MSL – Building a Strong League Defense Team

Monster Super League Defense Team

Monster Super League has a PVP side to it. Namely, Leagues. While there are variations to this mode, the basic concept and foundations are practically the same.

You have a number of Astromons that the AI will control and it needs to either “wipe out” your opponent or “time out” to end it in a draw.

If your defense team beats someone, you will gain some points for the overall weekly rankings, while if you loose you will lose some points. Drawing will not incur any gain or losses.

This is my current team I use for Leagues. While It is not my ideal build, I am working closely in getting all the ideal Astromons I would like to use.

While their gems currently are not an idea gem sets, they are still very well gemmed making them not just very tanky but an annoying combination of Astromons to defeat.

My Evo2 Water Nightmare has been one of my weakest link so far, I am working towards replacing her. Hopefully soon, once I have my Wood Poseidon, I would switch nightmare for him and possibility Dark Cupid with Water Persephone or maybe a Water Boltwing/Water Wildfang.

This is the few team combination I have brainstormed that I believe is one of the best Defenser Team around.

Ideal Set
	Fire	Water	Wood	Light	Dark
Astromon	Artemis	Persephone	Poseidon	Leviathan	Artemis
Gem Set	HP Regen	Puglist	HP Regen	Puglist	Puglist
Passive	Stun 95%	HP Heal	F Taunt	A Battle Rush	A Battle Rush
Active	F Taunt	Pet	Stun 80%	Sap (3/2)	Res Down
Variant	Ally Res	Crit	HP	E Res Down	Ally Res
Main Stat	Tank	Tank	Defender	Tank	Defender
Gem Set	HP HP DEF	HP HP HP	DEF DEF HP	HP HP HP	DEF DEF DEF

Pure Stun
	Fire	Water	Wood	Dark	Dark
Astromon	Valkyrie	Griffin	Poseidon	Balrona	Merlin
Gem Set	HP Regen	HP Regen	HP Regen	Puglist	HP Regen
Passive	Moral Boost	B Taunt	F Taunt	A Morale Boost	SP Siphon
Active	90% Stun	HP Aggress	Stun 80%	10% P Max	Stun
Variant	ATK	ATK	HP	ATK	E Res
Main Stat	Balance	Tank	Defender	Tank	Tank
Gem Set	HP HP DEF	HP HP HP	DEF DEF HP	HP HP HP	HP HP HP

How did you come up with this team?

Remember, as a defense squad, you are always second to go.

You could of lost half your team before you even get a turn, or you may never survive to use your Active up to burst down.

The idea is to pressure the challenger to counter each of your Astromons instead of focus nuking each one down.

The best crowd controllers are Shockers, Stunners & Seal.

For gemsets, you are able to get Pugilist gems from Dragon Tower and HP Regen by Colossal Golems.

Shock

While Shock being the absolute beast, as it is a mixture of Def Down & Stun all built into one. One of the biggest limitations for Shock is that only Light Astromons has access to this ability. The real downside is that most Astromon comes with very low Shock Rates even with skill books. With the 2 100% Shockers, Arthur & Valk both being either Attacker & Balance, making them easy targets during Round 1. While there is nothing wrong with a Balance Astromon and can still considered very good to build, due to not having a primary stat, it can be much easier burst down than a primary Tank or Defender. This is why shockers are not a popular choice despite how strong they are. Instead, mid-tier teams would like to use Light Yuki as a hidden, hoping it can catch a few people off guard. However, this strategy does not work if you are expecting a Yuki or a nuke for a hidden.

Seal

Where as Seal may not seem dangerous, but in a game like MSL, majority of all Astromons are heavily resilient on their passives & actives. Taking them away, strips them from their abilities to perform completely. Unlike Silence, you are effectively wasting their Active. Further included in the April 2021 update, Seal now has a chance to seal Ascension Skills aswell. This makes Seal alot stronger than before. Popular Astromons such as Dark Loki, Water Nightmare has always been a popular choice for Seal users.

Stun

Stun is another popular choice as it completely puts them out of combat for x amount of time. You are able to find stunners everywhere, & even on the Puglist Gem set. Stun & Shock both Stack together, they won’t override each other unlike the Shields Absorbs.

While I would not recommend going out your way getting a 100% stunner, I rather have my Shockers & Sealers using Puglist Set.

Resistance Down

While Resistance Down are not a complete must, they do really help when facing teams with much higher resistance than burst attackers. However, due to this, they are usually always the main to secondary focus, only after taunters.

Fearless Taunts

Fearless Taunters, one simply cannot get anymore annoying than this. While it’s true, you do not stop them from attacking like Shock or Stun, you do stop them from attacking anyone else but you, in addition, you get a Def Up Buff or Damage Reduction Buff making you a very tanky towards everyone else. If you are very tanky (in both HP & Def), you will have no issues surviving for a long time if they do not burst you down during your def up/dmg reduction downtimes. If you pair this with a Water Persephone or using HP Regen Gem Set, unless you are burst down, you will be a very difficult opponent to face, due to regenerating more HP than you received each turn.

Barbed Taunts

Similar to Fearless Taunt skill, Barb Taunts does not give you the Def Up Buff, but instead, a Reflect Damage buff. This buff cannot kill the attacker however it can reduce their HP to 1 HP. While Barb Taunters are not as favored as fearless, they can be a very dangerous opponent towards any squishy attackers such as Dark Mona. One of the best Barb Taunters in game is Water Griffin, paired with her HP Aggressor active and being a Tank as a primary stat, she is a dangerous opponent to fight any day of the week.