1/6/18 BUMP @leef @tRRRey thanks for reminders - holidays got busy and didn't have time as much.
Last full update was 11/11 and....lots has changed in just these few months. RJT has really taken the game by storm. Similar to the new trilogy and CLS passing the baton to a new generation, RJT is now running full speed as the dominant arena build in GoH. NRAJ mentioned she was envisioned as a direct Barriss counter and that appears to have come to fruition: 2 months ago GK was the lead in over 22% of squads on GG, but today that stands at just 6%. Incredible drop by that squad. Rex for once seems to also be on the ropes here as he hasn't seen a resurgence in usage and with elements of RJT kit being unresistable he doesn't seem to be a hard counter like in the past, despite RJT being a crit-heavy team. His usage as a lead is below GK and stands at 5%. I've seen various reports of his utility on various leaderboards still - on mine he's struggling to get wins vs. strong RJT comps - on others some are still having success. Likely the difference is head to head mods, but regardless the kit of Rex itself doesn't seem to be a hard counter to what RJT is bringing to the table. The newest anti-meta team, the NS, come in as the 3rd most common lead at 7%. This is what I'm currently running as I don't want to get in to the mirror match meta - especially after just coming out of the CLS vintage of arena.
Leads:
RJT: 40% CLS: 29% Talzin: 7% GK: 6% Rex: 5%
RJT may not hit CLS usage levels in leader due to being more pay to win than CLS was with the Vet requirement, but it's pretty clear she a superior lead in her various teams than CLS in his. CLS will still be able to win on offense, but is now a sitting duck on defense for RJT. NS squads have benefited from this shift to RJT as they are a stronger counter to RJT than CLS even, and they countered CLS pretty well. GK / Barriss isn't dead, but it's even more of a target on D and can have issues on offense winning vs. well-built RJT squads. I'd expect RJT's usage to increase further as a leader as some are still building her up with proper gear / zetas, but don't think she'll hit peak usage across all shard vintages due to the Vet requirement. On my Nov '15 shard she's already at peak CLS usage for a leader and may be a tad past him even in the top 15-20. You see more CLS or GK / Barriss teams populating the 30+ ranks. I'd expect the NS / Talzin leads to bump up modestly as well in the coming weeks.
Character Usage
Top 10: GK - 75% R2 - 72% GaT - 42% CLS - 45% RJT - 41% BB8 - 40% Raid Han - 38% Tied for 8th at 11% each: Talzin, Old Ben, Assaj, DN, Zombie, Old Daka
Notable movement: GK is actually down just 2% from the last update when he was at 77%; GK just continues to stand as the pillar of the game no matter the meta. CLS took a HUGE plunge in usage, once in the low 80% range, CLS is now down to 45%. Thrawn also took a sizable dive, going from 62% down to 42%. DN - once a lock for #1 character usage for many months in 2017, is now down to just 11% - that's a 26 percentage-point drop from his usage in November. The big bumps in that time are from the Resistance characters (BB8 RJT) and from the Nightsisters.
Teams
Last update, the CLS / Han / Thrawn / GK / R2 squad dominated arena like no squad we had seen before. This team still holds as the #1 most specific count used for rank 1 squads on GG with 711 counts, but that's in large part because RJT can use various squads and perform at a very high level, which results in the next 5 most popular team compositions being RJT-led squads: They all have BB8, R2, and GK and the +1 vary between CLS, Thrawn, Old Ben, Scavenger Rey, and Raid Han. The 7th - 9th most popular squads are NS comps, two of which include GK - which helps mitigate the Trooper hole NS have on defense.
BIG WINNERS
- RJT!!! #1 leader in arena, crushes both raids (can full auto play P3), strong for D in TW, and is somehow better than Finn lead for Resistance in Territory Battles...she's picked up from where CLS left the game and then actually pushed it to another level.
- BB8...went from almost never used in arena to a key staple in the next wave of meta...still crushing it in all PVE - BB8 is now unquestionably one of the top tier elite characters in the game
- GK! Yes he didn't move much and was already elite, but seeing him remain at the usage he has through this many metas is impressive. We talk about CLS, and Rex, and DN, and Chaze, ... but GK just keeps chugging along while all of those characters have taken steps back. At some point you have to look at GK as arguably the best toon and best kit in the game for arena / PVP anyway.
- Talzin & the NS....strong counters to RJT... an elite caliber squad, great in DS TB
BIG LOSERS
- #1 by a mile is CLS - usage has dropped almost in half from the low 80% range to just 45% ... that's a massive drop in a pretty short amount of time
- #2 is Barriss - now down to 10% usage in arena after having been near 30%
- DN ...now almost irrelevant in arena, this update confirms he's now fully out of the tippy top of the best in PVP arena. Last update he was hanging around at a respectable 37%, but he's now down to just 11% usage. Still a great character, but arena is brutal when there's just 5 spots to fit.
Will be interesting to see what comes next. Will more Resistance characters come out that push RJT ahead of the pack further? That seems likely with the movie just having been released. If she's already this good with no help released yet, have to wonder just how strong future Resistance squads can get.
