PvP Arena

I have wanted to write this a long time, so here it goes.
I have won quite a few PvP Arena tournaments, so I get a few questions here and there on Arena and how to 'do' it. Unfortunately, there are no sure way of 'doing' it. If there is such thing as a 'best' setup, then every player who figure it out (and it should not be hard), will have the same setup, and your chance of winning one will be the same as everyone, 1 in 16 (or 1 in 32 if it is a 5 round tournament). So have patience, have confidence that you have 'the' set, and keep trying.

Now, as I said, there actually probably isn't one 'best' setup. Let us assume a contest of an arbitrary level. A player with attack = J, damage = K, defense = L, armor = M. Assuming you cannot beat the sum of the stats, which otherwise will be moot, you can still beat it by having attack = L+10, damage = M+10, defense = 1, armor = K+20. That way, your opponent deal only 1 damage to you, while you do 10 damage on average to your opponent. That assumes J attack is greater than 40, or you will need a higher total stats. But now, I can beat that by having attack = 10, damage = K + 30, defense = L+40, armor = 1. In that setup, I will be able to hit you (my attack 10 is higher than your defense 1), but you won't be able to hit me (my defense is higher than your attack. And my total stats is lower if M is greater than 40. And there's a setup that can beat : attack = L+60, damage = 1, defense = 20, armor = 1. So in a way, it is like playing rock, scissors, paper. No wonder players don't like to share their setup.

But the point is not to beat a single player. You can always do that. The point is to beat 4 players, all potentially having different setups. If you know that all of them will be showing 'rock', you will use 'paper', and the odds will favor you. So you want to be different! I have seen level 202 winning a level 438 tournament, because he was different. So does that mean you can put on anything and expect a fair 1 in 16 chance to win? Unfortunately, not exactly. There is a chance that you can win, but it could be very low. Assuming the rock scissors paper game, you have to win 4 in a row, and that means 1 in 81, not 1 in 16. How can it be that everyone only have a 1 in 81 chance? That does not add up. Well, not everyone has a 1 in 81 chance. When both players show a 'rock', then the setup now matters. If both are armor/damage setup with minimal attack/defense for example, then the sum of armor/damage matters. If both players get knocked out, the judges decision is first by total damage dealt, before tossing a coin. So if you have a 'better' setup, then you're more likely to win when both players show the same symbol.

But above was assuming contests without moves. Arena combat moves add a new dimension to that rock scissors paper game. The choice of moves should not be dependent on an opponent. Your objective is not to beat one opponent in particular, but to win 4 random ones. Instead, it should be chosen to match the type of setup you have. You want moves that add damage or chance to hit if you have a hitting setup, but moves that reduces opponents chance to hit if you have defensive ones.

I'll list a few categories of setups, but please do not let these limit your imagination.

Defensive setup
In this setup, one attempts to maximize the defense. The objective is prevent being hit. You also want to be able to hit your opponent, but not necessarily doing a lot of damage, just 1 damage will suffice. In this setup, the first priority is defense, and the second priority is attack. Armor, Damage, HP are of no importance. If you have combat moves and the tournaments allow for it, you will want to use Defend, Block, Dodge, or maybe even Deflect. Those reduces the chances that you get hit even further.

Armor setup
In this setup, this is the exact opposite defense. The objective is reduce all damage done to you to 1. The first priority is armor, the secondary priority is damage and hp. Attack is not as important, since you aren't likely to get an attack higher than the defensive setup anyhow, might as well not have it at all. You are going to rely on the 2% chance to hit. However, you want enough damage, so that when you do hit, you should be able to make a knock-out. Why hp? There are 40 rounds of combat. The defensive setup will be hitting you for 1 damage in each round, so you will want 40 hp to last 40 rounds of combat to give you 40 chances to hit. If your hp is only 10, 2% chance in 10 rounds is only 20% chance of winning. But if you have 40 hp, then you have a 80% chance to win. That excludes combat moves, and the actual chance might be lower. This setup almost does not depend on combat moves to combat the defensive setup. But combat moves come into play when you are being matched up against a similar setup. In those cases, you will be hitting, and don't be surprised that your opponent will be hitting also. So you want to use moves that increase damage or even the chance to hit. Those moves will include Critical Hit, Power Attack, and possibly even Spin Attack.

Another tip on Arena. The tournaments to win moves are usually easier to win. The top Arena players would have won 3 of those moves and can no longer take part, so those taking parts are those who are still experimenting. The top Arena players also have more resources and the confidence to take part in all tournaments. The cheaper tournaments are a good way to experiment for many players, and hence easier to win. Having said that, do not be afraid of the top arena champions. I have beaten all of them in at least one tournament. Even they are not infallible, and lady luck has the final say in many cases. What you can do is increase your odds by using the best gears and choosing the correct moves to go with it. If you are winning 1 in 16 tournaments you take part in, you are doing above average.