In The Empire Strikes Back, a young Luke Skywalker is famously chastised by Yoda for always looking to the future and hardly ever having his mind focused on the present. Yoda roll over, but, in SWGoH, the wisest course of action you can take is to strike a balance between the two. In this post, I'll discuss how to negotiate between approaches to gameplay, and I'd like to do so because I recently realized that there are a number of members in the same Lvl 70ish bracket as my alt, Qel Whatevs. So, I'll share my approach to not only constructing a viable pre-lvl 85 Arena Squad, but also how to develop other squads you might choose to need for a variety of purposes in the future. It's never really too early to unlock, level, star, gear, and mod these characters.
I. Arena Squad
The first thing you should consider about constructing an Arena Squad is that you'll use it on both Offense and Defense. With the former, you play the battles. With the latter, other players challenge you and the AI takes over. Ideally, you'd like to find a middle ground between Offensive and Defensive capabilities, gathering characters who not only work well together on Offense, but who won't also get decimated and drop 200 rank positions overnight because the AI plays them horribly.
With this in mind, the first step is to pick your Leader. Many characters have Leader Abilities that grant bonuses to the entire squad. Sometimes, these bonuses are faction specific. So, if you'd like to run Darth Vader in the Leader position, it's wise to ask yourself what benefits he gives to the squad as a whole. If he's leading a squad of LS Rebels and Jedi, for instance, his Leader Ability does absolutely nothing.
At this point in the game, you may want to use a character who has a neutral Leader Ability, by which I mean they grant bonuses and benefits to everyone, no matter their faction or alignment. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Old Ben) grants all allies 15% Evasion and 30% Turn Meter whenever they Evade an attack, for instance. On the other hand, Count Dooku grants all allies 15% Evasion and Offense Up for 1 turn whenever they Evade an attack. Look for these kinds of leaders.
As far as leaders go, in fact, there are some old, fairly easy to obtain, and very useful characters you may want to consider. Here are my top three:
1. Luminara: She's the Swiss Army Knife of characters and great to use as a lead, especially if you have other Jedi in your squad.
2. Wedge: Use him as a lead when paired with Biggs (commonly called Wiggs) and you'll get a dynamic 1-2-3 punch whenever Biggs calls for an Assist and there's another Rebel in your squad.
3. Admiral Ackbar: He's downright extra as the leader of a Rebel Squad. In general, he cleanses debuffs, which is very handy.
Now you'll need to pick the rest of your squad. If you haven't already begun to see a pattern emerging, let me clarify. In most cases, Leader abilities are mostly faction specific and work most potently that way. For Wedge to really be effective as a leader, for example, you'll need at least two other Rebels in your squad, which includes Biggs. On the DS of things, Darth Nihilus' Leader Ability helps Sith allies only, which means he's most useful in a squad comprised entirely of Sith.
Which is as much to say that the Leader Ability is potentially synergistic, granting bonuses and benefits to specific kinds of allies. Take advantage of this potential and build your Arena Squad around it. And, again, remember Offense and Defense! When building your squad, try not to group 5 attackers together, for example. On Offense they might be great, but, Defensively, not so much.
And this leads me to the second part of this post:
II. Building Faction Squads
In the beginning of the game, we're introduced to different aspects of it with tutorials. I recall being told that, for Cantina Battles, there are no rules! You can mix and match whatever characters you'd like, in other words. And that's true. But, this kind of "Cantina mindset" can harm a player more than help them in the long run. This is because down the line, later in the game, Faction specific squads are necessary for different purposes. Sometimes, it's to earn Mods at the Mod Challenges table. At other times, though, it's to earn a character who isn't available anywhere in the game except for special events, such as the R2-D2 event currently running. This is one of the reasons why I highly suggest that, if you're under level 85, focus your efforts on Faction squads. Let's outline the Big 3.
1. Rebel (Phoenix)
My alt has been developing a Phoenix squad since day one. They're easy to farm for the beginning player and they work great in the Squad Arena together. My advice is to farm them all, but run the following group: Hera (Leader), Kanan, Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper. Now, I advise this for a number of reasons, but mainly because this squad works great in the Arena and great in Galactic War.
Most importantly, though, this single squad will help you obtain two powerful characters. The Artist of War Event requires a Phoenix squad to obtain Grand Admiral Thrawn, the final tier of which is nearly impossible to beat without using the lineup that I outline above. You'll also need a geared up Rebel squad in the Emperor's Demise Event to obtain Emperor Palpatine. Both these characters carry Empire faction tags, and you'll want them both for your Empire squad.
2. Empire
You'll use your Empire squad for a lot. They aren't a one a trick pony. As we've seen, though, the key to building a great Empire squad is to first build a great Rebel squad. Phoenix characters work excellently together for this purpose. If you include Thrawn and Palpatine (who works great as an Empire Leader, by the way) in your Empire squad, you'll then have three squad positions left to fill. The obvious first choice is Darth Vader. And, I agree. That leaves two positions left to fill. Now the obvious next choice is GM Tarkin. And, I disagree.
While Tarkin is not only great in many aspects of the game, but also necessary in some circumstances, you'll eventually use your Empire squad to obtain R2-D2 in the Daring Droid Event. In the final 7* Tier, your Rebel opponents are immune to Turn Meter reduction effects, which is Tarkin's specialty. Basically, Tarkin's just an ineffectively squishy target on the final tier. I speak from experience! So, I suggest you focus on other useful Empire characters who are relatively easy to obtain, such as Tie Fighter Pilot. You will also do well to include a Tank, such as either Stormtrooper, or Royal Guard to fill out the final two squad positions. It's good to know these details in advance!
3. Rebel (A New Hope)
This squad is basically used for one purpose only, which is to obtain Commander Luke Skywalker. He's easily one of the most powerful characters in the game, if not the most. And yes, you guessed it, to obtain CLS, you'll need an entire 7* squad of Rebels, which includes R2-D2. The other required characters include: Princess Leia, Stormtrooper Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Old Ben), and Luke Skywalker (Farmboy). At this point, you'll have two great squads, one LS and one DS. You'll want to level, star, gear, and mod this Rebel squad as quickly and efficiently as you can. The Hero's Journey: Luke Skywalker Event is very rare.
I hope you see the pattern. You need a squad to obtain individual characters who, in turn, help form another squad to obtain a character who, in turn, helps form another squad to obtain a character. Whew! That's a lot of squad development! What's more, this is only the Big 3. There's also First Order and Resistance to consider. For example, you need a full 7* FO squad to obtain BB-8 who, in turn, helps comprise a full 7* Resistance squad to obtain the new Rey (Jedi Training).
Which is as much to say that, if you don't care about obtaining R2 and CLS, both of whom are used regularly in the top tier Squad Arena teams, then you only need to focus your efforts on developing a First Order squad and most of a Resistance squad. Once you have BB-8, you can plug him into your Resistance squad and go earn Rey (Jedi Training). That means, though, that you'll miss out on not only R2 and CLS, but also Thrawn and Palpatine. Or, at least, it will take you much longer to obtain these characters. And they are four very powerful characters. At the end of the day, though, the choice is yours. Your future is your own to map. I hope some of this has helped you do so. And, as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
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