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8 years ago

Adaptive F2P Guide 2.0

This is the second iteration of Adaptive f2p guide. We created previous one, because all other were outdated and since @Raw stopped playing it’s time to refresh it a bit. You can find original one here: https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/86926/adaptive-f2p-guide/p1
Guide focuses on most effective way of being competitive in both arenas as well as presents the fastest way of unlocking end game content while still remaining f2p. Before we start I want to strongly insist for every player to be focused on farming, gearing and leveling a very limited amount of characters. Biggest drawbacks of being f2p are limited resources: crystals and credits. Best way to use them:
- Crystals – daily energy refresh (3x 50 crystals, always), daily cantina energy refresh (3x 100 crystals, preferably 2-3 daily), arena refreshes (it’s always beneficial to invest 50 or more crystals to get better rewards), gear (spend only in late game)
- Credits – keep squad arena and fleet arena heroes maxed out, only invest in best mods (don’t upgrade mods past 12lvl unless you got stats you wanted), increase star lvl only on heroes you’re currently using.
Now to the proper segment of this guide – how to start off:
1. Many events in game have set timers during a day, so it might be best to change your device timezone before starting the game – it will move every daily reset or payout accordingly, read more about it here (https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/142456/the-perfect-guide-for-the-perfect-start-2017-winter-edition)
2. Every new player will unlock a random hero from his first Chromium pack (350 crystals). Collect them from unlocking achievements. Repeat this process to get a head start (rerolling account, read about it in previous link). Heroes to aim for – TIER 1: Lando, Rex, Baze; TIER 2: Jyn, Chirrut, Ackbar, Old Ben.
3. Community created a list of unlocks per player lvl - https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/106106/what-unlocks-at-each-player-level-community-effort . It will help you create a plan for upcoming months and put into context elements of this guide.
The best team to aim for from the begining is Phoenix Squadron. Reasons:
- easy to farm with great survivability and synergy,
- great for early and mid game in squad arena,
- help immensely in finishing galactic war on a daily basis,
- provide access to mod challenges and legendary characters: Emperor Palpatine, Grand Admiral Thrawn,
- can finish one battle in each phase up to phase 5 in Territory Battles (with good mods and gear lvl 8),
- are one of the best teams on defense in Territory Wars,
- can get decent scores in normal raids (not heroic).
Overall they aren’t powerful, but present great survivability and flexibility. You will need them from start to finish.
You can farm unit shards from: Hard nodes, Cantina nodes, Squad arena store, Galactic War store, Guild store, Fleet Arena store, Guild Events store and Shipments. Most will be inaccessible for beginners, but will unlock as you progress. Merchandise in each store will change as you lvl up – most notably after 60 and 80 lvl. If what is described here isn't available for you, then it's probably best to save up currency and spend once it becomes accessible. I suggest you farm every character described in guide to 7*, however you don't need to do it right away.
Key: 4* - it's fast and cheap (80 shards), 5* - minimal requirement for specific events or game modes, 5-7* - minimum 5* with intent of going to 7* asap, can be postponed until you get info about specific events or farm up another important unit.
Farm schedule:
- Cantina nodes: Hera Syndulla (4*), Ezra Bridger (7*), Hera (5-7*), Lando Calrissian (min. 5*)/TIE Fighter Pilot (5*)/3-5* health mods, Wedge (7*)
Hera is necessary as she has leader ability, but she doesn’t have to be at a high star lvl now. Focus hard on Ezra after 4* Hera. You need at least one 7* for Heroic raid and Ezra is strongest phoenix member. At 69lvl you have to start farming Wedge Antilles. Before that you need to get Lando at least to 5* and farm enough 5* health mods to gear your main arena team (and some for pilots). It would be great if you could farm TFP to 4-5* as well. After Wedge is done get all previous units to 7*.
- Cantina store: Chopper (7*), Ahsoka Tano (5*), Boba Fett (5*), Hoth Rebel Scout (5*)/Fives (4*), Stormtrooper (5*)
It’s straightforward here – get units in this order. After Boba and Ahsoka are 5*, you can choose what to do next. Farm Boba to 7* if you want to include him in arena team. HRS isn't necessary early on, but is needed to fully participate in Light side Terrritory Battles. Fives is necessary if you want ot run a Mace Windu lead fleet, he also is awesome in a Target Lock fleet, but you can skip him wholeheartedly if you aim for a different fleet setup. Stormtrooper is needed for DS Territory Battles as well as R2 event as 5th Empire unit (if you missed Thrawn event).
- Squad Arena store: Kanan Jarrus (7*), Stormtrooper Han (5-7*), IG-88 (5* - farm only if you can’t get Raid Han in time for CH), Admiral Ackbar (7*), Mace Windu (5*)/Princess Leia (7*)/Grand Moff Tarkin (5-7*)
You need STH and IG88 for Credit Heist. If you manage to get into Heroic Rancor guild early on then you could skip IG88 and get Raid Han instead. Ackbar is your main fleet commander so farm him first. Afterwards you can choose who to farm: Windu - if you want to unlock defense mod challenge, Leia - if you want to include her in your second arena team and raid team, Tarkin - he is necessary for future fleet challenges as well as Empire unit for R2D2 legendary event.
- GW store: Zeb Orellios (5-7*), Biggs Darklighter (4*), ship shards: Biggs, TFP, FOTP, Consular, Ahsoka. Other ships shards worth getting: Wedge, Sun Fac, Fives.
Farm Zeb to 5* and get Biggs to at least 4* before 60lvl. Finish Zeb and continue with Biggs/ships. You don’t need Biggs 7* right away, so you can focus on ships – Biggs, JC, Ahsoka will be the core of your early fleet. Get TFP and FOTP ship shards fast since they are end game and rarely drop in shop. You will need Wedge, Sun Fac and Fives ships for different challenges. They need to be at 5*. Fives doesn’t need to be rushed.
- Fleet store: Slave I/TIE Advanced/Scimitar (5*), Ghost (5*), Wedge(max 4*), Vader
Focus on getting all 3 ships and Vader shards when they pop up - they are rare. You will also need to get Ghost ship from here - he is great for fleet arena. After he is 5* and you fare well in arena you can choose to get Phantom II to 5*, since he is needed for a legendary event. Otherwise stick to Ghost and max him out. Spare currency invest in FOTP and Wedge shards. If you started off with Baze from chromium getting Chirrut from here is a priority.
- Guild store: Old Ben (7*), Farmboy Luke (5*), Rex (7*), Darth Maul (5*)
After latest update this store is probably the best one out there. You'll get best return on your investment buying green and blue gear pieces, because they are fully crafted ones (ex. Mk3 Detonators, Mk2 Holo projectors, Mk 5 Blastech weapon mod and many more). It will let you allocate more energy into hard node farm. Mk 3 Stun cuffs and Carbanti's are another thing worth investing in, but in end game. Pre 60lvl focus on Old Ben and Luke – try to get first to 7* and second to 5-6* (you can resume his farm when Luke Hero Journey will be announced, he can be farmed from cheap cantina node as well). If you got a lot of whales in arena, best would be to farm Rex to 7* - he will be your next leader after Phoenix. You will also need Sun Fac and Darth Maul for fleet challenge (4-5*). At later stages of the game you need to get Colonel Starck (4-5* - for DS TB). Units worth farming - Resistance Trooper and Finn - if you decided to farm a Resistance team, Rey (if you know her Hero Journey will be coming), Sith Assasin (great unit for any DS team), Kylo Ren.
- Hard nodes: Jedi Consular (7*), First Order Stormtrooper (7*), Hoth Rebel Soldier (7*), Chewbacca (5*)
Consular is a must for fleet so best to get him running before 60lvl. Chewbacca can wait – you need him for Credit Heist only. Additionally you can support your progress farming Boba, Ahsoka or Biggs. Farm FOST and HRS since they can only be aquired from hard nodes (or bronziums). Other units worth farming after you finish some of these are: First Order TIE Pilot (7*), Resistance Trooper (7*),Barriss Offe (7*), Veers (7*), Stormtrooper (7*). All of them can be also farmed from other shops. Remember not to overfarm units. You don’t have to sim all 5 battles on a node. First and foremost focus on getting your main units geared.
- Guild Events store: Scimitar, Veers (4-5*), Krennic/Gar Saxon(5*), gear
It’s an end game store – currency should be spent on g12 gear and Hermit Yoda/Wampa shards. For beginers focus on speeding up your progress by buying Scimitar shards and guns/cuffs/carbanti gear. In time farm Veers for Dark Side Territory Battles - he is also available in hard nodes and bronziums, so 4-5* is max what you should do. Krennic and Gar Saxon are great farms (DS TB leaders), but aren't needed at this part of the game - should be farmed later on (focus on one). You can consider buying Hoth Rebel soldier shards if you desperately need them. Currency in this shop is scarce, so I would suggest saving it up until you have a clear path what you want to farm.
- Shipments
In early game always buy items for credits. As you progress you can buy gear such as Mk3 Holo projectors or gold gear in end game. Here is a useful link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7fRR1taw83uBzsh5Ss9LDNqHXplvDK4cHZ6pBQ4jns/edit#gid=1679694163

This guide will let you start off with a Phoenix squad. However don’t overinvest in them. They are great in early and mid game, but fall off a cliff going forward. Get them max to gear lvl8-9. You can invest in g11 for Ezra, he’s worth it. This guide let’s you transition from phoenix squad into traditional Rebels lead by Wiggs (Wedge and Biggs) or Rex. Ezra, Boba Fett, Stormtrooper Han, Lando, Leia or Chaze (Chirrut + Baze) can beat any team in arena.

How to effectively play phoenix squad.
Chopper – usually fastest, so he can dispel any pretaunt. Adjust his speed if opponent has manual taunters to deal with them as well.
Hera and Ezra assists should call Zeb. He can stun 2 ppl in opening round (2 assists + his attack + retaliation if opponent uses aoe).
For survivability play around Kanan’s and Chopper taunts, using Zeb and Kanan protection up.
Early on you can drop Zeb from squad if you got a good damage dealer from chromium – before g7 units don’t have protection so his unique doesn’t boost you at all.
Phoenix are vulnerable to debuffs since they lack a reliable cleanser. Plan accordingly.
Teams with greatest potential, transitioning from phoenix squadron, are:
1. Rex (L), STH, Boba, Wiggs - best overall team and accessible fairly quick (apart from Wedge, but you can use Ezra) - it has mediocre dps output, but can deal with any team you encounter in mid game. In nullifies whale opponent advantage when it comes to unit strength and better speed mods. Ideally STH or Boba should go first. It's a tactical team so it's not as good on defense.
2. Ackbar (L), STH, Ezra, Leia, Chirrut - a team with high speed and a lot of assists from Ackbar leader ability. Ezra + Leia are a great combo together. Chirrut provides survivability and most importantly tenacity up. This is a high dps team. As mentioned above, best if STH taunts first. Team is harder to get, because Chirrut is a late farm (or first chromium pull) and both - Leia, STH - are in same store.
3. Wedge (L), Biggs, STH, Ezra, Chirrut/Lando/Boba - All characters are easily obtainable and very strong on offense, however highly dependable on crit chance.
If opponent doesn't have countering units (Sun Fac, Phoenix sq.) then it's good to use Lando (L), Boba, STH, Biggs, Wedge/Chirrut/Ezra - this team can help you kill units hiding behind pretaunters or in steath (Nightsisters).

Fleet arena
You aren’t limited to any capital ship in this guide. Core team of Biggs, TFP, FOTP, JC, Ahsoka, Ghost can thrive under any lead. For Mace lead you should farm Rex’s ship as well and prioritize Fives. Half ship power comes from it's pilot, so pls try to have pilots leveled and geared if resources allow it. Also put mods on them - stats don't matter, only rarity and lvl (the higher, the better). All pilots in this guide will be needed in end-game, so your investment won't go to waste. Pls refer to this guide for more info on ships - https://forums.galaxy-of-heroes.starwars.ea.com/discussion/79552/mostly-inclusive-guide-to-ships/p1 .
To fully unlock fleet content you need 5x 5* dark side ships and 5x 5* light side ships. Minimal requirements to be successful are: 5x 4* dark side ships (TFP, FOTP, Sun Fac, Scimitar/Slave/TIE Advance) and 8x 5* ships (no restriction) – Biggs, Wedge, Ahsoka, TFP, FOTP, Ghost, JC, Sun Fac. This is the shortest route.

Premium content requirements:
- Yoda event – 5x 7* Jedi: Mace Windu, JC, Ezra, Kanan, Ahsoka
- Palpatine event – 5x 7* Rebels: Phoenix Squadron
- Thrawn event – 5x 7* Phoenix Rebels: Phoenix Squadron
- R2D2 event – 5x 7* Empire: Emperor Palpatine, Tarkin, Darth Vader, TFP, Thrawn
- BB8 event – 5x 7* First Order: Captain Phasma, FOST, FOTP, Kylo Ren, FO Officer
- Chimaera Capital ship - 5x 7* Rebel ships: Biggs, Wedge, Ghost, Phantom II, any U-Wing and 7* Home One (Ackbar's capital ship)
- Luke’s Hero Journey – 7* LS units: Old Ben, Farmboy Luke, R2D2, STH, Princess Leia
- Rey’s Hero Journey – 7* LS units: Rey, Finn, BB8, Veteran Han, Veteran Chewbacca
As you can see this guide covers every event outside BB8 and Rey’s. Please do notice that I listed Thrawn in R2D2 event. This can be problematic with bad timing. A solution to that is farming Veers or Stormtrooper from hard nodes (they also can be aquired from other shops and bronziums).
Legendary events rerun every 3-4 months, so you can roughly estimate and plan which units and when to farm. Yoda/Palpatine events run interchangeably every month.

Following this guide you will easily unlock most mod challenges: health, defense, critical chance, tenacity and potency. How you approach rest is up to you. Next do:
- Offense mods challenge – if FOST is at 4* farm FO officer from cantina store, Phasma from GW store, Kylo Ren from cantina node – adjust timing to BB8 event
- Critical Damage mods challenge – if you got Jawa at 4* from bronzium packs then you should focus on this challenge, farm Chief Nebit from Squad store, Jawa Engineer from Guild store, Jawa Scavenger from cantina store, Datcha from GW store. You can farm Jawa and Datcha from cantina node and hard nodes.
- Speed mod challenge – farm Finn from cantina node, farm Poe Dameron from cantina store, farm Resistance Trooper from hard nodes and guild store, farm Resistance Pilot from GW store. You can skip Resistance Pilot if you have R2D2 or BB8.
If you have trouble in arena with “whales” I would suggest getting Critical Damage mod challenge done first. It boosts rebels power, but it’s mainly intended for end game arena. If you know BB8 will come next month I would go for Offense mods challenge – you already have quite a few FO units farmed and BB8 is considered Resistance, so you would have 1 less unit to farm for speed mod challenge.
Overall you will get best return from farming resistance team. Even at lower gear lvl (g8-g9) they can easily finish end game GW. They are currently the best PVE team in game. They’re also considered the best Territory Battle team and can score very high in heroic raids. However they are good only with zeta leader ability from Finn, so they won't be much help before you reach 85lvl (since your main focus for zeta's should be in arena squad).

Finishing Defense mod challenge TIER 2 unlocks 5* mods in Mod store, TIER 3 increases their rate. It's worth having 4m credits saved up at all times in case a very good 5* gold mod with speed secondary shows up. If you're in need of good mods, have a lot of credits saved up and same crystals to spend, then you can refresh mod store. It costs only 15 crystals and can net you some good mods. Take into account that it's a very costly procedure and you should do it at end game.

For more on mod challenges, watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9PFc6Y8whI
For more on mods, watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjPiX6Mnv7k
In early game focus on getting any mods with speed secondaries and good primaries (speed arrow for all). When you unlock 5* health mods - farm them. Try to get best stats for your arena team - same as before speed secondaries and good primary stats. Each unit has a specific mod set that benefits them the most, but don't worry about it until you reach end game stage and have enough spare credits to invest in it. For info on how to mod units, use - http://apps.crouchingrancor.com/Mods/Advisor

Guild
I suggest to join guild as soon as possible – the sooner you will start raids, the faster you’ll finish gearing your units – a lot of gear can be obtained only from raids. By spending energy daily you generate raid tickets. Every 6min you get 1 energy point, every 12min you get 1 cantina energy point. A guild can generate 30k raid tickets daily, so try to generate your max of 600 – most guilds require that from everyone. By generating as much as possible, you can raid more often. Daily you can get: 240 normal energy, 120 cantina energy, bonus 45 cantina energy and bonus 3x 45 noemal energy for a total of 540 energy.
Each day of the week there is a different daily guild activity – which rewards every guildmember with currency, here’s that list - https://swgoh.gg/g/activities/.
Raids
As mentioned above - most important is to join a guild generating as close to 30k raid tickets daily, as possible. Raiding regularly is more important than scoring high in every raid. This guide provides you with necessary units to score well in raids. Here you can find a current, dynamic list of best teams for every raid - https://swgohindepth.com/2017/04/13/morningstar-013s-complete-haat-team-list/. Take it with a grain of salt though. Some teams might not be viable anymore once you reach end game.
Territory Battles and Territory Wars
These become available once you reach 65lvl. First is a PvE raid-like guild event and the second is a straight up guild versus guild battle. Both are end game content, so don't be too concerned about it early on. Following this guide you should be able to field enough good Light side teams (phoenix, rebels) to complete quite a few missions early on. For DS TB you need Imperial Troopers, Empire and Bounty Hunter teams to be competitive. Most of which are included in this guide. You will get a lot of them from bronzium pulls, so there is no need to extensively farm them early on. To get info on minimal unit requirements to complete TB visit (https://www.reddit.com/r/SWGalaxyOfHeroes/comments/7c1kig/completing_territory_battles_with_a_mix_of_high/?st=jal4cqph&sh=a0f446a4) - I can atest that with good mods these teams can do missions with some good RNG. Here is an infographic on opponent skills (https://www.reddit.com/r/SWGalaxyOfHeroes/comments/7azack/territory_battle_enemy_guide_and_why_daze_is_your/?st=jal43xv8&sh=275fbd78). Use daze to your advantage and be wary of snowtroopers counters and assists - it can decimate your team in mere seconds.

As you can see there are some gray areas in this guide as to who to farm and how fast should they be taken to 7 stars. It's premeditated. Almost all units mentioned in this guide should be farmed to 7*. However the order in which you should do it depends on your preference, in game event shcedule and your squad/fleet arena needs.
All in all, please refrain from overpreparing. Game is changing and evolving all the time. Teams I read were good in raids 9 months ago aren’t viable anymore, so when you get to the point I finished this guide, you probably will have more options than I did.

Key notes:
- Stay focused and diligent in farming and gearing units,
- Focus on a limited number of units,
- Always keep level, abilities and most important gear of your arena team to maximum,
- There is no need to hoard crystals in early and mid game - use everything you got on cheap refreshes (3x50 and 3x100),
- If you want to farm 330 shards from cantina, you need about 1000 cantina fights, so at 8 energy a piece that’s 8k energy. That’s an equivalent of 500 mods (5*). Farming a unit from 12 energy cantina node is equivalent of 750 mods, so don’t farm a unit if you lack good mods on your arena team (assuming you got credits to level them up),
- After joining squad arena try to find your shardmates through reddit or forum,
- Try to stick to your payout in arena, be active max 2h before and get info on other shardmate payouts, so you can avoid unnecessary trouble,
- Don't be shy to refresh any store or hard node if you desperatelly need shards of specific unit, it's better to invest some crystals early on than miss on legendary event,
- Join a Heroic Rancor guild as soon as possible, both heroic raids on farm will speed up your progress immensely,
- Get a 7* unit as soon as possible - it will enable you to take part in Heroic raid, blanking that raid is much more profitable than doing normal ones,
- Although gear is most important, try to always have at least 2-3 units on farm from hard nodes, especially in early game. Your progress is limited by lvl, so you won't encounter a huge gear crunch. Use that time to farm necessary units unlocking future content,
- Previous edition of Rey and Luke's Hero Journey was in December, so next one won't be until April - plan accordingly,
- For anything regarding numbers and info about this game refer to: https://swgoh.gg/,
- For interactive help visit - http://www.swgoh.life/ or https://www.reddit.com/r/SWGalaxyOfHeroes/,
- For info on upcoming events - https://swgohevents.com/,
- Youtubers worth watching: Ahnald (https://www.youtube.com/user/AhnaldT101), MobileGamer (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjqnZEvjlf4TPtt9dmqhYw/featured), Nukin (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdIo26CoCqBoO5dnc3fXcLw), CubsFan Han (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDWyx4wMW3RV1Hz8148OIYg/featured). There are a lot of them out there (McMole2, CrazyExcuses.) so choose to your liking.