Case Study: Ice Nine
Freeze all the water on earth and also beat conquest for the first time! What CAN'T Ice Nine do???
Well there wasn’t a case study for round one because - sniff - no one reached out to me to ask, but there IS one for this round (and next, sorry fellas). So let’s meet Ice Nine! They enjoy long walks on the beach, anime, and r/animetitties (it’s a news site, I swear to baby jesus). also they’ve never red crated before!
Time to change that.
Here’s their roster:
https://swgoh.gg/p/121296942/characters/
Not bad, really. 8.5M GP is overkill for what we need, which tells me this is more of an issue of conquest game knowledge than roster weakness.
GLs: Rey, Jabba, JMK.
Cheese units: JKL, Wat, Malak
POW with Omicron? Check!
Pirates: Ithano is 6 stars and low gear. Nest is the only one at relics. All the others are even worse. Might be rough with these guys if we don’t gear them a bit.
HOMEWORK:
Gear Zuckuss. Do this immediately. Go directly to g8 and level 85. Do not pass go; do not collect $200.
Gear Kix. He’s going to have to be pretty great to one-shot entire teams for you (combined with hopefully 3 ZA discs).
As you play, try to collect ZA discs (Zealous Ambition). You NEED 1. You want 3. That first one is the single biggest priority for you in disc collection. DM me on discord if you’re unsure about what discs to take.
Get JML. You’re really close. Finish the farm! He’s usable without the ultimate (it barely adds anything as far as conquest is concerned). Gear him to R7. Mod for maximum protection (yes, even a protection arrow). Until you get him assume “JW Cheese” teams should use GK instead.
Once you get JML, shift to GLLO as your next GL farm. You’re close to her as well.
Gear CAT to R7.
Gear GAS to R7.
Gear Cere to g8, minimum.
Farm Hondo to 7 stars and gear him as far as you’re able. He’ll eventually need to be R9 but that’s a bit much at this point for you. But he’s an accelerated farm and there’s no reason not to push hard for him.
You’re pretty close to unlocking GI. He makes the whole ink team functional. Not a huge boost to this conquest, but definitely useful.
Farm AdRad and gear him up to g12 at least. Very useful to take down pesky imperial trooper teams with veers lead.
Cheese Alert!!! Thanks to Subscriber Kevin Hannon for this one:
6 feats in 2 battles very possible on the final boss of S1:
Pirates: Make sure you have Silvo (Vane too, if you want that gross 10 battles feat). Kill all but JKR and Ben making sure Ben’s health is in the green. Auto basic. Silvo applies Evasion Down on basic. JKR stays invulnerable and it’s cake within the time limit. If you haven’t finished the profit feat already and are using Maz or PKHO, that will absolutely complete as well.
All light side:
I did QA with the bros, Zarris, and Cere. Padawan Obi applies Potency Down on basic. Cere gives all allies Accuracy Up on basic. Same strat as above.
I’m calling this the “S1 Boss Cheese”
GLOBAL FEATS
250 kills in the challenge path (1, F-34T Training Droids):
Free. The reward from this is a new data disc: F-34T Training Droids (leet speak for “feat” training droids. How cute). This disc will give all enemies tenacity down and make it so no one can die as long as the enemy leader lives, thus enabling feat cheese! Hopefully.
Attempt to inflict Evasion Down 80 times (18):
S1 Boss Cheese with Silvo in the party.
CLS / 3PAC / Han / Chewie / C3PO. 3PAC applies on basic and assists rebels as long as the leader is a non-GL rebel, too. Should be the only team you need.
DCS cheese with Cal or Badstila as both have non-damaging AoEs that apply it.
Win 20 battles with Kelleran Beq in your squad (18):
This is so easy it’s practically free. Here are some team suggestions, but literally anything works. He doesn’t even need to survive:
Beq / POW / MQG / GK / GMY
Padme / GMY / Beq / GK / JKA
Rey / JTR / Wat / Beq / Hoda
Gain Accuracy Up 80 Times (17):
Rey / JTR / Wat / Cere / Hoda. Cere grants the whole team acc up on basic. Just stall with the others (tank tech on JTR) and you should be able to get all the acc up you need in a single combat.
Win 20 Battles with a full squad of Bounty Hunters (1, Booming Voice):
Jabba / Boushh / Krr / Cad / Embo (note that Skiff Lando is NOT a bounty hunter and can’t be used here). Another super easy feat, but because this is the gateway to booming voice, you’ll want to get this done asap.
Bossk / Dengar / Boba / Jango / Fennec. Not a great team, but not a bad one, either. Discs can help this a lot.
Attempt to call allies to assist with Booming Voice 60 times (18):
Just equip the disc as you go. Any team is fine. If you MUST rush this, Vader lead can get a ton of assist calls using his merciless massacre. EP lead also works. CLS’ stance change will call assists, too, so you can kind of double up with him.
Gain Profit 100 Times (1, Deployable Cooling Systems):
Ithano / Brutus / Sana (or any other pirate) / GK / Wat. This is the cheese team from last conquest. You’re not trying to kill anyone; just trying to earn profit. Super easy with 5 stars / low gear on ithano and brutus. Tank tech on JML, weapons tech on Ithano, hit auto. You’ll want to fight a team without a tm train and without AoE. Once we see the boss fights, we’ll know if there’s a good specific team to target for this or not.
Note that profit gained from Nute did NOT count last conquest. I’m assuming this is still the case.
Complete a battle with DCS active (18):
Free.
Win 3 Battles with JKR / Bast / Jolee / Juhani in your squad (1, title):
JKL / JKR / Bast / Jolee / Juhani. This is a legitimately decent team, though your bast/jolee/juhani are low gear.
JKR / Bast / Jolee / Juhani / GMY. Bast buffs GMY, GMY spreads buffs, win. You’ll need to target weaker teams like bossk BH with this.
SECTOR 1
Win 10 battles with Silvo and Vane surviving (5):
JW cheese (JKL / GK / Wat / Silvo / Vane). using GK because you lack JML. Still a solid cheese. Don’t fight teams with AoE.
Ithano / Silvo / Vane / 2 other pirates.
Ithano / Silvo / Vane / GK / Wat. This team might not have enough damage to kill anything though. You’ll need to be sure you have really strong data discs for this to work.
Rey / JTR / Wat / silvo / vane. Remember Rey doesn’t give damage immunity to dark siders, so you will want to fight teams that only single target attack JTR.
Defeat 35 enemies with any Han (5):
Hope han gets the kills while using CLS from the global.
Sana / ST Han / Vet Han / Han Solo / Captain Han. Maximize your odds by maximizing han solos! Don’t bring chewie so he doesn’t vulture your kills. Goes without saying, but this team sucks ass. Don’t use it until you have a formidable data disc setup to boost their damage. Your ST Han is also low gear, so consider bringing a healer unit instead (like hoda).
Attempt to inflict Potency Down 50 times (5):
S1 boss cheese with GMY or POW.
GMY applies it on basic, so bring him with any appropriate team.
Krr applies it on basic, so double up with your global BH feat.
DCS cheese with 9th sister who applies it with her AoE, or just bring her on an ink squad.
Take 50 Bonus Turns (5):
EP / DV / Piett / Malak / Wat. Vader is the king of bonus turns. With EP lead, you should be able to gain another turn (not a bonus turn) after using all of the MM turns by using choke. Then you can MM again and repeat the cycle. Just be sure not to use choke during MM; only after you’ve gained all the MM bonus turns! Wat also gains a couple bonus turns at the top of each combat and his attacker buff on DV will help DV take more turns overall.
GMs / DTP / ME / NT / a fifth NS of your choice. GMs gain bonus turns whenever the ally with bless dies or the enemy with doomed does. DTP gains bonus turns when killing enemies with his 1st special. Excellent combo with booming voice, too.
MINI BOSS:
Win with Brutus in your squad (2):
JKL / GK / Wat / O(F) / Brutus. Use GK since you lack JML. Not quite as strong but still decent.
Ithano / Quig / Brutus / Vane / Silvo. Also doubles with that stuff.
Ithano / Brutus / Nest / GK / Wat. Do the cheese for profit. Not sure this will have enough damage to win, though.
Win with Omega (Fugitive) Surviving (2):
JKL / GK / Wat / O(F) / Brutus. JW cheesing this will get both feats done at once. Once you get JML, swap him in for GK.
O(F) / any other nuBB teammate / JMK / CAT / GK. Exploit the way nuBB work with capture to see if you can destroy the boss with just JMK and CAT. gear 1, 1 star nuBB units is fine.
Hunter / Wrecker / Tech / Echo / O(F). You can try to carry her with the old BB. Not a great squad though, especially without zetas (do NOT zeta them for this).
BOSS:
Win with a full squad of pirates (3):
Ithano / Brutus / Vane / Silvo / Nest. Doubles with the global and the S1 feat for Vane and SIlvo. S1 boss cheese this for your evasion down global thanks to Silvo.
Ithano / Quig / 3 other pirates. The ghetto team is Hondo / Sana / Nest, but that team also blows and your hondo is only 2 stars. Kix, Brutus, Hondo is probably the best 3 for this if you decide to invest gear.
Win with only Light Side characters (3):
A billion ways to do this. CLS will double up with the most feats for you. Rey or JMK will be safest.
S1 boss cheese this with Padme / MQG / POW / Cere / Beq to simultaneously complete accuracy up, potency down, and a win with beq on the team. Very much worth putting a bit more gear on cere to keep her survivability up.
SECTOR 2:
Win 10 battles with no tanks (5):
CLS / Chewie / 3PAC / C3PO / Han is a classic non-tank team. Doubles with eva up.
Padme / POW / MQG / Beq / GMY
Win 10 battles with Omega(Fugitive) and Batcher Surviving (5):
Two “win 10 battles with” feats? Bullshit imo. Anyway…
Solid cheese here: O(F) / Batcher / JMK / CAT / Snips. Doubles with “no tanks.”
JW cheese O(F) and Batcher.
Attempt to inflict daze 40 times (5):
GAS / Echo / CRex / ARC / Rex - great AoE daze from GAS, doubles with “no tanks.” CRex also has a great aoe daze.
Attempt to inflict buff immunity 40 times (5):
GG/ B2 / Magna / B1 / DDK (or STAP or Nute) - B2 is the king of this feat.
JML applies Buff Immunity on basic, making a foie gras team excellent once you get him.
MINI BOSS:
Win without any kind of force user (2):
A billion ways to do this. GG is my go-to for these feats. Jabba also a good option and doubles with global. Don’t bring Krr so you get “no tanks.” Remember Skiff Lando is NOT a BHer.
Win with a full squad of spectre (2):
You’re not going to be able to do this without investing serious gear. Assume you’ll skip for now.
BOSS:
Win with a full squad of old republic (3):
JKR / Bast / Jolee / Juhani / Farty. Works, but takes some time.
Carth / Mission / Zaalbar / Canderous / T3.
Win with Fives surviving (3):
GAS / Fives / Echo / CRex / Rex. A variant on the dazes / no tanks build that has a tank (because we have to), but keeps the daze magic alive.
JW Cheese. Won’t count for no tanks, obvs.
JMK / CAT / Fives / Padme / Snips.
Rey / Fives / RH Finn / RH Poe / Holdo
SECTOR 3:
Win 10 battles with no attackers (10):
Jabba / Zuckuss / 4LOM / Cad / Krr. This team is more Jabba-oriented, but lacks thermal detonator power due to the omission of bouschh (she’s an attacker). Works well with ZA discs.
Veers / Piett / Scout / Starck / Range is a very good, all support team. Absolutely annihilates if you have a ZA disc or three. Your Piett will basically be carrying the others, but it may work.
Padme / MQG / GK / GMY / Shaak is a very decent no attacker team, especially with ZA discs.
Win 10 battles with 4LOM and Zuckuss surviving (10):
See above.
Win 10 battles with SM-33 surviving (10):
Since don’t have him, you’ll have to skip this feat.
Gain Tenacity Up 60 times (10):
JMK / GK / GMY / CAT / Snips. This is probably the single best tenacity up team in the game. Able to clear almost any team, and has three ways to gain ten up.
Rex / CRex / Fives / Kix / Shaak. I believe Rex is a better lead for this team, but it might be Shaak. Regardless, this squad has high tenacity up, good damage, and no attackers.
DCS cheese with GMY and Rex. Should be trivial.
MINI BOSS:
Win with boss nass surviving (2):
JW Cheese or GL Carry. Do I have to write this every time? Whenever you see “win with so and so” and it’s 2 or fewer units, JW cheese is viable.
Win with Omega(F) Surviving (2):
JW Cheese along with boss nass.
O(F) lead / any four units you think can carry her. As long as she’s the leader, the first time she “dies” she’ll actually just be captured. If you can kill the enemy boss before her rescue timer runs out, you’ll win with her counting as having survived. works with 1 star gear 1.
BOSS:
Win with Darth Vader surviving (4):
JW cheese.
EP / Vader / Scout / Thrawn / RG
Vader / Tarkin / Thrawn / RG / Piett
Win with no empire in your squad (4):
A billion options. That Jabba no attackers team is good.
SECTOR 4:
10 battles with no tanks (10):
Jabba / Bouschh / Boba / Embo / Cad. Doubles with global.
CLS is a classic no tanks team.
Imp troopers are also excellent for this.
Padme / POW / MQG / GMY / Shaak is decent. If you find it’s too squishy, replace GMY with R2D2; use his stealth to make MQG the “tank.”
10 battles with all pirates (10):
Ithano / Brutus / Kix / Sana / Nest. You’re relying on nest surviving after everyone else gets nuked. I do not have high hopes for this squad. Or any hopes, really. You’d need a bajillion gear and shards to make it work. If you do choose to gear someone, gear Kix. Combined with ZA discs, his AoE can one-shot several teams, provided he survives long enough to use it.
10 battles with Crosshair in your squad (10):
O(F) / Omega / Hunt(M) / Batcher / Crosshair. A “no tanks” version of the nuBB team, in case you have to use a tank with the pirates.
Hunter / Echo / Tech / Crosshair / Omega. No tanks option. If you need a tank (and this team probably will), swap Omega for Wrecker. This team also provides a LOT of evasion up (see below).
JW Cheese or GL carry. You know the drill. Rey / Crosshair / RH Finn / RH Poe / hoda is probably your best option. Alternately O(F) / Crosshair / Rey / RH Finn / RH Poe.
Gain evasion up 60 times (10):
An Evasive Technique data disc makes this effectively free. Collect one if you can before you get here.
Bad Batch are fantastic for Eva up (see above)
CLS is also great for eva up thanks to Han Solo’s should shrug. Doubles with no tanks!
MINI BOSS:
Win with Kix in your squad (3):
Easy enough. Carry with JW cheese or a GL of your choice.
Win with only dark siders (3):
Just as easy.
BOSS:
Win without using a GL (4):
plan on using one of the other “win 10” teams above.
Win with SLKR on your squad (4):
Impossible for you. Skip.
SECTOR 5:
Defeat 35 enemies with gungans (15):
You lack actual gungans, so this is a likely skip.
Defeat 35 enemies with droids (15):
Farty / BT-1 / 0-0-0 / BB8 / Dark Trooper is a sneaky strong squad.
GG / B1 / B2 / STAP / DDK is all droids all the time.
Attempt to inflict defense down 60 times (15):
DCS cheese with Boss Nass (you probably have to level and gear him enough to get his ability that applies this.
Farty, Asaaj, Dash have AoE defense down damaging attacks
Boushh applies DD on basic if the leader is a BH (Jabba hella strong here). Cal applies on basic. CLS applies on basic. Starck applies it on basic.
Gain Critical Damage up 60 times (15):
DCS cheese with Cal.
Enoch / NT / DPT / Storm / ITP. Enoch grants it to all IR allies if an enemy has blight on Enoch’s turn.
Starck grants it to the whole team with his 2nd ability.
Malgus grants it to SE allies on basic.
POW gains it whenever an ally is critically hit. Even more since you have the omicron.
Scout Trooper grants it to imperial trooper allies on third ability.
MINI BOSS:
Win with Zuckuss surviving (3):
Jabba BHers, JW Cheese, other GL carry, or his own squad of BHers. Options!
Win without any BHers (3):
Even more options!
BOSS:
Win without using any support units (5):
Literally (figuratively) a billion ways to do this.
Win with PHOKing in your squad (5):
Significantly fewer ways to do this.
I’m counting 32 burritos you need to skip. Verdict:
Red crate is possible with good play and a bit of gear (Zuckuss, Kix). It will be significantly easier once you get JML.
Gold crate is likely. You can definitely make that happen.
Good luck! Please DM me any questions as you go (on discord)!
UPDATE: IceNine got the gold crate for the first time ever. One big misunderstanding that contributed to missing the red crate was that I wasn’t clear about how important it is to use all three 50c refreshes each and every day. So his first week, he didn’t do any refreshes, and that kind of tanked the run. We’re hoping for red crate next time!