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Hoffman72510's avatar
7 years ago

The Empire Strikes back! (Empire squads on newer shards)

I've seen a lot of threads from people asking about the viability of their empire squad on newer shards that are plagued with phoenix and rebel squads so I figured we needed a centralized thread where we can all share our transitions into empire. So if you've recently swapped over to empire please post the details or if you have questions please feel free to ask! I've had amazing success these last few days so I'll start!

Mid January 2018 shard
Original squad 7* phoenix level 70
Highest arena rank with phoenix was 48, lowest was at the end when I dropped to 102

Current empire squad (lvl 71) Went from rank 102 back up to 42 currently

6* EP gr8 (l)
5* Thrawn gr7
5* Vader gr7 (almost 6*)
5* Tarkin gr7 (almost 6*)
5* Stormtrooper (almost 6*)

My mods are about what you'd expect at level 71. I do have quite a few 5 dot but they aren't all ideal speed secondaries.

As of now I focus exclusively on fighting phoenix. I can easily beat a phoenix squad that is 15k-20k+ GP over me. This may be largely in part due to Thrawn so if anyone out there is running this comp minus Thrawn I'd love to hear your success stories!
My strategy is to start by AB Chopper, fracture Kanan, kill chopper, kill Ezra, kill Kanan, kill Hera, kill Zeb. I try to keep Hera ability blocked when I'm close to finishing someone so I don't have to kill them twice. I also try to use my debuffs such as Tarkin before I start chipping away at their health and then again after kanan is dead. You can choose to kill Kanan first, with his triple tag he dies pretty quickly, I just prefer Chopper as he is squishier and his health regeneration will work against the dots you'll have going. I also focus Ezra early on to remove their entire squads DPS and with the ease in which he dies.

I've also heard success with TFP in this squad, I'm just not sure what I would sacrifice for him. At this point I would say stormtrooper possibly as he is pretty gimp at this point in the game and his taunt is removed immediately against Phoenix, but I still prefer having it as backup. Tarkin could also possibly be swapped for TFP, mine is pretty weak as I've given preference to everyone else. The buff immunity and higher damage might be worth it, but Tarkin does bring potency down.

So I'd love to hear your stories and questions!
  • "Hoffman72510;c-1470036" wrote:
    Hmm, I'm liking the use of KRU, I might start farming him since I need his ship anyway. Ultimately I need an R2 squad which is why I'm trying to stay with empire. Stormtrooper just feels so underwhelming right now, I'm hoping with a couple more stars he can beef up a bit.


    Stormtrooper will be useful in empire teams with other troopers. Hes decent tank but can get dispelled and ability blocked easy and then does nothing. This is not a problem that only stormtrooper have but all tanks in game have. To be successful tanks they need to auto taunt out of their turn. Very few early accessible tanks have that early-midgame.

    Instead of stormtrooper i would use a character I have for other porpuses untill i would get a real tank, like Boba fett, tiefighter pilot, tarkin, royal guard (for R2 event), KRU (for B8 event)..

  • "jursllla;c-1470141" wrote:
    "Mobewan;c-1469927" wrote:
    Good question.



    You can switch in han solo for offense if your Vader is slower to stun their Vader.

    Two tanks is a good idea, with 1 of them pretaunt. Like shoretrooper and go..


    They started in Januari 2018.....

    Han Solo is very long from 5* when played 4-5 weeks. hes a 10 week farm if they get into a decent guild day 1...

    Shoretrooper is 85 farm that takes months. The new players in this thread is like 4-5 months away from getting him if they don't whale out and buy him for 200$.



    Happy that you realised that dude :smiley:
  • I'm 64lvl and I'm 1-5 at payout.
    Most PPL here are phx.
    My squad is
    Palp L
    Vader
    Tarkin
    Tfp
    KRU.
    What is most important is making Palp go before TFP or its 4vs5 after initial aoe. That's all.
    I would swap out KRU to get Thrawn.
    Kill order Hera, Ezra and whatever you want. Even with their counters you win.
  • I'm lvl 75 in a late December shard. Unfortunately, I started with Jedi, not with Pheonix, so I don't have Palp or Thrawn. I managed to hold top 100, but things are getting nasty.

    So in about 1 week I can throw in Empire too:
    7* Tarkin lead
    7* TFP
    7* KRU
    6* Vader
    6* Stormtrooper

    Can they work against Pheonix, without Palp and Thrawn?
  • "BlindGuardian;c-1470290" wrote:
    I'm lvl 75 in a late December shard. Unfortunately, I started with Jedi, not with Pheonix, so I don't have Palp or Thrawn. I managed to hold top 100, but things are getting nasty.

    So in about 1 week I can throw in Empire too:
    7* Tarkin lead
    7* TFP
    7* KRU
    6* Vader
    6* Stormtrooper

    Can they work against Pheonix, without Palp and Thrawn?


    I can't say for certain as I've never tried, but I don't see that happening or at least as easily without EP and Thrawn. Palps passive drops Kanan and Ezra insanely quick while Thrawn keeps someone locked down.
  • If you want to be in the top 10 you’ll need to purchase shoretrooper. You only need him at four stars though. Geared up with his turn 1 taunt he does just fine at four stars. Gear is way more important for tanks and all you really want him for is his taunt that automatically starts at the beginning of every match. I’m a late November/early December shard so not far off from you and all the top teams are Vader, Palpatine, Shoretrooper, Thrawn, Tarkin. Most only have four or five Star Shoretrooper. After that, it all comes down to who has better mods.
  • The majority of players in my December shard are either using Stormtrooper, Royal Guard, or Kylo Ren Unmasked as a taunting tank. And the pay players with sith teams are using Sith Trooper.
  • "BlindGuardian;c-1470290" wrote:
    I'm lvl 75 in a late December shard. Unfortunately, I started with Jedi, not with Pheonix, so I don't have Palp or Thrawn. I managed to hold top 100, but things are getting nasty.

    So in about 1 week I can throw in Empire too:
    7* Tarkin lead
    7* TFP
    7* KRU
    6* Vader
    6* Stormtrooper

    Can they work against Pheonix, without Palp and Thrawn?


    Without heal block and with so many debuffs you will be constantly healing Kanans.
  • Level 77 in a December shard. Was struggling to stay in the top 150 with Phoenix so switched as soon as I got EP:

    7* G8 (nearly 9) EP
    6* G9 Vader
    6* G8 (nearly 9) Tarkin
    6* G9 TFP
    5* G8 Thrawn

    I've been gearing up storm so that I have a tank and so I could have a 7* empire team by the next r2 event (though I've only seen 15 Vader shards in Fleet store this month so it won't be happening), he's currently 6* G9 but no mods or abilities so a way away from being ready.

    I jumped from 150 to 30 in a day, I didn't come across a phoenix squad I couldn't destroy. Occasionally struggled with Wiggs in squads 15-20k higher - if Biggs special goes for EP he goes down almost immediately. TFP works really well on offense. By the time he goes EP has stunned a few so Phoenix don't squish him, then he hits really hard and fast.

    Within a few days though pretty much everyone else has moved to empire too so I'm currently fighting by the skin of my teeth to stay in the top 50.
    I need loads of raid gear now and I'm not in a heroic guild so I think I'm going to fall hard soon.