What is the best strategy for the Gauntlet?

Admiral Skywalker (SECOND FLEET HQ)

Someone asked me recently, What strategy would you suggest for the Gauntlet? Hey.... I want that Caretaker, so this matters to me too. What do you guys think the best strategy one can use in there?

Paund Skumm

I just randomly play to farm merits and pray the Caretaker shows up. #4 Just arrived and hour ago in a... 3 streak box... I got 3 in the first month and it’s been over half a year of nada until today.

Data1001

Like other things in the game, the best strategy depends on what you want to get out of it. Just as different people have different priorities for the game in general — e.g., "collecting them all", placing in the top 10 in events, etc. — people have different things they want to get out of the Gauntlet.

Two things which may be shared by a majority of players are: 1) getting the featured Gauntlet Legendary to drop; and 2) hitting all the achievements for Gauntlet rank. Once you have done those, I feel it's best to look at the Gauntlet as a Merit farm, and also go in with the acknowledgement that you will not necessarily win all the battles which the odds say you will (just as you will not necessarily lose all those which are not skewed in your favor).

But I think there is value in adopting this philosophy even before you have those two things. For one, this lets you off the hook and makes the experience much more pleasant. When you're not chasing streaks, nor wondering why that top 10 finish that you worked so hard for awarded you with what amounts to a steaming pile of targ droppings, you won't be so tempted to throw your phone at the wall in disgust, or come to the forums and write an angry post about the injustice of your situation. For another, you will no longer be spending many merits for refreshes (and hopefully no Dilithium), and instead will be building up a very nice stash of merits that you can use to purchase items in the Faction Centers, or do a bunch of Merit pulls in hopes of getting a 4* or 5* crew.

However, the OP stated that getting the Caretaker is desired, so here are my suggestions.

If you have good solid Gauntlet crew, don't worry about "sandbagging" at the beginning. Just go for the big targets right away, and keep at it — it's not difficult to get into the top 20 this way without much effort. If you do not have great Gauntlet crew (or a mix of great and mediocre), then you may want to use the method often discussed here of waiting a few hours to start your battles in a new Gauntlet, then choosing the lowest-trophy-opponents you can find, trying to keep your rank as low as possible for the first 24 hours, in order to continue to be offered "weaker" opponents, and therefore get some decent streaks going. Even using the first method, you can still easily get 3-streaks or 6-streaks without having to refresh.

My personal advice is: don't worry about trying to string together a really long streak, unless you just want bragging rights. I've gotten Locutus, a couple of Guinans, and a Caretaker, and I haven't gone for long streaks for ages — I only chased long streaks when I was just starting to play Gauntlet shortly after it was introduced (and I had acquired a decent crew roster to be able to hold my own in there). As I recall, Locutus fell on a 6-streak, my Guinans on a 3-streak & a 6-streak, and my Caretaker on a box at the end where I think I finished 13th or something. I'm not saying this will definitely work for you — but I am saying that it's not at all necessary to get 12-streaks or 21-streaks, or place #1 in order to get the Legendary to drop. Do your best to get at least several 3-streaks each day, don't worry about rank, and for Q's sake, don't spend Dilithium. Your Gauntlet experience will be a far happier one when you release all expectations… and the Caretaker may drop for you when you least expect it. 🤓 🖖

Admiral Skywalker (SECOND FLEET HQ)

Data1001 wrote: »

Like other things in the game, the best strategy depends on what you want to get out of it. Just as different people have different priorities for the game in general — e.g., "collecting them all", placing in the top 10 in events, etc. — people have different things they want to get out of the Gauntlet.

Two things which may be shared by a majority of players are: 1) getting the featured Gauntlet Legendary to drop; and 2) hitting all the achievements for Gauntlet rank. Once you have done those, I feel it's best to look at the Gauntlet as a Merit farm, and also go in with the acknowledgement that you will not necessarily win all the battles which the odds say you will (just as you will not necessarily lose all those which are not skewed in your favor).

But I think there is value in adopting this philosophy even before you have those two things. For one, this lets you off the hook and makes the experience much more pleasant. When you're not chasing streaks, nor wondering why that top 10 finish that you worked so hard for awarded you with what amounts to a steaming pile of targ droppings, you won't be so tempted to throw your phone at the wall in disgust, or come to the forums and write an angry post about the injustice of your situation. For another, you will no longer be spending many merits for refreshes (and hopefully no Dilithium), and instead will be building up a very nice stash of merits that you can use to purchase items in the Faction Centers, or do a bunch of Merit pulls in hopes of getting a 4* or 5* crew.

However, the OP stated that getting the Caretaker is desired, so here are my suggestions.

If you have good solid Gauntlet crew, don't worry about "sandbagging" at the beginning. Just go for the big targets right away, and keep at it — it's not difficult to get into the top 20 this way without much effort. If you do not have great Gauntlet crew (or a mix of great and mediocre), then you may want to use the method often discussed here of waiting a few hours to start your battles in a new Gauntlet, then choosing the lowest-trophy-opponents you can find, trying to keep your rank as low as possible for the first 24 hours, in order to continue to be offered "weaker" opponents, and therefore get some decent streaks going. Even using the first method, you can still easily get 3-streaks or 6-streaks without having to refresh.

My personal advice is: don't worry about trying to string together a really long streak, unless you just want bragging rights. I've gotten Locutus, a couple of Guinans, and a Caretaker, and I haven't gone for long streaks for ages — I only chased long streaks when I was just starting to play Gauntlet shortly after it was introduced (and I had acquired a decent crew roster to be able to hold my own in there). As I recall, Locutus fell on a 6-streak, my Guinans on a 3-streak & a 6-streak, and my Caretaker on a box at the end where I think I finished 13th or something. I'm not saying this will definitely work for you — but I am saying that it's not at all necessary to get 12-streaks or 21-streaks, or place #1 in order to get the Legendary to drop. Do your best to get at least several 3-streaks each day, don't worry about rank, and for Q's sake, don't spend Dilithium. Your Gauntlet experience will be a far happier one when you release all expectations… and the Caretaker may drop for you when you least expect it. 🤓 🖖

This is outstanding advice. I'll be sure to give it a whirl when I next get a chance. Thank you!

JeanLucKirk

Data1001 wrote: »

I feel it's best to look at the Gauntlet as a Merit farm.

I am saying that it's not at all necessary to get 12-streaks or 21-streaks, or place #1 in order to get the Legendary to drop. Do your best to get at least several 3-streaks each day, don't worry about rank, and for Q's sake, don't spend Dilithium. Your Gauntlet experience will be a far happier one when you release all expectations… and the Caretaker may drop for you when you least expect it. 🤓 🖖

Exactly, see it as a place to get resources, expect nothing else and you can only be positively surprised. And should the Caretaker drop see it as a nice unexpected bonus. Also the chances to get him may be higher in the better lootboxes, but he is not guaranteed for finishing high or long streaks so it is kinda pointless to "waste" valuable resources for that. In fact for the most part my Gauntlet legendaries dropped after short streaks.

Pol

Data´s advice is solid. I am nearing the 20k rounds mark, and i never ever got a gauntlet gold. So, a merit farm is the only healthy way to see it. I also discovered that if i forget to play gauntlet nothing happens ...

Ironagedave

Essentially though merit farming and streaks go hand in hand. Pick the ones to the far right like you would in arena battle they will (on most occasions) be the easiest opponents but also smallest amount of trophies so you don't punch too high too quickly and be faced with walls of "gauntlet beast A, B, C, D or E"
That way you can string lots of wins together, get lots of merits, open more boxes and complete more rounds for the achievements. When you know your crew is too tired; either don't use the find opponents or be prepared to do a merit refresh when your crew have refreshed that way you will get more favorable opponents matched with your trophy rank.

NivenFres

What the others have said is pretty much dead on. It took me a LONG time to put together solid gauntlet crew to where I can win or at least place in the top 5 most of the time.

As far as personal Gauntlet 5* drops:
Locutus: (none, looking forward to getting one in another 3,071 rounds....)
Guinian: 2 both from streaks of 3
Caretaker: Got 3rd a couple weeks ago. 1st was a streak of 6. 2nd dropped from a prize box, 3rd was a streak of 9.

Some other (personal) strategy or recommendations.

• I encourage my fleetmates who struggle in the gauntlet to go for streaks, not rank. If you don't have a solid gauntlet crew (see below), odds are it isn't going to be as high as you want. As many have said, streaks tend to be where most got their 5*s from (which makes sense, since you will get a lot more streaks than you do reward boxes, in general).
• Don't start right away. Give it a few hours before selecting crew and starting. I actually wait till the next morning.
• I use iampicard to recommend gauntlet crew. I do pull the crit percentage input down from 3 to about 2.5 Doesn't usually change the recommendations too much.
• High Percent Crits can be traps. Just because they have a 45% or 65% doesn't mean they are going to win anything. If they are capping out around a high of 400 roll, they probably aren't the best pick for crew. You're going to see others using them, and odds are you are going to loose to them. That doesn't mean you should be using them.
• My crew doesn't tend to vary too much. Usually ends up being some mixture of Caretaker, Defensive Phlox, Kahless, Gowron, Seven of Nine, Surak, Guinan, and Gangster Spock. An occasional high GOOD (see above) gets worked in. (Note: I currently have 42 of the top 50 crew gauntlet from Peachtree's Spreadsheet and still tend to use a mix of these 8 mostly).
• Don't spend dil. It's just not worth it. I did to get my first gauntlet win. It felt good. Then I started winning without spending dil. Then the regret kicked in. Luckily didn't spend much, but its generally better used in other places.

Odo Marmarosa

I have a good selection of gauntlet ledgendaries so I don't always pick the best crew; I like to change it up based on traits and my mood. I usualy don't touch the gauntlet for the first twelve hours, then I play for a streak. As soon as that streak gets broken I switch to playing for rank & burning all the crew to work towards Locutus. If it looks like I am going to be competitive in the rankings on the last day I hit it hard try to get my last run in the last five minutes. Otherwise I take it easy and farm chrons and merits. I don't shun merit refreshes but I use them strategically. Got 3-4 first places this way, but my final rank can be all over with this strategy, especially in a "wall" Gauntlet.

Dirk Gunderson

Seconded (or thirded...fourthed?) on the importance of shorter streaks. Long streaks just give a higher, albeit still small, chance of bigger rewards. Long streaks are also hard to get without spending a lot of resources...for anyone trying to make it in the gauntlet, I recommend first aiming to regularly get 3-win streaks. Then work your way up to 6. If you can regularly get 9 wins...great! Usually I don’t go past 6 without a lot of luck or if it’s a brand new gauntlet.

Likewise with the end-of-gauntlet rewards: there is a nadir between 2nd place and 10th place where the smaller number of Gauntlet Vaults awarded negates the drop rate advantage over the Gauntlet Crates offered for 11th through 15th places. 26th-30th is another sweet spot (7 Gauntlet Chests) as is 41st-50th (7 Gauntlet Boxes). The volume of rewards you get is more important than the drop rate in each reward.

Cpt. Caveman

1. Pick up anyone in top 25


2. Pick a crew with high stat in 5 of the 6 stats. CMD, DIP, ENG, SEC, SCI, MED
3. First 24 hours, play low level people, and try to get a streak of 30+
4. Second 24 hours, play high level people, and try to get top 5 ranking

I currently have 4 Caretakers:
one from 3 streak
one from 15 streak
two from top 5 rewards

Admiral Skywalker (SECOND FLEET HQ)

Cpt. Caveman wrote: »

1. Pick up anyone in top 25


2. Pick a crew with high stat in 5 of the 6 stats. CMD, DIP, ENG, SEC, SCI, MED
3. First 24 hours, play low level people, and try to get a streak of 30+
4. Second 24 hours, play high level people, and try to get top 5 ranking

I currently have 4 Caretakers:
one from 3 streak
one from 15 streak
two from top 5 rewards

Since mirror T'pol is the only one on your list that I have right now, I can see I've got my work ahead cut out for me. Thanks for the heads up

(CSF) Jesus Is Lord [••••]

I have officially accepted a new gauntlet strategy...don't. Makes life much easier and stress free, i havent wanted to throw my phone across the room from playing stt in weeks and its one less stt thing to time my life around!

Commander Sinclair

I have adopted the axiom: "Different days have different strategies"

When I have a killer strong crew, all 5* at 25-45% Crit bonus, I try for max rewards.

Otherwise, I just go for longevity streaks, take the 10 trophy win as much as possible to max my Gauntlet count towards Locutus. (Only 4K rounds to go!)

Getting the Caretaker is absolutely random. He was a major goal, but now I have him immortalized.
#1 was at streak of 13
#2 was in a loot box finishing 2nd
#3 was in a streak of 3
#4 was in a streak of 16
#5 was in a loot box finishing 13th.

Aldude

My gauntlet strategy: play and don't cry

[QH] Oxmyx

Ranking first doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had the top spot twice in the last couple of weeks. First gave me a four star equipment I didnt need and the rest was three star, second was a four star piece of equipment again I didn’t need, some three star equipment and some chrons. Neither top spot was worth the extra time it took to get and stay there. I don’t have the Caretaker yet, I’ve been trying to keep streaks alive as that is how I got my Locuti and sole Guinan. I don’t usually play consistently though, just when I have the time.

Aldude

I came first yesterday. 100 chrons and a bunch of items I didn't need

Bylo Band

The best advice I can give: The Gauntlet exists so your fleetmates can win The Caretaker. It will never happen for you, but every day or so you'll see a message from a fleetmate trumpeting that they won another copy of The Caretaker. Wait 20 seconds after reading that message, take a deep breathe and exhale slowly, then reply with "Grats!".

Peachtree Rex

[QH] Oxmyx wrote: »

Ranking first doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had the top spot twice in the last couple of weeks. First gave me a four star equipment I didnt need and the rest was three star, second was a four star piece of equipment again I didn’t need, some three star equipment and some chrons. Neither top spot was worth the extra time it took to get and stay there. I don’t have the Caretaker yet, I’ve been trying to keep streaks alive as that is how I got my Locuti and sole Guinan. I don’t usually play consistently though, just when I have the time.

If you're not first, you're last

Admiral Skywalker (SECOND FLEET HQ)

Peachtree Rex wrote: »

[QH] Oxmyx wrote: »

Ranking first doesn’t mean anything. I’ve had the top spot twice in the last couple of weeks. First gave me a four star equipment I didnt need and the rest was three star, second was a four star piece of equipment again I didn’t need, some three star equipment and some chrons. Neither top spot was worth the extra time it took to get and stay there. I don’t have the Caretaker yet, I’ve been trying to keep streaks alive as that is how I got my Locuti and sole Guinan. I don’t usually play consistently though, just when I have the time.

If you're not first, you're last

Almost sounds like you're darned if you do.... darned if you don't

Wildstar19

I've been playing the Gauntlet from its beginning and never sniffed a character card. Been on all sorts of streaks. I've given up ever getting one. Its BS. My 2 cents. 🤷‍♂️

Admiral Skywalker (SECOND FLEET HQ)

Darth Skippy wrote: »

I've been playing the Gauntlet from its beginning and never sniffed a character card. Been on all sorts of streaks. I've given up ever getting one. Its BS. My 2 cents. 🤷‍♂️

There's a lot of times I want to give up trying to get crew of of the gauntlet, too. It's so seriously discouraging to do well in there but walk away with junk compared to the amount of effort. The only reason I keep trying is because there are crew members in there that aren't very easy to get, and if I had them, they rock

jestergenie

Pol wrote: »

I am nearing the 20k rounds mark, and i never ever got a gauntlet gold. So, a merit farm is the only healthy way to see it. I also discovered that if i forget to play gauntlet nothing happens ...

Darth Skippy wrote: »

I've been playing the Gauntlet from its beginning and never sniffed a character card. Been on all sorts of streaks. I've given up ever getting one. Its BS. My 2 cents. 🤷‍♂️

What more evidence you need to prove how bad DB's rng is? What more evidence you need to prove how idiotic this mechanic is?

Bylo Band

Pol wrote: »

Data´s advice is solid. I am nearing the 20k rounds mark, and i never ever got a gauntlet gold. So, a merit farm is the only healthy way to see it. I also discovered that if i forget to play gauntlet nothing happens ...

I wish to amend this statement slightly: The Gauntlet is a merit AND trainer farm; you will sometimes win merits from individual matches, and every three wins in a streak you will open a shiny, glistening, vibrating chest ready to burst that contains a small stack of trainers.

[GoT] Gabe

As a member of GoT, we have access to the Bot's recommendations so I simply choose the crew that it indicates and then just play without worrying about if the Caretaker is going to drop.

As people have mentioned, he will drop when he drops and there is absolutely nothing you can do to increase the odds. So just play and have fun. He will drop eventually .... or he won't. That shouldn't impede you of having fun and picking up other useful, and some not so useful items, along the way.

izausome

Dont spend merits more then once per 4 hrs.
Pick the best battle.
Get screwed anyway.
Dont get mad
Gain merits.
Repeat every 4 hrs

elemntee

Get 150 win streaks.

(HGH)Apollo

Seems like the 3 streak and 6 streak boxes have worked best for me.

DavideBooks

I got him once and doubled it. I don't really expect to get more. I've been playing 1 year today and had only the one crew from gauntlet. It is still worth it for the loads of merits and drops of chronitons and cheap portal pulls.

Flemming

ByloBand wrote: »

The best advice I can give: The Gauntlet exists so your fleetmates can win The Caretaker. It will never happen for you, but every day or so you'll see a message from a fleetmate trumpeting that they won another copy of The Caretaker. Wait 20 seconds after reading that message, take a deep breathe and exhale slowly, then reply with "Grats!".

This is where I live.

"Man, the Gauntlet hate you Flemming!" - Actual quote from a fleetmate.