S-Rank
Teams:
Naruto, Kankuro, Kiba
Lee S, Chiyo, Kakashi S
Oro, Sasori, Kankuro
Gai S, KBD, Sakura S
KBD, Neji, Anko
Stun:
Kyuubi, Shizune, Tsunade
Noob: Tenten, Shika, Haku
Noob: Gaara Rehab, Tenten, Tayuya
Oro S, Kisame, (Sai or Kurenai)
Ino + Sakura (Gaara, Yamato, Kido) AOE: Deidara, Kankuro, IBD Deidara, Nidaime, Jaraiya Deidara, IBD, Kankuro IBD, Kankuro, Kiba 4Tails, Oro S, Jaraiya Jaraiya, Kimimaro, TenTen (S) Drain: Gaara, Shino, Yoroi Hinata, Shino, Jirobou Neji S, Kin, Anko Counter: Kakashi, Lee (s), Zaku Deidara, Gai, IBD Kurenai, Gai,
A-Rank
Shizune + Anko with (Sakura S or Sakon or Itachi or Sasori)
Kyuubi, Shizune, (Sakura (S) or Kimimaro)
Jaraiya, Tsunade, (Kimimaro or Sasori)
Dosu, Kankuro, (Haku, Sasuke)
Zabuza, Naruto S, CCS
Kurenai, Gai, (Kakashi or Kisame)
Kankuro + Dosu with Hinata or Kimimaro
Zabuza, Zaku, (Kankuro or hinata)
Affliction as we all know it is that annoying damage dealt turn after turn regardless or your attempts to block, counter, or heal away. Attrition is damage or health that piles up making the fight an uphill battle for your opponent. Winning an attrition fight is simply a matter of holding up your defenses while your opponent slowly loses their characters. This can feel like a slow way to win, but its an inevitable victory against many teams that rely on destructible defense, drainage, and self damaging spiking.
The first rule when using an Affliction team is to identify your opponents nuking character. What often beats affliction teams is hardcore spiking, to offset this and turn the tables look for characters that aid you in your slow killing pursuit. Aim for fighters such as: Kyuubi, Kimimaru, CSS, Lee, Gai, Gai(S), or support characters on an Orochimaru team that will be bitten. But remember if they have shizune you might just need to take out this problem first. Sakura(S) is also a major issue, but a little more controllable since she requires the specific chakra to heal off affliction.
Remember to stick to one target at a time. Don't spread affliction out since you want to cut down on your opponents attack power asap. What makes most affliction teams win or lose is decided in the first 2 rounds. If you can solidify damage and prevent a kill chances are you'll win the match. The deadliest thing about most affliction characters is they absolutely own in 1v1 combat. As long as you keep draining your opponents life away winning because an easy goal. Now lets get to the life drainers....
Itachi + Sandaime: The nin affliction gods smile upon these damage power houses. Both bring great affliction moves to the table along with the second necessity of most affliction teams, survivablility. Itachi can sit easy for two turns with his Mangekyou while damage ticks away and then stun an opponent for 3 turns while even more health is siphoned from their lifeless body. Sandaime offers the strongest affliction move in the game and he is both an affliction and attrition god. He can keep your whole team going for two turns without fear of being spiked to death and can kamikaze any opponent's character into the KO house breaking many a strategy.
Anko + Shizune: Easily the best support affliction characters in the game mostly because they're the only ones. Anko will boost the power of your turn by turn affliction damage making it feel like a mighty blow every turn, while shizune offers an efficient poison that cumulates into 30 damage for a single nin. Anko will be leave them defenseless while crippling their attacks and Shizune can aid your downtrotten comrades with more life health.
Sakon + Kankuro: If you want some damage over time combined with formidable spiking to take a fast lead these are the gents you will turn to. Kankuro offers the only AOE affliction move in the game. 90 damage for two random(and a little prep) is still unprecendented in N/A and gives Kankuro an added utility on any affliction team. Both Sakon and Kankuro offer 40+ damage attacks to finish off those fighters suffering from the last effects of poison. Of course Sakon has the best tanking/affliction moves in the game and coupled with his regeneration ability he can take out just about anyone in a 1v1 situation...as Kankuro can to a lesser degree.
Shikamaru + Kyyubi: Perhaps not the best representation of affliction damage on the block, but regardless they do each offer what it takes for a successful affliction team victory. Shikamaru can hold a team down for two turns while lifes slowly passes through them. Added with his own unique gen affliction he fills into a few teams quite nicely. Kyuubi while having a much weaker form blood affliction than sakon, has the ability to stun afflicted opponents and add on to their already depleted health pool. His healing powers are also a plus since attrition is all about recovery outlasting your opponent.
Sasori
He's a double-edged sword that's for sure. While all of his afflictions lasts until the end of the game it's very difficult to get him to land until his neccessary category. The easiest way to do this is pairing him up with his ex-Akatsuki partner Orochimaru and putting him in phase 2 right away. His affliction is strongest in phase 2 since he can do 40 damage for two random along with a very strong AOE affliction. He'll usually be left alone by your opponents though, until the end of game at least. He has some great affliction, but he doesn't really shine unless you pair him up with some an attrition based team.
Invis/Counter teams probably incorporate the most luck and skill than any other type of team in N/A. The strategy behind them is simple, but it’s much harder to pull off and recognize when to run with it. What’s probably the greatest bane of most invisible teams is that it’s near impossible to tell if you opponent fell for your trap or not.
For instance say you use Zaku’s Wall of Air on Kabuto. On your opponents turn they decide to Zabuza’s homicide technique on Kabuto. This attack is of course negated, but without a debuff to Zabuza how is it possible to know if your opponent failed an attack or is just conserving chakra?
The answer may only come certain to those hardened veterans of the game. Without knowing every team strat, every fighters moves, and every way to counter those attacks there isn’t much hope in using a counter team successfully. Now most counter teams aren’t “pure” meaning having 3 fighters that each carry an invis or counter ability in fact I can think of more than one that have at least a 40% success rate. Most invis/counter teams rely on supporting a key character or outlasting your opponent. Now that we’ve discussed some of the more general angles of the team let’s talk about the fighters.
Zaku + Iruka + Tenten(S)- The invisible negates. These characters should be able to support any wrecking crew of a character that you have. With low cool down support for very efficient chakra they will always make your opponent second guess throwing away any non-affliction attack. Zaku works preferably with most AOE big shots like Jiraiya and Deidara, while Iruka tends to do a bit better with melee counterparts. Tenten also works well with AOErs but is a good fit on many counter teams since hers is only a random cost.
*Sidenote:::: Even defenseless characters benefit fully from Iruka’s Shield Ally.*
Kakashi + Naruto(S) + Itachi BD- The 1v1 masters. Your opponent will always look for something else to attack when you have these offense powerhouses in your roster. While they can be quite damaging they will usually go ignored at least until you choose to make an attack with one of them. Risk far outweighs reward when starring down the counter active moves these fighters each possess. Kakashi is a work of art. Learn all the unique skills in the game and then just sit back as the nin piles up to finish off your opponents lineup turn by turn.Narut(S) is the golden child of negation because he’ll get through any move unscratched with his Mass Shadow Clones. Itachi BD doesn't work as well as Kakashi for reflecting attacks, but he also offers a complete counter for a very cheap 1 gen. He'll back up just about any team with a very pesky defense.
Kurenai + Gai- The best offensive stopping counters on the block. These fighters are the most useful for protecting an ally and making your opponent pay for it in the end. Kurenai will stun anyone that attacks a marked target for 3 turns while Gai will pick his own enemy target to counter if they feel the need to atttack.
Lee(S) + Kakashi(S)- Perhaps two of the best support characters in the game currently and a lovely addition to any counter/invis team. With a single tai you can go offensive for a reasonable cost or defensive for a very reasonable cost. What he lacks in complete countering ability though he makes up for in Healing and support. You can easily counter - heal - counter and keep your team going long enough to outlast your opponent or simply build up enough chakra to devastate them in one turn. Kakashi offers team protection as well in the form of stun resistence. He can copy abilities as well, but that varies between battles and who your opponents are. His stun counter is where he'll shine the most
Something worth mentioning about invis skills that prove to be what makes them the hardest to gauge is chakra counting. Without attacking an invis teams entire roster every round it’s impossible to know what their chakra count is or when would be the best time to attack. There’s a lot of power in tilt to be had when using these types of teams and once your opponent is on the edge it becomes exceedingly easy to knock them off. One last thing to remember with countering is that it works incredibly well against damage over time attacks (I.E. Double Headed Wolf, Kyuubi Chakra, Flying Swallow)
Finally not mentioned in the list but deserving of at least some mention are Zabuza, Kidoumaru, Tsunade, and Kabuto.
The basis of any AOE team is to make an efficient use of chakra to outdamage your opponent into submission. Every AOE team relies on a couple things:
1. A full roster(so chakra may be utilized)
2. An absence of damage reduction/invunerable abilities for their enemies
3. Usually an effective setup for eliminiting the opponents first character
When you start fighting with an AOE team you need to eliminate your teams greatest threat and fast. The whole key to your team is overwhelming force, but if one of your characters gets locked down or the enemy team braces for impact it may become exceedingly difficult to pull off any strategy.
There's a mix of AOE attackers who can also stun/drain/buff/debuff/defend effectively. Let's talk about the AOEers for a sec
Kimimaru + Deidara:
Mass Destruction for little backlash. Both have great utility, utilizing high damage moves for extremely low amounts of chakra. Together it is very tough for an opponent to make a call on which to take down first. Since Deidara has the staying power to finish up any teams he might be considered a priority target, while Kimimaru can do unmatched damage for a single blood specific chakra. He isn't the cleanup guy Deidara is, but if the opponent goes for quick damage/stuns on Kimimaru he might wind up taking himself out before he gets a chance to make an impact.
Temari + Tenten + Tenten(S) + Itachi BD:
Argueably the best AOE defenders on the block. These girls and guy will give you just a bit more than your average bang for your buck with ranged AOE attacks, but can also call some unwanted attention towards them since they give your whole team staying power. To delay the match and give you enough chakra to smoke your opponent in 1 turn, these are the fighters to turn to. Tenten lacks the most versitiliy out of all of the fighters but makes up for it with a AOE stun. Her downfall is she can't single target unlike the other three counterparts. Temari will give you a nice wall for herself or her entire team and Tenten(S) will always have your opponent guessin. Finger jutsu is a great stall tactic to build up chakra as well.
Zaku+Jiraiya+Nidaime
Amazing power with efficient chakra. These characters will give you a very high output with no drawback and best yet an easy to come by amount of chakra. Jiraiya can boost you AOEs to near devastating potential. Zaku and Jiraiya can help your team thrive against the harshest of spikers. Zaku and Nidaime also offer small concentrated attacks to help you focus damage on more imminent threats. Jiraiya is a force to be feared withhis low cost AOEs and anytime Zaku is at his side your enemy has a right to feel itimidated since their is almost no clash. Nidaime will give you amazing defensive abilites against many specific team setups. He's a great tool in any AOE team.
Shigure
Fits on any AOE team. You might not get utility from him or much bang for your buck, but you can always rely on a steady stream of damage from this fighter since he'll never clash with your chakra pool.
Rules to live by for AOE teams:(These apply most of the time)
Damage first-Before people can take the time to prepare a defense/counter hit em hard and fast
Keep chakra balanced- When you pay for randoms it may be smart to hang on to as many types of chakra as possible, since you never know which AOE might be wiped out by your opponent next turn. This ensures you have some attack to use every turn and keep the pressure on.
You have two turns before one of your characters gets killed….and you don’t know which one. What do you do? This is usually the scenario everyone faces when confronted with spiker teams. But first I’d like to help us all come to identify what it means to be a spiker, to be spiked, and to spike someone else. Spiking has garnered a lot of definitions since its inception here on N/A. Some things people think about when they hear spiking…
-Instant kill
-50+ damage attacks
-One turn KO, losing 100hp in one turn.
-High damage for very little chakra or some drawback
To be perfectly blunt “spiking” is all these things. Though the character may be different the purpose is the same. Kill something very fast and efficiently. Pure spiker teams can be very rare since most spike combos are set up between two characters, but they do still exist nonetheless. The characters listed in this section of the guide will have some definition of “spiking” applied to them and I’ll do my best in making that point come across to the reader. Without further ado let’s discuss the spikers.
Kakashi + Gaara- Yes, the instant killers are back. Why? Because any move that guarantees a kill in one turn deserves the title of “spiked”. Gaara might be an odd ball in this category, but we’ve all learned long and hard as it was the power this sand demon has just under his feet. Kakashi while having an instant kill ability is really a spiker by many definitions of the word. His Rakiri is the highest no prepped two chakra cost ability in the game to date.
Kankuro + Sasuke-60+ damage for three chakra who could be happier? Whether these gents start the party or come late they’ll leave your opponent on the edge of their seat praying you don’t expend all you chakra in one place. Kankuro offers a very nice stun buff along with the best AOE affliction has to offer, while Sasuke will keep the high damage flowing at a considerably lower cost. Sasuke will clean up his own victims, but when it comes to Kankuro it’s hard to argue with random chakra.
Lee + Gai + Gai(S)- The tai spikers through and through. Each brings something to the table others don’t at either a lower cost or less severe drawback. Lee takes spiking to another level. For a one tai prep your opponent is forced into submission either by sacrificing a fighter to Lee’s onslaught or by defending with a full roster for one round. Gai while not having the 1 turn KO potential Lee possesses can similarly gate into a tai damaging frenzy. 60 piercing damage is something that’s very rare in the game and being able to produce that result two turns in a row is even more amazingly. Both Lee and Gai have staying power due to their alternate Tai moves, just make sure that if you gate you can deliver at least one blow with them. The final Gai(S) holds his own defensively but is a little more unique in that his invulnerable lasts a whole 3 rounds. In gated form he can deal 90 damage over three rounds or 75 piercing each round(if that chakra draw is even possible O.o) He has amazingly damage potential, but this can sometimes be underrated because of the high amount of tai consumed.
Deidara, Kyuubi, Kimimaru- Deidara will blow any team away….literally. One turn is all you need with this spiker and can easily spell a 135 damage doom for your opponent. Easily the best AOE and highest cumulative damage spike move in the game. Kyuubi and Kimimaru also offer very effective/damaging AOE, but their main spiking power comes in the form of a 40 damage stun that keeps your spiking target right where it needs to be for a finishing blow the following turn.
Choji + Zabuza + Naruto(S)- Invulnerability and spiking are like oil and water, but in this case they blend beautifully. Each fighter has their own way of prepping for major damage but all have extra power in their ability to use invulnerability as an advantage rather than a weakness. Choji obviously has his 5 round invulnerable combo and can have the strongest single tai or blood costing move in the game after a couple meager pills. Zabuza has a knack for having an ability to use against any team. He'll protect you against ranged blows, give you a turn to build up the right chakra or blow through enemy defenses. Naruto(S) is probably feared the most by anyone who’s dropped to 40hp. His prep will make his Rasengan feel like a freight train when 40 piercing damage slams right through that invulnerability an opponent hoped you’d forget.
Baki + Kidoumaru +Kakashi(S)- Besides all being ranged each of them offers a different type of spiking for a pretty efficient two chakra cost. Baki offers a very nice 40 piercing damage to any target which makes him ideal for finishing the job of any initial spike attack after reductions are provided. Kidoumaru gives a flat 50 damage to one opponent, a classic spiker move in every respect. Kakashi offers the middle ground of a 45 damage finisher, but it's a very well rounded move since it requires the most underused chakra and cannot be countered.
Not mentioned in this part of the guide are Orochimaru and Itachi. While they have abilities that classify them as spikers they work better in other previously and forthcoming teams. I will say there is an exception with these fighters since they both have great utility and can be added with some other pairs of spikers to make a lethal combination. But as stated their primary roles outshine them as spikers and thus won’t be explained out here.
Drainers or chakra stunners as they can be properly referred to(not all fighters “drain” chakra) are a hellish nightmare for just about any non-spiker team to overcome. The strategy for these guys is pretty simple and victory is usually ensured before killing any of your opponents fighters, that’s what makes this type of team so deadly. A proper chakra stunning team will set itself up over the course of 1-2 rounds to then work like a well oiled machine keeping their opponents fighters from receiving enough chakra to perform any game changing jutsu.
Most drainers unfortunately can’t stand up to the fury that are spikers. It is there one weakness and unless a proper chakra stun can be set up for 3+ turns without prep chances are you just might lose one of your precious teammates. No teams in N/A fall apart as fast as drainers, that’s why it’s partially my belief every drain team should have some form or other of defense, other than the normal invulnerable of course.
The character section about to be discussed includes both drainers and chakra stunners used to ensure opponents get little to no chakra every turn.
Shino + Yoroi: The prep drainers. These fighters will take a turn to turn up the heat but once it’s on it’ll be near impossible for your opponent to ignore these low damage fighters. Shino does outweigh Yoroi in overall utility because of his defensive ability, just be careful if you’re up against a team with Shizune. Mark her first otherwise you might be missing that female bug you just planted. Yoroi doesn’t project the target of his chakra steals quite as loud as Shino, but unless your opponent can wall this isn’t really a problem anyway. Try not to let Yoroi’s prep run out. If it’s the last turn, prep him again before stealing more chakra.
Neji + Jiroubou- The dreaded drains over time. Neji gives his team a huge advantage after landing his 8 trigram 64 palms, while Jiroubou sets up a good turn or two of defense, perfect for prep or chakra collection for his allies. Neji can give you just enough edge offensively on most drainer teams to take out an opponent in a short 2-3 turns. His trigrams also ensures you have a way of destroying chakra that can’t be blocked off. Jiroubou’s DCoN in retrospect is an easy to use 1 chakra cost wall. If you can make sure it stays up for the full three turns you’ll definitely be prepped and have a large enough stockpile of chakra to blow down your opponents in a few turns.
Tayuya + Asuma + Hinata- The prep AOE/chakra stunners. With just a single turn of prep these characters will terrify your opponent into striking a defensive pose for at least one round. Hinata and Asuma completely annihilate opponents chakra while Tayuya steals a small amount and puts it to good use. Because of their non chakra abilities though these fighters are a great way to give your team a little extra support defensively. Tayuya provides you with a one turn AOE stun that proves very useful when needing that extra turn of prep/cool down time. Asuma can easily go invulnerable with an ally for 3 rounds when chakra holds strong. I‘ll also take the time to say his 25% reduction for 2 rounds aint too bad either. And of course Hinata can effectively shield the team while busting out damage for a very cheap nin/ran.
Orochimaru + Kabuto + Kin- You want to destroy your opponents chakra and you want to do it now. Any of these fighters will happily fill the role. Kin will give your team added utility when needed since she can stun/damage/eliminate defense/boost attacks, all along with sealing chakra. Kabuto is the most efficient of the bunch since he can dish damage and destroy chakra for an incredibly low 1 nin a round. His defense negation is also a popular move against highly defensive teams. Orochimaru though is a chakra stunning powerhouse. His sword of Kusanagi will remove 1 chakra for a very nice 35 damage and his summon is the strongest offensively in the game. It may be costly but knowing your opponent doesn’t receive chakra for one whole turn is something that’s very hard to pass up. Aside from his offensive capabilities he can be a strong support character since he’s the only fighter in the game that can generate extra chakra. Just be sure you have this ability paired with a tank or fighter with health regen.
Neji Hyuuga(S) + Kisame- At first glance this reworked jounin doesn't seem too impressive, but under closer evaluation he destroys the two most used chakra in the game while doin a moderate amount of damage. Other than Asuma and Hinata who require preps to destroy chakra and dish out damage Neji(S) can lock away the specific chakra you fear your opponent of drawing put the pressure on damage wise, thus allowing you to become more dangerous. He's also a pleasent way to counter CSS teams as well as other drain teams. Kisame can keep your opponent's most dangerous character pinned for minimal chakra while you siphon away their chakra. His stealing ability makes for a great way to nab some extra chakra next turn, but it's tough to pull it off for the full duration. He's a little below average for draining, but as far as efficientcy goes he can't be beat.
That will do it for the drainers/chakra stunners. The one you may have noticed not included is Dosu. While this characters has the ability to drain/chakra stun it’s my sincere opinion that he has no right on the “pure” chakra draining teams. I’ve used/seen him on plenty of hybrids, but needless to say he can not live up to the expected roles on a full drainer team.
The AOE Stun team can be a tricky one to read on either side of the battlefield. When it requires is proper preparation and a little bit of luck. Once this team begins a fight it will surely come to finish it as well. There are two keys to this team and it can ensure success those are preparation and proper rotation.
Let's take a look at some of our AOE stunners...
Tenten: The queen of the AOE stunners. Prep her first and fast to buy yourself precious time and chakra for the rest of your AOE's. Tenten's stun is of the lowest cost and has the lowest cooldown out of any of your fighters. She's usually the footing of any strong AOE stun team.
Haku + Shikmaru: What Shikmaru and Haku lack in efficientcy they make up for in long term stuns. Both have 2 two stuns that will keep any team in its place for as long as it needs to be. Shika offers an easy prep, but at the cost of no real AOE damage potentail. Haku has the potential AOE with the best of them, but at a higher cost than most. Just don't forget each has their own utility. Shika can poke holes in defenses to give that full team stun when needed and Haku can always pin down a major threat for 2 turns if chakra isn't on your side.
Tayuya or Oboro: AOE stuns with just a hint of tanking. When your stun teams start to fall apart you'll probably be left with one of these two fighters. Not because there stuns aren't lethal, but probably because they give up some damage for the ability to take some of their own. Tayuya will give your team a little chakra if you're not building up the right amount on your own, while Oboro can pull off an amazing 2 turn team stun for 40 damage given the right prep.
Rehab Gaara + Zabuza: These are stuns that tell your opponent its do or die time for their team. Both characters carry single turn AOE stuns with high cooldowns but the after effects of either are often too steep for any team to recover from. These are the stuns that should be saved until you're positive you have at least one enemy target who you can finish off. Although in some cases these stuns are simply precursors to many more to come, they hold a damaging impact nonetheless.
Remember when playing AOE stun your opponent will try to either block out of your chain of stuns or spike one of your characters fast. To counter such strategy make sure when you start your stun chain you get any enemy stunners first. If they choose to invunerable with a character that can't spike your characters in a turn or stun you out of your chain start your strategy right away. It's also okay to use your invunerability early if it's to protect a character from being spiked. Remember that once you get your opponent in the chain they probably won't get out and your cooldown will be up again by then. Don't risk having someone killed to save 1 extra chakra.
Single Stunners are the bane of just about every N/A team from the very start you have almost no chance of protecting your team as a whole. What makes single stunners so effective is that they....
-interrupt prepartion
-interrupt damage over time
-keep spiking to a minimum
Most single stunners focus on one target and damage/stun them until they're KO'ed. There are however few exceptions of these types of teams that work similar to those on AOE stun. In short they will save up just enough chakra to lock the opponents team down for 2-3 turns and then worry about who to take down. Most single stun teams best weakness is simply....another stunner. Priority targets for stunners are typically....prep->stunner->drainer->spiker. What makes stunning a prepped character so importent is that they usually rely on their prep to do any sort of offensive ability. If they are stunned this of course becomes a nonissue and you now only have to deal with two other fighters. But let's start talking about our single stunners.
Sakura + Kisame + Shodai + Kisame(S)- Sakura is usally the backbone to any stun team. Not just because she has the most efficient stun in the game but mainly because of her anti-stun and healing abilities. For low amounts of chakra she can keep an opponent down and allies up. Kisame is more of an offensive type of stunner. He can match sakura's efficientcy blow for blow but when it comes to actual blows he'll kick your damage output with the same low cost. Shodai also has a single chakra stun with a very lethal follow up attack. His defensive barrier makes him ideal for AOE damage and wrecking a single target if blood holds.
Ino + Kurenai + Oboro- Ino is perfect for keeping your priority stunned and damaging the rest of your opponents team. Her piercing damage is just icing on an already delicious cake. Kurenai is a conditional stunner, but since she has two ways to implement immobilizing your opponent I decided to keep her in here. Just AOE with her early and watch the damage stack up. Oboro like Kisame works to drive your stunned target into the ground. His damage goes hand in hand with his stun. His AOE stun takes some prep and shouldn't really be used unless you get an extremely weird 2-3 gen chakra draw.
Kakashi + Gaara of the Desert- The dreaded instant killers. These fighters are infamous for making opponents cry "you just got lucky with chakra". Both have great survivability because of their one chakra defensive abilities and tend to last long enough to pull off the 1 turn K.O. at least once. Gaara, while having instant kill is usually used just to stall an opponents fighter for 2+ turns( a very efficient move if you can prevent it being interrupted)
Kyuubi + Tsunade + Kimimaru- The fully offensive stunners. All these fighters tell your opponent one thing, "that character is down and isn't getting back up". The high damage stuns of these three make them without a doubt the best way to breed spike and stun. Because of their damage outputs they suffer a bit from inefficientcy such as cooldowns and higher chakra costs. Tsunade is by far the best support single stunner.
Chiyo- If your single stun team is ALL about messing up your opponents strategy there's no better character than Chiyo. She possesses the only single stun to go through invunerability not to mention it being on a completely random chakra basis. Two firsts for the N/A world. Although her stun has a short cooldown, it's unique enough to garner her many a spot on stunner teams. Her support with Ally Puppetry also contributes in keeping up your teammates while dishing out just a little more damage.
Stunners worth recognition, but absent from the "pure" stun team roster: (This isn't to say they can't be used effectively with the stunners listed, but lack in some way or another what it takes to be on a purely single stun team.)
-Sandaime (can't use this stun more than once, obviously)
-Itachi (Prepped stun, inefficient)
-Naruto (Prepped stun, although he does argueably work very well when paired with a couple other pure stunners)
-Naruto(S) (Prepped stun, inefficient)
-Haku (A very good nin stun, can be apart of many pure stun teams)
-Kin (Prepped stun)
-Demon Brothers (prepped stun)
The golden wall team of the old engine is now a memory of a broken shell. Most wall and reducer teams work similiarly as attrition teams. They rely on outlasting initial onslaught and prevailing as your prolong the game. Pure wall and reducer teams are hard to use and not very effective, but the strategy behind this type of team is at least worth discussing. First off let's talk about walls. These use to be common place in the old engine. Impossible to penerate lines of defense used to keep enemies at bay until you could muster enough force to eliminate that opponent piece by piece. Nowadays they are a much rarer move that very few come to posses as countering has become the new specific defensive technique. Reducers have also come about as a new less effective form of walling. While they usually benefit with other effects from their reducing abilities they can't offer a "perfect" defense against any team. The point of reducing is to outlast your opponent's offense long enough to crush them a piece at a time.
Here's some of the proud defenders that can be categorized as vigiliant guardians:
Temari+Shino- The absolute pefect defenses. If you need your team invunerable for a turn to stop that dreaded spike or give yourself another turn to build up the proper chakra look no further then these fighters. Shino of course offers a 2 turn shield for your team and offers a great draining utility to gimp your opponents offense into a stronger submission. Temari has a solid footing to hit as hard as she blocks and can devastate a team in 4 short turns.
Jiraiya + Hinata- While their defenses aren't perfect they are still extremely effective for breaking any non piericing 100 damage combos that many teams rely on. Jiraiya will give your AOE teams a boost and tends to shift balance of the game in your favor quite fast. Although hinata needs a prep to protect her team, the 50% reduction she offers is unmatched and contorts any attack into a minor nuissance as long as nin stays with you each turn.
Asuma + Shodia - Damage Reduction AOE style. These guys know what it takes to reduce damage. Each's own brand of team protection is unique, but both offer a nice dose of AOE damage and other defensive utility. For three turns these gentlemen are any teams' knights in shining armor.
Tsunade + Lee(S)-If damage is inevitable and you can only heal the damage already done look no further. These characters place the best when it comes to support and can give every team the endurance it takes to play longer than anyone else. They possess the only AOE heals in the game and offer added invisible abilities to keep your opponent worried throughout the match.
Sasori- Fit's well into these teams too. He'll of course fill your tank role, just make sure the rest of his support team can stay alive long enough to have you opponent start hurting from his damage over time.
"Hybrid" is a combination of 2-3 characters that work incredibly well together despite usually having independent roles and no unified team strategy. What typically makes hybrid teams so lethal is their ability to adapt and counter most general team strategies in the game. Hybrids usually contain a well balanced mix of offensive, defensive, and support type moves to cover all areas of gameplay. What also proves a challenge for defeating most hybrid teams is knowing what to kill first. Since a majority of hybrid teams aren’t character centric, picking an initial target can be a difficult choice without knowing what run of chakra your opponent might get.
What puts hybrid teams at least at the top of my list for teams to use is they have the power to throw even the most battle hardened vets for a loop. Putting your opponent on tilt is probably easiest when they are facing a team combination they’ve rarely seen used before or seeing a team that can use more strategy than just attacking/prepping/etc. Well talk about each type of hybrid team, since I consider the term “hybrid” to be a rather broad word to cover all the types of teams that are derived from it. "Support", "Chakra Mesh", and "Cumulative" would be the three best titles I can come up with to label these three types of hybrid.
A. Support- Quite simply this type of hybrid team is a build off a support character. They don’t always fit purely into a full team role but given support from one character their power is comparable if not superior some times to teams in the pure role. Some of the characters that make up “support” teams.
Iruka: SBSF will turn your melee powerhouses into gods. Just set Iruka up with any powerful tai user to KO opponents characters in one turn.
To a much lesser extent Chiyo is in this category along with Anko, but they work in some very different ways.
B. Chakra Mesh- This type of team doesn’t work off of a specific character, but what makes it very effective is it just about always leaves you open to an option of attack. Characters used in chakra mesh hybrid typically make use of 2-3 types of chakra or completely random. This ensures you’ll almost never have a bad chakra draw and puts major pressure on your opponent to get lucky with his/her chakra since you’ll have almost no problem with your own.
Best Chakra Meshers(Subject to who you team them up with of course)
Kisame
CSS
Naruto(S)
Sannins/Third Hokage/Second Hokage
Choji
Zabuza
Hinata
Sasuke
Itachi
Sakura
Sakura(S)
Sasori
Note: Most of these characters utilize two types of chakra, but in addition to this also make use of random chakra to buff and prepare for far more devastating combos
Another new team type I've been workin on that falls into this category I like to call the "Chakra Battery" team. Pirmarily you use one character to produce proper chakra to set up and devastate your opponent in a few short turns. Current "Battery" characters in the game thus far.
-Naruto(S)
-Cursed Seal Sasuke
-Orochimaru
C. Cumulative- Most people come up with these teams simply by crunching the numbers for chakra and seeing how easily they can take down 3 characters with 100 health each. In most cases people only look as far as to eliminate the first character and focus primarily on the most efficient way to do 100 damage in the shortest period of time. The result more often than not is a spiker team, but sometimes to balance chakra better a hybrid is formed. An example of this type of team might be:::
Kyuubi, Gai, Shizune- For 5 chakra they can eliminate any target (deal 100 damage, 45 affliction and 55 normal) and since they only need two specific chakra to make it happen the chances they get the first KO are vastly improved.
