🧪 Early Information on Raid formations [Part of The Beta Beat v31]

NOTE: Please do not, under any circumstances, share IMAGES OR VIDEOS from Beta in this or any public Forum thread. Violations can cause players to lose their Beta accounts, or threads to be closed down.

This thread is to provide early insights and discussion on the new Hero Academy feature: Raid Formations


Don’t get too attached

Details from Beta, especially brand-new Beta content, don’t tend to be very reliable for actual release.

It’s incredibly common that features are changed during Beta testing, or sometimes even after testing but before release. That is, after all, the purpose of Beta testing.

Even the in-game tool-tip indicates that Raid Formations is a beta feature under development and subject to change.

So I wouldn’t get too attached to any of this — it’s not unheard of for entire portions of features to be removed or reworked, or for radical changes to functionality to be made.


Overview

Raid formations are changed in a separate menu from training in the Hero Academy building.

They’re available as early as Hero Academy level 1 is built. You don’t have to research level 1 training, as it’s part of a separate menu.

You can only change your Raid Defense Team formation.

Wars, Raid Tournaments, and other battle formations remain unaffected.

4 raid formations can be set: Standard, Reverse, Double, Reverse Double (more on these later).

You can only change your Raid Defense Team formation once per day. When you are about to change your formation, the game gives you an additional prompt to confirm your change. There is a 24h cool-down once you change the formation.


Formations

Credit to @ochartier for making these graphics a while back! :grin: It makes it much easier for me to explain.

I’ve edited the original images to include some numbers and adjust the position of the heroes slightly. This currently reflects what the formations look like in beta at this time.

These are the following formations you can set:

Standard (default)

image

The default formation, what we’re all currently using right now.

I’ve numbered each position in the image above, and used those same numbers to indicate the position of your heroes relative to the new formations. I’ve also explained which heroes get hit by which matches from each of the 7 columns in the board.

Reverse

image

This reverses the current standard formation.

Your wings are now exposed to columns 1-2 and 6-7 respectively – so two columns can hit them at the beginning of the match.

Your flanks are exposed to columns 3 and 5. While your tank can now only be hit by the middle column (4) as opposed to three columns at the beginning of the match.

Double

image

Your two flanks are at the front, as if you had two tanks instead. They protect the hero in the center from matches, until one of them is taken out.

The flanks take matches from all columns, except the edge columns (1 and 7) which still hit your two wings like with Standard.

Also worth noting is that column 4 match damage is shared between your two front heroes. This works just like in map stages with these enemy formations.

“Target and (minor damage to) nearby” skills

One difference between enemy mobs in map stages that use this formation is the way these skills work with Double and Reverse Double.

Currently, these skills nearby effects refer to enemies that are beside that hero, in the same row.

A visual example: let’s say Thorne targets hero in position 3 of Double… here’s the heroes that take the damage:
image

Reverse Double

image

This formation puts your two flanks at the back instead, with your tank in the middle and your wings exposed too.

Your tank and wings are taking all of the match damage, while your flanks are protected behind them. The heroes in the back can’t be hit with tiles until you KO one of the front enemies.

The center shares damage in columns 3 (left wing+tank) and 5 (right wing+tank).

“Target and (minor damage to) nearby” skills

One difference between enemy mobs in map stages that use this formation is the way these skills work with Double and Reverse Double.

Currently, these skills nearby effects refer to enemies that are beside that hero, in the same row.

A visual example: let’s say Guinevere is in position 4 of Reverse Double… here’s the heroes that she buffs:
image



For a full list of items currently in beta testing, as well as their related threads, please see:

60 Likes

Thanks @DaveCozy for getting this out so quickly & making everything so clear!

14 Likes

Interesting that it is tied to hero academy. Guess SG isn’t getting enough people to push for Level 25.

6 Likes

Has been raised as a concern by a number of beta testers… Up to the Devs to either change or explain (or ignore) those concerns.

8 Likes

Is there any chance they could implement this for wars also? Has it been discussed.

One of the main reasons I ask is because I have Guinevere sitting at 370 with no plans to ever take her any further unfortunately.

I would think a double tank of Telluria and Guinevere would be pretty nasty

2 Likes

I actually like the idea of tying it to the HA…there is some logic.
Had it been tied to for ex the AL, it would have been hilarious but a change in the Heroes’s defense formation triggered by a Hero Academy sounds pretty OK…to me!

2 Likes

I think this would be a natural development.
Raid tournaments could start having new defense formations.
And maybe war defenses could either change between wars or be a standard formation for all teams in the alliance.
Something new, bring it on :smiley:

3 Likes

At this point there is no indication from SGG that they will extend it to Alliance Wars or Tournaments. Just Raid Defence at this point.

3 Likes

Most exciting news here. :sunglasses:

Will the formation be given before the battle begins?

Khagans buff - formations. :rofl:

The nearby hitters renaissance…

3 Likes

What about mana generation for the heroes “sheltered” in the back row? If the tiles aren’t hitting them then they are only getting the small mana bump each turn until the front line dies, correct?

Curious to hear from beta participants about how effective this is? Does it make the defenders more fearsome or less? I can easily see mana controllers eating them alive unless the front line is truly terrible. This feels like an excuse to allow people to use two or possibly three tanks. As said above, Telly/Guin or some such (that stalls but if the back row isn’t getting mana then tough battle of attrition).

9 Likes

I LIKE the idea of new formations!

2 Likes

Staff have indicated that yes, there will be some kind of UI addition to the raid screen,

Nearby is different in the alternate raid formations compared to “map farming”; see the OP for details.

Correct.

11 Likes

Heal and buff nearby as well?
We’ll see how it works.

I’ll be interested to see which formation becomes the new go to and which one(s) is(are) considered ineffective. I hope some folks put some stats behind that when possible (as opposed to the usual anecdotal evidence).

1 Like

I’m sure that @IvyTheTerrible will have a new edition of the “Raid Stats” in due course.

4 Likes

thank you for the lightning quick response @Guvnor

Will keep a close eye on this thread, this look intriguing and therefore fun. Will look closely at what was published above and see how that may work with my roster.

1 Like

For later:

  • Which heroes does Jabberwock target in the new formations? Heores 1 & 5 first and then move in to 2 & 4 when those are killed?

Thanks for posting the info too!

6 Likes

Dang, I thought I was back in guitar class when I saw those formation examples :sweat_smile:

Sounds like SG is finally implementing things they created for map stages long ago. Good!

5 Likes

The big problem I see pertaining to mana is that a tile shared between two defensive heroes appears to give both defensive heroes 1 full tile worth of mana. So for columns where tiles will hit 2 heroes, the defense is generating twice as much mana as normal.

It’s also harder to distribute tiles to less dangerous targets. Here’s the reach for each formation in the number of columns (note there are 7 columns on the board; when the sum is greater than 7 then there are shared columns present):

Normal V: 1-1-3-1-1
3 front - 2 back: 3-0-3-0-3 (Front - Back - Front - Back - Front)
2 front - 3 back: 1-3-0-3-1 (Back - Front - Back - Front - Back)
Inverted V: 2-1-1-1-2

While I am glad to see the new formations, I have not had much fun in fighting some of them. It feels like some are in a Rush Attack Tournament while I’m in normal raid mode :rofl:. It’s also annoying having to flee until I see the formation I want to test.

12 Likes

Yes.

Still 1&5 then 2&4 then 3

2 Likes