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# Territory Wars Guide:
[*By its0v3r9000 of the Galactic Alliance*](https://swgoh.gg/u/its0v3r9000/)
With special thanks to all the streamers and content makers out there who put all these ideas in my head. Many of these ideas were generated by others, I just hope that this guide helps put it all in one place for everyone's use.
## Overall Strategy:
This TW guide is a look into how to setup TW defenses, attack effectively, and plan out your teams for success. It has been created from the perspective of a guild approaching 100 million galactic power - so our players have an average of 2mgp. Hopefully for anyone not in that range this can start you in the right direction and provide some useful insights.
The current Territory War meta has evolved from the early days of all out offense and ties, into a defense heavy strategy that uses a couple crucial teams that the AI can play well (AKA not fuck up entirely). This means building teams that excel on defense and constructing offensive teams that can counter the current TW meta. However, the key to success is not just what to place, but placing in accordance to what your roster can bare and being flexible with your choices so you don't impact other critical teams.
Thus, the first and most important step for being a successful player in Territory Wars is making your teams in advance. What many find helpful is using the squad planner and making a TW Offense and Defense tab. The goal is to make teams that don't poach characters from each other, while being mindful of the strategy and character types that those teams need to succeed.
Once you have made those tabs in your squad planner (either in the game or in swgoh.gg), you are ready to get started. And remember, if you don't have these teams exactly that's OK. Take the themes of the teams and run with them! Just remember to plan ahead and think about what you can field to take on the current TW defense meta.
## Defense Phase:
### Overall Defense Phase Tips:
So you are now looking at an empty map that needs a lot of teams to fill it up. At this point guilds might have players dedicated to defense (often because of real life commitments), but the overall goal is for each player to put in 1 fleet and 4-5 teams on defense. As a guild leader or officer, nothing makes us happier than seeing 100s beside everyone's name in the defense score sheet.
Every guild has a different approach, but in the defense heavy meta a front loaded wall of strong teams protecting the squishy insides has become quite viable in the 100mgp range. This is especially true for protecting fleets. If your guild can prevent your opponents from getting fleets you cut off millions of gp that never gets to hit the battlefield and impact the score.
So how do we stifle our opponents attack? Well, the way we build our teams is composed of several criteria:
- A team that is easy for the AI to use.
- Has a source of turn meter generation or alteration.
- Has a way to heal/sustain.
- Has a good taunt.
- Has a viable source of damage output.
- Lastly, but not required, a way to revive.
After laying out the criteria, it is easy to see why characters like CLS have become all-stars on defense - it is super easy to hit everything on this check list. Using a solid leadership plus these building blocks will lead to effective defensive teams.
So lets break down some of the best teams you should be using on defense. We are looking to place one team in each section, starting with fleets.
### The Teams
#### **Fleets:**
For defense you have two choices: either you have the Chimera or you don't. If you have the Chimera you can deploy the current meta fleet, which looks like:
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_chimaera.png" style="zoom:15%" /> Chimera:** Biggs, TFP, Vader, Bistan U/Reaper, FOTP/Tie Silencer. Reserves: Scimitar, Gauntlet, Geonosian Soldier (not meta, but decent last pick), Boba (and other ships with great specials). A very frustrating team to beat with great abilities that are easy for the AI to use. This list essentially builds itself, and you should be seeing a lot of it in TW and in the Fleet Arena.
If you don't have the Chimera (or your Tarkin is stronger), your next best choices are Tarkin and then Windu (Chimera > Tarkin > Windu). Everyone should only need to put one fleet in (unless you want to go full defense), so pick which of these two you can sacrifice (Tarkin is superior, and lets you run the biggs meta team). Keep Home One for attacks, as its too easily overcome on defense and has a great kit for your rebel scum.
We are aiming to build a fleet that can self sustain. With Tarkin we use Biggs with target lock to try and live through our opponents damage. With Windu we have a plethora of healers and ways to buff up and keep ships alive.
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_stardestroyer.png" style="zoom:15%" /> **Tarkin:** Biggs, TFP, Vader, Bistan U/Reaper, Gauntlet. Good Reserves: Scimitar, Falcon, Geonosian Soldier. This setup has parts of the current fleet meta, which you usually see under Chimera (perhaps the best ship on offense). Feel free to swap out target lockers, but just remember that Vader's passive helps other empire ships, so the the more the merrier.
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_venator.png" style="zoom:15%" /> **Windu:** Rex, Fives, Plo Koon, Jedi Conular, Ahsoka. Good Reserves: Clone Sargent, and above ships. The Windu fleet has good sustain, lots of heals, a good target for Plo Koon and Windu Taunt, and some high damage. This can be a total bitch of a team to beat if you are down to your last ships. It can also do work on attacks, where you can play keep Fives alive while Ahsoka and Clone Sargent gun everything down.
#### **First Line:**
First line teams is where our best teams should be, focusing on putting our very best teams in the top and then finishing the bottom row. This means using CLS lead, GK lead with zBarriss (aka Zenarriss), and possibly JTR teams. Everyone needs to put up at least one of these teams on the front line. With the TW meta now changing to hardcore defense, these teams crush the leftovers guilds have after placing their own CLS. Make sure to keep Rex and zFinn (and possibly JTR) for offense, as they can counter Zenarriss and CLS.
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_lukebespin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **CLS Lead:** with Captain Han Solo, Raid Han, Old Ben, and Fulcrum. This team will just absolutely crush the dreams of anyone who doesn't bring a serious team to beat it. You have Old Ben with a healer and reviver, you have amazing damage, and deadly counter attacks with protection regeneration. If you don't have captain han/old ben run Chaze (at the cost of your r1 team and zMaul counter), or GK/STH +1.
- Note worthy omission: There is no R2 on this list. While R2 can make this team brutal on defense, it is also a crucial character for beating CLS and zMaul on offense. I prefer to save R2 for those teams, and opponents will underestimate just how good Captain Han Solo is.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> JTR:** With BB8 and r2. This team can be a bit tough to field as it wants to take toons that reside on other powerful teams. So it comes down to deciding what you want the last two spots to be. A great choice is Scavvy Rey and Chopper, which minimizes taking characters like thrawn or GK.
- Keep in mind, however, that this is perhaps the best team on offense (more on that later), where you can run the team without R2 and still win (saving R2 to power up a kill CLS/zMaul team).
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_obiwangeneral.png" style="zoom:25%" /> GK + zBarris:** With 3 damage/support characters. This team lets you be the most flexible with the 3 remaining characters, so make sure that they don't steal from the two teams above or from a critical empire team. Traditional picks include: Raid Han, Nihilus, Ezra, Chaze, Thrawn, CLS, and another tank - all characters that are great anchors for separate teams. This combo lets you cheat, so try and see what you can run.
- I am personally thinking that using the smuggler Han and Chewie can be really effective here (many geared them up for JTR). There was also a time out team with Clone Wars Chewbacca, so this can be a good spot to use an unfortunately geared up old school Chewie.
- Or feel free to split them up, putting GK where he is needed (makes night sisters really scary), and putting Zarris with Jedi or saving her for beating a Night Sister team on offense.
- There is also an argument to be made for offense, where this duo can help you take out another CLS team. With the heavy CLS team meta, this is actually looking more and more like the right way to go.
#### **Second Line:**
But the fun doesn't stop. We keep putting any extra strong teams in the second lines. Look to fill up with phoenix, zmaul, Nihilus lead, and empire. These teams all require the opponent to have specific compositions to overcome, otherwise the chances for a failed attack go significantly up. Ideally, the best choices are Phoenix or zMaul/First Order, while saving the other team ideas for offense.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_hera_s3.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Phoenix:** Perhaps one of the best, even if low gp, defensive teams. Use them to plug holes and fill up this second line. Just like CLS, the threat of team wide counter attacks proves to be quite good in TW. The critical part is which toon not to run. Its either going to be Ezra (to use on GK or under zQGJ) or Chopper (to use with JTR). The rest is simple, just make sure you have Hera in that lead =). A Sabine zeta makes this team very deadly, and try to gear them up to a combined 75kgp to really make opponents sweat.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_maul.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zMaul:** with Sith Trooper, Sith Assassin, Emperor, Savage. The dodge meta is back. Even put this team up if you don't have the zetas. It will trick the enemy into running a better team expecting that zeta. It works. You can run the other sith or a zKylo in place of some of the toons here (an old arena trick, hide the sith make them fight zKylo). The benefit of the zMaul team is that you can save Nihilus for offense (he is amazing on offense), or for his own team:
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nihilus.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Nihilus:** with zDooku, Sith Trooper, Sith Assassin, +1. This is another nasty team, although a bit easier to take on than zMaul. It hinges on having zDooku, as the counter attacks plus heal is devastating. Another key character is the Sith Trooper, who can also heal on counter attacks. zSidious and Emperor can also be great here (Vader is a bit slow on defense).
- However, Nihilus is just invaluable on offense to crack through tough Zenarriss teams, so only deploy this team if you have a zDooku.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_thrawn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Thrawn Lead:** with DT, Krennic, Shore, Tarkin/Storm. This is a very tough, resilient team. If you want to save Thrawn for another team (or lack speed), make Tarkin the lead and bring in TFP or Royal Guard. (TFP gets serious bonuses from all the debuffs.). Can also use Krennic as lead but that requires a zeta to be good.
- This team is also very good against CLS, so if you can save it and run other teams on defense it can be worth it.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_kylo_unmasked.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zMatt the Radar Technician:** with zKylo. A little birdie told me how good this team can be in TW right now. The majority of teams that stomp on the First Order are either being used for defense or used to beat CLS. zMatt (even at 4 stars) leading a zKylo is terrifying to face with a non-meta team. This is perhaps the best 2nd line team you can run.
- Note: You really, really need the zetas on Matt Lead and Kylo for this to work. Otherwise keep it for offense.
#### **Third Line/Middle Zone:**
The bottom row either gets a 2nd line team, or one of our filler teams. Ideally we would have our First Order or zMaul team in the second line, and our Phoenix here. However, if we need a filler team, what are some good teams that can meet our defensive criteria? There are three that come to mind:
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_ewok_wicket.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Ewoks:** Teebo L, Chirpa, Paploo, Scout, Elder: Lots of assist calls. Paploo gains a bunch of hp, and it can stick around. Also doesn't require Wicket/Logray (two hard farms). Many will not want to put a zeta on Chirpa, so go with Teebo lead instead. Any long time player will likely have several of these little critters leveled up, especially Teebo (from Rancor), and possibly Chirpa (from HAAT). You have heals, a good tank, crazy buffs, lots of stealth or assists, and just a great synergy team that requires a decent team (not just left over garbage) to beat. And with more ewoks come more fun compositions.
- zChirpa, Ewok Elder, Pabloo, Wicket, Logray: So much turn meter manipulation, but it requires the best of the best and lots of zetas.
- Can keep for offense to beat on the Phoenix
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_hk47.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **Droids:** HK 47, IG-86, IG-88, Jawa Engineer, Chief Nebit. Straight out of the HAAT before CLS and JTR destroyed it, it's the Jawa/Droid team. It heals, it tanks, it revives, and it puts out really good damage and has TM generation. Its a very squishy team, however. So it won't stop much, but it does require some thought on the part of the opponent. Its also a very fine team on offense, where you can use the abilities well to keep the squishy attackers alive.
- Some players will have a Jawa team to run. That's only really worth it if you don't have the droids, otherwise break up the Jawas and use the Chief and Engineer with HK.
- Remember to focus on Engineer's health, and make Nebit fast.
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_quigon.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **Jedi:** zQGJ, plus a bunch of extra jedi. This team isn't much to write home about. If you don't have Zarris/GK combo, then you can put one of those toons on this team to make them hum. However, the best version of this team also wants R2, which is often best used on offense or on JTR. Like the droids, it is also good on offense. It also does not work on defense without the zeta, so if you don't have zQGJ keep the jedi for attacks.
#### **The Back Line:**
Time for the most annoying team in the game, the Nightsisters. The Nightsisters check every box for a good defense team. Like Phoenix, Nightsisters can be run with lower levels of gear and still cause a lot of problems for guilds 100mgp and under (guilds without an abundance of trooper squads). The main problem with Nightsisters in the current TW meta is that they are expected. Guilds are saving Troopers and Chaze to beat them.
When you are fighting in the lower GP tiers (sub 110m), most guilds won't have enough troopers and chazes to reliable take out all of your Nightsisters after having to cut through waves of CLS, First Order, and zMauls. However, even at lower GPs the Nightsisters have the same great problem to have as JTR, they are also AMAZING on offense. So it is up to you and your guild where you want to put them.
If you opt for offense, try filling these back areas with extra Front Line teams. It can be brutal to have to beat a Zenarriss or JTR squad now. You can also deploy any of the squads above, along with the inclusion of a very annoying, very threatening Rogue 1 team. There are a few ways to run Nightsisters on defense, and if you have Nute Gunray available, its advisable to try and split them up:
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Mother Talzin Lead:** Zombie Acolyte cheese team. A lot of rezzes and direct to hp dmg. Requires zetas on MT unique and lead to really be good. The upside of the sister teams is that you have 1 character you don't have to gear (zombie), and a bunch of characters (except MT) that are very easy to gear. Everyone in every guild should have this team, and gear it up.
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_ventress.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **Asajj Lead:** This is my choice for the leadership zeta. The turn meter gain is surprising hard to deal with. You can run this with the zombie-acolyte combo, or opt for Initiate/Spirit and Talia, or even something like GK and Zarriss. That final combination (Asajj, MT, Daka, GK, + Zarris/Talia/Zombie) can be a brutal fight, and can be worth sacrificing your Zenarris team, with the upside of having a much better game against Troopers.
- Note: Regardless of the leadership, try and aim for a split, saving Acolyte and Zombie for offense under Nute Gunray.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_jyn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rogue 1:** This is an extreeeemely annoying team to fight once you are spent. Great backline team. However, this team is also great on offense and can deal with a lot of the popular teams that are used on defense (especially zMaul). These characters are also great slotted into missing spots on offense, so cannibalizing this team can be very effective (adding Chaze to Rex team, Cassian to Resistance, K2SO to JTR, and Jyn to any Rebel team).
### Final Thoughts on Defense
As stated in the intro, you want to make four defensive teams that don't overlap themselves or your offensive teams. Perhaps the best path to strive towards is CLS for the frontline, Sith or FO for the second line, Phoenix on the 3rd lines, and then Nightsisters/any team from this list for the back line. You can mix and match these teams as you wish, but just make sure to follow the principles of making a team that is easy for the AI, requires good characters beat, has heals, has a tank, has a form of turn meter manipulation, and possibly has a way to rez.
## Offense Phase
Alrighty. Once you have put in the time and built your defensive teams the real hard part of TW begins. Just like our approach to defense, we want to make several teams on offense that don't overlap. We want to steal bits of tech from the Arena meta and build teams to counter what we think our opponents are going to be putting up.
Ideally we will end up with 4 strong teams and a couple of fleets to burn everything to the ground with. The offensive phase comes down to who has the best resource management and who was able to correctly threat assess and not waste GP to take out enemy teams. This will make for some tough choices, as certain characters can make bad teams good and good teams great, so you have to decide how to use them.
### The Teams
#### Fleets
So we should have Admiral Ackbar, Tarkin, and Windu left for offense. For Windu we can run the same team as in the defense section. For the others, lets see how we can divide up the ships for success. There is a high chance we don't have biggs for attacking, so we need to think of other ways to win than target lock heal spam. These fleets try to use none of the ships that were used for defense (except Bistan/Reaper). If you don't have the chimera or one of these capital ships geared up, feel free to optimize these lists as you see fit, as this list is stretching what our ships can do to the max.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_moncalamarilibertycruiser.png" style="zoom:15%" /> Home One:** Phoenix Duo, Cassian, Wedge, +1 (maybe Bistan). Essentially, this team becomes how many times can I make Wedge attack? Use The shared stealth to protect wedge and call him to assist as much as possible. Use Bistan on enemy Tie Fighters. And then use your powered up ghost from all the stealth to aoe down the opponent. Its not foolproof, but it can tangle with good teams.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_stardestroyer.png" style="zoom:15%" /> Tarkin/Chimera Leftovers:** Sun Fac, FoTP/Silencer, Command Shuttle, Slave 1, +1 (maybe Reaper). Regardless of which you have on defense, you are going to jam your remaining Dark Side ships here. We are hoping for target locks into FoTP special spam (with a nice buff from the Command Shuttle), or using Silencer to spam stuns (depending on which you put on defense).
- A neat trick is using the Chimera basic to help get target locks from Sun Fac, and using the Command Shuttle to get Boba ult off a bit faster. The command shuttle can also shut down Biggs!
- The Falcon out of the reserves of Tarkin can be devastating. As is using the scimitar on it.
- Reserves: This is tough. We want to have at least 3 good reserve ship on our defensive fleet, so that leaves us with slim pickings for attacking. Usually you can afford 1-2 reserves. Think about combing slow ships like the Falcon with retaliate, and using ships like Poe to take out enemy tie fighters.
- Special Note: farm matt and tie silencer every day. Do it now. Your fleets, fleet arena rank, and guildmates will thank you.
#### Squads:
So we have placed our teams on defense, and now we have to make something of the scraps we have left. Thankfully there are several good teams to choose from. For this we will go into what makes these teams good, and look at who you can counter with them.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zJTR:** zBB8 +4. Wait, I thought this was a defensive team? Well, it is actually also the best offensive team in the game. It counters everything but godly night sisters. If you can place a CLS team and save JTR, you are headed for a much better time in TW. Something you will have to decide is whether or not to run r2, since adding r2 to a team can make them counter zMaul. I personally run JTR, BB8, K2SO, Scavvy Rey, B2/flex spot.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_finnjakku.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zFinn:** Resistance Trooper, Poe, Resistance Pilot, +1. The PVE all star and best zeta in the game. If you don't have this team, get it. Especially with the new characters coming we will have even more choice. The plus one comes down to how you want to use scavvy rey, here or on JTR? Often just the 4 base can take out a much stronger Zenarriss or even CLS team (be very, very careful if you send this against CLS - pick a weaker, slower one, and get the zfinn stun off asap). A clever 5th is Cassian, for additional debuffs and expose.
- An amazing option for this 5th spot is Amilyn Holdo. She fills up the hole of R2 quite nicely, offering up an excellent AOE that can hit exposes behind taunts, while also stopping counter attacks and TM gain through aoe Daze. An excellent character to round out the team, and zFinn's leadership solves her slow speed problem.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_veers.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zVeers (Imp Troopers):** Storm Trooper, Magma Trooper, Snow Trooper, Starck. You might notice that there is no death trooper or shore in this list. Those characters are much better under Thrawn/zKrennic/Tarkin in the defense section. The hardest part about the trooper/empire teams is dividing them up neatly, and so far this seems like the best way to do it. This team is perfect for killing Night Sisters, especially if they have an undergeared zombie. They are also good against teams with no counter attacks (beware of CLS and Phoenix). If you find a NS team, watch it die in under 20 seconds.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_jyn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rogue 1:** Another team from the defense section, but a team that can just crush out victories against zMaul, weaker Zenarriss teams, and many others. This is perhaps one of the worst AI teams in the game, and still great it if you take bits and pieces of it apart to form others teams (such as chaze under rex to crush JTR). These guys can beat CLS, but that is mostly on the backs of Chaze. So feel free to tear em up and use them in different teams.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rebelpilot_wedge.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Wiggs + 3 Rebels:** The hodgepodge team. A great way to use all those rebels you have kicking around. I use em with the Hoth Bros and Lando to beat on weak NS teams (the heal and aoe, so good). You can also go less aoe with a STH to take advantage of retaliates to beat CLS/Phoenix (Beware of Thrawn). The last option is running Officer Leia lead and crushing on an empire team.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_cody.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Clones:** zCody L, Clone Sargent, Echo, Fives, +1. Another team from the bygone era of hard HAAT that many have. Do not waste Rex on this team, for the love of god. Use them to take out a non meta team. They aren't that great, but you can make them better by making Cody Fast. Try adding Leia for more Cody ultimates, Scariff Rebel Pathfinder for tankyness and TM gain on the Cody ult, or Aayla for Stuns with Cody. Not a great team, but it can get its points back.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_rex.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rex Lead:** Rex serves many purposes here, and his team can be built in a variety of ways. Combine him with chaze to just smash Nighsisters or zMaul (chaze counters the stealth/zombie/mt while Rex counters their TM gain). Then add some damage toons like a boba and you should have no problem securing the win. Rex can also hard counter JTR and can do work against CLS. His leadership is still one of the best in the game, and never, ever, ever waste him on defense. Scale up the team as high or as low as you need for what you want to take out, and viola, success. And of course, and nihilus for maximum triple cleanse memories. I personally like Rex, Nihilus, Chaze, Boba/thrawn.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_kylo_unmasked.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Matt the Radar Technician:** FOO, FOTP, +2. Thank god this character is going free to play. Get ready for an excellent team that can put out a lot of damage, and has a nice passive from the TW. Use FOO to buff FOTP and crush your enemies. This team can beat any team in the meta right now, provided you have them geared up. They are tough to play, and shouldn't be on defense if you don't have the zetas (and certainly on defense if you do). If not geared up, try em out against weaker phoenix or non meta teams.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_kyloren.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zKylo:** Shout out to zKylo here. He can beat teams alone, or be sent in to pick off remains of a lost battle. Really good with the Radar Technician, but also amazing under a Rex or Boba lead.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_quigon.png" style="zoom:25%" /> QGJ:** Yoda, Anakin, Aayla, Ahsoka Tano. The speed buff from QGJ, even if not zetad, makes this squad good on offense. It can take out anything poorly modded. Ideally, it wont have old ben, GK, R2, or ezra, so you are making use of your remaining Jedi. But QGJ really helps them speed up and you can use Aayla and Ahsoka to keep the dream alive.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_bobafett.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Boba Fett:** This is another general leadership that is great to use with leftover toons. He is also amazing against Night Sisters and ability/buff heavy teams (jtr cough cough), but will often lead a parade of losers to victory as well.
- You can also try to run a Bounty Hunter team, with Zam and Greedo powering TM gain. It doesn't require either of those characters to be maxed gear to fight lower powered teams like phoenix and filler.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nutegunray.png" style="zoom:25%" /> The Nute:** With Acolyte, Zombie, geonotion spy/FOO +1 (leia or pre taunt tank). This is a fun surprise team via the NS. If you use the Asaaj, MT, Daka, and Talia + Initiate/Zenarriss team on defense/offense it frees you up for this gem. Can literally beat any team that doesn't have an aoe dispel or zBarris (unless your acolyte is REALLY strong). FOO serves as a fail safe if you don't get stun on the first attack. I would also recommend avoiding Raid Han.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Mother Talzin/Asajj Lead:** What you want to do is split your nightsisters, much like we have to split our empire. You can make two killer teams on offense - the nute team, and the MT murder resurrect team. The core is MT + Asajj (either as lead), with Daka and either initiate/talia or GK/Zarriss or Talia/GK.
## Countering The Popular Teams
A big part of the offense phase is picking the right tools for the job. Above we talked about which teams are great to attack with, and who you should attack, but lets just recap from the perspective of what teams are popular and which tool you should bring.
And remember, always check the speeds of the team you are going to fight if they are high gp. You will find that many top defensive teams don't have the best mods and that can give you and edge!
(Counter teams reference the teams listed above)
- <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_lukebespin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **CLS Lead:** Most likely you are going to have to beat about 40-50 of these to win a TW. This can be a rough fight and a total waste of good teams if you bring the wrong stuff to the fight. The goal is to either overpower them with a better team (<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:15%" />), or use daze and stun to chisel away at single targets, or use stealth to avoid the counters all together (<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_astromech_r2d2.png" style="zoom:15%" />). As you will see, these are all very good teams, which is why CLS is so good on defense: he requires a great team to beat. Counters include:
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zJTR:** Just takes a dump all over CLS, especially if you rock some robots and double tank. They can't outpace your TM gain and illuminated destiny will take the JTR all the way. K2S0's daze can be very good. Daze a target, then murder it, then daze the next one, rinse and repeat.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_rex.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rex Lead:** This is less of a hard counter, and more of an evening up of the field. For Rex to shine you need to add r2 or a source of daze to stop the counter attacks. The downside is that you are using an amazing zMaul counter. Rex Chaze R2 Nihilus is an easy go to.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_obiwangeneral.png" style="zoom:25%" /> GK + zBarris:** If they are not on defense bring em in here. Them plus a daze and a protected dmg dealer/nihilus can end CLS
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_thrawn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Thrawn:** with Shore, Death, Krennic, and Tarkin (or another Empire) can beat CLS handily. I personally use Krennic's leadership because I have it zetad. Fracture a target, then murder it, over and over.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nutegunray.png" style="zoom:25%" /> The Nute:** Want to just laugh in the face of that 100k team? Unleash the Nute. AND LAUGH. Pro tip, try and find one without Raid Han. Worse comes to worse they kill only a couple of characters. But you just used jank to take out premium characters.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_finnjakku.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zFinn:** If you are going to use resistance here it helps to bring an R2. Pray for Raid Han to shoot anyone but Poe. Kill R2 as fast as possible so they can stop that cleansing BS. Its a super tough fight but can be done. (better to save for Zenarriss)
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> NS:** The Night Sisters can beat CLS, but you just have to time your aoe abilities around the zombie taunts or bring a GK to help soak up the retaliates (especially if you split with Nute). Not a tough fight if your sisters are geared and fast.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_probedroid.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Probe Droid:** A GREAT counter to R2 powered CLS teams, or any team that is operating on buff insanity.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_obiwangeneral.png" style="zoom:25%" /> GK + zBarris:** Countering this team is a bit of a grind. The obvious path to victory is by shutting down GK with buff block and going after zBarris or R2, or by using a strong attacker to overcome the auto healing, or by overcoming the auto healing by using a non-crit team or heal block.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zJTR:** Like we said, she counters everything. This is perhaps her best matchup, just don't get overconfident. It still takes correct decisions to win and a misplay could lead a thrawn or nihilus to catch your JTR unprotected.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nihilus.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Nihilus:** Nothing stomps on zBarris by not being able to crit at all. With Nihilus lead just load up on good sith and go nuts, and fall in love with Nihilus all over again. Or add Nihilus to Rex to Annihilate your way to victory.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_thrawn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Thrawn:** Another reason to try and keep this team on offense. The use of fracture and DT heal block can solve the GK problem very quickly.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_vader.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zVader:** An interesting use for a slow but effective character. Use zVader with Boba + 3 (emperor, TFP, Royal Guard, DT/Krennic/ Tarkin, etc) to pile on debuffs into a massive one shot kill. Insta heals and auto tanking be damned.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_rex.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rex Lead:** Again Rex pops up. In this case you are looking to make your nihilus go faster then their nihilus and keep it alive with Chaze.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_finnjakku.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zFinn:** Great against GK and zBarriss. You can have your day ruined by Raid Han shooting Poe. But if you learn to play this team right it can take out Zenarriss teams of much higher power.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zJTR:** This is going to be a tough battle. There are a few counters, but none of the battles are super easy, well except maybe Night Sisters.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_rex.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rex Lead:** Three teams, three counters. This is why Rex is always on offense. However, the current Rex counter to JTR is Rex, Thrawn, CLS, Raid Han, Gk/Nihilus. Thats a lot of great build around toons. The goal is to try and skate by with pieces missing, or at least take out some of the JTR team.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nutegunray.png" style="zoom:25%" /> The Nute:** Yup. It can be done. Just be weary of R2 flaming nonsense. But zLeia and acolyte can live through R2 burns, its just the exposes that can get nasty. Double tank can really help against the initial robot onslaught. Obviously get R2 as fast as you can.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> NS:** The Night Sisters just hard counter JTR right now.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_probedroid.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Probe Droid:** A GREAT counter to zJTR or any team that is operating on buff insanity.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_maul.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zMaul:** A known quantity from being a menace in arena for so long. Just a matter of Daze/Buff Block/Mass aoe. The best answers are Chaze and R2, but there are some other teams that can get there (its just not auto wins)
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_trooperclone_rex.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rex Lead:** Its like this dude is just amazing on offense? Run with Chaze and a good finisher to stomp on a zMaul team. The Rex lead negates zMauls TM gain. For really hard zMaul teams bring R2.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_finnjakku.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zFinn:** Here is a team that doesn't rely on crits, so you will trigger zMaul less. Use poe to pick out an obnoxious character (emp usually) and gun them down.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nihilus.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Nihilus:** Fight sith with sith. You don't crit, so that takes away a lot of the stealth triggers. Protect nihilus and whittle them down.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_thrawn.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Thrawn:** If you still have this team, it can be good here. Thrawn gives you a target to pick, and Death Trooper brings em out of stealth. Shore is super hard for them to kill, and your staying power overcomes their offense ability.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_probedroid.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Probe Droid:** A GREAT counter to zMaul, or any team that is operating on buff insanity. (This character is just amazing and you should be trying to get it)
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_hera_s3.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Phoenix:** Many ways to counter, but just go with daze/stun/heal block and you should be fine. What you are trying to accomplish is not wasting excess GP on them.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_ewok_wicket.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Ewoks:** You can use synergistic teams like ewoks to beat them (aoe daze, lots of dmg, and phoenix can't answer the buff/resurrect spam)
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_palpatineemperor.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Emperor:** You can also use the emperor as lead and shut down all the heal spam. Bring in a few high dps empire toons (DK/Krennic), and you shouldn't have a problem.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_tarkinadmiral.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Tarkin:** Or try using Tarkin lead to speed up a Vader and abusing the combination to amass debuffs, make their attacks weak, and then using lightsaber throw to pick the phoenix off one at a time (similar to zVader strategy for Zenarriss, but can be done without a zVader lead - obviously run zVader lead if you have it). Since the phoenix have no cleanse until Kanan zeta, go nuts on the debuffs. Also, the emperor just has his way with the Phoenix.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nutegunray.png" style="zoom:25%" /> The Nute:** Another use for the secret weapon. Just be mindful that Sabine's aoe can slowly tick your hp away, and stay away from zSabine. Much better time against Phoenix with no Sabine.
- Note: This all changes against multiple zeta, g12 phoenix teams. Don't try and be cute with them. Use a good team (such as equally geared empire teams above).
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> NS:** Troopers, troopers, troopers. Keep them for offense, and win in under half a minute. Also Chaze.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_savageopress.png" style="zoom:25%" /> The Leftover zSavage:** You are going to see this constantly in your TW: someone beats up a a zMaul team but leaves a lonely zSavage. You don't want to waste a team, but this bad ass mofo doesn't give a shit about your C team.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_leiahoth.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Rolo with IG-88:** Combine Rolo's 10 shot with some healing immunity and obliterate. Make sure you are patient and don't use the ability if Rolo has offense down. You can use whichever lead you have maxed, but Rolo's is better.
- **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_ahsokaadult.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Fulcrum:** Just send her in and click auto. Bye bye zSavage. The only problem is Fulcrum is often on defense.
## Farming Tips
Whether you are just starting to get serious about TW or are playing in at 100mgp + guild, there is always going to be the grind to fill out more TW teams. In this section I want to go overs some ideas and tips for farming order, to help make that grind more productive. Of course, mix and match these farming ideas with what you are currently doing for arena, as many good characters in TW won't help you climb that ladder for those sweet, sweet crystal payouts.
### Zetas
There are a lot of zetas in the game, and a lot you can spread around these teams. The goal is focusing in on the zetas with the biggest payoff. These are generally leadership zetas, which can raise up a team of 5 characters with just one zeta. R2 gets his own callout here, because that tin-can's zetas are easily the best in the game.
1. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_finnjakku.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zFinn:** Its no secret that this is still one of the best zetas in the game. It helps in every area (Arena being the least impactful), and gives you a team that can wrangle with the best of them. The best part is that this zeta lets you field a team where you only have to worry about speed on one character (Poe), and you can cut corners on gear. Often a team of g8-9 can beat a g10-11 team once the expose train leaves the station.
2. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_nightsisters_talzin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> NS:** A team that is very well positioned for DSTB, Arena, HAAT, and TW. A zeta on MT or Asajj and you can almost field two team (NS and Nute). You can then make a choice to pick up the zeta uniques on Asajj and MT for improved combat prowess.
3. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_kylo_unmasked.png" style="zoom:25%" /> Matt the Radar Technician and Kylo:** With this duo of zetas you turn the squad you have to farm for BB8 into a TW machine. Also fantastic in DSTB and even arena. Has the benefit of piloting an amazing ship, so take it to the max!
1. The decision here comes down to either zMatt or zMaul for the 2nd line. Go with whichever team you have geared up the most, as both characters have great ships and are obnoxious in TW. They both also demand a second zeta, whether it is on Kylo or Savage, to be really good. Be aware, however, that zMatt is much better in DSTB, Arena, the HAAT, and helps you unlock BB8.
4. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_rey_tlj.png" style="zoom:25%" /> JTR:** With just 1 leadership zeta you are off to the races. Only 4th because its a long hard farm to even unlock her. Add in the BB8 zeta and you've got a nasty duo that can pair up with anyone to win.
5. <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_lukebespin.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **CLS and Friends:** This team soaaaaaks up zetas. The benefit is that you probably already dumped into these fine rebel scum, and they are just amazing everywhere you can use them. They are only lower on the list because its a bucket of zetas to see them become true monsters (Raid Han, CLS unique, Old Ben Taunt/Unique, Fulcrum Insta-Kill-Whirlwind-off-Death).
6. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_veers.png" style="zoom:25%" /> zVeers:** I adore this team, and just like Finn the inclusion of just one zeta takes them over the top. If it wasn't for the rebel scum they could easily be a #1 arena team (stupid retaliates everywhere). Also like Finn, they are a predominately PVE team, which will help your guild immensely in DSTB. They do have one Arena upside, however, and that is for Nightsister assassination. Add Starck's zeta for extra spice.
7. **<img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_quigon.png" style="zoom:25%" /> QGJ:** Another zeta that can make a team of underwhelming characters a pain in the ass to deal with. Much foresight, much win. I just wish this team had a bit more punch in the other game modes (CG a rework PLZ).
8. <img src="https://swgoh.gg/static/img/assets/tex.charui_barriss_light.png" style="zoom:25%" /> **Barriss:** Last on the list of notable zetas because of JTR and because we may want to use GK with our NS. However, this character's zeta is still fantastic on defense or offense, to either help beat CLS/NS or create a roadblock that forces your opponents to use a good team.
9. **Other Zetas:** Those are the zetas I would go for first. There are plenty of great zetas left in the game, but they generally impact just a character rather than a whole team. After picking up the above zetas I would consider grabbing some phoenix zetas (starting with Sabine), Thrawn's Ebb and Flow, and other leadership abilities like Tarkin or Krennic. At this point you have done an amazing job preparing for TW, so work on Arena or something.
### A Way Forward - For those just getting started:
Like this guide, Territory Wars can be a bit daunting. Learning how to build defensive teams, what to use to counter, and all the other things can be a bit much. So when it comes time to decide on what characters to build up for TW it can be a nervous undertaking. You are putting a lot of time, effort, resources, and money into teams and characters that might not pay off.
Hopefully this guide gives you a starting point, but I also want to examine one way forward to improving your time on the battlefield by emphasizing on what you can build right now. They are hinted at all over the guide, and its of course the Nightsisters.
With just one zeta *required*, and some of the easiest gearing you will ever do in the game, the Nightsisters can give you two all-star teams for TW, an amazing team for Arena and DSTB, and one of the best characters for HAAT (Asajj with unique zeta).
More specifically, you want to get your Acolyte and Zombie ready to fight under Nute. Get Zombie to just 6kgp (the less gear the better), and max out Acolyte. She is a super easy farm, and under Nute can devastate almost any team. This first team requires no zetas, but you can zeta Leia for an easier victory. For Nute, just level him up, max his leader, and get him to 6kgp. Add in a g8 First Order Officer, and you have a super easy to farm team that is very, very effective. Everyone should have this.
Then you can look to your other Nightsisters. First decide which leadership you want to go with. I prefer Asajj because I can also use her in DSTB (my MT is only 4 stars), and her leadership is very good with her unique zeta in the HAAT. Asajj, Talia, and Old Daka have extremely easy gear farms until g10, so get em up. Mother Talzin is the only one that requires a bit of work, but now you have another team that is excellent on offense with only one hard farm. The caveat is GK, which is a total pain to farm but also has the benefit of being the best character in the game. After that farming is done, it is up to you if you want to snag the unique zetas on MT, Old Daka, and Asajj.
In my opinion, the Nightsisters are a must farm if you want to be successful in Territory Wars, and a super easy farm at that. Once you finish them, work on your defensive teams that cross over with your Arena and Crew Member priorities until you have 4 solid teams. Then its back to offense to work on teams like JTR/Finn, Troopers, Empire, and others.
## TLDR:
Welp, that was a lot of information. Thanks for making it this far, especially if you are in my guild. This guide is not a be all end all, but I hope it helps. It came out of a need to help my guildmates optimize for TW and make it less stressful now that everyone is running hardcore defenses.
Just remember, 4 teams + 1 fleet for defense, and 4-5 good teams for offense and you are solid.
If you are looking for four must have teams for defense that you can work towards, I would recommend CLS, Phoenix, zMaul/First Order, Nightsisters, and a good Chimera Fleet. Then you can mix and match your offense into some of these team ideas and build towards making a good anti-CLS team for attacks.
And remember that many of these teams do better at different guild GP. For instance the Nightsisters are great at lower gp on defense, but falter when your opponents can bring a lot of trooper squads. The same goes for Phoenix, which get progressively worse the larger the rosters get (unless you zeta them). Those are just two examples, and I am sure each of you face different challenges at different GP levels. However, I really hope that this helps give some insight into what teams you can run, and then you can figure out what works for you.
Best of luck out there.