Arena Guide and Analysis

This guide goes over everything that will help in consistently winning Arena Mode and general information on the mode.

What is Arena Mode?

Arena Mode is the major addition to the 1.0.5 patch as the first kingdom minigame. The developers eventually have a long term goal of adding some kind of minigame to every kingdom. The Arena consists of a drafting period in which the player picks a common from a random 3, a rare from a random 3, and an ultra-rare from a random 3. These randoms are randomed from every unit in the game, not just owned, and will always be level 10 non-shinnies regardless of what your actual one is. Once all troops are picked, the player gets to choose hero weapon and reorder the troops into any formation. Units cannot be changed through the Arena, but unit order and hero weapon can be changed as much as you want.

There are 8 matches that must be won in order to obtain the top Arena prize of 400 souls, 1500 gold, 2 iron keys, and 10 trophies (gold and souls rise w/ armor). You also get to keep the resources obtained from each of the matches. Each match is a fight against another person’s team around your own level that is controlled by the AI. Between each match you can leave and claim your prize, reorder troops, and/or change hero weapon. Losing twice will automatically end the Arena. Losing only once currently has no difference in reward for losing 0 times.

Why play in the Arena?

Arena mode rewards are a bit low unless you can quickly complete Arena consistently in about 30-50 minutes per run without ever losing twice. Arena mode is also great for players that feel like PvP is too hard, for Arena mode gives much more consistent matchings. Exp armors are also good in Arena as it is currently the quickest form of exp with a good team. This also makes players that have a weak team but higher level to have an alternative to “PvP” other than going into the unbalance that can be present in evade matchmaking.

Tips

Pre-Match

- Put on your best soul costume if you have one. The best prize in Arena is by far the souls.
This guide goes over costumes if you still don’t have one yet or want to save for one: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368669854
- Remember your home kingdom mana bonus. This bonus works in Arena and will help to build a team during times of bad drafts. I usually prefer using a +2 kingdom for it will allow the use of 2-3 of the same color without too much restriction. Keep in mind that kingdom can be switched between Arena matches by clicking the X in the top right then returning to Arena.
This guide will help with identifying these if you are looking for a specific one: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=368046910
- Make sure you have more than 1k gold before going into Arena so you can still get gold from evading after the matches.

Picking

- DO NOT depend on getting ability synergy. Having all colors in the team is many times enough to win on its own regardless of the units.

- Damage and board control are major priorities.

- Pick around your home kingdom mana bonus.

- Keep in mind that hero is most always the first unit making first unit silence, mana removal, and entangle as great disables.

- The common should be picked based on which is the most overpowered and should try to match your kingdom bonus.

- The rare pick is usually the synergy unit for the common. Since this rarely happens, the rare is also the picking of the most overpowered, but with a slight mana restraint.

- The ultra-rare pick will be the hardest of them all. Manas will already be blocked, so the ultra-rare usually comes down to picking whatever does not cover mana. Very rarely it is better to pick an ultra-rare with 1 overlap if it is really good, but 2+ mana overlap is extremely bad unless gem spawners and kingdom bonus support the build.

Hero Weapon and Order

- Hero weapon is the most controlled pick of the Arena and should be utilized by covering as many colors as possible.

- Hero’s weapon in most cases will be the most devastating on the team, so having a single front tank of an ultra-rare is also an alternative.

- Kingdom can be switched during this time by clicking the X in the top right.

- If you are missing 2 mana colors, there are hero weapon that can use a mana and deny another.

- Hero is the tankiest unit you can ever have in Arena, so it is most always first slot.

- Do not put your squishiest unit in the back. Back shots will kill it too quickly if the opponent has it. The weakest unit is best in the 3rd slot.

- Last slot should have 2 manas. In many matches your last unit will be the last one to survive and needs to be able to win on its own.

In Match

- Target down the opponent’s strongest units first.

- Look for connects on the board that will trigger additional matches or move gems into extra turns.

- Be careful when taking gems around areas where skulls are at the top. Areas that have a X?XX or XX?X of any gem are also dangerous as drops have twice the chance to be in favor of the opponent when taking vertically. Checkered patterns are also dangerous in both vertical and horizontal removals.

- The main mana focus should be on either a disable or the strongest attack on the team. Another focus would be to charge a unit that can 2 shot a main unit on the other team.

- Hold spells when needed to make sure they don’t backfire or simply to delay a turn when needed. Turn delay can easily be done with low mana cost casts and holding for anti-backfire is usually for gem spawners, converters, and removals.

When to use costumes in Arena?

0-4 Win(s) Claim

Dragon Armor or best owned gold armor.

As of the Heavenly Dragon event, Arena now gives 250 gold at 0 wins. This is up 10x from the previous 25 gold. All gold rewards are also increased with break even at 2 wins even without a gold costume. And break even at 1 win with Dragon Armor. One of the greatest purposes that this gold buff serves is the ability to repack. It use to cost nearly 1,000 gold to repick a bad draft, now it only costs 750, and as low as 500 with Dragon Armor. Between this and the over gold increase with rewards, it is usually worth repicking a couple times until you draft a decently solid team.

5-8 Wins Claim

Celestial Armor or best owned soul armor.

Souls are by far the best reward from Arena. Every single soul win besides the first one at 4 of 25 is worth using soul armor. As of the Heavenly Dragon event, winning 8 times gives an additional 100 souls for a total of 400, or 800 with Celestial Armor.

During each match.

Lion Armor or best owned armor.

Each match in Arena give very little gold and souls compared to “pvp” and pve. This is mostly due to there being little control over picking gold, soul, and board control troops. This makes exp the most abundant resource from each match.

Optimized Arena Costume Builds

150 Gems

0-4 Wins: Dwarven Armor
5-8 Wins: Assassin Armor
During Match: Archmage Armor

250-300 Gems

0-4 Wins: Spider Armor
5-8 Wins: Spider Armor
During Match: Archmage or Spider Armor

300 Gems

0-4 Wins: Pirate Armor
5-8 Wins: Assassin Armor
During Match: Pirate Armor

300 Gems

0-4 Wins: Dwarven Armor
5-8 Wins: Lion Armor
During Match: Lion Armor

500 Gems

0-4 Wins: Celestial Armor
5-8 Wins: Celestial Armor
During Match: Celestial Armor

1,250 Gems

0-4 Wins: Dragon Armor
5-8 Wins: Celestial Armor
During Match: Lion Armor

Unit Analysis

Even after the 1.0.5 patch that fixed most of the common – ultra-rare balancing, there is still quite a bit of unbalance when it comes to Arena. The first tier list for this was done by MarcusGraves at: http://gemsofwar.com/forums/topic/first-draft-of-arena-mode-picks/

Common Arena Troops

Centaur Runner

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Accumulate mana, setup extra turns, and cycle damage.
Mana Color: Yellow
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Deals 5 damage to first enemy and destroys a row.
Comments:
+ It destroys, so all skulls do damage and all mana gems are accumulated
+ Can destroy rows to setup extra turns and skulls

Dwarven Miner

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 0/5
Role: Free gold, setup extra turns, setup skull matches.
Mana Color: Brown
Mana Cost: 3
Ability: Destroys a gem for 3 gold.
Comments:
+ Has a non-intrusive mana cost that can support mana overlap
+ Can delay turns easily
+ Has great board control

Fortress Gate

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 0/5
AI Threat: 0/5
Role: First slot super tank.
Mana Color: Brown
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Gain 6 armor.
Comments:
+ One of the only Arena units that can first slot
- 0 attack
- 0 attack
- 0 attack

Ghoul

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Can accumulate extra mana and matches based on RNG.
Mana Color: Brown
Mana Cost: 5
Ability: Destroys 7 gems and gain 1 attack.
Comments:
+ Can easily delay turns
+ Can get an extreme advantage with enough look
- Extremely RNG based

Glade Warden

Win-Ability: 1/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Remove greens from enemy control and to die.
Mana Color: Green
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deals 3 damage boosted by greens removed
Comments:
+ It can first slot to remove greens from the board for several turns after his death
- Arguably the weakest unit in the game
- Removes its own color

Goblin

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Quick single target damage.
Mana Color: Green
Mana Cost: 6
Ability: Deals 6 damage to a target and gains an extra turn.
Comments:
+ Has the highest single target damage capability in Arena
- Cannot skip a turn for board control

Golem

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Accumulate mana and reduce enemy armor.
Mana Color: Brown
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Destroys a gem reducing enemy armor by 1 per brown gem destroyed.
Comments:
+ Has the highest overall damage potential of any Arena troop
+ Benefits from targeting its own mana
- Ability becomes a lot less effective after the first 1-2 casts

Lance Knight

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Front tank or rear tank, setting up extra turns, and accumulating mana.
Mana Color: Blue
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Destroys a row, gains 4 armor, and gains +1 armor for every green gem destroyed.
Comments:
+ The viable Fortress Gate
+ Can cover pretty much any role
+ Best as last slot tank to protect from backshot
- Can die in 2 shots at first slot before it casts

Musketeer

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Headshots.
Mana Color: Red
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Deals 6 damage to a target.
Comments:
+ One of the most balanced picks
+ More of a “nothing better to pick” troop
+ Good for decent speed if other choices are bad

Ogre

Win-Ability: 1/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: The troop you ignore because literately everything is better.
Mana Color: Blue
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Destroys 1 RANDOM gem.
Comments:
- lol

Peasant

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 0/5
Role: Set up cascades, extra turns, and board control.
Mana Color: Blue
Mana Cost: 3
Ability: Destroys a gem and the 2 gems horizontally adjacent.
Comments:
+ One of the best board control troops in Arena
- Hard to use correctly
- It can take up to 10-30 seconds to think of a way to chain his ability effectively

Pride Hunter

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Silence first troop.
Mana Color: Red
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deals 5 damage to first unit and silences that unit.
Comments:
+ Hero is usually first unit, making Pride Hunter one of the best disablers in Arena

Priestess

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Protect weak allies and remove negative effects.
Mana Color: Yellow
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Gives 6 armor to an ally and cleanse.
Comments:
+ Great for troops with low survivability
+ Having cleanse can be effective against many Arena builds

Reaver

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Remove reds and do high amounts of frontal damage.
Mana Color: Green
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Does 3 damage to the first two units boosted by all reds removed.
Comments:
+ Only common that covers 2 colors
+ Can hit 2 units for the same that most only hit 1
+ Removed reds can set up additional moves
- Removed reds can delay cast

Rock Worm

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Attack infinitely, backshot the weaker units, and gets brown gems for color overlap.
Mana Color: Brown
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deals 6 damage to the last unit and spawns 7 brown gems.
Comments:
+ Can easily cycle its attack once enough browns are on the board
+ Last units are usually weaker
+ Only Arena troop that always creates its own mana color
- Not getting an extra turn for cast can give enemy a lot of browns

Satyr

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Quickly attack last unit.
Mana Color: Green
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deals 7 damage to last unit and gets an extra turn.
Comments:
+ Last units are usually weaker
- Cannot skip a turn

Scale Guard

Win-Ability: 2/5, 5/5
Speed: 3/5, 5/5
AI Threat: 2/5, 5/5
Role: Attack poisoned units.
Mana Color: Red
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Deals 6 damage + 6 if target is poisoned.
Comments:
+ Good speed if no other choices are decent
+ Ridiculously strong with poison
- Requires a poisoning unit to be anything above average

Serpent

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Poison enemies, create reds, and get extra turns.
Mana Color: Blue
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Poison first two units and creates 7 reds.
Comments:
+ Best poisoning troop in Arena
+ Great with hero weapon Eternal Flame or Summer’s Fury
- Very slow as its damage is based on turns passed
- Requires true damage on the team

Skeleton

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Create skulls.
Mana Color: Purple
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Creates 5 skulls and gain an extra turn.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that can create skulls
- Low HP
- Cannot skip a turn

Warhound

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 0/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Make enemy skulls useless
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Reduce first enemy’s attack by 3.
Comments:
+ Highest attack reduction in Arena
= Only common troop in the game that accumulates 2 colors
- Very slow

Zombie

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Get absurdly buff, deny skulls, and tank.
Mana Color: Purple
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Remove 6 skulls, heal to full, and gain +2 in a random stat.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that can max heal
+ Only Arena troop that can gain a random stat
= Doesn’t remove all skulls
- Heavily RNG based in the skulls it removes and the stat it gains
- Can be a bit weak before its first cast

Rare Arena Troops

Acolyte

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Create a lot of browns.
Mana Color: Blue Purple
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Create 9 brown gems and gain +1 magic.
Comments:
+ Great for builds that use 2+ brown units
- High mana cost for a spell that does no damage

Alchemist

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Gets a lot of gold, converts to yellows, and can block any color other than yellow.
Mana Color: Brown Red
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Gain 8 gold and transform a selected colored gem to yellow.
Comments:
+ Best gold farm of any Arena troop
+ Can easily get extra turns
+ Great board control
+ Covers all manas
- High mana cost for no direct damage

Archon Statue

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 1/5, 5/5
Role: Tank and high damage to healthiest.
Mana Color: Brown Green
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deals 7 damage to the healthiest enemy + 6 if caster is damaged.
Comments:
+ One of the highest single target attacks in Arena
+ One of the few troops in Arena that can first slot
- Can only attack healthiest

Banshee

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Restrict blue use, create reds, and deal targetable damage with possible extra turns.
Mana Color: Purple Yellow
Mana Cost: 14
Ability: Deals 6 damage to a target boosted by all blue gems converted to red.
Comments:
+ Covers both board control and targetable damage
= Covers 3 colors
- Highest mana cost of any rare troop
- Is not particularly quick in Arena due to most synergy units for it also being rares or epic+

Boar Rider

Win-Ability: 3/5 (5/5)
Speed: 3/5 (5/5)
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Board control and minor frontal damage.
Mana Color: Green Purple
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Removes a row, deal 4 damage to first unit, and gain an extra turn.
Comments:
(+ Currently has a major glitch that allows extra turns to stack)
+ Great board control
+ Only troop in the game that has a completely controllable board manipulation cast followed by an automatic extra turn
- The troop is situational and may need to waist or hold the ability

Bombardier

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Accumulate mana, cycle attack, and deal various damage.
Mana Color: Brown Red
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Explode a target gem and deal 5 damage to a random enemy.
Comments:
+ Only troop in the game with a fully targetable explode with 2 manas
+ Can completely replenish spell if only reds and browns are exploded
+ Only single explode targetable spell that doesn’t have to focus on any specific explode location

Dark Maiden

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Targetable poison and minor damage.
Mana Color: Green Red
Mana Cost: 6
Ability: Poison a target enemy and does 4 damage.
Comments:
+ Great at taking out high HP troops with low armor
+ Only targetable poison cast in Arena mode
+ Great with true damage troops
+ Lowest mana cost for any troop that does damage and is capable of skipping a turn

Deep Borer

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Accumulate mana and create browns.
Mana Color: Blue Red
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Destroys a column and creates 7 brown gems.
Comments:
+ Has the best chance to get an extra turn of any brown gem spawner in Arena
+ Can potentially get all of its mana back on cast

Dryad

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Create greens and keep all troops alive.
Mana Color: Blue Yellow
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Heal an ally for 8 and create 6 green gems.
Comments:
+ 8 heal is pretty much full heal for many troops in Arena

Dwarf Lord

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: High frontal damage.
Mana Color: Blue Brown
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deal 8 damage to first enemy + gain 4 armor if enemy dies.
Comments:
+ Great second slot
- Hero is usually first making it rare for extra armor to be obtained

Frost Giant

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Let skull accumulate to deal high amounts of damage.
Mana Color: Blue Yellow
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deals damage to a random unit at 4 + gain 1 damage for every skull on the board.
Comments:
+ Can be extremely devastating with good board control
- Random target will usually make it overkill weak enemies

Goblin Shaman

Win-Ability: 4/5 (6/5)
Speed: 2/5 (4/5)
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Safely creates green gems.
Mana Color: Brown Purple
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Create 8 green gems and gain an extra turn.
Comments:
(+ Currently has a major glitch that allows extra turns to stack)
+ Highest amount of spawning accompanied with an automatic extra turn in the game

Griffon Knight

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Create yellow gems while still doing damage.
Mana Color: Blue Brown
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deals 8 damage to a random enemy and creates 7 yellow gems.
Comments:
+ One of the highest damaging gem spawners in Arena
-May have to hold its cast to make sure the yellows land correctly

Hippogryph

Win-Ability: 1/5
Speed: 3/5, 5/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Deals extremely high skull damage and can hit for a lot accompanied with entangle.
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deals 6 damage to an enemy that is doubled if target is entangled.
Comments:
+ Tied at the highest base attack in Arena with 8
- Dependent on entangle
- 7 HP and 2 armor

Mist Stalker

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Back tank and last hitter.
Mana Color: Purple Red
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deals 6 damage and heals for 10 if taget dies.
Comments:
+ One of the only Arena troops that can defend and do targetable offense
- The troop only has a base HP of 9 unless assisted with other abilities
- Mana cost is extremely high for the amount of damage

Night Terror

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Last hitter.
Mana Color: Purple Red
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deal 4 damage to the weakest enemy boosted by all blues removed.
Comments:
+ One of the best last hitting troops in Arena
= Covers 3 manas

Nymph

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 0/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Disable enemy skull use.
Mana Color: Purple Yellow
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Entangle an enemy.
Comments:
+ Only targetable entangle in the game
+ Easy to bait AI into pointless moves
- High cost for something that has a 20% chance of doing nothing

Owlbear

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Reduce enemy skull efficiency and decent damage.
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deal 7 damage and reduce attack by 2 of a chosen enemy.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that does both damage and attack reduction

Paladin

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 4/5, 1/5
AI Threat: 5/5, 0/5
Role: Deal high amounts of damage and hope AI does not hit it.
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 11
Ability: Deal 2 damage to an enemy with +1 for every point of armor on Paladin (base 10).
Comments:
+ One of the highest single target casts for Arena troops
- Becomes near useless after taking any physical damage
- There are very few armor boosting troops in Arena, but many armor reducing

Pegasus

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Remove yellows and backshot.
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deal 2 damage to the last enemy boosted by yellows removed.
Comments:
= Does not excel at anything

Poison Master

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Poison and accumulate mana.
Mana Color: Blue Purple
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Explode a targeted green gem and poison a random enemy.
Comments:
= Is not a poison master
- Poison is randomly targeted, so it does nothing if the same target is hit
- Explosion is restricted to greens only
- Cannot explode if no greens are present
- Costs way too much mana for what it does

Revenant

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Deny skulls and gain high attack.
Mana Color: Purple Red
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Gain 3 attack boosted by all skulls removed.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that removes all skulls
= Will delay match to the point that it 1 shots everything
- Very low HP

Rex Warrior

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Deny blues and gain high attack.
Mana Color: Blue Red
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Gain 2 attacked boosted by all blues removed.
Comments:
= Alternate version of Revenant

Rhynax

Win-Ability: 1/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Killing enemies with 1 HP.
Mana Color: Brown Green
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deals 5 damage to a target and 1 damage to the 2 adjacent troops.
Comments:
+ Decent HP
- Ability does only 5 damage for 10 mana cost if no targets are adjacent
- 1 damage will very rarely kill a unit and a unit still has to be adjacent to it as well

Sabertooth Lion

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Last hit all enemies.
Mana Color: Blue Green
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Deal 7 damage to a target and gain 2 magic if the target dies.
Comments:
+ Great with other targetable damage
+ Particularly good in Arena for it is likely that 3/4 enemies are easy pickoffs for 2 high damage attacks
+ Best “on death” bonus of any troop in Arena

Siren

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Cycle attack or create mana for other troop.
Mana Color: Green Purple
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Deal 4 damage to a target and create 9 gems of target troop’s color
Comments:
+ Can loop its attack with good board setup
+ Only troop in Arena that can potentially make every mana color in the game
= Basically a targetable Rock Worm with extremely high mana cost

Star Gazer

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Raise attack of carry and semi-tank
Mana Color: Green Purple
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Give a target unit 3 attack boosted by all blues removed.
Comments:
+ Great survivability
+ Only troop in Arena that can raise another’s attack
= Covers 3 mana colors

Steam Turret

Win-Ability: 1/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Kill weak units with spread damage.
Mana Color: Brown Yellow
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Deal 8 damage randomly distributed across enemies.
Comments:
- Low HP
- High mana cost
- Only spread damage troop in the game that has no “boosted by”

Templar

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Deny reds, create greens, and defend team.
Mana Color: Blue Brown
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Give all allies 2 armor boosted by reds converted to greens.
Comments:
+ Can easily keep an entire team alive
+ Counters full AoE attacks
+ Reds are one of the most common colors in Arena due to Eternal Flame and Summer’s Fury hero weapons
= Covers 3 colors

Valkyrie

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Free souls, converts to blues, and can deny any color other than blues.
Mana Color: Red Yellow
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Gain 3 souls and convert all of a selected color to blue.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that gives bonus souls
+ Great board control
+ Can easily get extra turns
+ Covers all mana
- High mana cost for no direct damage

Vampire Lord

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 4/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Kill low HP toops, remove reds, and late game tank.
Mana Color: Red Yellow
Mana Cost: 13
Ability: Gain 4 HP and deal 4 true damage to a target boosted by all reds removed.
Comments:
+ Potentially highest true damage dealing troop in Arena
+ Can easily one shot many troops
- Denies one of its own colors
- Very high mana cost

Warlock

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Remove purples and deal a lot of single target damage.
Mana Color: Blue Brown
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deals 5 damage boosted by purples removed.
Comments:
+ Very high single target damage
= Covers 3 colors

Wight

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Tank, kill low HP troops, and create purple gems.
Mana Color: Blue Red
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deal 5 true damage to a target, gain 5 HP, and create 5 purple gems.
Comments:
+ Great second troop
+ Lowest mana cost of any true damage that has a chance for an extra turn
+ Only troop that still has both true damage and life gain linked to magic
- Low base HP

Wolf Knight

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Kill injured enemies.
Mana Color: Brown Yellow
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Deal 4 true damage to a target + 3 additional true damage if target is injured.
Comments:
+ Quickest true damage cast in the game
+ Highest reliable true damage of any Arena troop
- Only true damage Arena troop that gains no HP

Ultra-Rare Arena Troops

Ancient Horror

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Last hit units for high attack.
Mana Color: Brown Purple
Mana Cost: 10
Ability: Deal 7 damage to a target and gain 3 attack if the target dies.
Comments:
+ Tied at highest base attack in Arena

Berserker

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Carry in second slot or high attack tank.
Mana Color: Blue Red
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Deal 3-12 damage to a target, deal 2 damage to self, and gain 4 attack.
Comments:
+ Highest HP in the game
+ Can easily have 11 or 15 attack after first troop dies
+ Is versatile and can be used as first slot tank
- Ability damage is inconsistent for last hitting

Black Beast

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 1/5
Role: Kill weak allies to stack up damage and single unit powerhouse.
Mana Color: Brown Green
Mana Cost: 13
Ability: Devour an ally, heal to max, and gain all of the attack, armor, and HP of the target.
Comments:
+ Best skull user in Arena
+ Best first or second slot in Arena
+ Can easily 1 shot most units
- Ability is useless after all allies have died
- Can be hard to use properly

Blade Dancer

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Does high amounts of spread damage.
Mana Color: Green Yellow
Mana Cost: 11
Ability: Deal 7 damage distributed randomly among enemies boosted by 1 for every 2 armor on the opposing team.
Comments:
+ Its first cast has the highest damage potential of any troop in Arena
+ It gets weaker as armor goes down, but more powerful as more troops die

Blast Cannon

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Silence and last resort win.
Mana Color: Brown Red
Mana Cost: 14
Ability: Deal 8 damage to a random enemy and silence the target.
Comments:
+ Only Arena troop that can silence
+ One of the most durable troops in Arena
+ Great back tank as it will rarely lose a 1:1 due to silence

Chimera

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Disable, delay, and damage the healthiest enemies.
Mana Color: Green Red
Mana Cost: 15
Ability: Deal 6 damage, poison, and entangle the healthiest enemy.
Comments:
+ Hero is pretty much always going to be the first cast target, and is most commonly first slot
- Very high cost if the target is already entangled and poisoned
- Very low survivability for an ultra-rare

Flame Cannon

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Deal damage to all enemies.
Mana Color: Red Yellow
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Deal 4 damage to all enemies
Comments:
+ One of the highest overall damage dealing troops
- Deals a lot less damage for every troop missing
- Low HP

Flesh Golem

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 0/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Second unit tank, disable enemy skull use, and lore enemy into bad skull takes.
Mana Color: Purple Red
Mana Cost: 14
Ability: Gain 4 HP, entangle first enemy, and shuffle the board.
Comments:
+ Great in combination with other board control units
- May have to hold ability for a good time to shuffle
- Very slow

Giant Spider

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 5/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Damage all, purple gem spawner, and chance for extra turns.
Mana Color: Blue Green
Mana Cost: 8
Ability: Creates 6 purple gems and deals 3 damage to all enemies.
Comments:
+ One of the highest overall damage dealing troops
+ Highest overall damage for any Arena troop that has a chance for extra turn

Grave Knight

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 5/5, 1/5
AI Threat: 4/5
Role: Disable the armor of all enemies.
Mana Color: Brown Purple
Mana Cost: 11
Ability: Remove all armor from a target and deal 3 damage.
Comments:
+ Basically makes all attacks after his attack into true damage
+ Will do extremely high amounts of damage to hero
- Low HP
- Does basically no damage once all armor from enemy is depleted

Herdmaster

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Accumulate mana and keep allies cleansed.
Mana Color: Purple Yellow
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Explode 4 random yellow gems and cleanse all allies.
Comments:
+ Best mana accumulating unit in Arena
+ Only unit in the game with cleanse all
+ Explodes a color that it uses
- Very low durability for an ultra-rare
- Does nothing if no yellows are on the board

Knight Coronet

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Deal high amounts of frontal damage and deny purples.
Mana Color: Blue Yellow
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Deal 4 damage to the first 2 troops boosted by all purples removed.
Comments:
+ Is well rounded in all aspects
+ Can easily multi-kill in combination with Reaver, full AoE, and spread damage attacks
= Covers 3 mana colors

Lamia

Win-Ability: 2/5
Speed: 1-4/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Deal questionable damage to questionable targets.
Mana Color: Blue Red
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Picks a random enemy unit that will then attack the 2 adjacent units.
Comments:
+ Has the potential to do decent damage
- Extremely inconsistent
- If nothing is next to the random target or only one unit is left, it does nothing

Sacred Guardian

Win-Ability: 5/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Damaging tank.
Mana Color: Brown Yellow
Mana Cost: 11
Ability: Deals 6 damage to a target and gains 6 armor.
Comments:
+ Very high durability
+ Will rarely die if placed anywhere other than first slot

Spider Queen

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
AI Threat: 5/5
Role: Keep enemy from casting while depleting armor.
Mana Color: Green Purple
Mana Cost: 9
Ability: Reduces target’s armor by 5 and drains mana.
Comments:
+ Best mana drain in the game
+ Can easily keep a large majority of a team from casting
+ Tied at highest base attack in Arena
- Low survivability

Stone Giant

Win-Ability: NO/Nope
Comments:
- I am not even going to justify an analysis until it gets buffed.

Treant

Win-Ability: 4/5
Speed: 2/5
AI Threat: 3/5
Role: Second troop carry.
Mana Color: Blue Green
Mana Cost: 12
Ability: Gains 3 armor and attack both boosted by browns removed.
Comments:
+ The best troop buff in Arena
= Covers 3 mana colors

War Sphinx

Win-Ability: 3/5
Speed: 1/5
AI Threat: 2/5
Role: Makes sure the board is always favorable.
Mana Color: Blue Purple
Mana Cost: 7
Ability: Shuffles the board and gains an extra turn.
Comments:
+ Only troop in the game that has a shuffle + extra turn in combination
= Requires a lot of the same gem type to be on the board
- Hard to use correctly

Weapon Analysis

Due to a major upcoming weapon rebalancing some time from now to the 1.0.6 patch, I will refrain from doing weapons until they get modified.

Arena Gameplay Example

0 Loss Teams

Leave a Steam link to a screenshot of a winning Arena team in the comments section and I will put it under the 0 loss or 1 loss categories so that others have an idea of possible winning teams.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410297415
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=417600088
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416012964
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=401127889
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402285929
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402708218
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402784985
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405003118
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405091827
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=405154052

1 Loss Teams

Leave a Steam link to a screenshot of a winning Arena team in the comments section and I will put it under the 0 loss or 1 loss categories so that others have an idea of possible winning teams.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=417600239
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=399505950
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=399013345
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402285902
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402574277
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402649802
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=402784964
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=403143838
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=403466612
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=397313835&tscn=1425150067

Please like and favorite if you found this guide helpful. <3

[LastChans]

Yeesh, sorry for 18-month necro <_<

heh, sorry to necro this guide (still a good guide, don't get me wrong!) but it's the only decent hit i've found when searching Arena in Steam discussion.

according to the settings in-game, the current version is 3.3.0.8; has anything changed regarding the pool of Common / Rare / Ultra-Rare troops? I'd like to try my hand at Arena and don't know if anything's changed since you've made your guide.

Thought I'd try here first before the GoW forums :D

[777]

Best way to get gems (without paying real $) now is guild tasks. Cheap way to get some each week.
Not sure if there's a way to join a specific guild by name, but you could join us: 7 Gems.
Or contact me in game, invite code 7SEVEN7, and I'll invite you.

[That_Droid_R2]

Hey Tacet, what is the best way that you have found to get the diamonds on the pc version. I know my friend who plays the game on xbox gets them often because they have general gameplay tasks that reward diamonds for completing them but the pc version doesn't have them and the only way I've found to get them is treasure maps which reward 2-5 per use and the diamonds are used to get the best troops besides event chests.

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=509307426

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507921077

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507672248

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507573929

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507373283

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=507079591

[Razorbak86]

8-0 Team: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=506962907