Grinding for Legendary Characters

This question seems to come up a lot in game so I wanted to take a minute to lay out some free advice.  The following is just from my experience and there are several more qualified authorities available on the internets and in the guild.  Please let me know if you would like me to add something. 

Chewbacca

Thanks to Cam for helping with this post:

As of October 2018 we don't have any 7* Chewy's in the guild.  However, there are a few common Bounty Hunters that I think are needed to get him.  Listening to podcasts and watching videos of people who were able to get him for the most part had Boba (L), Bossk, Dengar.  Boba's leadership gives crit damage bonus but also gives bonus health of 50% of the BH potency.  So if your BH has 50% potency they would get an additional 25% health.  Bossk could also be used as a leader because BHs will heal health and protection when they give and receive debuffs.  Bossk is also needed to taunt to keep the damage dealers alive.  Dengar is needed because of his unique that prevents the enemy from stealth if Dengar is critically hit.  This ability negates R2's smoke screen and allows you to focus damage on Chewy.  Cad Bane is helpful (Cam used him but I did not) for his stun.  Greedo, IG88, Zam and the other new BH's just need to do some damage before they are killed.  

Kill Order

Chewbacca - His assists and stun will wreck your team quick.  Stun with Bossk's special attack or have Cad Bane in the team to stun on his first turn.  

Han Solo - His double tap and stun will take your team down quick.  He dies quick if you can focus him.  

R2 - Another candidate for Bossk's or Cad Ban's stun.  He has a lot of health and protection to get through.  Cam saved R2 for last 

ROLO - She is pretty easy to kill but her area attack can wipe the attempt.  She will be the other character Chewy guards so he will assist when she attacks.  Did I mention to kill Cheey first.  

Lando - His area attack hits hard but is the least threatening of the group.

Initial Onslaught - Just Survive

Chewy and his friends have preloaded turn meter and have speed around 300 (I think the max character speed in the game is around 280) so you will never go first. A lot will depend on who Han Solo stuns with his first shot.  Bossk should taunt first and Boba should execute Chewy which should deplete his health to where a few shots from the rest of your team can take him down.  

Gear

WaMila - Boba, Bossk were G12, Bossk's leadership zetaed, Zam G9, IG88 G10, Greedo G8.

Cam - Bossk G11 (Leader Zeta), Boba G8 (all abilities maxed), Dengar G8 (first three abilities maxed), Cad Bane G8 (all abilities maxed), IG 88 G9, (abilities at level 7).

Mods

I loaded my BH's with potency for the Boba's leadership and offense secondary's to do as much damage as possible.  Crit damage triangles.  I used the mod loadout system to save the configurations for the next time

BB-8

To get BB-8 you will need a full First Order team.  Historically that is a Captain Phasma (L), Kylo, First Order Officer (FOO), First Order Tie Piolet (FOTP), and First Order Stormtrooper (FOST).  Phasma in in Galactic War store.  Kylo is in hardmodes and cantina nodes (he may be in guild store randomly).  FOO is in cantina store.  FOTP is in hardmodes and fleet store.  FOST is only in hardmodes.  FOST is by far the hardest grind so start grinding him yesterday.  

The FO wild card is Kylo Ren Unmasked (KRU).  KRU is in cantina 3-f, 10 energy, with his ship.  I would highly recommend KRU be farmed first over FOST.  FOST is a pilot for Kylo's shuttle so you will miss out on that but FOST is a long grind.  

The key to winning the BB-8 fight is to have the FOO as fast as possible (minimum 170 speed).  FOO leads, uses unique to give Kylo 100% TM, Kylos area attack gives all FO 20% TM and the team is off too the races.  FOTP is your big damage dealer.  I was able to stun Poe to limit expose and TM reduction.  I killed Rey first but some recommend killing BB-8 first.  I finished the fight with Kylo and FOTP alive.  

None of my FO team were zetaed.  All omega skills were maxed out.  Kylo and FOTP were G9 the rest G8.   

Emperor Palpitine (EP)

It has been a long time since I did this so my recollection is not good.  Basically you need rebels.  I would recommend farming the rebels that have the most uses in other aspects of the game.  Phoenix Squad works for this event but I will write more on them later.  EP unlocks at 5 stars and you will need a full 7 star team to get him to 7 star.   

This is the order I would farm them:

Stormtrooper Han, arena store.  Princess Leia, arena store.  Old Ben Kenobi, cantina 2-f and 6-b, Farmboy Luke cantina and hardnode.  Wedge Antiles canitna 6-f, Biggs Darklighter, Galactic War store  Lando Calrissian cantina 1-e, 5-f. 

I would farm in this order because STH, PL, OBK, and FBL will all be needed for Commander Luke Skywalker (CLS).  More on that later.   

This event has not been updated since it launched when the gear level was G9 or 10 so G8 characters will work.  STH, PL, OBK, FBL, were all given zeta abilities last summer.  No zetas are needed for this event.  

Grand Admiral Thrawn

Thrawn came out in June 2017 and is a solid character in any team and has possibly the best capitol ship in the game.  To get Thrawn you will need Phoenix Squad (PX).  The farm to get them is not terrible and found is all the usual locations.  Sabine Wren IMO is the toughest because she has only one hard node and shows up irregularly in the guild store.  I think the game developers intend PX to be the gateway team for new players because of their easy grind and because they are very good in almost every aspect of the game.  Newer arena's will have top ranked PX teams (but will fall off quickly as CLS and JTR teams become more available), they do well in Galactic War and all have ships.  You are not wasting your time grinding this squad.  

There is no particular order and you will need them all to get Thrawn.  

The final phase of the 6 star and seven star fight are very tough and will require several tries unless you have the whole team at G11/12.  There are several members of the guild who have a better understanding of how the team works best so I would reach out on Line for specific questions.  My team was all G8 except for Hera who was G9.  All abilities were omega level and I had no zetas.  I also gave PX my best mods which was a huge pain but necessary for finishing the event. 

The decision you will have to make for this fight is which PX member to leave out.  For me it was between Chopper and Sabine.  Chopper doesn't do anything really well but his unique (shared with the rest of the squad) makes him better than Sabine.  He can remove the Shoretrooper taunt and the other buffs the troopers get during the fight.  Sabine can hit hard but is squishy and her unique is not as good as choppers IMO.   

If you are able, I would recommend getting Thrawn before you try to get R2-D2.  The R2 fight is also difficult but Thrawn will make it much easier.  More on that later.

R2-D2

IMO R2 is the most useful character in the game.  Because of that you have a lot of work to do.  For the R2 event you will need a full empire team.  The team can vary but I have never seen anyone beat it without EP as the leader.  If you have Zader, you should know that the developers disabled the turn meter loss granted by his zeta ability so don't use a Zader lead.  

My team was EP (L), Darth Vader (DV), Royal Guard (RG), Tie Fighter Pilot (TFP), Grand Moff Tarkin (GMT).  DV and TFP were G9 and the rest were G8.  I had to give them my best mods.  This was the first legendary event that I used mods based on the recommendation from crouchingrancor (this site is mentioned in a previous post).  I did not have any zetas for this fight but all abilities were omega level.

The key to this fight for me was how quickly could I kill R2.  For this fight R2's speed is incredible and seems to be going 2 or 3 times faster than anyone else.  This is why Thrawn's fracture would have been helpful.  The fight came down to my RG and EP stunning R2 several times and RG soaking up damage from Han Solo and PL.  TFP has an ability block that can prevent Chewy from taunting and R2 from burning your squad alive.  GMT's offense down also helps.  The final 7* fight is tough and there is no shame in putting the game on auto.... not that that's how I did it...

CLS

For this event you will need R2, OBK, PL, STH, and FBL.  IMO this event was not as difficult as Thrawn or R2 but the grind to get here is terrible.  Did I mention you should have started grinding OBK last week?  What are you doing reading such a long post???  Get grinding!

For this event I had a G11, zzR2 with maxed out abilities.  Perhaps that is why this event was not as difficult for me as the others.  PL was at g9 omegas, no zeta.  STH g8, omegas on taunt and attack (not his leader ability).  OBK G9 no omegas and zetas (he is supposed to die! Right?).  FBL G8, no omegas or zetas.

This event is broken up in tiers and follows episode 4 closely.  You don't fight as a group until the end and there are some 2 on 6 battles with Stormtroopers which can get difficult.  Omega abilities can be the difference especially when they add 15% damage or increase a stun chance.  I did not have to change out mods for this fight.  Moral of this story is to zzR2. 

Jedi Training Rey 

For this event you will need BB-8 (read above), Vet Smugglers Han and Chewy, Finn and Rey (Scavenger).  The most difficult characters to get are the vet. smugglers who are on their separate 16 energy cantina node.  It took me about two months of grinding to get them to 7*.  Finn is available in hardnodes and is a semi-difficult grind.  Rey is an easier grind and you get MF ep8 shards.

I had zFinn at G11 all abilities maxed, Rey at G9, all abilities omegad, BB8 at G10, abilities omegaed.  Vet Smugglers were at G8, abilities not maxed out.

The most difficult part of this event is that you are often fighting with Finn, Vet Chewy and Rey against four FO characters.  The FO riot trooper is very fast and gives protection to the other FO's.  I chose to kill the FO's and save the riot trooper for last.  If you are having trouble with this put more gear on Vet Chewy and get Rey as fast as possible.  I did not have to swap mods but my zFinn was very good already.  I specifically farmed mods for Rey to get her ready.  The final phases for this event are very easy.   

Grand Master Yoda

Farm Jedi but Jedi are terrible for now.  I would focus on the other Legendary event.  There are rumors that the Jedi will get a rework soon which is good because they need it.  I will write more on this later.  

SWGOH RESOURCES:  

Guildies, more free semi-solicited advice.  Below are a few resources I use to improve my SWGOH IQ.  I regularly listen to the Shattered Order and Galactic War Reports to keep up on current news.  The Shattered Order podcast has done some mini-episodes that talk about specific topics like mods and the best way to grind gear.  SWGOHindepth is more of a theory crafting podcast that gets a little to "gamer" for me.  I have not listened to Cantina Vizsla so if you listen let me know what you think.  

SWGOH.gg is also a great tool if you sync your game account to their site.  Syncing can be a pain but once you are there are several functions that can help you manage your roster.  The site will automatically add you to the Lazy Lightsaber guild page where it is much easier to review other member's rosters.  I haven't fully explored all the things SWGOH.gg offers but the site is mentioned on podcasts frequently.  Crouching rancor is also very helpful because if has a mod adviser that show the recommended mods for each character.  It is a fast way to check out if the 144 energy you spent on to get six health circles has a use (the answer is no ALWAYS PROTECTION ON THE CIRCLE).  The SWGOHindepth website has some great raid videos and will help as we gear and level up for HAAT.  

I am sure there are others so if you have suggestions let me know and I will add them.  

Good luck, you'll need it.

Podcasts:  The Shattered Order

                  The Galactic War Report

                  SWGOH Indepth

                  Cantina Vizsla

Mod and Roster advice:  SWGOH.gg

                                        Crouchingrancor

                                        gaming-fans.com

First Cleared HAAT Review 5/3/18

Congratulation to everyone for doing their part to beat our first HAAT.  Overall our communication was good but there were a few instances of people doing damage in the raid at the same time.  The Line App must be used to tell everyone you are in the raid.  You can use the in game chat but that is not the official way to communicate.  I will provide a few observations that will help people focus their grind for solid teams in each phase.  If you don't want to read the rest of the post, the main take away is to get CLS and BB8 as soon as possible.

P1
I was able to clear P1 using CLS (L) and HS.  No other members needed though there are some guides online that will give other suggestions.  My CLS was G12 (full) and moded for speed and health, with a crit damage triangle, and potency cross.  My CLS speed was 241 and he would usually attack three times per one GG attack.  I took potency cross over offense because I want my TM reduction and debuffs to land.  My HS was G12 (full) and modded for Crit damage and crit chance.  Crit damage triangle and offense mod.  HS speed was 206 and averaged 2 attacks per one for GG.

A few key strategic tips.  GG gains 100% TM about every 7th time he takes damage.  When he goes he will do his AOE attack and get the green triangle buff.  If he gets this buff retreat and start over.  CLS should be able to consistently stick is buff immunity and speed down on GG to prevent this.  I almost exclusivly use HS basic attack because it will remove TM if GG has over 50% TM or do double damage.  Usually the double tap will be around 35-40k damage.  I might use HS second special where he buffs the group but this is not necessary.  Also, don't worry about the B2 or Magmaguard.  They all do AOE attacks and will trigger CLS and HS counterattacks which will kill them after a couple rounds.  Last tip, when you escape get HS out first.  CLS can heal and get protection back and can survive on his own for a while.

If/when the Jedi get a rework they may be a viable P1 team.

P2

My ReyJ team did 51% in P2.  This team is difficult to get but once we get (read the farming guide below) a few that are geared this phase will not be a big deal.  ReyJ is G12 (2/3), BB8 G12, R2 G12 (1/3), RT G11, ReyS G10.  A classic resistance team zFinn, Poe, BB8, ReyS, RT will also do well and will clear about 10%. 

The important tip for this fight is that BB8 should use covert data trans every turn.  This will give TM to the whole team and is the most efficient way to reduce the cooldown of Illuminated destiny.

If you are using a team that is having trouble toppeling the tank, take out the top turret and one side turret then focus on the main tank.  If you are only going to last 2-3 rounds just focus damage on the main tank because its health is significantly lower than it is in NAAT.  The tank is immune to any TM reduction so don't use that type of team in P2

Rebels - Wedge (L), Biggs, Lando, Ezra, AA is a solid team
Resistance zFinn team

P3

I think the easiest team to farm for this phase is AA (L), CLS, GAT, BB8 and HS.  You could sub PL or Churrit for BB8.  Jyn Erso may also have a place because she can remove 100% TM.  I have only ran this team in NAAT (it did 90% of the damage) so I cant speak to how it will do in HAAT.  The key is to have BB8 (or subs) always keep the team buffed to mitigate the damage from the tank.  The first step is to kill all the small droids, fracture, speed down and ability block the rocket droid.  The rocket droid can have his TM reduced so CLS and HS attacks should be keeping him taking turns.  GAT's special gives 100% TM and restores protection.  AA Cleanses and calls extra attacks.

Zader teams might also do well here since the rocket droid's TM can be reduced.  If you use a Zader team let me know how it works and I will edit the post.

P4

The AA team from P3 does well here also mostly because BB8 Illiminated Destiny is so powerful.
My clone teams Cody (L), Echo, Fives, Sgt, Princess Leia could do about 7-10%.  All are G11 or G12.  I also used a CLS lead team with random rebels and did about 10%.  CLS's leadership that gives 50% counterattacks is a big portion of damage.

Kill or stun the B2 droids as quickly as possible.  They will counterattack and debuff the whole group.  The most important thing you need in any group is someone who buffs your entire team.  You need this because after the tank recovers from a topple an air strike is called in and characters without buffs are instantly killed.  With a buff they will take reduced damage but will live to fight on.   

Light Side Territory Battles Guild Strategy

This is a work in progress....


***ATTENTION***
Phase 1 (& general) battle guidelines
1. DO NOT deploy your roster. There will always be a 6hr hold on deployment similar to the 24hr safety on the rancor
2. Check Platoon requirements for any rare toons and donate them as long as it won't interfere with completing combat missions. Do not donate to any Platoons that require P2P toons. This will become more important in later phases. If you have questions re what is a P2P toon please ask before Platooning
3. Run combat missions first (use your strongest squads to clear as many waves as possible) then run any special missions you qualify for
4. Fill as many Platoon slots as you can, starting with the rarest toons
5. After the 6hr hold, deploy your roster as directed by the Officer Corps (If we 3* all sectors before the 6hr hold is up you may deploy at will)



***ATTENTION***
Phase 2 battle guidelines
1. DO NOT deploy your roster. There will always be a 6hr hold on deployment
2. Check Platoon requirements for any rare/impossible toons before running combat missions
3. Prioritize your strongest LS squads to the TOP sector (2 combat missions there) and your 3rd best LS squad to the BOTTOM. If you only have 2 decent squads you may choose to split between TOP & BOTTOM. If you have R1 then by all means run the R1 special mission. Do NOT deploy!
4. Fill as many Platoon slots as you can, starting with the rarest toons
5. After the 6hr hold, deploy your roster as directed by Officer Corps (If we 3* all sectors before the 6hr hold is up you may deploy at will)

Notes: there are 3 total combat missions available in phase 2. You can hit all 3 if you meet the requirements (3* HothSoldier for 1 combat mission in the TOP). If you don't have HothSoldier then you can only run 2 combat missions. May the force be with us all!



***ATTENTION***
Phase 3 battle guidelines
1. Do NOT deploy roster. Continue 6hr hold on deployment
2. IMPORTANT! Before running combat missions, we need to at least 1/3 the Platoon mission of the BOTTOM sector to disable orbital bombardment in phase 3 (We NEED to do this before running any combat missions). This will help our overall durability and we will clear more mission waves which means more stars
4. Those with 5* CHolo/HothBro should run the ROLO mission but don't let it interfere with your combat mission squad comps
5. The goal is 3/3/2 stars. Please do your combat missions sometime within the first 12hrs of the phase
6. After you've done all your combat missions you may proceed to Platoon the other sectors starting with the rarest toons. Mtfbwy!



***ATTENTION***
Phase 4 battle guidelines
1. Do NOT deploy roster. 6hr hold on deployment until Officer Corps calls for deployment
2. There is no need to Platoon asap but do check Platoons for rare/impossible requirements
3. Same as all previous phases, combat missions first then Platoon as much as you can. Avoid platooning where there is an impossible requirement (Falcon, Reaper, Paploo, etc)
4. The goal is 3/3/2 stars from top to bottom. We came very close last time to 3* in the MIDDLE, that's the challenging sector. I know we can do it. Do NOT deploy until everyone has done all their combat missions



***ATTENTION***
Phase 5 battle guidelines
1. Hold deployment until Officer Corps calls for deployment
2. IMPORTANT! Platoon the middle sector before running any combat missions. We need to weaken the ATAT as much as possible
3. Focus your strongest squads in the middle combat missions (Phoenix & HothScout). Do NOT run the special mission unless you have enough toons to run both combat missions. The priority is 2* the MIDDLE before running the special
5. The squadron & platoon requirements will be harder so please DO NOT donate to any squadron or platoon that requires Falcon, Reaper, Paploo, Logray, etc
6. The * goal is 3/2/2. Wait for the order to deploy from Officer Corps



***ATTENTION***
Phase 6 battle guidelines
1. Great job everyone! Let's keep the momentum going
2. IMPORTANT! Please make sure to fill as many Platoons as possible BEFORE running any combat missions. Phase 6 Platoons missions help IN phase 6. This could make the difference so do your best and platoon asap
3. The * goal is 2/1/2 from top to bottom. If we can do better then it's gravy. Hold deployment until everyone has done combat missions or deployment is called by an Officer
4. Let's make the Empire pay! Mtfbwy

Heroic Rancor Rules

We will run Heroic Rancor every Monday, 7:00 PM US Central time.  If we have enough energy, we will run a second Heroic Rancor on Thursday at noon US Central time.  We have to average 17,142 raid tickets per day to run Rancor twice a week.

The first 24 hours there is "zero damage rule" in effect.  This means that everyone needs to send in one low power character into the raid.  This character should be killed immediately and you will see that you did zero damage.  Once this is done you are "registered" and will get rewards even if you do zero damage.  If the character you send in has an opportunity to attack either use a special skill, taunt, stealth, heal, etc., or if you must attack, attack one of the side guards and not the guard captain.

The in game timer is the official timekeeper.  Once the clock is under 24 hours you are free to attack.

The purpose of "zero damage" is to insure everyone gets some rewards.  This raid will be completed in about 20 minutes and is easy to miss.  If you are getting frustrated because you can never do a large amount of damage because the heavy hitters kill it too quick just relax and know your time is coming.  By March 2018, the heavy hitters will have a 7* Han Solo and will step aside for everyone else to finish at the top of the chart.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

The rule is to do zero damage but if you do a few thousand damage you will not be kicked from the guild.  However, if you do much more than a few thousand damage you will be punished and or kicked.  If you do several thousand damage and are not on Line you will be kicked immediately.  If you mistakenly do a lot of damage get on Line and apologize.  We are a forgiving bunch if you make an honest mistake and own it. 

Thanks,

HAAT Rules

Ladies and Gents we are ready to attempt HAAT and get some General Kenobi shards.  To do this we will need to follow a few rules.

1.)  We can not have two people in the raid at the same time so we do not have repetitive damage.  Even if you only have one team you must coordinate with other members when you are attacking.

2.)  Announce on Line that you are going in and check to see if someone has posted that they are in the raid.

3.)  You can check to see if you are the only person in the raid by starting the battle then immediately retreat.  Before you retreat look at the health percentage of the boss.  Go back into the raid and the health percentage should be the same unless there is someone in there.

4.)  When you battle try to remember the percentage health the boss started with and finished with.  When you die go to line and post that you are done and the bosses health percentage.  By doing this the next person should have better idea if anyone else in the raid.

Remember that certain teams will do better in different phases.  Check out the HAAT guide at swgohindepth for team recommendations.

If things are going poorly or RNG is not in your favor retreat and try again.

Don't forget that you can retreat after seven turns and if you are successful you can use that character later. 

Lazy LightSaber Line app Invitation Link

Copy and paste this link in your address bar and you will find us. You will have to download the Line App on your device.  You must be on Line app to stay in our guild.  

http://line.me/R/ti/g/DLg7nlG91e