In case you are keeping track..

[Stormseye]

The reign is over...

There have been many changes in the last few months and the most notable is the long awaited quenching of the Disable Passive ability. Too long has the Prisoner and more recently Gambler/Vipers/NoTB been able to easily unseat blockers with this ability. The introduction (and quick fix) of Singularity talismans finally put the these powerhouse teams into a more manageable format. Though the Gambler/Killer Prime combo is still dominant in the Arena, it is by no means the ultimate copy cat team anymore. More and more allies and Eddies are appearing in teams that could not be viable before the Singularity talismans. Some may feel that there has been too many new talisman sets released recently but I would argue that these talismans, more than the release of new characters has allowed for more diversity in the Arena and that to me this is a good direction.


Crave is the new King...


We have also seen in the last few months an increase in the number of passive healing allies and talismans which has lengthened the amount of time it takes to complete a battle and has created new challenges to be considered when building your team. Many teams often rely on heavy hitters to "one shot" opponent teams all the while healing themselves in the process and repeating attacks via Warlord talismans or other means. While these teams can dish out huge damage they always lack a few basic protections. The balance of a group is precarious in that if you rely strictly on damage via Killer Prime/Gambler you end up lacking in protection with Immunity and Cleanse. On the other hand if your team is built to withstand all this damage you tend to not be able to do enough damage to offset the intense healing from your opponents' passives. Enter Crave. This negative effect has been in the shadows mostly and only with the appearance of the Major Malakhov has it been making a resurgence. I rediscovered it after facing Necroflip and his Gunner Krampus. I was not paying attention and healed my party with Alchemist and ended up killing my Set due to the Crave. At the time Krampus was not available so I noted that it would be something I could consider trying to implement into a build. Within a week the new event was released and low and behold Krampus was available. I purchased him and began building a team.


As stated, balancing a team is involved and a constant give and take, power for protection. While looking at the top teams I noticed that many of them had displaced their healing/cleaning Alchemy talismans for the new Singularity set. This leaves those teams open to negative effects once again. Going back to basic game abilities like Stun/Freeze would allow a lock of those heavy hitters and prevent my team from being destroyed in one round. Krampus is perfect for this roll as his basic attack Freezes, can Crave and Curses enemies and he has a chance for extra turns to boot. This makes him quite devastating against these teams with no cleanse or constant immunity. Every opponent team is different in some slight way so you must change tactics per battle but the below two teams I present have enabled me to overcome every current top team out there. The first team was my primary attack team and is now the team I use against Ferryman builds since my Crave team is unable to deal with his unique passive (yet).


Virus Eddie - Radiant/Warlord - Radiant Talismans work well here for keeping those big damage dealers from gaining offensive effects while Warlord helps power up Virus as your power hitter. His passive was key to dealing with blockers prior to the shift from Alchemy to Singularity. The primary abilities I use are System Failure for stuns across the board and Infect. Infect is great in that is can inflict Fear which can also become Doom. If the opponent has no way to cleanse Doom then they are done for. Initially he was equipped with Primordial but I felt his damage was lacking so I changed them.

Alchemist - Angel/Venom - This is your main cleanser and secondary damage dealer. Angels keep him from being stunned and Venom helps add some extra negative effects to your opponent, most notable is Crave.

The Madam - Singularity - Designed to protect your blocker from Passive Disable she also is quite useful at removing beneficial effects and sleeping opponents who cannot cleanse. A bonus of Singularity is their ability to steal all beneficial effects of a single enemy every turn. This has sometimes caused her to hit for 40k and in some instances it has caused her to get Ghost and die horribly but it is most likely a bug.

Set - Labyrinth - My favorite blocker since his release, the Labyrinth talismans seem tailor made for him. Grand Deception is so useful with it's Trap effect locking up Viper Charlottes and his extra turn ability makes him the best blocker in the game right now. A cosmic talisman with Invisibility or one with a Burn effect would make him complete for me.


Crave Team

Pharaoh Ramesses - Mark/Sustaining/Cosmic - Pharaoh is great for his passive and his team survivability is amazing. I had some success with him earlier this year but in the current Arena his is really shining. His talismans can easily be changed as I have tried Redemption, Eternity and a few other setups with success. The main ability I use is Sun God which inflicts Crave and can have extra turns. Wedjet's Gaze is also great for removing Golden Effects. His passive prevents permadeath so Ankh of Life has saved my team and allowed me a victory on multiple times. The Mark talismans really help in dealing damage to protected enemies. Often times the Mark tends to be the killer of the attack.

Gunner Krampus - Alchemy/Cosmic - There may be overlap in cleansing and room for alternate talismans but I like the extra protection and his main task is really the setup man. Thresh completely stops enemies from taking any action on their turn and even Trooper Talisman Charlottes get Frozen before their Perfect Immunity lands. Multiple attacks allow you to pick and choose who you want to hit and helps control the battle. Once frozen you are free to hammer them with Ramesses Sun God ability. Once Crave is on the opponent all those heals from passives and Charlotte just amount to damage. So many enemy kills by their own healing hands.

Set/Madam - Both run the same setup as above and for the same reason.


Hope this helps you guys look for new opportunities and ways to beat those tough top teams. See you on the battlefield.