Best F2P / Ready-Made DS TB Team

JohnnySteelAlpha
2794 posts Member
edited November 2017
I had a lot of fun during these DS TBs facing that challenge - these enemies are no joke. Was fortunate enough to go 4/4 on all the regular character nodes I faced (was locked out of a day 3 node so missed that one totally). I tried various combos throughout, including zDM lead, DK lead (with and without zeta), EP, zDV, Thrawn, and Veers...and swapped a few toons across various teams to test what would work. I have a detailed log with screen shots for waves 3-6 and guidance in general in the link below. There you can see what I used that was effective for ideas.

https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/145986/dark-side-tb-findings-guidance-ab-strafe-impact/p1

This thread though I specifically wanted to reach out to those that are in a position of having precious resources or just not having worked with DS much and not sure where to turn. I think what you want to do first is just start with a base of at least one strong team that can get 4/4 throughout .. something to hang the hat on and start building success. My pick for the best F2P / ready-made squad that can take you from day 1 through day 6 confidently would be the following:

- Lead: zDV! TM Removal here is huge as is putting the rebels at speed down - the DoTs also help a lot on these high-health enemies as the battle drags on....and the ability to drop a massive culling blade on someone can't be emphasized enough
- TFP: Huge for the ability block (again, rebel specials are key to contain as noted in guidance link above) and buff block. Buff block is critical for the Hoth Rebel Officer that can gain foresight spam and the soldiers that can gain taunt. TFP also has huge damage and great speed, so he's a great unit to take TM with his constant attacks and do massive damage at the same time.
- EP: Oh boy is EP good here. His shock that prevents buffs and blocks TM is HUGE vs. HROfficer foresight spam, vs. the Rebel Soldier's Taunts, Hoth Rebel Commander TM gain on ally damage, AND vs. the Rebel Pilots 100% TM gain on ally death...and that's not all!!! His bonus shock damage on the basic can remove TM from ALL rebel enemies under a zDV leader!!! This can't be emphasized enough. Additionally, shocked enemies take a 2nd bonus damage. So that's 2x chances to remove TM from a shocked rebel on his basic attack that he isn't even directly attacking. If he attacks a rebel directly that's already shocked, that's 3x damages (the attack, the rebel bonus damage, and the bonus shock damage) and 3x chances to remove TM. He's absolutely punishing vs these Rebels. Further...we all know about the AOE stun...but his offense up really sets Vader up nice for a punishing CB. EP & DV...like peas and carrots....
- GMT: Another absolutely elite character here - crit chance and O down - can't be resisted by rebels. That's critical for pushing down enemy damage. Equally as devastating is his Ultimate Firepower special that removes 50% TM. Launch this early in battle 4/4, but try NOT to use it before that because Tarkin builds up damage for each use of his basic attack and it DOES roll over for each battle. So you can do very heavy AOE damage in 4/4 that removes protection and a lot of health with a nuked-up Tarkin. He does not need a zeta to be effective here.
- Darth Nihilus: This is the only borderline P2W / hard toon here, but I know a lot of F2P / low spend have this guy at 7* or very close since he's been so good for so long and have been working on him. A reasonable substitute would be DT or Boba (assuming not a BH required wave) as each of those 3 ability block or increase cool downs. DN is optimal though and elite tier in DS TB because his cooldown on annihilate rolls over each battle so you can start 4/4 with annihilate ready to go. Even more critically though is his ability to increase cool downs. Remember, the rebel specials are OP - you NEED all those debuffs to stick and not get cleansed away. DN locks all those debuffs in by preventing specials from being used.

To summarize, with this team you will be constantly taking TM and have the enemy covered in the following debuffs: shock, cc down, offense down, buff block, ability block, DoTs, speed down, and tenacity down. That's incredibly potent and is how you control the match. Key however is having those abilities to cleanse / heal all that away under control. This is done by ability blocking/stunning/increasing cool downs.

Elite-Tier F2P Toons Generally:
- DV
- Thrawn
- Boba
- EP
- Tarkin
- TFP
- Death Trooper (debatable if F2P, but given reaper and overall utility he's a high priority target)
- DN

Middle-Tier / Useful F2P Toons Generally:
- Darth Sidious
- Darth Maul (though not as a lead necessarily)
- Kylo Ren
- IG 88 (ability block - a key control tactic in these TB)
- Phasma - solid control skills with speed down and TM gain
- Sun Fac - usable general purpose tank
- B2 SBDroid - dispel and buff block are great skills here


Note: I'm excluding the following toons from consideration for this discussion due to availability or special circumstances like past usefulness of characters (for example, Troopers were bad for so long not many built them up or maybe even farmed them)
- SA / Sith Trooper (long-term farm and gear on late Cantina - technically F2P over the long-term, but not "ready-made" - obscure generic Sith with limited general utility or desirability
- Veers / Snow / Shore / Storm / Magma - again technically F2P - but some are hard to farm and they were terrible for so long no one put resources in to them (not including Shore)
- Nightsisters - 3 P2W expensive toons and were terrible for so long that few built them up
- FO - KRU is P2W and seems critical for FO as a lead in TB for later stages, FOST is a hard farm and needs a zeta, Kylo needs a zeta, FOTP is a fairly hard farm as well. Phasma needs a zeta. Huge zeta investment team with modest return. Definitely not ready-made.

If there are any questions please let me know, I'll try to get an answer from others if I don't know myself.

Replies

  • TVF
    36519 posts Member
    "- Veers / Snow / Shore / Storm / Magma - again technically F2P - but some are hard to farm and they were terrible for so long no one put resources in to them (not including Shore)"

    Isn't Shore the only one of these that is a hard farm?
    I need a new message here. https://discord.gg/AmStGTH
  • Great post man! I ran a very similar team but used Stormtrooper instead of Nihilus. The TM removal and ability block were key. Stormtrooper was just a shield for the first three waves. Definitely can't wait to get him geared and modded better
  • phatphil3 wrote: »
    Great post man! I ran a very similar team but used Stormtrooper instead of Nihilus. The TM removal and ability block were key. Stormtrooper was just a shield for the first three waves. Definitely can't wait to get him geared and modded better

    He's a very underrated tank in the game. I plan to take him up to G12 for sure. He's worth it here. He worked well for me even at G11.
  • I really like his kit, he, Veers and snow trooper are my projects right now to begin building an Imperial trooper team.
  • phatphil3 wrote: »
    I really like his kit, he, Veers and snow trooper are my projects right now to begin building an Imperial trooper team.

    Snowtrooper is a flat out monster in dstb. He is worth all the gear he requires. I modded mine to have 80% (100% when starck present) crit chance but was only able to get 186% natural crit damage. However, he can aoe constantly so the trade off is there for me. Definitely get him built.

  • Yeah that's the end goal, Starck is going to be a long farm for me. Only at 30 so far
  • I feel it's totally worth ftp or players with shallow ds rosters to go ahead and make an all-star squad to 4/4 a single combat mission.

    The 4th wave is a sizable jump in difficulty when compared to 1-3. As long as you can 3/4 the other nodes, it is more beneficial to 4/4 one of them while building up towards the 2nd 4/4. Try not to spread yourself too thin.

    I am all about progress over perfection. I learned a lot from these battles and I got progressively better as the event went on.
  • Sarcodino
    394 posts Member
    edited November 2017
    So good post! Think about add Dhaka/ventress outside nightsisters i got great succes with them (even at low gear)... They are easy to farm/gear dhaka can stun and revive to avoid losing bad geared toons all the time, she even gets full TM when someone die! And ventress can dispell like B2, and she also stuns and hits hardest when enemy dies xD

    Try something like Dhaka, ventress, RG, EP, kylo and u wont die easy! XD
    I tryed too Trawn, shore, ventres, dhaka RG with great succes (all G8-9 but trawn)
  • Sarcodino wrote: »
    So good post! Think about add Dhaka/ventress outside nightsisters i got great succes with them (even at low gear)... They are easy to farm/gear dhaka can stun and revive to avoid losing bad geared toons all the time, she even gets full TM when someone die! And ventress can dispell like B2, and she also stuns and hits hardest when enemy dies xD

    Try something like Dhaka, ventress, RG, EP, kylo and u wont die easy! XD
    I tryed too Trawn, shore, ventres, dhaka RG with great succes (all G8-9 but trawn)

    Daka is a good find as well - I suppose of the NS she should be included above as she was very good a long time ago so she probably is built decently well on many rosters. I like that res tactic Sarco! Good to see you around old-friend :)
  • Haha ye i came back few monts ago after a loooong break... So hard to become competitive anothe time but keep trying xD
  • I had a lot of fun during these DS TBs facing that challenge - these enemies are no joke. Was fortunate enough to go 4/4 on all the regular character nodes I faced (was locked out of a day 3 node so missed that one totally). I tried various combos throughout, including zDM lead, DK lead (with and without zeta), EP, zDV, Thrawn, and Veers...and swapped a few toons across various teams to test what would work. I have a detailed log with screen shots for waves 3-6 and guidance in general in the link below. There you can see what I used that was effective for ideas.

    https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/145986/dark-side-tb-findings-guidance-ab-strafe-impact/p1

    This thread though I specifically wanted to reach out to those that are in a position of having precious resources or just not having worked with DS much and not sure where to turn. I think what you want to do first is just start with a base of at least one strong team that can get 4/4 throughout .. something to hang the hat on and start building success. My pick for the best F2P / ready-made squad that can take you from day 1 through day 6 confidently would be the following:

    - Lead: zDV! TM Removal here is huge as is putting the rebels at speed down - the DoTs also help a lot on these high-health enemies as the battle drags on....and the ability to drop a massive culling blade on someone can't be emphasized enough
    - TFP: Huge for the ability block (again, rebel specials are key to contain as noted in guidance link above) and buff block. Buff block is critical for the Hoth Rebel Officer that can gain foresight spam and the soldiers that can gain taunt. TFP also has huge damage and great speed, so he's a great unit to take TM with his constant attacks and do massive damage at the same time.
    - EP: Oh boy is EP good here. His shock that prevents buffs and blocks TM is HUGE vs. HROfficer foresight spam, vs. the Rebel Soldier's Taunts, Hoth Rebel Commander TM gain on ally damage, AND vs. the Rebel Pilots 100% TM gain on ally death...and that's not all!!! His bonus shock damage on the basic can remove TM from ALL rebel enemies under a zDV leader!!! This can't be emphasized enough. Additionally, shocked enemies take a 2nd bonus damage. So that's 2x chances to remove TM from a shocked rebel on his basic attack that he isn't even directly attacking. If he attacks a rebel directly that's already shocked, that's 3x damages (the attack, the rebel bonus damage, and the bonus shock damage) and 3x chances to remove TM. He's absolutely punishing vs these Rebels. Further...we all know about the AOE stun...but his offense up really sets Vader up nice for a punishing CB. EP & DV...like peas and carrots....
    - GMT: Another absolutely elite character here - crit chance and O down - can't be resisted by rebels. That's critical for pushing down enemy damage. Equally as devastating is his Ultimate Firepower special that removes 50% TM. Launch this early in battle 4/4, but try NOT to use it before that because Tarkin builds up damage for each use of his basic attack and it DOES roll over for each battle. So you can do very heavy AOE damage in 4/4 that removes protection and a lot of health with a nuked-up Tarkin. He does not need a zeta to be effective here.
    - Darth Nihilus: This is the only borderline P2W / hard toon here, but I know a lot of F2P / low spend have this guy at 7* or very close since he's been so good for so long and have been working on him. A reasonable substitute would be DT or Boba (assuming not a BH required wave) as each of those 3 ability block or increase cool downs. DN is optimal though and elite tier in DS TB because his cooldown on annihilate rolls over each battle so you can start 4/4 with annihilate ready to go. Even more critically though is his ability to increase cool downs. Remember, the rebel specials are OP - you NEED all those debuffs to stick and not get cleansed away. DN locks all those debuffs in by preventing specials from being used.

    To summarize, with this team you will be constantly taking TM and have the enemy covered in the following debuffs: shock, cc down, offense down, buff block, ability block, DoTs, speed down, and tenacity down. That's incredibly potent and is how you control the match. Key however is having those abilities to cleanse / heal all that away under control. This is done by ability blocking/stunning/increasing cool downs.

    Elite-Tier F2P Toons Generally:
    - DV
    - Thrawn
    - Boba
    - EP
    - Tarkin
    - TFP
    - Death Trooper (debatable if F2P, but given reaper and overall utility he's a high priority target)
    - DN

    Middle-Tier / Useful F2P Toons Generally:
    - Darth Sidious
    - Darth Maul (though not as a lead necessarily)
    - Kylo Ren
    - IG 88 (ability block - a key control tactic in these TB)
    - Phasma - solid control skills with speed down and TM gain
    - Sun Fac - usable general purpose tank
    - B2 SBDroid - dispel and buff block are great skills here


    Note: I'm excluding the following toons from consideration for this discussion due to availability or special circumstances like past usefulness of characters (for example, Troopers were bad for so long not many built them up or maybe even farmed them)
    - SA / Sith Trooper (long-term farm and gear on late Cantina - technically F2P over the long-term, but not "ready-made" - obscure generic Sith with limited general utility or desirability
    - Veers / Snow / Shore / Storm / Magma - again technically F2P - but some are hard to farm and they were terrible for so long no one put resources in to them (not including Shore)
    - Nightsisters - 3 P2W expensive toons and were terrible for so long that few built them up
    - FO - KRU is P2W and seems critical for FO as a lead in TB for later stages, FOST is a hard farm and needs a zeta, Kylo needs a zeta, FOTP is a fairly hard farm as well. Phasma needs a zeta. Huge zeta investment team with modest return. Definitely not ready-made.

    If there are any questions please let me know, I'll try to get an answer from others if I don't know myself.

    What about those self-cleanses that every rebel has if your guild can not disable that special with platoons? Which is very likely to happen with the new NS/FO toon requirements. Not to mention that it seems to be way more than 60% chance. Of course this is a subjective observation, 'coz it was such annoying. :) But in this case only Zader's DoTs remain, and buff immunity/ability block debuffs won't help a little bit.
  • I would say SnowTrooper is a very good f2p toon. Basic Speed is slow, but with the 30%tm and 15% for team for a kill is good. Also the aoe each round is great.
    For me a must have toon.

    Zid is the best way to have Sid.It realy needs kills to stay alive. But very fast. 50% + 15%=65%/kill.
  • Spang wrote: »
    I had a lot of fun during these DS TBs facing that challenge - these enemies are no joke. Was fortunate enough to go 4/4 on all the regular character nodes I faced (was locked out of a day 3 node so missed that one totally). I tried various combos throughout, including zDM lead, DK lead (with and without zeta), EP, zDV, Thrawn, and Veers...and swapped a few toons across various teams to test what would work. I have a detailed log with screen shots for waves 3-6 and guidance in general in the link below. There you can see what I used that was effective for ideas.

    https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/145986/dark-side-tb-findings-guidance-ab-strafe-impact/p1

    This thread though I specifically wanted to reach out to those that are in a position of having precious resources or just not having worked with DS much and not sure where to turn. I think what you want to do first is just start with a base of at least one strong team that can get 4/4 throughout .. something to hang the hat on and start building success. My pick for the best F2P / ready-made squad that can take you from day 1 through day 6 confidently would be the following:

    - Lead: zDV! TM Removal here is huge as is putting the rebels at speed down - the DoTs also help a lot on these high-health enemies as the battle drags on....and the ability to drop a massive culling blade on someone can't be emphasized enough
    - TFP: Huge for the ability block (again, rebel specials are key to contain as noted in guidance link above) and buff block. Buff block is critical for the Hoth Rebel Officer that can gain foresight spam and the soldiers that can gain taunt. TFP also has huge damage and great speed, so he's a great unit to take TM with his constant attacks and do massive damage at the same time.
    - EP: Oh boy is EP good here. His shock that prevents buffs and blocks TM is HUGE vs. HROfficer foresight spam, vs. the Rebel Soldier's Taunts, Hoth Rebel Commander TM gain on ally damage, AND vs. the Rebel Pilots 100% TM gain on ally death...and that's not all!!! His bonus shock damage on the basic can remove TM from ALL rebel enemies under a zDV leader!!! This can't be emphasized enough. Additionally, shocked enemies take a 2nd bonus damage. So that's 2x chances to remove TM from a shocked rebel on his basic attack that he isn't even directly attacking. If he attacks a rebel directly that's already shocked, that's 3x damages (the attack, the rebel bonus damage, and the bonus shock damage) and 3x chances to remove TM. He's absolutely punishing vs these Rebels. Further...we all know about the AOE stun...but his offense up really sets Vader up nice for a punishing CB. EP & DV...like peas and carrots....
    - GMT: Another absolutely elite character here - crit chance and O down - can't be resisted by rebels. That's critical for pushing down enemy damage. Equally as devastating is his Ultimate Firepower special that removes 50% TM. Launch this early in battle 4/4, but try NOT to use it before that because Tarkin builds up damage for each use of his basic attack and it DOES roll over for each battle. So you can do very heavy AOE damage in 4/4 that removes protection and a lot of health with a nuked-up Tarkin. He does not need a zeta to be effective here.
    - Darth Nihilus: This is the only borderline P2W / hard toon here, but I know a lot of F2P / low spend have this guy at 7* or very close since he's been so good for so long and have been working on him. A reasonable substitute would be DT or Boba (assuming not a BH required wave) as each of those 3 ability block or increase cool downs. DN is optimal though and elite tier in DS TB because his cooldown on annihilate rolls over each battle so you can start 4/4 with annihilate ready to go. Even more critically though is his ability to increase cool downs. Remember, the rebel specials are OP - you NEED all those debuffs to stick and not get cleansed away. DN locks all those debuffs in by preventing specials from being used.

    To summarize, with this team you will be constantly taking TM and have the enemy covered in the following debuffs: shock, cc down, offense down, buff block, ability block, DoTs, speed down, and tenacity down. That's incredibly potent and is how you control the match. Key however is having those abilities to cleanse / heal all that away under control. This is done by ability blocking/stunning/increasing cool downs.

    Elite-Tier F2P Toons Generally:
    - DV
    - Thrawn
    - Boba
    - EP
    - Tarkin
    - TFP
    - Death Trooper (debatable if F2P, but given reaper and overall utility he's a high priority target)
    - DN

    Middle-Tier / Useful F2P Toons Generally:
    - Darth Sidious
    - Darth Maul (though not as a lead necessarily)
    - Kylo Ren
    - IG 88 (ability block - a key control tactic in these TB)
    - Phasma - solid control skills with speed down and TM gain
    - Sun Fac - usable general purpose tank
    - B2 SBDroid - dispel and buff block are great skills here


    Note: I'm excluding the following toons from consideration for this discussion due to availability or special circumstances like past usefulness of characters (for example, Troopers were bad for so long not many built them up or maybe even farmed them)
    - SA / Sith Trooper (long-term farm and gear on late Cantina - technically F2P over the long-term, but not "ready-made" - obscure generic Sith with limited general utility or desirability
    - Veers / Snow / Shore / Storm / Magma - again technically F2P - but some are hard to farm and they were terrible for so long no one put resources in to them (not including Shore)
    - Nightsisters - 3 P2W expensive toons and were terrible for so long that few built them up
    - FO - KRU is P2W and seems critical for FO as a lead in TB for later stages, FOST is a hard farm and needs a zeta, Kylo needs a zeta, FOTP is a fairly hard farm as well. Phasma needs a zeta. Huge zeta investment team with modest return. Definitely not ready-made.

    If there are any questions please let me know, I'll try to get an answer from others if I don't know myself.

    What about those self-cleanses that every rebel has if your guild can not disable that special with platoons? Which is very likely to happen with the new NS/FO toon requirements. Not to mention that it seems to be way more than 60% chance. Of course this is a subjective observation, 'coz it was such annoying. :) But in this case only Zader's DoTs remain, and buff immunity/ability block debuffs won't help a little bit.

    That can hurt on those nodes, but that's why I mentioned DN in the section above so he can increase AOE cooldowns - that way they still can use their specials. So it's a combination of ability block and / or increasing cooldowns. There were some nods, despite having annihilate up and ready to go, that I used DN's AOE CD+1 move instead just to set the early part of the match then came back with annihilate on his second turn.
  • I would say SnowTrooper is a very good f2p toon. Basic Speed is slow, but with the 30%tm and 15% for team for a kill is good. Also the aoe each round is great.
    For me a must have toon.

    Zid is the best way to have Sid.It realy needs kills to stay alive. But very fast. 50% + 15%=65%/kill.

    I think snow is elite tier here and I'd recommend all farming / building him for sure! I think it depends if you can him free play or not and "ready made." Most probably didn't have Snowtrooper built up well when TB started or much before it was announced anyway. I'll often see a lot of players define free toons as the following based on their commentary:

    1. Easily Farmable
    2. If not easily farmable, than farmable for a long time AND was good at some point (remember many said Old Ben was not F2P in the Thrawn / PS event because they started playing after he was good and had no reason to waste F2P resources on a bad character)
    3. Relevant to multiple areas of game content
    4. Is a generally desirable character in some way (popular, needed for an event, etc.)

    Essentially it needs to be of high value for a F2P to farm and gear the character. For most of this game Snowtrooper just wouldn't have deserved much attention.

    He's a monster though agree 100%.
  • That can hurt on those nodes, but that's why I mentioned DN in the section above so he can increase AOE cooldowns - that way they still can use their specials. So it's a combination of ability block and / or increasing cooldowns. There were some nods, despite having annihilate up and ready to go, that I used DN's AOE CD+1 move instead just to set the early part of the match then came back with annihilate on his second turn.

    Yeah, I think DN was my most valuable toon during DS TB. He helped a lot with his 2-3 annihilates per turn. But that's only one team out of four. I guess I have to farm DT after the vets to have another usable team. Then I have to wait until my guild gets enough of the new NS/FO toons for platoons. :)

    Two more questions about DT's Grenade special:
    1. How does it work? Removes buffs from all enemies, THEN applies +1 CD? Or removes buffs, and applies +1 CD on those enemies who weren't buffed before the removal?
    2. Is the Elite buff considered a "normal" buff? Can DT increase CD on elites as well, regardless of the non-removable Elite buff?
  • Spang wrote: »
    That can hurt on those nodes, but that's why I mentioned DN in the section above so he can increase AOE cooldowns - that way they still can use their specials. So it's a combination of ability block and / or increasing cooldowns. There were some nods, despite having annihilate up and ready to go, that I used DN's AOE CD+1 move instead just to set the early part of the match then came back with annihilate on his second turn.

    Yeah, I think DN was my most valuable toon during DS TB. He helped a lot with his 2-3 annihilates per turn. But that's only one team out of four. I guess I have to farm DT after the vets to have another usable team. Then I have to wait until my guild gets enough of the new NS/FO toons for platoons. :)

    Two more questions about DT's Grenade special:
    1. How does it work? Removes buffs from all enemies, THEN applies +1 CD? Or removes buffs, and applies +1 CD on those enemies who weren't buffed before the removal?
    2. Is the Elite buff considered a "normal" buff? Can DT increase CD on elites as well, regardless of the non-removable Elite buff?

    As long as DT throws the grenade when there are no buffs up it will +1 CDs - even if buffs result from the attack afterward.

    Second question - I'm actually not 100% positive on that, but I do not believe it is counted as a buff. I'll try to pay attention to that next time. @scuba may know???
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