Using Old Ben as a GW suicide team buffer [video added!]
A long time ago (not saying it) Old Ben was a premiere arena character that whales used to pummel everyone into submission. Oh, how I hated seeing that hand wave across my guys, and all that red appear. I kept leveling Dooku despite everyone telling me not to in large part to deal with the old man.
But things have changed. Speed is now king, and Old Ben is not that fast. Also, Yoda came out and he has a move that stops Old Ben in his tracks. Finally, because Ben is tanky, the AI tends to ignore him on defense so you rarely get his main (death) benefit.
So, all the non-whales are excited that they can now get Ben, and the whales are yawning and telling everyone not to get excited. But this move is actually fantastic for a completely different reason: Galactic War.
If you haven't yet, you will eventually come across teams that require "suicide squads" or "B teams". Basically, not-your-best characters that can be used to make the AI blow specials, to whittle them down, kill a key character, or wipe them entirely.
The idea here is to barely unlock Old Ben at 4*, then get him to level 52 to get the best components of "If You Strike Me Down", and then give him no gear and send him out there to get "struck down". I obviously haven't tested this yet, but according to one of the database sites, a 4* no-gear level 52 Old Ben has around 5k health. My guess is that the AI will find that a juicy target.
Assuming 2 refreshes in Cantina per day, you can get him unlocked in under 6 days. With 1 refresh, 8 days. You don't have to invest in gear, and the credit cost is only around 500k. You can tinker with him, and if in the future he does re-enter the meta somehow, you've got a head start.
He would be amazing with AoErs around. I can't wait to try him with my other favorite GW suicider, Anakin. :)
EDIT: You have to upgrade gear to Level IV to unlock his unique, so he ended up with 6600 health.
EDIT: Two early tries at this, one didn't work so well, one was much better. It excels against teams with AoEs, as this will drop him down to yellow/red, which tempts the AI to finish him off. Video of this in action: https://vid.me/pJPc
But things have changed. Speed is now king, and Old Ben is not that fast. Also, Yoda came out and he has a move that stops Old Ben in his tracks. Finally, because Ben is tanky, the AI tends to ignore him on defense so you rarely get his main (death) benefit.
So, all the non-whales are excited that they can now get Ben, and the whales are yawning and telling everyone not to get excited. But this move is actually fantastic for a completely different reason: Galactic War.
If you haven't yet, you will eventually come across teams that require "suicide squads" or "B teams". Basically, not-your-best characters that can be used to make the AI blow specials, to whittle them down, kill a key character, or wipe them entirely.
The idea here is to barely unlock Old Ben at 4*, then get him to level 52 to get the best components of "If You Strike Me Down", and then give him no gear and send him out there to get "struck down". I obviously haven't tested this yet, but according to one of the database sites, a 4* no-gear level 52 Old Ben has around 5k health. My guess is that the AI will find that a juicy target.
Assuming 2 refreshes in Cantina per day, you can get him unlocked in under 6 days. With 1 refresh, 8 days. You don't have to invest in gear, and the credit cost is only around 500k. You can tinker with him, and if in the future he does re-enter the meta somehow, you've got a head start.
He would be amazing with AoErs around. I can't wait to try him with my other favorite GW suicider, Anakin. :)
EDIT: You have to upgrade gear to Level IV to unlock his unique, so he ended up with 6600 health.
EDIT: Two early tries at this, one didn't work so well, one was much better. It excels against teams with AoEs, as this will drop him down to yellow/red, which tempts the AI to finish him off. Video of this in action: https://vid.me/pJPc
