How Good is Balbar? Empires and Puzzles HotM Review
Balbar is the November 2021 Empires and Puzzles Hero Of The Month (HotM). He’s pretty good in my estimations, but let me explain why.
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Caveat: This post contains gameplay speculation and personal opinion. It may also contain adult comedy, sarcasm, and Human error. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Balbar‘s Special Skills & Core Data
Element: Nature (Green)
Class: Druid
Mana Speed: Average
Special Skills (Slumber Spores): 1. Deals 300% damage to the target. 2. The target falls asleep. 3. While asleep, they can not attack or gain mana. 4. All damage dealt to the sleeping target is increased by +60%. 5. The sleeping target is woken once it takes damage. This excludes damage from Minions and Fiends. 6. [Element Link] Element Link gives +10% increase for any healing received for all Nature allies for 4 turns. This effect can’t be dispelled.
Passive: 1. Has an innate resistance against status ailments that give immunity to new buffs. 2. Recovers 5% health when he receives a buff.
Talent: COMPANION ~ +15% chance to summon a Thorn Minion after receiving any damage. The effect is applied at the end of the turn.
Legends 2021 Family Bonus: 1/2/3 Heroes: +10%/+15%/+20% critical chance. Bonus for 2+ Heroes: Element Link affects all allies.
Is Balbar worth Levelling? (Empires and Puzzles)
Yes –depending on your roster and your interest in seeing how good he can be.
The idea is simple: Balbar can make one enemy hero go to sleep.
And if you read my Malosi review, you’ll know how much I value Control-heroes like him.
Imagine sending Alfrike to sleep, while you sort out the rest of the Defense, before returning to focus on her.
What about Mother North, who’s always sitting on that left wing, looking to laugh in your face and crush your dreams.
What about Elizabeth, Quenell, or Ludwig?
The idea, the concept, that Balbar presents is certainly appealing. Question is, does it work? Is it effective? Let’s find out.
Balbar‘s Special (Slumber Spores)
Balbar hits one target for 300% damage, which is very low for an Average speed sniper.
But it’s the rest of his Special we want.
And the rest is great: The victim falls asleep, and while asleep, they can’t attack or gain mana.
Fantastic.
Also, all damage dealt to the sleeping target is increased by +60%. Another bonus -but that’s only for the first damage inflicted.
So the ideal outcome will be…
- To Wake the target when you have a monster locked-and-loaded and ready to go,
- Or maybe, to keep them asleep while you deal with some other enemies first.
Either way, we ideally want a Special Skill hit to wake our sleeping beauty. Because, if it’s Tile-damage that Wakes them, they’ll only get +60% damage for the first tile.
And a dead tile, with just 1 HP damage, will still count.
Thankfully, damage from Minions and Fiends won’t Wake them, so we don’t have to worry about that.
Balbar Special Explained (HotM)
Balbar’s Special is all about managing Tiles and Special Skills.
The idea of sending a hero to sleep indefinitely is ridiculously awesome. And to me, it’s reasonable for such a strong Special, to require a little more technique.
With Malosi’s and Bai Yeong’s Special, we have to time it correctly, or we lose it. And with Balbar, we’ll have to manage the spread of damage, or we’ll lose it.
Balbar’s Comparison (Empires and Puzzles)
| Hero | Mana Speed | Damage | Secondary |
| Balbar | Average | Deals 300% damage to the target | Sings them a lullaby |
| Lepiota | Fast | Deals 158% damage to the target | Removes Status Effects from target, then shifts them into Ghost mode. While in Ghost mode, they can’t gain mana or be healed. Ghost mode lasts for 4 turns |
| Malosi | Very Fast | Deals 300% damage to the victim’s head | Target cannot cast any new status effects or stacks on enemies or allies for 3 turns |
| Bai Yeong | Fast | Deals 320% damage to the target | Target gets -75% accuracy for 2 turns & target gets -75% decrease for any healing |
| Zocc | Average | Deals 300% damage to the target | Increases the mana of the target by 50%, who then casts Mindless Attack on a random ally when mana is full (Stops hero from using their Special Skills) |
All of these heroes impair the target by limiting the use of their Special Skills in some way.
Is my Squad right for Balbar?
Balbar’s value to you will be based on how well he fits into your Raid team.
I say Raid because I can’t see much use for him elsewhere.
If you play heroes who inflict damage to ‘all enemies’, then you’ll always Wake the target when they fire off.
And that may be fine because you’ll still get that extra +60% damage against the target.
However, better use of Balbar might be to reduce the opposition down to 4 heroes. So you can more easily defeat them, while one Sleeps.
And then, when the target hero does wake up, yawns and takes look around, -they’ll see, the jig is up.
Finally, as Balbar renders the victim to Sleep indefinitely, there’s no reason not to keep targeting other heroes. Maybe, you’ll only need to face 3 heroes for a short while.
To get the most melatonin out of Balbar, I’d pair him with snipers, 3-hitters, and Fiend/Minion summoners.
And since most mass-destroyers are elite heroes, Balbar could ultimately turn out to be, The People’s Hero.
Balbar – Empires and Puzzles Grade
My final thoughts:
Balbar’s all about Raiding and managing the Defense.
And while I wouldn’t go Pulling in search of him, I’d certainly welcome him as a Bonus. I think Balbar is very much in the same vein as Devana, Malosi, and Bai Yeong.
Anytime you can stop a hero from acting, you’re onto a winner.
The downside here is his Speed. Average is a little slower than I would have liked, -especially for all the work it’s gonna take to coordinate this guy.
But that said, I’m gonna have to grade Balbar based on his potential.
The fact is, if he can Sleep a Wing or Flank hero and buy you a little time, or stop Alfrike just as she’s frothing at the mouth then Balbar, may be worth his weight in gold.
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Archangel
What are your thoughts? Did I get it wrong, or did I miss something? Let me know in the comments below.
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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I already have Lepiota and Zocc maxed, won’t be disapointed if i don’t get this one…
Also, HOTM December is way better!
Welcome Miguel, I try not to look too far forward but on your suggestion, I took a peak. You’re right. She’s fantastic. For a Hero Of The Month to give +45% dodge is great. Also, the resistance against Health Reduction makes it sound like the next HotM was created with Alfrike in mind.
For those who don’t know what we’re talking about -it’s the next HotM:
Hero Name: Hanitra (My Review)
Special Skill: Dancing Dodge
All allies get +45% dodge (Special Skills) for 3 turns. Each dodge boosts health by 275 HP. If the health exceeds max HP, it is added as temporary HP.
All allies resist max health reduction for 3 turns.
Well…
C.Kadilen gives you +45% for 3 turns too -while Margaret gives you between 30-90% for 3 turns.
Anyway, back to Balbar. Thanks Miguel!
I’m sorry, but I’m confused with this heroe. If the target awakes at any damag, it means that any tile, just one little tile, even of the opposite colour, will awake him. In that case, Balbar lose all his potential.
Hi Nachomain, yep that’s it. One off-color tile, that only does 1 damage, will wake the target.
I really do think Balbar will have a different value to different players, based on how he fits into your team. At the moment, I use heroes like Balbar to get through a raid, so the idea of Sleeping a Wing hero appeals to me. And I imagine it won’t be too difficult to ignore & avoid that hero, while I work on the others.
But then, I don’t have any heroes on my Raid squad who can damage all enemies at the same time. So, most of the time, I’ll just need to be mindful of where the tiles go.
Is Balbar a Deity; a hero capable of winning a battle by himself? Nope. But could he help stop the Deities? I think so.
That said, the idea of this blog is to create discussion, so thank you for sharing -Because lots of people will agree with you!
I agree: Balbar is just for wings. Well, I have no tonics anyway. Quenell drunk them all last weekend. And the ethers too 😉
Haha… Quenell’s just the type of hero who needs to be put to bed!
Balbar could be really annoying on defense. It will be pure luck and chance since AI will not target specific attacking hero but what if he puts your healer / cleanser to sleep. There are no turns for the special to wear off. Then you have to wait for the enemy hero slash or special attack to wake him up since defense does not shoot tiles. It could be too late for the attacking team when the healer / cleanser wakes up.
Welcome! Yes, I was thinking the same thing, but haven’t seen him appear yet.
Hopefully, I find him for a raid today to check.
Thanks for stopping by!
I will say that I appreciate a good control hero, even if they are usually not valued as highly by the community as the big damage guys. Balbar does seem… situational though, and pretty useless at taking out tanks. Especially at average speed. For a green guy, there’s a ton of better choices, although for ftp, he may be ok.
Hey Weston, absolutely re the Tanks. I wish he was Fast, that would be better. As for F2P/C2P – I just got my first Green 5-Star hero after nearly 2 years playing.
Thanks for sharing your view!
I think a lot of these comments are completely missing Balbur’s potential. Saying hes situational is a bit overplayed since he can fit into every team as ALL defense teams have wing heroes that can be slept. Sure Alfrike, or Mother North, is a big target, but so is stopping an Isarnia. Or a Seshat. Or a Frigg. Or a Bera. I can go on, but the point is this guy can stop them completely. Even at average mana, even if they have fired once, its useful. Because a lot of these heroes are deadly at MULTIPLE fires. Its extremely easy to tile manage and play down the other side while the enemy is asleep and you build your mana. I do it with reflect heroes all the time. I really hope I get Balbur, and I have a maxed Lepiota and Hel already. I love control heroes and their usefulness cant be understated. I agree hes prolly not deity level, but as you said, he can take deitys out of the battle.
Yes! Someone who agrees with me. I thought I was the only person on earth who thought this guy could be any good. I’m really hoping to pull him cause I love control heroes too.
I also think he’ll be fun.
Well, I agree with everything you said; he’s not the best, most powerful, hero in E&P. But he might be able to stop them.
Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve been using Balbar for the last month in my defense team and attacking green team. He’s essentially my ally-oop guy for any high % special attacking hero want to 2 shot a boss on hard or knock out a key player in a raid? sleep him with balabar, then slam dunk with Uraeus!
Thanks for sharing Bryan, I still don’t have him but I’m glad some folk love him.
He’s definitely a polarizing hero.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Balbar is really only for raids. We can’t really control those tiles, you trigger those tiles not to hit opponents but the next replacement tiles came on and auto hit the opponent you targeted. The only usefulness is you make opponent sleep, then all your sniper is up and running and you fire to kill that particular opponent’s hero that you wanted to get rid off.
I agree that he’s a Raid hero. I do think you can manage tile disturbance in the game, but we’ll have to see how difficult it turns out to be.
Thanks for stopping by and for sharing your view!
Sorry, but what about Monk. As I understood they might have resistant from balbar. Is it right ? Hello from Ukraine!
Hi Oleksii, I haven’t seen anything myself about it, but it does make sense. The Sleep looks like a Status Effect, so Monks should have a 30% chance to resist it.
If I can get him, I’ll test it out!
Thanks for stopping by!
Well… someone here is playing Balbar???
Can give us some feedback, please 😉
I tried to play him. Of course it is my personal opinion but he is useless for myself. Literally the worse 5* I have. I like control heroes Zocc even Proteus is an asset. Unfortunately for Balbar usefulness game changers usually are tank heroes so putting wings to sleep has marginal value. Moreover, any hit wake the hitted even those made by underwild gems, so matching him with 4 season heroes is pointless. For myself only regret for lost resources to develop this weakling.
Oh many Thanks Mac!
I’ll concentrate all my picks (except maybe Costumes) in December hoping to have Hanitra.
So Balbar is meh.. that was my initial opinion, and still valid! 😉
I got him, I’ve tested him. And even with my huge roster I could find any real usefulness for this Guy. He’s pure garbage.
I Have Balbar and Can Hit 3800 DAMAGE
That’s awesome -Thanks for sharing!
LOL! My QUENELL hits 5000 to 3 heroes at FAST mana.
I just got mine today. Too bad, I just used up all my druid emblems to Chacszarott (whatever!). Hope this Balbar is good. I have few five star green, so he’s a good addition.
Congrats Lowl, I hope he works out for you. I tried to get him but missed out!
Found a good use for Balbar yesterday. During war, there were only a few enemies left to reset the board. I picked one that had a full powered and full health Sartana on the wing with nothing else. I threw Balbar with some random 3 and 4 stars in a team. Soon as Balbar was able to fire off, I put Sartana to sleep, made matches without touching her until Balbar and all four others were ready to launch their specials, saving Balbar for last and repeat.
Yes it’s very situational, but showed me his upside. Gonna finish leveling him up.
Thanks for that Spidey. I really wanted Balbar, I love stuff like that. Thanks for sharing and visiting!
I got BALBAR and, as for all heroes, I first ascended him to 2-60 and gave him some try. For me this Guy is EXTREMELY BAD. As useless Guy as MYZTERO or MOKARR. I’ve never seen a HotM that bad, and I have more then 30, and all since november 2019.
Thanks for sharing your view Richard!
When I started levelling Balbar I had only one target in mind: Mother North. Turns out her talent often resists falling asleep. 🙁
That’s awful! Sorry Damionka. Mother North is a serious problem and was an ideal candidate for Balbar. A pity.
Still, thanks for letting us all know!
Don’t pair him with s4 heroes, the underwild tiles break the sleep.
That being said, he is immensely strong in some areas.
The real power is in the fact the sleep is unlimited.. also the text on his card names effects in this order:
1 damage
2 sleep
And this makes it possible for him to outlast just about anybody when a war has gone south and you’re fighting the clock.
Average speed is loading up in 4ghosted tiles, sleeping targets don’t gain mana, sleeping targets takes 60% more damage…. This makes Balbar a great tool for both pve and war.
As usual he needs a player to control him, so you will not see him in any successful defense team meta.
Great hero, too bad he shares class with pengi-hannah etc
Hey Cougar, I love Balbar and see him as the Hero that got away. I got Hanitra who’s fantastic and made up for it, but Balbar is my type of hero.
Thanks for providing feedback on his usage.
I have him and frequently use him in war. As predicted, the sleep function allows me to focus on other issues. Accidentally waking him has only rarely been a problem. If conditions don’t warrant the use of sleep or don’t allow it to be used effectively, the damage boost is extraordinarily useful. Increasing a hard hitting sniper’s *damage dealt* is not inconsequential; a 3k hit becomes a 5k hit.
In short, you have to mindful when using him. He might not fit everywhere and his special may occasionally fizzle. However, when he’s on, he’s on, and then he’s great.
Hello, thank you for the run-down. I still wish I had this one.
I use Balbar quite a lot..and one more great thing about him is if you put a hero to sleep and then use Balbar’s special on that hero again, it recieves increased damage and goes back to sleep..
Thanks for sharing some feedback!
While I don’t have Balbar completely leveled up I have used him. I usually try to put to sleep the opponent causing me the most problems. Only downside is if a stray tile awakens them or they have someone who can lift that statu ailment.
And I agree on the real hatred you feel in facing Mother North. Something needs to be done. Also, those Heroes I face that I also have who Never seem to Dodge as much when I use them.