Arena - how to win it? [UPD - A working tactic for a win]

[lecoqaveugle]

Anyone had any luck winning the 'Arena' mode? Even on the 'Normal' difficulty, this thing is MUUUUUCH more difficult than the campaign on 'Hardcore'. Like, why!?

So, does anyone has a really good team composition to try on? Any tips?

[lecoqaveugle]

Seriously though, the Arena feels like pure BS. I am not even trying on 'Hardcore' yet the fights are super hard. I've never encountered anything like that even in the Campaign. wtf

[lecoqaveugle]

Was there an Arena change? Because I get every fight 2 or 3 waves of enemies, starting from level 1. How am I suppose to survive 4 enemies, that come in 3 waves in a single fight?

I do see from the Youtube video (sadly as of 2019, the most recent Arena run), that the player gets only 1 wave per fight, not 2-3 waves every fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzUz7CjnCRE&t=326s

[sil]

I just played the Switch version and the second battle was also the same with 3 waves. It took me several tries and it was just luck. Was wondering what I didn't get about the game. The enemies do critical hits on almost every attack. It seems to me that you can only bet the game with a very special combo. Which is kind of lame.

[lecoqaveugle]

Originally posted by sil:

I just played the Switch version and the second battle was also the same with 3 waves. It took me several tries and it was just luck. Was wondering what I didn't get about the game. The enemies do critical hits on almost every attack. It seems to me that you can only bet the game with a very special combo. Which is kind of lame.

Yeah, the Arena is kind of broken to me, to be honest. Even on 'Normal' level of difficulty enemies are brutal, like give us a moment to catch a breath, please. We just started this run.


Even some videos on Youtube (with the old arena it seems) are basically stating that. If you get damaged to health on those few early level fights -> restart, otherwise you won't win it. It needs a load of 'Save Loading' (or even save scumming) in order to succeed and you can see youtubers do just that.


I managed to win it though. I went with the Medic, Miner, Leader. The Medic & Miner reached level 10, while the Leader stayed at level 8 since he died 2 times.

Tactic

Leader - He goes always first and his only job is to use 'Inspire' (allies draw x2 cards + 50% to energize) or 'Compliment' (ally draws x4 cards + 4 initiative + 20% damage). He's there to stabilize our hand deck and set up our next guy's hand for some buffs.

Skills (he only reached level 8):

• Inspire - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Firestarter - 3 points
  
• Rehearsed - 3 points
  --- QUARTERMASTER SPECIALISATION ---
  
• Lead by example - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Inspire - 1 point
  
• Empower Weapons - 3 points
  
• Drill Training - 2 points

Medic - He goes second, after the Leader, and he is the buffer of our group. Eventially it comes down to using 'Adrenaline Booster' (energize x1 + 3 initiative) and 'Combat Stimulant' (+25% evasion, +4 initiative, +20% critical success & +15% damage) on the Miner.

Sometimes you can do a few 'Nerve Toxin' (after 2 turns deal 66% of enemy's health back to him as damage) on some really FAT enemies or a few 'Healthy Haze' (self and allies receive 29 health) for some heals.

Skills:

• Adrenaline Booster - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Regenarative Suit - 1 point
  
• Medical Diligence - 2 points
  --- CHEMIST SPECIALISATION ---
  
• Combat Stimulant - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Understanding of Anatomy - 2 points
  
• Stronger substances - 3 points
  
• Healthy Haze - 2 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Symbiosis - 3 points
  
• Positive side effects - 2 points
  
• Power injection - 2 points (max cards in the deck)

Miner - The only Damage Dealer this group has. Pre-level 4 (specialization) he has a in-built AOE attack, bur right after level 4 (chose Demolitionist and go with the grenades path) he does either 'Incendiary Grenade' (AOE + burn/turn damage) or you can do a devastating 'Sweeping Fire' (AOE + 100% ignores enemy evasion) instead.

Skills:

• Blasting charges - 1 point (max cards in the deck pre level 4, 0 cards in deck after)
  
• Mining veterancy - 3 points
  
• Strip away defenses - 1 point
  --- DEMOLITIONIST SPECIALISATION ---
  
• Incendiary grenade - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Yearrning for explosions - 2 points
  
• Volatile materials - 3 points
  
• Sweeping fire - 3 points (max cards in the deck)
  
• Fiery materials - 3 points
  
• Excessive weapon modifications - 2 points
  
• Unrestrained destruction - 2 points (max cards in the deck)

Conclusion

If the Arena needs NOT only a special set up, since all of the rest options won't even work on the easiest (Normal) difficulty, BUT a hefty amount of luck to survive the first few levels = it is broken and needs fixing.

Sad, since I was hoping to spend a lot of time in the Arena mod after completing different playthroughs of campaign on Normal/Harcore.

[lecoqaveugle]

It seems you have to heavily prioritize AOE damage dealers and high initiative either through items/stats (if you get lucky) or through buffs. This basically leaves the player with a very limited pool of hero options (basically like.....4 guys? Medic + Leader = buffers and Miner/Bruiser = AEO damage dealers).

I tried to make a working party around Technicians, but they are just so weak, since the enemies are brutal from the first fight. You need to deal as much damage as possible, since soaking it up (by recharging shields) doesn't work well, especially on low level heroes.

I still love this game, though. I just wished the devs didn't finish it's development or, better yet, patching with tweaks here and there.

[mk11]

Just did the Arena with three inventors. Take care for the first two levels where your self-heal isn't fully online. I managed to take the character buff option at all data consoles (mostly skill or initiative bonuses with one +1 draw card).

[Vushe]

My arena only had 1 wave of enemies per square, similar to the video. I only have the base game.

[lecoqaveugle]

Originally posted by mk11:

Just did the Arena with three inventors. Take care for the first two levels where your self-heal isn't fully online. I managed to take the character buff option at all data consoles (mostly skill or initiative bonuses with one +1 draw card).

That's a niche team, that I'd definetely try on my next run. Otherwise, I have created an /Arena Guide for anyone interested on what it is, what heroes are solid and so on

[lecoqaveugle]

Originally posted by Vushe:

My arena only had 1 wave of enemies per square, similar to the video. I only have the base game.

Then i'd say the DLC add something to it? I'm not sure why it would be that way though...

[Jacq]

Nope. It'd go ok for a while, but then I got to about level 7 and got hit by multiple waves of seriously OP'ed enemies that seem impossible to survive. The rotten things not only hit really, really hard, but also used some sort of group targeting to take out one character at a time by hitting only one person repeatedly until they bash through any defenses and knock their health right down. They also hit with heaps of debuffs including fear, reduced damage/shielding, ongoing turn damage (like bleed etc of up to 16 points per round each and they stack!) and stuns even through shielding buffs/reflect/parry etc which made it hard to survive if you went off the defensive, and kept spawning in new strong enemies (over 100 points of health) every time you killed one off which just made it super difficult to get anywhere.

The game starts off on the difficult side (I hate to think what the hard difficulty setting is like) but survivable if you use the right tactics and don't get terrible card draws, but then does seem to have a sudden jump in difficulty that you just don't have the equipment and skills to deal with. (I had a save and tried multiple times with different tactics and no luck. Was trying to run it with an inventor, bruiser and scrapper.)

If I try it again, I'm almost wondering if you need to take multiple inventors in there that can use leech to keep healing as that's the only character that seems to stand some chance of success and would keep going multiple rounds after all the others were taken out before getting overwhelmed. Liked the main game, but honestly was not impressed by the arena section of it at all.

Edit- Just say mk11 already suggested taking multiple inventors.

[lecoqaveugle]

Originally posted by Jacq:

The game starts off on the difficult side (I hate to think what the hard difficulty setting is like)

The 'Hardcore' game setting for the Campaign works just fine - by starting easily on the first levels and going up to extreme later on, BUT the Arena's 'Norma' difficulty is something else.

I honestly feel it's kinda bugged or something is messing with it because you are right. It start REALLY hard. Like it goes from 0 to 100 from the first enemy turns leaving you no other option that to restart.

[mk11]

It has a feedback loop. You need to get through the first enemies without deaths (cost a level) or needing to use the heal from the consoles. That way you get bonuses that can add a lot to your survival (eg. +40% mental resistance).

It would be better if you automatically got some healing each time.

[lecoqaveugle]

Originally posted by mk11:

It has a feedback loop. You need to get through the first enemies without deaths (cost a level) or needing to use the heal from the consoles. That way you get bonuses that can add a lot to your survival (eg. +40% mental resistance).

It would be better if you automatically got some healing each time.

Or even better if the enemies scaled as they scale in the Campaign. The first 2-3 battles should start slow and the difficult (as well as the waves in the battles) should increase with each next battle.

[Jacq]

@mk11 Yeah I noticed that. Occasionally I'd scrape through with enough health on my team to get an upgrade early on, but more often than not, at least one team member would need healing or be knocked out so you'd have to waste it on that or die in the next fight because your team wasn't close to full health. So then you don't get an upgrade, so then the next fight is harder, so you have to use healing, so the next fight is harder, so you have to use healing....

So yeah once you're down an upgrade or two, it becomes a feedback loop which seems to become unwinnable down the track because of how boosted the enemies get with each level. They definitely need to do a revamp of the enemy difficulty increases to bring it in line with a normal setting as it becomes difficult fast and isnt' fun to play.

[Drain]

This mode is garbage. You just can't keep up with the difficulty. Instead of these robots asking if you want to heal or upgrade... they should have just given us access to the station between fights. The lack of any vendors or crafting also means you can't properly customize your characters.