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Getting to Diamond: Moving Pictures

Brother Null

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Hey, look who's back!? That's right. Why was I gone? Well, I fell out of Diamond. Matchup mechanics changed, and much of my velocity was based on my team strength. I could not stay aloft, and so I fell to Gold 2.

Can't really write a column about getting to Diamond if I can't get there myself, now can I?

This week is different. I am back in D4, and feeling sanguine about my prospects. The hiatus has given me a chance to consider *why* my velocity was so poor, and this column is one of the fruits of that labor. So, without further ado....

READY:

Well, first and foremost, your matchmaking is largely dependent on your team strength. Team strength, in this case, is the sum of the top 20 fighter scores in your collection. If your team has twenty diamonds of level 40 and above, then your team strength is among the highest in the game and your matchmaking will reflect that. If you have three diamonds and seven "decent" gold fighters, your team strength will be much lower and your matchmaking will give you similarly sized opponents.

Team strength is no longer an advantage that can be exploited, but team strength is not an accurate measure of your velocity. In truth, there are many ways to elevate your velocity without changing your team strength. It's time we talked about moves.

FIGHT:

These pictures are worth a thousand words, so let's cut to the chase. In a fair fight between these two big fellas, who would win?

First, take a look at Fighter #1:
Fighter_1.PNG

Now, look at Fighter #2:
Fighter_2.PNG

Pretty evenly matched, right?

Wrong.

Fighter #2 will mop the floor with Fighter #1, even though these two Epics are literally the same fighter. Let's take a look at their stats to compare.

Again, Fighter #1:
Fighter_1_reveal.PNG

...and Fighter #2:
Fighter_2_reveal.PNG

So, there it is. If we give both fighters an opportunity for free hits on the other, here's what would happen:

Sax #1 has an attack of 9200. His bicycle horn attack hits at 15% attack strength, or roughly 1380 damage. When he beep-beeps Sax #2, we have to reduce the damage taken by 50% (for his defense rating) for a total damage of 690 per strike. If he beeps ten times, he will do 6900 points of damage, which is roughly 8% of Sax #2's total health.

Sax #2 isn't going to take this lightly. He has an attack of 15000 and change. His bicycle horn attack will do 2250 damage, which is reduced by 21% for a total damage of 1777. If Sax #2 beeps ten times, he will do 17770 damage, or roughly 24% of Sax #1's total health.

Each stat looks ordinary on its own, but their power rests in their synergy. Boosted moves, for stat value alone, will more than triple your team effectiveness with no change to your team strength. Let that sink in.

JUDGE:

If you want Diamond, you need good moves with great stats, and you will need to elevate them to 9s and 12s. Here is my strategy. First, count up your move quality, using this overly simplistic rubric:

Full point:
Atk %
Meter Gain %
Defense %
HP %

Half Point:
Crit Rate
Crit Damage
Block Proficiency

Defensive Quarter Point:
Bleed Resist
Stun Resist
Armor Break Resist

Start with your top fighters. Look for moves that score a full three points (rare, occurring at 0.5% of all gold moves). Take these moves to 12. Next look for good and appropriate moves at 2.25-2.5 points. Take these to 9. Moves at 2 points or lower should go no higher than 6. Remember that some half-point stats are absolutely required for some fighters (CnO, for example, loves Crit Rate. Xeno really likes Block Proficiency.) Favorite your best moves, and work the dailies to get moves to replace the non-favorites. Every week, go through the moves you found, and comb through your equipped moves. Replace the garbage, and boost the good moves to their appropriate level.

This article might be the single most important bit of advice I can give you: if you upgrade your moves, you triple your strength. Like if you want more, comment if you have questions.
 
As someone who started recently and been aware of the collection rating very early, I'm weighting most my choices against it.

It affects about everything you can spend resources on. Moves included of course but that's also why I don't grind exp hard for my top fighters, why I don't get marquees if it's too gimmicky (useless FS), focus on getting alternatives below my 20th and work on fodders. I always seek advises and a lot of time thinking before getting a new fighter in that top 20. Last three inclusions were RE, FF and SG.

I think one can see this being reflected in my roster. I'm not diamond, nor pretending I can get there anytime soon, in fact I'm a newb. But last three weeks were spent in Silver 2 and 1, I'm now in Gold 3 with 4 losses in 43 matches over 22 days (including this monday, didn't pay attention before).
 
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Great guide as always! There's a one thing on the stats I personally think could change though:
Speaking form a perspective of having 20+ diamonds so my opinion is skewed compared to the norm, but I'd actually rate Element Bonus over all the half points (but not enough to be full point). The bonus applies after all other modifiers, so it's a straight 50% damage increase if you get 30% from it (ideally you'll just get attack and won't need to, but it's a thing). Double down on this for double (heh) since she can control her element, but for any other fighter you're jsut looking for this if you want (and on OClocked you want 0 cause neutral lol)

Crit Rate and Damage hinder you against Painwheel MAs and Dread Locks (assuming you don't convert debuffs) which is another reason I feel element bonus is better, but that's a personal opinion. Otherwise they're fine where they're at.

Also, you might want to add the move gallery as a resource. It's useful for telling what effects each move gains before upgrading it which can also effect upgrade priority (ex. French Twist increases bleed duration is a little which isn't bad, but Drill Tempered doubles the chance to remove buffs which can make a huge impact dealing with certain fighters)
 
So what is the importance to leveling/tiering up fighters then if it matches you to similar? I rather not fight against all the people who have been around forever and have 20+ diamonds with great moves and all the proper counters.
 
@Taniyah

It's all about quality. If you level, tier up quality fighters you'll have somewhat of an edge versus those who go with anything. Or as @Brother Null pointed out, if you keep an eye open for good moves and level them, you'll have even more of an edge versus someone who doesn't.

But don't worry too much, just make sure you use of all your top 20 characters (defense or offense). In my opinion, the only harmful part is to have some dead weight (top 20 FS that you rarely use or defenders you don't have moves for).

On a side note, if I meet one of those guys with only a handful of leveled fighters, here's what I do:
- Have a good look at the roster and map (more so than usual) to pinpoint where those are.
- I feel free to recycle (they will have to as well) and abuse characters like Xeno, BHD and other great options against high HPs.
- I don't feel too bad losing, they are usually very good players anyway who hate to lose and are ready to use any mean to win. Even if it's not as fun to play.

But then again, I'm a newb, thus curious as well to hear from more experienced players.
 
Well, I'm currently stuck in gold 2. Used to be gold 1 but just have trouble winning rifts... Just can't break 70-80k boss nodes with great catalysts. Currently have a roster of 4.5 natural diamonds.... And a decent selection of golds, no diamonds outside of natural due to lacking essences to evolve. Feel overall the new matchmaking is causing me a lot more issues with rift matches. All I can really think of is hope to get some more good catalysts and work on xeno since I don't see any other way of breaking the problem node half the players seem to have.
 
The simple truth of building your top 20 is that most every Diamond player has done so. You do still need to field a competitive team and four natural diamonds simply isn't enough to beat my rift map. I have nineteen diamonds in position, and I have worked each one to have a synergistic catalyst and modifier, and a full set of upgraded gold moves.

Once it was possible to sneak into Diamond with a strategy of "going tall" (Very high top ten, and a very low bottom ten), but Diamond tier players no longer assert team strength as a matchmaking requisite. This is a significant change for Diamond tiers, and it will make any stay temporary unless you have a full compliment of fighters.

But, it's OK. You need to train your base, and getting Gold rewards will allow you to collect the very best catalysts as well as full elemental essences to get your fighters into that new glossy paint-job. Remember, diamond is not a sprint - it's a marathon.