Aradia: The Empires and Puzzles Masked God
Empires and Puzzles’ Masked Gods have finally arrived and Aradia is featured. Despite starting this post on the morning of, I had to abandon it, only to return 2 days later.
And a lot can happen in a couple of days. I mean, the world has just taken a step closer to learning about Aliens with the announcement of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2023 (catchy title, I hope nobody’s got the Dot.Com).
By next week, anyone with a spare room could be hosting an annoying optimistic Alien teenager on a Student Exchange.
All up in your living room, telling you what’s what from their 3 months’ worth of experience on Earth.
Leaving crumbs and tea stains on your coffee table, talking about;
“You really should vote; the system works. Just pick from the Blue or Red party.”
All the while, secretly knowing that both sides ultimately answer to the real master of the Universe; her dad.
Anyway, we’ll leave the Aliens alone for now, or at least, until they come and give me a personal holla (no probing tho, soz).
For now, let’s see what in the hell I had laid out concerning the mighty Aradia!
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This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Aradia’s Stats and Special Skills (Wicked Witchcraft)
Key Facts: Fire (Red), Average, Wizard
Masked God Family Bonus: Summons a Mask Minion for themselves at the start of the battle. The more unique Masked God Heroes in the same team, the better the Mask Minion: 1 Family Member: Summons a Mask Minion with 8% health and 8% Attack inherited from the caster. 2 Family Members: The Mask Minion gives its owner +7% Attack while the owner has a Mask Minion. 3 Family Members: The Mask Minion gives its owner immunity to all Status Ailments while the owner has a Mask Minion. (These effects can’t be dispelled)
Special Skills (Wicked Witchcraft): 1. Reduces max health of all enemies by 570 (Can’t get lower than 30% of the original max health). The effect is stronger against targets with Boosted health (Boosted health is reduced by an additional 570). 2. All enemies receive 744 Burn damage over 4 turns. 3. All enemies get -75% decrease for any Boosted health received for 4 turns.
Passive Skill: CLEANSE ON MINION DEATH ~ This character is cleansed of Status Ailments when a Minion owned by them is destroyed.
Talent: JINX ~ +25% chance to deal +15% extra damage per each active buff the enemies have. The extra damage applies to both normal attacks and Special Skills.
Aether Power: COUNTERATTACK ~ Counterattacks with 60% of the damage received for 6 turns.
Is Aradia Worth It? (Empires and Puzzles)
First off, Aradia was ever so slightly nerfed from Beta. Instead of reducing the max health of all enemies by 640, she now does 570.
There’s also a tiny buff in the Burn damage; all of 24 HP.
I’m gonna cut straight to the bone coz I got things to do. There are 3 things I hope to shed some light on before I crack on with my day:
- What 570 HP damage/removal is worth Vs. Average Mana Speed
- What value ‘reduced max health’ has over direct damage (if any)
- What the Burn damage and overall build is worth
That’s it. Then we grade and head out the door. (wow, I was in a rush)
Aradia Vs. Average Hitters in Empires & Puzzles (1)
I went into the Field to uncover what direct damage actually means:
This is Khufu hitting my entire team for around 1000 HP.
He’s a Slow Hero with 1110 ATK (in this case), and his Special provides for 450% damage to the target and then chains through any adjacent Heroes.
This is Sobek hitting my entire team for around 650 HP.
He’s an Average Hero with 1206 ATK, and his Special provides for 290% damage to all enemies.
This gives us a good idea of what the 570 from Aradia represents; at least on the direct damage side of things.
Aradia and Sobek are quite similar in that Aradia will bypass most defensive buffs as she doesn’t hit but simply reduces HP.
This is Misty and she’s another great comparison Hero.
First, she reduces the max health of all enemies by 180 HP, and then she hits all for 180%. And together, in my tests, Misty hit all enemies for just under 500 HP each.
~Very close to the 570 Aradia gives us.
Misty also gives us a little Water damage (210 HP) over 2 turns.
I’ll drop this image here, but we’ll discuss it a little later on:
Aradia and Reduced Max Health – Empires and Puzzles (2)
I’ll be quick: (Man, I was in such a hurry)
Let’s go back to how Misty works:
This is what happens if Misty hits you later in the battle after your Heroes have already taken damage.
~You’re looking at the reduced max health grey bar, which doesn’t really affect the battle much at all.
And then you’ll see the 295 direct damage on R&N, which is actually impactful at this stage.
But the difference with Aradia is that her reach is far greater than Misty’s.
Those of us with Morax have a good idea of how useful this sort of figure is, even later in the battle (Morax reduces max health of 2 nearby enemies by 400 HP each).
But Aradia does it to ALL enemies, and for 570 HP.
And what excites me, is the idea of her going off twice early/or mid-way in the battle.
Even if she loses some value on the second hit, due to other damage already taken, that’s still potentially 800-900 HP removed from the opposition.
And wonderfully, the only way to recover the HP is with the aid of an OverHealer, something that Aradia manages with the rest of her Special.
I also fear what 2 Aradias could accomplish together.
~Taking 1140 HP between them and turning the battle into what will feel like a mismatch of 3-Star Heroes Vs Legendary Heroes.
Oh, and she doesn’t have to worry about getting through a Defense Up buff either, because she’s got a number assigned in the code.
Aradia’s Build – Empires and Puzzles (3)
Aradia is a modern Hero with modern Stats:
Atk: 887 Def: 859 HP: 1858 Power: 936
Compare that to the current HotM, Cinisia:
Atk: 883 Def: 729 HP: 1341 Power: 825
Aradia also has a bunch of very nice bells and whistles concerning Minions.
And Counterattack as her Aether Power may allow her to take on a more central role in Defense.
But looking at the Special itself…
Special Skills (Wicked Witchcraft): 1. Reduces max health of all enemies by 570 (Can’t get lower than 30% of the original max health). The effect is stronger against targets with Boosted health (Boosted health is reduced by an additional 570). 2. All enemies receive 744 Burn damage over 4 turns. 3. All enemies get -75% decrease for any Boosted health received for 4 turns.
…we see that the max health reduction is limited by the ‘30% of the original max health’ qualifier.
In my tests, a Ludwig with a max HP of 1939 could only be reduced down to 581. Which is the actual number a calculator gives you for 30% of 1939…
Fan-bloody-tasic.
Next, we have the ‘Stronger against Boosted health‘, which is reduced by an additional 570 HP.
Then all enemies get Burn damage worth 744 over 4 turns, -a solid amount when compared to say, Hurricane (904).
Finally, we have the extended control of Boosted healing.
And mushing that all together means, I’m sure we can agree, Aradia is a great Hero.
Aradia Says No To Boosted Healing! (Empires and Puzzles)
My Final Thoughts:
Aradia offers a definitive way to win a battle via the pure suffocation of her victims.
Normal Healers will be limited when facing her and Boosted Healers will be looking for excuses immediately on seeing her across the battlefield.
In fact, the sheer amount of HP damage she can inflict against Boosted Health gives me good reason to call her a T3 (in such battles).
Otherwise, like any Hitter or Inflictor, Aradia’s gotta catch the target first, and in today’s game, that’s not so easy. ~No one’s offering you their chin.
Still, I really like the potential and easy synergy Aradia could find, even away from Boosted Healers.
Aradia doles out (in most cases) permanent damage. And she does it relatively quickly.
And I think she could demoralise the average Joe in ways not yet seen.
As for team building, you could easily use her as the centrepiece to build around.
My main concern for Aradia is that she could have times when she doesn’t register an impact at all.
If the opposition has already lost 570 in health, and they don’t rely on a Healer anyway (so it’s a Bloody Battle to the Death (-Yes Google, that’s right)), then Aradia could fire and nothing significant would happen beyond the Burn damage.
And remember, the Burn damage from a first hit might do enough to negate the reduced health from a second hit.
Anyway, I’ve chatted for long enough. We’ve all got homes to go to!
You can see the damage output from Part 1, and based on the Specialist nature of the full Special I’m inclined to make her a T2.
That said, I suspect on many occasions, Aradia’s gonna feel like a T3.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
How would you manage Aradia if you saw her in the wild?
It would be so much fun if they announced the existence of Aliens next week/month/year…
Edit: I’ve received a lot of feedback regarding Aradia’s grading and you’re right. Aradia deserves the final Star.
Hero Grade for Aradia (Empires and Puzzles)
So for my grading, the question is:
Is this hero’s Special capable of/likely to change the outcome of a battle? Yes.
If not, do they still bring enough to the party to help defeat the deities? N/a.
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Deity ⭐⭐⭐
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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Thanks for the updates!
Thanks SKITO!
I’m surprised she’s only Diety-Tier 2 and not 3. I would love to get her for this level of max health reduction. I did around 100 pulls aiming for Aradia but got Fortuna (dupe, got her BF last year) and Cel instead. I always seem to get the less desirable featured heroes in the portals. Sigh.
She is a monster but I’m really trying to make T2 the top grade unless the hero breaks the game. She comes very close to it but I considered how I would deal with her on a standard (not elite) Defense and it was enough to lower it a bit (in the current Meta).
I have to say, Average Hit-All Hitters didn’t need to achieve a lot to be graded highly in the past because there wasn’t a lot of competition. Now we’re getting more and they’re better and they’re simply toppling the older heroes while retaining the grade.
What I really need to do in order to not call every new hero a T3 is to go back and re-grade most of the heroes on the ranking page. And hopefully that’s something I’ll be able to do soon.
Thanks for reading Inkblot, I agree with the sentiment, Aradia is a very very good hero.
FYI, I upgraded her to a T3. Thank you for the feedback!
Woah… glad to see her jumped a tier. What do you think of the other masked gods?
Also surprised she’s not a T3. On defense she’s perfect for a tank – she does her damage early and is probably dead by the time she’s no longer useful. On offense, she’s the anti-Hathor and will absolutely demolish any team with a booster in tank or flank. Hell she’s even a quasi anti-Aramis (just bring a cleanser).
Hey Holodigm, absolutely, I can see that. Having your comments add more weight to her perceived value. As I say, for me she was very close to a T3. Readers will note that she’s worthy of the highest honours to many in the community. Thank you for sharing!
FYI, I upgraded her to a T3. Thank you for the feedback!
I did a 10 pull wanting the 3 star, pulled aradia.
My thoughts, very fast wars could get interesting, knufu might be on my bench. Ludwig just got a new friend as well.
Congrats Sky 🥳 🎉
Just pulled her. Other than a dispeller to her left, or obviously Ludwig, what are the types of heroes that should be paired with her. (Her 3rd family bonus seems fantastic, although I imagine that the Lunar Year family would negate that)
Congrats Swoop. A good healer/cleanser, heroes who increases ailment damage or reset it, another hitter to finish Aradia’s good work, a dispeller to help her ailment take hold on D. There’s lots of options with her.
You’re totally right OC. I think she will synergize well with heroes like Matilda, Narcissa and Telonius. Congrats on pulling her Swoop.
I just pulled her as well, 1 day after getting flip. Doing her first and flip second since i have Phenexra.
I am not sure what the best use for her is.
My current defense is a reverse double formation
Waterpipe-C. Mother North-2LB Ludwig-2LB Pengi-2LB Jove
I could replace Waterpipe or MN with Aradia, if it is MN i just have to win on my first set of specials. I could replace both with Aradia and C. lotl(or normal lotl) then i still have healing, minions and mana control. I could also do Archie and make it more likely for the burn damage to hit but no healing again. Or I can do 2LB kalo and him firing all of those skills at once is probably a killing blow.
On offense won’t use here against ailment blocking heroes because it seems too risky that she won’t do enough. But when i can use her, probably pair her with Phenexra as the 2 side of a 3-2
Hey f5alcon, lots of good heroes. I’d consider trying to replace one of the hitters (Pengi being the lessor of the two), or MN. I’m sure you’ll find the right fit.
If I understand you correctly you’re running Ludwig as Tank. With his Aether Power I would try him at Flank because Specials are forced to him so I would protect him from tiles. I think it makes it harder to kill him and provides more hope of him firing off. Just my 2c, could be wrong.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the review, they are always helpful since you are so thorough and run comparisons other reviewers omit. I pulled Aradia, Fortuna, Fosco and Alessia in 2 – 10 pulls and immediately leveled, emblemed and double limit broke Alessia. She took me through the 3 star portion of the event with ease. I am now leveling Fortuna because of fast speed, dispelling, AoE attack and Fiend generation and will work on Aradia next. Hopefully I am not working on them in the wrong order but I always prefer fast heroes (even though I can make an average hero fast with the correct troop) as a general rule. Keep up the good work and I wonder what grade Fortuna would rate in your system, too.
Hey Dave, thank you for the support and congrats! 🥳 🎉
Nice to see your take on this. T2 in mechanics but clearly T3 in style.
I could only do a single pull this time since the chests were broken and …I got Dawa lol.
Unlucky Luckless, these heroes are so hard to get!
The burn damage was increased to 1000 over 4 turns and -75percent boosted health damage increase her to t3??
I’ve given her the final star, on reflection a lot of good points were made. Thank you!
Hello! How would it look like when she and Xiong Shanjun face each other in the fields? Are they even comparable in terms of they both reduces the HP of their opponents? thanks!
P.S. I have Xiong Shanjun 😅😅
Haha, perfect buddies if you have them both and a mess if opposed.
Got lucky on a single pull and landed her.
Just wondering if the T2/T3 discussion takes into account that 2lb Aradia does 1016 burn dam in 4 turns. 504 per turn and 5080 altogether if all 5 foes stand, put in other terms. At avg speed that’s a hefty 3/4 of most heroes full HP’s together with that max hp reduction.
It just sounds to me she does a lot of heavy lifting, especially if that burn isn’t put out or cleansing is timed too late.
Thanks for the feedback Callous, she was upgraded.
Great to hear, the more I think about it the more I like her.
Having Ludwig between her and Myoin-ni would be devastating with My kick-starting the others and then boom, constant max hp reduction and endless fires. Add two table spoons of your choice of other heroes and Bob’s your uncle.
Although, I don’t know what I meant with that 504 dam per turn anymore 🤔 but you got the idea.
Thank you so much for this review! She is the best of the new masked heroes in my opinion, I wish I d get her!
I got Cel instead, for which I m still not sure what to think about! I know you are not able to review everyone but I was wondering what your opinion on Cel is, and how would you rate her if you had made a review for her?
Thank you very much!
Congrats Grigoris. Cel was fun to test in beta. The visual stone effect is cool and the hefty minion and protection is nice. That said, her speed, numerous anti-minion heroes, and Lunar, are all set backs. I still like her and her massive offspring and would be happy to have her. Every hero at this stage has strong counters, but she also has lots of positives. & of course, Rush/Stages/Ludwig. Thanks for reading!
She is fantastic against Myoin-in, who is more and more dominating “top-tier raid teams” (whatever that might mean).
I faced her twice, and she absolutely melted my teams with that fire, after the first heavy hit (or reduced health actually).
She is not to be underestimated.
Paying attention to her you can counter most of her, but that really limits you against the rest of the targets around her, and she will be very powerful in offense
Good to see you Tobov, thanks for sharing!
Purchased some offers to try and get her. Got Jove instead. Lol. There’s almost 100 power difference between Jove and Aradia and if im not mistaken Jove is not that old of a hero. Man the power creep is obvious. However, is Jove still relevant? If yes, should I double lb him?
Congrats MIB, he’s definitely still relevant, still very elite. He is worthy of a LB2 in my view.
As always thanks for the review. I didn’t get Arcadia, but with 30 summons did get Fortuna and Jana. I don’t want to hijack the topic, but wanted to ask about the Dark Elemental heroes Aconia and Griffex. I noticed you didn’t review them. Was they not worth it in your opinion?
Hey Abehjha, no it’s a matter of time. It takes a lot of time to write these posts (about 6 hours) at this quality. As a result, I will miss heroes. As a rule of thumb, if you’re getting newer heroes, you’re doing better than most. I do have a fb group linked in my ‘Who to Level and Give Alphas to’ post. It’s free and great for getting opinions on heroes. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it.
Been pretty lucky lately recently pulled her working hard to level her up. going to put her with Hurricane and Nine Headed Beast.
Then I have Nemesis almost leveled. Thinking of Gandolf for my Healer, that would be my main team. Hurricane and 9 head are both level 90 already
Congrats Dalinkwents, crazy team sounds cool. Thanks for sharing!
Sometimes I feel pretty good about being a mid level player who just enjoys playing (while spending almost no dollars), Trying to keep up with the current meta and the speed new heroes are brought out seems exhausting. And at my level, around 2500 trophies, heroes that more elite players don’t like are really fun. Klaern, Balbar, and visarius do a decent job. Sure I wish I had all the latest and greatest = and Furdinand is fantastic for me, but it does feel sometimes like maybe your blog is now mostly aimed at the most elite players and the whales.
That said I value your hard work and advice !
Hey Beck, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate you taking the time. In what way do you mean? I’m trying to make the blog accessible to all (which is difficult), but maybe there’s something I could be doing better? Thanks for reading!
Popping in to let folks know that multiple copies of Aradia are in fact devastating. I have run all three Alpha broken copies in raids and it’s pretty awesome when they all fire off. The follow-up burn damage really becomes nasty when stacked x 3. If you’re lucky enough to pull one copy you will still enjoy her magic.
Whaaaaat. Surely the burn does not stack? No ailment does?