A great twentieth century American writer once aptly pointed out that "participation is the condition of culture." In EHL, we've tried to cultivate a competitive, yet casual culture for all our players to enjoy. Participation is key. Without motivated players, there is no culture at all. And with such participation, we've achieved a number of fantastic milestones over the life of not only EHL, but also over the life of its previous incarnation, CNOSS. Among those guild accomplishments is a farmable HAAT, about which everyone should be proud. More to the point, now that defeating HAAT is simply automatic, it's time we turned our serious attention to the newest raid in SWGoH. Yes, as my title suggests, I refer to the dreaded Sith Triumvirate Raid.
Now, we all know through experience that this deathtrap of a raid is problematic in a number of ways. With HAAT, blasting the tank in P2 is akin to smacking your head against a brick wall. At least, however, in the end you earn a handful of GK shards and some useful loot. With the STR, this is decidedly not the case. Traya shards only drop for Heroic, which leaves the majority of players in SWGoH grinding their way through tier after tier of horrific mechanics and lackluster rewards. Which, as I've written about in the past, reminds me quite a bit of when my first guild tried to tackle the AAT. Before there was CLS, P1 was a bloodbath of debuffs. And, just before he finally cut down your makeshift squad, Grievous laughed at you. Ah, those were the days.
Today, DN just whispers his sweet nothings at us, of course, while we try to guesstimate exactly when he'll go ahead and murder the most prominent member of our squad. There's something more than just a little sadistic about the mechanics of P1 of the STR, in other words, but that's a moot point, since the devs announced almost a month ago that mechanics, boss health pools, and rewards for the raid will all receive an overhaul, about which you can read on the forums. Suffice it to say, this raid will become easier in the future due to planned changes. Thank the maker!
II.
As I'm sure you've noticed, we're currently grinding our way through T5 of the STR. While this is undoubtedly a slog, as Sarc noted earlier today, we can use this as an opportunity to take stock of precisely what we need to work on. In other words, T5 should sober us up. If hitting the raid is not quite enough to do so, here are some numbers that will.
STR Health Pools
T4 T5
P1 59m P1 105m
P2 74m P2 129m
P3 63m P3 113m
P4 52.5m P4 103m
Even though these numbers are approximations, they're close enough. The gulf between T4 and T5 should make the even the most dedicated, gung-ho players gulp. They certainly made me take Rey's name in vain, if nothing else. The point in all this is that we've got a lot of work ahead of us. And it's going to take a group effort -- an entire culture of one -- to knock down this raid. Luckily for us, we did it with HAAT, basically starting from scratch. Now, we need to do it again with the STR. Here's the plan.
There were a few basic guidelines for HAAT training that undoubtedly apply to tiers 1-6 of the STR. In a nutshell, they are:
1) Develop Phase Specific Squads
We all know JTR squads rule P1, but there are many effective squad comps for all phases. Pick one. Unlock, Level, and Gear the entire squad to at least G11. Mod them effectively. Max their mats, which includes choice Zetas. Once you have one excellent squad, move on to developing the next.
As a footnote, the minimum gear requirement for HSTR is G12. As with most raids, you can cheat a little, but, generally speaking, every squad you run needs to be G12 across the board. So, I suggest that you use G11 as your goal for T4-6. Then we can all work on getting our squads to G12 for a full out HSTR push in the future.
2) Damage Percentage of Phase Specific Squads
As you develop your squads, take mental notes when you run them in their specific phase, specifically to memorize your strat, since you'll need to have it down cold when we move to the next tier. Most importantly, pay close attention to the Damage Percentage you post. I just dropped a 5m hit in P1 of T5, but who cares? What's the Damage Percentage?
When training for HAAT, the ideal was to develop 2 2% Squads per phase. 8%+ Squads we called Superteams. The A Team is an example, since it can clear at least 2 whole phases. Here are the percentages for T4 and T5 of the STR:
T4 2% Squads T5 2% Squads
P1 1.2m P1 2.1m
P2 1.5m P2 2.6m
P3 1.3m P3 2.3m
P4 1.1m P4 2m
Again, these are approximations, but they're close enough. Chances are, you already have at least one Phase Specific squad handy without even thinking about ratcheting up for the STR. For those of you who don't, I'll address that issue a little later on in this post. Suffice it to say, my 5m hit posted approximately 5% of P1. That's not bad, considering that 25 4% hits clear a phase.
3) Post Screenshots of Hits
A number of us do this all the time, even when we hit HPIT. Heck, even when 12 players have soloed the Pit, I still love this practice because it displays camaraderie in the best of ways. It's very important, though, to post screenshots of STR hits for similar reasons. Doing so not only allows us to track raid progression, but it also shares information about comps and their effectiveness with fellow guild members. And, you know, if you hit hard, you get to show off a little, too! On the flip side, if you flop, post that hit as well. It's just as informative.
So, to review: The three basic guidelines are to develop phase specific squads, note strats and damage percentages for each phase specific hit, and post screenshots of those hits. Ezpz.
III.
The most obvious problem to tackle is how to choose which STR squad to develop. Thanks to Six, this nifty chart is pinned on our Raid Teams Channel:
My assumption is that the Damage Percentages are for the HSTR, but the comps are effective across tiers. Asher has also posted a list of STR squad comps, which is pinned on our STR channel. A wealth of information abounds, gang. Only you can decide which phase specific squads you want to develop. In my own case, I can take stock. For T5, I can run:
P1: JTR
P2: Imp Troopers, OG Jedi, Machine Gun Leia
P3: Chex Mix, FO
P4: Oops, I'm screwed!
Yes, for P4 my next phase specific squad to develop is obviously the lovely Nightsisters, though I could run FO as a reserve team. Additionally, I'm fairly certain that my Bounty Hunters will do fairly well in P2, especially after Bossk has his leader Zeta. And, after Bastilla is leveled up, I'll be able to run her Jedi lead team. My advice is to do the same. Take stock of your strengths and weaknesses, then decide what to work on.
IV.
For those of you who are newer to the game, I understand. My alt, Qel, is only 1m GP and has struggled with the STR. There are steps you can take, however, to join everyone else in the STR prep push. Let me outline a few of them for you. I'll use Qel as our example.
First, let's take a look at what Qel has so far:
Aaaaand that's all, folks. Everything else is mismatched, wonkily modded junk. All of these squads are properly modded, though, so when a team faces Res in TW, they had better be fast, because Poe draws down!
More to the point, Qel has 6 viable Faction-oriented squads and nothing to throw at P1 of the STR. But, that's ok. Why? Well, you'll note a solid FO squad that earned BB8. In turn, I've got a solid Res squad (Finn, BB8, Rey) ready for JTR. Right now, all my Cantina Energy is spent on farming the Vets. In other words, I've been prepping for P1 of the STR the whole time. And I still am. Vet Han is almost done. I have yet to touch the Wookie. Whoa! That sounded better in my head.
Seriously, though. The question is, what do I spend my other energy on?
You'll notice that my NS squad is a bit wobbly, but that's only because two weeks ago they were total junk. I've been actively developing them for P4 of the STR. For P2, I can hit with CLS, Res, and Phoenix. For P3, I can hit with FO. Sans JTR for P1, I was left with one conclusion: Ratchet up your Sistahs, buddy.
In other words, I didn't start from complete scratch. I took stock. Then, I began to develop what I already had sitting in the junk heap, even while I continued to farm for the JTR event. For those of us who play younger accounts, this is precisely the course of action that I recommend. After you've set yourself up with Finn, BB8, Rey and an active Vet farm, pick a phase specific STR squad and go all in. Before the month is done, I guarantee that Qel's NS hits DN in T5 P4 for 2%. The goal is to hit for at least 4%. Sweet nothings my ass.
IV.
So there you have it, Ladies and Gungans, my pitch for a guild-wide focus on the STR. I'd say that it is high time, when it comes to the STR, to put our big boy pants on. But that's sexist. The Jazz musician, Miles Davis, once said: "I don't care if a dude is purple with green breath, as long as he can swing." Well, I say this: "I don't care if you're purple with green breath, as long as you can play." Let's move forward as a culture of one, Legion. Working together, we can tighten our fist and give this STR a good, old fashioned punch in the mouth. Which is, on occasion, hilarious.
V.
You get extra points if you caught the Firefly allusion. Good hunting, Legion.
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