Follow up on previous analysis with more & deeper thoughts.
I’ve asked my alliance members to attack my defense team, and I’ve been experiencing different formations during raids.
The short version of the analysis is: my previous conclusion was wrong. I’ll analyze the pros and cons for each formation.
Same naming conventions: A B C D E for 5 positions from left to right, and c1 to c7 for columns of the board from left to right.
Previously the main reason I favor “Reverse” formation is because it spreads damage most evenly without enhancing spells that affect “nearby units”.
What I was missing is, defense team rely on getting hit by tiles to charge mana. When using Reverse formation, (tank) heroes on position A and E gets hit less often, and are more likely to be killed by spells before they cast theirs. Offense team can match tiles elsewhere to charge mana and kill these heroes with spells instead of tiles.
The more evenly tile damages are distributed, the slower defense team will get their mana charged. This may work fine for certain very-fast heroes (GM, Vanda, Grazul, Clarissa, Thor, etc), but most tank heroes (fast, average or even slow), they’ll get killed right before their mana is fully charged.
On the other hand, if you use standard formation, where position C will take 3 columns of tiles, if you don’t use a mono-team, it’s almost guaranteed that this hero will be able to cast its spell for the same reason.
Standard
A->c1, B->c2, C->c3+c4+c5, D->c6,E->c7
If you have a single non-very-fast tank hero in your defense team (e.g. Grampus, BK, Telluria etc) with other 4 heroes dealing damage (preferably fast / very-fast), then this formation fits you the best.
Reverse
A->c1+c2, B->c3, C->c4, D->c5,E->c6+c7
If you uses 1+ very-fast heroes (e.g. Vanda at A and Clarissa on E) in your defensive line up, with 3 other relatively squishy heroes to deal damage, this formation is your go-to choice.
Double
A->c1, B->c2+c3, C->c4, D->c5+c6,E->c7
Similar to reverse, but most of the time I would recommend reverse, simply because it does not enhance offensive spells affect nearby units (Drake, Panther, Evelyn etc).
Exceptions:
- if your defense team benefits from such spells from position C (Sif, Zulag, etc), double is better than reverse
- you have 2 fast tanks (Bera + Freya for example), having them at position B + D is more likely for them to cast spells than A + E.
Reverse Double
A->c1+c2, B->none, C->c3+c4+c5, D->none,E->c6+c7
If you use 1+ non-very-fast tank heroes in your defense team, then reverse double is for you. Fast AOE heroes on position B and D will complement this team very well. Position C can be an average / slow speed tank while position A and E should be fast / very-fast speed heroes that offers some tankiness.
This is what I believe my defense team will have the best performance:
A->Vela, B->Frigg, C->Bera, D->Drake, E->Jean-Francois
I hope my opinions are helpful and I wish everyone a good gaming experience.
