Weekly Topic: [Resource] Characters to Develop first

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  • Also hit forums for ally codes. Helps cantina ls and ds missions
  • ThaosSkywalker
    10 posts Member
    edited April 2017
    Mini in-depth guide
    where i stand:

    Hi, I'm a competitive star wars galaxy of heroes gamer who tries to spend just a minimal on the game. I have recently created an alternative account.
    I was unlucky with my shard, many big spenders, 80% of top 50 got 7* baze, chirrut (before level 60!), nihilus and jyn. I created my alt after the first phoenix toon event was off limit, so i missed out on lord of hunger and rogue1. My shard consisted of about 6.5k squads. Still managed to get within top 200 on the 2nd day, then roaming 40-100 for some time and now I'm roaming 15-45. Because of focus, hard grinding and some money spent i manage to hold 1st in fleet and roam 15-45 in squad arena.
    Have closed up on character levels as well in my shard, and spent time farming great mods. Which have lead to the right path to success.

    I also created my alt in a period which is known to be a gaming period. Because of the cold and dark winters here in Norway and most of Europe. It's a fact that people play less and are more out in the summer than winter, but especially this far north. My theory is that there are more people playing competitive while there's more people staying at home and playing games, like myself. Rogue one movie could also be a factor.

    At the bottom of the mini guide you can read about how i developed my starting toons. I did it in a way which wouldn't set me back for later goals and still not loose too much on doing so. Early game is short, mid and late game isn't. That should be your focus!

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    Intro

    As many here have pointed out, *some* roads lead to Rome. In SWGOH not every path leads to your desired goals. There are so many distractions in this simple, but really competitive game. Cause of the very competitive game society, small mistakes can set you back by a mile. So many appealing toons throughout that fall short, and squads that ain't that important in the earlier stages of the game.
    A motivation breaker in the endless grind is when mistakes makes you drop off in your shard. When you get to the point where you envy the squads, toons and mods of your fellow top shardsmen, and you have no chance in hell to compete and make a name for yourself. That's when you start to regret that you ever spent a dime on the game and you begin to curse on all of the whales in your shard, but out of frustration you spend more money on the game. Knowingly that it is unwise to spend money. Not because the game developers don't deserve it, but because the drive behind is the winner's instinct and not for the fun of it. A thought burried deep under self proclaiming of having self-discipline... you know what a look in the mirror will exploit, "Hypocrite!"

    Enough b*s...

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    My thoughts

    First advice, if you just started up an account and the moment you unlocked squad arena, almost every player top 50 have nihilus in their squad, start all over again. Nihilus is the most played toon in 520 tracked rank 1 arena squads, (2k arena squads tracked in total). He's overpowered even at star level 3 and 4. I personally started an alt account and because I am lacking nihilus, I struggle big time in arena. Currently ranked 13, but I usually roam around 20-50. I've spent 250$ on the alt!
    Nihilus can only be obtained by buying chromium packs or from shipments (currency: crystals). If your shard started out before the nihilus and rogue one events, you will have a rough time if you missed those events.

    There are many good team comps for arena, but ideally you should farm toons which are great in multiple areas of the game. The most important thing is that you will manage to farm gear that's available at your character level, when you need it. Therefore Light and Dark side battles are the most important holotables in the game. If you manage to get your hands on strong allies, which you should make an slight effort for, these holotables shouldn't be a problem. Search up ally codes online!
    For the dark side battles its smart to buy the limited-time sith pack, this is arguably the best pack for the buck in game. Dark side battles can be really tough without. 20$ ain't that much.

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    About some game modes:

    Character level 8 you unlock squad cantina battles, which is where you farm shards the fastest. Important to always have a good enough squad to unlock the desired node. Which usually is your arena squad, so that shouldn't be a problem.

    Character level 40 you unlock galactic war, which you should complete 100% of the time. Aside from money spent, gw completions can determine the difference from player to player in the long run. It can get really tough, so ideal toons for gw is crucial.

    Character level 60 you unlock ships, which you should from day 1 focus on. I have been dominant in my fleet shard for quite some time. Finishing off 1st at payout almost every day and don't get knocked down from the throne often.
    Here the rewards for finishing 1st or finishing 500+ at payout is 1k fleet currency. Since I spend all my fleet currency on ship blueprints, I would faster develop toons ignoring fleet arena, but in the long run I will unlock farming zeta mats out of the ability fleet challenge much faster. More value in total. Zeta mats are used to upgrade some toon abilities to a meta changing level. These abilities are end game abilities and takes months from level 1 to your first zeta ability.

    Daily challenge squads is where you farm really important gear from the very beginning, don't miss out on this and try to always complete the highest tier. I haven't had any problem here because of the toons I've aquired and my game strategy.

    *Foot note* Keep in mind when reading below. Credits are crucial and if you don't have scoundrels for the credit heist, you will have a bad time achieving your goals when your credits fall short.

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    Who to farm and what order?
    Toons to farm to cover all aspects of the game, also aiming for 7* Emperor Palpatine event:
    Some farm order you can adjust, but i highly recommend to follow my way and farm all scoundrels I mention.

    Cantina nodes

    1. Land Calrissian - Scoundrel and rebel

    2. choose between these two:

    Tie Fighter Pilot - for ships and the raids

    Kylo Ren - With zeta, overpowered on offense in arena, great without zeta too

    I farmed TFP to 7* then i farmed Kylo Ren to 5* while character levelling up for wedge's cantina node. Had double cantina drops for Kylo.

    3. Wedge Antilles - Wedge and Biggs are such a strong combo mid game and they're very much needed for the Emperor Demise Event, (farming Emperor Palpatine).

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    Hard nodes

    1. Jedi Consular and Royal Guard - Jedi Consular is great for arena till gear vii/viii and gw as healer throughout, RG for a much needed dark side tank and works great in gw with speed down, stun and self-healing-unique

    2. Count Dooku - if you bought the sith pack and got him. He is really strong early game in arena with his stun, ability block and counter chance. He falls off some when fellow shardsmen get their team synergy up and you start to encounter the current meta tanks, as baze. Since he's not a priority in cantina you won't be able to farm him fast enough to be really viable, but he's an alright 5th wheel.

    3. All the strong toons which ain't farmable elsewhere, like First Order Tie Pilot - mod challenge and ship

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    Arena Shipments

    1. Stormtrooper Han - Scoundrel and rebel

    2. Unlock IG-88 3* - Scoundrel and droid, only so you can participate in the highest possible tier of credit heist

    3. Admiral Ackbar - Rebel and fleet commander, arguably the strongest fleet commander, rebel for the Emperor Demise event

    4. Finish off farming IG-88 or farm another strong toon.

    I rarely just unlock toons, only if it's crucial for game strategy

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    Cantina Shipments

    1. Boba Fett - Scoundrel, bounty hunter and considered an anti-meta toon, great in gw, ignores taunts, inflicts DoT, ability block and self ressurects.

    2. Qui-Gon Jinn - Considered strongest jedi leader for arena, heavy assist, dispeller and manipulates turn meter. Standard companion in rancor raid in a teebo squad for p2-4.

    3. Jawa Scavenger - jawa needed for !critical damage! mod challenge and AAT raid.

    4. personal preferences from this point:

    Fives - clone for aat squad

    Ahsoka Tano - strong jedi, great ship, great synergy with Jedi-Knight-Anakin, but no top 5 jedi, fan favorite

    Poe Dameron - Ressistance, mod challenge

    Old Daka - nightsister and dark side healer, ressurects, stuns

    First Order Officer - First order, mod challenge

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    GW shipments

    1. Biggs Darklighter - rebel, Emperor Demise Event, raids and Wedge synergy

    2. ships - Biggs, Jedi Consular, Imperial Tie Fighter, desired blueprints

    (3.) Luminar Unduli - jedi, great healer, arguably best toon for gw (early-mid/late game), can be prioritized first for that very reason. I won't farm her on alt, she ain't top 5 jedi.

    3. teebo or datcha - teebo for rancor and datcha for mod challenge and aat

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    fleet store

    1. ships - If rank 1 in fleet arena, fastest way to farm ships, slave 1 and tie advance x1 should be farmed all the way, they're slow farmed

    2. Wedge Antilles - rebel, emperor demise event, biggs synergy, raids, if you ignore/less focused on ships, farm him here and cantina. Otherwise you'll get him outta cantina.

    3. Darth Maul/Rex/Chirrut Imwe - Darth maul for a Zaul team, Rex for an anti Zaul/meta team, chirrut great attacker, cleansing rebel, amazing with baze

    4. Sun Fac - one of the greatest tanks in game, would say the best fast farmed f2p taunting tank.

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    guild store

    1. Darth Maul/Rex - Darth maul for a Zaul team, Rex for an anti Zaul/meta team
    2. Jawa Engineer/Jyn Erso - Jawa E for aat and mod challenge, Jyn Erso for rancor raid and great rebel leader, especially great synergy with the rogue1 debuffers as Cassian Andor, K2SO, Baze and Bodhi Rook.

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    Jedi team for Grand Master Yoda Event

    Qui-Gon Jinn - Leader
    Jedi Knight Anakin
    Ayla Secura
    Barriss Offee - optional Leader
    Jedi Consular

    Strongest Jedi Arena team
    squad goal!

    Qui-Gon Jinn - Leader
    Jedi Knight Anakin
    Ayla Secura
    Grand Master Yoda
    General Kenobi

    I won't farm the fastest farmable toons for the Grand Master event, the reason for that is I don't want to farm and gear toons I won't have much need of. That's personal preference

    Main account GMY event
    unlocked 7*, viable toons in game

    Barriss Offee - Leader
    Qui-Gon Jinn
    Luminar Unduli
    Jedi Consular
    Mace Windu

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    Level 1

    From the very beginning you should gear up the toons you start out with, but don't farm shards for the lesser ones. You should rather farm shards for those you intend to switch in. I tried to minimize the effort on the toons i knew would fall off mid game. That's when protection comes up and strong team synergies which outplays the starting toons. I spent sim tickets on hard nodes and when farming gear that I needed in a bulk of 5 or more. Also spent sim tickets on cantina nodes when i unlocked that holotable. When i ocassionally ran out of sim tickets I bought some more from shipments. Doesn't cost much crystals if you do okey in arena.

    Starting toons:

    Jedi Consular - farm Jedi Consular is great in gw and can keep up in arena to about when protection comes up. He's one of the easiest to gear and one of the first to get to gear viii. He falls off when most toons can get to gear viii

    Royal Guard - farm one of the strongest tanks in the game, early farmable, high drop rate in bronzium. The self-healing unique, auto taunt and basic attack with stun and speed down can really do wonders in gw. In the rancor raids he's used for fail proof in a teebo squad with the auto taunt and his speed down is really effective on the rancor.

    Luke Skywalker - don't farm Great dps, but easily countered and too simple kit, stopped at level 50, 3*, gear v

    Talia - don't farm Good early game healer before protection, stopped at level 41, 3*, gear iv. Can be viable some further.

    Clone Wars Chewbacca - don't farm Sustainable tank, ok(+) in gw. Chewbacca is too slow and his kit is way too simple, stopped at level 31, 4*, gear iii

    Ewok Scout - don't farm ok damage, simple kit, level 18, gear i

    Clone Sergeant - put on hold good damage, turn meter manipulator, ok kit, level 18 gear i. Will develop once i start working on my clones for aat.

    IG-86 - put on hold amazing dps with great assist, is really strong early on in the game, but I would rather recommend to focus on mid/late game goals. Early game is short. Droids are good in the raids and maybe with a general Grievous rework(?) they will become more viable again throughout.

    _______________________________________________________________________________

    P.S:

    EA have announced a new game mode and a couple of fan favorite toon releases, this can change the game up quite much. The meta might change. Some people would say you shouldn't jump on the meta, since it will soon change again and just keep doing what you were doing. That's often correct, but sometimes the award of going mainstream is the way to speed up or achieving your goals. GL!

    ****, it got longer than intended.
    Well read ;p
  • I would agree with starting with a scoundrel team. Especially focus on Boba, ST Han, Lando and IG -88. Boba is arena worthy, and ST han, Lando and 88 have faction tags that make them useful elsewhere in the game.

    Crystals and credits are the lifeblood of the game. And the credit crunch is harsh in mid game, so farming scoundrels is a good way work through that. No matter what the meta becomes, scoundrels will always provide the credits to fuel your teams.
    Empire Relic
  • I think if you're developing a new player guide and want to give people a small chunk to bite into then you don't want a wall of text, you want to look at 8-10 rebels and scoundrels that can be acquired fairly easily and explain in a few bullets how they can allow access to a significant % of the game.

    Seems the easiest way to remove - new toons or events could change this of course, but I guess we're looking for the Most Efficient Progress available - MEPA!

    You probably want to separate it out from "mid game" - which is still churning out the random Nerf Rey post. It's a little different of a beast where you're going to want have a definite dark side team, another faction, and look at Pilots for ships.

    Someone said Akbar above... but TBH, if you want to REALLY help people, you should probably tell them to just work Tarkin and dark-side ships and suffer through it until they can three star the Zeta challenge. Rather then working Akbar and rebel pilots through mid game and up and then realizing you can't go any further in Arena/GW/Raids because people on your leaderboard are getting Zeta's faster then you can.
    #AcolyteShootsTwice
  • I see you mentioning to go for Grand Moff Tarkin as your prime capital ship, but Ackbar is off the bat the strongest capital ship. Grand Moff Tarkin are better in special fleet comps, the word around is. If you do really well in fleet from the very beginning, throughout mid and late game, you'll get tons of fleet currency. If you spend that currency on ship blueprints you'll be able to get 5 4* dark side ships and 8 5* ships before everyone else.

    If you decide to be less focused on ships and farm toon shards out of the fleet shop, you should then go for Grand Moff Tarkin, so you'll minimize the resources needed for the zeta challenge.
  • I said Akbar because it's another rebel. Cleanser and cap ship. The game also gives you shards for each cap ship commander as well. This is for early early game. First to farm etc.
  • Speedokillz
    575 posts Member
    edited April 2017
    The dark-side ships seem to have limited farm-ability of them made me wish I would have went with Tarkin to start... add into the mix that Fleet Rewards are much less weighted than arena rewards means one wouldn't lose out much if the top of the shard is all running a stronger Ackbar team.

    Of course if there were more dark-side ships shards available in more stores, I would probably be ok with Ackbar as he helped me 7* Emperor Palpatine...
    https://swgoh.gg/u/speedokillz/

    December 2016 Arena Shard
  • I'm level 49 after a weak (and of some investment) and the team I currently have is:

    Lando Leader 5* - Cantina node farm
    Jyn 4* (Pack, very lucky - but can only farm from guild shipments and she's on and off it so fast I worry I wont get her 5* for Palp event)
    Stormtrooper Han 5* - Arena shipments farm
    Boba (Amazing!) - Cantina shipments farm

    Then I go for one of; Geo Soldier 3* (sick damage), Biggs 4* (not really using until Wedge), Jedi Consular 4*, Royal Guard 2* (Amazing; stun chance as basic, defense & health boost special and chance for Turn meter increase, and auto taunts whenever someone goes -50%hp).

    Depending what I face I use RG/Geo/JCons. Jyn & Lando are awesome together but I wouldn't focus on Jyn as I got lucky obtaining her from a pack, everyone else in my team is farmable/attainable from free to play I believe, and you could swap Jyn out for any of them, probably Consular as he is the most versatile with his team heal, self heal special (based on damage) and his basic damage attack (chance to reduce cooldowns by 1 - great for the team heal).
  • Can you create a thread for people to post in on here that is based on guilds recruiting newbies? The games guild interface is awful in terms of finding an acitve guild that suits your requirements, and its solong missing out on tickets.
  • Silky
    522 posts Member
    Looks like it's about half and half of what to farm from cantina shipments thus far. QGJ or Boba. My guild says QGJ since Boba is squishy without a strong team. Is there anything that would edge out one over the other?
    SHATTERPOINT - One of the world's strongest guilds
    Recruiting solid 3mil+ GP players, pm for info
  • Vampire_X
    1435 posts Moderator
    Ships will be a later topic, and new guild recruiting, is something will look at as well!

    Toon focus primary and at the end we will try to sum up our 1-60 look this week , overtime we will continue to progreess topics much like players experience and build form low to mid to end as they are all very different experiences
    Wicked Sith Queen with the Pink Saber
  • Silky wrote: »
    Looks like it's about half and half of what to farm from cantina shipments thus far. QGJ or Boba. My guild says QGJ since Boba is squishy without a strong team. Is there anything that would edge out one over the other?

    I haven't used QGJ but Boba;

    - Shoots whoever he wants even with Taunt up.
    - Basically has two lives so it's like a 6th person (if he kills someone he gets a buff that lets him revive, which he also starts with).
    - Has an AOE with an ability block - and his insane speed allows him to get the first shot off, often.
    - Apparently Jedi blow, but QGJ is meant to be good.
  • ThaosSkywalker
    10 posts Member
    edited April 2017
    After the rework of boba fett, he's turned into a such great toon. Really strong at early levels, both in arena, gw and dark side battles. The auto ressurect is really helpful in gw, since he refreshes the ability after each encounter. In defense in arena he can make the opposition end up in uncomfortable situations, if failed he will have to be killed 3 times or more.

    Many experienced players don't think much about boba fett since he was really poor before the rework and many of them haven't tried him fully geared and perfectly/good moded.

    Most important of all, he is a scoundrel and it's a must to have a scoundrel team to really succeed in the game later on. Because of the periodically credit heist event.

    QGJ is a strong jedi that's great in the rancor raid and is the best jedi leader currently in game. He only gets strong in the rancor raids in the late 70's with omega on his basic. Both toons can dispell, but since the most recommended toon to farm early on is Lando Calrissian Qui-Gon Jinn has no synergy with him, Boba Fett do!
  • Silky
    522 posts Member
    After the rework of boba fett, he's turned into a such great toon. Really strong at early levels, both in arena, gw and dark side battles. The auto ressurect is really helpful in gw, since he refreshes the ability after each encounter. In defense in arena he can make the opposition end up in uncomfortable situations, if failed he will have to be killed 3 times or more.

    Many experienced players don't think much about boba fett since he was really poor before the rework and many of them haven't tried him fully geared and perfectly/good moded.

    Most important of all, he is a scoundrel and it's a must to have a scoundrel team to really succeed in the game later on. Because of the periodically credit heist event.

    QGJ is a strong jedi that's great in the rancor raid and is the best jedi leader currently in game. He only gets strong in the rancor raids in the late 70's with omega on his basic. Both toons can dispell, but since the most recommended toon to farm early on is Lando Calrissian Qui-Gon Jinn has no synergy with him, Boba Fett do!


    So you would also say go for boba 7*, then qgj?
    SHATTERPOINT - One of the world's strongest guilds
    Recruiting solid 3mil+ GP players, pm for info
  • ThaosSkywalker
    10 posts Member
    edited April 2017
    most definitely, what I've done on my 2nd account. My first account I farmed Qui-Gon Jinn first, but he hasn't been nearly as important as Boba fett has been on my 2nd account. In so many different arenas of the game, arena, gw, dark side battles, credit heist, rancor raid and he also got a really strong ship.

    New players who farm Boba fett first can't get enough of him :p

    You say he is squishy, he's never the first toon to die for me in arena (currently level 72 on alt). Only if he gets executed by another boba fett or killed by nihilus' annihilate at max ability level... but then you've failed and most likely will loose that fight.

    His execute also counters chirrut and baze combo, who are really frequent nowadays in low level arena. Each heal over time effect will just amplify boba fett's execute by alot. So really strong if you encounter alot of Chaze and don't have them yourself... sigh... Wish i had them on alt xd
  • To beginners, I would highly recommend investing in an empire team. The imperial guard is mistaken to be a trashy character, but he is quite the opposite, he is actually a fantastic tanky taunter. TIE Fighter Pilot is also a huge one that is a misjudged character... TIE Fighter Pilot currently has one of the chars with the highest speed, and is currently the highest in armor penetration (super important factor later in the game, but admittedly not so earlier in the game); in addition the TFP is also going to be needed for ship battles and has a fantastic chance at applying target lock.

    Later on, you will earn Tarkin, and eventually Vader and ultimately Emperor Palpatine. With a vader leader perk, it is possible to essentially wipe out half of an enemy team before they even have a chance to attack once. Magmatrooper, TFP and Vader are practically essential characters for a Rancor solo run (I would recommend the YouTube video by AhnaldT to see what I am talking about). Right now, the Nihilus, Maul and Wedge metas are out of control, but I've personally noticed that a proper empire team can effectively deal with most of those, admittedly with some difficulty.

    In short, in all the teams/characters I wish I didn't throw out as garbage, please do not underestimate any of the empire characters -- with maybe the exception of the snowtrooper or stormtrooper.
  • @ThaosSkywalker - I do not disagree -- but the bulk of the game is still toons and toon events - ships are still up in the aether. To start to focus ships to 3* in the Zeta event will be the most advantageous. It's not REALLY part of the current discussion, but also it is... players start the game and don't have the least bit of info to decide what course to take... and they end up half-acing it.

    To the recent posts. Just because Sith is current meta it doesn't mean anything to newer players. from what I've seen when new players post on here -- they are kind of going through all the 'old' meta's on their leaderboards. When you see a #nerfrey post, it's kind of funny, but it shows that hosts of players are kind of going through the same transitions as the older players went through. Or, fumbling, as I'd call it.

    You ultimately want all factions, if only so that when new events come out you can participate. Until you've been playing for a year it's all about focus.

    But I have no doubt that a new player sticky should list out a sampling of Rebels and Scoundrels - and explain how it'll give them ~ 2 teams, which will get them through GW, Arena, LS battles, the Heist, Cantina, and eventually Palpatine.

    The Scoundrels will get them through some of the DS nodes they need and the crit mod farm, which is all around useful.

    Mentioning using crystals for gear rather then refreshes is important too. People will always do what they want, but at least they know about the option and how it could be more efficient.
    #AcolyteShootsTwice
  • Acrofales
    1363 posts Member
    Crystals for gear is ONLY better (looking purely at efficiency) if you're refreshing beyond the 50/50. Using only the 50/50 refresh, all gear is cheaper in pure crystal cost, if you farm it. Of course, if you have 1400 crystals lying around and a stun cuff pops up... well... even so, crystals are best spent on 50/50 regular energy, after that on gear or 100/100 cantina energy, or the 100 crystal energy refreshes, depending on what you need most, from an efficiency pov.

    Energy refreshes don't only give you gear and shards. They also give you XP, an important resource to let you progress faster: the faster you level, the faster you unlock other aspects of the game, which allow you to stay ahead of the curve. If there's any advice I wish I had gotten sooner, it's to always buy the 50/50 energy refreshes.

    Re Boba vs QGJ: Boba all the way. QGJ is the second toon you should farm from cantina shipments, but Boba is (1) incredibly useful in all aspects of the game except raids, (2) a scoundrel and (3) a good leader (see below). QGJ is more useful in raids, but by the time doing anything other than tagging becomes important in raids, you'll have had enough time to farm 2 toons.

    On the topic of tagging, it is important that you farm at least one toon all the way to 7* asap. That allows you to tag in a heroic raid, which will get you guild credit, regular credit and raid gear. Even if you think furnaces and droid callers are useless and what you really want right now are those pesky blue hairdryers... trust me, you will want furnaces and droid callers soon enough, while having millions of surplus blue hairdryers (and a shortage of purple ones).

    Re Empire for newbies: I love my empire team. But for low DS battles it's really not necessary. That said, you do want a decent dark side team, and TFP is a good toon to farm (after Lando) who stays relevant late game (raids and specific arena comps). Royal Guard is also good, and worth slow farming from hard nodes. Other Empire available at low levels, Tarkin, Veers, Snow, Storm and Magmatrooper are all bad BUT there is a rework incoming. The Veers rework so far looks a bit underwhelming, but if the troopers are made amazing, they might make a good Empire package. The other (currently) good Empire toons become availabe later: Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Shoretrooper, Death Trooper and Director Krennic are only available later (and should be farmed). Tarkin is a bit of a special case: as a toon he's mediocre. As a fleet commander he's worth farming (although I personally prefer Ackbar). You will unlock a free 4* Tarkin in one of the ship events. So definitely don't unlock him from arena before then (same goes for Ackbar and Mace). At level 82 you will need 5 4* dark side ships, and 8 5* ships of any kind in order to unlock zeta challenges (an important resource at endgame) as well as Tarkin's Executrix. These challenges are quite tough, so it's worth dedicating at least some farm to Tarkin (and other dark side pilots), but imho it should not be prioritized.

    Final piece of advice: leader abilities only work if the character is in the leader position. It seems obvious, but I have seen so many Nightsister Initiate or Jedi Consular lead teams that it is worth mentioning. This means only one leader ability will be active per team (two when you can invite an ally: you also get the ally's leader ability). An excellent leader for an early game team is Boba. His leader skill is not faction specific (although he gives bounty hunters extra bonuses). This is yet another reason to farm him first. Lando is a great leader too, but only gives his bonuses to rebels and scoundrels, so only use this if you have a good number of them. Chewbacca has a bad leader ability, but he has the only one you're guaranteed to start with. Try to switch him for someone else (Boba) as soon as you can. Other decent leaders available early: Ackbar (rebels only), Phasma (works with all, best with first order), Rex (especially for clones, but often used for all, particularly to boost Rex himself) and Qui Gon Jin (jedi only). Using a leader ability for a specific faction doesn't mean you should only use that faction in your team. But it does mean that the less of that faction you use, the less use you are making of the leadership ability (and thus usually, the less your team synergizes: there are some great out-of-faction synergies, but they are generally less obvious).

    Regarding packs: some of the money packs are worth it, but it always depends on what you want. I regret not buying the Nihilus one, but especially as a new player it's very hard to know which ones are worthwhile and which ones aren't. At first, I would probably refrain from buying any packs and buy crystals instead if you want to spend money. And then don't spend your crystals on packs, but on refreshes, gear and the odd targeted shard purchase from the shop. For the other packs that pop up with every event, keep an eye on the forum, which always has people complaining or cheering (lets face it, complaining) about the packs.

  • Ouchie
    1233 posts Member
    This thread is exhaustingly overwhelming for a new person playing. I would run screaming honestly if i was new and saw this.

    The best advice is:

    1. Just have fun. See a character you like, work towards getting it. Find what parts of the game you think are the most fun and build your toons up to become more useful there. Find a group of friends to share experiences with.

    2. Join a helpful guild with friendly, older players to mentor you and piggyback on their higher tier raids.

    3. I can't say the third because it's against forum rules.
  • The concepts are sound, but the reality is more parameters needed to be set for replying. Not blaming, just saying. This type of discussion needs guidelines and reigned in alot. But that will happen as time goes by.

    I would suggest..

    Squad 1: Simplest to obtain, easiest to gear and level, most effective.

    Squad 2: This is the long range squad in development. S1 is the tool to gather the materials needed to build S2.

    This format would lend itself to quick scans and commonalities will be easier to spot.

    TLDR; replies can be had elsewhere, publically or privately. Best advice as Ouchie suggested, join a helpful guild ask questions there, look at the rosters of those you deem successful, and above all else, have fun.




  • Acrofales
    1363 posts Member
    Pretty sure this thread isn't directly aimed at new players. It's to crowdsource a guide for new players. Someone ( @Vampire_X ) will have to craft a "newbie guide" from the various replies. Perhaps paragraphs from different posters will be copied verbatim. Perhaps not. But the intention of this thread is to help with:
    This thread is positive and is going to be about getting the best advice as we form a guide for the best advice. The best advice as deemed by the community will become part of our future guide series which will be locked threads with the best advice posted so its easily accessible and quick to use for future players who come to our academy via our archive!

    Unless I completely misunderstood things.
  • RubAto
    70 posts Member
    To beginners, I would highly recommend investing in an empire team. The imperial guard is mistaken to be a trashy character, but he is quite the opposite, he is actually a fantastic tanky taunter. TIE Fighter Pilot is also a huge one that is a misjudged character... TIE Fighter Pilot currently has one of the chars with the highest speed, and is currently the highest in armor penetration (super important factor later in the game, but admittedly not so earlier in the game); in addition the TFP is also going to be needed for ship battles and has a fantastic chance at applying target lock.

    While I agree that empire team is a must, I don't agree it should be your first team. For empire team to be truly effective, you need emperor Palpatine and you can only get him with rebels. I'm not a big fan of rebels in this game, but they were first full synergy squad for me so I can get emperor. Tie fighter pilot and royal guard however are worth farming as soon as you can.

    Jedis can be a bit underwhelming, but they are good in gw. With zetas introduced, they are sometimes arena viable also. However they are usually rather quickly farmed and geared so you'll have another synergy team rather fast. And who wouldn't want Yoda?

    Scoundrels, as said earlier many times, are imperative. My recommendations are Lando from Cantina, st Han from arena and Boba from cantina store. If I'd start alt now, these three would be my first farms to go all the way to the end. You get Chewie in the beginning, you might want to farm him to 5* so he can participate in critical chance mod challenge and highest tier of heists. Def not the best scoundrel, but you have him from day one.

    Now I would go in this order (wasn't available when I started). JC and rg from hard nodes. Lando from cantina and Boba from cantina shop (I farmed Qui-Gon Jinn first, but it was before Boba rework.), Luminara from gw. St Han from arena shop. These I would star up all the way to 7*, other characters you get in the beginning, gear them to about g7-8, but no necessarily need to 7 star them. When you have these, do full rebel squad, even if you're not fan of them. You'll need them anyway.
  • Vampire_X
    1435 posts Moderator
    edited April 2017
    We are going to be all about the positives,

    So lets see if we can get some agreement,

    Focus Areas:
    1)Scoundrels: Lando, Boba, StHan,Chewie, IG88
    2)Rebels (Emperor event, High Flexibility)
    3)Utlity: Jedi Con / Lumi / Royal Guard (RG)

    Some of the concepts really revolve around early toons and synergy, and with the new toon cadence its possible to leap frog some old favorites , so its important to know your goals.

    We can never defend the "Fan Favorite!" But also that's personal so your going to do that anyway and these guides are not about lore (yet!) but trying to help people move up quicker than on their own! Game guides are always a function of power leveling, and avoiding pitfalls and if you want to go on your own! Then that journey will be amazing for you - but for the rest of you , I hope you will enjoy traveling this path with the rest of us!

    Please chime in with your thoughts on those focus areas and we will be locking this later today as we will have the new topic!!!
    Post edited by Vampire_X on
    Wicked Sith Queen with the Pink Saber
  • Vampire_X wrote: »
    We are going to be all about the positives,

    So lets see if we can get some agreement,

    Focus Areas:
    1)Scoundrels: Lando, Boba, StHan,Chewie, IG88
    2)Rebels and Empire (Emperor and R2D2 Events needed)
    3)Utlity: Jedi Coun / Lumi / Rex

    Some of the concepts really revolve around early toons and synergy, and with the new toon cadence its possible to leap frog some old favorites , so its important to know your goals.

    We can never defend the "Fan Favorite!" But also that's personal so your going to do that anyway and these guides are not about lore (yet!) but trying to help people move up quicker than on their own! Game guides are always a function of power leveling, and avoiding pitfalls and if you want to go on your own! Then that journey will be amazing for you - but for the rest of you , I hope you will enjoy traveling this path with the rest of us!

    Please chime in with your thoughts on those focus areas and we will be locking this later today as we will have the new topic!!!

    +1

    Good idea in general. Experience and knowledge really come in handy for newer players. Speeds up their growth.
  • Waez
    286 posts Member
    Vampire_X wrote: »
    3)Utlity: Jedi Coun

    He's actually a Consular, not a Counselor like many seem to believe.
    We even have a bot on Reddit that automatically corrects this!
  • Acrofales
    1363 posts Member
    I doubt you can get 5 (useful) empire as a lowbie. So unless the Empire pass makes the troopers useful, I would not recommend people farm Empire. Moreover, who knows when the R2 event will be back, so Empire seems like a bad focus. Although it is a reason to farm TFP over GS as a second toon from Cantina battles.
  • Vampire_X
    1435 posts Moderator
    So remove out Empire as a 2nd focus? (Trooper change obviously dependent) and make it more of a stretch goal seem fair? (As your progressing Vader, Emp as long term viable?)
    Wicked Sith Queen with the Pink Saber
  • Vampire_X wrote: »
    So remove out Empire as a 2nd focus? (Trooper change obviously dependent) and make it more of a stretch goal seem fair? (As your progressing Vader, Emp as long term viable?)

    I would say yea remove them. Rebels scoundrels first. And need rebels for palp for empire.

  • Vampire_X
    1435 posts Moderator
    Updated* Empire Removed
    Wicked Sith Queen with the Pink Saber
  • Spyda
    318 posts Member
    I'd recommend adding Royal Guard to the Utility category and possibly removing Rex.

    I don't think any new players should be focusing on Rex. Currently he's only available from Guild and Fleet shipments, and that generally puts him well out of their reach.

    As for Royal Guard, It could be argued that he is one of the better/best tanks in the game and new players can start farming his shards as early as 'Light Side Battles: 1-D Hard'. Because of how long it takes to farm a character from Hard nodes, I'd recommend that any new player who wants to capitalize on a solid tank to start as early as they can
This discussion has been closed.