Infinity Arena 400 (v2.1.0.35)

With the Relics of Chaos released, I'm back to push the limits of Infinity Arena and help you do the same!

Introduction

408 Achieved!

Hi there! If you're reading this, you may or may not be familiar with my previous guides for Infinity Arena. Because the game changes with new content, I have created new guides with each iteration of my journey. I'll link the previous ones below for easy reference:

Infinity Arena 200 (v1.0.1.19)
Infinity Arena 300 (v1.3.0.18)

A lot has changed in the Sanctuary since my last guide for Arena. The Forgotten World released, adding 10 new monsters to the roster, some new items, and an increased level cap from 40 to 42. Even with the added power creep, breaching my former record of 312 would have been difficult and unlikely to go much further, so I opted to wait until the next patch. That patch has arrived: Relics Of Chaos. As a result, I hit the Arena again and set out to break new ground once more.

I'd like to give special thanks to Discord[discord.gg] community members SmugLookingGlowdra & mf3275 for suggesting the Rampede and Fumagus lineups respectively and helping to tweak and optimize them in testing.

Primary Frontline

The frontline of this team consists of a Dark Grummy, Dark G'rulu, and Light Rampede, exploiting Proliferation and Death Blow once again to do some serious work on the first turn, aiming to obliterate the opposing team before they act. Unlike teams of the past, this team is quite frail, which means leaving any monsters alive can result in the end of a run in the very first round of a fight. However, with glass comes cannon, and Rampede tramples foes like no other.

Grummy and G'rulu are both Occult and thus have access to the new Staff of Doom relic, which grants a significant amount of health, crit chance, and importantly, a 7.5% chance to apply a random debuff on hit. In trials against the multi-hit relics such as Assisting Bow, which grants 3 extra hits, Staff of Doom is generally superior. These two play the same role Fungi used to play in 300 guide: they simply generate a ton of combo and debuffs for the DPS (Rampede in this case) to exploit.

The tribe-specific relics tend to be the strongest but are relegated to monsters of a specific type. As both a Beast and a Reptile, Rampede has access to two of these. Coupled with Death Blow, a Shred from this absolute unit is usually enough to wipe the enemy team turn 1.

Grummy

Grummy looks to begin the combo chain in this team with its ultimate, Acid Hurricane, which is its only direct AoE attack. The more debuffs and combo in general, the better, but specifically, we want as much Armor Break as we can get out of this to fuel additional debuff application and combo with Broken Immunity.

Between Staff of Doom, Heavy Greaves, Water Symbol, and Lightning Sphere, we can usually count on Grummy to roll combo somewhere in the mid 30s. I've seen it go into the mid 40s before, and on the lower end, a combo of somewhere just below 20.

Unlike Fungi, Grummy comes equipped with Cleanse, which helps make those dodge monsters we used to have to worry about less of a threat. They still impede your debuff generation and combo, but all those buffs they tend to generate through Martial Prowess get stripped away. This is particularly useful for getting rid of Spellshield and Agility in those cases, as well as when they pop up from foes with Preparation.

When combats go to Round 2 and beyond, Grummy's role becomes reviving either of the other two if they're dead, or just attacking a single target as it has no AoE options outside of its already-used ultimate. Acid Rain is a Water move, so it still benefits from the Water Symbol equipped. In rare instances where all targets have the maximum Armor Break and Chill applied, Slime Shot can be used instead for an extra hit towards combo. In either case, you should be looking to target enemies that need more debuffs applied or enemies that need their buffs to be stripped via Cleanse.

If you are using the Alternative Backline containing Thornish, Arachlich, and Nightwing, aim to swap Grummy out on Round 2 if given the opportunity.

G'rulu

G'rulu acts after Grummy by unleashing a Solar Burst on the enemy team, exploiting Grummy's Broken Immunity to apply even more debuffs and combo.

G'rulu is built almost the same way as Grummy, with Staff of Doom, Heavy Greaves, Fire Symbol, and Lightning Sphere, once again to maximize debuff application and combo. G'rulu typically rolls in the mid 30s to mid 40s adding up to a total combo generally between 60 and 80 for Rampede to abuse.

Like Grummy, G'rulu comes equipped with Cleanse, for the aforementioned dodge and Preparation monsters. Speaking of Preparation, G'rulu comes equipped with that too, which gives Rampede a chance at getting some much needed Glory or Might while also generating a charge from the shift passive Divine Shield.

When combats reaches Round 2 and beyond, G'rulu's role becomes reviving either of the other two if they're dead, or attacking a single target generally with its ultimate, Ion Beam. Acid Rain is also available if you don't have the mana or plan to ult with another monster that round, but neither skill will benefit from the Fire Symbol's debuff application bonus. Even so, G'rulu can be trusted to effectively debuff and combo with these moves as needed.

Note that G'rulu can effectively run Fire Symbol, Wind Symbol, or Water Symbol with the respective move types depending on what it's doing in a team. In this case, we are utilizing Burning Heat and giving up some Armor Break chance for more hits overall. With Rampede having Multi-Burn, this ultimately allows G'rulu to combo just a bit higher on average than it would with Acid Rain. Ion Cannon works incredibly well with Wind Symbol, but we need debuffs spread out for this team to function, not all on a single monster.

If you are using the Alternative Backline containing Thornish, Arachlich, and Nightwing, aim to swap G'rulu out on Round 2 or 3 if given the opportunity.

Rampede

Rampede brings a lot to the table between its shift passive Divine Shield, the ability to bypass Earth Resistance via Earth Allegiance while also converting one of the strongest AoEs in the game (Shred) to Earth typing, and the ever-present Death Blow. Add the new relics into the mix, and Rampede stands out as what is most likely the strongest round-one glass cannon to exist.

We equip Rampede with Eclipse Sword, one of the highest DPS weapons in the game boasting a whopping 300 ATK and MAG in addition to 10% crit chance and 20% crit damage. There is the drawback that we take 15% increased damage, however. A Grim Ripper could be considered here instead for more bulk and sustain, but we're going for oneshots round 1 as often as we can, so Eclipse Sword is best in slot.

Next up is a pair of equipment: Reptilian Idol and Pandora's Chest. These items give you 2 and 4 buffs respectively at the start of every round as well as some other stats like crit chance. With 6 buffs from items and 1 from G'rulu's Preparation, Rampede starts battles with 7 Charge stacks from Divine Shield.

Lastly, we add the Lion Fang equip for more ATK, MAG, crit chance, a 10% damage multiplier, and even a 10% damage reduction. That's a lot of amazing things for one item, available only to Beasts.

Between items, passives, and a Predation stack from Ancient Predation, Rampede hits the field at 84% crit chance. A single Glory stack brings that up to 94%. 2 more Glory stacks will cap it out at 100% crit rate. Rampede can self-generate that Glory during its attack if it didn't receive Glory from Preparation and the aforementioned items. This happens via the Vicious passive, triggered whenever Rampede applies debuffs. It is able to do so via Seismic Shocks, and Critical Heat. Generally speaking, as long as Grummy and G'rulu hit at least 70 combo combined, Rampede won't have an issue doing the damage it needs to do.

As for single target options, when Shred doesn't get the job done, I opted for Fireclaws. Severe Cuts is another option, synergizing with Earth Allegiance and applying some Wounds, but it deals less direct damage which is ultimately what Rampede needs to do in this team. If you're unable to land a kill with Shred or Fireclaws, you can gamble with Power Focus; if the opponents don't kill Rampede during their next turn, that gamble could pay off to secure the kill(s) needed. Most of the time you'll just die in this scenario though.

Recuperate keeps it topped off on mana in case the fight reaches the second round. In that case, Rampede can either revive allies as needed (generally this means the fight is lost) or try to continue wreaking havoc if it can land a kill with Shred or Fireclaws. If any of your team is damaged, you can also consider using the ultimate Carnage; this will do slightly less damage than Shred (assuming you crit regularly) but heal your team for a pretty significant amount. That can help either with survival, score (to progress through more floors after the battle), or both.

While it is a small benefit, Rampede does also help Grummy and G'rulu combo better via Glorious Spark, in the event they wind up with some Glory from Preparation or Shared Glory. Additionally, Infernal Roar gives them more opportunities to apply debuffs and keep the Proliferation chains going.

There is a bit of debate as to how to perfectly optimize Rampede; I've posted what I used during the 408 run. However, you may consider dropping the Health Plus (which provides +10 ATK via 2x Life Overload), and instead running Anti-Cascade for a bit of extra survivability or even Predation for when you gamble on Power Focus. Do note that you unfortunately must take a Mana Plus node to afford Shred on round 1, as you have 205 mana and Shred's cost is 210.

If you're using the Fumagus Backline, you can switch in Fumagus as the DPS on rare occasion. This is particularly useful for dealing with Physical Resistance after Rampede cleans up the rest, though Rampede is usually more than capable of doing it himself at that point.

If you're using the Alternative Backline, switch Rampede out when it either cannot secure a kill or when Grummy and G'rulu are already swapped.

Primary Backline

First, let's go over what makes this backline of Dark Fungi, Light Diavola, and Light Fumagus function:

Fungi does what you might expect, simply applying as many debuffs as it can to generate a lot of combo and fuel Fumagus's Death Blow.

Diavola has the shift passive Mass Mystify, which as of this patch now applies its buffs to random allies as opposed to before where the buffs were only applied to the monster applying debuffs. This lets our whole team get buffed up by Fungi while Fungi delivers the debuff pain.

Additionally, thanks to the shift passive Supremacy on Fumagus, the Fungi generates a ton of Charge stacks on itself in preparation for the second round.

All 3 monsters have Multi-Weakness and an emphasis on that debuff in general, which lets them survive some pretty gnarly hits from extremely high level Arena monsters.

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This backline serves a different purpose from our backline in previous Arena guides. They're not here to bail out the Frontline; unfortunately, if the Frontline sinks, they're on their own if you opt to use this backline as I did. This backline is here instead to act as a counter for some specific threats: mostly physical-resistant enemies and Kongamato. Essentially, against a team that you're not confident Rampede can kill, you can use this Fumagus team instead. It's a bit slower and less reliable in general, but it has a better shot in many of the matchups that challenge Rampede.

If you're interested in a backline that performs like before, swapping to bail out the front line, I have detailed it below in the section titled Alternative Backline. I opted for the counter-specific backline instead with this Rampede team because of how frail the Rampede team is; unlike the old Troll composition which could survive hits in rounds 2 and sometimes 3 to 4, the Rampede team is very likely to get wiped out in the first round if they don't land a triple kill. If that happens, you don't get the opportunity to swap to your backline - the run just ends.

Fungi

Fungi functions largely like it did in my previous guides. It's there to generate as much combo and apply as many debuffs as it can in the first round. This has the added benefit of buffing the team through Diavola's Mass Mystify, and Fumagus's Supremacy lets the Fungi generate many Charge stacks to keep the pain coming on the next round. It always opens with its ultimate Spore Nebula.

With Relics in play, this Fungi is equipped differently than before. While it doesn't have access to the Staff of Doom, it can use Assisting Bow for extra hits in the combo as well as some health.

Heavy Greaves and Earth Symbol are used to increase debuff consistency, and we strictly use Earth moves now as a result. No more Beating. While we could equip Lightning Sphere or Poisoned Dart in the last slot, we run Toxic Pot to increase our Weakness efficacy; this team is intended to brawl the high level Arena monsters for multiple rounds, and we need Weakness as strong as it can be to make that happen.

While we could combo with Diavola before unloading Spore Nebula, Fungi has Combo Initiatior, so we actually want it to act first. It's not responsible for doing the bulk of the damage in this team anyway.

For round 2 and beyond, Spore or Leaf Slash targets for debuff application and combo as needed. Remember that on round 2 in particular, Fungi will have a lot of Charges stacked up from Supremacy, so it may be able to deal some relevant damage as well.

Diavola

Diavola pairs naturally with other Weakness monsters thanks to Curse of Weakness, and with the update to Mass Mystify, it's now able to buff the team very rapidly via debuff proliferation. While Diavola can semi-effectively proliferate-combo, we use it as a defensive shielder in this composition to lean into the Weakness stall strategy that allows us to defeat enemies by attrition.

Passives are geared towards maximizing defenses while also picking up a Bleed node for the occasional chance at utilizing Scent of Blood if we don't have bleed stacks applied through Thorns already. There's definitely some wiggle room to move points around here as well. For example, you could drop Heavy Hitter and Solar Rays 3 for Critical Consistency and Critical Base instead.

Diavola wears a Trident in my setup to maximize its bulk and shielding. Trident has health and more attack on it than Large Shield which both helps its bulk and provides larger shields, since Weakening Shield partially scales from DEF and partially from ATK. Hexing Rod is also worth consideration, though I preferred the Trident between the two personally.

In the accessory slots, we have the new Pure Leaf for lots of bulky stats and some debuff removal, the regular Cauldron for additional Weakness efficacy, and a Drum to further bolster Weakening Shield.

Diavola presses Weakening Shield 95% of the time in this team. On occasion, you may want to greed for an attack for Scent of Blood or use Armor Up to help Fumagus do more damage, if you know things are sufficiently weakened and/or within KO range. As an aura-tank, don't expect Diavola to "feel" impactful with its active skills. All of its power comes from passives and auras.

Fumagus

Fumagus doesn't gain much benefit from Curse Chaining in this composition, as other monsters apply the debuffs primarily, and Fumagus is just there to exploit Death Blow as a Weaken DPS, so we don't use Dark shift for it. We are Static based, so we specifically don't want to crit. That means Gray Pearl and Neutral shift are out. That leaves us with Light shift for Supremacy. At the upper levels of Arena, the resulting Charges aren't going to make Fungi a real DPS threat, but it can add some extra damage to soften enemies on occasion.

Fumagus comes equipped with Projectile Sphere for more Cascade hits and a healthy damage multiplier. Additionally, it uses Earth Symbol, Static Loop, and Warlock Hat for further non-crit damage multipliers and mana for Mana Focus and Mana Overload. I think the Earth Symbol could be dropped in favor of other damage items potentially, since we have no single target Earth options, but it functioned well enough for the purpose it needed to serve.

Most of the time, Fumagus is aiming to kill in 2-3 turns with the AoE Spore Cloud. However, it can effectively single target with Arcane Bolt in tandem with Cascade or Arcane Barrage if ult-usage is available for the round. Arcane Barrage offers a lot of shielding as well, so it can be used defensively while remaining a strong offensive option at the same time.

On rare occasion, you can switch in Fumagus as the DPS of the would-be Rampede team. This is particularly useful for dealing with Physical Resistance after Rampede cleans up the rest, though Rampede is usually more than capable of doing it himself at that point.

Major Threats

The #1 killers for this team are monsters with the Light shift passive Curse Resistance. It used to be an aura which reduced the efficacy of debuffs, but now it is an aura which gives a 25% chance to resist debuff application. That's an obvious problem for Proliferation chaining. If you see a Curse Resistance monster on the field, expect your regular combo to be gutted unless you get very lucky. That usually results in Rampede being unable to secure a kill(s), if you're at the higher tiers of Arena. Because all of the high-level Arena teams operate around Proliferation, there isn't much you can do except hope not to see it and hope to roll well if you do see it.

You can find the list of Curse Resistance monsters here[monster-sanctuary.fandom.com]


Next on the list are Physical Resistance monsters. Particularly Specter and Mad Eye as they will use MAG attacks on you, and those attacks will kill your Rampede. After 2-3 rounds of struggling against a wall of Physical Resistance while they're gaining Infinity stacks, and you're burning actions reviving teammates, their AoEs will just wipe you. We use the Fumagus Backline as a preventative measure against this at Arena level 250+.

You can find the list of Physical Resistance monsters here[monster-sanctuary.fandom.com]


As with teams of the past, anything that begins with dodge or that is able to generate dodge while being attacked can be a run killer as well. Just like with Curse Resistance, this ultimately cuts into the team's ability to combo with Proliferation, often leading to an untimely demise. Luckily, the Predation stack that Rampede starts with does help cut that down some on the actual damaging attack, and the purple pals have Cleanse, but your Proliferation combos will still suffer a bit.

You can find a list of particularly dodgy monsters in the Major Threats section of my previous guide here. The other threats mentioned there generally apply here as well. Instead of needing to be worried about all Fire AoEs, now you have to worry about all MAG AoEs,


Lastly, Brutus and Kongamato get special shoutouts for consistently wiping the team even in the low 200s with Ram Charge and Sonic Wave respectively. I opted to use the Fumagus Backline any time I saw Kongamato as a result, and I'd usually Fireclaws Brutus with Rampede if Shred didn't look like it would kill him. I did not test the Fumagus Backline extensively against Brutus's Ram Charge, but my gut says all the Weakness in the world is probably still not enough to survive it.

Alternative Frontline

While the Rampede Frontline has a higher overall damage ceiling and average, it is much squishier than this Alternative Frontline using Dark G'rulu, Dark Fungi, and Light Troll. In essence, if the Rampede Frontline doesn't land a kill or multiple kills first round, you can expect the run to end. That is not entirely the case for this Alternative Frontline.

This is largely the same as the team from my previous guide, except with the addition of relics and a slightly higher level cap (42 instead of 40). As a result, we've replaced one of the Fungi with G'rulu, though they share the same role here.

I've updated the skill trees accordingly and will include screenshots for those and equipment/food in the sections below. For more detailed information on how the team works as a whole, do check out the aforementioned guide.

G'rulu (Alt)

Thanks to the new Occult Staff, Heavy Greaves, and Elemental Symbols, G'rulu is better at applying the initial volley of debuffs than Fungi is for this team. Namely, Armor Break to fuel Troll's Broken Immunity.

G'rulu runs Staff of Doom, Heavy Greaves, Water Symbol, and Lightning Sphere in this lineup. Our first-round ultimate is reserved for Fungi. Troll doesn't have the Multi-Burn aura that Rampede had, and for the first attack, we want Armor Break applied as much as possible. Grummy doesn't have AoEs outside of its ultimate, but G'rulu does in addition to Multi-Armor Break. It uses Acid Tempest to get as much Armor Break out there as we can in preparation for Fungi's combo.

For round 2 and beyond, G'rulu can continue to deliver Acid Tempest (or Acid Rain) as needed, with access to Acid Hurricane in the ult slot if no other monsters intend to ult that round. Otherwise, G'rulu should switch out to the Alternative Backline members.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Fungi (Alt)

Our trusty "Peppa" the Fungi makes a return, filling the same role as before. She simply uses Spore Nebula on all the targets with Armor Break stacks from G'rulu to build combo and debuff count for Troll to exploit. Ordinarily, Peppa would want to attack first to use Combo Initiator, but G'rulu is more effective at applying Armor Break for Broken Immunity, so Peppa goes second here.

Peppa is equipped with Assisting Bow, Heavy Greaves, Earth Symbol, and Lightning Sphere to maximize debuff application.

On round 2 and beyond, she no longer has Beating since we have transferred to using all Earth moves with the Earth Symbol. Instead, she will use Spore or Leaf Slash as needed when not ulting or switch to the Alternative Backline as before.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Troll

Troll fills the same role it used to fill, as Death Blow DPS, now with the added benefits that come with relics.

Specifically, Troll wears Projectile Sphere, Static Loop, Earth Symbol, and Lion Fang to maximize non-critical damage.

It can cleanly wipe teams well into the 200s and even the 300s with good combo rolls by using Earthquake or the occasional Flurry of Blows, while Poison Eater, Corrosive Jabs, and the ultimate Boulder Toss are on standby for single target as needed.

On round 2 and beyond, Troll can either continue to attack if it is able to secure kills or start making the switch to the Alternative Backline.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Alternative Backline

The Alternative Backline is the classic Thornish, Arachlich, Nightwing combo intended to bail out either Frontline team after round 1. We use Light, Light, and Dark shift respectively now. There isn't much to say that's new about this crew beyond the addition of relics, which I'll go over in each monster's section.

Otherwise, for more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Thornish

Thornish doesn't change much beyond the addition of relics. We use Dwarven Crown and Moon Ring for some absurd extra durability, and Hood to offset the mana regen lost from those two while giving Thornish more of its favorite stat: health. Trident is still the weapon of choice for durability here.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Arachlich

Arachlich has access to the new Occult Staff, but since all the debuffs should be getting applied by whichever Frontline team you're using, Arachlich's job isn't really to be applying the debuffs so much as staying alive and reviving others.

As a result, it still uses Large Shield as the weapon, and Cauldron is still in play for the debuff efficacy bonus. We add Dwarven Crown for additional durability and Toxic Pot for even more debuff efficacy.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Nightwing

Arena Nightwing got a ton of love in the Relics of Chaos update. Not directly, but due to the relics available to it now.

Nightwing utilizes Tiny Pin for a whopping 20% crit chance, which adds to dodge chance for survivability, in addition to a 10% damage reduction, and another source of healing on hit to fuel all of its passive shenanigans.

In addition, we run Holy Necklace since Nightwing is capable of self-stacking to full buffs; now we can double the quantity! Nimble Wings is equipped for more DEF, health, crit chance (also grants dodge of its own through 2x Evasion), and a whopping 15% dodge. Lastly, Cursed Drum is equipped for more durability and a huge healing multiplier for Feast and Healing Shield payoffs.

For more details on this team's general strategy for switchouts, targeting, and more, see my previous guide.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I've had a blast running Arena over the years and playing Monster Sanctuary in general. I want to give an enormous thank you to the developers and community for this game, both of which have driven it forward to great success.

With regards to the Arena, I don't think I'll be pushing any crazy bounds in the future. 408 can be broken, but I don't believe we'll ever see 500 unless the developers surprise us with another update down the road sometime.

I think non-relic Arena records are worth pursuing still as well. While Relics obviously push things over the top, they also severely limit what types of teams can function that deep into Arena, as others can't keep up in damage or durability or both. Debuff exploitation was already very strong in Arena, and relics just pushed it even further. For non-relic builds, there are still a lot which can reach the mid 200s and probably the low to mid 300s. We haven't seen them outside of the 312 run I did a few patches ago, but they'll happen if and when people decide to push for it I'm sure.

I've tried to cram as much of my Arena knowledge into these guides as I can, but ultimately, you're going to learn the most by getting out there and playing it yourself, whether that be with the teams here or some of your own creation. Have fun out there, Keepers, and thanks for reading along!

[Bun]

It shows you had a lot of fun writing this! I like how detailed it is without being too long. Suggestions for your future guides: hyperlinking skill/item names to the Monster Sanctuary Wiki [monster-sanctuary.fandom.com] would be helpful.

[HedgieMage]

The Arena itself offers Reward Boxes which can have Relics inside as well as Arena Coupons you can spend at a new NPC right at the entrance to the Arena. Those Arena Coupons can be spent to buy any Relics you like.

[hexaflexagon]

Thanks for the AMAZING writeup. But. how do you grind relics? You have multiple copies of every relic - fastest way to grind them? thanks.