Actually @JeighKaeNeither, I'm not a kid. Calling someone kiddo is taken as namecalling, as is Mr know it all. Saying grow a backbone I assume by that you are attacking character. I'm not an authority, but I am in fact the OP, and it doesn't seem like you're speaking with a friend-to-friend intention. If you'd like we could ask @bentwookie as I certainly dont know all and may very well be off my rocker.
He absorbs 10 percent of damage to other allies. Not enough to make a big difference, but you do have to make a choice to kill him or not. And unique that you have a tank that protects against aoe damage.
I agree on comments that he just doesn't pose enough threat to kill him first. He will get his special off because his Hp is so high. By the time he can again the match is over.
I think there are many good options here; I think the bottom line is that OB needs a tweak. Although I must say that I think his leader ability is looking pretty good for level 80 with Evasion and Turn Meter.
His leader ability is decent right now...that's the only place I play him. I actually screwed up and played in on my last game of Arena today; in an attempt to take down a top ten Poggle crew... I lost, so now I'm stuck with him in my Arena squad...so I'll probably go from 12th to 200 because of it...oh, he was only six star...I'm screwed... I've already spent a half grand on this silly game, so I've sworn off p4p...so I can't allow myself to get a measly 200 crystals to get out of that trap I set for myself...
Oh really, I'm not bold enough to play him as leader quite yet. QGJ is just far too good for Jedi teams. Plus as you mentioned, he's so bad on defense. When I was using him I went from #3 to 46 over night, it was so bad.
I do think his leader ability is really good for Jedi in the upcoming meta if it works out how it sounds with toons providing TM having a huge value. Him and Yoda both, can rotate them depending upon the match-up.
A taunt with strike me down would be too much. If you've ever had his death buff proc you will know it's pretty much a win button
No it isn't. Not in the slightest.
Evasion up, critical chance up, defense up, speed up, offense up, +15% health, defense penetration up, and critical damage up applied to the entire team for 2 turns (will be 3 eventually). Best buff in the game.
A taunt with strike me down would be too much. If you've ever had his death buff proc you will know it's pretty much a win button
No it isn't. Not in the slightest.
Evasion up, critical chance up, defense up, speed up, offense up, +15% health, defense penetration up, and critical damage up applied to the entire team for 2 turns (will be 3 eventually). Best buff in the game.
Ventress can debuff them all at once.
Yoda can steal them all and replicate.
Defense up is irrelevant.
Defense penetration is also irrelevant.
Health up is only a minimal impact.
Defense up and penetration is likely to be much more effective soon. But you are right. The main benefits are currently the offensive and critical buffs with speed and evasion. Not many ppl use ventress but it seems there is a counter for every strategy in this game!
Personally, I love Old Ben just the way he is. Yes, his death ability hardly ever fires, but it's a Hail Mary type ability.
Using Old Ben took me from struggling to maintain top 10 in arena to being top 3 consistently for the past two and a half weeks. (Just depends on timing.) Before him, I struggled with glass cannon teams as I use 4 Jedi and Sid, and just couldn't handle their damage output. Now there isn't a team I've ran into that I can't beat consistently.
Yes, he's awful on defense, but here's a little newsflash. Every. Single. Character. is bad on defense. Any well constructed team can beat *any* team. It does not matter. Sure, I bet a lot of other teams on my server beat me more easily than I beat them, but that doesn't matter when I finish the battle for first at 5:59:45.
Again, with the current arena, any decent team can beat any team consistently. A character being bad on defense does not matter. Play whomever you want on offense.
Personally, I love Old Ben just the way he is. Yes, his death ability hardly ever fires, but it's a Hail Mary type ability.
Using Old Ben took me from struggling to maintain top 10 in arena to being top 3 consistently for the past two and a half weeks. (Just depends on timing.) Before him, I struggled with glass cannon teams as I use 4 Jedi and Sid, and just couldn't handle their damage output. Now there isn't a team I've ran into that I can't beat consistently.
Yes, he's awful on defense, but here's a little newsflash. Every. Single. Character. is bad on defense. Any well constructed team can beat *any* team. It does not matter. Sure, I bet a lot of other teams on my server beat me more easily than I beat them, but that doesn't matter when I finish the battle for first at 5:59:45.
Again, with the current arena, any decent team can beat any team consistently. A character being bad on defense does not matter. Play whomever you want on offense.
What level do you use him at? I have been holding off upgrading him too much so he gets killed off quicker. Maybe he is more effective levelled up but I haven't tested it
What level do you use him at? I have been holding off upgrading him too much so he gets killed off quicker. Maybe he is more effective levelled up but I haven't tested it
I use him at 70. His IYSMD is awesome if he dies, but that's pretty rare. I use him for Mind Tricks.
Old Ben is viable as he is right now in Arena, I just got no.1 with him at 4* (max gear). I'd like to try his team evasion bonus (+15% evasion and +25% TM on evade), except the one battle I tried, no one evaded, I lost, I was upset, I changed my mind.
His Mind Tricks is a total game changer, and whatever the numbers say, I tell you it lands on about 80% of the opposing team. And yes it also (often) removes 50% TM, which typically lands at the end of turn 1, when all of the fast chars on the other side are almost full again, giving me really a second turn for free.
Against a fast team, I pick QGJ as lead to give him some kind of relevance because yes, he's slow. But when I survive the first round and land the mass offense-down + ability block + extra turn, I probably won the battle, regardless of how no great damage he does, or how his death bonus fireworks never go off.
I'd say Old Ben is just as viable in Arena as IG-88 is: when he scores, it's a hit. Only IG-88 fails by dying too quickly, Old Ben fails by dying too late.
One major drawback though: I think offense-up and offense-down are exclusive. So he's much less useful against a Poggle, or a QGJ that managed to buff everyone ahead of him. But probably good against those pesky Dooku-as-lead evasions (which I'm trying to confirm at the moment).
Also: I have him at gear level 9, which would be great except from the fact that it means more strength, more health and even more strength.
Old Ben is viable as he is right now in Arena, I just got no.1 with him at 4* (max gear). I'd like to try his team evasion bonus (+15% evasion and +25% TM on evade), except the one battle I tried, no one evaded, I lost, I was upset, I changed my mind.
His Mind Tricks is a total game changer, and whatever the numbers say, I tell you it lands on about 80% of the opposing team. And yes it also (often) removes 50% TM, which typically lands at the end of turn 1, when all of the fast chars on the other side are almost full again, giving me really a second turn for free.
Against a fast team, I pick QGJ as lead to give him some kind of relevance because yes, he's slow. But when I survive the first round and land the mass offense-down + ability block + extra turn, I probably won the battle, regardless of how no great damage he does, or how his death bonus fireworks never go off.
I'd say Old Ben is just as viable in Arena as IG-88 is: when he scores, it's a hit. Only IG-88 fails by dying too quickly, Old Ben fails by dying too late.
One major drawback though: I think offense-up and offense-down are exclusive. So he's much less useful against a Poggle, or a QGJ that managed to buff everyone ahead of him. But probably good against those pesky Dooku-as-lead evasions (which I'm trying to confirm at the moment).
Also: I have him at gear level 9, which would be great except from the fact that it means more strength, more health and even more strength.
Guess what's happening next?
"Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
If old Ben needs a buff, than like 75% of the roster is in need of a buff. Mind tricks might be best individual skill in the game. That's an exceptional move. Try running Old Ben in a tanky team with a Dooku leader. Old Ben just didn't fit well in the speed meta recently because other stuff except Ben could be killed first, leaving Ben on his own mostly. Even with Dooku leader right now, which extends battles, I'm seeing fights go 2, 3+ minutes now with multiple turns. I had a battle last night where Old Ben actually got off Mind Tricks a second time The meta has already started shifting away from the pure cannon speed teams. Ben's MT will likely become more relevant based on what we know with fortitude / defense going up because battles will get longer and pull him in. With offense down for two turns, ability block for one, and a strong meter yank on many, you should have a big advantage in most fights.
Old Ben is viable as he is right now in Arena, I just got no.1 with him at 4* (max gear). I'd like to try his team evasion bonus (+15% evasion and +25% TM on evade), except the one battle I tried, no one evaded, I lost, I was upset, I changed my mind.
His Mind Tricks is a total game changer, and whatever the numbers say, I tell you it lands on about 80% of the opposing team. And yes it also (often) removes 50% TM, which typically lands at the end of turn 1, when all of the fast chars on the other side are almost full again, giving me really a second turn for free.
Against a fast team, I pick QGJ as lead to give him some kind of relevance because yes, he's slow. But when I survive the first round and land the mass offense-down + ability block + extra turn, I probably won the battle, regardless of how no great damage he does, or how his death bonus fireworks never go off.
I'd say Old Ben is just as viable in Arena as IG-88 is: when he scores, it's a hit. Only IG-88 fails by dying too quickly, Old Ben fails by dying too late.
One major drawback though: I think offense-up and offense-down are exclusive. So he's much less useful against a Poggle, or a QGJ that managed to buff everyone ahead of him. But probably good against those pesky Dooku-as-lead evasions (which I'm trying to confirm at the moment).
Also: I have him at gear level 9, which would be great except from the fact that it means more strength, more health and even more strength.
Guess what's happening next?
I got four star Ben in a pack. Wish I could try him at one star low level ahaha. AOE, I dare you, I double dare you mutha*****!!
Also...let's keep things clean guys. No personal attacks, name calling, put-downs, etc. That won't be tolerated and will result in adverse actions against forum privileges. Thanks.
Actually everybody seems to be very impressed by his death ability and kind of want him dead as early as possible, but it's mostly all bells and whistles, it's a visual delight to see all of your (surviving) toons flash with so many greenies!
But keep in mind that only a couple of them are really useful (offense up, evasion), and it's still always better to have one more toon alive and kicking (even if not that hard) than a few buffs on the others.
Mind Tricks is the real thing. And perhaps the lead ability, which looks really good on paper.
Actually everybody seems to be very impressed by his death ability and kind of want him dead as early as possible, but it's mostly all bells and whistles, it's a visual delight to see all of your (surviving) toons flash with so many greenies!
But keep in mind that only a couple of them are really useful (offense up, evasion), and it's still always better to have one more toon alive and kicking (even if not that hard) than a few buffs on the others.
Mind Tricks is the real thing. And perhaps the lead ability, which looks really good on paper.
I use Anakin and with his buff with an ally death I thought OB would tie in nicely, but it doesn't work like that too often and definitely not often enough.
No kidding man, that's exactly what it's like in some matches. Not sure why they give a character that is meant to die an Evasion buff. Give him a team turn meter buff (not leader) so people want to KO him ASAP.
No kidding man, that's exactly what it's like in some matches. Not sure why they give a character that is meant to die an Evasion buff. Give him a team turn meter buff (not leader) so people want to KO him ASAP.
Hmm, isn't it kind of related to ' A New Hope'? Doesn't he say something about striking him down will make him stronger or something like that. He helps his friends by dieing!
No kidding man, that's exactly what it's like in some matches. Not sure why they give a character that is meant to die an Evasion buff. Give him a team turn meter buff (not leader) so people want to KO him ASAP.
Hmm, isn't it kind of related to ' A New Hope'? Doesn't he say something about striking him down will make him stronger or something like that. He helps his friends by dieing!
It would be awesome if they tied-in how he scared the Sand People into a 3rd ability, something that reduces a significant amount of turn meter. Get enough good abilities on him that force people to attack him.
@Darth_Jay77 Third ability would balance him out I think too, in place of his death ability though. Can't have it all no? The move probably shouldn't be a turn meter reducer since his mind tricks already do that. I like the idea of an aoe that immunity buffs the other team, another defensive move. Even better I still think a taunt would fit perfect there (minus the death ability), or if not a taunt, as a few have suggested a passive that progressively makes his offense stronger every time an ally is damaged which basically makes him into a tank without having to taunt. People need a good reason to kill him. I don't know what servers you guys are playing on where ben is useful? Are you on a noob server or something?
@Darth_Jay77 Third ability would balance him out I think too, in place of his death ability though. Can't have it all no? The move probably shouldn't be a turn meter reducer since his mind tricks already do that. I like the idea of an aoe that immunity buffs the other team, another defensive move. Even better I still think a taunt would fit perfect there (minus the death ability), or if not a taunt, as a few have suggested a passive that progressively makes his offense stronger every time an ally is damaged which basically makes him into a tank without having to taunt. People need a good reason to kill him. I don't know what servers you guys are playing on where ben is useful? Are you on a noob server or something?
I tried OB for a while and determined he's rarely useful right now. Once and a while I'll throw him in where I think his ability block and debuffs will help, but very rare. If he was closer to Anakin's or QGJ's speed he'd be better in this meta.
The main thing that will make me swap him for another character in my arena team is that offense down does not work when the enemy has poggle on their team, as it can not do anything against opponents with offence up.
By the time he gets his ability off I have already taken out one of their cannons minimum, his turn reduction can be amazing, but I want something more reliable.
At the moment in theory I think royal guard fills his role much better, but I still need to gear him up and try him out to be sure. If the opponent reliably one shots all my other characters, royal guard may not be as useful, but even then his basic attack has a great chance to stun, and the defense buffs in a future patch should make his defence up more....usable.
I realize Old Ben is not one of the best characters in the game, but he's certainly one of the coolest. He's not in my arena squad at the moment, but hoping to add him in the future. I mean guys, come on, he's Old Ben.
When did mind tricks stop being good? I missed this obviously. The death benefit is great, but mind tricks is still a game changer.
I was just focusing on IYSMD. Mind Tricks is of course still good, but not as good as it once was due to tenacity effects and so forth. Dooku can also be used to tie up Ben so he never gets that off.
I don't see Old Ben anywhere in the top 50 on my shard these days.
I use Old Ben in place of RG or Poe, he's great with QGJ lead when I want to counter certain lineups and he does a darn good job of it. I almost always use him to block ST Han from getting his tm meter manipulation going if he isn't under an ackbar lead. He also blocks out a lot of enemy potential too, he shouldn't be overlooked as is, I have him at 4* from an old chromium and he's fun to use.
Replies
+1
He absorbs 10 percent of damage to other allies. Not enough to make a big difference, but you do have to make a choice to kill him or not. And unique that you have a tank that protects against aoe damage.
I agree on comments that he just doesn't pose enough threat to kill him first. He will get his special off because his Hp is so high. By the time he can again the match is over.
Oh really, I'm not bold enough to play him as leader quite yet. QGJ is just far too good for Jedi teams. Plus as you mentioned, he's so bad on defense. When I was using him I went from #3 to 46 over night, it was so bad.
I do think his leader ability is really good for Jedi in the upcoming meta if it works out how it sounds with toons providing TM having a huge value. Him and Yoda both, can rotate them depending upon the match-up.
There are a few theory crafted arena teams involving him that I want to try, but need to wait a long time to do so
Evasion up, critical chance up, defense up, speed up, offense up, +15% health, defense penetration up, and critical damage up applied to the entire team for 2 turns (will be 3 eventually). Best buff in the game.
Ventress can debuff them all at once.
Yoda can steal them all and replicate.
Defense up is irrelevant.
Defense penetration is also irrelevant.
Health up is only a minimal impact.
Using Old Ben took me from struggling to maintain top 10 in arena to being top 3 consistently for the past two and a half weeks. (Just depends on timing.) Before him, I struggled with glass cannon teams as I use 4 Jedi and Sid, and just couldn't handle their damage output. Now there isn't a team I've ran into that I can't beat consistently.
Yes, he's awful on defense, but here's a little newsflash. Every. Single. Character. is bad on defense. Any well constructed team can beat *any* team. It does not matter. Sure, I bet a lot of other teams on my server beat me more easily than I beat them, but that doesn't matter when I finish the battle for first at 5:59:45.
Again, with the current arena, any decent team can beat any team consistently. A character being bad on defense does not matter. Play whomever you want on offense.
What level do you use him at? I have been holding off upgrading him too much so he gets killed off quicker. Maybe he is more effective levelled up but I haven't tested it
I use him at 70. His IYSMD is awesome if he dies, but that's pretty rare. I use him for Mind Tricks.
His Mind Tricks is a total game changer, and whatever the numbers say, I tell you it lands on about 80% of the opposing team. And yes it also (often) removes 50% TM, which typically lands at the end of turn 1, when all of the fast chars on the other side are almost full again, giving me really a second turn for free.
Against a fast team, I pick QGJ as lead to give him some kind of relevance because yes, he's slow. But when I survive the first round and land the mass offense-down + ability block + extra turn, I probably won the battle, regardless of how no great damage he does, or how his death bonus fireworks never go off.
I'd say Old Ben is just as viable in Arena as IG-88 is: when he scores, it's a hit. Only IG-88 fails by dying too quickly, Old Ben fails by dying too late.
One major drawback though: I think offense-up and offense-down are exclusive. So he's much less useful against a Poggle, or a QGJ that managed to buff everyone ahead of him. But probably good against those pesky Dooku-as-lead evasions (which I'm trying to confirm at the moment).
Also: I have him at gear level 9, which would be great except from the fact that it means more strength, more health and even more strength.
Guess what's happening next?
"Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
I got four star Ben in a pack. Wish I could try him at one star low level ahaha. AOE, I dare you, I double dare you mutha*****!!
But keep in mind that only a couple of them are really useful (offense up, evasion), and it's still always better to have one more toon alive and kicking (even if not that hard) than a few buffs on the others.
Mind Tricks is the real thing. And perhaps the lead ability, which looks really good on paper.
I use Anakin and with his buff with an ally death I thought OB would tie in nicely, but it doesn't work like that too often and definitely not often enough.
No kidding man, that's exactly what it's like in some matches. Not sure why they give a character that is meant to die an Evasion buff. Give him a team turn meter buff (not leader) so people want to KO him ASAP.
Hmm, isn't it kind of related to ' A New Hope'? Doesn't he say something about striking him down will make him stronger or something like that. He helps his friends by dieing!
It would be awesome if they tied-in how he scared the Sand People into a 3rd ability, something that reduces a significant amount of turn meter. Get enough good abilities on him that force people to attack him.
I tried OB for a while and determined he's rarely useful right now. Once and a while I'll throw him in where I think his ability block and debuffs will help, but very rare. If he was closer to Anakin's or QGJ's speed he'd be better in this meta.
By the time he gets his ability off I have already taken out one of their cannons minimum, his turn reduction can be amazing, but I want something more reliable.
At the moment in theory I think royal guard fills his role much better, but I still need to gear him up and try him out to be sure. If the opponent reliably one shots all my other characters, royal guard may not be as useful, but even then his basic attack has a great chance to stun, and the defense buffs in a future patch should make his defence up more....usable.
I use Old Ben in place of RG or Poe, he's great with QGJ lead when I want to counter certain lineups and he does a darn good job of it. I almost always use him to block ST Han from getting his tm meter manipulation going if he isn't under an ackbar lead. He also blocks out a lot of enemy potential too, he shouldn't be overlooked as is, I have him at 4* from an old chromium and he's fun to use.
*Top 5 finisher in a hard launch server