Advice on Roster Building

[druid138]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on the best next steps for my roster.

Some brief background . . . I'm at Level 86, with 87 achievements (including 3-skulls on all quests) -- thanks to all my troopers for their help getting this far! I began playing on Day 1 and played daily but pretty casually until a couple months ago. Since then, I'm playing all 50 troopers daily plus whatever else I can squeeze in with my SoT, focusing on building a vast, solid team of maxed characters. I'm in a good routine of evolving my current roster (both character level and talismans) with this approach. But, I'm at a point where some second opinions would be helpful.

First, I have had pretty miserable luck with the Book of Souls (surprise, right?). Somehow, I managed to get an Assassin CotD (fortunately, right at the moment where I needed someone like him). Otherwise, I don't really have any premium characters. I look at some of my troopers' rosters, and my jaw drops open when I see the generals, premium Eddies, PDKs, trolls, angels, etc. So, question one is how does that happen? What do I need to do to get these premium characters? It seems like the consensus is to not spend ironite or trooper badges on souls (and my own experience can validate that), but then what's the secret?

Second, I have enough materials to evolve about 3 gunners and 3 sentinels to 5-star, but I'm not sure I have any worthy of that. I've just been sitting on the materials, hoping for better luck with the BoS. Do you see anyone in my roster worth evolving now?

Third, do you see any other characters in my roster worth focusing on? For upcoming 5-star evolutions, I'm thinking my last two Eddies (Wickerman and SoL), Pharaoh Dog (sentimental favorite), Blue GS, Red Soulless Demon, Assassin Mine, Corrupt Owl (or "scarfie" as my daughter calls him -- her favorite character, so another sentimental favorite). Do any others jump out?

By the way, ignore most of my talisman assignments, as they are mostly just there for inventory reasons (except for my regularly used characters).

Thanks in advance!

druid138-6195

[Kardas]

All right, let me start with the first part. AFAIK there's little you can do with the Book of Souls. It's all luck and it sucks if you're one of the people whose dice are consistently low. I may have some great characters, but I have hardly any premium Eddies. People having great Gunner/Assassin characters and I haven't gotten a single 4 or 5* out of them. Also, your luck can suddenly swing around. It took me till late October before I got the real A-listers.
I do spend my Ironite on souls though, and I still think it's my best use of it (I already play enough so I don't need SoT refills).

As for the team: Speed of Light is pretty great. I still use him for the Gunner LoL dungeon to great effect and he's a fantastic supporter. The Educated Fool has a pretty great one too.
I got my Pharaoh Dog after my PDK but I love it and it's gotten buffs since I used it. Good choice there. Red Soulless Demon is a very safe choice, and I hear the Sentinel Undead Rescuer is popular in PVP. The Assassin Axis Soldier offers great damage allegedly, but I've never used it. Assassin Mine is pretty great but has a few caveats (I wrote about it today in its character thread). Pharaoh Sun Spirit is another solid PVE option. I hear the Masked Harpy's also pretty neat. As for Sentinels, I used the Sentinel Allied Soldier till 4*, so he's decent, as is the Undead one.
Not sure about your Gunners though, never used the ones you have.

Hope this helps!

[Piece of Mind]

You can't go wrong with the Eddies, Pharaoh Dog, Pharaoh Sun Spirit...

Gunner-wise Undead Hunter is a great thief character with good stats that I used for a while until the Gunner Possessed Rockets was buffed. Chattering Skulls has Rise - the ability that makes PSS so good, it's also worthwhile.

As for Sentinels the Pharaoh Sand Spirit has outrageously good defenses and makes a solid tank. Haven't tried the rest but the Newborn of Light also looks decent.

[druid138]

Thanks for the great advice - it's really helpful!

[Schadenfreud-0217]

From what I can see in your list, the worthwhile characters to MAX out are:
Eddies:
Soldier Eddie - good all around, with decent AoE dmg and Heal which the AI uses
Grim Reaper Eddie - very nice for PvP with his multiple hit and multiple turn attacks
Mummy Eddie - very good defender in PvP with his AoE taunt and cleanse
Speed of Light Eddie - my favorite supporter, amazing heal, fury steal, power steal and buff blocker

Allies:
Golden Son (Warrior) - high AoE dmg, multiple attacks and his power ability is also damaging and AoE, which makes him good for auto-farm
Allied Soldier (Magus) - pretty decent all-around, good in both PvE and PvP with high basic attack dmg
Gunner Dog (Gunner) - I haven't tried it out yet, but I see potential in this one, looks as promising as GS (Gunner)
Undead Rescuer (Sentinel) - very popular in PvP, his basic attack has a chance to block buffs on all enemies which is very useful
Allied Solider (Sentinel) - nice heal and cleanse, not that big on damage though
Pharaoh Sun Spirit (Warrior) - tried it on one of my troopers, very nice for auto-farm
Desert Golem (Gunner) - Troll (Warrior)'s little brother - very nice AoE true damage, though he lacks his passive
Soulless Demon (Assassin/Warrior) - both are decent with max skill shards, because of the Immunity lasting 2 turns, though they can be squishy

Those are my thoughts on your roster, I may have missed a character or two but all in all you should chose whether you want to focus PvP or PvE and make a setup with synergy (e.x. for PvE Soldier Eddie + Soulless Demon (Warrior) + Pharaoh Sun Spirit (Warrior) + Golden Son (Warrior)) so you can farm anything on auto and do it quickly and without risk of dying.