Valiant Force Forum

Underrated Heroes Series Ep 1
"Solo DD Trigger Team Build"

Disclaimer:
I know every player has different units available on their arsenal. It is indeed hard to provide guides to players if it strictly requires specific units but there are quite a number of alternative units for this build which I will list down within the guide. "DD" means damage dealer. Lastly, build this at your own risk. The main reason why I didn't reveal this composition early is because it might get nerfed to oblivion.

Changelogs: M/D/Y Format
Guide Creation - 02/01/17
Added Kai's Team Variation on Section VI - 02/06/17

Shortcut: Other Build Variation Section
My Opinion On New Hero Drake

So first of all, I will start things with a screenshot.

14 triggers, nothing special. Alot of people already reached this amount or even more but if you look closely, the team composition isn't made up of the common archer trigger teams or anything similar. All these 14 triggers is done by just one unit, Berserker Vincent thus the name of the build being "Solo DD Trigger Team".

I made a "PoE 30 Clear w/o Miu" thread before and mentioned there that I will eventually release a guide to my team build, this is the exact build that made it possible.

I. Introduction
I am Mikan and I'm an official launch player, currently prestige level 6 and probably gonna stay there for a while as I am not a big spender nor a rich person. I actually wanted to create a series of guide, tackling the most underrated heroes and bringing them to the spotlight. This guide is all about that. Here I will explain a powerful team composition that makes use of alot of underrated units in the game. Yes, this is NOT meta so if you're looking for meta builds, this is definitely not the place.

II. Build Breakdown
The Solo DD Trigger Team only requires 4 units, yes it does not require 5. A main DD and 3 aura slaves.

  Main DD 
It doesn't really matter much who the main DD will be as long as they hit really hard. Berserkers are ideal for this slot as they buff up their damage output to extreme values. Currently we have 3 available units that can advance to Berserker, they are Vincent, Freya and Leah. Additionally, it is required to have a Vampire Rune equipped on the main DD.

       



  3 Aura Slaves
I know some might not like the words used, feel free to suggest better ones. There is only 1 fixed unit for the aura slaves and that is Spiritwalker Kahuna. Others are Samurai Shizu, Samurai Miu, Blood Knight Darrion, Gladiator Drake and Zealot Leon.



       

       



III. Setting Up
The core of the setup is Spiritwalker Kahuna and will be positioned on the mid-row mid-column center. Main DD in front of Spiritwalker Kahuna and 2 of any of the listed aura slaves standing beside the main DD. I do recommend having Samurai Shizu mainly because she is very strong, has a better ATK trigger of 85% compared to Kahuna and her skill reduces debuffed unit's DEF and MAG by 35%. Leon is also very good because he has a skill that can pull an enemy near and taunt for emergencies.

So ideally, it would look like this,

But again, you can also use Darrion and Miu so feel free to swap around. The only units that cannot be changed here is the main DD and Spiritwalker Kahuna.

  Synergy
So the reason why the main DD will continue to keep attacking alone is because of the 3 aura slaves. SW Kahuna's aura works like this, if a unit on aura is healed, that healed unit has 30% chance to attack again for 80% of their ATK. With the help of Vampire Rune and Lifesteal Aura, you can get 2 heal ticks, each being able to trigger SW Kahuna's aura. It is also possible to have 3 heal ticks if you use 2 lifesteal auras instead of having SM Shizu. SM Shizu's aura is quite the same as SW Kahuna's aura but instead, it only requires the unit on aura to attack so they have a 30% chance to attack again for 85% of their ATK.

Confusing? To make it simple, your main DD has three 30% individual chances to trigger another 80/85% ATK per attack and this can keep going on and on as long as RNG agrees. The initial attack has 34.3% failure rate but do note that there is also a chance that more than 1 proc can happen out of 3 chances, adding more consistency to the trigger chain.

IV. The Missing Ideal 5th Slot Unit
So as everyone can see, there is still 1 slot to fill. It can be filled by alot of units depending on your needs so feel free to experiment. Nevertheless, I do have a single recommendation. A very underrated unit that barely anyone gives attention to.

  Archbishop Siena



Never heard of her? I wouldn't really wonder why. Siena is one of the most underrated arena heroes. Her archbishop advancement provides a very good aura which is a regen for 2 turns when she attacks and most importantly, her skill, Heaven's Embrace which heals everyone by 120% MAG, adds DEF by 25% of her MAG and lastly, a 3-turn regen which heals everyone for 10% of her MAG. The 120% MAG heal does help start a trigger fest but it's only 1 chance. What really matters the most is the DEF boost and the 3-turn regen which compliments this build extremely well. We all know that berserkers are squishy frontliners but with the defense boost, the survivability of a berserker skyrockets, the additional heal tick also adds consistency to the build by adding more chances to proc a trigger fest.

V. Video
I have uploaded a video that showcases how the build works. This is a perfect sample to show that the build does have it's inconsistencies and how the heal ticks (regen) from skills reduces that inconsistency problem. Elemental Chaos: Legendary Trial 3

VI. Other Build Variations
The guide has ended on section V but if you don't like BK Vincent as the main DPS, you can check out this section. Another thing to note is that the following builds need to be very well invested in before it can reach to the point where it can defeat Mega Bosses.

Samurai Kai's Call x Command Team Variation
I know what you are thinking. No, this is not some kind of joke and no, Samurai Kai does NOT suck -- he's just underrated and has difficulties getting into team builds due to the very few options for call triggers. Call trigger is the opposite of Command trigger, instead of X unit commanding A B C unit to attack, Call trigger requires A B C to attack before X unit attacks.

  Main DD
So here's the star of the build, Samurai Kai. Left is his MLB'd stats, right is his Aura type. Optimal faith is Ares, reason why is because you wouldn't rely on the damage of his skill rather you will rely more on your triggered attacks. His skill also has some extremely useful debuff, -30% ATK as damage mitigation and -35% DEF as damage boost. Vampire Rune required.

       

  3 Aura Slaves
Same as the aura slaves for Berserker's variation.

  5th Slot Ranged Command Unit
This 5th slot is required for the build and it has to be a ranged command trigger unit, anything else doesn't work. There are alot of units that can be used for this. I will just list them down instead of having seperate images for each. Vampire Rune required.

- Marksman Luna
- Grand Ranger Cybella
- Gunslinger Cybella
- Grand Ranger Kane
- Gunslinger Kane
- Witch Doctor Kahuna
- Spiritwalker Lucille

  Setting Up
The setup is still the same as Berserker's variation with some minor adjustments.

So from here, you change BK Vincent to SM Kai with all auras pointing towards all the aura slaves. 
You then replace the 5th slot unit (Siena in this pic) with the Ranged Command Unit you picked with the aura pointing towards the aura slaves and aura slaves pointing towards this unit.

It should look something like this, all auras pointing at each other.

Just imagine that Ninja Kai is a Samurai.

  Synergy
The main reason why it's called Call x Command is because as you can see, it required a Call Unit and a Command Unit. Usually, you combine the same trigger type with each other like the most popular and most common archer trigger team, they are composed of multiple command because they command each other to attack again. Call trigger units is the same, they need multiple of same call units to create a trigger fest like a command trigger team does but the problem is they are extremely few at the moment, namely, Spellbreaker Isabella, Hunter Aaron, Rune Magus Kiera, Spiritwalker Luthor and Samurai Kai. So mainly, these 2 types of trigger cannot combine yet this build has made it possible, who would've thought?

Call Unit as Main DD
The reason why a Call Unit is good for this build is because there's 3 fixed aura slaves surrounding the main DD. It means that if any of those slaves attack, there is a chance for the main DD to attack which can start another trigger fest. So in a single turn, excluding the 5th unit, there is 1 guaranteed attack for Kai and 3x 40% chance to attack again when the 3 aura slaves attacks as well.

Command Unit as 5th Slot Unit
The command unit's only purpose is to trigger 2 of the 3 slaves to attack. As explained above, if an aura slave attacks, there is a 40% chance for the main DD to attack and start a trigger fest. With the help of vampire rune, SW Kahuna and one of the frontline aura slave, this Command Unit has 2x 30% chance to trigger self to attack again and this translates to 49% fail rate on the initial attack.

To summarize,
1. When Kai attacks, whether it's from a normal tap or a triggered attack, he has 3x 30% chance to attack again for 80/85% of his ATK. This is the main trigger fest.
2. When an aura slave attacks, there is a 40% chance for Kai to attack with 80% of his ATK which goes back to #1
3. When the command unit attacks, it has a chance to command 2 aura slaves to attack which goes back to #2.
4. When the command unit attacks, it has 2x 30% chance to attack again for 80/85% ATK which goes back to #3.

Note that WD Kahuna and SW Lucille are special cases. They have 2x chance to command the slaves to attack per attack as long as they are behind a lifesteal aura slave. This is also a hint to the next episode of the Underrated Heroes Series.

  Video This was uploaded by my guildie, Cheese, upon my request. This is just a minor test on Fire Lands 5 just to showcase how the build works and performs.


To be updated with Warlord's Team Variation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. I am poor but I have all the units required. Can I perform at the same caliber as your squad?
Answer: Yes, this team is actually very low cost. The only unit needed to be geared properly is the main DD. Other units need only to have enough defense to survive or have a unit that increase the survivability of the team like my suggestion, Siena.
   
While everyone were working on their event units (Miu, Ronan, etc.), all I was doing was improving my Berserker Vincent because I have bad luck getting event units. Those gears are nothing special, they are all farmable, nothing exclusive to paying players only.

Q2. I have made the team composition but ... OMG my RNG sucks! Please help me! What should I do?!
Answer: Simple answer is to boost the consistency of the triggers by adding units such as Siena or improve your Berserker stats further so it only requires lesser triggers to finish up whatever enemy you're fighting. 

If you are fighting against Phoenix at legendary and the boss only has a few HP left and your berserker buff already ran out, you can still try to kill the boss with normal taps. To prevent the boss from using it's skills as you normal tap it to death, you should taunt it using Leon or Darrion. Somehow, they made the phoenix only do normal attacks if taunted so this acts like a silence debuff.

If nothing else works, use the FDC (Forced Disconnect) trick. Shutdown VF application and open the app again, you should be able to resume the battle and it will start again back at Wave 1. There is a problem though with this method, for each FDC you do, you get a 5% stat penalty. So for example, you restarted your run 5 times, you get a -25% stat penalty.

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Trivia

Back on Faye event, I was using a Samurai Shizu ally on one of my legendary runs (event). When one of my unit died (unit behind Faye), it was replaced by the ally Shizu and luckily, the aura of the Shizu ally has an arrow pointing forwards. The formation was,

Shizu
Faye  -  Shizu

My Faye was already standing beside my own Samurai Shizu so what happened was the 2 samurai auras stacked on Faye. When I made my Faye attack, she straight killed Darrion with 12x triggers. It was then when I realized how strong 2 samurai shizu aura can be especially if an event unit is doing the attacks or maybe even a Berserker Vincent.

When the Miu event patched in, I had alot of troubles dealing with the bosses because I never was able to pull my own Miu. So I thought, if only there's another unit with the same aura as Samurai Shizu then I can invest on a Vincent Berserker and clear these ridiculous bosses similar to how my Faye destroyed Darrion before. I was then thinking critically until I remembered Kahuna. I remembered that Spiritwalker Kahuna had an aura similar to Samurai Shizu except that it requires a unit to be healed. So I thought "what if I just put a vampire rune on berserker, it should then work the same way as shizu's aura". The prototype of this build was born, I was using the setup below,

Faye
Vincent  -  Kahuna
Shizu

I thought, if Vincent gets hit, Faye will absorb the damage and heal him at the same time which can start the trigger fest. As I kept running this composition, I thought, "okay, this is very inconsistent, I need to make it consistent". So I thought, why not add one more lifesteal? I then worked on Leon THUS finalizing the build. Yes, I don't have a Miu and Darrion so my only option was Leon but it is not a bad thing. When I reached PoE 30, Luthor was at the edge of the map out of my berserker's reach and I do not have the luxury to walk forward first as it is very fatal due to Luthor's 15k+ ATK. Then I thought, Leon's skill was a blessing, I just had to pull Luthor in front of berserker and my berserker shredded Luthor into pieces. That is how I cleared PoE 30 w/o owning a Miu.

Thanks for reading my story ;3

Reserved.

To start things off, I do hope HungryPanda or Ryozanki can reply here and tell what they think about the build. They can at least watch the video on Section V.

Honestly, I really like VF's aura system as it rewards very creative players with powerful setups. I really do not know if they will congratulate me for arriving with this setup or surprise me instead with a nerf hammer on the next patch.

OMG Mikan thats a very well thought out build! Thank you for this creative and insightful sharing! Never knew heroes like kahuna and sienna can be used in this way.  :)

Wow.. I really like the idea of this.
Healing trigger have always been an idea but not commonly used because its healing, and not "damage", so people won't bother to think much about it. They either look for poison trigger or attack trigger, heal trigger is like waste of time when you need to heal to trigger.

But your build gives a refreshing view on how we can use heal as a form of trigger.

One thing to note is that based on current event, you need a heavy DD so that it will clear the sides asap and also have to consider walking them forward without dying. Because I have tried just walking without any form of shield from faye, and the damage to the DD(even with 10k health) will reduce it to half at least,

Old set up I was running with.



Replaced Miu with Berzerker, and replaced Darrion with Miu, cleared Firelands 6. (MAX trigger I've experienced is 18)

Gears are very not optimised with Ronan still using 3* set xD

Old set up I was running with.



Replaced Miu with Berzerker, and replaced Darrion with Miu, cleared Firelands 6. (MAX trigger I've experienced is 18)

Gears are very not optimised with Ronan still using 3* set xD

Ah, Nice, too bad i dont have miu and vincent. Other than kahana, who else have heal trigger attack?

OMG Mikan thats a very well thought out build! Thank you for this creative and insightful sharing! Never knew heroes like kahuna and sienna can be used in this way.  :)

Thanks! and no prob~
I think Siena is way too underrated, I even used her back on Snowman Event because I had no Inquisitor Lucille.

One thing to note is that based on current event, you need a heavy DD so that it will clear the sides asap and also have to consider walking them forward without dying. Because I have tried just walking without any form of shield from faye, and the damage to the DD(even with 10k health) will reduce it to half at least,

That is what the 5th slot is for. Miu is part of the alternatives also, she can blind the Phoenix.

Old set up I was running with.



Replaced Miu with Berzerker, and replaced Darrion with Miu, cleared Firelands 6. (MAX trigger I've experienced is 18)

Gears are very not optimised with Ronan still using 3* set xD

Pyon~

@Thread: I was supposed to say this earlier, OMG this thread got instapinned just 20+ mins when I submitted it. Thanks for the support whoever pinned it!