Hello everyone, I'm AditionalPylons, and I am here to hopefully help with building your most optimal squad, as well as defining what the meta game is. It's difficult to find a lot of information and you often will have to go searching a lot of places to find out what you need, so I will try and have as much info here as possible. While I am trying to make everything as informative, and factual as possible, given the nature of teir lists their is always some room for interpretation and personal opinion, so try and keep that in mind.

While reading this, I assume you are at least mostly familiar with Brave Frontier, and how the base mechanics work. If you are very new /u/Ironchef33 has done a more beginner friendly guide.

For detailed damage calculations please see this link over at App Invasion.

For detailed unit info please see Brave Frontier PROs wiki.

Since leveling up multiple squads is difficult, this will cover questing, typical vortex events, and Frontier Hunter. Trials have their own threads with specific teams, which you can find Karl's Here and Grahdens here. Most of these squads seem to work well for raids also, however I don't have enough info to tell you 100% on future content.

This guide will be focused on global and end game content. I will try best I can to alert you of changes to come with JP, however this will be reflecting what's CURRENTLY out in global. Please keep in mind that all the units mentioned here are assumed to be at their fully evolved forms with access to their Super Brave Burst, otherwise some of these teams would not be feasible with the units I listed. Many squads have additional set ups and substitutions, however I am limited on how much info I can provide in one post.

Top Tier: (This tier only has one spot and goes to the BEST team that is currently available)

Critical Hit Squad : (For a more detailed analysis please see /u/AJackFrostGuy 's critical team guide)

Currently with the crit formula the way it is, crit team are by FAR the best team in global. Compared to any other Archetype they are doing at least 5x more damage than any other squad archetypes, and that amount only gets bigger with elemental weakness and sparks. Once (or if) we receive the nerf to crits, the damage isn't as substantial, however a crit team still packs the highest raw damage of any team. Other than one core member (which can be farmed), all the other units in this squad are either flexible, or have substitutes.

Core Units:

Leader - Zebra (No substitute)

Duel GX (Aisha, Meltia, Kagutsuchi substitute)

Michele (Lebra substitute) (Can also just use a unit with good damage)

Your best damage dealer (Single target for boss killing, AOE for groups and FH)

Your second best damage dealer

Friend: Zebra

It's a moderately flexible team with very high damage output. This team does have some trouble surviving (Zebra is a pretty frail unit), and they also have issues with keeping their BB up, but the goal is to kill the enemy in 1-2 turns, so that's not a huge problem normally. Do note that this team requires Zebra, which is farmed in the Encervis map, meaning that while this is a great team, if you are not there in the game yet you'll have to focus on another team in the mean time.

High Tier: (These team are amazing teams with the current meta)

Critical and BB Spam Hybrid:

This team takes everything that's good about these two teams, and puts them together, however doesn't quite do either team to their maximum. The concept is to get the high damage from the crit team, while having the ability to maintain SBB with the BB spam team. Currently in global 1 Zebra will give you 4.5x crit damage, while after the nerf/fix it will be 3x. That's still a great deal of extra damage, as crit gets multiplied after other buffs, meaning it's legitimately triple damage. This team is NOT flexible, and while future content will give you more units that you can bring, the core team can't be changed around to be effective. For Frontier Hunter, this will be the best team possible given the way release order was changed.

Core Units:

Leader - Zebra OR Felneus

Douglas

Douglas

Michele (This CAN also be another Douglas)

Duel GX

Friend: Felneus OR Zebra (Whichever isn't your leader)

One could also try and substitute out a Douglas for any units with higher than 15 hits on their SBB, but that's not going to be able to maintain SBB as well. From what I can tell this team will NOT maintain SBB with 100% uptime, but makes up for that with the more than quadruple the damage it is doing normally.

BB Spam:

Alright BB spam is one of the most popular teams right now, and for good reason. Let me define this team however, as this term is thrown around with different meanings. BB spam is a team that can maintain SBB (or just normal BB if your units don't have SBB) indefinitely. This means that even if there is only one target, your team is going to have all their brave bursts back up to use the next turn. Every turn you don't have all your brave bursts up is a lot of damage that is lost. You can run this team with sub-par versions that can't maintain 100% uptime, but this spot is reserved for only those that can. The core units of this team are only partially flexible, with most units having to be rare summoned.

Core Units:

Leader - Felneus (Duelmex substitute) (There will be more options in the future, but it's limited right now)

Douglas (You can fill this with up to 4 douglas, he works on a team by himself, but it's less optimal)

Douglas

Michele

Duel GX

Friend: Felneus

I'd like to make a special mention that if you have Felneus, however you don't have the other units, a full team of Serin can all make an alight, albeit much weaker BB spam team (that team would probably be on the mid list). This team is GREAT for Frontier Hunter as the number of units can vary a lot, and getting the sparks and elemental weakness results in a lot of extra points. With future units Felneus gets out classed (stat wise) but Uda, which is a thunder unit with the same leader skill and SBB as Felneus, however he's still very usable. Douglas also gets competition in the future from two units, Ruza (who completely outclasses Douglas) and Selha (who doesn't have the spark buff, but has better stats). You can easily run of mix of this units in the future.

Mid Tier: (These teams are good, however they don't excel in all areas)

Rainbow BB Spam:

This is a team that became available with Lodin getting his 6* form, which still has a 50% ATK boost when there are 5 or more elements, however also now multiplies brave crystals by 1.2. This means that you could set up a sort of BB spam squad that gets extra damage. The core units here are flexible, which makes it more approachable to people.

Core Units:

Leader - Lodin

Douglas

Felneus (Aem and Mega also work here for their BC drop buff)

Any remaining units with SBB with a high hit count (Preferably 15 or higher), making sure you have 5 different elements

Friend: Lodin/Felneus

This team right now is alright, however can't maintain SBB 100% of the time, which is a huge downfall. In the future (next batch) a fire unit called Dia will come out, and has the same leader skill as Lodin, however has her own BC drop buff on her SBB, meaning that 100% up time with this team is possible, and will definitely be more attractive then (however it is less flexible also).

Grahdens Team:

Some may be surprised to find a squad based around the old man so far down the list, however for normal content teams based around Grahdens don't really excel at anything. That being said, this team isn't terrible at anything, and is also the most versatile and flexible team there is. With trials and some other more difficult content this team is very good as it bumps up survivability a lot, however trials have always had specific teams that were better. Given this team is basically just revolved around one unit, if you have Grahdens it's easy to set him as your lead and bring your units from other squads along.

Core Units:

Leader - Grahdens

Then you bring your 4 best units, one usually being a healer.

Friend: Grahdens

That's really it with that team, very simple, and very flexible. Grahdens is also a free units (you do have to clear Trial 002 though), which means he can be acquired by everyone without any RNG involved. Let me make it clear that Grahdens is VERY important to some content, however normal quest, vortex, and FH isn't where he shines.

Spark Team:

These teams focus on a high hit count, in order to get the extra damage from sparks. Usually this team is run very similar to a BB spam team, however the leads are different, and since the goal isn't to have the BB gauge filled on the time, it allows for more flexibility in units. With this team, every time you miss a spark you essentially have no leader skill, not to mention the spark boost isn't anything near what the crit damage boost is.

Core Units:

Leader - Behemoth/Dillias/Rickel

Any units with high hit counts fit here, some notable ones are: Douglas, Michele, Duel GX, Melchio, Sefia, Kikuri, Zephyr, Loch (huge risk reward)

Friend: Behemoth/Dillias/Rickel

This team does have a lot of flexibility, as you can pretty well bring any units (low hit count units are generally pretty bad). That said if you could theoretically get every single spark it is a good amount more damage. One of the biggest issues with this team is that most of the BEST members are the same ones that you would use on a BB spam squad, however you don't have your brave burst up all the time with this team. There is a possibly spark/BB hybrid where the friend you bring along is a Felneus, as well as Lebra's 6* which makes for a very potent team,so keep that in mind. This team actually takes practice and positioning to use, which makes it less friendly if you mess it up or have a slower device.

Low Tier: (These teams are either niche, or they just don't provide a lot of benefit)

Mono teams:

If you had asked me 5 months ago what the meta game was, I would have told you having a mono team of each colour was the most ideal set up. That time however had long gone by, and since then we have figured out the formula for damage, and learnt how leader skills effect it. For those who didn't click the damage calculation at the top, the leader skill doesn't boost ATK or multiply the final damage. What it does is add a multiplier to the base ATK, meaning if you had 2k ATK and had 2 leader skills and a 50% ATK buff, you would have 5000 dmg as opposed to what you might think is 6000 dmg. These buffs get less and less useful the more external buffs you have on your units (ATK buff, Elemental ore, Brute Elixer, not to mention a unit's BB multiplier). While a mono team is a safe and easy team to set up, their damage will not reach the same levels as the teams above. These are still an attractive option for beginners though, as you can bring along ores and seals to match your team for added boost. Special mention to mono light and dark for being neutral to everything.

Rainbow Teams:

These teams are basically in the same boat as mono teams, except they are more flexible with their units, however can't bring ores and seals along. You first team will probably be one of these if you managed to pull a rainbow lead (one of the leaders that provides 50% bonuses when there is 5 or more elements), however they don't stack up well in the current meta.

Divine Gale:

These are teams that are based around the Divine Gale leader skills. That skill prevents status effects, however that's about all it does. You can make this team with any units as long as your leader has this skill. This leader skill does have it's niche as a VERY useful one in certain situations, however for most content it's just a missed leader skill.

While there are other team archetypes, they are either very niche, or aren't even worth mentioning (not to mention there's only so much info that can be put in one post)

Future content:

Here I will very briefly touch on future content, and will add them to the list when they are available. (I can't list every team)

Mono light BB spam: This is a team that will become available when Selha comes out and Lebra get his 6*. It features only white units (Lebra, Shela, Aem, and later Maxwell). This makes bringing ores/seals easier and is neutral to everything. This will definitely be a pretty good team if you have all the members:

Mono fire BB spam: With the introduction of Dia, and Ruza, as well as Kagutsuchi's 6* form, one could also run a mono red BB spam team. It features Centaur, Dia, Ruza, and Michele. Similar to the mono light team it is neutral to everything.

Elemental weakness: This team will focus around a new farmable unit, similar to Zebra called Mare. This team get amplified damage similar to crits, however relies on using elemental weakness. Melchio is a great member of this team and so is Duel GX. (Mare's leader skill supposedly only effects a unit's base element)

Elemental weakness/Crit Hybrid: Very similar to the normal Mare team, however you also take a Zebra so that you get bonus damage. This team has the highest damage potential if you get crits and elemental weakness at the same time. Maxwell will make this team more prominent than either crit or elemental weakness in the future.

Arena:

I'd like to very briefly touch on arena also, however there's not enough room for full detail.

For arena, you want units that have an AOE BB attached to them, as that way you will hit all enemies and not accidentally overkill. If possible avoid bringing non AOE units into arena.

The priority for brave bursts goes: AOE > Single Target > Heal > Support

The general plan for Arena is to have units with a low BB fill and high hit count. Some of the most popular units include: Serin, Cayena, Lira, Ophelia, and Farlon

Leaders should try and boost the rate at which BC is gathered. Notable units: Felneus, Kagutsuchi, Aisha, Aem, Sefia, Kikuri

That about covers everything I have room to say. I will try and include links to more detailed threads on certain squads if they become available. Hopefully this gave you a decent idea of which type of team is best with your units.

Special thanks to /u/alexisevan, /u/AJackFrostGuy, and /u/BFLMP for helping me out with making this.