DASH
We will use DASH as our baseline. Your side will have A1 attack the enemy F1 and so on. This is as vanilla as it gets. We will be using this default grid below in the same way you would be looking at your screen in any attacking scenario.
Strong against – N/A
Weak against – Backstab
PROS:
- Sometimes simple is better. Focusing on the structure of your units and how they can all work as one on the 6×7 grid can lead to strong synergies as to where the other formations separate the units
- Units like a lvl 7 oracle can cover a lot of space and other buff based units can maximize their abilities
CONS:
- Clumped up units can lead to AoE decimating troops
- Backstab is probably the hardest counter out of all the other formations. Typically your low defense and high damage units are in the back to prevent taking damage.
Grid 1 – Enemy side
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . . . . . . .
B | . . . . . . .
C | . . . . . . .
D | . . . . . . .
E | . . . . . . .
F | . . . . . . .
Grid 2 – Your side
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . . . . . . .
B | . . . . . . .
C | . . . . . . .
D | . . . . . . .
E | . . . . . . .
F | . . . . . . .
BACKSTAB
In a BACKSTAB formation, you are using probably the most potent offensive tool but IT does come with drawbacks. In Arena, if an enemy has a fully loaded grid and lots of units, you can devastate the back line. But this can lose effectiveness if the units are single units or the opponent does not have a full back line.
Strong against – Dash
Weak against – Split (supposedly)
PROS:
- Can move suiside units (bomb) to a back row. This is probably the most common meta for backstab but moving a unit like Frost Queen is also a very strong option. Be careful where you place the bombs and the bombs have a wide area, you will typically want to have them land on B2-B3 and B5-B6 spots to maximize damage
- Pulls agro of enemies A-E line. You can send over tanky units to allow your A line to take less attack damage and approach mostly unharmed.
CONS:
- If you set this up as a defense strategy, it is very easy to telegraph and adjust the line up accordingly.
- You are sacrificing units for a quick damage burst on the back end units. If your units do not effectively do damage (gaps in their back lineup for example) you will be working out of a disadvantaged state
- Can be a bit boring as this is relies heavily on Bomber units and Frost Queen
Grid 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . a a . x x .
B | . b b . y y .
C | . . . . . . .
D | . . . . . . .
E | . . . . . . . AGRO TO BACK
F | . . . . . . . ATTACKERS YOUR FRONT LINE
Grid 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . . . . . . . TANKS
B | . . . . . . .
C | . . . . . . .
D | a a . . . x x
E | b b . . . y y
F | . . . . . . . BIG RANGED UNITS
OUTFLANK
In a FLANK formation, your objective is to move 10 edge units right into fire. Typically you can send in a variety of troops over to (hopefully) hold agro while your more aggressive front line is able to advance and start putting in damage
Strong against – Front Queen, Dash.
Weak against – Split
PROS:
- This can wreck a Frost Queen (if the frost queen isn’t in the backstab formation) as it will pull the Frost Queen’s agro at the start and largely nullify it hitting your front line.
- In a Defensive formation, it can take opponents by surprise and do damage to critical units placed in the back
- Can have some success with Bomber troops
CONS:
- The ideal Bomber troop should be hitting in all units within a 3×3. Your the maximum number of units you can hit with a Bomber is in a 2×3
- If the opponent has strong dps, it can melt the 10 units sent over too fast and not allow your charging units enough time to have built an advantage
Grid 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . . . . . . .
B | a . . . . . f
C | b . . . . . g
D | c . . . . . h
E | d . . . . . i
F | e . . . . . j
Grid 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | a . . . . . f FRONT A1 AND A7 ATTACK BACK B1 AND B7
B | b . . . . . g
C | c . . . . . h
D | d . . . . . i
E | e . . . . . j
F | . . . . . . . ARCHERS AND LONG RANGE
SPLIT
You will either feel dumb or smart. SPLIT formation has the highest level of skill and requires the most tweaking on a case by case basis. It is unique as it does not move units to the opponent side but shifts your left units 3 spaces left and right units 2 spaces right. It stands out as one of the best defensive formations as you can disguise this as a standard dash formation and let your opponent mis-read the defense.
Strong against – Backstab
Weak against – Dash
PROS:
- This is the hardest formation to predict when in PvP and if you disguise it well, can be one of the best defensive builds in Arena.
- It can still lose to backstab but is the strongest counter and you can bait the opponent to use a formation that might actually benefit you.
CONS:
- High risk, high reward. You can get caught being too cute and if one of your sides does not hold its side up, you may end up getting flanked by the enemy
- Aura units with a large range may be less effective.
Grid 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A | . . . . . . .
B | . . . . . . .
C | . . . . . . .
D | . . . . . . .
E | . . . . . . .
F | . . . . . . .
Grid 2
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 12
A | a b c d . . . . . e f g
B | a b c d . . . . . e f g
C | a b c d . . . . . e f g
D | a b c d . . . . . e f g
E | a b c d . . . . . e f g
F | . . . a b c d e f g
