Introduction
Explorers! It's another weekend and time for another JWA tournament. This time it is rare and epic hybrids only. The selection of creatures this week is incredibly small compared to previous tournaments so you probably won't see as much variety in the arena. That also means speed ties and team draw will play a huge factor in the outcome of many of your matches. So get those tapping fingers ready and let's see what creatures we can expect to see at the top.
Battle Sim Results
As this is a Skilled Tournament, we have decided to use our Battle Simulator to give you a good insight on how each creature performs. But before we will show you the results, we feel like we need to share some info on it.
Our Battle Simulator is a tool that was developed by the creator of the Jurassic World Alive Field Guide and it runs matchups for every combination we want it to. It runs 1v1 matchups for all creatures against all creatures, selecting the best move possible for each turn. It then calculates a win/loss/tie percentage and that is then compiled into a data sheet.
Our Sim Results therefore are excellent in 1v1 matchups like the very start of the match. However, you should always keep in mind that the battles in JWA are a 4v4, and that it is very rarely a true 1v1. So while these numbers are very useful for seeing who wins the most, you should always keep in mind your own playstyle and possible other uses that won't be seen as much in our Battle Sim, like Swap in Abilities or On Escape Abilities.
But with that disclaimer out of the way, here are the results! To quickly explain the numbers: Green numbers are win percentages, red numbers are loss percentages and blue numbers are Swap out Percentages. If there is any situation where the added number isn't 100% there are probably some rounding issues involved.
There are only 25 creatures actually eligible for this tournament so in addition to the 20 featured above, you can also use Nodopatosaurus, Scaphotator, Dimodactylus, Einiasuchus, Majundasuchus.
Building your team
First of all, don't just pick the top 8 and go with those. As we mentioned, the Sim Results are head-to-head situations, and that alone will not build a good team. You will need to create synergy within your team, and most of all: counter the top threats, while making sure your own threats will get their counters removed. Therefore, the Sim Results alone should NOT be the sole point of focus when building a team.
With that mentioned, we would normally go to the teambuilding section of the article. Since this is such a small pool of creatures to choose from, you will probably see the same teams and there will be a couple of creatures that dominate over the rest. Let's talk about the biggest threats and your best way to counter them.
Biggest Threats
There are several "top threats" but the biggest will probably be Procerathomimus (Yoshi) and Indominus Rex Gen2.
Procerathomimus is pretty much going to be the creature to beat this time around. It is immune, can distract, nullify, and evade making it a threat to be reckoned with. Head to head, the best counter for it is Majundaboa. Using the basic shield move you should defeat Yoshi in a one on one matchup. There's a catch though. Yoshi can't have Rampage up when you bring Majundaboa out. Majunda is also quite vulnerable to bet set up on once Yoshi is defeated. It might be best to use a combination of counter attackers and swap in creatures to take out Yoshi. While it doesn't win one on one, Megalogaia can chip away at Yoshi's HP enough for you to be able to swap in another creature like Purutaurus or Stegoceratops for the counter damage or swap in kill. Of course you can also use your own Yoshi as a counter. Especially if they have alreay used up their rampage and it's on cooldown. Just be prepared to try and win the speed tie, and make sure you don't accidentally click Instant Distract instead of Distracting Rampage (I am 100% guilty of that).
Indominus Rex Gen 2 will be the other big threat you'll want to watch out for. It is also immune, can cloak, speed itself up, and has a rampage move as well as a shield breaking move. Procerathomimus is the best counter in a head to head matchup, but like the other top threat, it might take a variety of different creatures to take Indom2 down. Megalogaia is another good option. Even though Indom2 can hit through shields, it also forces them to make a choice if you use Dig in after a cloak or their Mutual Fury. Erlikogamma is another good option especially if you can time the rampage and run into a swap in creature like Stegoceratops. Gamma can hit through the Indom2 cloak and is fast enough that they can't efficiently use Mutual Fury against it.
Indominus Rex 2 and Yoshi aren't the only creatures you will see obviously. Sarcorixis is a fantastic end game creature with no escape and can dish out some massive hits. The new epic hybrid, Entelochops, has a revenge move that allows it to go for back to back rampages. Mutual Fury also allows it to make itself faster than any other creature in the pool.
As you can see from the sim image above, there is a lot of swapping that can go on in this tournament so take advantage of those counter-attacking and swap in creatures to eliminate a threat you otherwise have trouble with. A lot of this tournament will depend on team draw so try and do the best you can with what you are given in a match.
Parting Words
This is a tough tournament format. With a small creature pool, there isn't as much room for variety so be prepared to spend some time grinding out battles if you want to get to the top of the Leaderboard. Do your best, and try to have fun. The prize at the end is Boosts, which is a big incentive for a lot of people. If you have any questions whatsoever, be sure to join our Discord where we have a tournament strategy channel to talk things out. We hope to see you there!
