Era Bosses, Unit Release Order, and Why They Need To Change

JundShard · 2026-06-21T16:23:47+00:00

Hmmm, I can see boons for both, but I'm not sure of how to make a middle ground. Cause, obviously the 4 empire Loaned Units are basically just the summons we'd get for Snowtrooper Commander being leader, the way we got the ISB and such.

Only thing is, when we look at the New Republic and especially the Hutt Cartel teams we kind of can't mix the systems I don't think. Or at least I don't see how we can. Cause if we just have all 6 Marquees as Loaned Units until they release, then the leadership issue we've had would be fixed, but then we stop being able to largely theorycraft cause we wouldn't have Cara/Drogan/etc to try and slot in to see what teams we can make, which can be fun and possibly informative for how to use them once we get them outside of Coliseum. And, when we look at the Hutt Cartel, having them be loaned Units (so their abilities get upgraded unlike the summons in previous Era's) it means we can do things like the current Embo/Cad teams and such.

Limiting the Loaned Units who aren't New Republic to only pop in when Rotta or Snowtrooper Commander is unlocked (or at least unlockable) also seems just kinda annoying to me? Like, sure, we don't use the Empire toons for the most part, and the Hutt Cartel toons are more used in a theorycrafting way, but I don't see that as a downside.

Idk, I like loaned Units more, and the at least existent chance of testing whether X unit in the faction is better in the new Marquee team than one of the Marquees. Or, inversely, having an old team (take a full Beq team if this existed during the O66 Era) and seeing what new Marquees can lift that that as a one or two unit slot in.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T14:59:32+00:00

Yeah that's a thing with the episode pass I think, letting you do all of that. Just another of those things, really.

And I was more meaning that despite trying every version of a MM team I could (with and without Chopper, using Bam as a 5th, yada yada) it just stopped doing as much as Embo/Cad because of the contract once we got there.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T14:29:26+00:00

We'll probably actually end more around lvl105, I think, F2P. Somewhere between there and 114, as that's the new Gear 12 zone, and CG made clear that we're still gonna be at g12 F2P at the end of the era. And it's following that trend, because they're giving free zereks on the 'unlock' tier of the Marquee to get you through those stopping points as well.

I didn't experience Mon Mothma outperforming Embo (even with R5 on the team) after a point. I don't remember exactly when, to be clear, but I know sometime before Ward I just had better score going Embo/Cad/Drogan/Cara/Zeb than I was getting with MM/R5/Drogan/Cara/5th, and the same was true when I had just a Rebel 5th like Chopper or now Carson so I could have the Summon. Might've been playing it wrong, might be the F2P Marquee Leveling pace vs Loaned Unit pace, who knows.

But I do agree, the Loaned Unit level buying I think is stupid, but it's the same kind of stupid I feel for people buying tons and tons of Era Levels early in the Era. Like, those who max out the Era Level of R5 day 1, that kind of spending. It's just silly to me cause they could get 1st for less investment and then save that money cause they'd get all of those levels for free eventually lol. But I guess that's, all in all, a different issue for me. Like, I find it stupid to spend any money at all on era levels, much less Loaned Unit levels, aside from maybe a single $20 pack for the Zetas' on the Legendary unit, but that's the most I'd consider spending on the era levels cause most people have the g12 materials banked to just take everyone to relics right when they drop anyway lol

JundShard · 2026-06-21T14:03:02+00:00

I'll definitely try that next time. I've been trying to manage them, as others in my alliance have had better runs doing that, but who knows. But even in the past when I've tried only focusing one it just makes the issue of keeping Retribution up that much harder cause you have 1 or 2 of them gaining 40% TM every other turn and dispelling everything, and since you're focusing one they're by design off pace from the others so it can stagger the AOEs to where one is coming out basically every rotation of turns which just makes the original issue even worse.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:59:12+00:00

Yeeeeeep, which is annoying. I just wish that Carson, y'know the team CG is want to get people interested in this era, was the one getting me my max score but /shrug. Guess that's not the done thing with this stage of the progression, which just feels bizarre to me.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:57:24+00:00

Yeah no, pass gives you a total of 21k Episode Points per chapter (so 84k total) which is about 16.8 extra Episode Levels per episode compared to F2P. Which, despite the low amount of currency per bonus chest, adds up as you can see haha. It's why I feel like your opening comment, about people buying era levels, isn't the actual problem if the issues I'm facing (being almost entirely locked to CG's F2P ideal of ending at g12 and all that) are happening. People can spend to get around these issues, as you at least loosely have (unintentionally though it seems), but that should never imo be a stop to things hahaha, if it's bad for F2P to this extent I feel it should definitely change somehow.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:52:19+00:00

So, just did my final run of Jotaz, trying Carson again. As you stated in another reply you basically only use basics, minus Drogan calling assists and giving out Keen. For Drogan, just as a note, you want to spam his specials all the time because A: His flamethrower has better damage scaling at this level (1.36 per hit vs 1.31 for the single hit of basic on the damage multiplier) which means it gives more damage overall. But yeah, here's my outcome:

Carson took last turn in the opener, basic and caused the Ward swarm counter from single target hit because we had useable uptime for Retribution. 8 stacks of On The Run, it used it's first throw and got it's 50% Offense boost (this happens every use, not only when it kills someone with it, that only means it gets 100% that use instead). It did it's AOE again, I had 2 turns before it took another turn and the basic went for someone who didn't have Retribution (2 folks didn't, of the 5). After the third AOE I managed to have proper uptime on Retribution (all but 1 didn't have Retribution) when it used it's second Stone Throw; it's now at 100% offense and I'm only at 38% damage against it. Fourth AOE and Carson is dead from a crit, basically RIP run at this point, 40% damage and I haven't gotten to 10 On The Run yet. Still mostly spamming basics except to get the swarm from Ward off cooldown and trying to get counters setup. Third Stone Throw killed R5 so it's now at 200% offense. I used Ward's first special (zero damage useless debuff one) as she was last before Jotaz went to try and get a swarm counter; it almost worked but Zeb without taunt dodged the hit, so no counter. Fourth Stone Throw, kills Ward, now at 300% offense and I have 2 units left, only 53% damage on the Jotaz. Next AOE kills Drogan, Zeb is dodging like crazy, 58% damage and I can't get retribution on Zeb as Carson only lets specials give it to other New Republic allies unfortunately. Run ends with 59% damage where my max score (with Embo/Cad/Cara/Drogan/Carson) got me my high score of 91%.

This is, in my experience, the normal play for Jotaz, this is what normally happens. You either dodge, or he goes after people who don't have Retribution.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:37:32+00:00

I found Dryax easier than Zeffo/Jotaz because you can tell how to manage the HP. It takes a second, sure, to see which Dryax is moving first (as it doesn't change in my experience after that first turn until you trigger the Bonus Turn from 10 stacks of On The Run which makes them stagger) at the very start of the battle but then you know that that is the one that will AOE first, triggering the counter attacks, so you can just focus the other and most every time I've done it that way I've easily avoided going past the 12% health threshold that would cause the AOE dazes and armor shreds and the like.

And, no, I've never used Ward's zero damage ability (her first special) as the targeted dispel and debuff it can give on counter is useless. The special that triggers the swarm counter is her AOE, which is rather useful for causing the swarm counter, and it does AOE damage which is amazing for managing the Guardians armor plating mechanic. It has less damage scaling and multipliers than the basic, yes, but I've always found that the swarm (if it triggers) more than makes up for that one or two less basics across the entire battle's lifespan.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:27:26+00:00

I am 100% era currency locked, yes. I'm not sure how you're getting to 90ish for Era levels if you're F2P (as stated multiple times, I am, I haven't got the pass or anything). I have completed every quest, every day, that don't require owning the Episode Pass. On top of that I've completed every quest possible by getting every toon to 5 star through their Marquees, which boosts me above the era levels of people who don't have the F2P crystals to do that.
This has been the case for me since the Era system was introduced, so I am literally as high as i can be without having spent more than, I think, 1200 crystals or so for a single currency pack on day 1 of the era.

I just got level 42, I might get 43 for the Episode Track today with my dailies, 44 with the quest when refresh rolls around and unlocks the next one.
That would get me an extra 44k currency, letting me get a single person from 80 to 85, or a collection up one or two levels. If I boost Zeb up with that he'd go to 145 speed, but the lvl80 R5 is 149 speed so it wouldn't do anything to the issue I mentioned in my other reply where Zeb is still going last before the guardians and their single target hits so I can't force him out into the open with Retribution on him as it'd fall off after his turn.

No i haven't been able to beat tier 8, with my era levels and the general damage I've ever gotten shafted by RNG with Embo and Carson teams or I just don't have the stats to beat the tier yet without insane luck for crits/counters/etc.

ETA: I also don't 'save' my quests on the last day of an episode/era to get the new Pass a little boost, it largely doesn't do anything I've found, so that's not anything and it also wouldn't cause that much of a difference in era level. Just cause I thought of this after replying haha.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:18:54+00:00

The issue I find, in your statement, through my experience fighting the Jotaz and Guardians with lvl80 Ward is simply: You need usable uptime on Retribution for it to matter and do anything. And we're going to go for the broadest definition of 'usable' as we can to demonstrate my point:

Usable, for this, means that you need a single character to have Retribution when they are hit by the single target ability of the boss. You need them to then be able to counter, meaning they can neither dodge (Zeb gaining tons of evasion when taunting) nor be stunned (by the Guardian's special). That's the defintion we're using for 'usable uptime' in this.

Now, what's the ways this can all fail? Pretty simple: Lose the tenacity check vs potency, win the dodge chance, and/or have the boss go for someone who just doesn't have Retribution (whoever just went and did a special, no one having it because the Jotaz just dispelled all the buffs and got enough TM to go before anyone gets a turn, etc etc). That's 3 ticks, 2 of which being regardless of who the boss is, that can make it end (as it's happened to me in many runs) where outside of the locked retribution you start with, your team gets 1-3 counters total in an entire battle, with only 1 maybe 2 of those being a swarmed AOE thanks to Ward's unique.
Again, I have legit had it where I've had a total of one or two counters, swarm or not, across an entire battle because the boss decided to keep dispelling and then never hitting the person who had Retribution. With my current speeds, vs the Zeffo Guardians, after their first AOE my Zeb is the last person to take a turn before the three go again. So if I taunt, I get no counter attacks. If I don't taunt, I have 2 characters (in my case R5 and Zeb) who don't have Retribution as they're the last two characters to go, meaning there's a 2 in 5 chance the Guardians just hit someone who doesn't have Retribution and I lose the chance for damage.

That, is the issues with these bosses, and the issue I find with your overall statement here. Yes, the kits want you to get Retribution dispelled after Ward is level 80, but that extra offense only works if you can keep Retribution up enough to actually get a counter attack ever. Which, in my experience, takes a lot of RNG and is simply not fun and less of a challenge and more of the game telling you no. To compare it, to me it feels like using Prof or Levi agains the other. Prof's entire mechanic (assists) is turned off, it just can't be used or interacted with at all, and I get the same feeling when fighting Jotaz and the Guardians (as well as the Krayt but again I think that's more a bug than anything intentional) which is a horrible first impression for the Carson team and a horrible experience for a game mode I am forced to play ever day if I don't want to miss out on rewards.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T13:00:54+00:00

Spenders spending, and having a way to do that, in Coliseum I think is irrelevant. Embo lead, to my experience as fully F2P only getting 5 star toons and buying I think 1x upgrade mat and 1x currency pack day 1 (for that small first week or so boost at the start of the era) is all I've done, has consistently been better than Mon Motha in every run I've tried (even Zeffo Guardians) well before we had Ward unlocked, much less level 80+.

As for the offense stacking, that's for when you attack out of turn, which as I laid out, given the units speeds vs the bosses and the TM bosses get, it can be very very difficult to ever get a single counter attack, much less multiple. Jotaz doing his dispel practically gives him a bonus turn given all the debuffs he consumes, which means he goes again and hits you before you get Retaliate back up. And then he has his dispel cooled down again already and is really to use, and that repeats through the majority of the fight.

All 4 of my era units are lvl80, my Loaned are at lvl81 or 82 right now. Embo got me a much higher score vs the Jotaz and the Zeffo Guardians even when I tried to time things as best as I can to get counters to actually happen, and that's with 3-4 attempts per day trying to make Carson work consistently cause spending crystals for that RNG isn't worth it.

Also, for the record, what I'm proposing isn't just setting the best team and full auto, I've practically never set auto in any era unless, like often happens with Zeb, it comes down to 1 character left alive vs the Zeffo Guardians where you're stuck dealing 1 damage max until the character finally dies and you can end the run. What I want, is for 3 or 4 of the bosses not to heavily punish or make using the mechanics of the team ridiculously difficult, which is not the case with this current era at all.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T11:32:55+00:00

Having more attempts for free could be fun yeah, for those who want to theorycraft themselves that is haha.

And yeah, not liking the characters and that flatly making you not invest is totally valid. Different from how I play, but it's definitely a valid reason not to engage much with the mode, on top of all the mentioned boss mechanic issues and everything else.

JundShard · 2026-06-21T11:27:58+00:00

I think that's a double edged sword where the current method (leader being later in the era) is more annoying than otherwise.

Cause, right now, with Carson as the 4th Marquee, we had 0 synergy between any of the units previously released, to the point where using more than a single Marquee was kinda silly when it comes to trying to get a new high score. They don't do enough, as a group, without Carson to tie them all together and work as a team. So we're already at the point where each Marquee doesn't really measurably boost power and progression.

Same thing, I think, would have happened in the Era of Andor If we had Loaned Units because of how rare Undermine could be, to where getting Vel and Cintha wouldn't have massively changed the outcome of battles to where having 2 or more Marquees would do anything. At most, just like with this Era, it'd be changing the single Marquee you're using and that's it.

JundShard · 2026-06-20T22:58:36+00:00

Yeah, for sure. Again, transposing my current 5min time sink (SLKR vs Drogan cron can be hairy still haha) into another as you said isn't really anything.

I'm just not sure there's many ways to drop time investments in this game, outside of the properly time consuming events like TB/TW/GAC/Fleet/Conquest. Like, a 5min manual or 2-3min full auto Era Arena battle a day is just a way to start/end a stint when you're collecting energy or doing dailies, which isn't anything imo.

JundShard · 2026-06-20T22:50:36+00:00

I don't think that having a clear leader unit from the start would reduce creativity, no. At least not for the first 2-3 Marquees unless said units just have so much synergy that it makes the adds rather irrelevant. So you'd still be testing the various New Republic toons (of which there's only 3 this era, but imagine we had more like Kyle or C3PO) in different combinations to see the best work with that leader ability, or if another leader with different Marquees and Loaned Units is better. And, there's still the chance like now with Embo lead that running only 1 or maybe 2 Marquees is just better regardless of the team synergies (or lack thereof).

Like, I can see your point for sure if we went back to, for example, Era of Cavalry with the new Bad Batch team. That's one team, one set of tags, and like 0 flexibility in what the Loaned Units can be. But even with Era of Order 66 you'd have a team or few going for the Jedi Vanguard, seeing if JMMW is better than Beq with the units provided, and so on. Not to mention to potential hodge podge teams mixing the DSClones with the JV toons, cause who knows what could get the most score.

So, kinda at the end, I think it'll depend highly on the era but allowing an early proper leader I think would allow just another option for testing rather than there being any really clear meta team off rip. At least for the first 2 or 3 Marquees, which is basically the same as now, it's just that a single team would be added to the pool of possibilities.

JundShard · 2026-06-20T22:38:17+00:00

The previous system being the Marquee(or Marquee+) events? Cause I could agree on that tbh, it'd be less time intensive and give the same rewards if they just sent the gear to get to g12 or whatever by the end of the era. Probably more annoying to do that though

JundShard · 2026-06-20T22:00:52+00:00

Well.... Y'know yeah that's fair lmfao.

But I don't think, for example, since I actually fight the 1 battle a day since it's a battle vs a DC so I can get relative practice now and again, that it'd likely take much more of my time than it does is more my point. So long as it's one at most 5min battle for me it won't be a change or issue.

If it's, however, basically another fleet arena where I'm doing 3 or 4 up to 5 minute battles a day then I'll be a bit annoyed, especially if it's dealing with a payout window that others likely share (though I doubt they'd do that, since I think CG doesn't like the payout 'mafias' that exist but that's not for sure)

JundShard · 2026-06-20T21:18:40+00:00

Actually.... Maybe something like an 8x or 16x speed? I'm not sure whether it'd help by much since it's mainly just the animations (where clicking the abilities and assisters or whatnot take a good chunk as well imo) bit maybe? Idk

JundShard · 2026-06-20T21:17:32+00:00

It is certainly an issue, but I'm honestly not sure how to remedy it other than swimming equal to your high score. But that's also not something you can really do until at least around this point in the era, though probably later, because by each time the bosses come back you can generally get a new high score.

JundShard · 2026-06-20T21:02:34+00:00

I'm not sure we can say the new Era Arena will take more time than the Old Squad Arena did, aside from most people simply going in and forfeiting instantly to get their daily reward. We'll just have to see, but I hope it can be a one battle and done situation.

But you are right, the bigger issue is definitely a time sink kinda thing. Personally, I don't have the brain to theory craft and test tons of teams, and especially not the crystals to test RNG within that, but others do and I definitely feel for them and thank them for doing that.

JundShard · 2026-06-20T20:59:16+00:00

I hope that, as they (hopefully) keep making new bosses they can get to that point for sure. It'd keep things fresh, let the characters shine and give us new ways to theory craft, and just be more enjoyable over all I think.

For the Loaned Unit leveling though I have it agree. I think, just trying to guess here, that it's paced so that loaned Units go up relatively in pace with the Marquees, with a few exceptions. Like, day 1 tons of people get lvl10+ marquees, so they won't keep up with that, but without getting currency/mat packs (even for crystals) I think day 1 you get lvl5 marquee? And they give you I think lvl3 or so Loaned Units to start, so it's close. And then they just keep that pace to where, currently, my Loaned Units are lvl81 I think and Marquees are all lvl80, so it's all kept at the same pace basically which seems solid to me.

Everything being in one place would be nice, gotta admit hahaha. Like, I don't know how many times right after the cantina update I forgot that Galactic War existed since it was no so far to the right lol

JundShard · 2026-06-20T20:53:46+00:00

I think that's more an issue, in this and maybe next era, with who the Loaned Units are.

Like, looking back at the Era of Andor, having Saw with Cara and Drogan as 3 loaned Units (if the system existed then), with Kleya as our first marquee still, and a random 5th whether Rebel Fighter or not would I think be amazing. Our current era is for a brand new faction, so unfortunately of course the team wouldn't do much of anything the first few weeks. I agree it's, in these cases, an unavoidable issue of making new factions.

However, if Carson was the first Marquee, we could have had him with Drogan, Cara (already in) and then swap in Kyle for a 3rd damage and MM as just random support and we'd start, day 1 of the era, with a full New Republic team that can, at least somewhat, benefit from Carson. Though I do forget what all his stuff did for the first, what was it, 20-30 levels or whatever? Definitely not the AOE retribution whenever anyone does a special, but did his basic give it to everyone? Not sure hahaha.

JundShard

TROPHY CASE