Friday, December 4, 2015

Building Your Dragons B10 Team

Unlike facing giants, braving dragons requires a little more than bravery and a pretty good aim. You need the right tools, the right team, and the right strategy.

Thankfully like all things in this game, that boils down to a few, easily reproducible core strategies that you can change as you need.  

The first is a slow and steady approach that relies on a core team of supportive monsters that ensure your teams lives longer than the dragon, while the second is a riskier, speed based approach  that relies on fast heals and copious DOTs.

So why does this team work? Let’s examine our scaly friend shall we?

The left crystal inflicts continuous damage, quickly eroding your team.

The right crystal acts like an overly-eager support and makes sure the dragon is frequently cleansed of negative effects and covered with immunity.

And the dragon… Well he’ll take a bite out of you if you bully any of his buddies, and constantly jets out blasts of putrid flame that will pepper you with DOTs and deal double damage when he’s irate and wounded.

To avoid a tragic and very messy (or crispy) death, we’ve got to get us our own cadre of friends to help us out.

In a Slow Team that means removing both those pesky crystals before hitting our draconic foe and making sure we've got the competence and courage to stay alive long enough to do it!



Cleanser: The one guy (or bird) you can’t live without. Whether it’s Konamiya with his constant use of “Peace”, Fedora with his buff, or Veromos with his passive, you need at least one (and often two) of these guys to keep you from falling prey to numerous dots courtesy of both Dragon and his jerk friend, left crystal.

Immunity: This guy can be the same as your cleanser (as in the case of Delphoi) or he can be an overly-ambitious buff spammer like Draco on violent. His role is simple: keep everyone covered with immunity so nothing lands. If you’re running a non-immunity cleanser like Konamiya, you will want one on the team. If your Veromos is swift and slow, that goes for you too.

Healer: If you haven’t learned by now, every team needs a healer (except maybe in arena AO but that’s another matter entirely). For facing the dragon you’ll need a dedicated healer to patch up all those burns and bites so you can keep on striking. As a result, you’ll likely want to lean towards a tanky or speedy AOE healer like Ariel or Belladeon (built with lots of hp or def) rather than something less stocky like Colleen or Hwahee. Chasun works well in this sort of team, but often will require additional support as she will be heavily targeted and you probably won’t have the Violent runes needed to keep her on her feet.

Reviver: Unless you're bringing a pair of fantastic healers (or an Ariel) you will probably need a reviver to save your sorry self when the crystals, baby dragons, or raging golems decide that your healer looks tasty or your Dot dealer would look better as a rug. 

Dot: As for any great foe, you need a dot dealer. Though you can technically replace this with an enemy HP based attacker like Spectra or Sigmarus, or you can run a powerful nuker like  Khali (who actually works pretty well) or Theomars, it will take a lot more turns and is likely to lead to failure in a slow team. Veromos fills this role nicely due to his dual use, but other possibilities exist in monsters like Baretta and Hermos.



A fast team, however, operates under an entirely different principle. 

You'll need a dedicated speed lead like Verdehile or Baretta, a fantastic speed buffer (pretty much Verdehile since Bernard will be eaten alive), a buff remover (like Megan if your Belladeon isn't consistent), an AOE healer, and a reliable cleanser or immunity giver to stand a chance.

Since much of this team is repeated, I'll focus on the new guys.



Speed Leader: If you aren't running Verdehile, you're probably not going to be able to do this, but crazier things have happened! In either case, you'll want your speed leader to fill in one of the roles on your team so Baretta as your lead and Dot is a very viable option.

Speed Buffer/Attack Gauge Booster: Sorry Bernard, you're the wrong bird for this joint. Ideally, you'll be running Verdehile, but if not you'll likely be looking at monsters like Wayne that have an elemental advantage in B10 or those that fill multiple roles like Megan who will fill your attack gauge, keep you buffed, and remove that pesky immunity, or Kahli who will act as a nuker and second DOT dealer to help you along. 

Speed Debuffer Option:
You may also choose to use a speed debuffer such as Spectra or Hwa who will also work as additional damage, but you will need to bring someone who can boost your team or keep them well buffed (like Megan) along for the ride.

Buff Remover: While a well built Belladeon will be able to fill this role (and therefore free it up for more healing, buffing, or damage) you will likely need a dedicated monster for this. Popular options include the much mentioned Megan, a fantastically built Serpent (wind can be extremely good), a well built (and usually Vampire) Geoffery, or something like a Xiao Lin (or any of the Kung Fu Girls) or Aegir who can steal effects.

Healer, Cleanser, Immunity, and Dot follow the same pattern as in the first team.


Need more monster options? 
Check out this nifty tool to find more monsters that fit these roles.
Searchable Monster Skill Database- http://sw.toolshack.ch/



Thursday, December 3, 2015

SW Research Results June 2015 Edition

This is a study I ran a few months ago on the data I collected from various databases, but since I'll be running a new one and there are new guildmates who've probably never seen this before, I wanted to give it a home here.

Ta-da! Presenting Serefina's first Summoner War Summon Times Infographic! All the information you know and love in an easy to digest format for the less-statistically savvy or the visually inclined!

New one is in the works, but Serefina's got a life to live too!

Note: 
Population estimated based off of 20 Million Downloads, 3.3% digital app retention rate, revenue distribution between Com2us Domestic and Global profits, and medium estimate of 20 scrolls summoned per user per month. 5 Star population further estimated based off 0.5% calculated rate.