There have been lots of complaining and very little talk about strategy in these forums. Obviously, we all compete against each other and a lot of people don't feel like sharing their strategies to keep some competetive edge but I think that's a bit boring. So here goes, my strategies in PvP. Please share yours as well, and discuss those that are posted.
I have developed three different offensive teams for PvP - one basic and two "special" teams. The basic team is used against defensive teams without crowd control and The Prisoner, and the specials are for taunting teams and The Prisoner teams respectively. The one thing I still have a problem with are teams with Corrupt General (and no Prisoner) as I don't have Hell Hound, nor Artillery Dog.
Basic team
Carriage Rider Eddie - freeze set, holy set, single green
Corrupt General - freeze set, thief set
Angel of Pain - holy set, penetrating set, health set
Warrior Troll - guardian set, void shield set, single green
All fully sharded except for the CG which is not full on his power move, but I never use that anyway.
The idea here is to provide protection and enemy stat destruction with the troll while the magus characters work together for damage and crowd control. The AoP takes away any shields and immunities the enemies may have so that CG and CRE can get some stuns and freezes in. The combination of MR down on all enemies from CG followed by Angel of Pains power skill (Storm) is devastating. CR Eddie provides healing when needed, either by Spell Vamp or Preserve. Also, using Wither to buff his magic, plus the MR down from CG, his Torch gets extremely powerful. CG also helps providing fury quick which is great to clear annoying enemy buffs like Endure or any shields. If the enemy have a Siege character I swap the Troll for Angel of Strife to help the other characters survive. Multiple strong sentinels is what really can give this team problems.
Team against taunters
RTTH Eddie - burn set, strenght set, health set
Desert Marauder - warp set, piercing set, strength set
The Nomad - assassin set, strenght set, single green
Warrior Troll - guardian set, void shield set, single green
Nomad and Troll fully sharded, DM and RTTH Eddie completely unsharded
The idea here is to bring hell to Mummy and SSD. Desert Marauders perfect hit passive ensure full damage hits even when I don't get to control my toons, The Nomad provides ATK UP for two turns to increase damage and Troll provides shields as well as good damage. RTTH Eddies present basic attack has a chance to both reset and get critical strikes, so he can actually provide a fair bit of damage. RTTH also have a very good self heal (which also buffs his attack), which have provided crucial many times, and The Nomad self-heals on his basic attack, so they tend to survive the longest. The Nomads power move Mirage provides Vanish as well, which also helps survivability. As long as the enemy doesn't have stunners, this team is very effective. If they have Warrior Troll I sub in Angel of Pain to take away the shield. Angel of Pain in the taunting team haven't been much of a problem though. Would be fun to see what RTTH Eddie could do if he was fully sharded.
Team against teams with The Prisoner
Mummy Eddie - stun set, health set, single blue
Angel of Strife - energy set, health set, single blue
Sentinel Soulless Demon - energy set, blind set
Angel of Strife - immunity set, energy set, single blue
The AoS with immunity and the SSD are fully sharded, the other AoS have a few shards and Mummy is completely unsharded
The idea here is simple: Keep the AoS alive forever through it's power move combined with The Prisoner cancelling his Block passive and slowly grind the other team down. It is slow and boring, but extremely effective. There are many things to keep in mind for this to work though. First, you need an AoS with full shards on the power move so that the immunity and invincibility (and taunts) lasts for three rounds. You also need an immunity set on it to avoid getting taunted or stunned if you don't get to go first. You also want a lot of energy sets and/or power generating toons, because ideally you want to use AoS power move already in the first round even when you go first. I will substitute the stun set for an energy set on Mummy when I have enough xp runes. If I had Allied General I would try him out in this team for his power generation.
If The Prisoner dies, your passives will start to work again, and since the invincibility doesn't help when AoS takes the damage from your other toons through the Block passive, you need to keep The Prisoner alive until either all the other enemy toons are dead or until all your own toons other than AoS are dead. You also have to remember that The Prisoner will transfer negative effects. So, whenever he uses his power move and gets sealed, your AoS have to use his power move directly. Thus, if The Prisoner transfers the seal to your AoS in the next round it will expire in the same round as the invincibility and immunity. You will also have to think about what other toons you use as some can inflict burns that remove beneficial effects, which The Prisoner then can transfer to your AoS.
The composition of the rest of your team is not that important, as long as they help generate power. However, if the defensive team have Angel of Fear, you really want to make sure you have a strong enough team to not get a kill in the first round since the extra turn they then get may be enough to kill your AoS. Having two AoS in the team will help mitigate some of this risk as you will only need one alive to win.
There are only a few enemy toons that can cause troubles for this strategy and they are obvious. Angel of Pain and Death Dog will take away that first round of immunity as well as shortening the time of your invincibility and immunity from the power move. The other troublesome one is the Gunner Corrupt Rescuer. As she refills her Titan Shield every round, you can easily end up in a situation with only your AoS and her left alive, leading to a draw as AoS attack is not strong enough to punch through the Titan Shield.
