# The New Defend Meta **URL:** \ **Category:** Gameplay Chat (PC/Mobile)\ **Created:** [November 15, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349 "2016-11-15T14:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jainus](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/jainus/32/34949_2.png) [@Jainus](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jainus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 5:58am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/21 "2016-11-16T05:58:51Z")
Story of my life… ---
**Author:** ![Strat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Strat](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Strat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:37am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/22 "2016-11-16T06:37:13Z")
> [@Annaerith](#): > > but if i had to do that, i feel it is undair that we cannot descend/delevel/de-trait troops… > > something is wrong with mechanics that go that directions… With the new troops on console I was recently able to get my Defend team down all the way to 4,700ish. I can’t wait for the next patch in that I might have the chance to remove all my Traits and all my Souls on a few troops, so that I can field 4 un-traited un-leveled troops in Defend. (this assumes we get some Refund options) This junk Defense team seems to help reduce the number of under-costed Manticore defense teams that get listed in PvP invades. ---
**Author:** ![killerman3333](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/killerman3333/32/4068_2.png) [@killerman3333](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/killerman3333)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:41am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/23 "2016-11-16T06:41:09Z")
Maybe i missed it or not. The debate of weak defence or strong defence. Which is better, and why. The pros and cons of each. ---
**Author:** ![DonBoba](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/donboba/32/25457_2.png) [@DonBoba](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/DonBoba)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/24 "2016-11-16T06:54:04Z")
I’ve used quite a weak team last week to show of my merchant blade and my opponents were as usual and gold gains were as usual. Invade doesn’t change based on your defense team. . ---
**Author:** ![killerman3333](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/killerman3333/32/4068_2.png) [@killerman3333](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/killerman3333)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/25 "2016-11-16T07:28:17Z")
i have been using my defence for team testing, weirdly enough people started to avoid my team for this event. ---
**Author:** ![Phaethon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@Phaethon](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Phaethon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 10:45am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/26 "2016-11-16T10:45:36Z")
> [@KingDonaldTrump](#): > > I meant as a blanket strategy of avoiding the mundane meta but maintaining gold earned. To do 2 trophy 100% of the time over the same period of playtime (same for doing 100% 1 trophy too) There is no avoiding the meta. Even at 1 trophy only, you will still run into the occasional Bone Dragon/Manticore/Deep Borer/Courage smorgasbord. There is no avoiding the meta. > [@htismaqe](#): > > I’ve tried several different defend teams today. I’m not seeing much change in opponents. Lots of Manticores, Bone Dragons, Deep Borers, and Courages. Yeah… It could just be observational bias making it _seem_ as if there is a difference when you run a weaker defend team. It’s quite possible that is has zero effect on your invasion options. Regardless, my defend team is a revolt from the omnipresent grief teams that are flooding the market currently. I don’t care for my win/loss ratio in any sense whatsoever. > [@DonBoba](#): > > I’ve used quite a weak team last week to show of my merchant blade and my opponents were as usual and gold gains were as usual. Invade doesn’t change based on your defense team. . There isn’t actually any true word on what affects either your gold from opponents or the battle ratings of said opponents other than arbitrary theories that are procured by community members (a very small percentage of all active players, at that). Unless it was posted somewhere and I missed it, the developers have been unnecessarily tight-lipped about the whole process, perhaps to avoid exploitation. ---
**Author:** ![KingDonaldTrump](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/kingdonaldtrump/32/13877_2.png) [@KingDonaldTrump](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/KingDonaldTrump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/27 "2016-11-16T11:06:51Z")
Grand so. Im not particularly concerned about avoiding the meta, only about maximising gold v. time. 2 birds… ---
**Author:** ![Phaethon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@Phaethon](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Phaethon)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/28 "2016-11-16T11:35:35Z")
For gold vs. time, have a team that can take out nearly every other… Maw Infernal King Sheggra Mercy ^ is a favorite and can take out almost all teams with ease… no soul gains, though. If you really want to maximise, don’t be afraid to quit games when it looks like you will not win them. Long, drawn out games decimate your RoI. ---
**Author:** ![Annaerith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/annaerith/32/13840_2.png) [@Annaerith](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Annaerith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:49am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/29 "2016-11-16T11:49:11Z")
> [@Phaethon](#): > > There is no avoiding the meta. by the weekend ill count how many meta teams i face (prolly gonna do only fights till tier1 but still thats like 100 wins? should be enough) but im pretty sure i see mantibone only 1/6 or less often ---
**Author:** ![Annaerith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/annaerith/32/13840_2.png) [@Annaerith](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Annaerith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:50am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/30 "2016-11-16T11:50:00Z")
> [@Phaethon](#): > > Maw > Infernal King > Sheggra > Mercy you just named my defense team ive been using for like 2 months 😁 ---
**Author:** ![KingDonaldTrump](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/kingdonaldtrump/32/13877_2.png) [@KingDonaldTrump](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/KingDonaldTrump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/31 "2016-11-16T12:45:25Z")
Id use that for 3 trophy matchups. For 1 trophy id go with Bat/Bat/Val/Mercy. Not sure for 2 as I havent tried them enough to recall a mean amount of health ---
**Author:** ![Jon31397](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/jon31397/32/11282_2.png) [@Jon31397](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jon31397)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/32 "2016-11-16T16:26:03Z")
> [@Annaerith](#): > > prolly gonna do only fights till tier1 but still thats like 100 wins? Daheck? I have 19 wins and i’m rank 7… that math doesn’t quite work out… ---
**Author:** ![Annaerith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/annaerith/32/13840_2.png) [@Annaerith](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Annaerith)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/33 "2016-11-16T16:54:43Z")
nvm i dont remm how many wins, maybe the 100 is needed for 1500 seals xD which i have to do by the week end so heh… sorry too tired to calculate right 😜 ---
**Author:** ![htismaqe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/htismaqe/32/23893_2.png) [@htismaqe](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/htismaqe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/34 "2016-11-16T18:11:25Z")
As a side note, I’m finding a lot of fun with Kraken against these teams with an embedded Bone Dragon. He can’t hide anymore! ---
**Author:** ![jeno](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/jeno/32/20235_2.png) [@jeno](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/jeno)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/35 "2016-11-16T18:12:41Z")
thanks for the tip 🙂 i rather fight quick untraited unkingdom troops for less gold than long fight against maxed out troops. that and get a lot of defend loses for more revenge options. ---
**Author:** ![Phaethon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@Phaethon](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Phaethon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/36 "2016-11-18T04:10:30Z")
![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/gemsofwar/original/2X/2/2d2ed9794e22a1aad2cf6325bdfac7e04fef312f.png) ---
**Author:** ![Phaethon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@Phaethon](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Phaethon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:52am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/37 "2016-11-18T04:52:42Z")
![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/gemsofwar/original/2X/a/a604a9ead9bf6ff14b9e67e1661bbd0f5bd45689.png) ---
**Author:** ![Stan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/stan/32/29888_2.png) [@Stan](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Stan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/38 "2016-11-18T19:07:18Z")
> [@DonBoba](#): > > Invade doesn’t change based on your defense team. . > [@Phaethon](#): > > There isn’t actually any true word on what affects either your gold from opponents or the battle ratings of said opponents other than arbitrary theories that are procured by community members (a very small percentage of all active players, at that). Unless it was posted somewhere and I missed it, the developers have been unnecessarily tight-lipped about the whole process, perhaps to avoid exploitation. I’ve been yo-yo-ing my defence team strength daily for several days now and I have little to no doubt that defence team strength determines at least the difficulty of the 3 trophy option. My 3-trophy option is always of comparable strength to my defence team, whether my rating is 8400 or 6500. The options that come up for 1 and 2 trophy matches are wildly variable regardless of my d-team (sometimes almost as good as the 3-trophy option, sometimes comically low). Revenges are always a bit variable because people could either be low level players punching above their weight class, or high level players choosing me as a 1 or 2 trophy option. As for how the gold payout is determined, I can’t begin to guess. ---
**Author:** ![htismaqe](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/htismaqe/32/23893_2.png) [@htismaqe](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/htismaqe)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/39 "2016-11-18T19:32:14Z")
My 3-trophy option vacillates between 800 and 1400 gold, even when I don’t change my defense team. I think this is more observational bias than actual coding. I’ve tried base common teams, one-troop teams, fully-traited all-Mythic teams. I see the same set of invade choices pretty much regardless. ---
**Author:** ![DonBoba](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/donboba/32/25457_2.png) [@DonBoba](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/DonBoba)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349/40 "2016-11-18T22:01:22Z")
Same situation here. Variation from 800 to 1500 gold. Levels from 300 to 1100 on 3 trophies match. Team scores from 7000 to 8500. I never changed my defense team. [Previous page](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/the-new-defend-meta/15349.md?page=3)