls and jedis, and with the exception of one phasma lead first order team, all of them has GK and 18 of the remaining 19 has nihilus in it (the exception is a jyn lead rebel team, but he still runs GK).
Depending on your shard, your best bet might still be using Rex lead with GK, Nihilus, R2 (zeta on stat distribution unique) with a light side character in the 5th slot, likely someone with good dps, or Baze, to have an AoE dispel on the enemy. Of your current roster, I'd give a try to JKA, certainly unconventional but may worth a try, his unique is also pretty strong when paired with kenobi.
But if your shards isnt flooded with rex leads yet you can stick with zader for a while, but when they start to appear you will be an easy target, and have no chance on defense.

Roc_Laivindur

Top-20 is currently 5 Rex, 8 zMaul (my least favorite to face), 5 zVader, 1 zJyn, and 1 Phasma. On an April 2016 shard, we tend to be just a bit slower to catch up to the meta changes.
I've actually had very little trouble with Rex since moving to Zader, since my 245 TFP can usually ability block him with his first turn, but you're right, I'll be a sitting duck on defense; his coming ascendancy is why I'd been advised to start working on DN on another thread (with CD, EP, SiT, and SO/Sid to ultimately replace with SA). Lots of gear needs there, though. Rex, GK, DN, R2, and a 5th (whether B2, Boba, or JKA) would be a bit of a quicker play, but then I'm just one of the crowd and where's the fun in that?

kaze0718

Well its kinda an either-or decision between being unique and being relevant in this game lol. With maybe a small window of exception between the Wiggs and the Zaul meta, it's always been about 1-2 type of leaders and a variety of about 10 to 15 toons in play (sometimes even less, like under the Wiggs meta), with the others rotting on the shelves. Now it seems to be another window with the downfall of Maul in terms of popularity, but you can reasonably expect any shard to be filled with Rex leads in about a month - mainly because I imagine most people have a well geared Rex by now because of his all-round usefulness and he is another one of those plug and play characters you can use with practically any composition.

You want to be truly unique, you can either start focusing on FO, as it is most likely the only truly viable squad that is not widespread, and because of the difficulty of farming FOTP and FOST, it is unlikely to change. Or, I expect the Phoenixes to become farmable soon, likely with Ahsokas release, they might be another option, again because of the dropping presence of maul, but thats another long farm and means lots of gear investment.

Roc_Laivindur

@kaze0718 yeah, that's always my fear, that keeping up with the Joneses will either require toons I don't have yet (Chaze), or a level of unique team build beyond me (no Kylo, FOTP and FOST both below 5*). Around lvl 70 I spent a month with Phasma, QGJ, Daka, RG, Rey as my arena team, and I think that was the last time I had a truly unique build that could really dominate in arena.
I really hope Phoenix doesn't become a meta, just because I don't want to be tempted to abandon the toons I've started working on to partially build yet another hard-to-farm squad (got stupid and began farming Bodhi and K2SO before realizing neither of them really fit into my plans at all and I should cut it out)...

AnakedJaywalker

Jedi Luke. When you've figured out how to get him, let the rest of us know!

Cannonfodder1018

Rex has always been a powerful toon and is useful in multiple areas of the game. I've had no regrets with him.

Nihilus is great and may be even better under a zVader lead than Boba, offering pretty much the same utility: OHKO w/ no revive, adding dots, blocking abilities via CD increase (100% on debuffed toons), and a more reliable dispel (since it is his basic). Plus, he gets the Sith bonuses from Vader lead.

If you choose to go Nihilus lead, you may consider plugging RG as the tank while working on Sith Trooper. Since RG auto taunts at 50% health and Sith will be all health, no protection, RG will be a more reliable tank and allow you to develop the rest of the team first, before committing to Sith Trooper.

kaze0718

@Roc_Laivindur Kinda the same here, only i didnt dominate. I ran a full Jedi team back then, when there were no zetas and they were complete and utter thrash, Ever since i dumped them I try to follow the meta, but having trouble doing so because I don't have access to GK, and will not have it in the foreseeable future. Currently I experimenting with Rex(L), zKylo, zBariss, R2 and Baze, which is kinda unique-ish, but has no chance of beating GK teams, sometimes slotting in Wiggs or my 5* Chirrut to progress, but they are terrible on defense, even with above average mods in terms of secondary speed, so I'm pretty much in a hole right now without GK.