There was a time, over a year ago now, when you could take your arena team into Galactic War and run it wire-to-wire without losing a character and complete your War every time. This was changed quite a while ago, but the mentality has stuck and even now you still see people trying to brute force their way with a single team. If that team is Resistance, then congratulations enjoy your nearly constant finishes and rewards, don't bother reading any further. If you're wondering why Resistance is so good, scroll on down to the bottom, that's in there.
But a lot of people have trouble, and it boils down to one common theme: Too much emphasis placed on your Arena team.
All the guides say to get a certain set of characters, invest heavily in them, max them out, and take 1st in Arena every day. That's fine, whatever, go ahead and do that. But if you do, don't go to General Discussion and then complain because you get wiped on node 9 and Galactic War is biased against you. Let's dispel a persistent myth first.
Galactic War opponents are not based on your arena rankings or the highest power you've recently defeated or anything of the sort. According
to this developer post the difficulty of your nodes is based on the combined power of the five highest-powered characters on your roster.
This post empirically determined power percentages in each node, and while
a developer stated that it isn't exact, it's broadly correct. What this means is that every time you give one of your five highest characters a piece of gear or add a star or upgrade their mods, you're making your Galactic War a tiny bit more difficult for yourself.
That's okay. You have several advantages that you can use to win against teams that grossly outclass you. I'll get into those in a minute, but for now the philosophical answer: The purpose of Galactic War is to reward you for roster depth. Because the top 5 characters are the ones that count towards GW difficulty, you can do anything you want to characters 6 through 600 and it won't increase the difficulty of your war, in fact it will do the opposite and give you even more advantages. If your top 5 get wildly unbalanced in relation to the rest of your roster, you will start to suffer. So tip number one is:
This doesn't mean every team has to be 7* gear 11. My Resistance Trooper and Pilot are still only gear 8 and I clear nearly every Galactic War. But the more teams you have, the more answers you have to problems you might face. If your team is crit-oriented, and most guides will gently usher you in that direction, you will have trouble with General Kenobi and zeta Barriss Offee teams, who punish you for critting against them. You can easily get around this by having Darth Nihilus lead some Sith with Offense mods, who won't crit, and will completely negate the Barriss/Kenobi synergy. Furthermore, the more teams you have the more you can...
- ABUSE TURN METER ADVANTAGE.
Your turn meter carries over between nodes. This is your biggest advantage. Even the slowest character will probably go first if they start a battle with 90% turn meter. The problem people face when they try to brute force one team from node 1 through node 12 is that eventually that team dies, and the team they bring in to replace it starts with 0 turn meter. Because most people start with their most powerful team, not only are they starting from scratch when it comes to turn meter, they're doing it with a team that is strictly weaker--less damage, slower, less health--and will get mutilated by the other team. The first five nodes are the easiest, you should try to use a new team each time. This way you have five teams that have turn meter advantage going into the second half of your War.
You can monkey with this further by using half-teams. For example, I have a team that's zeta Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, Emperor Palpatine, Captain Phasma, and Stormtrooper Han. The idea of that team is to blast everything with AoE damage and DoTs, use Phasma and Han to fill my turn meter, and just alpha strike before dying. Instead of using this on node 1, I use Admiral Ackbar as my leader and Lando, along with the three sith. Lando AoEs, Ackbar uses Tactical Genius, Lando AoEs twice. The three sith only use basic attacks. Because of how much weaker the characters on node 1 are, Lando's third AoE should finish everyone off and leave the sith with nearly full meters. Do this again in node 2, but remove the sith and replace them with Phasma and Han, and a fifth character of your choice (or keep one sith with a low meter and hope for a better result) and fill their bars. That way when you deploy the full team, they will all have high turn meter before they are murdered.
One of the biggest advantages in your favor is that you can retreat on your turn and start the battle over from the beginning. The RNG seed will remain the same for each character, meaning that if you make the same decisions every time, the same outcomes will occur--the same attacks will crit, or miss, and the AI will target the same characters. Once you understand the nuances of the RNG you can win an awful lot of battles that you shouldn't. Did your Rey miss with Leverage? Retreat, use a regular attack and it might hit, use Leverage next time. Did Biggs and Wedge call Aayla to assist, who then called Qui Gon Jin with her basic and all four attacks gibbed someone? Retreat, target someone else with a different attack, it might change how the AI reacts.
The most subtle nuance of the RNG is that you can change things by partly autobattling. If Rey misses with Leverage when you tap that attack, retreat, do everything the same, then quickly tap autobattle twice to turn it on and off. Rey will use Leverage, but the seed will have changed and you may hit this time. (A semi-explanation of why this works
can be found here.) The important thing to keep in mind is that the AI prioritizes certain attacks over others, and sometimes those attacks don't make sense. For example, Resistance Trooper's basic attack is the backbone of a Resistance team but the AI will always use his special instead. You can mitigate this by toggling on "Basic Attacks Only" in the autobattle options menu, but be sure to turn it off immediately after--I've forgotten in the past, then wondered why I was losing ship battles only to notice that they were only using basics still...
I've mentioned Resistance a couple times, and for good reason: Once you've upgraded Finn's leader ability to Zeta level, Galactic War is trivialized. With him as leader, any time an enemy takes damage from Expose, all your Resistance characters gain 35% turn meter and cooldowns are reduced by 1. He has a special that exposes (and stuns), Trooper's basic exposes reliably, Pilot's special exposes, and Poe's taunt will AoE expose. Trooper will also gain 55% turn meter any time someone becomes exposed, meaning Poe will taunt, Trooper goes, hits someone with expose, the rest of your team goes, Poe's taunt is off cooldown by his next turn and you can just repeat this loop. If you hit a spat of unlucky expose rolls, you can always retreat, retry, and abuse autobattle to try and get a different, better seed.
This team will regularly win against teams that grossly overpower it, but it isn't invincible. There are teams that counter it, which is why you should always, always, always have multiple teams and ensure they have a decent starting turn meter of their own. Characters that gain turn meter when something happens (Rex (leader) when an ally is crit, Thrawn and Yoda when resisting a debuff, Barriss and Royal Guard when you attack someone else, Anakin when you kill or take someone down to 50%, Darth Sidious when you kill someone), characters that taunt when it isn't their turn and prevent you from attacking exposed enemies (Royal Guard, Shoretrooper, Baze), characters that can throw up Tenacity Up (Chirrut, Rex), or enemies that can counterattack (too many to list) all have the potential to give you a hard time. Zeta Qui Gon Jin can be frustrating, as can Zeta Maul-led sith teams with Kylo Ren as the one non-sith. So there are definitely obstacles to overcome with this team, but they more than make up for it by plowing through the rest of the nodes.
Hopefully these make it easier for you. The big bullet points:
- Build the middle of your roster and use multiple teams.
- Abuse turn meter advantage.
- Abuse retreat and change up that RNG in your favor.
- When all else fails, zeta Finn (almost) never fails.
Ceterum censeo Patientia esse meliat.
Replies
I am ftp, level 67, with just one 7-star toon (Biggs) but maybe a dozen g7/8 toons, and until yesterday I'd been clearing GW easily. Suddenly I've hit the wall at node 12 two days in a row. I wish the game would account for recent success/failure in GW to mitigate the sense of helplessness that can arise when you realize your top 5 have outrun your next 10. My characters are here: https://swgoh.gg/u/rickystarwalker/collection/
Awesome guide but seriously... it needs to be fixed. There are teams that me and others get put against that the whole roster isn't going to be beat. And I get that it's not made to be beaten every day but when you get hit with impossible/excessive teams daily for weeks to months straight. That's ****. And if you're in a guild that has good players it's hard to keep them motivated to continue playing the game. We're not stupid, we see where this game is heading. TB is probably going to be the final nail in the coffin. There are quite a few things of this game that need fixing. The horrible drop rates that came with the 3-5 times change. I've gone days without getting 1 shard from people I got way more before. Mod thing looks to be fixed.
But the galactic wars really needs to be fixed. The pages of pages of posts don't lie and no matter what tactics from whatever people (not calling anyone out), is going to stop the posts from coming. Your useful and insightful advice isn't going to help. It needs to be fixed. Because my 2 zeta team has no business fighting a all maxed out (level, mod, star and gear) CLS, GK, Chaze and thrawn.
It may have been that way in the past, that was certainly a persistent theory anyway. But now it's dev-confirmed to be based off your top 5, whether you use them in Arena or not.
ALTHOUGH, one caveat that I caveforgot: Your top 5 now is affected by ability level. Give a character a Zeta and they jump to the top of your list. This is a new development. Your GW "top 5" still uses the pre-zeta power ratings, so who you see and who it's based on MAY not sych up until they change that.
Yup. It's kitten right now. My whole roster can't scratch node 6 most sets.
I am no where near unlocking the challenge speed mods because I need an insane team to get there. I am still trying to upgrade my Jedi, unlock my Jawas, and struggling to collect enough raid items to get a GS 9 toon. Plus level my Imperial side so they are meaningful. I gave up on marquee events and that rat race even though I really need the gear and credits.
Point being, you have to level a single team to compete in Arena to even unlock half the good characters with arena crystals, if you are not leveling that team you find yourself in the 5k zone pretty fast with poor rewards. And by so doing also screw your GW up.
My 12 node for the last week has been all 7 star 85 Palp Lead, Vader, Dokoo, Nihilus, Kylo. All are 5 star mixed mods maxed out 65k - 70k power. My highest mixed bag team is 46k power 6-7 star GS 8 mods range from 6-9 all 5 star mixed bag.
Today that was my node 6. Brick Wall. We'll see what tomorrow brings. If I can't get credits from GW to level my 40 and 50 toons, life is going to suck for months and raids are going to be stunted. And moving into level 80 without being able to level to compete or finish 8 and 9 rebel/Imp storyline or Cantina battles.
The common complaint I am reading is once Vader is opened or 5 starred GW takes a turn for player abuse with Zeta teams and synergy teams with ridonkulous speed and AI buff. Retreat is an awesome tool, but after being Palp Stun Locked and Dokoo getting 6 attacks in a row, thank you Palp lead, it is Kessel Run in a garbage scow.
but I seem to get by with 2 teams at most so I'll just stick with that ... Go Sith !
Great effort though.
There is some solid advice there and resistance is just the current team to do it, but for a while there have always been GW teams. It used to be Ewoks, and there was RG, with queen daka. This current resistance trend will get pushed out at some point.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
Your teams speed and turn meter effect every battle you play, especially in GW because of how it is setup: If your team has no turn meter because they sat in your roster while you tried to bullrush your way through from node 1 to 11 with 1 team, and start node 12 with a fresh set of toons, you're gunna get smoked.
To simplify: 2 teams go head to head - your team and the AI in GW: the team with the higher speed will go 1st. You negate this (to some degree or another) rotate in all toons you MIGHT need in GW in the 1st 5 nodes, and put your reserve toons back on the bench until you need them.
Dispel the taunt on sith trooper. Get buff immunity on sith trooper or even better use b2 to dispel and get buff immunity on everyone. Stun or daze count dooku to prevent his counter. Use healing immunity to prevent their healing.
Phoenix is very bad against that squad for 2 reasons
1. Your feeding Vader tons of speed using Jedi/Rebels up to 56 speed depending on which 5 you use.
2. Phoenix just doesnt do enough damage to overpower the healing of a Darth Nihilus led Sith team
Basically it's time for you to branch out from Phoenix. One squad isn't going to be enough to clear galactic war and your going to have to look for counters to certain mechanics to beat squads.
As always (until level 85) node 12 is a step stronger than you. Usually node 12 is poorly synergised mix the developers cant code galactic war to pick a synergised team.
Also you have a team that hard counters you (dooku health steal and counter attack, vader getting 56 speed from phoenix).
Phoenix isnt always the answer and level 71 is a hard time to have multiple squads. Personally im not sure what options i had at 71.
Not sure what to say other than hard luck and i guess its time to start working kn another squad.
If they have anything remotely synergistic (or have good healers, usually Luminara in my case) my Phoenix is toast and I have to bring the bench out which is a mix and match of what I was using before Phoenix but well geared and levelled. I have nearly all the components for a good Empire squad and the beginnings of a Sith squad.
I'm already seeing the holes in Phoenix's game, especially when Zebs stuns whiff.
Sadly more often than not that isn't enough either and I have to reset without total victory. My take is sometimes GW is set up so you just won't win.
You're not. Sometimes, especially in the next few levels, you're going to face battles you can't win. It happens. Keep getting stronger and that will happen less. Eventually you will move on from Phoenix, and then you will have 2 (or more) teams that can clear GW regardless of what shows up. That's the position I find myself in now - usually the last 4 nodes are so are all 85s. I don't even use Phoenix in GW now, but I know that if I find a team that is really strong against my primary squad, I can always break out the Phoenix crew as clean-up or even to soften the enemy.
If you’re struggling with galactic wars, it could mean your team is low on synergy or you need better mods. It could also mean your team has a weakness against a certain faction that you didn’t realize. If you keep learning and keep trying, you’ll eventually get to the point where you can handle anything. And that’s the point.
zAsajj led NS w/ a paper zombie.
Phoenix if u drop the bot. Sabine and Ezra give u more than enuf damage output and their zetas, although unnecessary, r phenomenal.
Also, pre-loading tm is huge. Tossing in a trash team to burn your opponents specials can also b quite helpful.
The biggest things to retain from this guide are:
It may be worth--strategically--keeping your top five characters a little on the weaker side to keep your Galactic War easy/manageable. When leveling you have three teams that you should be investing resources in: light side (Phoenix), dark side (Empire/First Order), and scoundrels; alternating levels, gear, ability levels, etc. between these three teams (prioritizing whoever is your arena team) may be a good idea. It gives you enough roster breadth that if you have to lose a couple characters in order to win a match it isn't a big deal, and that, in the event you run into a hard-counter for your primary GW team, you have invested-in back up characters capable of (hopefully) finishing the War.
Don't be afraid to use the mechanics available to you: retreat, retry, and play with the RNG; use the easiest fights to load turn-meter for your secondary teams if you have been having trouble.
Furthermore, ideal Galactic War teams are those that consistently punch above their weightclass; Phoenix, Resistance, Night Sisters, etc, etc, etc. There are hard-counters for all of these teams (if, like most people, you went Phoenix when leveling then Empire and Sith are those hard-counters), so it's always worth having a Plan B.
5,000 power isn't really a lot, especially when you take into account that people regularly--I certainly do--take on teams with 10,000, 20,000, even 30,000 power on their team. The level difference is largely irrelevant, if intimidating--though this particular one might be a little unfair considering the enemy squad would have access to omega abilities and you do not--so simply don't let yourself be intimidated. Your problem here is that you have run into a hard-counter for your Phoenix team. In the future, since it's been a couple days since you've posted this, bring in your B-Team in--if they have buff immunity or a cleanse, all the better--and nuke down their leader, their squishiest characters, or biggest damage dealers.
It doesn't really help matters that your Phoenix team isn't operating to its full efficiency just yet. Phoenix gets a lot of its survivability from Zeb's unique--and once you get that going Phoenix can shrug off just about anything--and in the mid 50's there just isn't enough protection from gear and mods for it to really shine.
You're doing well in that you have/are building a solid back up team--keep investing in Phoenix until they're good enough to get you Thrawn; then you can put them down for awhile until you need to invest further for Territory Battles--so you should resolve most of your issues with Galactic War fairly soon.
Anyways, I've been able to sim my Galactic War since 3 days into level 85; possible because I've never failed to complete it--though Lord knows there were teams that gave me issues; a couple of times it took me two hours and 20+ tries to take down the other team, perseverance is key--and I largely used my G8/9 Phoenix on auto to do so. If they had problems--or I spaced out and didn't realize one had died--I had plenty of other characters (First Order, Empire, scoundrels) to take their place and finish things if need be.
Dude why are you bumping threads from half a year ago?
He's not. This thread was reactivated days ago by someone else.
For all of this effort you put into this, I salute to you. I am not a top player but I still find other strategies that really help me out. Even though it make take a while to outsmart the AI, it still comes in handy, especially for F2P players like me who can't get the best characters instantly and the best teams for the GWT.
She’s not the thread necromancer here.