I just saw a post in #player-guides that states that mono is the meta for this game and i would like to start an open discussion on what the meta is for this game.
Sure, mono can be effective and, if the board is right, can wipe out the enemy really fast. But that’s exactly what stops me from using mono, it’s too RNG. Only a highly skilled player would be able to turn a bad board into a win while using mono.
The writer of the article also stated that, while running mono, you can expect 1 out of 3 boards not to be in your favor. That means that someone who uses this strategy, can only get 4 oneshots in war.
I feel like this game can have several metas (every different hero setup can be considered a meta), but mono might be the least efficient.
If I take my personal favorite, a 3-2 setup, i can tell from experience that I do 5 or 6 oneshots every war and not all of those boards are heavy on the right colors. But by spreading my chances for the right tiles over 2 colors, I increase the chance that I will actually be able to kill me opponent. It may take a bit longer but, with a little patience and skill, I usually eliminate the enemy.
I am not stating that 3-2 should be the meta, but I am interested in what your favorite setup is. Why do you like it and why does it work for you? I think this can be an interesting topic where people might learn from each other and maybe even get pulled out of their comfort zone to try something different.
I do not like running mono in raids, but thats because i have enough good heroes to not do that.
I totally understand people have in mind mono team as meta, because let’s say it, running mono nowsdays is the only way to reach some results like:
facing a raid or war team much stronger then you and hope to win
compete in events
do great titan damage (green can totally be mono, others almost there)
So yes, having a good mono as meta is definetely a good goal to set.
I agree that there are occassions where mono is definitely a useful setup.
I do want to point out that challenge events have a meta of their own where, yes, mono is the way to go.
I used to make fun of Anchor whenever he went mono on his raids, saying that mono doesn’t require skill. He was one of those players though, that were able to change a bad board into a win with mono.
Mono is good for under leveled teams to beat higher power teams relying on pure tile damage rather than hero skills. The problem with running lots of mono is you don’t learn good attacking team fundamentals and the do’s and don’ts of what teams to attack with vs certain defenses and just hope you get the tiles for the win.
My most stable teams are 3/2 and if I had Zim I would be running 3/1/1 more often now, but during AW I run more 4/1 than 3/2 cause I lack the depth to make 6 teams I’m comfortable with at 3/2.
I believe mono leads to bad habits and team building. I’ve helped a few people out that use lots of mono with team building and they didn’t understand why they shouldn’t be bringing certain heroes vs a defense and why they should bring a certain hero in their place.
I can raid 6 Guinevere teams in a row and chances are I’ll have 3 or 4 different teams I use cause of the heroes I’m facing. This is where mono players just plug in their 5 purple heroes and just hope to punch through the defense.
Everyone is free to run what they like as I was one of the 1st to run 3/2 while the meta was 2/2/1 and called a mad man for stacking the way I did. I believe older players didn’t run much mono and frown upon it cause they view it as being overly board dependent.
You want to learn good team building fundamentals and mono doesn’t allow this as every color doesn’t have certain skills other colors do and you’ll struggle to make 6 solid war teams and good decisions on what defenses to attack and how to exploit the defense set up.
Very often I don’t stack vs the tank and will instead stack vs dual color defenders. For example: A GM flanked by two greens with 2 blue wings. I’m bringing 3 reds, 2x GM and my 3rd red will be either Nat or Marj depending on their wing heroes and if I need Nat’s slow mana. Then my 2 green would be Locke and Alby for obvious reasons.
Very often I stack vs defense rather than the tank.
I only do that for my 5th and 6th war attack. I have enough purples to comfortably run 3-2 with 3 purples. In the wars at our level, everybody runs rainbow defenses as you know, so stacking vs flank is a bit harder as it is only beneficial against 2 out of 5 colors.
Even vs rainbow defense you’re still aware of what teams are better suited to attack than others depending on their front 3, so you kinda still are stacking vs the defense when running off color vs the tank.
I’m a recent convert to colour stacking and I’ve become a huge fan. My usual strategy is what others have posted above: 3 - 2 against the tank and the flank.
My best war battle was my last one. I had used all my greens against their blue tanks. I only had 5 blues (3300 power) left and I went after a 4000 team with Isarina as tank, GM and Aeron, Vivica and one green. I was hoping I could take out GM.
I do use 3-1-1 against GM tanks in raids btw. With 3 blues, Ares and Alberich. I don’t know why I dont go 3-2 there, but this just works for me. I gues both Ares’ and Alby’s HoT and Ares’ attack/crit buff makes it work.
3/2 attack is close to unbeatable. Mono is fine too, but 3/2 gives a little more flexibility with the boards. I always use the same 5 heroes because of synergy in my 3/2 raids and I never reroll. Unless the board is just absolute garbage, I do not lose.
War is a little different, but I still use 3/2 looking for synergies between the heroes.
For anyone who has the heroes and wants to try… this team is magical… (for me)
Hero synergy is exactly what @JimMe is talking about. You have to know what works and what doesn’t (or not as well). I recently discovered, thanks to @Dator, that Panther+Thoth is an almost lethal combo. I have neither of them but if I did, without that knowledge, I would’ve ran any other purple attacker then Thoth.
The article I referred to in my OP, had a video which showed her doing a raid with 5 purples in this order:
Aeron/Rigard/Obakan/Kunchen/Proteus
Now, I don’t want to discredit her for using mono, but that line up had several flaws in my opinion. Besides having 3 healers (of which 2.5 cleanse) it had Aeron on the wing, not using him to his fullest potential.
It’s more like 43% of the starting boards. Call it 4 in 10. Here’s the math:
Mono is a strategy that requires careful play in PvP. I have great respect for people who can win a lot with mono. In PvE, battle items make it much less dicey.
I stack 3/2, with a healer in the 2nd color (and often a very offense-oriented secondary healer like Tarlak or Ares in the 1st color).
This works very well because I’m usually getting tiles in one of the two colors. Tiles I my main color and i’ll be able to burn through the defense rapidly for ghosting. Tiles in my secondary color, and i’ll be able to heal and prolong the fight.
A good habit to get into is keeping your most important heroes to the wings and knowing your speeds and where to put the appropriate troops.
Zim and Zeline should be in your corners as they are the two most important heroes and Greg should have the mana troop cause at 23 the mana troop isn’t helping Zeline unless you’re ghosting tiles.
I really do like that team.
I’m just here to look at the ostrich speak. munches on popcorn
Oh and 3/2 is my preferred setup. I’m super defensive in my approach so take a healer/safety net hero in each color (Zeline and Inari are good examples of non healer safety net heroes)
I don’t always heavy stack against the tank in wars.
