Arena Season 5

[Jadedbacon]

@atom @partshade Ah that makes sense 1600 – 20% (320) and then divided by 2 would be roughly 550 (these aren’t exact numbers, just going off of memory)

Makes the set actually decent, but just nowhere near as powerful as Valiant. Wonder if you have Resilience on the banner if that would reduce the amount of damage the banner would take when it splits the damage.

Did make a big mistake last night and somehow brought all my opponents down to <25% while they had the Anger Management set… Match ended quick :( (I was trying to take down the banner without KOing any birds and had enough chain/dragon/beep damage that all the enemy birds got brought down to less than 25%)

[KillerKea]

@jadedbacon Currently the linked or Bird Bond set when it works cause the enemy bird to only take 30% of the normal damage. I verified that by watching by Spies secondary damage which normally does 598 to all enemies only do 178. The linked heart is is supposed to reduce damage by 20% and half of the damage is shared with the banner when it works 60% of the time.

The formula Rovio uses which calculates damage is incorrect. Let’s keep things simple and say that you do 100 damage. After the 20% damage reduction from the linked heart you do 80 damage. After sharing the damage the banner should take 40 and the bird should take 40, but in the game each only take 30 damage. Therefore this set is also bugged and significantly more powerful than it should be. This banner combined with the Witch using the Honey set to heal might also be Over Powered.

Has anyone gotten either of Red’s items from the banner breaker set without cheating? That set still doesn’t appear it the Set Items of the Golden Pig in fact both my golden pig machines only show set items for the arena now.

[GeMek]

Okay, so haven’t been active for a week. It’s kinda funny how everyone goes for Squire + Mana + Time Jump/Ressurrection. After the platinum week ended I was lucky enough to get ressurection, while advancing to Diamond. This week I can get TJ or Resilence, though I started really, really late and I am 5,4k points behind the leader (I have 295 points right now xD) also today completed the Vampiric set for banner. I’m not sure if it’s useful, though (it’s 279 HP behind my best items combined and max HP my banner can have atm is 5195, so whaddya think?)

[Pointless]

FINALLY the 5x…got Valiant Head on my first rolls and the Tapestry on my third. Fully upgraded immediately as LCs not really an issue (GCE…sorely missed) and played right away. Firstly, Reborn and Save Me are now useless, opt for the crit proc of Twin Lighting or BEEP/Artillery if you use those classes. Lost the toss two times in a row, but doesn’t really matter as Chuck is up before much damage and is chili devastating… this set is soooo OP but sooooo much fun

[Atom]

I did good on the 5x this month too. Last month I completed all the set items for the birds. This month I just made it to Diamond this week so I was able to really go to town on the arena sets. Got all the pieces except the Bird Bond set (both pieces) and the Frozen Hide. I did get the Valiant set and I have to agree, it is totally OP. Coupled with the Vengeful emblem it is really devastating to the enemy.

[Ryogo Kusama]

75 gold worth of spins with 5x Rainbow Riot and only 1x Set Item, what the hell… :(

[GeMek]

Welp, got another sinister head. And no, not on 5x, I’m 5 days back on the calendar. While I don’t care about 5x, the situation with the katana makes me a bit worried. IF I won’t miss any days from now on I’ll get it on 30th.

[Pointless]

So finally lost a battle with Valiant Set…only took the enemy winning the toss and getting two TJ procs in the first turn to take out my whole team. No real recovery from that especially when I revive just in time to face a Chuck rage and lose two birds again.
Not complaining at all as I was kind of trying to lose to see what it would take against this set. This was after 13K (including objectives) in Diamond on day one. Crazy. This takes any strategy out of arena (if there really was any to begin with) as it is pure gun slinging now with this set. Power team, no thought to defense, as being KOd for one turn is equivalent of “wasting” a turn using a support ability. Win the toss and win the battle in 2-3 turns, 3-stars.

[Jadedbacon]

@pointless I’m with you on this one. Got Valiant and been using that + vengeful (only got a 1 star Vengeful, but it’s not that big of a health drop). I’ve been using Mana for the most part with Chuck, but it hasn’t been as effective lately and want to go back to TLightning. Going to wait until the Jan update and see if I can’t get more shards after the update. Have some old sets I can scrap for extra shards.

I use to hate the Knock 3 birds out with one attack, but the enchanted gear makes that easier. Now my new bane is the knock out the enemy banner without knocking out any enemy birds. Given Dragon/Beep/(when I get it upgraded) TLightning/Chain attack, it makes it rather difficult.

[Anonymous]

@jadedbacon
When you’re trying to achieve the “KO zero birds” objective, why not switch weapon sets so you don’t do all that splash damage? Protector’s Aura (Steel Force/Steel Wall) is good for Red, and Artillery Strike (Ballista/Ballista Bolts) for the Blues. You should probably bench Chuck for Bomb and change Spies to Tricksters too, for that matter.
(Apologies if I made any incorrect assumptions about your team/equipment. No time to go back to old posts to see who/what you usually use.)

[Jadedbacon]

@poptimus you are correct. I tend to switch to different weapon sets when attempting that objective. The problem is those aren’t enchanted so when facing enemy teams that are running enchanted Dragon/Beep/TLightning/etc then my birds get slaughtered even if I redirect their attacks to the banner.

Also it’s tougher since there’s really only 2 birds you can use if you want to redirect: Avenger and Princess. Rogues run the risk of KOing an enemy Bird. So if you run Princess you might not be able to keep the banner alive long enough. If you run avenger with witch your damage might not be enough to burn down the enemy banner fast enough. I used to run Paladin (Steel)/Princess (Honey)/Skulkers (Artillery) but haven’t tried since the enchanting update… Might need to give that one another shot.

Not saying it’s impossible, just tougher :) Thanks for the advice though. Need to keep thinking on how to overcome this.

[Atom]

@jadedbacon I agree that the knock out the enemy banner without knocking out a bird can be one of the harder goals. The Valiant set does make it easier though. I also use Samurai/Grand Slam, Bard/Nightmare, and either Tricksters/Artillery or Cap’n/Finisher for that goal. Getting the knock out from either Grand Slam or Nightmare helps eat away at the banner’s health and the bonuses from Artillery or Finisher really helps too. The big thing to remember is to not use those items that have a lot of chain attack.

[Pointless]

@jadedbacon been using TJ myself (although I certainly see the use for Vengeful) as I have a 3-star, upgraded emblem. Also, as I use SeaDog, am reluctant to use something else as when I get a TJ proc on the bird SD is linked to (usually Pal/Sam), it is simply too devastating. But am in full agreement regarding Mana…somewhat less useful when the bird revives so quickly (ie can afford to be KOd by Rogues/Druid venom), also find TL to be more useful in general and especially in regards to the KO three birds in one attack objective.

I also am finding the win without KOing a bird more problematic now. I am assuming you are at a similar level as me (lvl 50, all mastery 12, diamond) so enchantments mean a lot. It is not as easy to switch out sets and still remain competitive, as others have suggested, especially when the objective by nature leaves you open to full retaliation. I have completed this objective using my enchanted Blessed Set (my go to before I got the Valiant), Rogues/Save Me (obviously avoiding Mana) and still used Paladin/DragonBreath and SeaDog/Scissors as these are my enchanted sets. Very weird to actually wish AGAINST a chain proc, but this actually worked fairly well for me. Chili goes to Red obviously (unless enemy banner is very weak in which case I simply don’t use it). Not perfect, as you can get unlucky with said chain procs, but worked more often than not

[Anonymous]

@jadedbacon @pointless
I’ll be in diamond next week (I just didn’t have the time/patience to grind up to diamond when competition was so heavy in wood/stone during the first few weeks of the season), so I’ll start to see what everyone’s talking about with all these overpowered opponents. I’ve run into plenty of Valiant sets in Gold and Platinum the last couple of weeks, but the birds and banners I’ve faced aren’t generally as strong as you guys are dealing with. Lots of mastery 10/11 birds, and a few 12s. (Mine are all still 7/8/9.)
My team for the KO zero birds objective has always been avenger with protector’s aura, witch with honey, and tricksters with artillery. I don’t have any banner sets, so I’ve been going with a critical strike top, vitality flag, and weakness or resurrection emblem, depending on opponent’s healing abilities. I Piggy McCool past mana sets and weakness emblems, but otherwise haven’t run into any problems. None of the new banner sets make completing this objective any harder; only very highly enchanted weapons do, as you’ve both stated.

[CDRGuy]

My favorite for the no KO objective is Skulkers, Captain, Red of Choice. Hit banner with Skulkers, then use captain to buff red, and release the chili. >6k damage in the first strike. If you’ve got ballista or get lucky with the crits, you can go even higher. I usually use Save Me, as it causes the enemies to hit Captain first. This strategy also works well with the blessed set and Paladin to keep your birds alive.

If you’ve got to use Witch, have her buff Red before the rage attack to get +20%.

[Pointless]

@poptimus I am actually quite interested in the opposition you’ll face in Diamond. I am perhaps reading a bit more in to your comments than intended, but it seems to me that you are facing far more variety in opponents in terms of Banner Sets and even bird combinations than I am. I believe this has more to do with your Mastery being 7-9 than being in Platinum. I am somewhat regretting being lvl 50, all M12 (at least as far as Arena is concerned) as the opposition is very similar…all Valiant Set and typically Power Team (although occasionally Witch is thrown in). I am fortunate to have an Enchanted Mana Set as well as Twin Lightning, as recently Thunderbird/Skulkers is increasing in popularity simply due to the probability of critical proc added to the +X% damage stacked from these classes. Can make for a very short battle if you aren’t careful and/or are unlucky.

I think we are getting sidetracked here, as I believe what @jadedbacon is referring to (I certainly am) is not what classes are suitable for objectives (specifically the “win without KOing an enemy bird” here), but the Sets more suitable to achieve this goal. Most of us are not so flush with Shards (ie LC) as to enchant multiple sets to max, so we obviously would concentrate on the ones most used for the birds we most often choose. I would think for most of us this means sets such as Dragon Breath that offer Chain (very useful in Arena). What this means is that other Sets become significantly under powered given the nature of the competition. It therefore becomes not quite as simple as to say “use Steel Force instead” as this is akin to bringing a knife to a gun fight.

[Atom]

@pointless I know what you mean about some sets getting upgraded before others. I’m still mastery level 9/10 on most of my classes so I still see a good variety but since I got to diamond there have been a lot more Valiant sets.

I’ve taken a slower approach to upgrading my sets and have enchanted each set at least once and the ones I use the most (Dragonbreath, Mana, Twin Lightning) a second time I know most people can’t enchant everything all the way up at once but I did this to help give me some versatility when doing different goals.

[Pointless]

@atom I am not sure that is the best approach. Similarly as has been put forth under the Mastery thread, I think it’s more beneficial ultimately to concentrate Shard Enhancement on your most used sets (assuming they are 52). I know the cost quickly gets prohibitive based on the current inadequate awarding of Shards (perhaps I am naive yet I continue to hope that this will be rectified), but I see no point in Enchanting all sets to level 1 at the expense of a most used set to a higher level (even saving the Shards for this purpose).
I will tell you as M12 you will find almost all of your Arena opponents have fully upgraded equipment and competing with an array of middling sets will be problematic.

[Anonymous]

@pointless @jadedbacon @atom
Point taken on the set enchantment. I’ve been doing it similarly to atom, and obviously it’s been working for me just fine, but again I’m not facing the same insane level of competition that would necessitate focusing enchantments on a small handful of sets.
I’ll definitely keep you posted tegarding my competition in diamond once I get there. I suspect you’re right about it being easier and more varied due to my birds’ lower mastery level.

[Atom]

@pointless I can see your point about that. It also makes sense if they raise the level cap again. Then you won’t have to upgrade as many new sets.

I’ve encountered a few teams that have a similar mastery level or just above but are powered at least 300 points above me and it definitely looks like they have upgraded sets. I initially upgraded everything by one to help me identify which items to keep after the update and I scrap a bunch of my duplicate set items. I got a lot of duplicates last month during the 5x Rainbow Riot.

[KillerKea]

There is absolutely no need to enchant your sets up to the max. In fact I think it is a big mistake unless you don’t mind spending lots of money to get a lot of shards. I earned the arena master achievement last week and I don’t have a single item enchanted beyond rank 3!

You generally get to fight opponents that are close to your power rating. If you enchant your favorite sets to high levels, you will raise your power rating significantly so switching sets isn’t as easy. You will encounter a lot of opponents who have done the same as you so you don’t really have an advantage with high rank items anyway. You will encounter more opponents that either cheated to get a ridiculous amount of LC or spent a lot on LC and have the best sets at very high ranks which is why people with power ratings of 1400+ encounter so many opponents that have the valiant set.

The smart thing to do is to gradually increase the rank of the items you use. Besides each rank only improves an item 5%. Upgrading one item to rank 10 costs 55 shards. You can upgrade 18 items to rank 2 for 54 shards. Having 18 items with a 10% improvement is much better than one item with a 50% improvement.

[GrauGeist]

I went hunting for Mana, but only duplicated a RC piece that I had already upgraded. Still in Diamond and doing OK, I suppose.

[Jadedbacon]

@pointless Yeah, I’m in the same position you are (Diamond/Lvl 50/M 12) and all I run into are Lvl 50/M 12 with fully enchanted sets, so oftentimes if the opponent gets even a couple lucky TJs or other such procs it results in a loss or a close win. Trying to avoid the loss while also trying to not knock out any birds becomes quite the problem! If I don’t win the coin flip I just ignore the objective(s) and just go for the win. If all my sets were upgraded that’d be a different story, but someone crunched the numbers and the amount of money you need to sink into this game to have everything enchanted is way beyond what I feel even remotely comfortable spending money on a free to play game! Realistically though, every bird only needs 1-2 sets enchanted to be at their best for arena and 1-2 (3?) banner sets maybe. Also don’t get me started on what I will think of Rovio if they decide to raise the level cap…

I’m with you that I hope that we get more ways to get enchanting shards. I’m guessing we have yet to see how many shards we will get with the end of week league wheel. Given how much we’re getting from the daily calendar, I fear it won’t be much.

I’m thankful that during the last x5 I got extremely lucky and got all the Banner Sets at lvl 52/Diamond level, so I can play around with the new ones… but I just can’t think of a combination that is as strong as Valiant!

[Pointless]

@killerkea I understand where you are coming from, but I have to disagree. You are correct that there is no need to enchant to high levels (or at all) as any Arena advantage is negated by facing similar opponents. This seems to be the case regardless of what level/mastery/enchantment one possesses, as it should be.
I know this is the Arena thread, but what is not being mentioned here is the significant advantage these Shard Enchantments give in PvE as opposed to PvP. I am replaying cave levels for the fun of it and, as anyone who is doing the same can attest, Enhancement is a huge advantage. I know this, for many, is a been-there-done-that proposition, but bear in mind this applies for all PvE content including new events and new caves in the future.
I at least (cannot speak for all) really use very few sets, in fact Blues and Chuck are the only two birds that I even somewhat regularly use two different sets with. Definitely based on my playing style, but I don’t think anyone can honestly put forth that all sets are equally playable, so I fail to grasp how having 18 sets partially upgraded is better than having one’s alpha sets Enchanted to a higher level.

[Pointless]

Interestingly enough, I have both today and yesterday encountered a bit more variety in opposition in Diamond. Not sure if it was pure coincidence that I used to draw seemingly endless streaks of Valiant/Power combinations, but now I am seeing some welcome variety including the return of Venomous! This may be a thoughtful attempt to “defeat” Valiant, as KOing a bird with venom damage technically happens on the opponent’s turn meaning that they don’t get credit for already being down a turn, somewhat nullifying the advantage of Valiant. Don’t know if this is a sign of adaptation or merely another coincidence, but if the former, certainly a welcome change to the monotony.