Mini in-depth guide
where i stand:
Hi, I'm a competitive star wars galaxy of heroes gamer who tries to spend just a minimal on the game. I have recently created an alternative account.
I was unlucky with my shard, many big spenders, 80% of top 50 got 7* baze, chirrut (before level 60!), nihilus and jyn. I created my alt after the first phoenix toon event was off limit, so i missed out on lord of hunger and rogue1. My shard consisted of about 6.5k squads. Still managed to get within top 200 on the 2nd day, then roaming 40-100 for some time and now I'm roaming 15-45. Because of focus, hard grinding and some money spent i manage to hold 1st in fleet and roam 15-45 in squad arena.
Have closed up on character levels as well in my shard, and spent time farming great mods. Which have lead to the right path to success.
I also created my alt in a period which is known to be a gaming period. Because of the cold and dark winters here in Norway and most of Europe. It's a fact that people play less and are more out in the summer than winter, but especially this far north. My theory is that there are more people playing competitive while there's more people staying at home and playing games, like myself. Rogue one movie could also be a factor.
At the bottom of the mini guide you can read about how i developed my starting toons. I did it in a way which wouldn't set me back for later goals and still not loose too much on doing so. Early game is short, mid and late game isn't. That should be your focus!
_______________________________________________________________________________
Intro
As many here have pointed out, *some* roads lead to Rome. In SWGOH not every path leads to your desired goals. There are so many distractions in this simple, but really competitive game. Cause of the very competitive game society, small mistakes can set you back by a mile. So many appealing toons throughout that fall short, and squads that ain't that important in the earlier stages of the game.
A motivation breaker in the endless grind is when mistakes makes you drop off in your shard. When you get to the point where you envy the squads, toons and mods of your fellow top shardsmen, and you have no chance in hell to compete and make a name for yourself. That's when you start to regret that you ever spent a dime on the game and you begin to curse on all of the whales in your shard, but out of frustration you spend more money on the game. Knowingly that it is unwise to spend money. Not because the game developers don't deserve it, but because the drive behind is the winner's instinct and not for the fun of it. A thought burried deep under self proclaiming of having self-discipline... you know what a look in the mirror will exploit, "Hypocrite!"
Enough b*s...
_______________________________________________________________________________
My thoughts
First advice, if you just started up an account and the moment you unlocked squad arena, almost every player top 50 have nihilus in their squad, start all over again. Nihilus is the most played toon in 520 tracked rank 1 arena squads, (2k arena squads tracked in total). He's overpowered even at star level 3 and 4. I personally started an alt account and because I am lacking nihilus, I struggle big time in arena. Currently ranked 13, but I usually roam around 20-50. I've spent 250$ on the alt!
Nihilus can only be obtained by buying chromium packs or from shipments (currency: crystals). If your shard started out before the nihilus and rogue one events, you will have a rough time if you missed those events.
There are many good team comps for arena, but ideally you should farm toons which are great in multiple areas of the game. The most important thing is that you will manage to farm gear that's available at your character level, when you need it. Therefore Light and Dark side battles are the most important holotables in the game. If you manage to get your hands on strong allies, which you should make an slight effort for, these holotables shouldn't be a problem. Search up ally codes online!
For the dark side battles its smart to buy the limited-time sith pack, this is arguably the best pack for the buck in game. Dark side battles can be really tough without. 20$ ain't that much.
_______________________________________________________________________________
About some game modes:
Character level 8 you unlock squad cantina battles, which is where you farm shards the fastest. Important to always have a good enough squad to unlock the desired node. Which usually is your arena squad, so that shouldn't be a problem.
Character level 40 you unlock galactic war, which you should complete 100% of the time. Aside from money spent, gw completions can determine the difference from player to player in the long run. It can get really tough, so ideal toons for gw is crucial.
Character level 60 you unlock ships, which you should from day 1 focus on. I have been dominant in my fleet shard for quite some time. Finishing off 1st at payout almost every day and don't get knocked down from the throne often.
Here the rewards for finishing 1st or finishing 500+ at payout is 1k fleet currency. Since I spend all my fleet currency on ship blueprints, I would faster develop toons ignoring fleet arena, but in the long run I will unlock farming zeta mats out of the ability fleet challenge much faster. More value in total. Zeta mats are used to upgrade some toon abilities to a meta changing level. These abilities are end game abilities and takes months from level 1 to your first zeta ability.
Daily challenge squads is where you farm really important gear from the very beginning, don't miss out on this and try to always complete the highest tier. I haven't had any problem here because of the toons I've aquired and my game strategy.
*Foot note* Keep in mind when reading below. Credits are crucial and if you don't have scoundrels for the credit heist, you will have a bad time achieving your goals when your credits fall short.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Who to farm and what order?
Toons to farm to cover all aspects of the game, also aiming for 7* Emperor Palpatine event:
Some farm order you can adjust, but i highly recommend to follow my way and farm all scoundrels I mention.
Cantina nodes
1. Land Calrissian - Scoundrel and rebel
2. choose between these two:
Tie Fighter Pilot - for ships and the raids
Kylo Ren - With zeta, overpowered on offense in arena, great without zeta too
I farmed TFP to 7* then i farmed Kylo Ren to 5* while character levelling up for wedge's cantina node. Had double cantina drops for Kylo.
3. Wedge Antilles - Wedge and Biggs are such a strong combo mid game and they're very much needed for the Emperor Demise Event, (farming Emperor Palpatine).
_______________________________________________________________________________
Hard nodes
1. Jedi Consular and Royal Guard - Jedi Consular is great for arena till gear vii/viii and gw as healer throughout, RG for a much needed dark side tank and works great in gw with speed down, stun and self-healing-unique
2. Count Dooku - if you bought the sith pack and got him. He is really strong early game in arena with his stun, ability block and counter chance. He falls off some when fellow shardsmen get their team synergy up and you start to encounter the current meta tanks, as baze. Since he's not a priority in cantina you won't be able to farm him fast enough to be really viable, but he's an alright 5th wheel.
3. All the strong toons which ain't farmable elsewhere, like First Order Tie Pilot - mod challenge and ship
_______________________________________________________________________________
Arena Shipments
1. Stormtrooper Han - Scoundrel and rebel
2. Unlock IG-88 3* - Scoundrel and droid, only so you can participate in the highest possible tier of credit heist
3. Admiral Ackbar - Rebel and fleet commander, arguably the strongest fleet commander, rebel for the Emperor Demise event
4. Finish off farming IG-88 or farm another strong toon.
I rarely just unlock toons, only if it's crucial for game strategy
_______________________________________________________________________________
Cantina Shipments
1. Boba Fett - Scoundrel, bounty hunter and considered an anti-meta toon, great in gw, ignores taunts, inflicts DoT, ability block and self ressurects.
2. Qui-Gon Jinn - Considered strongest jedi leader for arena, heavy assist, dispeller and manipulates turn meter. Standard companion in rancor raid in a teebo squad for p2-4.
3. Jawa Scavenger - jawa needed for !critical damage! mod challenge and AAT raid.
4. personal preferences from this point:
Fives - clone for aat squad
Ahsoka Tano - strong jedi, great ship, great synergy with Jedi-Knight-Anakin, but no top 5 jedi, fan favorite
Poe Dameron - Ressistance, mod challenge
Old Daka - nightsister and dark side healer, ressurects, stuns
First Order Officer - First order, mod challenge
_______________________________________________________________________________
GW shipments
1. Biggs Darklighter - rebel, Emperor Demise Event, raids and Wedge synergy
2. ships - Biggs, Jedi Consular, Imperial Tie Fighter, desired blueprints
(3.) Luminar Unduli - jedi, great healer, arguably best toon for gw (early-mid/late game), can be prioritized first for that very reason. I won't farm her on alt, she ain't top 5 jedi.
3. teebo or datcha - teebo for rancor and datcha for mod challenge and aat
_______________________________________________________________________________
fleet store
1. ships - If rank 1 in fleet arena, fastest way to farm ships, slave 1 and tie advance x1 should be farmed all the way, they're slow farmed
2. Wedge Antilles - rebel, emperor demise event, biggs synergy, raids, if you ignore/less focused on ships, farm him here and cantina. Otherwise you'll get him outta cantina.
3. Darth Maul/Rex/Chirrut Imwe - Darth maul for a Zaul team, Rex for an anti Zaul/meta team, chirrut great attacker, cleansing rebel, amazing with baze
4. Sun Fac - one of the greatest tanks in game, would say the best fast farmed f2p taunting tank.
_______________________________________________________________________________
guild store
1. Darth Maul/Rex - Darth maul for a Zaul team, Rex for an anti Zaul/meta team
2. Jawa Engineer/Jyn Erso - Jawa E for aat and mod challenge, Jyn Erso for rancor raid and great rebel leader, especially great synergy with the rogue1 debuffers as Cassian Andor, K2SO, Baze and Bodhi Rook.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Jedi team for Grand Master Yoda Event
Qui-Gon Jinn - Leader
Jedi Knight Anakin
Ayla Secura
Barriss Offee - optional Leader
Jedi Consular
Strongest Jedi Arena team
squad goal!
Qui-Gon Jinn - Leader
Jedi Knight Anakin
Ayla Secura
Grand Master Yoda
General Kenobi
I won't farm the fastest farmable toons for the Grand Master event, the reason for that is I don't want to farm and gear toons I won't have much need of. That's personal preference
Main account GMY event
unlocked 7*, viable toons in game
Barriss Offee - Leader
Qui-Gon Jinn
Luminar Unduli
Jedi Consular
Mace Windu
_______________________________________________________________________________
Level 1
From the very beginning you should gear up the toons you start out with, but don't farm shards for the lesser ones. You should rather farm shards for those you intend to switch in. I tried to minimize the effort on the toons i knew would fall off mid game. That's when protection comes up and strong team synergies which outplays the starting toons. I spent sim tickets on hard nodes and when farming gear that I needed in a bulk of 5 or more. Also spent sim tickets on cantina nodes when i unlocked that holotable. When i ocassionally ran out of sim tickets I bought some more from shipments. Doesn't cost much crystals if you do okey in arena.
Starting toons:
Jedi Consular - farm Jedi Consular is great in gw and can keep up in arena to about when protection comes up. He's one of the easiest to gear and one of the first to get to gear viii. He falls off when most toons can get to gear viii
Royal Guard - farm one of the strongest tanks in the game, early farmable, high drop rate in bronzium. The self-healing unique, auto taunt and basic attack with stun and speed down can really do wonders in gw. In the rancor raids he's used for fail proof in a teebo squad with the auto taunt and his speed down is really effective on the rancor.
Luke Skywalker - don't farm Great dps, but easily countered and too simple kit, stopped at level 50, 3*, gear v
Talia - don't farm Good early game healer before protection, stopped at level 41, 3*, gear iv. Can be viable some further.
Clone Wars Chewbacca - don't farm Sustainable tank, ok(+) in gw. Chewbacca is too slow and his kit is way too simple, stopped at level 31, 4*, gear iii
Ewok Scout - don't farm ok damage, simple kit, level 18, gear i
Clone Sergeant - put on hold good damage, turn meter manipulator, ok kit, level 18 gear i. Will develop once i start working on my clones for aat.
IG-86 - put on hold amazing dps with great assist, is really strong early on in the game, but I would rather recommend to focus on mid/late game goals. Early game is short. Droids are good in the raids and maybe with a general Grievous rework(?) they will become more viable again throughout.
_______________________________________________________________________________
P.S:
EA have announced a new game mode and a couple of fan favorite toon releases, this can change the game up quite much. The meta might change. Some people would say you shouldn't jump on the meta, since it will soon change again and just keep doing what you were doing. That's often correct, but sometimes the award of going mainstream is the way to speed up or achieving your goals. GL!
Damn, it got longer than intended.
Well read ;p
