Galactic War is Too Hard! Or is it?

Galactic war has become a galactic "chore" for a lot of people lately. I was one of those until recently. At one point I was lucky to get thru node 11 just to take one look at n12, shake my head and give up. I didn't even bother anymore. Seeing multiple gold toons, often CLS, Kenobi, and other powerful toons was just utterly demoralizing. Even worse when they start creeping up on node 9 or even 6! Fortunately there is a fairly easy solution even for F2P and it only requires 3 toons and 1 zeta! Unless your ship game is incredibly subpar (to earn the zeta) anyone can obtain these toons in a relatively short period of time!

The 3 toons you need are Finn, Poe, and Resistance Trooper. Finn MUST have a zeta on his leader ability. Beyond that, there are a couple places where omega abilities will make your life easier, but this is the only absolute requirement. The same goes for the other 2 spots on this team. The example I will show uses R2-D2, but this is a luxury, NOT a requirement. BB-8, Rey, Resistance Pilot, as well as other non-resistance toons can be subbed in as you see fit, but the core 3 of zFinn, Poe, and RT are the only non-negotiables here, as you'll soon see why.

Why Resistance? Resistance under zFinn lead has an amazing mechanic that allows them to be extremely effective in GW (as well as TB). It basically allows the player to manipulate the turn meter of both squads (their own and the enemy's) in a way that the opposing squad barely get a turn, if any.

How do you do it? Start with the toons: zFinn, Poe, and Resistance Trooper:

As you can see, the team does not require a high degree of gearing. Finn is solid even at g8. Poe is the one to gear if you can, since he is always taunting and the most likely to get hit if things do go south. But really, higher gears are more of a luxury than a necessity.

Here is the actual node 12 I took on today for an example. I was hoping for an all gold squad, but hopefully this is convincing enough.

Below is the opening of the battle. Notice that my squad has a LOT of turn meter already. This is because I built it up on an earlier node. The key here is that Poe goes before any enemy. If all goes right, the enemy won't get a turn at all.

Below shows Poe's special: Resistance Bravado. This is key as it removes enemy TM to prevent them from getting a move, and also "pops" exposes on the enemy.

After Poe uses his special, RT's Guerilla Tactics ensures the RT gets full TM. He gains 55% for every expose that goes on an enemy, so a minimum of 2 exposes ensures 100% TM!

Notice that the enemy still has 0 TM. So far, so good.

So now we see how Poe gives all that TM to RT, but then what?

Here it is, the key to it all: Finn's zeta leader ability. The last part is the most important "whenever an enemy takes damage from expose, reduce cool downs by 1 and grant 35% TM! Think about that. Every expose that is on an enemy is an opportunity to give 35% TM... What if there are 2 on an enemy? There's 70% And remember RT already gains 55% for every expose that goes up. So when an ally hits an expose and gives one as well, there's 90% for RT, so as you can imagine, he goes a LOT! The cool-down reduction is also important. This ensures that Poe's special is on cool down every time he's up, so that he can pop more exposes, give RT that TM... and so on and so on... Meanwhile, Finn can stun as he goes (so can R2 which is part of why I like to use him - there are other options as well). Also, if you're using Rey, the cool-down reduction will also make sure her 3-hit special is always ready to go for some major DPS.

Here's how the battle went:

After a couple rounds I managed to stun every enemy with Finn and R2. Even if an enemy gets full TM, they will just come out of stun, and can be stunned again.

There goes enemy R2.

Goodnight Bariss!

And then there were 2.

Get the idea? Look at that full health and protection on everyone! Doesn't matter that some toons are low geared, because they never got hit.

So that's about all there is to it. At lower gears you may occasionally come against a team with which you struggle, but just retreat and try to find a way to get it. It is RNG dependent when it comes to getting the exposes to pop (potency mods!). If things aren't going your way, try changing your targeting order, or swapping out toons until you get a roll of the dice that works for you. On this particular day this battle was my first attempt.

Bottom line is, GW can be beaten, and can be fun again!

TIPS: Speed and potency are recommended over anything else for the most part.