The Journey Beyond Poe & the Demise of FOTP: Ludicrous Speed Activated

I have the privilege of being on a very competitive server. Players like Pilot, Ailan and Cythis (guild and / or chat mates as well) that post on these forums are always pushing the envelope. From reading these forums from the start, the meta on that server has tended to be 2-3 weeks ahead of the general meta information available on the forum. I say that to set up what's been going on in the meta over time.

Currently, FOTP and Poe are all the rage on the forums and nerf bunnies are nipping at their toes ... but these guys have been prominent and dominant in the meta as soon as Poe was released nearly 4 weeks ago. This is really not a recent phenomenon. I had Poe 6* in just a few days after launch as a result of hoarding Cantina shipments. So we've collectively been planning (Cythis, Pilot, A, and me) to go beyond Poe for a few weeks now and I'd like to officially announce that the current Poe era and speed / meter barrier (FOO is in there too) has been busted at a high rate in the P2P segment. This was done WITHOUT the use of Poe OR FOTP.

The build is simple in it's premise, but took some faith given the lack of health and dependency on early killing. Toons that can be used:

Jinn
Leia
Poggle
Rey
Dooku
Sid (leader)

This was tested against various TIE / Poe team compositions (always including Poe/Tie though) involving toons like Jinn, Old Ben, Leia, TIE, Poe, Phasma, Lumi, Poggle, Sid....the top build compositions you've been reading about recently.

Poggle and Leia are somewhat interchangeable here - both work well. Poggle is better to leave in the D slot since his special actually does something unlike Leia's stealth in rd 1.

Really here you have multiple toons that are faster than Poe and can effectively kill him before he moves. Dooku kind of makes a big return here as his Jedi stun on an opposing Lumi / Ben / Jinn can be huge. Even without that Jedi stun, having Jinn (he gives offense up on dispel), Leia (crit up chance), or Poggle (offense up) makes the multi-hit point Dooku a pretty deadly toon again.

Sid as the leader is great for the crit % up and crit damage - you're going speedy glass cannons here so you need kills quick. He also does great damage + DOT early in the match to soften toons up. His DoTs on FoTP also count as "hits" that can help remove advantage on FOTP, which is key to reduce his chance to hit multiple times and do less damage.

Rey here is deadly - with 140 speed and the ability to crit >6k on her 2nd ability and >9-11k crit on her third ability early in round 2...she's a killing machine.

Jinn is phenominal with the assist that gives the ally increased damage - he can bring most any toon near death with that skill. Then he's a champ with the dispel (kill FOTP adv, or an opposing poggle O up on FOTP, or taunt or Poe, etc.) and giving the team offense up. Top tier toon for sure. Anyone that says different doesn't know him in depth.

Leia if I use her is just early damage on Poe to kill him quick - Poggle for the O up. I find both to be about equally effective attacking. You trade earlier damage for stronger damage later on. These toons are really fast so they hit pretty early on in rd 2 so Poggle buffing after they move is still strong.

I've even had situations where I didn't kill Poe as he jumped out in the speed turn, he still proc'd the meter reduction and it wasn't a big nerf because of the overall speed of this team. Plus he's so heavily damaged that he's dead asap anyway...which means he can't protect the other toons.

The funny thing is once FOTP doesn't have anyone giving him meter and he doesn't have advantage...he's a really average toon. He gets in one hit in round 1 and then he's dead. His lack of speed becomes very apparent. He really is balanced once you're truly evaluating him among the wider meta - not just the common subset of toons most have built right now. That was most baffling to me really out of this. Just watching him sit there and be an average guy that gets off one hit. He's nothing special at all without the proper team support and setup (this can be said about many toons).

So what does this mean for nerfing TIE / Poe, etc. and other toons? Just means we need to be patient. Patient patient patient. We can't truly evaluate OP / no OP until the game and roster is much more mature. I wouldn't say any of the toons in the build above are OP, but they are just good because they rob the Poe / TIE build of it's main asset: Speed advantage.

Now, currently under testing with good initial results is a F2P version that should be able to take down a Poe + FOTP build at a satisfactory rate. Cythis is currently working on this and it's an impressive composition that he will detail later on in this post.

TL;DR: The reign of Poe and FOTP is officially over!!!...Almost just as it was getting started on the forums. Lesson here is just be aware that meta moves fast and moves often. Don't overreact to a seemingly OP toon at any give time. Have patience. We are early in the game's existence. NO ONE - repeat - NO ONE knows true end game and has built all possible toon combinations and has the expertise to for certain say something is OP and needs nerfed. This team I reference above as a counter has already lost in PVP - it's far from unbeatable.

Thanks for your time - please feel free to ask any details.