Don't know which units to put on your Arena defensive lineup? Having trouble figuring out how to position your units? We've been there, and this guide will help you figure out just that. Read on to learn about Arena defense, which units to use, and how to position them effectively.

Arena Defense Team Building Guide

Arena Defense Team Building Guide
Which Units Should I Use? How Should I Position My Units? What Should My Team Be Made of?

Which Units Should I Use?

In Gundam UC Engage, some units are undoubtedly stronger than others, and units that are strong in PvE game modes might not be as effective in PvP against strategically built teams with units that have established themselves as the best of the best.

That said, try to take a look at your units and see which units you think will help your team fend off even strong attackers. Some units that come to mind are the Zeong, Gundam GP02A, the Zeta Gundam, and the Yellow Sazabi. Of course, they'll have their counters that you need to be wary of, but that brings us to the next part of this guide: positioning.

One of the most popular units in Arena right now is the Gyan, who forces its enemies to attack only its allied Armored units, buying its DPS units some time to deal damage without fear of retaliation. If you have the Gyan, make sure it's part of your team as this is a meta-defining mobile suit for Arena.

How Should I Position My Units?

When thinking about your defense formation, try to determine which units are your key players, and try to position them behind beefy frontline units like the Gundam Full Armor or even the Zock. The game recommends that you place units either in the front, middle, or back column, depending on their unit category, but that should only come second to strategic positioning to protect your key units.

For example, the Gundam GP02A earns a spot on most teams because of its EX skill, which is a devastating AOE attack that takes a while to charge up. That said, smart players would try to take it out quickly with counter picks. It's an armored unit, so the game recommends that you put it in the frontline, but doing so will only leave it vulnerable as opponents could easily place a ZZ Gundam in front of it to quickly take it out. Placing it in the middle row behind another armored unit will make it much harder for your opponent to quickly kill the GP02A with counter picks, and the chances of the GP02A firing off that EX Skill for massive AOE damage are greatly improved.

Another example would be how you place Armored units in Gyan-centered team compositions. Normally, you'll place them in the front row to try and protect your units, but with Gyan by their side, it's best to place your Armored units on the back row far away from where your opponents are. That way, you'll waste your opponents' time as they spend a few seconds travelling to their targets, buying the Gyan's allies some more time to freely hit their opponents.

The same thinking should be applied to your defense units. One of the worst things you can do is arrange your defense the way the game's CPU does, with only one unit per column and leaving everybody open. You could still definitely win some matches with this type of defense, but only when your team is so much stronger in terms of CP. Defense formations like these make their entire team vulnerable to getting matched up with a hard counter, and this will allow your opponents to walk away with easy wins.

A common and effective way to set a defense formation is to occupy only 2 columns on either the leftmost or the rightmost part of the battlefield. This way, only the frontline can be countered, but they'll be backed up by 2 more rows of effective key units. These midline and backline key units will be your opponent's priority targets, but they'll have a much harder time getting to them with all that protection around them.

Deployment Guide

What Should My Team Be Made of?

The answer to this question depends on which key units you want to build around and what other units are available to you. As a general rule of thumb, the more squishy backline units you want to field, the more protection you'll need from Armored units.

Say you want to use an S Gundam, a Sisquiede Titans Color, and a Zaku I with Big Gun in your team. All three of these are undoubtedly powerful units who like to gun down opponents from far away but are all very frail and will quickly die when opponents get too close in on them. With a core like this, you'll probably benefit well from having at least 2 tanky Armored units like the FATB and the Xi Gundam.

Inversely, if you build a team around self-sustaining skirmishers like the Yellow Sazabi and the Banshee (NT-D), the flexibility is there and you can choose to add in pretty much whatever you want.

There's a multitude of ways that other units can help out your key units. Backline attackers can provide your key units with support fire and help them finish off their target so they can move on to the next one, Armored units can keep other attackers at bay, support units can enhance your team's capabilities, and CC units like the Qubeley can debuff opponents and make them vulnerable to your team's attacks.

Just remember to place your key units behind tanky units that can take hits for them and prevent them from being easily countered. Try to cover your key units' weaknesses with another unit's strengths, or add complimentary pieces to enable them to do their job better.

Arena Defense Team Building Mistakes To Avoid

Arena Defense Team Building Mistakes To Avoid
Leaving Your Key Units Open Forgetting To Change Your Defense Lineup Not Leveling Up and Upgrading Your Units

Leaving Your Key Units Open

As mentioned above, positioning is very important, especially for key units that you rely on for wins. Leaving them open will allow your opponent to easily place a strong counter that can make quick work of your units, which in most cases, results in an easy win for your opponent.

Forgetting To Change Your Defense Lineup

It's very common for players to forget to update their defensive lineup/formation whenever they acquire new units that they want to use for PvP. Whenever they would get new units, players would level them up and then use them in their offensive lineups, but it's quite common for them to forget to place the new units in their defense lineups.

Not Leveling Up and Upgrading Your Units

This is more of a general rule for Gundam U.C. Engage, and not just in Arena, but not leveling up your units will mean that they won't be at their strongest, and your team's overall CP would be much lower than its current maximum potential. That small bump in CP that you get from leveling your units whenever your player rank increases might just be what you need to win tightly contested matches. Unless you're housing tens of UR units that you use in a rotation, you most likely already have the upgrade materials you need to level them up.

The same could be said about your units' Potential Lv., Custom Lv., and Transcendent Lv., though you'll have to be careful with that last one since it requires Rainbow Haro coins, which is arguably the most scarce and important resource in the game.

What Upgrade Should I Do First?

Mobile Suit Gundam U.C. Engage Related Guides

All Tips and Tricks

All Tips and Tricks Guides

Beginners' Guide
Beginner's Guide: Tips and Tricks
Reroll Guide	How to Farm Diamonds
Panel Missions Guide	How to Strengthen Your Mobile Suits Guide
Combat System Explained	Haro Coin Farm Guide
How to Get Started With the Arena?	Clan Guide
Raid Battle Guide	Mobile Suit Categories Explained
Other Beginners' Guides
Beginner Mistakes to Avoid	Daily Tasks Checklist
Research Guide	Gacha Guide
Gacha Guide	UR Selector Ticket Guide
Mobile Suit Stats Explained	Pilot Stats Explained
Deployment Guide	How To Rank Up and Unlock All Content Quickly
Fragment Quest Guide	How to Get Skip Tickets
How to Get VIP Points	Haro Pass (VIP Pass) Perks and Benefits
How to Farm Coins Guide	How to Get More AP
How to Farm and Use Blueprints and Character Pieces	Recycle Points Guide
Engage Link Guide	Mock Battle Guide
How to Raise Your Player Rank Fast
Intermediate Guides
Intermediate Guide
How To Pair Pilots and Mobile Suits	Team Building Guide
Canon Mobile Suits and Pilots Guide	What Upgrade Should I Do First?
Transcendence Guide	Potential Unleashed Guide
Unit Enhancement Guide	Unit Alteration Guide
How to Get Grand Coins	How to Get Unit Enhancement Points
Modules Guide	Skill Rate Level Up Guide
What To Buy at the Shop	Clan Battle Guide
Master Battle Guide	Status Effects Guide
Advanced Guides
Arena Beginner's Guide (PvP)
Arena Guide	How to Get Started With the Arena?
Why Do I Keep Losing at the Arena?	How to Win at the Arena
Most Common Arena Mobile Suits and Counters	Best Arena (PvP) Teams
Top Ranked Arena Teams and Counters [December 2024]	PvP Team Building Guide
Arena Defense Team Building Guide	What to Grind for in the Arena
Elite Arena Guide
Game Mechanics
Title Guide	Account Linking Guide
How to Send an SOS	How to Get Friend Medals
Mobile Suit Guides
How to Counter the Zeong	What is the Best Nu Gundam?
How Good is the Zock?	How Good is the Zeong?
How to Counter the Yellow Sazabi	How to Counter the Gundam GP02A
How to Counter the Zeta Gundam	How to Counter The-O
How to Counter the Penelope	How to Counter the Gyan
How Good is the Gyan?