Squad Specialising

SQUAD SPECIALISING

I’ve noticed throughout the clan and, indeed, throughout the entire game, that some players might need a little help with putting gear together in the right order to give them more wins in arena and clan wars. Gem is always banging on about ‘having an effective squad’ – I just want to go a step further into what I think that means. As always, what I’m about to describe is WHAT I DO WITH MY SQUAD. If you chose to adopt the same techniques, or partially follow my lead, or completely do your own thing, that’s fine. Do whatever works best for you 🙂

So, how do you ‘specialise’ your squad? Each of the three fighter types within the game has particular things they do really well but suck at other jobs and tasks. You wouldn’t drive a tractor around the Nürburgring and certainly wouldn’t plough a field with a Ferrari, would you? The same principle applies here; get each of your fighters to focus on doing what they are extremely good at, so they spend less effort doing stuff they can’t manage very well.

TANKS

Think of your tanks simply as shields to the damage your enemy is trying to inflict upon you. These barriers just soak up the punishment while the guys behind them inflict heavy damage on your opponent. Tanks are great at standing upright for long periods of time and taking large amounts of punishment. They can also inflict SOME damage, but not loads. So in order to make him do his job properly, try equipping him with gear that makes him stay upright for longer. You might hear me talking in game about setting up a ‘Super Tank’. This is a fighter in the best tank armour you can equip (preferably armour that has a chance of increasing its own health or self-rez), a weapon that actually HEALS HIMSELF rather than doing enemy damage (usually a sword), and the best, most suitable jewellery and gems that strengthen his need to stay alive – all your best health and armour gems need to go on this guy, even dodge to help him parry the blows. Whether you run a single tank, or two or more, everybody needs a Super Tank to soak up the worst of the damage.

Now that you have your Super Tank, make sure he stays on the frontline throughout the entire match. Putting a backstab arti on him means he’ll disappear behind enemy lines, inflict an inferior amount of damage, and allow the enemy to pick off your team while he’s gone! Myself, I use a runed starfish arti that continues the healing process and rezzes one dead squaddie on each pass of the wave. And being on the tank who stands up for the longest time, you get more chances to heal him and rez the others.

ARCHERS/ASSASSINS

These chaps do huge amounts of damage but strength-wise are a bit squishy, so they need a Super Tank to protect them from the Moshpit of Pain at the front. Armour-wise, your choices are much broader: angel and boss gear are great but consider anything that helps to up the damage or dodge incoming blows. The jury is out in the bows/xbows debate, so find one that again inflicts as much damage as possible in a short space of time, but daggers on assassins are a must. Jewellery and gems need to be high DPS givers, so damage and (eventually) crit will help deal the most damage. If you run more than one archer it’s always beneficial to try and give the one with the least DPS a little more help with armour and health gems, especially if your heavier damage dealers use a backstab. This is so that incoming enemy backstabbers don’t wipe out your squad quickly from the back of the field.

MAGES

These guys are actually the most diverse of all the fighters on your field, as with the right choice of weaponry and arti, they can be offensive, defensive or even both. Weapon types are varied but remember: sceptres offer the fastest rate of fire, followed by orbs, then wands (which are dead slow). Popular setups include damage/restore weapons that leech health from the enemy and give some back to your squad, as well as rez mages in tank armour. This guy takes a lot more punishment than a regular mage so is harder to kill. When he rezzes he doesn’t give as much energy back to the fighter but gives them a chance to receive healing from other sources. And at least the tank armour keeps him upright! Instakill weapons work well with mages in tank armour as IK is not reliant on spell power to do it’s job. Much to certain player’s disgust I run a heal mage, and have equipped him with a healing sceptre and as much spell power as I can. This means he can heal the team incredibly effectively but, with the fast recoil of the sceptre and the SP boost, is currently putting out nearly 16k of MDPS. As I always say, your mileage may vary.

So, in summary, make your team do what they do best: make tanks healthy and long lasting, make archers and assassins deadly and make your mages do whatever you feel they do best to plug the gaps in between. Things are always changing and weapons are always being boosted or nerfed, so try to listen to the other players within the clan; one of them might’ve just discovered the next perfect combo.

Much love, as always,

AC x