PhilG1's Raid Guidlines
I have done much more thinking and observation of the challenges that come with the Rancor raid. As we approach the challenge of a tier 6 raid, intended for 6-star lvl 80 gear 8 characters, we must be organized, coordinated, but most importantly SMART about the way we approach each day and each precious attempt that we have for the raid. Why does this matter? Well, we all want the rewards, and when it comes to the challenge we face with a tier 6 raid, we are best served to finish the raid as quickly as possible, so that we can all get the rewards and launch the next raid faster! This discussion is broken down into 5 categories:
1. GENERAL RAID STRATEGY: This section will describe strategy for how to utilize your squad, whoever you may have, to the best extent possible
2. GAMMOREAN ENCOUNTER (STAGE 1): This section will describe strategy pertaining specifically to the gammorean encounter
3. RANCOR (STAGE 2): This section will describe strategy pertaining specifically to the Stage 2 Rancor encounter
4. RANCOR (STAGE 3): This section will describe strategy pertaining specifically to the Stage 3 Rancor encounter
5. RANCOR (STAGE 4): You get it.
1. GENERAL RAID STRATEGY
Tip 1: Use and Abuse Retreat
We need to treat tier 6 raid like the hardest GW matchup. You've lost some guys. You have an unfairly unbeatable foe. The only hope is to have some really solid RNG and pinpoint execution in order to advance. Treat every attempt in the raid like this. If you use poggle's offense up and then the rancor immediately bellows removing all of your buffs, swear under your breath and retreat. Before you attack, be aware of your enemy's attacks and cooldown status. If you use an attack and then realize you made a tactical mistake. Retreat, retreat, retreat until you are satisfied you got the best out of your squad.
Tip 2: Save your best raiders!
This is especially important for those of us, myself included, who cannot put together 5 full teams of 6-star+ characters. Guess what? We can still do 5 attempts with a full team! The key is to use escape for your best and most important raid characters. Before entering the attempt, make a mental note of which characters you must preserve to give yourself the best chance at a successful attempt the next time. If these characters are killed during your attempt, revisit Tip 1 ;). Establish your plan for how many characters and which characters you will accept death for. If you plan everything right, you should have 5 formidable characters remaining for your final attempt. Lets use an example to explain this better: Say I have 12 6+ star characters. Of those 12, 10 are pretty solid and useful. That means for each attempt (generally speaking), you can afford to lose 1 of your solid characters, and maybe 1 of your not-so-solid characters too if you throw him in with decent synergy and it works. Because you are trying to preserve the majority of your team each time, your attempts might end up being quick and dirty. Get in and get out and do as much damage as you can. Just make sure to preserve your best lineup for your final attempt, when you ride 'em until they are eventually devoured, smashed, or otherwise annihilated. One note on escape: it says you have a 60% chance of success. If you see your guy go hologram and disappear, that means it was a success! If you are not successful, this does not mean your character dies. He is still in the battle, and can potentially try to escape again, hopefully with better success! If your escape RNG does not go well... Tip 1!
Tip 3: Know your strengths and weaknesses
I don't know your team. I don't know what they are good at or not. But you do! So knowing what they can do and not do, and what synergies work, read up on the stages of the raid (below) and figure out which stage of the raid each of your lineups would work best for, or customize your lineup as best as you can for that stage if we are advancing slowly.
Tip 4: Be aware of the enemy's health
Certain characters have special bonus' of their attacks depending on the enemy's health. This is very, very important in these raids. I'm sure there are several where this is the case, but let me delve into the most important character, because he may be the most valuable character in any raid. YODA's basic attack generates foresight if the enemy has more than 50% health. This means, if you are attacking the rancor, for example, during the first half (health-wise) of the stage, he will have foresight essentially for the entire encounter. There is basically no reason to use his other attacks, however, each time you have the opportunity to give tenacity and foresight to your whole team, do it. This is an incredible advantage that yoda brings to any team build, and if you have him at 6 or 7-stars (I don't, only 5-stars, super pissed about that now lol). You should only use him during these specific sub-stages of the raid to maximize what your teams can do, until we are on the final stretch (second-half of stage 4) or if you need to use your attempts before the characters reset.
GAMMOREAN ENCOUNTER (STAGE 1)
Each of you will be able to better determine how your specific roster can best attack each stage. What I will describe is what the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy's are, and ways to target weaknesses and best avoid strengths, if you have the roster to do so.
Tip 1: Be aware of "Fearsome Foe"
"Fearsome Foe" is your worst nightmare. Luckily, it begins the encounter on a relatively long cooldown. The cooldown is shown in a little skull icon on the left side of the screen with a number over it. Try to make the battle last as long as you can, but if you can last until the cooldown reaches 2 or 1... ESCAPE! ESCAPE ESCAPE! Once the enemy becomes "Enraged" your poor characters will be OSKO'd repeatedly until you are defeated.
Tip 2: Best and Worst Character Qualities
Best Character Qualities: None of the enemies in this stage can dispell buffs, that means, BUFF UP PEOPLE. Use poggle, phasma, and other supports who can buff your squad and be comfortable that you can maximize the benefit of these sweet perks. On the other hand, the gammoreans like to buff up themselves too, with frequent offense up, taunt, and even taunt with retribution. Bring characters that can remove enemy buffs and take away those things as fast as you can! (i.e. asajj, mace, teebo, qgj).
Last but certainly not least, these gammoreans can hammer you with some tough debuffs, most notoriously the "death mark" skull given by the captain. Thus, characters who can dispel debuffs on your team are incredibly valuable (looking at you ackbar). Make sure to save your debuff for when you get "death marked"!
So, take a look at your roster. Does it look like you can give these gammoreans a run for their money? Or does it look like you'd get smashed pretty good? Let the guild know if you can be a strong contributor for this stage or not, and we will try to work that into an overall strategy. This goes for the rest of the stages as well.
Worst Character Qualities:
The Gammorean captain, being the primary foe, gains 5% turn meter when damaged and takes reduced damage from damage-over-time effects and is immune to stun, ability block, health down, and other debuffs. Basically, de-buffing characters don't do you much good here, unless you can use them strategically on the gammorean guard or brute. Save these guys, cause we'll need them later.
RANCOR (STAGE 2):
Tip 1: Be aware of "Fearsome Foe"
Same as gammoreans, same for each stage! Don't forget to keep an eye on this!
Tip 2: Shoot the door!
Any chance you get, shoot the door so that it falls on the Rancor, then fire away! But you all knew that. Just making sure.
Tip 3: Best and Worst Character Qualities
Best character qualities:
Remember how I said we'd need those de-buffing characters later? Well, this is their time to shine! The Rancor has +50% tenacity and +50% armor if he is not suffering from any negative status effects! This means DoT, healing immunity, speed down will make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck as you fire away at the monstrous creature. The rancor cannot be stunned or ability blocked, so don't bother trying these! He will resist plenty, so bring characters who can deal debuffs on basic attacks to keep his armor down. Also, if you can bring in a tank with a taunt, he takes 30% less damage if he is taunting, and keep damage away from your other teammates, at least until he is devoured. Tanks will be helpful, but ultimately will need to be sacrificed to maximize the damage of the attempt.
Also, the rancor has better odds for stun, ability block, and even reduces his cooldowns (uh oh) when he attacks characters that are below 50% health. This is a good time to shine for your healers. Try to keep everyone above 50%.
Worst character qualities:
The characters with a revive are probably not best suited for this encounter (sorry elder & daka). If you play your cards right, the only way you will lose characters is when they get devoured by the rancor, at which point they cannot be revived.
RANCOR (STAGE 3):
Tip 1: Ditto. Don't forget!
Tip 2: The door! The door!
Tip 3: Best and worst character qualities
Best character qualities: This stage is similar to stage 2, except for instead of the rancor taking less damage if it is not suffering from a de-buff, the rancor takes less damage if your characters are suffering from a de-buff. The thing is going to pound you repeatedly and try to inflict healing immunity, ability block, stun, and if it sticks you can't deal as much damage. This means look to your leaders to see if someone can provide your squad with increased TENACITY to ward off these de-buffs and keep gunning down that rancor (YODA and LUKE are very good options, especially yoda in the first half of the stage, as discussed earlier).
Worst character qualities: Same as stage 2. Rancor is still devouring. Also, those de-buffing characters that were so nice in stage 2 aren't as useful anymore.
RANCOR (STAGE 4):
Tip 1: Did you forget yet? No? Good.
Tip 2: The Doo.... wait, there's no door. Nevermind.
Tip 3: Best and worst character qualities
Best character qualities: For this stage, the rancor can no longer devour, so bring back your characters that can revive! The same general good qualities remain from stages 2, and 3. That's the good news, the bad news is that the rancor has +25% speed and cooldowns reset 100% faster, which is very scary. Also, that convenient door that the rancor was standing under? That thing was so nice... well its gone, so this is probably the most challenging stage from a longevity standpoint. For this reason, bring in squads that can hit hard and hit fast, and it wouldn't hurt to have someone who can slow the damn thing down a little bit (RG, Fives). There are really no special weaknesses.
Worst character qualities: It's pretty much all hands on deck at this point. No need to save anyone for later stages.
That's all folks! Do you feel smarter? More prepared? No? You already knew all of this? Well, I tried. Lets get ready for tier 6!
--- PhilG1