Summoners War Advanced Tips

Summoners War Advanced Tips by Abs01ut3

I thought I’d make a small compilation of tips on SW. These tips will not revolutionize your SW experience individually, but collectively they’ll help you milk out the most of the game’s energy, resources, or what-have-you. They are also not too obvious, either because it’s a “good to know” or “oh, I have never thought much of it” category. Raise your Kappa hands if you know all 20 of it. I hope there’s not too many of you guys.

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS

1. Exp overflow

Believe it or not, many of us still put fodders that are 200 exp off maxed into Faimon Hell. This is a big waste of exp, and it’s even worse when you’re on exp booster. Some pointers:

• Exp fields are 100-150/hour, and feeding 1★ is 800 exp each. Use them to finish up the last few hundred of exp needed to max your fodders.
• Using rep monsters with just 1 fodder is efficient (plus it’s 33% more than doing it without), but using your own farmer is not (due to the exp sharing mechanics)
• If you frequent a specific stage, learn how to minimize exp overflow. 2★ fodder takes 35822 exp to max, and 82182 exp for 3★ fodder. Balance it with how many exp the stage gives.
• Here’s an example for Faimon Hell: Level 2★ fodders until you hit 3/4^th bar of level 19, then use one 1★ fodder to max it (With 18 faimon and a 1★ fodder, you reach 35900/35822 exp, only 78 overflow). Level 3★ fodders until the exp bar almost hits cap on level 24, then put them on exp fields, or put them in there first before leveling them (With 42 faimon, you reach 81900/82182 exp, and a few hours on exp fields will give you the remaining exp)

2. Wishing well

Do not do the wish if you need to sleep/log off, have more than 5 wings, or less than 15 energy from max. Rather obvious really, but hey, every little bit counts right?

3. 5★, 6★ leveling

Sometimes you have that level 25 6★ Hwa, or level 18 5★ Veromos. Rather than “wasting” it by putting them in faimon to level up, put them on your Dragon/Giant/Hall line-up instead. Fully runed 5/6 ★ monsters can cope with some Cairos dungeons, and you get free exp to boot! My 5★ Veromos can do Dragon B10 at level 20, and my 6★ Megan+Hwa combo have been doing it there from level 10. My 6★ Sieq does low damage Halls B10, etc. Heck, I even put pure fodders on my Dragon team, and it still pulls through. Note that if it’s your core units, this method will take too long to max it.

4. Violent users

Violent set is both so rare and in such a high demand. As a result, you have to prioritize who will receive them carefully. Some pointers:

• Completing this set is very hard because slot 2/4/6 Violent (especially ones worth maxing) are very rare. Therefore, do not complete your Violent with eg: 1/2/4/6 Violent. Fill up slot 1/3/5 with Violent instead (a much easier task), and then you’re left with just 1 Violent rune from 2/4/6 to fill from other sets. I cry every time I see a Darion with slot 2/4/6 Violent HP, then all other units from that box has no Violent set.
• Consider the marginal benefit of the user. A Darion moving from 2x Energy to Violent or a Chasun receives huge benefit from Violent set, while moving Jojo from Fatal to Violent or Baretta from Despair to Violent has less marginal benefit, either because their former set is already very good, or that it’s just a luxury. Learn which of your units benefit the most from Violent’s extra turns, and prioritize accordingly.

5. Devilmon users

Just like Violent, devilmon is very rare. Again, some pointers:

• Know your monster’s role, and whether it’s going to benefit a lot from devilmon. Some units absolutely need devilmon to function (Chasun, Velajuel), some are awesome with it (Aria, Acacis), and some see it only as a bonus (Mikene, Shimitae).
• To prevent regret, avoid using devilmon on non-pure nat 4★, eg: Taoist, Chloe. If said unit has received HoH in the past (Aria, Delphoi, etc), then there’s even less regret of cheap devilmon available in the future (HoH repeats are rare, and you know L/D will be picked anyway).
• Do a quick check on the monster’s skills. Any damage skill-up is meh for most cases. You’ll want to look for harmful effect rate bonus (especially on vital utility like def break and cleanse) and -cooldown (especially on multiple cd reduction, vital skills, or skills that can suddenly be spammed when maxed, such as Sigmarus’ 2nd skill). These are all hallmarks of good devilmon users.

USEFUL TIDBITS

6. Arena MMR layout

Match-ups are always ranked from lowest to highest MMR in that list. How is this useful? Well, you can set a policy of “only fight the bottom X of the list” in rush hour, then refreshing. That’ll give you the maximum MMR gained from each wing. Try doing only the last opponent in the list, then refresh and repeat and see how fast you’re climbing

7. Internet connection and stages

Arena fights, ToA, DB10, etc, are fully offline until completion. Only when the match ends is the data sent to verify the victory/loss and receive the rewards. In the meantime, you can do all your moves without internet connection if need be. This is helpful if say, you’re resetting your router, or if you’re doing lengthy battles like ToA F100 away from wireless connection.

8. Faimon hell details

This one is straightforward. The lead hellhound has 143 speed. If you have higher speed than it (include totem), one shotting something before it gets a chance to buff can improve your success rate considerably. Also, all inugamis at faimon has 0% accuracy, so bringing a 100% Res farmer is just as good as perma-immunity from def breaks. This can help fail-proof your faimon hell runs.

9. Ending notice options

Click on your ID banner on top left -> options -> ending notice on. Your phone will vibrate when the fight is over. This is helpful for 2 reasons:

• Farming/autoing something while multitasking. It will let you play DotA or ironing while autoing HoH/Dragon B10. Without it, you’ll often forget that the fight has been over for hours. This iscrucial for HoH.
• If you’re autoing stages while sleepy/drowsing, hold the phone in your hand. When the fight is over, it will vibrate and hopefully wake you up, thus preventing you from sleeping right through with that HoH screen.

10. Connection error and runes

Sometimes you’ll receive the rune reward, then there’s a pop-out for connection error. In that case, the runes may not be deleted, even though you have pressed the button. Do a periodic check every few weeks or so. Common spots are Violent slot 1 (Faimon), Will slot 1 (Aiden), Guard slot 3 (Tamor), and Focus slot 5 (Hydeni). You might be surprised at how many trash runes are “hidden” there.

YOU SHOULDN’T DO THIS

11. Building Friendship daily mission

This daily requires you to send social pts 5 times. The problem with this is that most people do all 50 gifts at the same time. Iirc, the cooldown for the gifts is 24 hours. Therefore, day after day, the cooldown will be later and later (eg: from 3PM to 3:01PM, 3:05PM, etc). In the end, you might miss the whole mission if the cooldown nears 12AM. To prevent this, divvy up the gifts. Send part of it in one time, then space the rest. Even if you only have 2 timings for it, it will prevent you from missing out on the 3 wings + 7 gems reward.

12. Waiting for power-up event

It is very rare to be able to max out more than 20 runes on the power-up event, either because you lack the mana, stones or luck necessary to pull it off. This event is historically held more than 1 month apart, and you’ll get way more than 20 slot 2/4/6 runes within that time. Therefore, insisting that you only +15 runes on power-up stone event is not reasonable. Always +15 runes on core units (Dragon B10, AD/GD), and do not hesitate to +15 good runes. Capping your stats is an investment that will pay off in AD successes/100% auto success rate. I +12 runes on luxury units, then max those out using stones later on, and I always ended power stone events with a few runes still not +15.

13. Manage 1★ fodder carelessly

The only case where you can do whatever you want with them is if you are a casher that trashes all 2★ and pop MS for fodders. For everyone else, feeding 1★ fodders to each other only costs 150 mana apiece, while feeding them to 2★ fodders costs 300 mana. Let them cannibalize each other, then make them 2★ fodders. This will both reduce your mana expenditure and give you more fodders to work on. I have been doing this method for a long time, and I haven’t had the need to go to SD or level 1★ fodders for months.

14. Spamming 3★ SD, but ignoring HoH

Sometimes, you’ll still need fodders even though you have done the method above. In this case, I find it weird that people are pulling 2000+ pcs on event SD, but revert to rune hunting during HoH. A little checking will tell you that HoH B3 yields almost twice as many fodders as 3★ SD. Farming 3★ SD + rune hunting on HoH < Rune hunting on 3★ SD + farming HoH B3 for fodders (as well as tons of exp). Stockpiling 4★ fodders monthly will give you a lot of fodders to work with. Of course, if you’re lazy…

15. Not doing rivals

I always see screenshots of arena rankings with all 9 rivals still available. A quick math will tell you why it’s not efficient:

• The last two rivals (Kellan and Kiyan) give 3 gems and 3 glory pts for 1 wing. When you think that arena refill is 30 gems for 10 wings, the result is irrational behavior. If you only do the last two rivals 10 times, you’ll spend 10 wings for 30 gems and 30 glory pts. Use the 30 gems for an arena refill and voila! You get 30 glory pts for free.
• For the other 7, the trade-off is 1 wing for 2 gems and 30 glory pts. In this case, think of Barion and others spamming refills for glory pts. They’re paying 30 gems for 60 glory pts (10 matches + 2 bonus; technically they get a bit more from perpetuity, but still, you’re assuming all 12 matches won here), so 1 gem for 2 pts. If you do the 7 rivals 15 times, you’ll pay 15 wings for 30 gems and 45 pts. Use the gems to buy arena refill and you’re left with 5 wings for 45 pts. Rather than a 1:2 ratio, now it’s a 1:9 ratio, a 450% efficiency. It’s such an efficient way to amass glory pts. Even if you reason that the wings used will not further your arena rank, arena rank doesn’t really matter for the first 4 or 5 days. If you climb too high too fast you’ll be knocked back down anyway, so the argument is null.

Plus, use method 3 here too.

NICHE STRATEGY

16. Def break and element

Do you know that def break does not always make AI beeline for that unit? If the elements are 2 grids away (fire vs water, water vs wind, wind vs fire), subject to AI swarming low HP units, the AI won’t touch said def broken unit because it’s discouraged by the elemental disadvantage.

Example:

I saw a GD of Eladriel(L), Leo, Bella. What do I put in?

Kahli(L), Sieq, Rina. Pressed auto.

Why does it work? Eladriel and Leo are both wind, and both Kahli and Sieq are 2 grids away (AI goes water > wind/L/D > fire). Therefore, even if Bella def breaks Kahli or Sieq, they still won’t go for it. Since Bella’s actual damage is very low (he’s no Darion) and they have no AoE, I’m comfortable to bring 2 very squishy fire units to auto the whole defense, starting with Ela.

17. Desperate GW

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll elaborate more on this. It will so happen that you (or one of your guildmates) lost a lot of core units on their first/second sword use. Rather than retiring, a better alternative is to pool all your units for one specific stage and win that round. You’re better off (for both your guild and guild pts) to guarantee one round is won rather than dividing your already thin resources into two rounds. Choose any one of the 38/36 defenses; there must be something you can win. Use gimmick units such as Ramagos or Luer; you’ll find that using a one-trick pony or YOLO units are good here.

18. Glory farming and list

I have a feeling that most of you know of this, but so few practices it. Get used to refresh until you have a list with all 10 winnable opponents. This will give you 2 extra wings to glory farm or climb the ranking. I always make it a habit to refresh, check list, DB10, refresh… until I find a manageable list. If you’re glory farming, even better!

19. Chasun and Fallen Blossom

I also suspect that most of you already know of this, at least in the subconscious. Nevertheless, I want to make it explicit. Remember this: Chasun’s AI is selfish. Specifically, she cares about her own HP the most, and Fallen Blossom is prioritized over Amuse for low HP healing. How can you benefit from this? Say that you have put one unit at medium-high HP. Instead of putting it to low HP where Chasun can blossom it, hit Chasun instead. As Chasun AI is selfish, once she’s low she will use Blossom on a full HP unit to heal herself to full. What does that leave you then? An unhealed medium HP unit and a Blossom in cooldown. The key is to hit Chasun low enough so that the AI will prioritize Blossom over Amuse (which would waste your efforts). While you might be able to burst down said medium-high HP unit, remembering this method might help you from time to time. This is just a variation of the usual heal-baiting and rezz-baiting strats we often employed.

20. Tanks for mono team

Whether it’s ToA Hard or arena, a tank for mono teams has always been useful. The most important tanks are wind (for mono fire) and dark (for light trio), but others are also important. What you might not notice is that there are 3 traits of tanks. Each trait is more suitable for specific areas, so you have to choose carefully.

The 3 traits are as follows:

• Survivability (surv)

These are passives (and a small component of base HP/Def). Tanks with high surv has passives preventing them from being one-shotted. This is for high burst scenarios, such as ToA Hard 80+ onslaught and Violent Perna. Passives are preferred here because your tanks might not have time to recover from the hits to act. Examples are the myriad -50% damage from X element, Dias’ passive and Rina’s shield.

• Sustain

This is how independent your tank is. High sustain means you’re less reliant on healers to babysit it, since it’s able to heal/take care of itself. This is important for when slots are precious (such as GO). Examples are Rina and Fuco.

• Threat

This measures other things said tank can do apart from absorbing damage. If it has no threat, it’s nothing but a HP sponge, but if it has high damage and/or utility, then it’s less of a liability to bring. Examples are Ramagos and Darion.

Some examples:

• Ramagos: Low surv, medium sustain, very high threat (wind)
• Ermeda: Very high surv, low sustain, low-medium threat (wind)
• Arnold: Low surv, medium-high sustain, high threat (fire)
• Rina: High surv, high sustain, low threat (water)
• Veromos: High surv, medium sustain, medium-high threat (dark)
• Jultan: Low surv, low sustain, high threat (dark)
• Darion: Low surv, low sustain, very high threat (light)

As you can see, Ramagos and Ermeda have different traits and roles even though both are wind tanks. Ermeda is better for tanking ToA F96 salamanders, while Ramagos is useful for AO when slots are sparse. I hope this can help you rate and decide which tanks to choose.