The latest in our SWGoH Should I Buy series is focusing on the Phoenix Ultimate Bundle and individual character bundles.

As hinted in the past weeks, Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned in his Artist of War Legendary Event! Acquiring Thrawn requires five of six Phoenix Squadron characters. Phoenix must be at 5* to unlock Thrawn at 5* and they must be at 7* to get Thrawn to 7*.

Unlike the first time we saw the Artist of War event, we’ve had several months to slowly gain the necessary shards for Phoenix and also gear the characters. Not everyone has had the foresight, or the time, to fervently work on Phoenix Squadron, which is where these bundles can pique one’s interest.

The Phoenix Squadron Ultimate Bundle is $99.99 USD and runs through the next week. Aside from the ability mats, training droids, and credits used to bring six different characters to Level 40, Gear 5, and Ability Level 3, the bundle offers enough shards (55) to unlock all six Phoenix characters at 3*: Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Chopper, and Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios.

The individual character bundles are also available for $9.99 USD each, providing 25 shards and enough items to bring a single character to Level 40, Gear 5, and Ability Level 3.

At first glance, these bundles may seem almost craftily useless, but understanding their intent is key. Phoenix Squadron are a required faction utilized throughout Territory Battles – Hoth and Phoenix Squadron are the sole method to acquiring Grand Admiral Thrawn. Aside from being a long-time fan favorite, Thrawn is also one of the most powerful characters in the game, with debilitating abilities and excellent zeta upgrades. Thrawn’s legendary event has only appeared twice through the history of the game and there is no telling when the event will appear again, which is where the need for Phoenix Squadron becomes so great. A player starting from scratch on Phoenix would be well-placed to do do some heavy farming and would be able to acquire Thrawn on this round.

Some Phoenix Squadron characters are more difficult to acquire than others:

• Kanan is farmable through Squad Arena Store
• Ezra is farmable through Cantina Battles Node 2B and Fleet Arena Store
• Hera is farmable through Cantina Battles Node 1F
• Sabine is farmable through the Guild Store and Dark Side Hard 1A
• Chopper is farmable through the Cantina Battles Store
• Zeb is farmable through the Galactic War Store

While players with a stockpile of currency from the Cantina Battles, Galactic War, and Squad Arena stores would be able to gain Kanan, Chopper, and Zeb relatively quickly, the others take a lot more planning. Hera and Ezra are both farmed through Cantina Energy which refreshes much slower than normal Energy and, though Sabine has a Hard Battle node, the hard battles are only farmable up to five times a day without a refresh, and Sabine’s appearance in the Guild Store can be very sporadic, as is Ezra’s appearance in the Fleet Arena Store.

Players have the option to make use of the individual character packs to farm for the specific characters that they may not have at desired stars. With Hera as the only Phoenix Squadron member with a Leader ability and Ezra and Sabine as the strongest Attackers of the tag, players will quickly realize that they are simultaneously the most important characters to have and, yet the more difficult to farm. Yet, savvier players, for example, could purchase Ezra’s Bundle to take him to the desired stars while also still farming Hera manually from her Cantina node.

It may not be recommended for players starting with zero shards on any Phoenix Squadron characters to utilize these bundles in hopes of acquiring Grand Admiral Thrawn at 7*, players starting from scratch could easily acquire Thrawn at 5* through these bundles, and also become true assets to their guilds by having the necessary team to clear more Territory Battles Combat Missions.

For players who unlocked Thrawn on his first appearance, these bundles can mean the difference between utilizing a powerhouse character at 7* in Arena and in Heroic Raids versus being stuck with a 5* or 6* Thrawn until his event returns again. Also of note is that Grand Admiral Thrawn is also required in order to gain his capital ship, Chimaera, which is likely to dominate Fleet Arena in the near future.

The Phoenix Squadron Bundles may not seem to offer much for the price at first glance, but deeper review supports that the bundles can heighten a player’s experience in multiple areas of an in-depth game. The choice is yours!

 

By Kaitco of Descendants of the Empire
Gaming-fans.com Staff Writer