Definitely get Patrol Robot. I would argue it's the single most-needed unit in the game. No, thank you very much. It's all great information. I've tried out your deck and it's great even in 1v1. I think on a tiny map it might lose to Claw + Utan + Donkey but I have no one to test against. I'm mainly interested in 1v1 for now (especially with such a stupid bug in 2v2). How would you modify the deck to be "best" at 1v1?
I'd say the Claw Unit is the most important one you can take. With two different standard attacks, a special attack which happily bats aerial units from the sky while destroying most basic ground units, a really low cooldown/AP cost and a fairly reliable health pool (at least until late-round), there isn't much they won't neutralise. I've also taken a very strong liking to Ralf. In fact, my main tactic these days is to spam him alongside Claw Units, with a bunch of Morden Robots as backup (it's easy to develop a cluster of the latter, and these'll often make it impossible for opponents to take the game to a stalemate), and the occasional Zombie Marco (in case the enemy manages to get any number of squishies out). The more I play the less I see the value in Utan. He's just too squishy, especially against the above. My view on players who rely on squishies is that they're simply donating me AP - sure, they can try to shield them, but there are plenty of options for ignoring shields. Frankly I suggest that anyone who uses him should switch him out with Ralf, even if only temporarily, just to see what happens. Leona is similar to Ralf, but lacks the "I'll just kill any squishies anywhere near your front line with my regular attack" thing and the "I'll rush past all the bullets from your front line with my special attack" thing (heck, I've had him blast through MSAs). Her special can also cancel bullets (and probably does it better than Ralf), but it can't deal with anywhere near as many at once, nor can she kill as much per attack (she's all close-range). Harder to time online, too. You can test both out for free in Mission mode if you need help deciding. If you have a dead slot - one you find you're not using - then aim to fill it with the biggest unit you can cram into it. Slugensterm, Metal Rear, Jupiter King, whatever. In stalemate games - one where neither you nor your opponent have managed to kill the other before hitting the point where AP becomes meaningless and the only thing slowing you down is unit cooldowns - it all comes down to who has the heaviest hitters. I notice some players leave dead slots completely empty, presumably thinking it'll help them navigate their unit line up faster. All it really does is make them lose stalemates, as unit cooldowns hurt them more. Donald Morden is a great heavy, if only because his special involves dealing unblockable damage to the enemy base no matter where he is in the field (an obvious advantage in stalemates). Also great against squishies, too. Definitely take him along, as he will be the deciding factor in some of your matches. Donkey Slug seems to be good and is often recommended. I don't have one and seldom encounter them. But I seem to remember them being a common factor in decks which actually beat me (which would be something like four or five out of the last sixty or so I've faced). Don't forget you can also use medals to raise level caps. Got a unit you know you're going to keep? Power it up further! Patrol Robots are really good, but they don't stand up on their own. Neither they nor Special Force Riders will pay for themselves when sent against Claw Units. Patrollers will certainly help push your snowball over the edge, especially if the enemy relies on squishies... they're just unlikely to be the deciding factor in your games. For example, I'd argue that if you're up against a deck that allows you to get three into play at once (which takes quite some time, given their cooldowns), then you're going to win that round regardless as to whether or not you actually do. I'm not saying to avoid using them. Heck, I'll probably add one sooner or later. I just see others as more urgent picks. Eg, Claw Units. Ah! That explains it perfectly, thanks! Units like the flyer, as you say, tend to stick around "at least" long enough for a replacement to show up. Catch is they also take their replacement's arrival as an excuse to leave early - seems they last longer if you hold off on sending another. The effect is very pronounced if your front line is near your base.
What's going on with WiFi battles lately? Whenever it's a stale battle or a battle I could make a comeback from, my base dies off with nothing hitting it. So frustrating losing to nothing. Heckled it even happens sometimes even when I'm clearly winning.
I get the impression it's a de-sync thing. On your opponent's screen, maybe an MSA or something got lucky and killed every squishy near your front line. Then he snowballed over the top of you and beat you to a pulp. But on your screen, maybe your Claw Unit jumped forward a moment sooner, saving your front line and making it appear to you that you still had the upper hand. Odds are this works in your favour on occasion, though you'd only know it's happening when you happen to get the short end of the latency stick. This is all conjecture, mind you, but I reckon that's what's going on. Sometimes I'll crush an opponent's front line, and instead of sending out blocker units with which to establish a new one, I'll watch them continue sending out squishies (multiple waves thereof - which all die nearly instantly, soon followed by their base). My guess is they're doing that because they're not seeing the battlefield I'm seeing. Edit: Put down another vote for Donkey Slugs. They seem to be the only thing that reliably beats me. The game decided to put me up against someone with a couple of thousand wins (and me with my ~160...). He of course had quite a painful line-up; I considered it a sure lose for me. Mid-game I thought I had a chance. A few times I actually managed to get Zombie Marco to fire his special and mince the guy's squishy horde. But no, it wasn't to be... Anyway, the thing that really surprised me was that he got about ~2100 points for beating me. Whereas I typically get ~1600-1800 points for beating... well, pretty much anyone. What gives? Does score ignore rank, and go more on battle duration or something? Edit 2: Nevermind, looks like it indeed has to do with how long the battle goes for.
I wouldn't know, though I suspect the Slug Flyer is more effective. R-Shobus can be spammed, but fall very easily as they like the front lines. Flyers can attack from a bit of a distance. Some more thoughts on Leona: I went up against a guy with about a thousand victories who used her as an opener... and pretty much wrecked me as a result. She immediately went into my deck. Having put a bit more use into her, I find she's a real buzz-saw - she'll typically kill something like three times her AP's-worth in combat. She certainly counters those Donkey Slug rushes that'd been giving me trouble.
thanks bro, and for leona, she is all about opening, small to mid stages are her strong suits, one mistake defending against her in those areas will typically end in a loss.. what i notice if enemy has her too (leona vs leona early game) is tricky.. the first to hit special usually wins(but if one is lvl25 and other is lvl20 ,the lvl 25 can survive a special hit crucially winning the early game and maybe the entire match) just my 2cents thou
Indeed, you're right. I reckon I'll be unlocking her level cap as soon as my medal tally creeps high enough. She really is a beast, though. It's very gratifying to watch her destroy two or three Claw Units on her own, then go on to harass the enemy base. Absolutely ideal for my tactics, which involve an early game rush with non-squishies. Both her and Ralf can take an MSA to the face, if their specials are timed right. I'm still sorta getting the hang of transitioning from the "rush" period of the game to bringing in the heavies. If I leave it too late, the tables turn and I may be crushed. I don't get to practise the timing very often though, as few opponents I go up against survive the first half minute.
training you say? hehe.. ill give you training grounds... go to the green world background(map reversed).. then go to stage 6-4 (bigshee stage).. practice your timing there.. i know pvp and sortie maps stages differ in timing thou(0.5 to 1sec difference?), but it could get you a hang on her timing.. i practice there alot with her(slashing missiles, bullets, etc).. and for money rewards and in some rare cases items too edit: on rush deck timing,probably only leona can benefit on this stage i guess
I knew the stage you meant without looking at it. That was one of the two levels that I initially used boosts to beat (the other being 2-4 on world 3... also against Big Shee). These days I play it as a quick way to burn sortie points into MSP (~100,000 a minute isn't bad). On your suggestion I gave her a try there, and sure enough Big Shee fell to her alone. Well, lots of "hers", but you get the idea. What's this about "some rare cases items too"? I've not gotten an award for winning any of the stages in the green world more than once, outside of MSP... are you saying there's a chance of getting something else?? In other news, I hit 200 wins! My 199th victory was against another guy who played Leona - I won the duel, and proceeded to smush him as a result. He asked for a rematch, and I obliged. Shock horror, his Leona beat mine! So did his next! In fact, it was all downhill for me - he took the battle right up to the front of my base, and proceeded to take it down to one or two pixels of health. But, somehow, he couldn't seem to get the last blow in. I switched to my heavies, got my AP production up, but still thought it was hopeless even when I managed to inch away from my base - he had bigger heavies than I, and all the ground of the map with which to charge his specials. Plus, he only needed to hit me once more to win. But somehow that last hit never came. After a while of somehow hanging on, the map seemed to clear a bit and I steamrolled across it. He played a few more units, but nothing of substance. And so... 200. I reached the points display to see another rematch request, but I got a "connection lost" message when trying to go for the third time. I can only guess that he won a lot earlier on his screen, and I continued playing for another minute or so after that (first against no one, then when it was too late for it to recover, against the poor AI)! In short, I got really, really lucky!
nice one! leona sometimes is a double edge sword, committing totally on her early and if enemy survives.. a comeback(albeit less frequent) . about the item part, in my whole experience on the bigshee stage, i got only one item in there so far(satelite)(but on other stages althou rare also ..items are more frequent(from stage 1 to 4)(reward up,satelite etc)
Some pages back, watashi101 told me that getting S-ranks on those green-world stages is what grants items. With all upgrades, I now do that without even trying, but in my experiments I've never gotten anything after the first win (even on levels I'm pretty sure I didn't S-rank the first time around). Maybe I should just run through and S-rank them all, see what happens. It's a bit of a nuisance in that the green world stages don't track your previous ranks. Edit: Just cleared 1-1 in the green world again and got an APlvlMax! Pretty sure I've S-ranked that one at least once before... Still confused, but I guess I'll keep mining! Edit 2: Cleared 1-1 a couple more times, got another one! So I guess that's it, then - you just keep running stages and getting rewards. Presumably doing it really fast (that is to say, way better than needed to get an S-rank) improves the odds. Only problem is I've no use for the items any more... :S I don't suppose medals are out of the question...?
Based on the feedback I saw, I went with the Claw Unit, I feel like it's made a massive difference already. Before if I faced a rush of Claws/Mordens/Donkeys then I didn't stand a chance but now I can match it and win. Looking at Patrol Robot as my next potential buy, also considering Augensterm for mid cost tank or Donkey Slug for extra rush possibility.
I'm currently leaning towards Leona over the Donkey Slug - I've stopped worrying about facing them since implementing her. Apparently Donkey Slugs are good for defending against aerial attacks, but I find the Claw Unit deals with those just fine. Patrol Robots would also be a better bet, though their cooldown leaves a lot to be desired. Great against weak infantry, or when the enemy can't break your front line, but the way I see it, if you're in those situations you've won anyway. Still, if you're worried about your enemy recovering, there's a good chance they'll prevent that. Augensterm certainly isn't bad; but if you pile in the similar-cost free units I doubt you'd need it. Do consider the Black Hound. It's certainly not the best of units, but it's very solid and its special hurts. It's good at guarding the front line, in any case. I'd go with the Patrol Robot or Leona over it, but I'm fairly sure it's of more use than Augensterm. I've been wondering about the viability of the Protogunner. When it falls, you get a free Ralf in its place (who in my opinion is a worthy unit in his own right). I'm not sure how he benefits from levels you've invested into the regular Ralf unit, though. Clone Fio is a great upgrade over Zombie Marco. Her vomit laser seems to have a very short charge time compared to him.
I already have Black Hound, I bought it quite early after release because I really liked the look of it and its attacks, also in the hope that it would be competitive. Thankfully it seems to be doing pretty well, with its powerful special and the missiles for anti-air/back-line hits (really good for killing the new MH-6s especially) I was hoping the Protogunner had potential too for the same reason, I like the unit and especially the fact you get a free Ralf like you mentioned who is a decent unit himself. I've heard good things about Clone Fio lately but I'm not sure I can justify the medals for her when I can take Zombie Marco for the same (albeit to a probably lesser) effect. Maybe I'll reconsider the Augensterm then, in favour of Protogunner/Leona. Edit: though I'd like to know for sure whether the Ralf that pops out of Protogunner is max stats without owning separate Ralf, since I don't lol..
about the protogunner, i dont have a comment about the ralf that pops out but, about its cannon(special).. its quite good,, my opinion: he jumps before firing its special benefits: 1.anti air 2.durable 3.a free unit will pop if destroyed 4.he hits insanely large areas..the jumping motion cannon hits the center of a pack if distanced correctly,means that mid liner/back liner units will be damaged too.. (except if theres a large tank that will block it)..
Plus it shoots at a long range, implying a easy stalling. Releasing 2 protogunner cannons can simply kill R-shobu or a group of Patrol robots/Utans. Again a very versatile solution to the top-tier combos
I assume Zombie Marco hits harder. But his problem is that he takes an age to charge his special - unless you've got control over most of the map (giving him plenty of time to lurch towards the front line before initiating combat), odds are you won't be able to use it. And it's 240 AP down the drain in the (all too likely) event that he dies before he gets a shot off. But when that special hits, you'll typically get quite an AP boost as the enemy line loses its squishies. So long as Clone Fio can one-shot groups of Utans/Martians/MH-6s/whatever in the same way, I'd class her as being just as "powerful", but way more "useful" in that she can fire right out of the gate (relatively speaking). But I dunno, I don't have her either. I wouldn't call her essential (both she and Zombie Marco are too squishy, and I've lost count of the number of decks I've beaten which incorporated her), but she seems to be a common factor in decks used by players with thousands of victories. Certainly the blood vomit move is a great way to consolidate control over the battlefield - it's just that it probably won't be what gets you that control in the first place. Mission 30 gives you a Protogunner to play with. Testing it, I find that the Ralf that pops out seems to have really low health compared to my level 25 regular Ralf. Going by that rather unscientific test I'd say Ralf upgrades don't boost Protogunner-Ralf, but that still leaves the question as to whether Protogunner upgrades boost Protogunner-Ralf...
It depends how you define best. To me, the best deck for rush / stall strategy is different even in 1v1. For a stall strategy like my current deck, the best is measured by the ability to respond to any situations (i.e. enemys deck/strategy plus map size). I have to admit that this deck is the most vulnerable when facing enemies with rush deck (Leona, claw, utan, slug donkey) in a v. small map. Suggest that you can try out one of the following replacement units to beef up the firepower in early stage: Leona, Zombie Scientist, Donkey Slug or Claw. The point is to rely on that replacement unit to maintain the frontline (a safety buffer) for Tar Man and Utan to release heavy firepower at the back and destroy the enemys first attack wave before 1st round of MSA. As for the unit to swap out, I suggest Donald Morden, purely for the following reasons: - High AP cost (more than double MK II) and Slowest CD among the units in the deck - If used correctly, MK II and Augensterm can already serve as sufficient tanker - Not many chance you found stalemate in 1v1 (at least from my experience playing against strong players) Again, the best deck for rush would be different to the above.
