You are far better off farming Lando as your first cantina hero over GS.
And JC is not worth it at all. Lumi is even debateable, if you have enough fast dps, you don't need lots of healing for GW.
Theres plenty of combos you can run to get rank high earlier, but staying up there is where you need a team thats all around good.
Lando from Cantina nodes and StH from Arena are going to be by far the best champs you can aquire early and first, and can work in a ton of combinations, gives you early scoundrels and rebels. Add in Biggs from GW, as your 2nd character, and by the time your level 69 and can access Wedge, you have 3/5 of your team already.
You are far better off farming Lando as your first cantina hero over GS.
And JC is not worth it at all. Lumi is even debateable, if you have enough fast dps, you don't need lots of healing for GW.
Theres plenty of combos you can run to get rank high earlier, but staying up there is where you need a team thats all around good.
Lando from Cantina nodes and StH from Arena are going to be by far the best champs you can aquire early and first, and can work in a ton of combinations, gives you early scoundrels and rebels. Add in Biggs from GW, as your 2nd character, and by the time your level 69 and can access Wedge, you have 3/5 of your team already.
Thank you. I'm interested in what the thread author has to say on that because that advice contradicts this farming guide.
Lando is used roughly 10x more often in the top 10 over GS and has double the usage in the overall top 100, and GS's usage keeps falling.
Farm at your own risk.
I do know about the report. The only thing I would add is that when you are F2P there is a balance in the early going where you need to win the Arena to get the Crystals to do the refreshes. You can't afford to have a Lando/Han team if the Lando team gets beat by the GS/Leia team. And I can tell you that I do that each day right now with my GS/Leia. However, maybe I could do it with Lando/Han also, I will try. It also probably depends on the competition in your shard.
You can go get Lando and Han later, which is why I think the author set up the farming guide the way he did. JC may be junk later but at level 49 he can go purple when nobody else can. And he can go double purple when nobody else can if I remember right. At 3 stars and purple he has more power then 4 star QGJ or Leia. So he keeps up ok for a while.
Ideally you would have the best short and long term farming F2P plan, which is what I am trying to figure out. Thank you for the advice, I think it is helping people.
The problem is you can't just immediately stop and start another hero as a FTP. If you start GS first, you are committed to finishing him. And because you don't have extra resources laying around that means whoever you are running in arena will have to be neglected while you gear up the replacement, and the longer you wait, the more resources it takes to get them to an arena useable level. During that time you have someone in arena with less than max gear/levels/mods is when you start to get overtaken, and thats the biggest reason why a F2P guy will drop vs a whale.
I can guarantee you Lando and StH will beat GS/Leia and once you start getting protection the gap will widen even more.
There is no point in bothering to worry about the early game, its totally different and very short lived anymore. Garbage heros like Chewy, JC, Luminari, Talia, and stuff in general that heals is more powerful early out, but worthless later. You shouldn't invest any valuable resources on them.
You absolutely want to have and max out your endgame team as early as possible. Having a slew of lower geared and leveled heros sitting on your bench will not allow you to get a higher rank in arena. Trust me, this is the way I ran my main (december shard) I went after as many heros as possible, so long as I could stay under 50th rank I was good.
But the key as an FTP is to always MAX your top 5. Switching before you max them is very risky as you run the risk of your power level dropping below your peers while they keep upgrading their top 5. If you have whales, this is even more important, because you will be fighting teams that are often times 5-7-10k higher power or a much higher level.
The problem is you can't just immediately stop and start another hero as a FTP. If you start GS first, you are committed to finishing him. And because you don't have extra resources laying around that means whoever you are running in arena will have to be neglected while you gear up the replacement, and the longer you wait, the more resources it takes to get them to an arena useable level. During that time you have someone in arena with less than max gear/levels/mods is when you start to get overtaken, and thats the biggest reason why a F2P guy will drop vs a whale.
I can guarantee you Lando and StH will beat GS/Leia and once you start getting protection the gap will widen even more.
There is no point in bothering to worry about the early game, its totally different and very short lived anymore. Garbage heros like Chewy, JC, Luminari, Talia, and stuff in general that heals is more powerful early out, but worthless later. You shouldn't invest any valuable resources on them.
You absolutely want to have and max out your endgame team as early as possible. Having a slew of lower geared and leveled heros sitting on your bench will not allow you to get a higher rank in arena. Trust me, this is the way I ran my main (december shard) I went after as many heros as possible, so long as I could stay under 50th rank I was good.
But the key as an FTP is to always MAX your top 5. Switching before you max them is very risky as you run the risk of your power level dropping below your peers while they keep upgrading their top 5. If you have whales, this is even more important, because you will be fighting teams that are often times 5-7-10k higher power or a much higher level.
Yes, sorry, I meant I would try Lando/Han first on a new account. Thanks!
Glad you liked the guide. I answer your questions below.
Just clarifying, this guide was developed based on research on the forum and experiences I have had in 2 different servers. Yes, I had two accounts. In the first account I made many mistakes and I would love to have a topic like this back then, would have saved me a lot of frustration. But I found the courage and began a new account, which is what I'm playing today.
This guide has gone through two changes due to new events and updates that the game had in recent months, but the new accounts will fare better if they follow this route.
Why Ackbar before STH? Since Chewy isn't so hot and RG can't be farmed enough to keep up early isn't the prudent thing to do to get a Tank? Or is it that one tank isn't really that useful?
About ST Han, also has a personal preference. He is one of the best heroes of the game. If you have plans for an arena team that needs ST Han ASAP, could prioritize him in arena shop. I like to unlock Leia first because she helps A LOT in almost all modes of the game AND she is a rebel, will help in events too.
Choose to farm first ST Han in arena could be interesting, but you will gain a third tank (since you start with Chewie and RG) at a time of the game you need an effective attacker for both arena and GW.
Secondly, when I said "almost set" I say that because new players also need to know what Arena team to run with those characters you laid out. I've tried a couple accounts now and find that from 30-70 I can't really get away from running a mostly Jedi team. You have to farm Lumi and keep JC strong to get through Galactic War. So they and whoever you farm first in Cantina, Cantina Shop, and Arena Shop end up having to be your Arena team for a long time. So I end up with QGJ (l) Lumi, GS, Leia, and JC. Once Lumi is done I can go get Phasma to sub in for JC but that isn't for a long time. You can't not farm QGJ because there isn't anyone else to easily get that can take out a taunt. The other option is to 6 star GS and then farm a second Cantina character, but you are taking a risk by slowing down GS if you are shooting for #1 every day. You could try HRS, Lando, Leia/Han/Ackbar but you run the risk of spending weeks behind the people who farmed the Jedi's and GS because GS is just so strong so quickly. Same thing with Droids as you alluded to. Is there any way to avoid these 5 guys dominating your arena team for those levels? Third, the timing of your start to the game matters. One of the accounts I started is up to 75, at about 65 the Palpatine event happened and some of the people who farmed Rebels got him with decent stars. Now they all had Palp and the rest of us didn't. Suddenly everyone else's team was stunned and there was nothing they could do about it. I started a new account and now nobody has Palpatine, which is nice.
The teams will use in the arena will be composed with the best heroes have available. Therefore, it is important that you understand: With rare exceptions, you ALWAYS develop heroes to the maximum, stars and gear. You can not remain competitive in the arena if you do not, and not able to complete the 12 nodes GW. Believe me, the game difficulty will increase very fast from level 60 player.
I think every player must draw your goals to enjoy the game as well as possible and not get stuck to meta all the time. The idea of this route is that the player, especially F2P, do not spend your time and resources with less functional heroes. But eventually when your collection of heroes is good enough, you usually develop heroes as your personal preference.
The most common F2P compositions are:
Starter team: Chewie (L), GS, JC, IG-86, Talia
After primary hero farm: Luminara (L), GS, JC, QGJ, IG-86
Advanced DPS team: Luminara (L), GS, QGJ, JC, Rey (even with 4 stars she is a nightmare).
Barriss optional sustainable team: Barriss (L), Luminara, QGJ, GS, Rey
After that you can go for more aggressive teams to your preference / style of play:
Droids: HK-47 (L), IG-88, IG-86, JE, Nebit
Rebels hybrid: Ackbar (L), Leia, Rey, Phasma/QGJ, St Han/RG
Assist: Phasma (L), QGJ, GS, Rey, 5s (can exchange for a healer in an easy GW node if you have difficulties)
Danger Zone: Wedge (L), Biggs, Lando, Leia, ST Han
Ultimate danger zone: Wedge (L), Biggs, Lando, JKA, ST Han
Danger zone (AOE focus): Lando (L), JKA, Wedge, Biggs, ST Han.
And now that I think about it, your guide doesn't mention JC. How do you get through GW without a strong second healer? He has to be farmed also doesn't he?
Because JC is horrible. Garbage really.
At the beginning you will use it for lack of a better heroes. So my advice: Just gear up best you can while he is useful and then leave him aside. JC has low gear requirements, so it's easy to reach gear level VII - VIII. But that's it, NEVER spend cantina energy on him. Many players develop JC because of Yoda event. I do not recommend doing this, not worth the investment. Its better you wait a bit and invest only in heroes that will be useful in the future.
I think if new players read this whole thread, and find a guide about how to farm and level up the first few days they will be set. The details on when and how to cut bait on JC are very important to not wasting those crystals. The only thing they might be missing is how to find the right Guild. Thank you very much.
I think if new players read this whole thread, and find a guide about how to farm and level up the first few days they will be set. The details on when and how to cut bait on JC are very important to not wasting those crystals. The only thing they might be missing is how to find the right Guild. Thank you very much.
The problem is you can't just immediately stop and start another hero as a FTP. If you start GS first, you are committed to finishing him. And because you don't have extra resources laying around that means whoever you are running in arena will have to be neglected while you gear up the replacement, and the longer you wait, the more resources it takes to get them to an arena useable level. During that time you have someone in arena with less than max gear/levels/mods is when you start to get overtaken, and thats the biggest reason why a F2P guy will drop vs a whale.
I can guarantee you Lando and StH will beat GS/Leia and once you start getting protection the gap will widen even more.
There is no point in bothering to worry about the early game, its totally different and very short lived anymore. Garbage heros like Chewy, JC, Luminari, Talia, and stuff in general that heals is more powerful early out, but worthless later. You shouldn't invest any valuable resources on them.
You absolutely want to have and max out your endgame team as early as possible. Having a slew of lower geared and leveled heros sitting on your bench will not allow you to get a higher rank in arena. Trust me, this is the way I ran my main (december shard) I went after as many heros as possible, so long as I could stay under 50th rank I was good.
But the key as an FTP is to always MAX your top 5. Switching before you max them is very risky as you run the risk of your power level dropping below your peers while they keep upgrading their top 5. If you have whales, this is even more important, because you will be fighting teams that are often times 5-7-10k higher power or a much higher level.
Question:
I'm currently running HK, 88, 86, RG and Talia. I will get Nebit tomorrow. Until I'm able to get enough shards for JE, who do you recommend I use as my fifth?
I'm currently running HK, 88, 86, RG and Talia. I will get Nebit tomorrow. Until I'm able to get enough shards for JE, who do you recommend I use as my fifth?
I ran 100, but whoever you are farming out of Cantina probably gets that spot. Be it Lando, GS or 100. Who are you focusing there?
Jawa has nice damage, but he might only be 3* unless you are farming him also.
For Cantina shard farming on droids I recommend: whatever till stage 2 (Lando is your best bet), then jawa till you get stage 3 and then 100, you should be around lvl 62ish or so by the time you 7* IG100. After that I went back and got Jawa up to 6* before lvl 69, at which point then I switched over to B2.
I was able to unlock 5* crit mod challenge at lvl 68. With 5* JE, 5* Nebit, 7* scavenger, 6* jawa, 7* Dathcha, all g7 except JE.
With the bump in rewards for the credit heist I would move Lando, STH to the top of the list for farming. They both are very viable in all areas at any level. Slow farm Chewie and get just enough to activate 88 and Cad.
With the bump in rewards for the credit heist I would move Lando, STH to the top of the list for farming. They both are very viable in all areas at any level. Slow farm Chewie and get just enough to activate 88 and Cad.
I just realized how much I was missing out on without access to the CH event. Was getting Lando anyway, but wasn't planning on STHan for a while, because I really like Leia (at 6* now) and got AA to support her (still needs leveling and gearing, before I decide whether I * him or work towards 7* Leia). I use a 4* RG as my tank and he holds up just fine right now in VII gear (although VIII gear is a **** for him).
I have been spending guild credit on unlocking Gamo Guard as another scoundrel (Chewie, Lando, Cad, Gamo 4man team for CH and also the droid event). My rebel team is pretty complete now (but underleveled/geared) for when another rebel event rolls by (Leia, AA, Lando, Luke Scariff RPF).
My Arena/GW (never need a 2nd team for GW) is: 7* Lumi, 6* Leia, 5* GS, 5* Daka, 4* RG, all at gear VII. Between RG and Daka stunning and Leia/GS/Lumi killing one, it's usually a 5v3. As long as this works, I see no reason to sub in QGJ (still only 3* or Rey (still only gear VI)) for Daka yet.
The hardest teams for me to beat are a geared Rey behind a tank, or Lando behind STHan. If I can't kill Rey or Lando fast enough they wipe me out, and with Han, I can't keep them stunned either.
I ran 100, but whoever you are farming out of Cantina probably gets that spot. Be it Lando, GS or 100. Who are you focusing there?
Jawa has nice damage, but he might only be 3* unless you are farming him also.
For Cantina shard farming on droids I recommend: whatever till stage 2 (Lando is your best bet), then jawa till you get stage 3 and then 100, you should be around lvl 62ish or so by the time you 7* IG100. After that I went back and got Jawa up to 6* before lvl 69, at which point then I switched over to B2.
I was able to unlock 5* crit mod challenge at lvl 68. With 5* JE, 5* Nebit, 7* scavenger, 6* jawa, 7* Dathcha, all g7 except JE.
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I pretty much am following your droid farm route from page 1. I'm currently level 45 and should unlock 100 tomorrow. Once I get him up to par, I'll have 4*hk(l), 5*86, 4*88, Nebit unlocked, and 100. The engineer farm is still going but still days away.
I can hit top 20 with a 4* Jawa (double drop weekend accelerated his farm) but have to sub in RG for defense or I drop to 50-60.
I've rotated Jawa, RG and Talia for GW which has worked so far.
@Vasherized
You started with buying the Droid pack, like @Baldwookiee ? I am finding that the Droid path has a slow ramp up without it.
I don't believe it is possible to finish at the top of the Arena (top 5 daily) using the droid path, the Jawa path, or the Han first path and be FTP. I have now tried it on some new accounts. You can't keep up with the non-FTP players if you don't finish top 5 every day. You simply need those crystals in order to do Cantina and Regular energy refreshes. The non-FTP players will buy all of those refreshes, so you need to find a way to do so also in order to stay at least near their levels.
Follow the initial path in this thread new players! And keep up either JC or Talia (not both) using the nodes as best you can. You do need a second healer besides Lumi to get through Galactic War and get all 15 shards every day. Otherwise your Lumi will fall behind other people's Lumi's on your server.
That being said, as soon as you have those first characters in the farm recommendation you can begin down any other path (Jawa, Droid, Rebel, etc.) you like and be safe. Around level 75 or a little before is the time to start switching your Arena team from the initial hero's you farmed to the specialty path you have chosen. You will have been able to get a synergistic 2nd group of characters to 7* by then (Jawas, Droids, whatever).
Do not underestimate the value of healing. Nobody uses Darth Sid right now and nobody can have a 7 star Anakin until level 76 without paying. So only IG-88 is a character you will see often who can stop healing. A team that has 2 healers can hang around a long long time with a human controlling it. This allows you to jump up the arena ranks each day. Defense in the Arena is what you will struggle with as FTP because people who pay will have a Royal Guard and you will not, until level 76 when you too can farm him. Even if you farm Han you still aren't as good as the teams with RG on defense.
You server does seems to matter also. Some of my new accounts were on servers with a few whales and some had 10 players that had clearly spent a lot of money on the game. At least, that has been my experience. I'd love to know if people have actually succeeded on new FTP accounts were I failed.
*Above it mentions multiple tanks. If you do not buy the Empire pack because you really are totally FTP then you quickly have 0 tanks. Chewy cannot keep up with the Cantina/Arena characters after level 45 because he can only be farmed from nodes, unless you sacrifice another cantina character's development. So really you have a 2 star Royal Guard and a 4 star Chewy that gets outpaced. It only takes 3 days to get into the 40s on a new account, so their usefullness ends Very quickly. Making Han your second arena character does make sense in this regard because you will finally have a tank you can use. At the same time, Han gives you 1 tank on a server where everyone is initially running a QGJ who can nullify him. The farming guide is probably right that Ackbar makes more sense first if you are building a Rebel team. There is enough time if you are doing well every day in the arena to farm 3 arena characters to 7* by the time you get to level 76.
Last question. If you do plan to have a rebel or droid team
I don't believe it is possible to finish at the top of the Arena (top 5 daily) using the droid path, the Jawa path, or the Han first path and be FTP. I have now tried it on some new accounts. You can't keep up with the non-FTP players if you don't finish top 5 every day. You simply need those crystals in order to do Cantina and Regular energy refreshes. The non-FTP players will buy all of those refreshes, so you need to find a way to do so also in order to stay at least near their levels.
Wrong, it is entirely possible to get top 5 as a ftp, at least with rebels or droids. Jawas - no, they are the light side complement for droids to get your mods. All you need is to finish arena top 20 and complete GW for crystalls to get your 2 cantina and 2 energy refreshes. Both Droids and rebels easily can do this.
Follow the initial path in this thread new players! And keep up either JC or Talia (not both) using the nodes as best you can. You do need a second healer besides Lumi to get through Galactic War and get all 15 shards every day. Otherwise your Lumi will fall behind other people's Lumi's on your server.
That being said, as soon as you have those first characters in the farm recommendation you can begin down any other path (Jawa, Droid, Rebel, etc.) you like and be safe. Around level 75 or a little before is the time to start switching your Arena team from the initial hero's you farmed to the specialty path you have chosen. You will have been able to get a synergistic 2nd group of characters to 7* by then (Jawas, Droids, whatever).
Do not underestimate the value of healing. Nobody uses Darth Sid right now and nobody can have a 7 star Anakin until level 76 without paying. So only IG-88 is a character you will see often who can stop healing. A team that has 2 healers can hang around a long long time with a human controlling it. This allows you to jump up the arena ranks each day. Defense in the Arena is what you will struggle with as FTP because people who pay will have a Royal Guard and you will not, until level 76 when you too can farm him. Even if you farm Han you still aren't as good as the teams with RG on defense.
This is also totally wrong. Lumi or Talia are both not needed in any mode. If you want to waste your energy or GW tokens and guarantee you fall down in arena because your trying to get a sucky hero, farm Lumi or Talia first. If you are waiting maxing those garbage heros until lvl 75, then thats why you don't think its possible to finish top 5 as a F2P. You can have 2 full 7* teams that aren't garbage by lvl 75 quite easily.
Also RG is so much less of a threat than StH its not even comparable, A fast Han is literally the most influential character in the game right now.
Even if you want RG(who is good still) you can hard node farm him and he will be easily 5+ stars by the time you unlock his cantina node.
If you want to waste your time and energy farming out garbage toons like Talia and Luminari, then wonder why your so far down the rankings by the time you actually have a team that can win on offense and now have no crystal supply because of the previously listed bad choices your EVEN FARTHER behind.
Also Anakin is easily attainable before lvl 76. He has 3 hard nodes, and can be gotten for free with 4* if you play the new account rolling game.
You server does seems to matter also. Some of my new accounts were on servers with a few whales and some had 10 players that had clearly spent a lot of money on the game. At least, that has been my experience. I'd love to know if people have actually succeeded on new FTP accounts were I failed.
My new shard is brutal.
I am lvl 73, I have 7 whales regularly in the top 10, me, a f2p synergy guy and a random asian running droids with a 223 speed JE. The whales have been 4-10 levels above me at any and all given points. Right now the #1 on on the shard is lvl 80, and has a 7* fully maxxed out shoretrooper and is 11k higher power and there are 4 whales running Wiggs/Rebels and 2 whales running Rex + Sun Fac with their average power 4000 above me.
God help you if you roll onto a new shard and have a harder top 10.
I havn't left the top 12 over night ever and still get top 5 every day.
I used to be able to auto the #1 in less than a minute before he was able to unlock g10 and bought full raid gear. I have to wait till I get them from the raid, but I have no doubts I will be able to get 1st back again when I have comparable gear, levels and mods(which is exactly what the f2p vs p2p advantage is)
*Above it mentions multiple tanks. If you do not buy the Empire pack because you really are totally FTP then you quickly have 0 tanks. Chewy cannot keep up with the Cantina/Arena characters after level 45 because he can only be farmed from nodes, unless you sacrifice another cantina character's development. So really you have a 2 star Royal Guard and a 4 star Chewy that gets outpaced. It only takes 3 days to get into the 40s on a new account, so their usefullness ends Very quickly. Making Han your second arena character does make sense in this regard because you will finally have a tank you can use. At the same time, Han gives you 1 tank on a server where everyone is initially running a QGJ who can nullify him. The farming guide is probably right that Ackbar makes more sense first if you are building a Rebel team. There is enough time if you are doing well every day in the arena to farm 3 arena characters to 7* by the time you get to level 76.
Ackbar is completely reliant on more rebels, less flexible, and not as good as StH. He also doesn't help unlock Scoundrel challenges which are huge for credits and can't be used in high end Arena. So what is the case to farm Ackbar first?
Gotta agree with most of what @Baldwookiee is throwing out there, with one big exception. I still prefer RG to STH, due to the auto-taunt that can trigger more quickly after a dispel from Sun Fac or QGJ, as well as the stun that can knock out somebody like Palp or Rey (or the opposing STH) while you focus on another toon.
While I did luck into a fast-leveling RG (I think I pulled a full RG 5 or 6 times from Bronziums, so lots of 15-shard jumps), I did have him at 5* by level 76, and he's been an integral part of my arena and GW teams since I was about 35.
That said, I also have STH at g9, and as good as he is for me now, I hear he really steps it up a notch at g10 (just one more syringe to get him there), so perhaps I'll change my tune on these two tanks soon, or once I can put him under a Lando lead with Wiggs or Leia (still have just Biggs max, and Leia 4*).
Agree that Ackbar is no longer a vital add, with so many other top-notch Rebels. Useful, yes, especially for p1 in pit raids if you don't have Elder (who was another early bronzium pull for me and has been my lone dispeller since May), or if you can somehow set up a match that starts with STH taunt->Ackbar TG->Lando DD x2->Phasma VM->destroy....
Lots of bad info above.. Wrong, it is entirely possible to get top 5 as a ftp, at least with rebels or droids.
Sorry I shouldn't have said not possible. I should say not likely. And I mean from levels 30-60ish, when you are busy farming QGJ, Leia, Lumi and don't have enough resources to have a team with synergy.
If you finish 6-10 you get 250 crystals. That isn't enough to do all the refreshes. Initially you will get enough crystals to supplement the other 50 but eventually you will run out. So 6-10 isn't an option. You have to get 1-5.
Jawa engineer, I would argue most people will not be able to join a guild that will get them a Jawa Engineer in a timely fashion.
you also mention farming people from Hard Nodes. If you do that you have less energy for gear.
Lots of bad info above.. Also Anakin is easily attainable before lvl 76. He has 3 hard nodes, and can be gotten for free with 4* if you play the new account rolling game.
I don't think we are allowed to mention the account rolling to get the character you like as a strategy here either. This guide assumes you are not going to do that.
I would say the path laid out in this thread's guide is more likely to get you to the top in the beginning and in the end then just the end. the guide doesn't say not to get STH, it just says not to get him first.
If you want to continue to farm lumi and leia over better options, then have fun sitting outside the top 50.
I already told you why it's a bad idea, yet you seem insistent on using your resources to farm trash heroes with some idea that you'll magically flip the switch, farm up good heros after your shards leaders are already established and somehow get up there.
This doesn't work, you'll be months behind. You'll have wasted all your resources farming garbage hero shards and gearing those guys up instead of getting someone worthwhile.
If your goal is to beat gw with a team that sucks in arena, go for lumi, but don't complain that f2p can't compete, while I'm telling you exactly how you can compete.
You completely ignored gw crystals, daily activity rewards, and daily login bonuses in your crystal maths.
Getting JE or any other guild shop hero has -0- to do with the caliber of your guild.
I'd really love to hear the arguement on how someone can't get him.
Getting guild coins is completely dependant on YOU using your energy in guild activities and, you know, being in any guild.
If anything, being in a better guild with more p2p guys is a detriment, not an advantage, because you will have a harder time ranking on your leaderboard, but guild pts ranking difference is not going to hinder anyone in any way.
I suggest going to any random guild doing t3-4 early, then make sure you get into a guild doing t7 asap once you have a single 7* character. That is extremely important to maintain rank.
If you don't want to reroll until you get a good free hero, that again, is completely your choice and a bad one.
Just like you should be farming hard nodes for shards as early as possible, to unlock as early as possible the heros that you'll actually use, instead of wasting your time gearing up bottom tier heroes like Talia and Lumi.
You dont seem to get it, you absolutely need to be in front as early as possible, and maintain and upgrade those 5 above anything else.
The average f2p guy who complains about p2p disparity just seem intent on just doing whatever they want, then complaining you can't get a good rank or keep up when all the choices you make are bad. (I am generalizing here, not specifically pointing to anyone)
This game isn't pee wee tee ball. Not everyone can get top 50/10/5/1 trophy, every choice you make has an effect, the more bad choices you make the farther back you drop, this is magnified even more early on.
Something as little as buying a 2nd chromium card can and will set you back days.
There's absolutely enough information in this thread to land you a top spot and keep it as a F2P guy.
Since this started based on me being quoted... I am following the Droid path, on a server where I started at a ridiculously far back rank and quickly made top 100 (after I finally got past Arena only letting me attack 3 ranks higher). I would have even made top 50 but I switched teams a bit prematurely, and am not dedicated enough to work for higher.
My comment before was simply that you cannot have the full setup listed by level 50 without the Droid pack. A f2p can still compete, and keep up following the Droid path, although I think maybe f2p should be slightly altered from @Baldwookiee path. My Droids still dominate, and I beat teams in GW 15 levels higher without running healers. As to my server, I saw a guy today with a full 7* team, level 48.
ok lets get this back to being fun. I have two accounts on level 24 in the same shard started. One was gifted QGJ and is ranked around 120 right now. the other was gifted Mace Windu and is around 40. I will play the two accounts at exactly the same pace and i will try to go as fast as possible with both. we will have the QGJ account farm Lando, QGJ, Leia, and Lumi once GW starts. who should I start the Mace account farming? Lando?, ???, Han?, and ???
Thanks
Early game: Farm droids and Jawas... Started a second account and easily place in the top 10 every day with my droid squad. The top 8 in my Arena are all in the same guild and effectively block everyone else out of the top ranks.
Get in a guild doing heroic raids ASAP. Most guilds doing Heroic Raids just need members to contribute towards GBC, My guild can clear T7 raids in about 1 1/2 hours with about half of the guild actually doing damage.
Also, go for Lando and get 5 scoundrels as quick as possible. Massive credit crunch at lower 70 levels now with mods and needing an arena team and a scoudrel team equipped.
I was away for a few days. This discussion is interesting ..
About the paths: Both are viable. I started my account exactly this way and reach the top 10 almost every day. Unfortunately I can not participate in arena battles at the appropriate time to gain ranks, so sometimes I lose positions, but the crystals I get are enough to keep the farm. My server is quite varied, but AOE and Wiggs are the most frequent times. This does not mean that the droids fell into disuse, has at least one player in the top 10 using a droid team, sometimes 2 players.
There are many discussions about the usefulness of Luminara. It is true that healers lost their space in the arena, however, Luminara helps a lot in the beginning when your options heroes are still few. I'm not saying that if you do not to farm Luminara your game will not evolve, but is a "safe way". Look:
1) Your leader skill provides evasion and healing. This helps a lot in the first GWs.
2) Your healing is reasonable.
3) Your skill block, if used well, can disarm several dangerous heroes.
4) It can be used in Yoda event.
IMO, she is not useless, just isn't a high-end-hero actually.
About farm in the arena: I like Leia because she is an excellent attacker that helps me since the day I unlocked it. She is very helpful by itself, but together with Ackbar she is VERY stronger. I used this combination for a long time in the arena. However, if you do not like it and prefers to prioritize ST Han, Leia will still be powerful under the leader of other heroes like Phasma. Ackbar gives a good speed in a rebel team and generate more attacks. ST Han as the third hero to be unlocked in the arena still seems to me a good time. It will come a time when you have other heroes able to make good use of their TM manipulation skills.
About JKA, he is awesome. It is worth the investment without any doubt.
Anyway, this farm route may change with variations of meta, but the intention is to help the players!
Replies
And JC is not worth it at all. Lumi is even debateable, if you have enough fast dps, you don't need lots of healing for GW.
Theres plenty of combos you can run to get rank high earlier, but staying up there is where you need a team thats all around good.
Lando from Cantina nodes and StH from Arena are going to be by far the best champs you can aquire early and first, and can work in a ton of combinations, gives you early scoundrels and rebels. Add in Biggs from GW, as your 2nd character, and by the time your level 69 and can access Wedge, you have 3/5 of your team already.
Thank you. I'm interested in what the thread author has to say on that because that advice contradicts this farming guide.
Here is what everyone is currently using.
https://swgoh.gg/meta-report/
Lando is used roughly 10x more often in the top 10 over GS and has double the usage in the overall top 100, and GS's usage keeps falling.
Farm at your own risk.
I do know about the report. The only thing I would add is that when you are F2P there is a balance in the early going where you need to win the Arena to get the Crystals to do the refreshes. You can't afford to have a Lando/Han team if the Lando team gets beat by the GS/Leia team. And I can tell you that I do that each day right now with my GS/Leia. However, maybe I could do it with Lando/Han also, I will try. It also probably depends on the competition in your shard.
You can go get Lando and Han later, which is why I think the author set up the farming guide the way he did. JC may be junk later but at level 49 he can go purple when nobody else can. And he can go double purple when nobody else can if I remember right. At 3 stars and purple he has more power then 4 star QGJ or Leia. So he keeps up ok for a while.
Ideally you would have the best short and long term farming F2P plan, which is what I am trying to figure out. Thank you for the advice, I think it is helping people.
I can guarantee you Lando and StH will beat GS/Leia and once you start getting protection the gap will widen even more.
There is no point in bothering to worry about the early game, its totally different and very short lived anymore. Garbage heros like Chewy, JC, Luminari, Talia, and stuff in general that heals is more powerful early out, but worthless later. You shouldn't invest any valuable resources on them.
You absolutely want to have and max out your endgame team as early as possible. Having a slew of lower geared and leveled heros sitting on your bench will not allow you to get a higher rank in arena. Trust me, this is the way I ran my main (december shard) I went after as many heros as possible, so long as I could stay under 50th rank I was good.
But the key as an FTP is to always MAX your top 5. Switching before you max them is very risky as you run the risk of your power level dropping below your peers while they keep upgrading their top 5. If you have whales, this is even more important, because you will be fighting teams that are often times 5-7-10k higher power or a much higher level.
Yes, sorry, I meant I would try Lando/Han first on a new account. Thanks!
Glad you liked the guide. I answer your questions below.
Just clarifying, this guide was developed based on research on the forum and experiences I have had in 2 different servers. Yes, I had two accounts. In the first account I made many mistakes and I would love to have a topic like this back then, would have saved me a lot of frustration. But I found the courage and began a new account, which is what I'm playing today.
This guide has gone through two changes due to new events and updates that the game had in recent months, but the new accounts will fare better if they follow this route.
About ST Han, also has a personal preference. He is one of the best heroes of the game. If you have plans for an arena team that needs ST Han ASAP, could prioritize him in arena shop. I like to unlock Leia first because she helps A LOT in almost all modes of the game AND she is a rebel, will help in events too.
Choose to farm first ST Han in arena could be interesting, but you will gain a third tank (since you start with Chewie and RG) at a time of the game you need an effective attacker for both arena and GW.
The teams will use in the arena will be composed with the best heroes have available. Therefore, it is important that you understand: With rare exceptions, you ALWAYS develop heroes to the maximum, stars and gear. You can not remain competitive in the arena if you do not, and not able to complete the 12 nodes GW. Believe me, the game difficulty will increase very fast from level 60 player.
I think every player must draw your goals to enjoy the game as well as possible and not get stuck to meta all the time. The idea of this route is that the player, especially F2P, do not spend your time and resources with less functional heroes. But eventually when your collection of heroes is good enough, you usually develop heroes as your personal preference.
The most common F2P compositions are:
Starter team: Chewie (L), GS, JC, IG-86, Talia
After primary hero farm: Luminara (L), GS, JC, QGJ, IG-86
Advanced DPS team: Luminara (L), GS, QGJ, JC, Rey (even with 4 stars she is a nightmare).
Barriss optional sustainable team: Barriss (L), Luminara, QGJ, GS, Rey
After that you can go for more aggressive teams to your preference / style of play:
Droids: HK-47 (L), IG-88, IG-86, JE, Nebit
Rebels hybrid: Ackbar (L), Leia, Rey, Phasma/QGJ, St Han/RG
Assist: Phasma (L), QGJ, GS, Rey, 5s (can exchange for a healer in an easy GW node if you have difficulties)
Danger Zone: Wedge (L), Biggs, Lando, Leia, ST Han
Ultimate danger zone: Wedge (L), Biggs, Lando, JKA, ST Han
Danger zone (AOE focus): Lando (L), JKA, Wedge, Biggs, ST Han.
Because JC is horrible. Garbage really.
At the beginning you will use it for lack of a better heroes. So my advice: Just gear up best you can while he is useful and then leave him aside. JC has low gear requirements, so it's easy to reach gear level VII - VIII. But that's it, NEVER spend cantina energy on him. Many players develop JC because of Yoda event. I do not recommend doing this, not worth the investment. Its better you wait a bit and invest only in heroes that will be useful in the future.
its a good idea ... maybe in another guide!
You're welcome!
Question:
I'm currently running HK, 88, 86, RG and Talia. I will get Nebit tomorrow. Until I'm able to get enough shards for JE, who do you recommend I use as my fifth?
Edit: 88 and HK. I did not do the Droid pack.
I ran 100, but whoever you are farming out of Cantina probably gets that spot. Be it Lando, GS or 100. Who are you focusing there?
Jawa has nice damage, but he might only be 3* unless you are farming him also.
For Cantina shard farming on droids I recommend: whatever till stage 2 (Lando is your best bet), then jawa till you get stage 3 and then 100, you should be around lvl 62ish or so by the time you 7* IG100. After that I went back and got Jawa up to 6* before lvl 69, at which point then I switched over to B2.
I was able to unlock 5* crit mod challenge at lvl 68. With 5* JE, 5* Nebit, 7* scavenger, 6* jawa, 7* Dathcha, all g7 except JE.
Cad is meh, not sure if I would focus him first, but you are correct on STH and Lando.
Best 2 bang for the buck heros in the game.
I just realized how much I was missing out on without access to the CH event. Was getting Lando anyway, but wasn't planning on STHan for a while, because I really like Leia (at 6* now) and got AA to support her (still needs leveling and gearing, before I decide whether I * him or work towards 7* Leia). I use a 4* RG as my tank and he holds up just fine right now in VII gear (although VIII gear is a **** for him).
I have been spending guild credit on unlocking Gamo Guard as another scoundrel (Chewie, Lando, Cad, Gamo 4man team for CH and also the droid event). My rebel team is pretty complete now (but underleveled/geared) for when another rebel event rolls by (Leia, AA, Lando, Luke Scariff RPF).
My Arena/GW (never need a 2nd team for GW) is: 7* Lumi, 6* Leia, 5* GS, 5* Daka, 4* RG, all at gear VII. Between RG and Daka stunning and Leia/GS/Lumi killing one, it's usually a 5v3. As long as this works, I see no reason to sub in QGJ (still only 3* or Rey (still only gear VI)) for Daka yet.
The hardest teams for me to beat are a geared Rey behind a tank, or Lando behind STHan. If I can't kill Rey or Lando fast enough they wipe me out, and with Han, I can't keep them stunned either.
I ran 100, but whoever you are farming out of Cantina probably gets that spot. Be it Lando, GS or 100. Who are you focusing there?
Jawa has nice damage, but he might only be 3* unless you are farming him also.
For Cantina shard farming on droids I recommend: whatever till stage 2 (Lando is your best bet), then jawa till you get stage 3 and then 100, you should be around lvl 62ish or so by the time you 7* IG100. After that I went back and got Jawa up to 6* before lvl 69, at which point then I switched over to B2.
I was able to unlock 5* crit mod challenge at lvl 68. With 5* JE, 5* Nebit, 7* scavenger, 6* jawa, 7* Dathcha, all g7 except JE.
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I pretty much am following your droid farm route from page 1. I'm currently level 45 and should unlock 100 tomorrow. Once I get him up to par, I'll have 4*hk(l), 5*86, 4*88, Nebit unlocked, and 100. The engineer farm is still going but still days away.
I can hit top 20 with a 4* Jawa (double drop weekend accelerated his farm) but have to sub in RG for defense or I drop to 50-60.
I've rotated Jawa, RG and Talia for GW which has worked so far.
Appreciate the advice!
You started with buying the Droid pack, like @Baldwookiee ? I am finding that the Droid path has a slow ramp up without it.
I don't believe it is possible to finish at the top of the Arena (top 5 daily) using the droid path, the Jawa path, or the Han first path and be FTP. I have now tried it on some new accounts. You can't keep up with the non-FTP players if you don't finish top 5 every day. You simply need those crystals in order to do Cantina and Regular energy refreshes. The non-FTP players will buy all of those refreshes, so you need to find a way to do so also in order to stay at least near their levels.
Follow the initial path in this thread new players! And keep up either JC or Talia (not both) using the nodes as best you can. You do need a second healer besides Lumi to get through Galactic War and get all 15 shards every day. Otherwise your Lumi will fall behind other people's Lumi's on your server.
That being said, as soon as you have those first characters in the farm recommendation you can begin down any other path (Jawa, Droid, Rebel, etc.) you like and be safe. Around level 75 or a little before is the time to start switching your Arena team from the initial hero's you farmed to the specialty path you have chosen. You will have been able to get a synergistic 2nd group of characters to 7* by then (Jawas, Droids, whatever).
Do not underestimate the value of healing. Nobody uses Darth Sid right now and nobody can have a 7 star Anakin until level 76 without paying. So only IG-88 is a character you will see often who can stop healing. A team that has 2 healers can hang around a long long time with a human controlling it. This allows you to jump up the arena ranks each day. Defense in the Arena is what you will struggle with as FTP because people who pay will have a Royal Guard and you will not, until level 76 when you too can farm him. Even if you farm Han you still aren't as good as the teams with RG on defense.
You server does seems to matter also. Some of my new accounts were on servers with a few whales and some had 10 players that had clearly spent a lot of money on the game. At least, that has been my experience. I'd love to know if people have actually succeeded on new FTP accounts were I failed.
*Above it mentions multiple tanks. If you do not buy the Empire pack because you really are totally FTP then you quickly have 0 tanks. Chewy cannot keep up with the Cantina/Arena characters after level 45 because he can only be farmed from nodes, unless you sacrifice another cantina character's development. So really you have a 2 star Royal Guard and a 4 star Chewy that gets outpaced. It only takes 3 days to get into the 40s on a new account, so their usefullness ends Very quickly. Making Han your second arena character does make sense in this regard because you will finally have a tank you can use. At the same time, Han gives you 1 tank on a server where everyone is initially running a QGJ who can nullify him. The farming guide is probably right that Ackbar makes more sense first if you are building a Rebel team. There is enough time if you are doing well every day in the arena to farm 3 arena characters to 7* by the time you get to level 76.
Wrong, it is entirely possible to get top 5 as a ftp, at least with rebels or droids. Jawas - no, they are the light side complement for droids to get your mods. All you need is to finish arena top 20 and complete GW for crystalls to get your 2 cantina and 2 energy refreshes. Both Droids and rebels easily can do this.
This is also totally wrong. Lumi or Talia are both not needed in any mode. If you want to waste your energy or GW tokens and guarantee you fall down in arena because your trying to get a sucky hero, farm Lumi or Talia first. If you are waiting maxing those garbage heros until lvl 75, then thats why you don't think its possible to finish top 5 as a F2P. You can have 2 full 7* teams that aren't garbage by lvl 75 quite easily.
Also RG is so much less of a threat than StH its not even comparable, A fast Han is literally the most influential character in the game right now.
Even if you want RG(who is good still) you can hard node farm him and he will be easily 5+ stars by the time you unlock his cantina node.
If you want to waste your time and energy farming out garbage toons like Talia and Luminari, then wonder why your so far down the rankings by the time you actually have a team that can win on offense and now have no crystal supply because of the previously listed bad choices your EVEN FARTHER behind.
Also Anakin is easily attainable before lvl 76. He has 3 hard nodes, and can be gotten for free with 4* if you play the new account rolling game.
My new shard is brutal.
I am lvl 73, I have 7 whales regularly in the top 10, me, a f2p synergy guy and a random asian running droids with a 223 speed JE. The whales have been 4-10 levels above me at any and all given points. Right now the #1 on on the shard is lvl 80, and has a 7* fully maxxed out shoretrooper and is 11k higher power and there are 4 whales running Wiggs/Rebels and 2 whales running Rex + Sun Fac with their average power 4000 above me.
God help you if you roll onto a new shard and have a harder top 10.
I havn't left the top 12 over night ever and still get top 5 every day.
I used to be able to auto the #1 in less than a minute before he was able to unlock g10 and bought full raid gear. I have to wait till I get them from the raid, but I have no doubts I will be able to get 1st back again when I have comparable gear, levels and mods(which is exactly what the f2p vs p2p advantage is)
Ackbar is completely reliant on more rebels, less flexible, and not as good as StH. He also doesn't help unlock Scoundrel challenges which are huge for credits and can't be used in high end Arena. So what is the case to farm Ackbar first?
While I did luck into a fast-leveling RG (I think I pulled a full RG 5 or 6 times from Bronziums, so lots of 15-shard jumps), I did have him at 5* by level 76, and he's been an integral part of my arena and GW teams since I was about 35.
That said, I also have STH at g9, and as good as he is for me now, I hear he really steps it up a notch at g10 (just one more syringe to get him there), so perhaps I'll change my tune on these two tanks soon, or once I can put him under a Lando lead with Wiggs or Leia (still have just Biggs max, and Leia 4*).
Agree that Ackbar is no longer a vital add, with so many other top-notch Rebels. Useful, yes, especially for p1 in pit raids if you don't have Elder (who was another early bronzium pull for me and has been my lone dispeller since May), or if you can somehow set up a match that starts with STH taunt->Ackbar TG->Lando DD x2->Phasma VM->destroy....
Sorry I shouldn't have said not possible. I should say not likely. And I mean from levels 30-60ish, when you are busy farming QGJ, Leia, Lumi and don't have enough resources to have a team with synergy.
If you finish 6-10 you get 250 crystals. That isn't enough to do all the refreshes. Initially you will get enough crystals to supplement the other 50 but eventually you will run out. So 6-10 isn't an option. You have to get 1-5.
Jawa engineer, I would argue most people will not be able to join a guild that will get them a Jawa Engineer in a timely fashion.
you also mention farming people from Hard Nodes. If you do that you have less energy for gear.
I don't think we are allowed to mention the account rolling to get the character you like as a strategy here either. This guide assumes you are not going to do that.
I would say the path laid out in this thread's guide is more likely to get you to the top in the beginning and in the end then just the end. the guide doesn't say not to get STH, it just says not to get him first.
I already told you why it's a bad idea, yet you seem insistent on using your resources to farm trash heroes with some idea that you'll magically flip the switch, farm up good heros after your shards leaders are already established and somehow get up there.
This doesn't work, you'll be months behind. You'll have wasted all your resources farming garbage hero shards and gearing those guys up instead of getting someone worthwhile.
If your goal is to beat gw with a team that sucks in arena, go for lumi, but don't complain that f2p can't compete, while I'm telling you exactly how you can compete.
You completely ignored gw crystals, daily activity rewards, and daily login bonuses in your crystal maths.
Getting JE or any other guild shop hero has -0- to do with the caliber of your guild.
I'd really love to hear the arguement on how someone can't get him.
Getting guild coins is completely dependant on YOU using your energy in guild activities and, you know, being in any guild.
If anything, being in a better guild with more p2p guys is a detriment, not an advantage, because you will have a harder time ranking on your leaderboard, but guild pts ranking difference is not going to hinder anyone in any way.
I suggest going to any random guild doing t3-4 early, then make sure you get into a guild doing t7 asap once you have a single 7* character. That is extremely important to maintain rank.
If you don't want to reroll until you get a good free hero, that again, is completely your choice and a bad one.
Just like you should be farming hard nodes for shards as early as possible, to unlock as early as possible the heros that you'll actually use, instead of wasting your time gearing up bottom tier heroes like Talia and Lumi.
You dont seem to get it, you absolutely need to be in front as early as possible, and maintain and upgrade those 5 above anything else.
The average f2p guy who complains about p2p disparity just seem intent on just doing whatever they want, then complaining you can't get a good rank or keep up when all the choices you make are bad. (I am generalizing here, not specifically pointing to anyone)
This game isn't pee wee tee ball. Not everyone can get top 50/10/5/1 trophy, every choice you make has an effect, the more bad choices you make the farther back you drop, this is magnified even more early on.
Something as little as buying a 2nd chromium card can and will set you back days.
There's absolutely enough information in this thread to land you a top spot and keep it as a F2P guy.
My comment before was simply that you cannot have the full setup listed by level 50 without the Droid pack. A f2p can still compete, and keep up following the Droid path, although I think maybe f2p should be slightly altered from @Baldwookiee path. My Droids still dominate, and I beat teams in GW 15 levels higher without running healers. As to my server, I saw a guy today with a full 7* team, level 48.
My status at level 50: https://swgoh.gg/u/darthcheetah/
Thanks
Get in a guild doing heroic raids ASAP. Most guilds doing Heroic Raids just need members to contribute towards GBC, My guild can clear T7 raids in about 1 1/2 hours with about half of the guild actually doing damage.
Also, go for Lando and get 5 scoundrels as quick as possible. Massive credit crunch at lower 70 levels now with mods and needing an arena team and a scoudrel team equipped.
About the paths: Both are viable. I started my account exactly this way and reach the top 10 almost every day. Unfortunately I can not participate in arena battles at the appropriate time to gain ranks, so sometimes I lose positions, but the crystals I get are enough to keep the farm. My server is quite varied, but AOE and Wiggs are the most frequent times. This does not mean that the droids fell into disuse, has at least one player in the top 10 using a droid team, sometimes 2 players.
There are many discussions about the usefulness of Luminara. It is true that healers lost their space in the arena, however, Luminara helps a lot in the beginning when your options heroes are still few. I'm not saying that if you do not to farm Luminara your game will not evolve, but is a "safe way". Look:
1) Your leader skill provides evasion and healing. This helps a lot in the first GWs.
2) Your healing is reasonable.
3) Your skill block, if used well, can disarm several dangerous heroes.
4) It can be used in Yoda event.
IMO, she is not useless, just isn't a high-end-hero actually.
About farm in the arena: I like Leia because she is an excellent attacker that helps me since the day I unlocked it. She is very helpful by itself, but together with Ackbar she is VERY stronger. I used this combination for a long time in the arena. However, if you do not like it and prefers to prioritize ST Han, Leia will still be powerful under the leader of other heroes like Phasma. Ackbar gives a good speed in a rebel team and generate more attacks. ST Han as the third hero to be unlocked in the arena still seems to me a good time. It will come a time when you have other heroes able to make good use of their TM manipulation skills.
About JKA, he is awesome. It is worth the investment without any doubt.
Anyway, this farm route may change with variations of meta, but the intention is to help the players!