⚔ [11th Oct, 2020] - 77th Raid Tournament - 5* Buff Booster, No Ice/ Blue

There’s two components to buff booster:

  1. All buffs count for more by buffing attack too.
  2. You still need to take advantage by doing big damage.

AoE takes advantage better than snipe because large attack buffs on snipers wind up as “overkill” - there’s no point doing OTT damage to single targets… AoE winds up getting opponents much closer to dead than normal, slash and DoT often finishes the job.

Ideally you’ll want to discourage attackers from bringing dispels against you (as much as you actually can).
If a dispeller fits into your team naturally then that’s great, but as with anything on defence the attacker has more control over timing than you do.

So…

BT tank? Could do - he’s pretty sturdy and brings you a big attack buff, with extra on top. You’ve also got enough emblems there for revive to be likely.

JF brings plenty of buffs to the table, and prevents an opponent from dropping your defence without dispelling first (this counts for more than normal considering the extra attack on offer for buffs!). His DoT is largely secondary - if it gets overwritten by Azlar then so be it (it’s more likely to happen the other way around, though).

Drake does damage and blinds attackers, but you might actually be better off putting him out to wing, at fast he can do this… Typically I’d try to get at least one flank as a buffer and what I’m about to suggest will mean you’ll have to move him outwards.

Azlar gives you great damage and really takes advantage of buff booster rules… He does this in either form, but I’d be tempted to stick to non costume.
But he’s still a slow, even with costume bonus you want him firing earlier whilst your buffers are still hopefully on the field… He wants to be a flank, here.

I’d want to get a dark in there… But this is still 5* territory and as good as cRigard is, he’s still not quite at 5* level. You’re also in danger of being too passive through the middle if you bring both Rigard and Boldtusk - you can’t be inviting darks by running Drake but no dark, so we have to get one in there (dark holds lots of dispel and mana control).

If it were me…
Sartana - JF - BT - Azlar - Drake.

Note: Drake on the right rather than left - doesn’t make any difference to Drake or any difference to Sartana, except that Drake takes more advantage of any buffs fired the same turn.

There are other ways you could set it, but I’d think this through first and see if you can see any flaws in my thinking (or things you judge differently!) and see where that takes you :slight_smile:

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I’d be temped to do something like this:
Zeline-GM-Zim-Killhare-Joon

Yes Killahre debuffs your whole team, but if she hits with Zim’s buff on it’s pretty much game over for the attackers. KH on flank also puts significantly more pressure on the attackers to get rid of her asap, whereas your current center trio isn’t quite as threatening - PIB could be somewhat of a tile dump, but with the above setup, the attackers would have to really think carefully where they’d want to send their tiles if the board is (below) average. Do you want to set off GM and feel the burn? Or do you want to trigger Zim and get whacked by slash attacks? Or would you prefer to force KH to fire before Zim has had a chance to buff her and take a 50% HP cut, but in exchange try to take advantage of her team defense debuff?

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This also has the benefit of covering Joon with Killhare - making purple stacking less likely (bearing in mind how much dispel and mana control there is in purple).

@JAWS1 re post above from @rho

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might be too much healing but it is fast and very fast healing. going to juice azlar a ton too, so many buffs between just grazul and bryn

That makes sense, so one more question these are my next highest leveled for this tournament should I use any of them instead or no?

No purple?

That’s where lots of dispel and mana control are, of course… Unless you’re more worried about Malosi being fired at Azlar?

Bryn is a great hero but I think you’d be brave to put a green anywhere except wing this week.

Just asking the devil’s advocate questions as usual - best of luck buddy!

I’d be tempted by Ursena at flank… Big AoE damage and another purple helps make it unlikely that purple gets brought against you (purple being the best colour for dispel and mana control this tournament).

Worth considering anyway :slight_smile:

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bryn is sort of unique though right? one of her buffs is that her buffs can’t be dispelled. meaning that dispelling her buffs from azlar won’t work. she also juices special skills defense and rogue evades hits which makes her surprisingly durable as a flank, even against a red stack.

my purples suck, I have a +17 quintos and a sartana and a bunch of 4* purples… i might have to give up on getting good purples and just start making sartana dupes… ive got joon, lianna and magni dupes already so

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So switch her out with red you think keep the rest the same?

Yea… She’s great for sure, just a bit exposed to red tiles… Especially in a higher emblems 5* arena.

Mmm Quintus could work in terms of harnessing buff power, but he’d have to flank and then things are just getting too slow.

Sounds like you’ve given it good thought… I’m just a but wary of running a green 4* across the center regardless of how good she is by 4* standards.

I’d be tempted to… It’s up to you, but it helps put off dispellers.

(Edit: sorry, @MAze9, below is from after your like)
I also tend to think you need some big damage at flank if you’re going to run a passive tank… GM is very fast but doesn’t do massive damage upfront, RH is cool as hell but again isn’t a huge damage dealer.

This format is all about balancing your buff generation with the power hitting to take advantage of that.

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I think bryn is better than my 5* options unfortunately… i have kadilen +18, was tempted to use her on the wing…

I could slow things down and put quintos in the wing and drake in the flank, pretty sure that I would be begging for an E though lol

Thank you as always, really helps to figure things out and get a better perspective… thanks for the edit so much to think about i always feel like I make the wrong choice. But hopefully I’ll get it right this time.

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Probably, Drake at flank just begs for purples against you… I wouldn’t do that.

Kadilen without costume?

With costume would be an interesting flank gamble… Downside she’s green, but dodge to avoid dispels could be a worthwhile hedge against bad boards.

Without… Mmm… Special skill defence buff could help but season 1 stats and green… Ummm nah, I don’t think I would.

yeah no costume for kadilen… yet anyway (fingers crossed)

5* tournies are always such a bummer for me, missing all the best toys!!

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It’s the variety that makes the fun, definitely!

Any thoughts on how you’d attack mine? (Post #7)

my only non green/non blue dispell is sabine, I would run a mono purple stack with c tibs, c rigs, quintos, sabine and sartana and hope for the best lol

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That’s why I like using defensive buffs in general.

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Sure - attacking buffs count for more than normal, defence buffs counter enemy attack buffs and give you a small attack buff too :+1:

Both is good, if it’s an option (I’m rolling BK tank and Freya flank for this reason… Plus it tends to do well normally as well!)