We are having an internal debate with unfortunate confirmation bias in our alliance. A few guys run rainbows and typically have success, and a bunch of us run 3-2 stacks sometimes 2-2-1 or 4-1 and mono if we’re low down in flags and working with scraps.
I want to settle the debate of which is better running rainbow or stacks?
I’ve been playing for 4 months, so I wouldn’t consider myself very new. I was fearful of running stacks during wars, but not raids. I feel that running stacks in raids has improved my game, but I was afraid of burning one of my heroes. It was much easier to compartmentalize my team into rainbow teams rather than to color stack. As the bench improves, it has gotten better…at least for me.
Seen people play with a rainbow team. @YukimuraSanada does well in Raids n war with his rainbow team 
check his videos out on youtube
But that’s one team it’s hard to get a 6 teams for war that’s rainbow soo stacking is the general approach
I’m always switching my own strategies based on the situation. And based on the fact that boards can either heavily reward you, or heavily punish you when stacking.
For the most part:
I’m not a fan of rainbow, the tile damage is so poor. You’re relying almost entirely on specials.
I usually use a 3-2 in raids(much easier to concentrate on two colors to move the board than more) and try in war but may be forced to a 2-2-1 to conserve that color. S3 with the blocked tile has be very interesting. I’m finding that rainbow is working the best even on the hard level.
On the level challenges I see the leader board mostly mono’s that is opposite of the reflecting color. I’ve tried mona and I get killed often without taking a shot. Any suggestions??
It’s gambling. You can cover all colors and win little or you can bet all on a single color and win big or lose big. And there are combinations in between.
2-1-1-1 simply excluded a weak color, considering it neglectable. 3-2 focuses on two colors, which is good for raids and hard farming in seasons 2 and 3, where mobs and bosses are also restricted to 2 or 3 colors.
My main problem with rainbow is that it has no strategy in place, it merely adapts to the board.
When you decide to stack heroes, whichever format you pick, you set a strategy in place: I will prioritize this color over the others, then this, and so on. I will try to get these heroes loaded first, with the fewest possible moves and least possible impact on my opponent.
In a rainbow team, it’s all about playing the board. I’ll combine whichever color is optimal for me, irrelevant of the hero in my lineup.
Furthermore, I don’t get the benefit of a rainbow team. In 3 turns, a rainbow team will definitely get one hero charged (the one favored by the board), but that’s still just one hero. In six turns, unless you have created a massive cascade, you’ll have two random heroes fire and three still halfway through at best. You should have at least two heroes loaded in six turns if you stacked too, and you’d have the benefit of tile damage, elemental link, and focus on specific color tiles.
I favor rainbow, it’s far more challenging than stacking in my opinion however far more lengthy battle. It’s not uncommon for battles to stretch to 5 min against 4700tp teams whereas stacking generally cuts it to 1-2 min battles by comparison (depending on configurations and boards).
Stacking in my opinion, is much more forgiving. Much more, whereas rainbow can be quite punishing as you’re less reliant of the strength of the tiles and much more dependent on specials. You’re likely to set off unwanted chains as you hunt for matches to charge specific heroes.
But, despite all that. I find rainbow more fun. I’m just not daring enough to do it for war.
I run exclusively mono in E&P and with the right heroes I think it’s by far the strongest strategy. And it’s certainty fair to say that at the very least, no other strategy is clearly stronger.
But that’s only with the right combo of heroes.
I play the Chinese knock off of this game as well. And there I’m free to play. I have no 5*s fully leveled and only 1 4star all the way
So my team is very weak by comparison (here I’ve been to #1 globally a number of times and have 40 leveled 5*s)
Anyway, with a much weaker team and bench, I find the best strategy is to have in one slot an attack UP; in a second slot, a defence down; and in the next three slots heroes that are strong colour vs tank, with one of those being a healer
I’ve focused development on the Wu clone and the Grimm knock off and my healers.
So this strategy is either 3:1:1 or 4:1 depending on the colour of tank. I believe it would work equally well here and allow 2800-3200 teams to compete and win vs 3400-3900 teams regularly
For raids, I run 99% mono, with the occaisional 3-2 or 4-1 exception. For titans, it’s Blue mono for Red, Yellow mono for Purple (Ranvir) and 4-1 with Miki for the others. Wars are a different story. I usually go 3-2, because I don’t have enogh strong heroes to go mono for all 6 attacks (19 max 5*, 39 maxed 4*). If I did, then I would probably go mono during wars as well.
My strongest mono team is blue at 4111 (Frida, Vela, Snow White, Grimm, Kiril great synergy! swap out Miki for Snow for Titans) with all the others around 4000. I regularly take down 4700 teams when raiding (I’m usually in mid-high diamond), and have made it to global #1 raiding exclusively mono.
Mono forever!
For me the best run I’ve had is with a stacked green team. Just used it in the tourney and had my best finish. Rainbow just spreads the attack too far for me, I mono in wars aswell, you only need a fair board and you have a great chance.
I like rainbow because it feels less frustratimg when the board doesn’t cooperate but I will fully and freely acknowledge that heavy stacking seems to be the better competitive strategy. Already now my titan teams are all 3-1-1 and i usually run 2-1-1-1 for raiding. I anticipate a time coming soon when i will switch to a 3-1-1/3-2 raiding strat (3 against tank, 1-1-1 if facing a rainbow, 2 vs off tank dual colors) once i get a little more depth.
Wars are usually 2-1-1-1 vs tank, because i lack depth. Occasionally I’ll have to face an overpowered opponent with my last flag and I’ll run a mono with mostly 3s because it’s a hail mary and I’ve got nothing left. Nothing more satisfying than watching a mono team of 3 stars wipe a >10 emblem 5 star!