Overview
Peter “Heartbeat” Lim brings you another awesome guide to help you through Arena Mode. Once you’re done, maybe you use these strategies to get in there and take him out! Arena Mode is a special Player vs. Player mode in Moonrise that gives each player a set of level-50 Solari and powerful relics, then lets you battle it out with these mighty teams!Learn about the process of building up your team, choosing your gear, and winning those battles.
What is Arena Mode?
Arena Mode is a special Player vs. Player mode in Moonrise that gives each player a set of level-50 Solari and powerful relics, then lets you battle it out with these mighty teams!
Each Arena player gets a randomly chosen set of 10 Solari and six Relics (three major and three minor). Each Solari is fixed at level 50, with a specific pre-loaded skillset (meaning that every Crownlord, for example, always appears with the same skills and stats).
You choose six Solari for your team and two Relics (one major and one minor) for your Warden (who is artificially bumped up to level 50 to equalize all players). Then you take your team to the Arena to battle enemy Wardens. If another human player isn’t available, you’re matched up against a computer-controlled opponent.
You keep fighting in the Arena until you hit three losses (or 10 wins). After your third loss (or tenth win), you exit the Arena and get rewards based on how many wins you have. Of course, you can jump right back in by spending another ticket! Tickets regenerate over time or can be purchased with gems.
The beauty of Arena Mode is that your current Story progression does not matter. You won’t see any level or gear advantages, which puts everyone on an equal footing! Since there are hundreds of Solari and relics, you will almost certainly choose a different set every time you play. What matters in this mode is your ability to think outside the box, and come up with a unique build that will trump others.
Solari Team building
Although there’s already a general Team-Building Guide for Moonrise, team-building in Arena Mode is quite different because you have to choose from a different pool of 10 random Solari every time. So let’s discuss how you can go about on putting together a team with a bunch of Solari that you might not have encountered before!
Brontomander and Zigawatt are Tier-3 Solari that can guide your team-building strategy.
Tier-3 Solari—those that have achieved the third tier of evolution—are usually the pillars of your team. Every pool of 10 Solari has TWO Tier-3 Solari – and they are always located at the bottom left and bottom right of the screen. These guys usually have slightly better skill sets than others, so make sure you check them out first!
Synergy is the next biggest factor you should consider. Generally, your Solari’s affinity, skills, and stats will help you determine which Solari have great synergy together. If you have a pool that boasts a variety of different affinities, that’s an excellent sign for you to put together a team with perhaps every single affinity!
Some Solari work exceptionally well together. For example, a Solari that can apply Fear (which Interrupts a target whenever it takes damage) works very well with another Solari that can apply Burning (which repeatedly deals damage over a period of time).
Another example: A Solari with really great healing skills can be incredibly valuable at protecting a slower Solari that takes time to boot up its best skills. There are millions of different synergies you will find as you explore new sets of Solari in Arena Mode!
Don’t forget to check your Relics to see how they can help or even guide your strategy! You can use relics to synergize with your team (like the examples pointed out earlier in Solari synergy), or you can use them to cover for a weakness of your team.
For example, if your team is severely lacking in dealing Nature damage, look for damage-dealing Nature Relics such as Root Smash to help you cover that weakness.
Pre-Combat
Combat tips for Arena Mode doesn’t necessarily change much from general combat strategies — check out this Moonrise Combat Strategy Guide if you haven’t already!
This aggressive team opens with Geckorex (a fast Tier-3 Solari) and either of the Fire Solari (who can counter the Nature and Electric foes that Geckorex is weak against).
However, since you will most likely be playing with a team that you haven’t used before, it’s important to spend some time to figure out which two Solari to open up with. Getting familiar with your Solari team before the match starts means you’re not scrambling to make up for a bad decision later.
Post-Combat
You played your first game, and it was really fun—so you queue up for another game right away right? Well, it’s certainly not a wrong thing to do, but there are always plenty of things you can do to make your team better after each game.
Switch to Roaring Taunt if you weren’t able to deal enough damage in your last game.
For example, if your first game ended up as a loss because you played against a super-fast Warden Rush team, change up your team to be more protective of your Warden! On the other hand, if your first game was a win but it was a nail-biter that came down to your last Solari, there are probably things you can do to make your team win even harder next time.
Arena Examples
I’m going to go over some example Arena team builds step-by-step, and describe how I’d choose what to use!
I notice right away that both Tier-3 Solari (Oakenback and Infernicorn) are Strength-based. That suggests that an aggressive, Strength-based team might be the right direction.
I also see a relic that can support this strategy. Ironwood Gift puts the Vigor and Regeneration buff on an ally Solari, keeping it fighting while enhancing its Strength-based attacks.
My first iteration of this team would look like this:
All six of my Solari are Strength-based, allowing them to benefit from my Ironwood Gift relic and Oakenback’s Team Vigor skill.
For my second relic, I go with Rubble Blast for another source of big damage, which fits my theme. The other relics don’t fit as well with the aggressive strategy I want.
I always have a fall-back plan. With this team, it’s Graveljaw…the only Solari in this team that’s not aggressive because it’s a tank! If I find myself getting out-aggressed or overwhelmed by an affinity disadvantage, I can pull out my Graveljaw to regain some momentum. At the same time, this means that if I ever lose a game because I was JUST short on the damage department, I’ll switch out my Graveljaw for another aggressive Solari. I don’t have to rely on Graveljaw for Stone damage, because my Rubble Blast relic should be enough to cover that.
Often times, the Solari pool you get will present you with an obvious team build but if you look beyond it, you may find another, even better option.
At first I want to make another aggressive team, relying on Geckorex and Zigawatt for their sustained damage-dealing ability. But then I see Hedgelock and Nemonox and realize they’d make for an awesome debuffing duo. How do I choose?
When I’m stuck between choices (decisions are so hard!), I tend to look at which relics I have. Will that help here?
Well, Tidal Tenacity (a healing relic that applies Resolve and Resurgence on an ally Solari) definitely promotes a Spirit-based team. Relying on buffs means my team is a bit slow, but with the help of Team Resist (which gives Deflect to both of my Solari), I can afford to be less aggressive. Once I’m set, my Solari will be firing back on all cylinders.
This would be my first team going in. Note that I didn’t use either of the Tier-3 Solari! All six Solari I picked are Spirit-based (to benefit from Tidal Tenacity), and they each offer a big punch if they’re able to charge up their unique skills.
The obvious weakness is that I’m lacking Nature damage. If that weakness ends up costing me a game, I’ll take out Shockle and sub in Hedgelock to patch the weakness!
I’d want to open up with Rockhound and Voltoid. This is primarily because no single affinity can counter both of them. Rockhound takes a bit of time charging up the unique skill Lithic Blast, but once it’s charged, it will deal massive damage AND petrify all enemy Solari! I’ll use my relics to keep Rockhound in the fight just long enough to get that attack off. Hopefully that will help even if I end up with an affinity mismatch!
Occasionally, you’ll receive a mix of Solari and Relics that you can put together to create incredibly fun combo teams!
In this case, let’s look first at our relics. From the choices you see above, we can create an insane multi-target debuff build that utilizes Thornfire Onslaught (inflicts Rooted and Burn on all enemy Solari) and Battering Blitz (inflicts Dizzy on all enemy Solari).
Now we can proceed to pick Solari. Note that from this list, only Petalrex lacks multi-target unique skills. Individually, these Solari wouldn’t be so strong because multi-target skills aren’t great at focusing fire to bring an enemy down, especially a tough one. But with Thornfire Onslaught keeping targets from escaping by Rooting them, the damage from multitarget skills has time to add up.
These six Solari have great synergy with each other because half of the unique skills from this team delivers other nasty debuffs such as Dizzy, Burn, Chain Lightning, and Fear!
I’d definitely want to start battles with Porpoisely and Hatchwing, because Hatchwing can cover for Porpoisely’s weak affinity matchups. This team shows a bit of weakness against teams that run healing Solari capable of keeping their aggressive damage-dealers alive. Luckily, we have a bit of healing on our own, thanks to Petalrex!
Conclusion
I hope that this guide will give you a better idea of how you can build a better team in Arena Mode!
Arena Mode is a great place to try out new builds and master new strategies. I strongly encourage you to think beyond your normal approaches to come up with unique builds to trump opponents in the Arena.
And when you find a potent Solari skillset in Arena Mode that you like, be sure to jot it down so you can build your own Solari to mimic it in PvE, Ranked, or Unranked play.
Good luck, Wardens!
Peter “Heartbeat” Lim
Moonrise Designer