Oh, I didn’t realize gt + TT got control could take control within the first few moves of a match and not give it up until most of the enemy team was dead. That’s what happens to players facing a good giehretus frontline without a counter lineup or slow mythics in reinforcements. The other strats you named have very little control and easily lose steam unless your opponent is a complete noob. Either that or they were a thing maybe half a decade ago. Is that how far back you need to go?
It would be weird to do that when its other passive is specifically built to recommend frontline use but I guess that could work. I’d recommend the devs rework the whole passive instead. I heard it was originally meant to make everything enter at 80tu without exception. That sounds a lot more balanced to me.
It doesn’t make a big difference if you summon some rocks or something and it enters in the next few slots. Or after a retreat/cannibalize/switch friend move. It would “punish” the user a bit more so that they would have to build around its entrance.
Giehretus is the clear and easy choice, if you want the most powerful. It’s like another Bastia, which has been well known as a top monster in the game since its release.
Quick summary on the other monsters:
Ankara - a niche option, for teams specifically built around stealth (you need to have extra ways to stealth it or have teammates who want to receive stealth) or in specific PvE battles to counter revenges.
Iridescezarc - a fine tanky protector but quite mediocre and only for PvP. It gets better when you can build around it with gravity field or enrage teammate but that makes your team quite specific (lots of teams don’t want a slow protector in the mid-game already, let alone can afford to support it).
Soral - a mediocre mythic sweeper. It’s too slow to feel powerful and is easily replaced by better mythics, but still stands out above most legendaries. It was a true god until it got hit but a flurry of nerfs that left it in this state. If they go back on any of them it’ll probably become a solid choice again.
In terms of power level for PvP I’d say:
Giehretus > Iridescezarc > Soral > Ankara
Oh I was thinking of link gt + TT instead of when TT could be stacked like that. Still, it’s a bit odd for exu to say there have been many similar strategies over the years and then name ones that aren’t similar or got nerfed shortly after pvp seasons were introduced.
Me waiting on the list of all those similar strategies that existed in this current decade I can think unnerfed bastia and that’s it. All the others lack the control, power, or consistency.
Giehretus has a very key difference in teambuilding compared to bastia. With bastia you can’t run any entrance passives nearby as a cost to cancelling out your opponent’s entrances. 50% speed mons aren’t even that fast but they still get hit with what’s essentially a ~36tu daunt when giehretus is out. It would be a better comparison if bastia somehow improved your own entrance passives while blocking the enemy’s. Since equilibrium works both ways, it’s like combining something similar to bastia’s passive with cypridus’ warp field.
What are you waiting for that hasn’t already happened? What’s going to change so that bronzeshells don’t enter at 162tu while an S or S+ tier mythic can enter faster than a novadrake? Looking at the tier list, every single S+ tier legendary gets slowed down and there’s no penalty for running giehretus if you use slow mythics that are already strong without the reduced entrance time.
This is the thing… there’s a reasonable chance when you meet top players who are running a bunch of mythics then many of them will be low speed monsters. Also, in theory, the most dangerous monsters are the ones with low speed so you’re potentially creating some dangerous things happen.
There’s also the fact entrances can still turn the tide in a battle. Hence, you need a second monster for stun protection, probably some sleep protection, etc. Bastia tends to cover all that stuff well enough your team doesn’t need any other support, especially since nasty revenge monsters you can always knockback.
Bastia’s healing vs Giehretus’ catapult I think is basically two sides of the same coin… a 130-160TU move that is significantly useful.
I do agree that no entrances vs turning equilibrium into a benefit for your team is a point in favour of Giehretus. However, I’d say it’s mostly a benefit for creating a nasty FL setup where the opponent either kills Giehretus first or gets punished. That’s probably what you’re feeling right now, where you can force yourself into a dominant position then hold control from there since equilibrium does that so effectively. Bastia doesn’t create that game state for you so easily, it depends on the healing+shields mattering, but holds control just as well.
Giehretus has horrible synergy with Bronzeshell disruption. That’s another point to it over Bastia but I doubt that will stay in the game. My guess is equilibrium will change to only affect monsters with 5+ stars (or 6+).
Honestly, I think if you got to build around and play with Bastia a bunch yourself you’d be saying they’re roughly the same just do some things a bit differently.
Team turn. GT is give turn. In the early days, team turn was basically the strongest move. It’s received three nerfs to power it down (the various restrictions) plus it’s the main reason chronic killer was designed as a move.
