u/jasonz45

Since cheating is bad and will get you banned, you should instead utilize these 7 gemstones that can change the course of a fight instead! Use these gems with the right champs and you can do some crazy things.

You can find some interactions live in my video: https://youtu.be/zge-1YKEDNk

https://preview.redd.it/n69xygrwzdth1.jpg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3904bb679ecf7b1746df8c3c7177ec57f32eba3f

Note: there are powerful gems that do great things like give you 30% dmg for free, but do not provide something more interesting on top. The following gems are generally not guaranteed to work, but can completely swing a fight around if they do.

Double Down

Mythical, Triangle Gem

When attacking targets under [Stun], [Freeze], [Sleep], [Provoke], [Fear], [True Fear], [Petrification], or [Sheep] debuffs with their default skill, the wearer has a 10% chance to repeat the attack once.

Sounds simple enough, but recently we've gotten quite a few champions that can abuse this gemstone. Tekteon, Hekaton, Stormcaller users, and others can get incredible value out of this gemstone. If you have ever seen a Tekteon attack with his a1 twice, this is why.

Attacking Prowess

Legendary, Triangle Gem

The wearer has an 8% chance to reset a skill’s cooldown if it kills an enemy. Occurs once per skill.

I have come to really love this gemstone. This works incredibly well on any nuker that has a hard hitting ability that grants an extra turn. Think Georgid, Maria, Vestele, Rotos, and my favorite, Polara. You can stack multiple of this gem to increase the chance of the effect. Being able to chain a champions strongest ability back to back, or potentially more is incredibly powerful. I've had a fight where I could Polara A3 > A3 > A3 in a row, and it destroyed the opponent's team.

While the effect is strong generically, I don't think champions without extra turn mechanics really get the most benefit out of it. For example, Marius would rather have the [Rolling Force] gemstone or something.

Heal N'Go

Mythical, Diamond Gem

The wearer has a 5% chance to get an Extra Turn when healing an ally with an active skill.

Like Hallowed Hilt, this gem also works on A1 abilities that heal allies. Think Theodosia or Donatello for example. Of course it also works on regular abilities that heal. Being able to proc an extra turn helps cycle through your abilities faster or give additional heals. Fairly low chance of happening, but can be powerful when it does.

Revival Blessing

Epic, Diamond Gem

Allies revived by the wearer are additionally healed by 10% of the wearer’s HP.

A fairly generic gem, but it provides an effect that is otherwise very hard to find, only available through a 4pc Rebirth set. While this often isn't going to move the needle too often, it has extremely valuable synergy with Niamhe. Most revives these days revive at 50% HP, and Niamhe's passive only works above 50% HP. Adding this gem to your reviver can give another round of unkillables across your team and is very valuable.

Otherwise you can get some decent additional healing for an epic gem. Note that this works as a heal post revive, and can be stolen by Solanar. But I believe it then also benefits from blessings and other boosts.

Skill Adept

Legendary, Pentagonal Gem

The wearer has a 10% chance to prevent their skills being placed on cooldown during an Extra Turn.

In my opinion one of the best legendary gems in the game. From my testing, this also works for instant turn effects, such as on Gliseah. Many champions have extra turn effects, and with the ability to stack two of these gems, hitting the 20% chance isn't that rare.

Queen of Hearts and Gliseah are fanstastic options, given their extra turn passives. Imagine getting to ally attack b2b on Queen of Hearts. But this also works on mythical champions, such as Embrys being able to chain A3s in his alternate form to stack his ignore defense faster or help cycle cooldowns. Or instant turn effects from Shuzhen or Joan for example too.

Unfortunately, there aren't many nuker relics with Pentagonal slots, so mostly relegated for supports, but still very valuable.

In for the Kill

Rare, Pentagonal Gem

The wearer gains 3% Turn Meter whenever an enemy loses 25% or more HP. Cannot gain more than 20% Turn Meter in a single turn.

The only rare gem to make the list, but one that is surprisingly impactful. Paired with a multihit AoE champion such as Marius, this can grant a decent amount of turn meter allowing slower champions to cut in.

Also works great with Solo Spider Hard champs, like Arix, allowing for lower requirement builds to succeed.

Closing Out

If you have been caught off guard by a weird interaction in PVP, consider if it was the effect of any of these gems. Hopefully this has been helpful at providing additional information to help you sharpen your PVP skills and better equip your champions' relics for success.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions and happy to chat!

- Ja3

Welcome to the follow up from the initial clearing faction wars hard rosters post, where I will be going over gearing, loadouts, and presets that will overall help streamline your FW Hard experience.

https://preview.redd.it/aggcjutc32ah1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f8cb18a8f1f2db00081a5163f506ce8bd6e9afc

This post will be broken up into 3 parts: nukers, support, and auxillary gear sets. I have the content in video form if you prefer: https://youtu.be/vwS0XJySB8M

Without further ado, let's jump in

_ _

Nukers

Finding the right damage dealers for faction wars of either difficulty is always a challenge. With 15 current factions open, needing a top tier damage dealer can be difficult depending on the state of your roster. This is especially important for faction wars hard, where enemies have much higher stats, and boss stages are turn gated for 3 star completions. But there are some things to look out for that can greatly boost your damage output and your choice of nukers.

https://preview.redd.it/xvsqc56x42ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=faef0cb64b5ef60f67f027bb5392c9077b42db4b

But before anything, the most important thing you can do is max out your live arena faction wars area bonus. This is especially important because unlike the classic area one, it includes a 20% ignore defense boost, which is almost as much as a lethal/savage set. Of course the other stats like speed and the damage multiplier stat will also help.

For the first class of nukers, nukers with built in ignore defense skills will be a great choice. Think about in terms of the arena. Any nuker that excels in arena will excel in faction wars hard, especially if they have additional survivability from their passive, chance to evade, or just deal absurd amounts of damage.

https://preview.redd.it/1oypi0ni52ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c6667bb5c7aafff7dde935df4690bda8b9844906

Rotos is a classic example. Super old fusion, but has an ability that just ignores 60% of a target's def. Stacked with the arena bonus and an additional savage set, you are ignoring 100% of a target's defense. Against anyone in faction wars hard that you don't weak hit on, you can rely on it to oneshot.

In the same vein, any nuker you have a 6 star blessing on can be instantly elevated to a great FW Hard nuker. Because at 6 stars, crushing rend will also give you an up to 35% ignore defense for free. Even if a nuker doesn't have ignore defense in their kit, combined with helm smasher you can get to the ignore 100% defense threshold easily.

https://preview.redd.it/lptuelm362ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=6a54965b19cfe09e22faf281cbc17257d2ebdfa0

This is especially something to look out for in epics. Of course a legendary nuker with a 6 star soul is incredibly powerful, there are lots of epic nukers that can do the work. In the list include: fenax, infernal baroness, skullcrown, miscreated monster, siegehulk, so on and so forth. Always be on the lookout for a 6 star soul for epics as they can greatly boost your damage in a more accessible manner.

But that's great and all if you have good champs or good blessings, but what happens if you have neither? This is the 3rd category where I would like to introduce some of my good friends.

https://preview.redd.it/1cwnw7qk62ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ecad0da333fa3d9fc5d2fb6636f33efcabbfc4e

Modo of the Peal is my favorite example of overlooked champions in every other part of the game, but someone who will absolutely shine in faction wars hard. Yes, he provides excellent utility with his AoE stun, which has absolutely helped me in clearing out tough Ogyrn waves, but the ability to place debuffs is what I am after. If those debuffs are CC debuffs all the better.

Champions like: Modo, Chaguur, Basilieus Roanas, etc

Alot of these champions happen to be attack based nukers, which for the 3 mentioned above, I personally went out of my way to buy a 2 star blessing for each. This costs 60 silver essence, but is a big stat boost that makes a great investment overall. But if we are talking about defense nukers, you would have to spend an additional 120 silver essence for that stat boost which is much more costly. For that reason, attack based nukers in my experience are better to use.

https://preview.redd.it/bk2cs9nu62ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d987eeec27585fd203944e6c8ef2597ff7386b2

This one relic is the main way to elevate champions like Modo. Because Modo can place debuffs, he can stack Irethi coronet for an additional 30% damage. If you have the mythical gem Bloodthirsty Prowess (circle mythical gems are easy to "farm"), that is another 30% damage (although can and should be put on any nuker). Of course, depending on the level of the blessing, you can also stack Nature's Wrath for additional damage.

https://preview.redd.it/n5uddhr972ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=ef88f28a5b7fb3693a4ef0f13f05f6bc278be6bc

Gearing is probably the simplest part, I just throw on whatever set I have for my PVP nukers. Usually its some mix of lethal and stoneskin, giving that additional damage and survivability, and makes it easier since the preset already exists. 6 piece merciless will usually be better across the board, but my pvp gear is much faster, which is good for factions without speed boosters.

_ _

Supports

Supports are much more of a mixed bag, but I will start with revivers such as Pythion.

https://preview.redd.it/wpte5cv482ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=3e762a19c8e3135f88b94fcd1e30acc4c6b8158b

For any reviver for any faction, I use pretty much the exact same preset. I have this one regen set that I share across for everyone. This preset naturally has enough resistance to resist debuffs, but also provides passive healing to the one role that needs it the most. Not all revivers have skills that heal, so the healing from the set can be vital to boosting survival.

https://preview.redd.it/xwe1tp9b82ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=3e6612eb86c700ab07d1241e249cba10adc7eb3d

For additional healing, I like to use the golden elixir relic, which I use very liberally on many of my support champs. These two epic relics are relatively easy to obtain, but make a world of a difference in pushing stages where you may be lacking stronger champions.

For other supports, It's more geared towards boosting damage output, much like in general PVE, with 9 piece protection or 9 piece feral sets depending on if they put out more buffs or debuffs.

For champions that require high speed and accuracy, I'll just give them my presets for fabian for example. The goal here is to really just reuse as many presets as you would already have to make life easier when it comes to swapping gear around.

(for me, I pretty much swap gear for every faction, unless its someone that I already use regularily, so presets are a huge help)

https://preview.redd.it/pkhbo2gc92ah1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=cce1cc209dacee801b30cfc45fd3f6786ab74740

For the most part, gearing supports is kinda whatever, but I do want to point out opportunities for 9 piece mercurial to shine. For the most part, this set is relegated to PVP, but even in PVE it has some great opportunities. Of course, against any wave based content in faction wars hard, it functions exact the same, but even against the boss waves, it works against the minions.

This is especially helpful against the ones that apply debuffs (although in that case a 4 piece mercurial will do the trick), and especially against the ally attack minions (banner lords 21/sacred order 21/etc) which usually ignore defense in their attacks, and can hit very hard. Having a 9 piece mercurial set on a reviver can mean successfully completing the stage or not, as it is still the set that offers the most protection against damage.

Of course you can use it on nukers too, which helps for stages or factions where you don't have revivers. So just consider the angle it is useful.

_ _

Gear sets and Presets

Of course, you should use presets very liberally. I try to have one set up for every champion I use in faction wars hard. For the most part, you should be able to just use prexisting gear sets from champions that you already use in arena or hydra or chimera for example.

But, would you believe that almost every gear set can serve a purpose in faction wars hard? Especially in helping to clear some of the conditional stages if you don't feel like you have the right champs?

Here's a list of every gear set that I think is good to have on hand to clear random conditional stages:

- Cursed: 10 debuff stage

- Regen: survivability on reviver

- Shield/Bolster: 7 buff and keep units above 75% health stage

- Stun: x stun stage

- Toxic: 10 debuff stage

- Provoke: x stun stage

- Retaliation: counterattack stage

- Reflex/impulse: decrease cooldown stage

- Affinitybreaker: no weak hit stage

- Savage/Lethal/Stoneskin/Merciless: nukers

- Protection/Reral: supports

- Relentless/9 piece Merciless: take extra turn stage

- Mercurial: survivability

_ _

Closing Out

Gearing properly is a big boon to helping out with faction wars, especially for factions where you have more limited rosters or less OP champions. With the right gear sets, some of the more difficult conditional stages are still in reach to more limited rosters.

Just be sure to have presets set up, since swapping gear around will be a big part of being able to clear faction wars hard (and not hard), so the right presets will save a bunch of time.

I suppose there is still more to cover, but would love to hear suggestions from you guys on what you think is missing. Again, happy to help with anything FW related as you push for Polara, who got a sweet buff announced.

Happy Raiding

- Ja3

It's been a long journey but one that was on the horizon for a while for a while now. I had around 900 stars around the end of March (4 factions completed), and this was the final push to top off the factions.

Overall, I wanted to share my roster and teams for each faction and give some thoughts on some champions that helped me to complete one of the hardest pieces of content in Raid.

https://preview.redd.it/fkqbi1o38o8h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0366becfaee366dc6d38a228356a8b9a8ee2e64a

Looking back, FW Hard has honestly been an interesting balance of frustration, RNG, strategy, and enjoyment for me. For the "harder" factions where my champion selection was limited to complete the conditions, there were always combinations of lesser utilized champs and the right gear sets, and the proper ability usage and order of killing waves to solve a stage. Of course I might of had to run over a stage countless times, some taking upwards of an hour just to get the third star, but now I can sit back and relax while farming glyphs, awaiting the juicy Polara buff. But let's dive into it

Video format if you prefer to listen: https://youtu.be/R0acOJMwHIU

(quick note: For the most part, you can assume any Rank 6 champion was used/tried in HM FW at some point or just cursed city)

Banner Lords

https://preview.redd.it/t19pfu2t9o8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=e68a13b539b5d6728f6cb7763c9f3fb21a0c9a61

Difficulty: 5/5
MVP: Sethalia
Runner Up: Michelangelo, Edward
Stage I farm: Stage 20 (Manual)

For a faction that lacks good support unless you have Kaja or Marichka, Sethalia came in huge to help with stage 21, providing team wide full heals with a cleanse and block debuffs, on a 2 turn cooldown. With an impulse/reflex set, she is easily one of the best support champs in the faction. Faction wars hard is really where mediocre legendaries shine the brightest (not you Helior). Since Ursala's revive has a high cooldown, the healing came in clutch big time, along with the leech from Mikey.

Having multiple nukers with CC options such as Edward and Mikey really helped. Another cool tech was to use Ronda and spread the debuffs with Mikey.

Banner lords was my last faction to complete, but honestly I had all the champions. Sethalia was just sitting in the vault until I decided that she might be the key to finishing up the faction. Overall, I would say this is my weakest faction in terms of champions.

Barbarians

https://preview.redd.it/rjqbjzw9ao8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a3f19adb72a020f46a4febfaa20fbd46941abe0

Difficulty: 1/5
MVP: Oparadin Clanfather
Runner Up: Loki
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (full auto, manual round 2)

Oparadin is an amazing support in the same way Sethalia is. Heals, block debuffs, and a cleanse on top of that. You might notice me saying this about what makes a good support. Incredible for stage 21 being able to cleanse both true fears and block buffs, while providing healing and turn meter boost. It’s a match made in heaven.

You would think in a faction with Armanz, Loki wouldn’t find a spot, but Loki is a great support, especially for the Shadowkin unity stage. On top of that, a free 5-star brimstone goes a long way to helping speed up bosses considerably, don’t sleep on him.

Otherwise, Barbarians is fairly straight forward. Great fusions to boost the power level.

Dark Elves

https://preview.redd.it/90w28yhhao8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=d0341104524cdeb7ff902524e5244eb534fa5580

Difficulty: 4/5
MVP: Noct the Paralyzer
Runner Up: Xenomorph
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (full auto boss, manual round 1 &2)

With Mavara and Noldua being recent fusions, this faction got 5x easier, but I was still able to complete this faction before these champions were released. Funnily enough, I still have not slotted them into my teams since they break my turn ordering against the shadowkin unity stage. Noct was a big part of that. Insane poison healing synergies with Xenomorph and Mythrala, and brought decrease accuracy which is incredible against the bosses.

Xenomorph was a god send that helped bring a great damage dealer to a faction that had limited options. Otherwise, this faction has some pretty strong support champs with Mythrala and Lydia. Employing Mercurial on my Luria also helped to boost survivability when I had no revivers too, so always consider slotting that in.

Demonspawn

https://preview.redd.it/c06vmyfsfo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c197022a64b08f325c19a730d442daa2f24b39e

Difficulty: 2/5
MVP: Duchess Lilith
Runner Up: Infernal Baroness
Stage I farm: Stage 20 (manual, but could probably create an auto preset)

Infernal Baroness is a great example of epics that can shine with a 6 star blessing. She does some great aoe damage, and I use her as my secondary damage dealer. Great for clearing waves and AoE A1s are always appreciated. Her damage far surpasses someone like Heperak for example.

The combo of Duchess and Lamasu being able to cycle block debuffs and revives was my key to clearing this faction. Of course Karnage helps to trivialize waves by spreading block passives and actives, but lacking a cleanser makes things a bit harder compared to barbarians or banner lords. 

Dwarves

https://preview.redd.it/ajl7k284go8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=acbd365604f55f1c98031068478a8bb89e2bf587

Difficulty: 1/5
MVP: Senna
Runner Up: Underpriest Brogni
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full auto)

One of my more stacked factions for sure. A 6 star blessing on a legendary nuker makes faction wars a cakewalk in most situations. Especially paired with some of the best support champs like Senna and Brogni. If you haven’t caught on, block debuffs is an incredible cheat code for faction wars hard. But anyone who picked up Hilvi should have as easy of a time.

Hilariously, one of the most annoying stages was the freeze 10 enemies stage, as I do not have either Tormin or Hilvi, so I had to rely on Gnut A1s. A fun thing I remember about this faction is for the no weak hits stage, Trunda is really good at getting around it, since she can splash damage the waves with her A2.

High Elves

https://preview.redd.it/kwpa9dfago8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f675aa2af779d2a7afc83b037780b9784800fca

Difficulty: 3/5
MVP: Basileus Roanas
Runner Up: Galathir, Solanar
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full auto)

The roster really doesn’t do justice to the champions that carried me all the way. Yes I luckily picked up Galathir and Solanar which helped me to 3 star stage 21, but if you took those two out of the picture, I still managed to clear up to stage 20. It was hard until it wasn't.

Basileus Roanas is the poster boy of what a perfect faction war nuker should be. AoE stun, heavy hitting A2, and clutch vault champion that no one would ever touch outside of faction wars. Of course getting all 63 stars would be challenging if not for..

Solanar of course made 3 starring many of the later stages trivial. Kill enemies before they take a turn? One shot and turn meter steal. Kill enemies while under 7+ buffs? Self buff no problem.

Knight Revenants

https://preview.redd.it/fl583jglgo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=bcb5661195f55bc33c3443ac19b1036325f17f39

Difficulty: 2/5
MVP: Embrys
Runner Up: Walking Tomb Dreng
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (full auto)

No real need to gas up Embrys any more, but he is a beast of a damage dealer. Able to blast through waves by himself, while bringing in a full health against bosses. This combo with Dreng is pretty great, especially for the final boss, being able to full heal after the health swap and then have Dreng equalize HP was a great way to survive.

Shoutout to Rector Drath. Even though she was only a single target reviver, I had Krixia to reset her revive if needed, but I think there are other epic revivers too that can be utilized.

Lizardmen

https://preview.redd.it/t9t640htgo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=29860244a6d0b455cdf1a8096c2ce44359937821

Difficulty: 3/5
MVP: Chaguur
Runner Up: Quargan
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full Auto)

Despite having all the supports I could need, damage in this faction is a bit lacking, unless you purchased Predator. Chaguur was my MVP, bringing decrease defense, great CC, and functioning as my main damage dealer. Ramantu being the secondary.

I want to shoutout Quargan, for being able to bring a super flexible team wide buff and good heals. I got plenty of value out of him even at level 50.

One cool interaction with Chaguur against Jingwon stages is that the target that Chaguur counterattacks and sleeps will proc Jingwon passive, but will still lose their turn from the sleep. Really boosted Chaguur value too. 

Ogyrn Tribes

https://preview.redd.it/jg4xljbygo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9103b826c671075cc9b61cf9a0e249e6b9510ad

Difficulty: 5/5
MVP: Modo of the Pearl
Runner Up: Korugar
Stage I farm: Stage 20 (Manual, but could probably preset it)

All the op champs in this faction are unfortunately void legendaries (especially the revivers). Luckily, gear grinder was all I needed to complete this faction. I might have to take back my statement of banner lords being the weakest; Ogyrn takes the cake. (Klazaag was pulled post faction completion)

Like why Basileus is the faction war nuker poster boy, Ogyrn has their own with Modo. He completely carried me through this faction on his back, while providing stuns.

With limited supports, Korugar was actually very helpful, bringing in a cleanse, turn meter fill, and some additional survivability. Paired with Maneater’s block debuffs and unkillable, I was able to make my way through the last boss.

Orcs

https://preview.redd.it/0h4aysihho8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=59b6771f7b33208184e141042fc7bd287a63dc46

Difficulty: 3/5
MVP: Kro’khad
Runner Up: Taogar
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full auto)

The only faction I have the unity champ for, and boy did he help me to finish up the faction. And before the Kro’khad fusion, I was really struggling for a damage dealer too.

Luckily they released Kro’khad, and along with Shyek, I was able to breeze through fairly easily, but picking up the last few stars would be pretty hard without the unity guy.

Shoutout Taogar for carrying the revives for the majority of players who do not have Rakka.

Shadowkin

https://preview.redd.it/rm0kyvgfio8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=23d085242d83455c491f90bb5a982a08783827ca

Difficulty: 2/5
MVP: Jingwon
Runner Up: Kyoku
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full Auto)

Man it feels good when Jingwon is on your team and not the enemies’. Block active skills, buff strip, decrease accuracy are all incredible debuffs, plus the A1 stun and the cleanse passive. 

For a faction that had only Kinigashi as the reviver until recently, survivability was in high demand. Kyoku, while old fashioned, is still up there in terms of support in this faction. (Masamoto was pulled after completion of the faction)

Overall, having great damage dealers always makes a faction easier.

Skinwalkers

https://preview.redd.it/j1mnra1qio8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c28c17fcc3e6e7b9da956abc67f93936ac13a43

Difficulty: 2/5
MVP: Ukko
Runner Up: Steelskull, Ragash
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full Auto, Manual Boss)

For the faction with Marius, clearing through waves was a pretty easy task. But stage 21 is fairly challenging since Marius can’t really one shot the boss before the health swap. My supports with Ukko and Steelskull luckily provided me all the healing and revives I would need for this faction.

Shoutout Ragash. He would be a good nuker if only his A1 hit way harder, but still great support with an AoE stun.

Overall not too bad of a faction. Being gifted a strong void nuker is always easy.

Sacred Order

https://preview.redd.it/luh8ngdtio8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb9920ce3a9bfb52847f30842b130a1b8c45c2d7

Difficulty: 1/5
MVP: Lady Noelle/Sir Nic
Runner Up: Alice
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (Full Auto)

If you have been on top of fusions, this faction is probably second to Barbarians as being one of the most accessable, with incredible support from Lady Noelle and Sir Nic, and free damage dealers with Alice, Ezio, and of course Fenax.

Both Lady Noelle and Sir Nic were buffed, so having this powerhouse couple def made this faction quite easy. This faction also has some of the best epics, with deacon still making his way through my teams for additional TM and decrease def. I could see Shamael being used as well against the fears.

Sylvan Watchers

https://preview.redd.it/m2vr2etejo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=31f1ce59b782660ab97fe651da64ed464fbce714

Difficulty: 1/5
MVP: Elva
Runner Up: Ruella
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (full auto)

100% the most stacked faction, ripe with various support champions. Among them Elva, Niamhe, Glaciad, and Eostrid. Can’t go wrong with just elva though, if I had to choose just one. Cleanse + block debuffs, passive healing, and a revive.

This faction was light on damage dealers up until the most recent faction, but there are very good epic options. Ruella is probably the best, then Daithi and Pan are also good sub ins. I think Ruella does more damage than Ailil on stage 21, especially against the boss. Overall this faction is too stacked with new champs, which means that the power level is simply higher and makes things easier.

Undead

https://preview.redd.it/qh5msy5njo8h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=3606693cc2311d817fecefe3c022a4ca0c4ffbe0

Difficulty: 2/5
MVP: Rotos
Runner Up: Fabian
Stage I farm: Stage 21 (full auto)

Honestly a boss locked faction before I was able to secure actual damage dealers. I picked up Maria in her fusion, and then Rotos which finally made the faction a breeze. I was stuck on stage 7 for the longest of time, but finally managed a cheese method with Dark Elhain destroying max hp and husk dps.

But then being gifted two of the hardest hitting nukers in the faction, rounded out by Fabian who trivializes waves, and revivers with Siphi and Gorgorab helped to round things out.

It was hard until it was easy. Don’t forget to do your fusions.

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Closing Out

I think the biggest progression of faction wars are fusions. Whether its a reviver or a nuker to advance a faction, having a legendary champion is always helpful, especially given that newer champs are stronger than old ones usually. Once you get to a point in the game where you are going for faction wars hard, doing a fusion for adding a valuable champion to faction wars hard is a completely valid reason for doing it, even it said fusion sees no use anywhere else. I think champs like Noldua, Masamoto, the newest sylvan watcher all fall into this boat for me.

There is still a ton of info outside of rosters that contribute to FW Hard, including gear sets, builds, and then stage specific conditions. I may look to cover some in future posts, but if you have any specific questions about doing certain stages with certain champs, happy to help. Just remind me what the conditions are for the stage!

Happy Raiding

- Ja3

Hey everyone Ja3 here and wanted to share the results of the most recent Live Arena season where I was able to snag a spot in the top 100 as a F2P player, and share some of my experience and general thoughts.

https://preview.redd.it/1oai3i3l075h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=9741ecc4cc1c69772bc4ee57a676e60edfc4b600

Overview

Overall, the cutoff for top 100 was 1719, and I had a fair bit of margin to work with. In the end, I went 66% WR over 525 battles. Over the course of the 28/29 reset season, that would average out to roughly 18.5ish battles a day.

I think I hit 1320 (the highest reward threshold) around 2 weeks in with a mid 70% WR, but progressing beyond 1320 was a much greater challenge. But I am a big fan of the new system where you +9-9 beyond 1320, as compared to last season.

https://preview.redd.it/pptw42am075h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=d9a185da75221e924e7d7cdb2e16be7a5877b25f

Rewards

One of the main reasons I pushed myself to go for it was how much better the rewards are for top 100 compared to top 500. In the past few seasons, I ended in the top 500 fairly easily, so I made up my mind to try to go for a top 100 finish this time around.

In addition to what is shown here, there is also a cool profile badge that comes along it.

https://preview.redd.it/q8vbc31z175h1.png?width=2532&format=png&auto=webp&s=babeaa802d9d64b47be6184f3cfea87acd184fbf

My Arena Roster

This is probably what most people who stumble upon this post are curious about, and that is my arena roster. Overall, I have 15 champions that I would consider part of my roster, that are fully geared to my level of play.

However, 3 champions in this roster saw fairly little to no play this season, those being Embrys, Siphi, and Rotos, so it would be more fair to say that I had a pool of 12 main champions that I drafted with. At the end of the season as the meta progressed, I'd say I was drafting champions like Galathir and Marius significantly less than my other champions.

The champion that has surpassed my expectations is Mavara. Initially I had rated her fairly poorly, and passed up the opportunity to get her 5 star soul. But now that I have her, I have been picking her more than Galathir. She has a great speed aura, her HP rebalance works through Solanar passive, and she pairs fantastically with Niamhe. Unkillable is the best protection buff right now, and her passive is an absolute godsend (which I did rate highly).

https://preview.redd.it/jnrqvxbm675h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e86bc96f4a116aeec19b0ee83948a5ac99fc4a0

https://preview.redd.it/tmhpuwbm675h1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=963c86acb36e9a93ee7315f5c22c6ec97f0f9b77

Builds

I think looking at my loadouts, the first thing I am even surprised about is how few 9PC Mercurial users I have. Ultimately this just comes down to gear quality. I would love to have my Marius and Karnage in 9PC Mercurial, but it does not justify the sacrifice in stats I would have to make. Even among my supports, its very vicious who does my best Mercurial gear go onto? At this point in my Grim Forest farming, I am still in need of some good upgrades every rotation.

Even in the Mercurial meta, I questioned myself if Mercurial is truely the best build for a champ, like Galathir, and I think my final conclusion is no. One of the biggest drawbacks to Mercurial is how weak it is to Stormcaller on Marius, so I am testing out Galathir as a high res tank who can resist Marius's buff decrease in order to cleanse stuns off of my team. This was a fairly late change, but I think it fits nicely around him being able to cleanse.

The other fun things I want to point out is Perched Shadow on Sanguine Maria. This relic has won me fights by bringing additional consistency to giving me an extra turn on her A1.

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Lastly, I also want to drop some random tidbits on some random topics that I have observed this season.

First Pick in LA

The most important question, who is the best first pick champion? Throughout the season I seesawed on this question. At first I wanted to make sure I got Solanar, but then it was Krixia, maybe I needed to take away Marius in case of stormcaller, and then finally I brought it all the way back to Fabian.

If I were to aggregate every single player who has stepped foot into LA, I would say that Fabian is single handedly the strongest arena champion in the game. Fabian is by far the most common lockout champion, and to pick it is to deny it from your opponent.

Not just that, he can petrify Cruetraxa to remove the revive on death buff. He can fear revived champions, steal turn meter, and overall be an absolute pest.

Even though I own Krixia, it is much easier to build my Fabian for speed, given that I have a 6 star blessing on him, and he does come with a speed aura himself. As the season went on, I largely gravitated away from picking Krixia over Fabian, unless my opponent already picked Fabian first.

Legendary Champions Dominate the Arena

I don't think this is a hot take, but Legendary champions dominate the arena. Before mercurial came out, Mythical champion presence and power level in the arena were much higher, but now that balance has shifted. This is in part due to Mercurial giving legendary champions survivability that mythical champions had in their passives, but also in part to some absolutely bonkers buffs and new champions.

A large part of this sentiment comes from the last 10-15 void champions that Plarium has released, such as Bayek, Solanar, Tekton, Hekaton, Niamhe, buff to Cruetraxa, etc. Even older voids like Odin, Marius, and Queen of Hearts are still some of the best.

However, there are still plenty of non-void legendaries too, such as Donatello, Fabian, Gliseah, Mavara, Sanguine Maria, Paldrig, just to name a few that hold their own weight.

I think this has been an excellent direction that makes LA much more accessable.

This is the Lowest RNG in Arena I've Experienced

This might be a hotter take, but with Mercurial, the overall RNG factor of Arena has gone down considerably. No more polymorph, no more reflected wand debuffs. Lightning Cage also works so consistently to protect buffs that its hard to rely on removing buffs unless by Marius. Much fewer protection sets to gamble protected buffs or not too.

The only real RNG in my opinion is Predator, which is a different topic, but not one that doesn't have counters either. For me personally who plays with Maria a lot, there is some RNG factor in her extra turns too, but again can be fairly consistent.

Overall, I think this has made LA much less frustrating and given more agency to decision making and champion interactions.

Games are longer

Yes, games are generally lasting longer with the introduction of Mercurial, but not by too too much. Before mercurial, I could knock out 10 battles in 30 minutes. Now that might take me 40 minutes.

Agency is High. Like Really High

Ultimately this is why I am thoroughly enjoying LA right now, because I personally feel player agency is at a very high point.

What gear you equip on what champion matters, what champions you draft matters, the order of the draft and how you draft in response to your opponent matters, the ban matters, the micro gameplay decisions matter. And with less RNG from Polymorph and Wand, gameplay is overall very smooth.

At higher end arena, there is also no more roping, and matchmaking for me has been very consistent too. Despite having a considerably narrower champion pool than likely most of the players at my rank, I have not felt like that has been a very limiting factor, even when going up against stronger players.

Yes I do have some of the best champs in the game, through considerable shard pulling RNG, but that is a bit of a given if you do want to compete at the higher ends, or make climbing easier.

But in the end, LA is something you can get better at. You can draft better, ban better, and play better, which is all independent of your champs and your gear.

Signing Off

That wraps up my little experience and findings this season. If there's anything you'd like to ask about my perspective, anything discussion related about LA in general, or advice for your account, I'd love to hear. Thanks for making it to the end.

- Ja3