*taken from Reddit
Star Guardian Invasion: Onslaught Edition Guide
Hey Reddit, my group of friends have been playing the new game mode since it’s been released. We’ve been trying to figure out what comps work out the best, what rune pages / mastery pages work the best, and what your priority in each map should be. We’ve been spamming the Onslaught mode with our comp and getting S’s every game we play.
We got the highest possible rank being S+ and we thought we’d share our strategies with the community, considering how challenging the game mode has proven to be. The game mode is simple once you get the hang of it. You just need to understand each stage and how to avoid dying. Once you get familiar with the rounds, you’ll catch on to familiar timings and sequences that you can take advantage of. Using your cooldowns at the right time will help eliminate mobs and end rounds quicker those increasing your score and being one step closer to S+.
If you’re going for a clear the recommended composition is Syndra, Lux (built support), MF, Poppy, and Jinx.
If you’re going for a slightly more challenging but quicker clear with higher upside replace Poppy for Ezreal and dodge better.
Champion Tier List
S Tier:
Syndra – High burst on demand, long range stun, a hefty slow and all of her abilities (sans ult) are aoe, not much more you can ask for. Her stun may be the single best ability available to you in this mode.
Jinx – Incredible single target and aoe damage, a long range slow, and traps on a relatively low CD to negate Rek’sai, Kha’zix, Vel’koz and Kog’maw. Our “heavy hitter” for most compositions.
Lux – Possibly the most powerful champion currently available in the invasion game mode. Shield can apply ardent censer to your entire team on a very low CD, binding can lock down two priority targets on low CD, and she has an aoe slow and a high burst aoe ultimate. We picked Lux in every single composition.
A Tier:
Poppy – Able to prevent Rek’sai and Kha’zix from getting in on carries. Ult is useful for peeling off things like Empowered Cho’gath. Can also use w on the boss to block the charge.
Miss Fortune – AOE slow on demand and a very good ult when paired with a stun.
Ezreal – Able to dodge and get in on priority targets easily. Less damage than MF/Jinx. Lacks the AoE we were really looking for unless built AP, but at that point other mages did his job better.
B Tier:
Lulu, Janna, Soraka – Viable with a hyper carry such as Jinx but we’ve found that most supports while nice simply don’t do enough damage to justify a spot on the composition. Killing things faster will give you a better score and generally make the stages easier.
Ahri – The mobility is nice and all but charm is kind of unreliable due to the mass amounts of adds being spawned and her damage is just less than syndra’s.
Champion Builds
Supports: Ardent > Redemption > Athenes (for Lux we prioritized Ardent THEN Athenes as opposed to Redemption second.)
ADC: Guinsoo’s > BoRK > Wits End (This build path requires someone to have ardent censer)
Mages: Morello’s > Luden’s > Liandry’s (Most important thing is to cap cdr to spam out cc)
Tanks: Iceborn Gauntlet > Spirit Visage > Mercs > Sunfire/Deadman’s > Kindlegem (This build allows for 40% CDR on top of giving Poppy a lot more mana with Iceborn since she struggles to sustain)
Important Masteries
Dangerous Game – Will constantly proc off killing the enemy “champions”
Fervor of Battle – Pretty much stacked constantly
Battle Trance – Has synergy with other built items for AD / AP. Will sustain in combat since you will be attacking something throughout each round.
Expose Weakness – Allows for more efficient damage as a team. You won’t need Feast since sustain shouldn’t be hard to hold with Ardent Censers / supports keeping you alive.
(Example ADC Mastery Page. I typically used this for Jinx and could not think of anything better.)
(Example Support Mastery Page: Standard mastery page, should be focused more into sustain / utility rather than trying to do damage as a support.)
(Example AP Mastery Page: Thunderlord’s > Deathfire Touch)
Runes
AP Champions – Scaling AP Marks, Seals, & Glyphs, Movement Speed Quints
AD Champions – Scaling AD Marks, Seals & Glyphs, Movement Speed Quints
(For more survivability you can run Scaling Health Seals)
The initial starting level is 9 so scaling runes already gain equal efficiency as flat runes and scale better into the ending stages.
(Example ADC page: Scaling Attack Damage Marks, Scaling Health Seals, Attack Speed Glyphs, & Movement Speed Quints.)
(Example Support & AP Carry page: Scaling AP Marks, Scaling Health Seals, Scaling AP Glyphs & Movement Speed Quints.) Glyphs can be switched out for Scaling CDR runes as well.
Priority Items
Guinsoo’s Rageblade: Rageblade is an important first buy. It allows you to do heaps of damage due to the fact that you will always be hitting something. As you build BoTRK you’ll begin to shred big tanks and still have extreme burst for the squishy targets. Overall has good build synergy with Wit’s End as well.
Ardent Censer: Extremely efficient for your ADC’s. You can buy it on the first buy as a support and allow your team to gain on-hit healing, attack speed, and true damage on auto attack. The ADC will be doing an extra 30% damage at least if they can hold the Ardent Censer buff throughout the early stages.
Blade of the Ruined King: Blade of the Ruined King is extremely useful due to the passive and active. It allows you to gain sustain and will allow you to chunk the heavy tanks that become annoying throughout the stage. You can always activate Blade of the Ruined King and gain movement speed allowing you to get out of hectic situations.
Wit’s End: Another on-hit item that adds onto BoRK & Rageblade making it an overall efficient buy. Generally built last.
Morellonomicon: The enemies in Invasion are considered champions. Thus, getting a kill or assist will refresh your maximum mana by 20% allowing you to constantly spam your spells without a worry for your mana pool. CDR is also nice.
Enemy Priority
Vel’koz > Kog’maw > Skarner > Reksai > Kha’zix > Cho’gath
How to deal with certain enemies
Vel’koz : Focus quickly, stuns from champions like syndra/poppy will stop empowered laser channels. The projectile will split on hit so dodge or your teammates will die too. WATCH the maps for spawns, it is extremely important to make sure that Vel’koz does not survive for long because a clean run can turn into an utter slaughter if he’s left alone.
Kog’maw : Easier than vel’koz because they walk towards you. Watch for enrage text and kill/stun before they go off
Skarner : Fast switch of focus while the person being run after kites backwards. Squishiest of the melee so if you have competent dps they should die quickly.
Rek’sai : Most dangerous in groups, will knock up continuously if you put off dealing with them too long. Dodgeable if you really pay attention.
Kha’zix : More annoying than dangerous. If you’re grouped and use your cc well shouldn’t be too hard to kill. Will invis after jumping and using a Q; so the easiest time to kill him is while he’s running in.
Cho’gath : The large Cho will have a fixate mechanic that functions as an insta-kill if you get eaten; kite carefully. The smaller cho’s are easy to deal with if you don’t stand on top of them as that’s where the rupture pulses are.
Rift Herald “The Big One” : The most important ability to call out and dodge is the circle of projectiles. It’s easiest to stand behind pillars or walls but in a pinch you can stand in a line and have the person in front take a hit or two while everyone behind them is unscathed. The charge is pretty easy to dodge but in the case you don’t have the time it’s not the end of the world since the damage is pretty minimal. Always prioritize the add spawns that can’t be kited as it’s much easier to kill the boss when you’re not trying to dodge a million projectiles. When the herald drops to ~25% you can make the call to ignore the adds and burn down the boss.
Spells
Very important to keep in mind is that you’re going to be surrounded by enemies the majority of the time. Especially the phases where the Vel’koz’s are going to be bombarding you with their “Q’s”, Ghost and Flash are crucial. They’re going to keep you alive and you’ll be able to kite and dodge in situations where you should die. When it comes to the rest of the spells, Heal is probably going to be your best bet, it will save your life and give you the crucial move speed to back away from danger. We’d recommend not using barrier, solely because Heal will additionally help your teammates. It is worthy to note your summoner spells reset after each round.
Mission Comps (These worked for us, but feel free to try what you think may work)
No Utility: Syndra, Lux (Support), Miss Fortune, Ezreal, Jinx
No ADC: Syndra, Lux (Mage), Poppy, Soraka, Ahri (ADC)
No Mage: Lulu (Support), Ezreal, Janna, Jinx, Poppy
Things to consider
-Very important to have Syndra stun and a follow up AOE ult (mf/lux) for certain mass spawn phases. If timed well can save a lot of hassle and time.
-You can be much more liberal with summoner spells as they reset every round.
-Try to plan out purchases a round in advance.
-You want to prioritize cdr on champions that rely heavily on abilities (supports/mages).
-On the traveling maps you can end the phase early by flashing or running out of the circle to the checkpoint when it spawns.
-Try to revive your teammates if they go down (but don’t die for it)
– If you’re going for the S you can “reset” stages you want to retry by simply dying and trying again.
– The mode is much easier in a pre-made over voice comms. Thinking of it as an MMO raid of sorts; doing things like calling out targets, asking for help, vocalizing enemy abilities, etc. will help you clear much easier.
– The map HAS to be watched at all times so you know how to react to certain spawns.
– It’s generally nice to stick together except on “vel’koz phases” where splitting up and killing as many as quickly as possible is the best option.
– Time is an important factor: The less time taken to clear a stage = more bonus points = higher grade for that specific stage.
– Dying hurts your score. If you die once you pretty much will not get an S for that stage. It depends on the stage though but in most cases dying is something you should avoid at all costs.
– The amount of mobs cleared also will give you more points for that specific stage. This is only relevant on the gauntlet stages where you are progressing to the end through the waves of mobs.
If you have any more questions feel free to hit us up on Reddit or in-game.
Summoners: Doesnt(Barcode), Okej, Porchagirl, Useum, Vialli
