Advice for a CLS Arena team.

Luke, R2, Leia, Thrawn and GK and you'll be great

zCLS(L), zR2, DN, Thrawn, and GK
Rex(L), zR2, GK, DN, and Thrawn
GK(L), zBarriss, Thrawn, DN, and zR2
zCLS(L), GK, zR2, Baze, and Chirrut

Any of these options is viable. Best from top to bottom.

"ExarTheKun;c-1253872" wrote:
zCLS(L), zR2, DN, Thrawn, and GK
Rex(L), zR2, GK, DN, and Thrawn
GK(L), zBarriss, Thrawn, DN, and zR2
zCLS(L), GK, zR2, Baze, and Chirrut

Any of these options is viable. Best from top to bottom.

The 2nd team you posted (using Shore instead of GK) is what I've been using for the last couple months. I had great success with it, finishing in the top 10 every day until the CLS meta hit. Now I manage to hang out between 20-30 during payout time, but I'll fall to 50-60 every night. Is that just par for the course for any of these teams now?

"Matt360;c-1253968" wrote:

"ExarTheKun;c-1253872" wrote:
zCLS(L), zR2, DN, Thrawn, and GK
Rex(L), zR2, GK, DN, and Thrawn
GK(L), zBarriss, Thrawn, DN, and zR2
zCLS(L), GK, zR2, Baze, and Chirrut

Any of these options is viable. Best from top to bottom.

The 2nd team you posted (using Shore instead of GK) is what I've been using for the last couple months. I had great success with it, finishing in the top 10 every day until the CLS meta hit. Now I manage to hang out between 20-30 during payout time, but I'll fall to 50-60 every night. Is that just par for the course for any of these teams now?

GK has a lot more utility than Shoretrooper. GK boosts offense significantly with his assist and retribution. He provides a recurring taunt and is faster than shore. He also cleanses. Players rely on buff immunity and stun to shut down your Rex, DN and Thrawn. When you toss in another cleanser, your team becomes shiftier and a less reliable win for any attackers.

"ExarTheKun;c-1253978" wrote:

"Matt360;c-1253968" wrote:

"ExarTheKun;c-1253872" wrote:
zCLS(L), zR2, DN, Thrawn, and GK
Rex(L), zR2, GK, DN, and Thrawn
GK(L), zBarriss, Thrawn, DN, and zR2
zCLS(L), GK, zR2, Baze, and Chirrut

Any of these options is viable. Best from top to bottom.

The 2nd team you posted (using Shore instead of GK) is what I've been using for the last couple months. I had great success with it, finishing in the top 10 every day until the CLS meta hit. Now I manage to hang out between 20-30 during payout time, but I'll fall to 50-60 every night. Is that just par for the course for any of these teams now?

GK has a lot more utility than Shoretrooper. GK boosts offense significantly with his assist and retribution. He provides a recurring taunt and is faster than shore. He also cleanses. Players rely on buff immunity and stun to shut down your Rex, DN and Thrawn. When you toss in another cleanser, your team becomes shiftier and a less reliable win for any attackers.

Yeah, my plan was always to replace Shore with GK once I unlocked him. Now that I have, the Rex teams seem to be all but gone from my shard. Last night when I unlocked GK I threw him in my squad and got up to rank 28 with my Rex team. I woke up this morning at rank 69. It could be that I was targeted because he's only at 5-stars, but who knows? Anyways, today I'm running CLS, R2, Thrawn, DN, and GK as you suggested and things seem to be working well.

Of the teams you listed above, which do you think would hold best on defense in a shard where the top 50 is almost entirely CLS squads?

"Matt360;c-1254033" wrote:

"ExarTheKun;c-1253978" wrote:

"Matt360;c-1253968" wrote:

"ExarTheKun;c-1253872" wrote:
zCLS(L), zR2, DN, Thrawn, and GK
Rex(L), zR2, GK, DN, and Thrawn
GK(L), zBarriss, Thrawn, DN, and zR2
zCLS(L), GK, zR2, Baze, and Chirrut

Any of these options is viable. Best from top to bottom.

The 2nd team you posted (using Shore instead of GK) is what I've been using for the last couple months. I had great success with it, finishing in the top 10 every day until the CLS meta hit. Now I manage to hang out between 20-30 during payout time, but I'll fall to 50-60 every night. Is that just par for the course for any of these teams now?

GK has a lot more utility than Shoretrooper. GK boosts offense significantly with his assist and retribution. He provides a recurring taunt and is faster than shore. He also cleanses. Players rely on buff immunity and stun to shut down your Rex, DN and Thrawn. When you toss in another cleanser, your team becomes shiftier and a less reliable win for any attackers.

Yeah, my plan was always to replace Shore with GK once I unlocked him. Now that I have, the Rex teams seem to be all but gone from my shard. Last night when I unlocked GK I threw him in my squad and got up to rank 28 with my Rex team. I woke up this morning at rank 69. It could be that I was targeted because he's only at 5-stars, but who knows? Anyways, today I'm running CLS, R2, Thrawn, DN, and GK as you suggested and things seem to be working well.

Of the teams you listed above, which do you think would hold best on defense in a shard where the top 50 is almost entirely CLS squads?

You were targeted because of Rex ot a 5 star GK, as you said your shard all runs Luke and he loves getting resisted(rex tenacity up is hurting you)

Depends on your top twenty.

Here are some things to look for:

a) DN. If people are running DN under CLS and have the GKs and R2s to keep him safe, you want to go straight DPS. Run a CLS lead and play to strengths (i.e. offense boost, counter chance, TM gain). For this you need hard hitting rebels such as zRHan and Leia to fill the spots of your control toons like DN and Thrawn. The burst damage burns through tanks and shortens battles, which means less opportunities to get annihilate in for the opponent.

b) zBarriss. If people are running zBarriss under GK, then you need DN and Thrawn to control the flow of battle. The key is to get annihilate in as often as possible and keep the enemy team from annihilating you. This team eats crits, so toons like RHan and Leia are less useful.

c) RHan and Leia. If the enemy is relying on heavy crits and straight DPS to take out your toons quickly, switch to a GK lead with zBarriss. She will eat up the damage and protect toons like Thrawn and DN who will systematically take out key toons on the enemy team.

It really just depends on what kind of CLS teams everyone is running. Every shard is different.

"ExarTheKun;c-1254080" wrote:
Depends on your top twenty.

Here are some things to look for:

a) DN. If people are running DN under CLS and have the GKs and R2s to keep him safe, you want to go straight DPS. Run a CLS lead and play to strengths (i.e. offense boost, counter chance, TM gain). For this you need hard hitting rebels such as zRHan and Leia to fill the spots of your control toons like DN and Thrawn. The burst damage burns through tanks and shortens battles, which means less opportunities to get annihilate in for the opponent.

b) zBarriss. If people are running zBarriss under GK, then you need DN and Thrawn to control the flow of battle. The key is to get annihilate in as often as possible and keep the enemy team from annihilating you. This team eats crits, so toons like RHan and Leia are less useful.

c) RHan and Leia. If the enemy is relying on heavy crits and straight DPS to take out your toons quickly, switch to a GK lead with zBarriss. She will eat up the damage and protect toons like Thrawn and DN who will systematically take out key toons on the enemy team.

It really just depends on what kind of CLS teams everyone is running. Every shard is different.

Thank you, that's very helpful. You've given me some great stuff to think about. Seems likely that Bariss will get my next zeta then. I'll probably start gearing up Raid Han next, and by that time I might have another zeta for him saved up.

I used zCLS(L), zR2, GK, Han, Leia and fell one space overnight. Nobody is currently running a GK lead. When needed, I'll swap in Zarris and/or Nihilus, but my main team right now is all about damage and ending things as quickly as possible.

A little update - The good news is that my new team of CLS (l), R2, Kenobi, Thrawn, and DN holds amazingly well on defense. The bad news is that I'm actually having a bit of trouble on offense. There are a lot of zHan Solos that destroy Kenobi real quick and then take out Nihilus before he can get off an Annihilation. It's the situation ExarTheKun wrote about in example C. I was thinking about giving my next zeta to RHan, but he's not geared yet, so it looks like I might give it to Bariss instead.

I feel like if my Kenobi had just a bit more survivability he'd be great, but as it stands he seems to be the weak link. Anyways, I know I have to practice more and learn how to use Kenobi properly and everyone in conjunction with each other, and I do appreciate the advice I got here.