IG-86 is better than Geo Soldier on a Poggle and Poe team

SlyGambit

So the flavor of the month is Geonosian Soldier. Mainly due to his high HP, assist, great crit, and his awesome speed. Notice all the positive adjectives. With gear level able to hit 9 he's got the perfect storm of the best farmable attacker in the game. However now that I've got both Geo and IG-86 nearly maxed I've decided that IG-86 is better for teams with Poggle and Poe.

Huh?

The simple reason is because Geo soldier is actually TOO fast. And more gear and more HP just is not going to be enough to overcome that. Hear me out.

With Geo Soldier maxed he moves into Tier 1 speed. Which means that he will always go prior to Poggle so he will never have the offense up buff. Meanwhile IG-86 will always go a turn after meaning that he always acts in his first round with the Poggle buff.

Now with Poe and his taunt in place there are very few players that will try to shut down IG-86 on the first turn (most will focus either Poe or Poggle). So unless the team I'm facing has 5 tier 1 speed characters AND focus's IG-86 in the first turn then he will do significantly more damage than Geo on turn 1. Turn 1 is the turn where you need to really focus on maximizing your damage. I haven't gotten the pleasure of playing both of them at 7* max gear so I don't know how great of a differential the damage is but based on 6* max gear it isn't significant enough. With a poggle buff IG-86 can one-shot crit with an expose or with a good assist almost every attacker in the game. Geo can as well but he has to wait his turn to get the buff.

After turn 1 he has received the Poggle speed boost so his speed goes from 116 to 145 which is just behind Geo's 149. So while Geo will have a chance to act faster in the second round it will be just slightly. Since no arena battle goes longer than 3 rounds before it's decided (sometimes there more rounds during cleanup) the 3 turn speed up is more than an equalizer.

Note that I'm continuing to gear/level both these guys because Geo really is better in almost every other squad composition. Plus I think a Sid/Poggle/Poe/Geo/IG-86 squad is hilariously scary. However to me everything points towards the slower IG-86 as a better character in my squad.

SirLoinsteak

Poe does more for slow poke heavy dmg that speedsters, so I guess it'd make sense. However, I love the idea of have both of them GS and 86.

GS is easy to get, Po-Po make sense. Pog-86 also make sense for an eventual droid squad. Pog-GS-86 = even more sense : geo and droid synergy.

Your only problem is how to level multiple GW chars at once efficiently. If you wanted Lumi or Phasma too, that's 4 ppl from GW.

Shizmoo

86 also gives a 75% damage boost if the assisting ally is a droid. You need 200% to make poggle hit high with Geo

SlyGambit

I already have Lumi at 7*, poggle at 6*, and 86 about 75 shards from 7*. Phasma is way over-rated.

Heronmar

SlyGambit wrote: »

Something something IG86 is better than Geo
.

Poe is 100% going to be changed so Geo is still going to better than IG unless you run another droid with it.

SlyGambit

As long as Poe doesn't lose his taunt and speed nothing changes with this. The loss of the turn meter reduction doesn't really affect the utility of geo or 86.

Even if Poe loses his speed down a tier it still might not change but I'm not as confident. If tier 1 speed toons can wipe 86 before he moves then there's a decent argument for Geo since his fast move and turn meter will be more reliable.

But that's why I'm still working on both of them. For now though I think 86 is clearly better in this squad.

xJazzx

SlyGambit wrote: »

As long as Poe doesn't lose his taunt and speed nothing changes with this. The loss of the turn meter reduction doesn't really affect the utility of geo or 86.

Even if Poe loses his speed down a tier it still might not change but I'm not as confident. If tier 1 speed toons can wipe 86 before he moves then there's a decent argument for Geo since his fast move and turn meter will be more reliable.

But that's why I'm still working on both of them. For now though I think 86 is clearly better in this squad.

It's hard to say whether or not Poes speed will get reduced. Asajj has her speed reduced in the first update.

Crymsonkyng

I'm thinking GS will be next...currently farming 86 after getting Ren to 6*. Will have 86 at 6 tomorrow....haven't decided if I will shift focus to GS or continue to 7. Leaning toward 7 if for no other reason than with the level cap boost it will be nearly impossible for me to equip GS properly.

Crymsonkyng

And 86, 88, and Poggle make for a great team even without HK. My current team of Sid, Poggle. Lumi, 88, and Ren is sitting top 30(was 23 at 6)....I just can't beat the Poe teams that sit top 20. Once my Poe is 5* though....

This is a hard launch server BTW, not a newer one.