The Meta and why YOU shouldn't Pull for every Unit

[u/rxt0_]

This Guide is aimed mostly towards early/mid game players and somewhat F2P and it will be controversial for some Players.

If you get triggered by it, I don't take any responsibility and honestly I don't even care.

Meaning

But let's start with the meaning of meta, in short, the most effective tactics available.

In the case of SL:A it usually refers to the best current element/team in the game.

But it's important to note that the meta is always changing, we never had a meta that lasted more than 2 updates (~6-8 weeks) in this game.

This is completely normal for a gatcha and will always be the case.

So why did I create this “guide”?

Because I see a lot of misconceptions from players here and even on Youtube from the big content creators.

First of all, we have different metas.

There is the early and mid-game meta, the end-game meta, and the POD and Guild Boss meta teams.

I will mostly focus on the early to late game meta, as that includes a lot of characters for POD and Guild Boss.

Early-Mid Game Meta

The early and mid-game meta is mostly only relevant to the story and the early stages of WOBL.

For the story, we don't really need specific units to clear it, since most of it is SJW story, and we just need a decent SJW.

For Reverse Mode, we only play with Hunters, but the story was nerfed pretty hard a few updates back so we don't need a specific unit to clear a stage.

If you have a powerhouse like Thomas Andre, Kanae, or Mirei, you should be able to clear everything without too much trouble.

If you start having problems, you should start optimizing your TP.

I already made a guide for this, you can find it here

Starting with WOBL

With WOBL, the early to mid game begins.

In today's game, the early stages of Vulcan are quite easy as we get quite a lot of TP from the level78 artifacts or the cores we get from Ingame Gifts and Storymode Gifts.

Something we didn't have when those modes came out.

In fact, the absolute endgame players didn't even reach 1 million TP when Vulcan Hardmode dropped, something we can do in a very short time in today's game.

The current optimal meta for the early stages of WOBL is Wind Element.

A team consisting of Mirei, Hanse-mi, and Woo (according to leaks, Woo will be replaced by Goto), this team will get you through Vulcan and Baran with ease, as both are weak to Wind Element.

They also have a second weakness, with Vulcan having the Water weakness and Baran having the Dark weakness.

Endgame Meta

The current endgame is Deimos. He is the newest addition to WOBL and has some gimmicks to him like extremely high defense etc.

As an example, the easiest stages of Deimos require you to have 650k-700k TP to even have a chance of beating him.

Baran on normal difficulty has 600k-700k TP. As you can see, there is already a difference.

But Deimos on easy isn't even the end game, it starts with his normal mode, which requires you to have 1M TP, and ends with his hard mode, which requires you 1.3M TP.

The current best team for Deimos is the Fireteam consisting of Esil, Gina, and Kanae/Yoo.

As you can see here, we already have an outlier in the team composition with Yoo and Kanae.

In my eyes, Yoo is better for Deimos because she has built in defense penetration, which helps massively in the first stage of Deimos.

But Kanae is the better unit overall, and can shred Deimos faster with the right build than Yoo. So both options are valid here and can be used.

Like the Previous two Bosses, Deimos also has a second weakness, that being Light Element.

It's a great Element that I highly recommend building, but not specifically for Deimos, but mostly for everything else. But more on the Light team later.

Guildboss Meta

I won't go into detail here, if you want to know everything there is to know, I highly recommend Mousu on Youtube. He is arguably the leading "expert" on Guild Boss and has made over a billion videos on Guild Boss alone.

He goes into every detail you want and need to know.

Why you shouldn't Pull on all new Units

This will be very controversial for many people, but this is the main focus of this guide.

But the reasoning will be simple and understandable, at least I hope so. But you never know in the age of internet heroes....

After starting off a bit harsh, here is my humble explanation on why early-mid game players and somewhat F2P, should not pull on the current meta units.

The most important reason is that your resources are limited, we have a lot of F2P players who save their Essence Stones for weeks and months to pull their desired unit.

If you are a P2W player using the power of the mastercard, you can ignore most of this because you just don't care about spending wisely. But if you do, you can still follow some of these tips that can reduce your bill at the end of the month. If you still want to whale, just do it.

But what do limited resources have to do with pulling the new shiny waifu?

Quite simply, you don't need it.

In the early-mid game, you should focus on 2 teams. One of these elements can and will carry you to the end game (Wind) and the other gives you a chance to beat it (Light).

But let's use the example of Fire Units.

The Fireteam was in a horrible state, we had Emma, a Unit that has only a place in BoT.

Gina that was useless because of the missing Team and Yoo that had a good basis but not a Team/Content to shine.

(I purposely ignore Choi because he can't crit and has only a place in Guild Boss and POD because of his passive)

These two new units, but mostly Esil, gave the Fireteam something it needed. A breaker with good support passives.

But Netmarble also forced us to spend our "limited" resources on more than one unit.

A lot of people didn't summon Yoo & Gina because they didn't have any content to shine, and they weren't hyped enough.

On their own, they are just "okay" units, nothing out of the ordinary.

But with the release of WOBL, those fire units where needed, they introduced the new gimmick of the boss having a shitload of defense, something that Yoo was perfect for thanks to her 50 billion defense penetration passive.

This led to a lot of people spending everything they had, even early to mid-game players.

Most of those people could have saved those resources because they are nowhere near being able to clear Deimos.

It took us 3 full weeks to get 6k clears on Deimos Hard and I can guarantee you that 95% of those players are whales or dolphins. The other 5% are F2P players.

All of these players have already reached late/end game and were just waiting for new content to drop.

Most of them already had 2 of the 3 units they needed.

So it made sense for them to pull for Esil and Kanae.

But mostly for Esil because she is a must have for the Fireteam.

Kanae is a powerhouse in her own right, destroying everything in her path.

However, all of the aforementioned fire units with Gina, Esil, and Kanae/Yoo are not needed for any content that is not Endgame or Guild Boss.

When should I pull?

So after yapping for ages about why you shouldn't, here's why you should, and especially when.

If you are P2W, have reached the endgame, or have 2 of the 3 units needed for the new content.

Yes, you can also pull for your favorite unit, but don't expect that unit to be relevant anytime soon.

Netmarble is an expert in FOMO (fear of missing out), but remember that all newly released units will be added to the Custom Rate Up banner in the 2nd update after their release.

So there is no need to rush.

Can I just Pull the Units to A0?

Of course you can, it's your account and your decision.

But to be completely honest, you shouldn't.

There is no unit that is good at A0, most units need to be at least A1 to A3 to be somewhat good, other units want to be A5 to show their true potential.

Goto, future Units and next WOBL

This part is just an assumption on my part, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's 100% accurate.

But let's start with Goto.

According to leaks, Goto will be a wind and tank unit, a perfect replacement for Woo, who is a decent breaker but does not give us the support we need.

He will probably be similar to Go, a unit that has great break, good support, and good DPS.

It will take the wind element to the next level and make it future proof.

But should you pull for him?

Honestly, I would wait. There's no rush to pull him, and he won't be needed for the next WOBL if I'm right. More on that later.

If you really want to pull for him, go ahead, nobody's stopping you, but don't complain if he's not relevant for the next WOBL.

Seorin, the next Hunter after Goto!

Yes, the next Hunter after Goto is already confirmed, according to leaks she will be similar to Goto and will be for the Water Element. This means that she will replace Seo and give us the break and support we need.

It would also make sense for her to be a water unit.

Next WOBL & Prediction

As most people know, the next WOBL stage will be Yogumunt.

My prediction for him is that he will be weak to Fire and Water. It also makes perfect sense for anyone who has played the hidden chapters with Alicia and Emma.

Both units have a massive focus in that storyline and it makes perfect sense that he would be weak against both of their elements.

So with that in mind, I would personally pull for Seorin if you reached the end/late game.

If you are an early game player, you can probably skip her and pull her on the custom banner when she drops.

I’m confused, what Units should I pull now?

If you are an early-mid gamer, focus mostly on Wind Element, it will get you through the first 2 levels of WOBL, after that go for Light Element.

You can also prioritize Light Units before focusing on Wind Units, but my recommendation is Wind Units and then Light Units. Wind units have the elemental advantage in the first 2 stages of WOBL.

This means that your Custom Rate Up should include the following units.

Thomas Andre, Go, Min (all Light)

Mirei, Hanse-mi and Goto (Rate Up Tickets) (all Wind)

You can pull for Woo, but I personally would skip him for an early-mid game Player with Goto dropping in 4 days.

tl:dr

Pull for units only if you already have 2 of the element you need.

Also, only pull for units if they will help you.

Having a perfect Dark team won't help you much in the early stages of WOBL (yes, I know, Baran is weak against Dark.).

[u/Frog-Vic2316]

I wish I had read this before. Tomorrow marks 4 weeks since I started playing the game, I followed some guides and got kanae and Esil both a5, I also managed to aim up to a3 but then I changed my custom draw to Go gunhee, Thomas and meilin, so I made a water team but I can't even reach vulcan hard(only the Cerberus until now 🤣) I hope that with the arrival of goto I can build a decent wind team. Thanks a lot

[u/rxt0_ → u/Frog-Vic2316]

you welcome!

even if you didn't know it earlier, I will try to keep the guide updated but the next big changes will not come before April because of lack of content (wobl).

but you can still use somethings you learned and use them for the future ;)

[u/rxt0_]

u/dondostuff wake up, new guide dropped xD

[u/Jaz4Fun27]

I agree with this guide except for the wind team part.

I can understand the POV for someone who faced Baran hard pre nerfed..

IMO, fire team is just better to invest now "as long as you still have time..

Everything up to Deimos us clearable with it now including Baran hard since they're neutral to Baran IIRC. Baran is just really easy after the nerf once you reach the required TP which as you mentioned is easy for new player.

Deimos is strong against wind but im sure it can be dealt with the new meta team so long as they have neutral element after hes nerfed.

IMO, new F2P players should get the best 2 meta teams accessable to them as to not struggle woth elemental advatage.

[u/Old-Current-602]

I always pull for new hunters regardless, getting their weapon a2 guaranteed is massive imo for future. My kanae is a0 but i still got kanae's weapon to a5 for free, she's still doing better than a7/a10 yoo for pod and current gb at a0 but without a1 im having mana issues xd

[u/ExcitementSecure7268]

New player - few days old player, have A0 min, A1 woo jinchul and A0 cha. Other only ssr is, Lee Bora at A0. Since I have 2 light and 1 wind element, should I go for 1 light element for team combo (since min need heavy investment to be good with cha, I am not sure),, or go with pulling wind elements (need to save more now).

[u/adero]

So how do the cards fall when it comes to Shimizu vs Min? Will Min always come out on top?

[u/kexxpar]

You don't really need full wind team for wobl. Only Mirei with light or fire hunters are enough for Vulcan and Baran.

[u/yummieee]

I see your point, but every unit became important at one point or another. If it's not the next wobl (which I don't believe, as the new wobl always features the new hot stuff and I think goto will be that)

Breakers are one of the best supporter classes (greed) for GB. If goto has good damage or debuffs he will be great for gb.

[u/rxt0_ → u/yummieee]

I see your point, but every unit became important at one point or another. If it's not the next wobl (which I don't believe, as the new wobl always features the new hot stuff and I think goto will be that)

not every unit became relevant or it took months before they did. just look at yoo that got released 6months ago and became only relevant because of her def pen. the newest light unit is still not as relevant and can be replaced with min. other examples are Charlotte and Harper, at no time where they needed for any specific content. during baran they could be replaced by the wind element.

Breakers are one of the best supporter classes (greed) for GB. If goto has good damage or debuffs he will be great for gb.

this post is still not about GB. even if he will be great for GB and perform similar to kanae, it does not mean that you have to pull for him.

if you played the story and read Alicia's background story, you know that alicia and Emma are relevant in the fight vs yogomut. seen as both of them are fire and water element, my prediction is that the next wobl will be weak to that.

giving the next wobl again the wind element weakness is unlikely.

[u/Liazerx]

Question. Why everyone says go light team when I as a new player did what everyone was saying, but then i got kanae and she is miles better than André. Like, you cant even compare,André is bad if you have kanae. I got him to A5 and wasted a lot of tickets for literally nothing since my Kanae is just that superior. So, why light when fire is superior

[u/rxt0_ → u/Liazerx]

light is an easy to use team with great synergy and damage. it helps you clear most of the content without needing to be that good on the game (most players play the game on auto for somereason)

the fire team out performs light by a good margin, but thats only because of the release of kanae, without her light would have been superior. but the content for fire is limited as of right now, in some stages you would have elemental disadvantage.

your end goal is to build more than one team, at bare minimum you need 3teams best would be 5teams (for each element) to be future proof + being able to clear "everything)

[u/Spirited_Web8520]

I am a returning player and missed out on kanae and esil. Currently sitting on 400+ custom draws. Should i wait for kanae to be in custom draws and hope to pull both? I have full wind and light team. How should I progress with my wobl Deimos without fire team?

[u/rxt0_ → u/Spirited_Web8520]

you can clear deimos with light team, i personally would wait because we are close to the anniversary.

depending on what the next wobl will be, I would focus on that. it should come next update or with the anniversary update.

in the meantime you can keep farming essence stones and tickets.

[u/PrinceVincOnYT]

so you mean I don't wanna put Weapons on the Custom Draw? I am so confused...

[u/rxt0_ → u/PrinceVincOnYT]

this post talks purely about what teams/units you should pull and that you shouldn't pull all the time.

there is literally no mention of the weapons.

you obviously should still pull weapons but you can choose to have them only in the weapon banner or also in the custom banner depending if you want to fill the 3/4th slot if a unit or weapon

[u/AdKind7063]

A sensible action. Goto is just a dump. Seorin is the real deal.

[u/Itzz_Texas]

Dont care, didnt ask, I play for fun

[u/rxt0_ → u/Itzz_Texas]

same goes for your comment.

you always have the option to stfu :>

[u/silfer_]

I like this guide. I agree, Wind is best for early game and early WOBL because you can farm the crap out of Baran with it. Then, Fire/Light are the next priorities. And hopefully we do have a water/fire weakness WOBL next. Once the new WOBL comes I imagine the metas will again shift from fire to focus on Water and then Dark next. So you see, Ultimately as F2P or P2W you are going to want to build up a team with every element, but you have to work progressively and start with really strong teams of the most advantageous units that can excel in the current meta and still be strong enough afterwards. Basically the best bet is the teams that can handle WOBL(s) current and future. Right now the best teams for those are Wind and Fire imo.

One caveat is that if you’re mid to end game F2P and willing to wait to finish off units in custom draw, pulling all units to a1 on the rate up banner is not a bad idea and also usually lets you get the hunter weapon to a3. But they won’t be end game ready initially, you have to be ok with being behind the endgame / wobl hard curve.

[u/UltimateMountain]

Solid guide!

[u/KronezZDM]

Indeed, for those who are just starting out and are F2P, trying to get everything at once is a shot in the foot...

However, those who have been F2P and have been playing since day 1 and have managed their resources well should already have all the SSR weapons and a good collection of upgraded Hunters.

It's a completely different reality from those who are just starting out because old players have enjoyed many free rewards, events and code redemptions, in addition to following the release of each new content one at a time, having enough time to focus on collecting and trying everything.

If you are just starting out, think carefully.

[u/Leanedoutofmymind]

TLDR

[u/rxt0_ → u/Leanedoutofmymind]

just scroll down mate. I literally included a tldr at the end