User blog:Linathan/Squad Spotlight & Guide: Challenge Arena Part 1

Challenge Arena is finally here! This Global Exclusive content is really kicking up and now we get a new arena mode!

Unlike the normal Arena, Challenge Arena takes place in a completely different area in the metagame. There are a set of rules that apply to this new game mode, which makes competition even more of a... competition! Let's start off with some rules enforced in Challenge Arena.

Specifics of Challenge Arena
Rules and Thoughts:
 * Unit cannot be equipped with spheres.
 * This makes Arena particularly difficult, making units that require certain spheres to activate Extra Skills underwhelming.
 * Stats become pure and unaffected by any sphere boosts.
 * Duplicate Units are not allowed.
 * The strongest of the duplicate units will be chosen for selection.
 * Even if a unit dies, the leftover duplicate units cannot be used either.
 * For example: If you have two Sefias and one Sefia dies, Sefia cannot be used anymore until she's revived.
 * All BB damage is reduced.
 * Final damage is reduced down to 25% after all buff calculations.
 * Does not apply to normal attacks or DoT (Damage over Time)
 * Rec stats are reduced.
 * Final Rec stat is reduced down to 25% after all buff calculations.
 * Healing is thus nerfed, including Burst Heals, HoT (Heal over Time), and HC.
 * Status infliction is nerfed.
 * Probability is around 30%-50%.
 * Status ailments last for only one turn.
 * All gauges are cumulative.
 * HP and BB gauge carry over each match.
 * You can revive units at the cost of 3 Gems.
 * You can fully heal units at the cost of 1 Gem.
 * Arena AI works exactly the same.
 * Enemy units are able to fill the SBB gauge.

Bonuses:
 * Brave Bonus is calculated based on the comparison between your squad and your opponent's squad.
 * The number of units in both squads and the units' stats are factored into the calculation.
 * The opponent has a chance of striking first if Brave Bonus reaches below 1.00.
 * Highly recommend adjusting your squad achieve a higher Brave Bonus than 1.00.

There are Random Rules enforced in each and every Challenge Arena battle. Here is a list of them:
 * Restrictions
 * No Leader Skills
 * No Brave Bursts
 * Advantages
 * Fire Element Advantage
 * Water Element Advantage
 * Earth Element Advantage
 * Thunder Element Advantage
 * Light Element Advantage
 * Dark Element Advantage
 * Male Unit Advantage
 * Female Unit Advantage
 * Genderless Unit Advantage
 * Others
 * Empty BB Gauge Start
 * Atk Parameter Halved

These following Random Rules are not enforced:
 * Restrictions
 * No Sphere Effects
 * Advantages
 * None
 * Others
 * Status Effects Active

Guide
Challenge Arena is populated by the many Atk leads that love to mess your day up. They're everywhere and there's nothing to do about it. So why not do the same?

Anyway...

Here are a list of things that you may want to consider when under Random Rules. Each battle has a Random Rule enforced so adjust your squad accordingly.

The Advantage Random Rules aren't too significant. A mono team isn't necessary required to bypass this rule, but it's quite recommended if you're facing a stronger squad, especially those containing Hadaron leads, rainbow leads, and mono leads. More about squad setups can be seen below to get an idea what a "strong" squad looks like.

The "No Brave Bursts" and "Empty BB Gauge Start" rules are really the only rules that may hinder your progress. This is most prevalent when against Hadaron leads, mono leads (Vargas, Sefia, Kikuri, etc.), etc. Those leads are most notorious for dealing tons of damage, especially with normal attacks. Therefore, it takes a lot to defeat those units unless you have a strong team. To bypass these restrictions, use leads that boost Atk to maximize your normal attack damage. Since you will not be using any BB on the first turn under these rules, you have to have high damage output to overcome this. Additionally, you can build your units' BB gauges under these rules if the opponent's squad is easy to manage.

For "Atk Parameter Halved", damage will drastically decrease. In this case, you need the most amount of damage possible. To achieve that, make sure all units have BB in the squad. This will increase your chances in activating multiple BB to wipe the opponent's squad out.

For "No Leader Skills", it's useless to use units with single-target BB/SBB. In this case, do what you would do for "Atk Parameter Halved". Have all units with BB in the squad to wipe out the opponent's squad.

Squad Spotlight
This Squad Spotlight will work a bit differently. This is more of deciding which units to use. These squads will give a premise of how to counter certain Random Rules. Take note that you are able to substitute any unit into these squads.

Squad 1: Highest Normal Attack Damage
Who cares about using BB when you've got high normal attack damage? Yes, with this squad, you can inflict high damage to your opponents. Because this squad is centered around normal attacks, the order at which these units are assigned doesn't really matter unless you feel that you really need to target a specific unit.

Hadaron is leading for this as he has the highest Atk buffs on his Leader Skill, more than any other unit in the game.

Iris, Bestie, Raaga, and Rahgan are currently the only units that can deal double hits without spheres. Because their hit counts are doubled, their damage becomes doubled as well, yielding a much higher damage output.

You generally would want to use this squad under the "No Brave Bursts" and the "Empty BB Gauge Start" rules since BB won't matter. Dealing the most amount of normal attack damage is key here. This is also acceptable under other rules too.

Don't have any of the units listed here? Read further.

Squad 2: Mono-Element Squad
This squad here is just an example of what a mono squad would look like. You do not have to use the units listed above. They are there to show an example.

Any of the Six Heroes work fine as leads and it's going to be even better once the 12 Guardians of the Gods get their 7* forms. Their Leader Skills provide a 100% (120% for 12 Guardians of the Gods) Atk boost to their respective element. This works great in certain Advantage Random Rule battles.

Any team that makes a mono-element team works just as well. This applies for all elements.

Squad 3: Rainbow Frontier
This works exactly like the first squad mentioned above, but this is just to serve as an example. Quaid's leader position can be subbed for Michele and Krantz for more survivability.

Any of these units are replaceable as long as the squad fulfills the five elements requirement that rainbow leads have.

Squad 4: Gazia
All units except Gazia are replaceable here. With Gazia being the lead, this boosts the overall versatility of the squad. Additionally, Gazia mitigates 10% of all damage taken, which makes him feared even by both sides of the field.

You'd typically want to use Gazia as a lead in "Atk Parameter Halved" rule battles. One SBB from Gazia can easily nuke the opponent's team thanks to the humongous 300% BB Atk buff.

Conclusion
Oh, Hadaron... How many times do we have to see you in each and every battle?

If there's a drastic change to Challenge Arena, I will make a Part 2! More and more units are coming out so the metagame is constantly changing and changing!

Comment below on what you think of these squads! How are you doing in Challenge Arena? Excited for Challenge Summon? Leave them all in the comments below!

Check out Mich's blog on Arena AI!

Check out my list of analyses in [http://bravefrontierglobal.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Linathan/Spotlights:_Table_of_Contents! Spotlights: Table of Contents!]