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  Intimmydation

  680 posts Member

  July 26, 2021 8:07AM

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  How Squad Arena shards work
  - There are 20,000 players per SA shard (1000 for fleet shards)
  - You get placed into the shard when you hit level 27
  - Could get lucky and be one of the first players in it (then you start higher), or unlucky and be one of the last
  - HDB players will naturally filter to the top just because they are already level 85, even if they don't know what they are doing
  - The lower the ranking, the more positions you can jump at a time. As you climb, the # of spots you can increase / decrease per battle descreases
  
  
  So in general that's how they work, but why do you feel you are getting outclassed? Could be a factor of a few things
  
  First, Phoenix is not a great squad arena team, they just don't do enough damage quickly (other than Ezra) to defeat other teams. BUT, this is not why we recommend and build Phoenix. We build them so we can get Palp & Thrawn, and they are actually useful in GW because of their regen sharing abilities.
  
  You can beat mirror matches of PS teams, but at some point even those are too difficult just because of the 5 minute time limit, again, not enough damage quickly. Don't fret, you just want to try to maintain your range until you can switch over to another team.
  
  Switching to Geos is an option, in fact I did just that over the weekend with Nute lead + Geo trio + Boba Fett (since I don't have Poggle yet). They can do more damage but are weaker defensively b/c they don't sustain as well.
  
  For both teams (and all really), there are always going to be certain opponent comps you try to target, and others you avoid just because they counter or don't counter each other.
  
  MODS. This is also very important and could be a reason for a struggle. Mods are HUGELY important in the game and a never ending grind. Speed is king, so you want to try to get speed secondaries on all your mods, with good primaries and matching sets as well. Early on, getting a couple good "Speed" sets is a good idea, then you need some 2 mod sets (like Health, Crit Chance, Potency) to fill in with the 4-mod sets.
  
  Overall don't fret, Squad Arena shouldn't be a focus before level 85 as you will always be behind, but once you are at 85 and start to unlock some of the better teams, plus get them to g12+ and put zetas, you will be able to climb up easily.

  Intimmydation swgoh.gg | IntimmyD2 (alt) swgoh.gg | New Player Farming Path | Discord: Intimmydation#8603

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  Damodamo

  1589 posts Member

  July 26, 2021 8:50AM

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  Your just encountering everyone who is pushing their own rosters. Your not paired based on your level, but as a group. Day one a shard opens, 20k people (I believe) can then open accounts and join it till it’s filled, then a new one opens. So your all progressing and improving your roster.

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  Waqui

  8802 posts Member

  July 26, 2021 9:03AM

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  Your squad arena shard consists of 20.000 players that unlocked the game mode at about the same time as you. Once your shard is full it never changes. You're stuck with that shard. From there on it's just a question of building strong team(s) faster than your opponents and being active at the right time. If your opponents teams outclass you they simply built a stronger team faster than you. Yes, you can still climb to top ranks in the future but you need to be patient, active, consistent and have a good farming strategy.
  
  Regarding your Phoenix:
  Keep your arena team at max level. Don't underestimate the importance of mods.

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  Gamera

  14 posts Member

  July 26, 2021 2:03PM

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  Thanks, folks, I appreciate the encouragement. I guess I'm just champing at the bit cuz I've unlocked a bunch of good toons recently (Nute, Bastila, Thrawn) and I'm dying to power them up but I'm waiting till I've got Palp + Thrawn at 7* so I can bench PS. But I'm encouraged that there's light at the end of the tunnel: I made lvl 75 yesterday so 85 is not impossibly far away. Really looking forward to simming GW

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  Gamera

  14 posts Member

  July 26, 2021 2:12PM

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  Also, thankfully I have unlocked tier 3 of all mod challenges so I have a decent collection of 5 dot mods. Slowly upgrading them as credits allow.

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  Gamera

  14 posts Member

  July 28, 2021 11:33PM edited July 2021

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  Waqui wrote: »

  Regarding your Phoenix:
  Keep your arena team at max level. Don't underestimate the importance of mods.

  Doing my best to raise my arena team to max level but the credits . That's why I'm also building my scoundrels so I can be prepared for the higher tiers in credit heist (while keeping them below my top 5 so it doesn't make GW even worse). And of course you are correct about the importance of mods but MODS ARE SO BORING. My least favorite aspect of the game. But I slog away at them like a good little monkey because they're so critical to success in the game. But... ugh

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