The Arena Meta, What does that really mean?
Greetings all,
First off I would like to say how awesome it is to have a strong player base like SWGOH, where people have played literally every day since the game started. It's a challenging game that requires dedication and tough skin to play arena each day whether you're trying to break into the top 200 or hold number 1. There will be days that test your loyalty and might even break your willpower. But why are we getting so upset over a game? Well, it has to do with the game design of less is more. I appreciate what the community has done to shed light on the game with such startling insights as the "7th Rounders" and drop rates for Chromium and Bronzium cards.
Now, the one thing we haven't done as a community is classify the Meta. Once the Meta has been classified, it makes players more conscious of the opponent and how the match between them will go. All metas break down into 4 categories: Aggressive (Aggro), Mid-Range, Control, and Combo. From this point, it turns into a game of rock-paper-scissors.
How this works is:
Aggro beats Control
Mid-Range beats Aggro
Control beats Combo
Combo beats Mid-Range
So let's define what it means to be Aggressive. This is going to be your speed lists with a speed booster on top like Qui Gon Jin, Admiral Ackbar, or just a team of the fastest individuals. They apply pressure early with high speed and high damage, but are susceptible to long term games where a well timed heal can lead to a loss. These teams are shaping up to be Rebels led by Admiral Ackbar, Jedis led by Qui Gon Jin, and a Darth Sidious led Princess Leia, Geonosian Soldier, Qui Gon Jin, and Count Dooku team.
Now contrary to what I just stated I believe most Mid-Range teams start with Darth Sidious. His ability to extract more from a team of solid characters is what defines this category. If Aggro characters are defined by being " Glass Cannons" then Mid-Range characters are defined by balanced stats and unique abilities that give them the edge in Arena. For example, the Counter-attack team has the advantage of being able to respond to teams that might be faster than them. Normally Mid-Range teams are composed of "Good Stuff" characters that are the most powerful individuals, as opposed to the Rebel or Jedi team that are restricted to a certain character type for maximum effectiveness. The down side of Mid-Range is the lack of synergy, if you can focus on individual characters as the threat level requires, then you should win. Most teams out there fall under this category for not specializing in one aspect. They will consist of one to two healers, a support character or two, and a main damage dealing character. Examples usually contain: Darth Sidious, Count Dooku, Luminara Unduli, Master Yoda, Fives, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, andthreats.
Control is not something seen often in Arena, its usually at a disadvantage because it has to rely on the late game to get going. The signature of this category is to control the board until it reaches the point when it can devastate the opponent. This is very difficult in a game where Random Number Generation (RNG) can take out half your team in the first round. However, these teams are annoying to fight for their resilience, and overall threat capacity. Normally these teams have 3 or so healers, and contain about two slow threats. The easiest way for a control team to prolong the game is with resurrections,buffing and stuns. But a fast opponent like most of the current Meta will blow away the control team. Eventually the game gets to a point when Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Assaj Ventress, or one of the other slower characters gets a two-for-one aoe attack that evens the playing field by taking out more than one opponent. Mostly Control teams look like your Galactic War team, but its all about taking out the stun and resurrection members as early as possible. When you see Old Daka and Ewok Elder, you know you've run into a control team.
Lastly is Combo, its not as common as some of the other teams for fact that RNG can be life or death. In SWGoH, it is safe to say that most Combo teams consist of attack assists or mass buffing. The two big teams in Combo right now are First Order led by Captain Phasma and Droids led by HK47. Each team has the benefit of multiple attacks early on and can flood the board with damage. The buff Combo comes from Phasma and Poggle, which is devastating, giving the team Advantage and Offense Up. The First Order team uses assists to almost double their number of attacks, nullifying any lack of speed they might have. As an added bonus, Phasma teams that use Old Daka have the chance to stun multiple times on the first turn with a chance of resurrection on the second. Droid teams use crits to boost turn meter, but the real advantage comes from the droid AoE attacks that can result in an immediate additional turn, which is huge when the Droids have +30% crit. The disadvantage of these teams so far is that they are slower and require a bit of luck. Also each team contains two main damage dealers that are usually squishy, once removed the team cumbles.
Alright, so that concludes a very basic overview of the Meta. It doesn't explain as much as I would like it to, but I hope it fills in some of the gaps. I really hope that people continue the discussion below. Remember that some teams are a shade of grey between the categories, however they might not be as successful as their full-blooded counterparts. Also RNG makes that Ven diagram not concrete so rely on priority picking and basic strategy.
Thanks for reading
First off I would like to say how awesome it is to have a strong player base like SWGOH, where people have played literally every day since the game started. It's a challenging game that requires dedication and tough skin to play arena each day whether you're trying to break into the top 200 or hold number 1. There will be days that test your loyalty and might even break your willpower. But why are we getting so upset over a game? Well, it has to do with the game design of less is more. I appreciate what the community has done to shed light on the game with such startling insights as the "7th Rounders" and drop rates for Chromium and Bronzium cards.
Now, the one thing we haven't done as a community is classify the Meta. Once the Meta has been classified, it makes players more conscious of the opponent and how the match between them will go. All metas break down into 4 categories: Aggressive (Aggro), Mid-Range, Control, and Combo. From this point, it turns into a game of rock-paper-scissors.
How this works is:
Aggro beats Control
Mid-Range beats Aggro
Control beats Combo
Combo beats Mid-Range
So let's define what it means to be Aggressive. This is going to be your speed lists with a speed booster on top like Qui Gon Jin, Admiral Ackbar, or just a team of the fastest individuals. They apply pressure early with high speed and high damage, but are susceptible to long term games where a well timed heal can lead to a loss. These teams are shaping up to be Rebels led by Admiral Ackbar, Jedis led by Qui Gon Jin, and a Darth Sidious led Princess Leia, Geonosian Soldier, Qui Gon Jin, and Count Dooku team.
Now contrary to what I just stated I believe most Mid-Range teams start with Darth Sidious. His ability to extract more from a team of solid characters is what defines this category. If Aggro characters are defined by being " Glass Cannons" then Mid-Range characters are defined by balanced stats and unique abilities that give them the edge in Arena. For example, the Counter-attack team has the advantage of being able to respond to teams that might be faster than them. Normally Mid-Range teams are composed of "Good Stuff" characters that are the most powerful individuals, as opposed to the Rebel or Jedi team that are restricted to a certain character type for maximum effectiveness. The down side of Mid-Range is the lack of synergy, if you can focus on individual characters as the threat level requires, then you should win. Most teams out there fall under this category for not specializing in one aspect. They will consist of one to two healers, a support character or two, and a main damage dealing character. Examples usually contain: Darth Sidious, Count Dooku, Luminara Unduli, Master Yoda, Fives, Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, andthreats.
Control is not something seen often in Arena, its usually at a disadvantage because it has to rely on the late game to get going. The signature of this category is to control the board until it reaches the point when it can devastate the opponent. This is very difficult in a game where Random Number Generation (RNG) can take out half your team in the first round. However, these teams are annoying to fight for their resilience, and overall threat capacity. Normally these teams have 3 or so healers, and contain about two slow threats. The easiest way for a control team to prolong the game is with resurrections,buffing and stuns. But a fast opponent like most of the current Meta will blow away the control team. Eventually the game gets to a point when Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Assaj Ventress, or one of the other slower characters gets a two-for-one aoe attack that evens the playing field by taking out more than one opponent. Mostly Control teams look like your Galactic War team, but its all about taking out the stun and resurrection members as early as possible. When you see Old Daka and Ewok Elder, you know you've run into a control team.
Lastly is Combo, its not as common as some of the other teams for fact that RNG can be life or death. In SWGoH, it is safe to say that most Combo teams consist of attack assists or mass buffing. The two big teams in Combo right now are First Order led by Captain Phasma and Droids led by HK47. Each team has the benefit of multiple attacks early on and can flood the board with damage. The buff Combo comes from Phasma and Poggle, which is devastating, giving the team Advantage and Offense Up. The First Order team uses assists to almost double their number of attacks, nullifying any lack of speed they might have. As an added bonus, Phasma teams that use Old Daka have the chance to stun multiple times on the first turn with a chance of resurrection on the second. Droid teams use crits to boost turn meter, but the real advantage comes from the droid AoE attacks that can result in an immediate additional turn, which is huge when the Droids have +30% crit. The disadvantage of these teams so far is that they are slower and require a bit of luck. Also each team contains two main damage dealers that are usually squishy, once removed the team cumbles.
Alright, so that concludes a very basic overview of the Meta. It doesn't explain as much as I would like it to, but I hope it fills in some of the gaps. I really hope that people continue the discussion below. Remember that some teams are a shade of grey between the categories, however they might not be as successful as their full-blooded counterparts. Also RNG makes that Ven diagram not concrete so rely on priority picking and basic strategy.
Thanks for reading
0
Replies
Aggro beats midrange
Aggro beats combo
Aggro beats aggro controlled by AI
So the Venn diagram doesn't look too good.