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[center][b][u][size=4]Ruins Retainer[/size][/u] [size=2]an Anticipate Ghostlight Ruins build[/size][/b][/center] [center][url=https://www1.flightrising.com/dragon/27249146][img]https://www1.flightrising.com/rendern/avatars/272492/27249146.png[/img][/url][/center] Tired of having your Scratch trainer get hit a bunch while setting up, causing them to get worn down? Don't want to have to reset after missing 2 Eliminates in a row with your Meditate trainer? Do you generally just want to soak up some more hits than the usual Ruins build? Look no further than the Ruins Retainer, a bulkier Anticipate trainer! The purpose of this build is to exchange some of the QCK found on other Ruins builds to make the trainer even bulkier, further reducing the chance of being worn down too hard and having to reset. Scratch is not entirely suitable for this, as it is a lot less effective in building up breath with less QCK. Additionally, this build tries to avoid the other major source of resets: missing Eliminates and being unable to recover safely enough to be worth it, which happens with Meditate. Anticipate is therefore the most suitable breath builder for this purpose, as it keeps a similar rhythm to Meditate builds, allows for recovery after misses, and doesn't mind the lost QCK. In fact, the lower QCK is more beneficial in order to waste fewer turns during the setup. It is more RNG reliant than Meditate, though unless your trainer dodges too much you should easily be getting hit enough within 2 Anticipates. From my experience, this build can very frequently go in one stretch until the fodder is level 6. That being said, Anticipate makes it hard to take on the bosses without crit luck, so I didn't optimize for boss fighting at all. Additionally, breath building can get difficult if you are training dragons to higher levels, as they start taking more hits. It's not recommended to use this build to level higher than usual. [u][b]The Build[/b][/u] [b]Element:[/b] Nature and Water are the best choices, as they have no weaknesses in the Ghostlight Ruins. Nature resists the Otherworldly Aura and Longneck Scholar, giving it the most overall defensive utility. Water resists the Aer Phantom, which is more likely to hit your trainer if encountered in a 4-pack due to its very high speed. Avoid using Earth, as it is weak to the Aer Phantom and the Longneck Scholar while having no useful resistances. [b]Stats (with stones)[/b] [u]STR 115[/u] - The magic number that allows you to Rally + Eliminate all normal enemies in the venue. [u]QCK 59[/u] - From my experience, the most suitable QCK tier for this build. It gives your trainer plenty of speed to knock out enemies like any other build, while leaving you with the perfect amount of turns to build breath without weird interruptions. [u]VIT 45[/u] - A whole load of VIT to soak more hits. [u]DEF 13[/u] - This is better for reducing the effective damage taken from melee hits than pure VIT investment. [u]MND 6[/u] - Leftover points. [u]NOTE[/u]: If you want to see the nitty-gritty numbers supporting 59 QCK, Sylvandyr came to the same conclusion I did but actually documented their findings [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/967048/62#post_46733367]in detail[/url]. [b]Stones[/b] [b]Core stones[/b] These stones form the core of the build. If you're familiar with fodder builds, this should all be straightforward to you. [item=anticipate] The breath-building cornerstone of the build. Important to note is that it generates 4 breath when used, in addition to the breath generated when the user gets hit. [item=rally][item=eliminate] The golden combo, present on most fodder builds known to man. Rally up and Eliminate away! Rally also serves as breath building filler, as it generates 5 breath. [item=shred] A replacement for Scratch, for when you get Contused. Rallied Shred + Rallied Eliminate will take out all enemies under Contuse. Using Sap for this fails to KO the Longneck Medium itself, plus some other enemies. [item=berserker] x3 [item=ambush] x2 The Berserker stones are required to be able to reach the stats shown above. The Ambush stones net you two free turns at the start of a battle, which are pivotal both for setting up and for blitzing through subsequent battles. [b]Setup stones[/b] These are stones that provide some sort of beneficial effect to the setup process. Pick one of them, as they are cheap stones that shouldn't break your bank. [item=bolster] This grants your trainer a flat 30 DEF (the amount of damage mitigated is the same regardless of DEF investment) and 5 breath. The 5 extra breath helps with getting enough for an Eliminate, and the DEF helps your trainer stay healthy during the setup. This is a consistent filler ability, suitable for those who are used to the consistency of Meditate and/or appreciate the extra bulk during setup. It's also potentially useful for recovery purposes, as 30 DEF and 5 breath are always appreciated. [item=guard] This will allow your trainer to take hits for one of the fodder dragons, greatly increasing the odds that they will get hit at least twice during the first Anticipate. The downside is that this isn't a 100% chance, making it less consistent than Bolster's 5 breath generation. It is also useless for recovery purposes if the fodder dragons are already down. Nonetheless, this is an option if you just want to get to Eliminating as fast as possible and you don't mind its inconsistency. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/W4rVbDo.png[/img][/center]

[center][u][b][size=4]How to use the Ruins Retainer[/size][/b][/u][/center] [b]Getting the Right Starting Pack[/b] A triple melee pack is the most consistent for setting up, and there are plenty in the Ruins. Mages may take several turns to even start attacking. Four-packs with three melee attackers work too, though you may end up taking more damage. [quote=Mages][gamedb monster=256] [gamedb monster=257] [gamedb monster=247]* [gamedb monster=246] [gamedb monster=252] [gamedb monster=253] [b]Only during NotN:[/b] [gamedb monster=297]* [gamedb monster=384]* *Contuse users.[/quote] [b]Setting Up[/b] The turn order is fairly consistent: [u]Round 1[/u] [list=1][*][b]Bolster / Guard[/b] - your filler of choice. [*][b]Rally[/b] - this adds 5 extra breath and sets up for your Eliminates. [*][b]Anticipate[/b] - time to get hit![/list] [u]Round 2[/u] If you lucked out and have enough breath for an Eliminate, you can start using it on the enemies. If you don't have enough breath for an Eliminate or want to build more breath, Anticipate again. [u]Round 3[/u] If you have enough breath now, which should be the case most of the time, Eliminate all enemies. If you still don't have enough, and you have two turns here, refresh Rally before Anticipating again. If you only have one turn, you'll have to refresh Rally during a later set of two turns. [b]Continuing on[/b] Finishing subsequent battles is as easy as it gets: Rally up and Eliminate all enemies. The enemy priority is also the same as any other fodder build: first kill the melee attackers, then the mages. Watch out for the Longneck Medium's Contuse, and prioritize faster enemies over slower ones. The NotN mages will also use Contuse, by the way. [u]TIP[/u]: Mages deal a lot of damage if they do get to attack, so if you have to pick between taking a melee hit or a magic attack that your trainer doesn't resist, take the melee hit. If you run out of breath to Eliminate, but your trainer is still healthy, you can choose to Anticipate until you have enough breath again. Any spare turns, or turns where the enemy will just Meditate, can be used to refresh Rally. As long as you're willing to soak up damage, you can easily hang on. That's it! There isn't much difference compared to the usual Ghostlight build aside from the setup method, so I'm keeping this section brief. [center][u][b][size=4]Credits[/size][/b][/u][/center] Thanks to [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=userpage&id=12049]Sylvandyr[/url] for giving me a whole lot of tips on how to improve this build after I initially posted the guide! They also gave me the correct math for DEF investment, and their [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/967048]Coliseum Skills and Enemy Stats / Dragon Stats Preview[/url] tools were a great overall help for making the build. Thanks to [url=https://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=userpage&id=110696]Salamanderpie[/url] for creating the [url=https://www1.flightrising.com/forums/gde/2157767]Ghostlight Anticitank[/url] build, which inspired me to experiment with Anticipate.

13/3/2021: Posted the improved version of the build, with a lot of thanks to Sylvandyr! Sorry for overthinking the build and posting a somewhat suboptimal guide T_T
If you have any more suggestions or want to point out a mistake, do feel free to! Extra pairs of eyes on the guide are helpful.

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@Halcandra

(Posting because this looks open, though please let me know if you need me to delete my posts for more reserves.)

I just stumbled on this while browsing the Guides forum and wanted to comment because I agree that 59 QCK is more appropriate for 2.0. I recently made a detailed turn order comparison summary for Anticipate here, and I have more information about turn orders for other builds here.

I also agree that mixing in some DEF with VIT is good, though I prefer 45 VIT and 13 DEF for a 59 QCK Anticipate setup. Currently, the strongest non-boss enemies are Carrioncorn, Nightmare, Pronghorn Hunter, and Pronghorn Stomper. They have 50 STR.

With 45 VIT and 13 DEF, you will have 870 Health remaining after 4 Scratches.
With 37 VIT and 28 DEF, you will only have 790 Health remaining after 4 Scratches.

Going too heavy on DEF also causes you to lose survivability against caster damage. Adding some DEF is good but 28 is actually too much if the goal is to survive more physical attacks. 45 VIT/13 DEF is better than the max VIT of 47 with 5 DEF, which only leaves 866 Health after 4 Scratches, though it's arguably an ok choice if you think you'll get hit by lots of caster bolts. I personally go for 45 VIT/13 DEF though since Anticipate focuses on taking physical damage on starter packs to build breath.

Thanks for making this guide!

[EDIT]: On a slightly different subject, I've also been doing speed tests; I need more runs (at least 100 pairs) to stabilize the average, but currently the 115 STR/59 QCK Anticipate build is a few seconds on average behind the 115 STR/65 QCK Meditate build on the higher levels. The numbers for the lower levels are close.

I will be updating my speed test comparisons once I'm satisfied with the number of trials and a stable average.

115 STR/65 QCK/39 VIT/8 DEF Meditate times
115 STR/59 QCK/45 VIT/13 DEF Anticipate times

[EDIT2]: Have you considered cutting out Haste from the rotation and using Shred in that spot? Shred helps to save a lot of Breath by making Shred + Eliminate an option in the freak chance that you get super unlucky and get Contused in non-starter rounds (due to misses). I've personally been running Bolster -> Rally -> Anticipate -> Anticipate (with adjustments when necessary).

@Sylvandyr Thanks a lot for the math, actually! Seems I actually completely messed it up somewhere along the way... though your tools were very helpful nonetheless. I'll try out your investment, maybe add it to the guide if that's ok by you? (with credit for being better at math than me haha)

@Halcandra You don't have to credit me for the math, but if you'd like to, that's totally fine too! So sorry, I edited my post again to ask you about Shred vs. Haste (please take a look)!

@Sylvandyr I put Sap in the guide for a similar purpose, though Shred does cost less breath, so it's probably better, yes.
Seeing how you did fine without Haste, I tried playing without it for a bit, and it works just the same. Seems I was overthinking it a lot! Thanks a lot for sharing your findings. At this point I may as well rewrite the "how to use" portion of the guide entirely.

@Halcandra Yup, I like Shred over Sap because it costs less breath, I use Shred instead of Sap on my Meditate trainer too. It also does more damage (which doesn't apply in the Anticipate case where it's not that efficient to fight the boss due to the difference in breath-building mechanics) - it makes a huge difference in KOing the boss for Meditate dragons. I don't fight bosses when I'm speeding through for conquests cause they're less experience per time spent, but I do when I'm just randomly training fodder on off-weeks.

Thanks again for making this guide! We really needed an updated QCK version for 2.0. The old high QCK version has really disruptive turn orders, like you mentioned.

Two more notes:

1) Without Haste, the Greybeak Reaper (43 QCK) packs will act like the other slower ones. (65 QCK is what starts making them mess up the turn order in the starting rounds for a Haste-less build; Haste makes the turn order in the Haste version weird by bumping up the QCK to 89.)

2) I prefer to Rally after Bolster to offer as much padding as possible, because if you can get bad RNG and lose turns, which leads to Rally falling off before you manage to KO the last enemy.