Guide

Arena- Guide from Mariowammer
The Symbol across the hero to indicate how good they are on a late game (Frozen Land or later) arena team:

-  : Don't bother putting this unit on an arena team. They might be useful for quests, but for the arena they either aren't very good or there's someone who does their job much better.

+  : Pretty decent arena unit. There is probably a better unit for most situations, but that unit may be hard to obtain. Add these units to your arena team if you don't have anybody better, or if you personally prefer to use them.

= :  Arena team staples. These units should be in almost every arena team, provided you have room. If you're not using these units, you better have a really good reason for doing so.

PART 1: FRONTLINE

Warrior: +

At the beginning of the game, he is probably your worst hero. He doesn't do damage like Sagittarii, and can't tank like Mercenary. However, should you spend the time and effort to bring him to 5 star saint tier, he's incredible. After the update, his special rips through your opponent's entire team consistently.

Bottom Line: 4 saint wings is a LOT. If you have many 5 star saints, he might be worth your time. Otherwise, spend your 4 saint wings to take two 3 star heroes to 5 star.

Mercenary: -

In terms of late game power, he's simply outclassed by warrior. Their raw stats are similar, but his special's damage hits for much less than Warrior. The chance to stun is nice, but it's not all that impactful.

Bottom Line: He may last longer on your initial team than Warrior, but once you bench him for the first time, don't ever bring him back.

Crusader: -

Fairly average statwise, with a very strong special compared to most units you have access to by the time you can get him. Later on, he gets countered in the arena by Phoenix, because his special will miss roughly half of his targets.

Bottom Line: He's essentially a worse Necromancer. He's not quite good enough for questing or the arena to be worth your gems.

Dark Rider: +

By far the best hero out of the first group of tavern heroes. He's the tankiest hero you'll have until you manage to get Felix, and will carry you throughout much of Greenland. He's not bad at buying your team extra time in the arena, either.

Bottom Line: Get him. Immediately. But once your team is tanky enough to survive without him, his mediocre damage isn't worth your time. Don't ever consider spending saint wings on him, unless you're running some sort of tanky stall team in the arena (something like Felix/Dark Rider/Bishop/Phoenix)

Widow Judith: -

Judith is... different. She's borderline useless in quests, as it's hard to keep her alive, and her special attack is usually too much overkill to be of much use. In the arena, she faces largely the same problem. However, she does excel at one thing - killing huge frontline units. She's pretty much the only way to kill Felix without his skill going off, short of silencing him.

Bottom Line: I wouldn't bother with her. She may be fun, but she's not good. She can be situationally useful in dispatching Felix/Kalari/Void Hailer in the arena, but she's way too inconsistent to perform this job well.

Queen Teuta: =

Queen Teuta might just be the scariest unit in the game right now. (Note that I didn't say the best!) Nothing will make you ragequit an arena match faster than seeing an enemy queen immediately activate at the start of a match. While she can be a little inconsistent and slightly squishy compared to top tier arena units, few have the power to (literally) turn the tide of an arena match as quickly as she can.

Bottom Line: Get her and put her in your team. And probably bring her to 5 star, too.

Lancelot: +

One of the biggest mistakes I personally made is not getting Lancelot earlier. With his special, he can 1v2 or even 1v3 any set of melee units not named Kalari. His only downside is that he can be taken down pretty quickly by backline units. With a strong Felix by his side to protect him and kill enemy backlines, he's unparalled in his ability to clean up a fight.

Bottom Line: Probably the first 250 gem hero you should get. Helps you significantly in obtaining your Felix. Maybe not the best hero to get to 5 star, but he will certainly be worth your time.

Lancer Ilyana: +

A very good unit all around. Unfortunately, most people don't pick her up as it's more important to get Lancelot so you can get Felix. In the arena, I'd say she has a slight edge over Lancelot. Her special is pretty incredible - at 5 stars, she can oneshot weak backlines. In addition, by the time you can get her, you'll start to see a lot of Phoenixes in the arena, and she's the only hero who can break its shield.

Bottom Line: She's an extremely strong hero, but unfortunately you'll probably be forced to miss out on her in favor of Lancelot and Phoenix. If you do get her, however, she won't disappoint.

1st Felix: =

Felix is the core of every single arena team. If you don't have him, you probably can't beat anyone who does. All around, he's the most important unit in the game. His special is almost always enough to single handedly eliminate a backline, and if your opponent doesn't have a silence, there's pretty much nothing they can do about it. He's also currently the tankiest unit in the game, due to his evasion.

Bottom Line: Do everything you can to get him. And once you have him, he is probably the best choice for your first 5 star hero. He's irreplaceable in every single situation.

Barbarian: +

He's an alternative to Lancer. All around, he's a very strong unit, and his special does very respectable damage along with a very respectable stun. However, his role on arena teams is usually overkill. Felix usually does a good enough job of killing backlines, and he's outclassed by Lancelot for fighting other frontline units.

Bottom Line: Those glowing axes look cool, but they're not quite pretty enough to make my arena team. His only place is on arena teams that like to be frontline heavy.

Necromancer: =

He's got one of the coolest concepts for a special attack I've seen in a while. He's a staple on most high level arena teams. His special does a TON of damage, even if it misses some units because of Phoenix shield or because he wasn't in the right position. Finally, he provides a hard counter to Void Hailer because he can activate even if silenced. He's pretty useless in quests, although he might be a monster in the gold mine, come to think of it.

Bottom Line: He may be an inconsistent source of damage, but he's too good not to have.

Queen Bella: +

One of the weaker units of the most recent update. She's essentially a better Judith. Not useful in quests, and only useful in the arena for killing massive frontline units.

Bottom Line: If you somehow made it to Frozen Land without many good melee units, she could temporarily be a good addition to your team until you get something better.

Kalari: =

Wow. How does all that damage fit into one hero? He slices through frontlines like they're butter. He's essentially an upgraded Lancelot. Give him a bit of protection, and he'll murder everything. However, for most arena teams, he is WORSE than Void Hailer. As tempting as it is, don't get him first. Void Hailer is simply way too good right now.

 PART 2: BACKLINE  '''

Sagittarii: +'''

Sagittarii is in the same boat as Warrior. As the other 1 star unit in the game, after 4 reborns, she's incredible. At 5 star, she has the highest backline damage output in the game. Why? Her crit chance is through the roof, and she can rip off 20k crits like there's no tomorrow. She competes with Mechanic for the best backline damage source. She does more damage than Mechanic, but is more frail.

Bottom Line: Like warrior, early on she's not worth your 4 saint wings. Spend them elsewhere, and come back to her when the time is right. '''

Bishop: +'''

Bishop is pretty much always on your team. He's invaluable for questing, and is also very good for the arena as well. He's really only replaceable on an arena team that already has phoenix and wants to drop him in favor of more damage.

Bottom Line: He's always there for you, and you should keep him around for a long time. You probably don't need to spend saint wings on him, however.

Lightning Wizard: -

I think many will disagree with me, but I don't think Lightning Wizard is very good. He doesn't do consistent damage like Sagittarii or Mechanic, and his special is outclassed by top tier heroes. If you get lucky, his special can do some heavy damage, however.

Bottom Line: He can help you out early on in the quests, but probably shouldn't stick around for too long.

Bard: =

The best 100 gem tavern hero in terms of late game power. 50% extra damage for your team is an insane buff, and gets better as your team gets stronger. Bard + Felix is devastating, and very easy to pull off. While he goes down pretty easy, when his special does go off, you'll feel the difference. If I had to guess, I'd bet that out of any heroes we have currently, Bard will be the only one we'll still see on teams 6 months from now.

Bottom Line: Hands down strongest questing hero in the game. Once you get to 7 or 8 slots and have Felix, add him to your arena team as well.

Princess Ella: +

Frankly, a good offense is the best defense you can have right now. Pretty much any job that would require Ella would be done at least as well by Bard or Ice Wizard. Her only real purpose is taking down hard quest bosses whose specials can destroy your backline if they're not protected.

Bottom Line: Unless you just have a ton of slots and can run a bunch of support units, she doesn't have much of a place on your team.

The Mechanic: =

Sagittarii's more economical and balanced older brother. Doesn't hit quite as hard as she does, but stays alive longer and takes half as many saint wings to become a monster. He'a a staple of most arena teams, and very necessary for killing high damage frontline units like Lancelot and Kalari before they rip your team to shreds.

Bottom Line: Very good for pretty much any situation. Worth your time to get him to 5 stars, even if you think you might want to invest in Sagittarii later.

Ice Wizard: +

Basically an Ella that does damage. She's more useful than Ella in most situations, but you probably won't get her simply because you'll be spending your gems on Lancelot and Phoenix instead.

Bottom Line: Very strong, but like Lancer, you'll probably just end up skipping her as well.

Phoenix: =

Phoenix is an absolutely fantastic hero. His special essentially doubles your defense, and helps your survive the ever present Felix and Teuta specials in the arena. His heal is quite nice as well. He's also different from Bishop in that he somewhat reliably heals your backline.

Bottom Line: Phoenix is almost as important as Felix. If you don't have him, you'll probably lose to teams that do. He's worth spending saint wings on, but make sure you put at least 5 into your damage dealers first.

Winter Warden: +

Honestly, she surprised me. I had low expectations when I tried her out, but her special does very respectable damage and her freeze is very good - it happens a decent amount of the time and lasts longer than a stun. However, her strength is in disabling back line units, which is already taken care of by Felix and the like.

Bottom Line: Good, but was released too late to be relevant.

Void Hailer: =

Void Hailer is hands down the best arena unit in the game. He's the great equalizer - no matter how strong the enemy team is, if you have Void Hailer and they don't, you've got a solid 50/50 chance of winning.

Bottom Line: If you want to win in the arena, get a Void Hailer. It's as simple as that.