Okay guys, it's time, are you ready? It's me, Roach. Now, I think it's time I helped some of my fellow WoN members out with a nice little guide of mine.

Before you think I lack credentials of team building, you should know that yes, I did create the top tier team of Toge, Megami, and Yukigaaru. You should also know that almost every team I use is completely original and of my own making.

Now, it's gonna be a small step by step thing, but bare with me, cause I might go all over the place. This stuff comes naturally to me, but for others, it needs to be layed out.



STEP ONE, your favorite character and you.: Now then, I am a firm believer in the fact that every character in this game can be made useful somehow (unless your name is Tori [Recently she's a lot better, but still...] or Tadao). I myself, always, ALWAYS try to make teams out of my most favorite character in this game, Yukigaaru. Sure enough, there he is, in almost alllll of my teams, Yukigaaru plays a major role. That's just the way it works for me, the same can be said for you. So really, pick a character you like and then move on to step two. In this guide for demonstration purposes, I will be showing how I came up with my favorite team Yukigaaru, Shoji, and Ikuchi.

Important tip: Credit to Taylor: Not only can you use your favorite character, you can also try to go for a favorite style of play. Do you like Area of effect? Stunning? Energy drain your game? try to focus on that as well as a central character. If you have your favorite style and favorite character, good for you!

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STEP TWO, your strategy, your main plan, the big business, the first item!: Now then, we've decided on a character, right? Right. So you've got a character, great! Now what? Well, now, we must decide on our game plan. Try to think of your character, and just what kind of a team they could most possibly shine in? Is it going to be AoE? Stunning? Energy control? It could be any of those, you just have to dig deep and make sure it fits within your characters abilities. Now, this is what I love about Yukigaaru, he has such versatility that he can be put on almost any team. SO! Yukigaaru is slow, has a stun, and nice defenses, and he has minimal cost, so I decided to go with a slow and deadly team. Once you decide on a central strategy, it's time to enhance and make that strategy shine through! SO, let's think.. I have Yukigaaru, and my focus is a slow yet deadly team... now.. Think of all the items you can be paired with. Kunai? Shuriken? No, Kunai has a cool down, and I'm not aiming for an AoE Yukigaaru. So let's keep trying, but for time purpose, I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you that I went with poison darts. Nice, slow, painful damage that stacks over time. Fits in right with my idea of a team.

Important tip: Credit to Taylor: Just to help you guys out, I'm gonna go ahead and list what I believe to be the most important types of teams. very basic and very rough, people should for the most part already know these teams.

For the most part, drainers, stunners, and energy increasers counter almost all teams.

Helpful tip: Credit to Johnny-TM I'm gonna go ahead and try to list characters that fall under each category so you can go ahead and select your favorite characters from there. This is considering item possibilities as well.

Area of Effect: Exactly what the name implies. You're shooting for a team that targets all enemies at once for the most part. For the most part, teams like this get countered by, well, counters. Another thing to keep in mind when making AoE teams, don't get greedy and wait to hit all three.

Yukigaaru, Sainan, Saiga, Tadashi, Yuudai, Kurai, Takeo, Yugana, Youko, Kamiko, Tadao, Jomon, Kame, Yuzuki, Hai.

Spikers: Spikers are teams that deal quick and strong damage, and for the most part, not much anything else. Spikers generally get countered by wall type characters. When trying to use a spiker team, your priority is not always the character with the lowest HP.

Jinsei, Jyozu, Nobuo, Ken, Asami, Tadashi, Jun, Yuudai, Ikuchi, Toraji, Kao, Hikaru, Tadao, Megami, Jomon, Ryu, Yuzuki, Toge

Stunners: Exactly what the name implies. Stunners are mainly focused on keeping your enemy stunned and not allowing them to do much. Stunners don't really have much of a counter when it comes to general teams, possibly spikers.

Yukigaaru, Asami, Akira, Sasori, Kurai, Takeo, Jatai, Nozuchi, Niwa, Youko, Hikaru, Kame, Toge

Wallers: These kind of teams are the kind that like to protect their own team mates. These teams are typically countered by spikers.

Yukigaaru, Daiki, Arasoi, Hana, Shoji, Jatai, Takeko, Nori, Kao, Tadao, Kame, Yuurin, Hai

Hybrid: These teams are teams that don't really have a set pattern, rather a combination of other team types. It's hard to counter these teams specifically because of the fact that it's hard to pinpoint their exact tactic.

Jinsei, Yukigaaru, Nobuo, Sainan, Saiga, Asami, Sasori, Yume, Takeo, Amaya, Jatai, Toraji, Youko, Hikaru, Ryu, Yuzuki, Yuurin, Jikkousu

Energy control: Exactly what it implies. These teams focus on controlling the energy in the game such as increasing enemies skill cost. These teams are typically countered by fast spiking and low cost teams.

Nobuo, Akira, Yume, Amaya, Toraji, Yugana, Kao, Ryu, Yuurin

Drainers: These kind of teams tend to focus on draining and removing energy from the opponent's movepool to the point where they can't do anything at all. This is the hardest team to counter, in my opinion, for if they get the ball rolling, you literally can't do anything.

Arasoi, Hana, Jatai, Yugana, Hahen

Affliction: Not really a type of team, but you get the idea that some teams might revolve around bypassing protectors and defense through affliction.


Let's take a short review break before I go on to step 3. It's simple, I started with a character I like, and a team strategy I was aiming for, with an item or character that fits into that strategy.

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STEP THREE, you're never alone!: Now, this is in my opinion the most important step when you're building a team, your allies. Pay attention, because this stuff is important. Unlike step 1, you are NOT going to pick a character you like. Your allies are what they are, characters that will aid your central character and your general strategy. Do not FORCE allies into each other, it will come naturally if you process it one at a time. Remember, strictly characters that flow into your team strategy, no items just yet.

Important tip: Do not panic or worry to much about energy clashing, unless it is incredibly clashy or does not fit in with your strategy. For example with my Yuki with Poison darts, for the most part, Yukigaaru only uses red, but because I have Poison darts, I will not CONSTANTLY need red with Yukigaaru, so I should not rule out other red users. Energy synergy is important, but it can be overlooked for the greater picture.

Now then, with my example team, the first ally I thought of that is silent, deadly, and slow, was Shoji. Shoji fits in right with Yukigaaru as an ally for my type of team. Shoji is cost efficient and pulls off great affliction. And on top of that, he is great defense against ranged users, increased with Yuki's defenses as well. If you read the important note, you can see why I did not rule out shoji, despite both Yukigaaru and Shoji relying on red energy.

After Shoji, I thought of who else lays in the waiting only to spring when the time is right. My mind flashed to Ikuchi. Let's take a look, shall we? He has an affliction attack that can stack and ignore invulnerability, and he has a spike that requires a poison affliction.

WOAH, hold up? See that? Ikuchi requires a poison affliction, guess who was paired up with poison darts? Wait, doesn't Shoji's wire make people go invulnerable? But.. whose attack ignores invulnerability and puts a stack of affliction anyways?

When you're patient enough to find the right allies to the right central force, everything will fall into place for step 4.

Remember, allies are strictly allies, do not try to force your favorite character with other favorite characters. Ironically enough, Shoji is another one of my favorite character, but I HATE how Ikuchi looks, god he's so ugly.

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STEP FOUR, it's dangerous to go alone, take two more items!: Now, you have your main force, you got your main plan, you got your homies waiting for you, what comes next? The support. You have 1 of three items set in stone. Now, it's time to find what fits with your team. The items you want to put on your allies are exactly what your allies, strictly to aid the main picture of the team. Sure, Yuurin's best item might be Shogi, but is Shogi the best item for your TEAM? You want only items that will benefit your team in one way or another, and remember, keep going with what original plan you had.

Now, for my personal example, I gave SHoji Warbanner of resistance, and Ikuchi Warbanner of healing. Why those? Well, honestly, Shoji can't function without War banner of resistance, but it doesn't only aid him, it aids both Ikuchi and Yukigaaru if necessary. Warbanner of healing versus any other item was because the focus was slow and painful affliction, if my team is healing every turn, that fits right in.

Important Tip: recognizing threats: In War of Ninja, certain characters seem more threatening than others. You can use this to your advantage when creating your team. If you can make one character look fearful, but in reality another one of your characters is the bigger threat, you can use them as decoys for each other. try to keep this in mind, as you will get a rough idea of who will be targeted on your team first.

Let's move on to step 5.

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STEP FIVE, you think you're good, huh? Wrong.: Do not be fooled, just because a team looks good on paper, it does not mean it will be good in battle. GO AND TEST YOUR TEAM. Don't play one silly little match, play at least 50 before you give a verdict, try to discover what counters your newly made team. If it fails to keep up with the current metagame, start over. Beating one or 10 single players is not enough to decide whether the team will work or not.

Important tip: Credit to Taylor: You don't have to necessarily get rid of your team completely. If you truly want, keep the team and see what kind of upgrades it could possibly receive in the future. In the future, who knows? It might become a counter to the top tier team of the current metagame.

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Optional step 1, knowing your weakness: It's important to realize your own weaknesses of your own teams. Before you even TRY to go testing, try to see what automatically hurts your team and try to discover ways of covering it up before you even get into battle.

For example, my main problem with Yuki, Shoji, and Ikuchi, was that I knew people would swap in med kits to counter Shoji, so what I decided to do was to hide shoji in the team screen and swap him in during swapping instead of showing him out in the open.

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Optional step 2, you're lazy, but you hate copying identical teams: In this case, you can take the idea of a certain team and try to apply new characters to it. try not to copy exactly because that's the reason I'm creating this guide in the first place.

I hope you found this helpful, and I hope to see more original teams on War of Ninja. Show me just how strategic you guys can be!

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Optional Step 3, Quick! More items!: When looking a your team, try to deduce if all the items on your team are permanently needed or not. If not, try to mix up your game sometimes when needed.

For example, a Shoji with warbanner of resistance. If your opponent has no stunners, feel free to switch in an item that will benefit the team even more, for example maybe Warbanner of defense of Kage's cloak of shadows.

Toy around until you find the right substitutes.

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Teams I have made on my own: If you use any of these teams, and know you did not make them yourself, at the very least give credit where it's due.

Toge (Pipe of Strength), Megami (Warbanner of Offense), Yukigaaru (Tanto).
Ryu (Pipe of Intelligence), Asami (Fire Arrows), Kame (Smoke Bomb).
Ryu (Pipe of Intelligence), Jatai (Smoke Bomb), Yukigaaru (Poison Darts).
Kurai (Cloak), Yuurin (Shogi), Takeo (Warbanner of healing/resistance) (This team and the one below it aren't exactly my most 'original teams' as I merely switched around the strategy of Kurai, Yuurin, Tadashi, which I did not make myself)
Kurai (Cloak), Yuurin (Shogi), Saiga (Warbanner of resistance/Pipe of Wisdom).
Yukigaaru (Shurikens), Yuzuki (Fire Bomb), Asami (Warbanner of offense)
Yukigaaru (Shurikens), Asami (Fire Bomb), Takeo (feather of the firehawk)
Yukigaaru (Poison Darts), Shoji (Warbanner of resistance), Ikuchi (Warbanner of healing)
Toraji (Pipe of Wisdom), Jomon (Pipe of Energy), Yugana (Warbanner of resistance)
Yukigaaru (Shurikens), Jomon (Pipe of Energy), Saiga (Warbanner of Resistance/Pipe of Wisdom)
Toge (Book of mentality), Youko (Warbanner of Resitance/Flame), Yuurin (Shogi)
Amaya (Book of mentality/Pipe of intelligence), Hana (Pipe of Agility), Hahen (Pipe of Wisdom)
Yukigaaru (Shurikens), Yuzuki (Fire Bomb), Hai (Warbanner of Offense)
ken (Warbanner of resistance), Nobuo (Pipe of Strength), Jyouzu/Megami (Warbanner of Offense)
Ken (Warbanner of Resistance/Situational), Ryu (Pipe of Intelligence), Kao (Pipe of Wisdom)
Shoji (Warbanner of Resistance), ken (Warbanner of Healing), Tpri (Pipe of Intelligence.)
Roach enhanced: Jyouzu (Warbanner of Offense), Yukigaaru (Tanto), Takeo/Jinsei (Kunai).

The original was Jyouzu (Warbanner of Offense), Yukigaaru (Kunai), Takeo/Jinsei (Smoke Bomb). Note the difference in strategy.
Arasoi (Pipe of WIsdom), Kurai (Swap in for Hahen, War banner of resistance), Youko (Flame)
Kame (Pipe of Intelligence), Shoji (Warbanner of resistance), Eien (Swap in for Asami to juke a sake switch in, Warbanner of Healing/Situational.)
Jomon (Pipe of Strength), Yukigaaru (Shurikens), Asami (Pipe of Wisdom)
Kame (Smokebomb), Ryu (Pipe of Intelligence/Situational), Ikuchi (Warbanner of Healing)
Ryu (Smokebomb), Shoji (Warbanner of Resistance), Saigai (Pipe of Wisdom)

Bolded ones are my personal favorite teams.

I pretty much skimmed since im tired on a new level (ill give it a proper read through tomorrow afternoon).

Though Step 6 should be "Team Failing, Start the hell over", obviously a rough sketch but you get the point.

Nice guide though if your favorite character just all out sucks ignore that part of the guide.

Recently, I've started trying out something. Using characters that use certain energy while leaving out one type of energy using characters (for example Agility) and then using pipes and/or energy makers such as Nobuo, Jinsei and Yugana for maximum effect while still spiking.

But nice guide. Clashing isn't necessarily a bad thing though. It's most often a way to get abundance of another type of energy; useful at certain points, if you know how to use them.

I found the guide great, but not as good as I expected from you, Roach. I am glad that you showed the difference between a healthy energy clash clash and a damaging energy clash, however - most people do not have the knowledge that not every clash is a damaging one.

Last, but not least, I can say that I frown upon the last part of the guide (the "my teams" one) due to a simple reason - okay, sure, you devised those teams by yourself, but how can you tell no one else did such before you? This is a rather problematic standpoint. Let us consider a hypothetical situation - I "created" one of those teams that are ranked on the list, unaware of the fact you did such as well.

If I use the team, will you force me to credit you? Even though I got the cognitive process by myself? That sounds extremely unfair. Due to the lack of proof (remember - one can NEVER prove global lack of existence - thus, you will never be able to prove a team DID NOT EXIST before you created it, removing your right to claim ownership), typing this section out will bring potential harm and will bring no benefit to the guide whatsoever.

I hope you update the guide, however, because it does have potential that wasn't explored.

I found the guide great, but not as good as I expected from you, Roach. I am glad that you showed the difference between a healthy energy clash clash and a damaging energy clash, however - most people do not have the knowledge that not every clash is a damaging one.

Last, but not least, I can say that I frown upon the last part of the guide (the "my teams" one) due to a simple reason - okay, sure, you devised those teams by yourself, but how can you tell no one else did such before you? This is a rather problematic standpoint. Let us consider a hypothetical situation - I "created" one of those teams that are ranked on the list, unaware of the fact you did such as well.

If I use the team, will you force me to credit you? Even though I got the cognitive process by myself? That sounds extremely unfair. Due to the lack of proof (remember - one can NEVER prove global lack of existence - thus, you will never be able to prove a team DID NOT EXIST before you created it, removing your right to claim ownership), typing this section out will bring potential harm and will bring no benefit to the guide whatsoever.

I hope you update the guide, however, because it does have potential that wasn't explored.

Team building isn't exactly a hard feature, as I said. So a guide can only explain so much. If you must, what suggestions would you make of what I should add?

Oh boy, here we go. Look, I have no proof of anything or whatever. If you "made" the team yourself, that's great. That's amazing. I'm not forcing people to credit me whatsoever, it's a moral thing people will choose to follow or not. If you truly did make the team without knowledge of others, good for you. If you're saying it for the sake of saying it, whatever. That's fine. Word of mouth goes around and people know the original origins. Especially for players like us, no offense Taylor, that know what's happening in the metagame and what kind of teams are never seen or have never ever been heard before a certain person.

The guide as it is, seems to be good enough for me. It's basic enough to not go overboard, but simple enough to the point where it's not a worthless guide and easy to follow. Again, if you have any suggestions on what else I could add that pertains to TEAM BUILDING and not general strategies such as knowing the difference between a bad clash and a good clash, feel free to suggest.

(...)Team building isn't exactly a hard feature, as I said. So a guide can only explain so much. If you must, what suggestions would you make of what I should add?

Oh boy, here we go. Look, I have no proof of anything or whatever. If you "made" the team yourself, that's great. That's amazing. I'm not forcing people to credit me whatsoever, it's a moral thing people will choose to follow or not. If you truly did make the team without knowledge of others, good for you. If you're saying it for the sake of saying it, whatever. That's fine. Word of mouth goes around and people know the original origins. Especially for players like us, no offense Taylor, that know what's happening in the metagame and what kind of teams are never seen or have never ever been heard before a certain person.

The guide as it is, seems to be good enough for me. It's basic enough to not go overboard, but simple enough to the point where it's a worthless guide. Again, if you have any suggestions on what else I could add that pertains to TEAM BUILDING and not general strategies such as knowing the difference between a bad clash and a good clash, feel free to suggest.

My suggestions are the following:

- When building a new team, consider the atual conjecture of the game (e.g. - current meta teams, characters that are new, thus, not owned by many people). The team build does not need to revolve about these factors - still, if there are two choices and one of them is slightly better due to the current conjecture, take that into account.

- Recommend players to use their favorite STYLE along with their favorite character as well. The same thought applies - although good teams can be created without one's favorite character, using such character will act as a strength for the person, reaction that also happens when using one's favorite game style. If possible, add a short list of game styles (countering, draining, spiking, stunning, agreed stunning...) and/or these styles' weaknesses.

- After step 5: provide reworks for the team and/or discard it while saving the idea for future use if team did not succeed. This is pretty much common sense, however, you could direct people onto which reworks are needed to be done - specifically, by providing tips on how to see the team's main weaknesses and how to correct them.

That's it for now. Team building is indeed not hard, however, that does not mean there's much to the subject - quite the contrary, still, I think that some cuts onto the theory need to be done. You won't go into an in-depth "multiple synergetic effect" explanation on a page that's supposed to be a simple guideline. Now, just to leave you with a last question, since, according to yourself, "you know what's always happening in the metagame" - can you precisely pinpoint the creator of Kurai Tadashi Yuurin / Asami Hikaru Yuudai?

After all, players like you know what's happening on the metagame. No offense.

I will add in those ideas for now, thanks for suggesting them.

As for those teams, I don't know exactly who made them, but I'm almost positive Sasukeps2 made tadashi, Kurai, Yuurin at the time. And Hikaru, Asami, Yuudai is no longer a top tier team, but I don't know who created that team. I remember seeing it around, and being confused at this terrible team, so i didn't pay much attention to it.

I can tell you though who made Jun, Ryu, and Kurai. That team belongs to SasukePS2.

I will add in those ideas for now, thanks for suggesting them.

As for those teams, I don't know exactly who made them, but I'm almost positive Sasukeps2 made tadashi, Kurai, Yuurin at the time. And Hikaru, Asami, Yuudai is no longer a top tier team, but I don't know who created that team. I remember seeing it around, and being confused at this terrible team, so i didn't pay much attention to it.

I can tell you though who made Jun, Ryu, and Kurai. That team belongs to SasukePS2.

Pretty sure the person who made the first team was this person whose name starts with an L and always wears the panda girl avatar. (Haven't been on here in ages.)

Neat guide, if I would anything next, I would add some Recommended Characters in Step 2 for the categories, because Tadao might look like a good AoE or Spiker, but in the foreword you mentioned him as not a handful.

As from the list, I prefer stunners, they are fun to play with, and takes a lot of strategy on the field. Oh, and step 3 has a nice ending line, I remember when I played arena games first, I used 3 favourite character, who looked like they have a good set of skills. That means, the strategy lost in the team building, but somehow it still worked.

wow thats ur secret to goos teams

I'm glad to see a guide from a top player. This is definitely useful.

Well, I could I use this. It's pretty nice, I must say.

A very nice read. I found it very thought out. Some things that I usually overlook when building teams. I would definitely say this could have its own spot in the new guides section of the main page.

Latest original team

Ken (Warbanner of resistance), Nobuo (Pipe of Strength), Jyouzu (Warbanner of Offense).
Ken (Warbanner of Resistance/Situational), Ryu (Pipe of Intelligence), Kao (Pipe of Wisdom)

An overall useful guide. I remember back when i started i always wanted to use Takeo cuz he was my favorite character. But yeah, nice work in illustrating the thinking process from building a team, equip items, etc.

Thumbed up.