Theorycrafting new top arena teams

Hey y'all, so the release of Commander Luke (CLS) is already shaking up the meta; we can see that he's already up to near 1/4 of the rank 1 teams on the swgoh.gg meta report. In my opinion, the strongest team of the previous meta was Rex, GK, R2D2, Thrawn, and DN. There are other powerful options (zQGJ and that Thrawn, DT, ShT comp both spring to mind,) but I think that was the most balanced on both offense and defense. There's no consensus best team yet in the new meta, but I think there's not such a large pool of viable characters to choose from, given the strength of the available characters. Let's also remember the cardinal rule of arena: anyone can win on offense, so the secret to maintaining rank is a team that performs well on defense. This is a big blow to frequent favorites such as zQGJ or Resistance. Also, for these purposes we're going to assume that all the relevant zetas have been acquired. Ease of gearing is a consideration, but not while determining what the strongest team comp will be. Most people don't have triple zeta on their CLS now, but in two months time that becomes more common. Without further ado are my attempts to figure out what the new best comp will emerge as:

 

Leaders:

Although there are a number of potentially viable leaders, I think the two that will be in flux the most are Rex and CLS. Of course, as the popularity of leaders changes this will change the viability of other comps; zMaul in particular would love for Rex to become less prominent in the meta. For the purposes of this, however, I will just be looking at Rex and CLS. The best comp around Thrawn, zVader, zMaul, etc has mostly been figured out, and CLS doesn't stand to slot into many of those teams.

 

Rex:

Rex is a far weaker stand alone toon than CLS, but comes with a stronger and more flexible leader ability. His kit is also a bit underappreciated; Squad Discipline is an extremely powerful ability that has almost single-handedly stopped any debuff based team from rising to the top of the meta. Dispelling, preventing future debuffs, and team-wide Turn meter to boot, all in one ability! His 2nd special also does decent work in shredding tanks, although he'll never match the individual contributions that CLS can. Rex also has the advantage of benefiting all toons with his leadership abilities, which renders him more effective in the "plug-n-play" comps that have become popular in recent months.

 

Commander Luke:

Commander Luke (CLS) is arguably the strongest individual character in the game right now, and certainly in the top 5. He does it all: great damage, great survivability, self-cleanse, and good methods for controlling opponents. The drawback to Luke, however is that his Leader ability only benefits himself and R2D2 in the current top comp. Other options such as Han, Old Ben may not bring the same benefits as Thrawn, DN, or GK, even with the leader boost. Luke teams are also much more susceptible to Debuff based teams than Rex, as Rex's team-wide cleanse is replaced with Luke self cleanse.

 

I think there's two questions that need to be evaluated. First, who are the 4 "plug-n-play" characters to slot with Rex? And second, who are the best options for a CLS led squad?

 

Plug-n-plays:

For these purposes, we will only be looking at the existing top four characters, and CLS. While there are other viable options, it's likely that 4 of these 5 will end up at the top of the heap. They are all too versatile and powerful to be effectively replaced by anyone in a Rex comp. Let's look at each of the 5 and see which 4 work the best in a team:

 

GK:

GK is the premier tank in the game right now. His auto taunting ability means that he must be killed or Fractured in order to reach the squishies, and in the meantime he offers the team a cleanse and a burst assist attack that are both supremely useful. He pairs extremely well with R2D2, since R2 can effectively nullify Fracture on GK with his Smokescreen. It is tough to justify cutting GK, as removing him would leave the team without a tank, or a good target for Smokescreen.

 

R2D2:

R2D2 is a supremely versatile character. His Number Crunch zeta offers tons of stats to the team, and Combat Analysis can be an additional cleanse in a pinch, with the note that it can't cleanse the highest priority debuff in stun. Smokescreen is an exceptionally useful ability that both allows the team to bypass counter attacks and serves as a pseudo taunt for a character. As mentioned, it pairs very well with GK, as it can neutralize a Fracture on GK by making the rest of the characters untargetable. R2 also offers great utility with his stun on basic, and his Burning debuff is extremely useful vs zMaul, as well as being a good way to bait opponent cleanses.

 

Grand Admiral Thrawn:

Thrawn is the character that started the downfall of the triple cleanse with Chaze meta. His fracture ability is incredibly versatile, in that it can either lock down a priority threat in order to single it out, or it can be thrown on a tank to allow the team to prioritize its threats as it chooses. The presence of Thrawn alone makes single tank teams difficult to justify without an R2 to Smokescreen after a Fracture. The versatility in Thrawn's kit also means that if your Thrawn goes first on offense, you are virtually guaranteed a win. He is simply an incredibly powerful character that brings mountains of utility for a team on top of that.

 

Darth Nihilus:

Darth Nihilus, simply put, will kill your entire team if you don't kill him first. His Annihilate is probably the single most powerful ability in the game. Not to mention, he has dispel on his basic, and a more powerful ability block that does not need to pass a tenacity check. He pairs exceptionally well with Thrawn, as Thrawn can give him extra turns with Grand Adrimal's Command, and can use Fracture to either lock down the Annihilate target until it comes off cooldown or clear taunts so that Annihilate can hit the appropriate target. Many arena matches come down to whose Nihilus uses Annihilate first.

 

Commander Luke:

It's tough to see CLS fitting in to the current plug-n-play version of a Rex team. If there's any character he would replace, it would be Darth Nihilus. However, I believe that Darth Nihilus fills the role in the team better than CLS would. The team, to my view, is essentially Rex lead with two powerful duos. The offensive duo of Thrawn and Nihilus ensure that your Nihilus is the first to use Annihilate, and the defensive duo of R2D2 and GK ensure that the other team can't kill your Nihilus before he gets off that crucial first Annihilate. Nihilus is clearly better than CLS at the job of "kill priority target" and as such fits better into the existing team under Rex lead. The question is then whether this fearsome foursome is more effective under Rex lead or CLS lead, and whether there are any other CLS comps that can challenge it.

 

Rex or Luke?

We've already covered the pros and cons of the two somewhat, but to summarize. Rex: better debuff protection, better leader ability, and greater squad TM boosts. CLS: better individual character, serves as additional threat so losing Nihilus isn't an instant loss. I haven't tested this one quite enough yet, but I am leaning on the side of CLS over Rex. CLS is faster than Rex, and provides a full TM removal, so worst case he should be able to prevent Rex from using his Squad Discipline, or stop another, higher priority ability. This does leave the team a bit susceptible to debuffs, but between GK, Combat Analysis, Thrawn, and Luke's self cleanse the team should be able to prevent themselves from being overrun. I'm not 100% confident in this assessment, however. The more interesting question is whether there is a Rebel team that can take better advantage of Luke's leadership to eclipse this lineup in power. I see 3 characters that could fit into this comp, with 2 honorable mentions:

 

Chaze:

Everyone's favorite duo might be back again! Not much more needs to be said about them. They offer a full team's worth of utility in two characters, along with good damage and great survivability. CLS works reasonably well with them, as he maxes out their counter chance, further increasing their annoyance factor. With that said, Thrawn gives them fits, as Fracturing Baze leaves Chirrut very vulnerable. The jury is still out on whether Chaze can cut it in the post-Thrawn meta, as crazy as that sentiment would have been three months ago.

 

Raid Han:

Han's rework made him arena viable once again, and his zeta increases his damage by a crazy 50%! CLS's leader synergizes extremely well with Han, as Han will deal 75% extra damage on counter attack, leading to absolutely devastating damage if unchecked. Han's new ability to bypass pre taunts means he can once again do his job of stunning the opponent's key character before their first turn. He remains a tad squishy, but can and will bring down the entire team unless focused down or controlled.

 

I think the strongest team will likely be CLS lead with GK, R2D2, Thrawn, and Raid Han. With Han and a fast Thrawn on offense, I can't see any team beating the comp, and I believe that the combo of the counter attack damage from Luke and Han with the counter stuns from R2D2 have the potential to give enemies fits on defense. Similarly, Thrawn and Luke can definitely steal wins in closely matched fights if they are among the last few characters left. I think Han fits into this CLS lead better than Nihilus, and I would rather have Thrawn than any of the potential replacements (Old Ben and Leia mainly.) Similarly, I think GK + R2D2 brings more to the table than Chaze or Old Ben + Leia. However, the purpose of this thread is to drive discussion and figure out combos I may not have thought of, so please chime in with your thoughts!

 

TL:DR; I think CLS will replace Rex as the meta defining lead. Raid Han seems like he may be able to replace Nihilus in a CLS comp. I'm not sure that Chaze, Old Ben or Leia will make the cut.