How to Become an Arena Mode God!
Tips from the #1 ranked World Team Arena player — Jimmy13
The Arena mode is Along with the Gods’ crown jewel, and many players dream of climbing the ladder and ascending into the Hall of Fame.
In this article, we’re going to take a comprehensive look at all the variations of Arena mode and then get one of the top players in the world to share their secrets and advice with you! A massive thank you to Jimmy13 for sharing his time and knowledge with us.
You’ll go from a wimp to a winner in no time after reading this.
First off, let’s discuss the four types of Arena battles you can enter. Major Arena sees you take a team of 5 heroes without any restrictions into battle. Minor Arena restricts you to using only heroes of a default 4-star grade or lower. In Team Arena you select 15 heroes who fight in three teams of 5 in a best-of-three format, and World Team Arena where only the top players are permitted to enter and the competition is fiercer. We’ll talk more about the specific strategies required for each a bit later.
The key principles to remember in Arena are to hit hard and hit first. One overriding tip that applies to all Arena modes is to avoid CC (Crowd Control) and Inability Effects at all costs. Getting stunned, silenced or frozen will put you at a huge, often fatal, disadvantage as your opponent will most likely launch their attacks before you and you’ll be completely helpless to defend yourself.
To this end, Warrior, Philosopher and Evasion Runes will be your best bet if you’re trying to dominate in Arena mode. Warrior Runes provide a 50% boost to your inability effect resistance. Evasion will make your opponents’ attacks miss and prevent them from damaging you. Philosopher Runes allow you to start the battle with more energy meaning you get to unleash your active skills sooner. Accessories and Awakening buffs that further boost these stats are also going to be critical components of your builds.
Any hero who can provide CC in their skillset, especially their active skill as they ignore evasion, is incredibly valuable. Consequently, heroes who can prevent CC are also incredibly valuable. Some examples of great CC manipulating heroes include Zemer and Oliver. Zemer can grant himself and his entire team complete immunity to inability effects for 5 seconds. Oliver’s skills turn her victims into squirrels and freezes them, rendering them incapable of action. Look for heroes with similar effects and abilities.
You’ll want a team that can avoid damage, avoid taking CC effects while being able to dish out damage and enact CC effects on your opponents. Keep this in mind when you’re building your team by selecting your heroes and their runes. As it stands right now, mages are the dominant damage dealing class in Arena however there are plenty of melee characters such as Zemer, Ereth and Glen and Rangers such as Prospera and Akurel who are key heroes in Arena.
Setting your skill order is another important aspect of success in Arena mode, you’ll need to set up the right order if you want to win. There’s no point saving your best damage output for last when by that time your entire team has probably already been wiped out. Your team’s skills should flow in a logical manner and in accordance with the principles outlined earlier.
However, there is still room to maneuver and tinker as alternative playstyles can be successful, if you have the creativity, knowledge and resources. Some players will disregard the rapid burst style of game-play and opt for more defensively sound teams that can slug it out if they happen to have the right heroes and resources.
If you’re struggling with how to build a hero, or have no idea where exactly to start, a handy tip is to look at the leaderboards or Hall of Fame and take a look at the top ranked players for some “inspiration”. Good artists copy, great artists steal, as they say. You can visit their profile and see their heroes and how they have them set up.
You can also visit our Moot and ask for advice in the Tips and Guides board and someone from the community can help you out:
Each type of Arena battle requires different strategies to fit their unique characteristics.
Major Arena is the most straightforward of the Arena mode types. But that doesn’t mean you should just throw 5 heroes together. Think about your team synergy and how your team functions as a unit. Do you have a way to prevent Inability Effects? Will your DPS mage have the support to be able to get their active off before the opponent can take them out? Can you deal with Water tanks such as Atmos and Zemer?
In the Minor Arena some heroes’ viability increases drastically as they don’t have to compete with default 5-star heroes. You’ll need to reevaluate which heroes you rely on, no more relying on obvious powerhouses such as Atmos and Patricia here. Rene, Floria, Ereth, Blith, Akurel and Vern are commonly regarded as some of the best heroes in Minor Arena.
In Team Arena you’ll need more than 5 heroes to put out on the battlefield, you’ll need 15! You’ll need to think about how to distribute your heroes to give yourself the best chance of winning the best-of-three format, especially if you have heroes of differing strength levels.
There’s also an added layer of strategy here due to the best-of-three format and the fact that you can change around the order in which they’ll face the opposing team. Do you load up your best heroes in one team or balance out the power? Do you send your weakest team out against their stronger first team so your first team can get the win against an ostensibly weaker second team?
A lot of players will set their best team as their first team in defence, their second strongest next and their weakest as their last. This might be a psychological thing but it is something to take note of. Maybe it’s something you’re guilty of doing in setting your defense team as well.
If you feel like your strongest team can’t beat their first defense team you can sacrifice your weakest team to them and preserve your stronger team to give yourself a better chance of winning the next two battles.
Judging this is a skill you’ll need to learn as you play and knowing the likely outcome of a battle beforehand is going to help you make the right decisions.
There are also some little tricks you can apply in the 5 hero Arena modes. Maintaining a winning streak in Arena will enable you to climb higher and faster and also gain more Coins for the Arena Shop. You should take a look at each listed opponent and take them on in an appropriate order. Try and keep a number of the easiest, or at least winnable, opponents for last so you can potentially build a bigger streak as the list refreshes.
Looking at the opponents’ teams before battle can also help you make decisions based on strengths and weaknesses. Helping you to decide things such as elemental match-up adjustments, or subbing in a Physical Defence buffer if you notice their team is focused on strong physical attackers. You should also make sure to test and observe your teams in action to get a clear picture of what is and isn’t working for your team.
That’s our Tips and Tricks, but what about a real player, how do they put it into action?
Along with the God’s #1 Player shares their secrets to success!
If you’ve ever taken a look at the Arena leaderboards or Hall of Fame you’ll be familiar with the name ‘Jimmy13’. He was kind enough to agree to an interview and share his knowledge with us:
PlayDapp: What do you think is the biggest mistake new players, or players in general, make when it comes to Arena?
Jimmy13: I feel the biggest mistake for new players is focusing on PVP too early. The main focus should be on progression. The first part is to advance to the hardest scenario they can and once they hit a wall, they should focus on doing raids to get better runes. The most popular raid dungeon is Nhumar for early/mid-game. Pick a raid dungeon and evolve your team to be able to advance that dungeon as far as possible. If you choose Nhumar, You will want to focus on evolving your blue units since Nhumar is red. Melvin is a great unit to focus on for his % based attack, def debuff, survivability, crit/spd buff. For arena, you should have a plan in mind when you build your team. Also, be mindful of evade mechanics. You can evade auto abilities but you can not evade an active ability. The cap is 75% and is extremely useful paired with someone that can blind opponents to reduce accuracy. The best advice for PVP is crowd control. Unless you face someone with warrior and 75% evade, crowd control is king for PVP. Freeze, Stun, etc.
PlayDapp: Who are your top recommended heroes in each variant of Arena mode?
Jimmy13: For minor, Ereth, Akurel, Floria, Phantom Knight are great units and if you plan to be more melee, try to squeeze someone that can buff attack. Same for magic. For major, there are a lot of good units but the most common are Patricia, Lucius, Oliver, or any of the gods.
PlayDapp: How do you come up with your team composition ideas? What are you looking for when you build an arena team?
Jimmy13: for PVP, there are 2 main things to look for. Color and unit type. 1. Remember the counters, Blue>Red>Green. Dark>Light.
Here’s an example. If you face a team predominately red, you want to use your blue units. Also, remember the 4 different units Melee/Tank/Support/Archers/Caster. Tanks have a high physical defense but low magic resist. If you face a couple of tanks, use casters. Casters have low physical defense and high magic resist, archers are their best counters and melee is second. These aren't the only things to look for since CC(crowd control) is the king of PVP. If you can't do anything, none of this matters.
PlayDapp: Are there any interesting trends or ideas you’ve come across in Arena recently? Where do you think the Arena meta is headed?
Jimmy13: Gods rule major and Ereth rules minor. That's the trend that I see. If you are fortunate to get a god, build around him to maximize their efficiency. Same with Ereth. Casters currently are the meta but that's mainly because the strongest players are choosing those. Remember archers, on paper, are their counter due to their higher magic resist and casters extremely low physical defense.
PlayDapp: Any other general advice or tips you want to give to players who want to improve in Arena mode?
Jimmy13: Focus on progression and don't forget about the awesome 3-star units. The reason 3-star units are so awesome is that they are A LOT easier to fully awaken. It's hard to beat a full awakened Melvin 1v1, no matter who you are. Melvin might not be the best PVP unit but since he is so great with everything else, you should include him in your minor team since he should be one of your stronger units. Floria is amazing with her buffs and heals. You can build Ereth full DPS and still be able to survive. If you focus on just your natural 5-star units, you will be weak in the Minor Arena. Focus on units that are helpful for all aspects of the game.
Now get out there and apply what you’ve learned and see just how high on the ladder you can climb! Let us know your thoughts and if you have any tips and knowledge you’d like to share for the Arena!
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