Claeg: Empires & Puzzles April 25 HOTM

Claeg is the Empires & Puzzles April 2025 Hero of the Month (HOTM), and I’m back at the keyboard, excited to be writing another HOTM review.

Before I get to Claeg, I wanted to let you know that I have been given a code for 500 Free Gems and 10 Epic Troop Tokens for the first 500 players to claim it.

I intend to release a post with the details soon. To maximise your chances of getting those free Gems, subscribe to my blog.

That way, you will receive an automatic notice when the details are released.

Back to Claeg!

Is he worth levelling up?!

[If you enjoy these posts, please help me bring more readers to my blog. Please give this post a ‘Like’ when you see it on social media. Thank you!]

Claeg’s Stats and Special Skills (Strength of the Accursed)

Key Facts: Ice (Blue), Fast, Sorcerer, Legends 2025

Special Skills (Strength of the Accursed): 1. Recovers 20% health for all allies. Recovers an extra 5% health for each Status Ailment the ally has, up to 35% health in total. 2. Cleanses 3 Status Ailments from all allies (latest ailments cleansed first). 3. [Element Link] Gives all Ice allies +30% Defense against Special Skills for 4 turns (can’t be dispelled).

Passive Skills: 1. RESIST SPECIAL SKILL BLOCKING ~ This character has innate resistance against status ailments that block Special Skills. 2. RESIST BURN ~ This character has innate resistance against Burn.

Talent: DELAY ~ +15% chance to drop the mana generation of the enemy by -50% for 2 turns after dealing damage. The effect is applied at the end of the turn.

Aether Power: DEFENSE UP ~ +20% Defense for 6 turns.

Legends 2025 Family Bonus: Not active yet.

Claeg NEWBIE Review (Empires & Puzzles)

To take advantage of the knowledge I’ve gained from starting a new E&P account, I thought it would be helpful to write two short summaries concerning a Hero’s value.

One for the newbie who doesn’t have any real decent Heroes, and one for a Vet, who’s been around the block a time or two.

They will be followed by some key facts for all players to consider, like a Hero comparison table. The final Hero Grade is universal, reflecting the value I believe the Hero holds.

For most Newbies, and maybe even lower-level players, Claeg would be a good Hero to level.

There are four key reasons for this:

1. He’s a FAST Healer, meaning he can quickly heal all his allies
2. Claeg heals for an OK’ish amount (20% at Fast will be enough to keep things going)
3. Cleansing 3 Status Ailments will be useful most of the time
4. He has very good Power Stats (not elite, but good in today’s game), meaning he will survive longer in a battle

The question you have to ask yourself is:

Does this Hero improve my roster?

Even if you have a fantastic Fast Healer like Diaochan, who pumps out a 35% heal to all, having an Ice option might improve your roster.

However, and this is important, while I would welcome Claeg to my new account, it’s highly unlikely that I’d Limit Break him.

And there’s no chance that I’d give him Alphas because I’d hope to pull something better in the long run.

Claeg is an OK Healer for some low-level players who don’t have anything better.

The main problem with Claeg is that he only does just enough to keep the onslaught continuing. ~He doesn’t do anything to stop it.

He doesn’t heal enough to give you breathing room, and he doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeves.

He is best compared to the act of slowly removing a band-aid.

…increasing HP just enough to give your adversaries something to aim at.

Claeg VETERAN Review (Empires & Puzzles)

If you’re fortunate enough to regularly see the starlight sparkle across the Global Leaderboard’s No.1 badge, you’ll know firsthand that Claeg ain’t the one.

A 20% base rate isn’t enough to sustain you in this hyperinflated economy.

Claeg is a mediocre option at best -he’s half a Healer.

He’ll heal for 20% instead of 30%, and he’ll cleanse 3 effects instead of all of them.

Toxicandra is shaking her head.

…I’m surprised he doesn’t come monochrome, so you have to paint him yourself!

Get your crayons ready.

Power Stats aside, I’d rather have Azmia than Claeg.

In summary, on my established account, Claeg would likely be held in wait for the Soul Exchange. Although I would still review my roster before completely writing him off.

You can’t avoid the fact that this is a quick Healer with modern Power Stats…

He might be a fit for some rosters based on those two facts alone.

Claeg Vs. Empires & Puzzles’ Healers

Let’s compare Claeg with some of his competition:

This table isn’t exhaustive, but the point is clearly made.

Not only is Claeg’s healing on the weaker side, but he doesn’t come close to offering a decent secondary value.

In reality, a 3 Status Ailments cleanse might be enough most of the time.

But why, oh why, couldn’t this have been a complete Cleanse?!

If your Heroes are hidden behind a wall of Ailments, your Cleanser (Claeg) might not be able to make things right. -And that’s alongside his mediocre healing effort.

And regarding his poor healing, I’m not buying into the old adage of hoping for more Status Ailments to get a better heal.

That’s like hoping for an STD to make the most of your health insurance!

Claeg’s Old Cynic Review

Final Thoughts:

In Empires & Puzzles, HP, DEF, and ATK are the three Hero stats that best define the dividing line between the slapp-ee and the slapp-er.

Aside from the ever-growing list of Skills one Hero might possess.

We can see that Claeg isn’t doing much at all. Much like the lazy colleague sitting across from you, who gets paid the same wage.

But that doesn’t mean he’s completely worthless, because he’s still a Fast Healer with modern Power Stats.

Here’s Milena, with Alphas:

ATK: 1230 DEF: 1027 HP: 1961

And here’s Claeg with Alphas:

ATK: 1534 DEF: 1423 HP: 2707

He wouldn’t be considered elite for Stats, but there’s still a world of difference.

In summary, Claeg is a weak Healer with decent Stats, ideal for low-level/Newish players with nothing better to work with.

I would accept Claeg with open arms on my new account, but would be disappointed if he showed up on my old account (and we’d take things from there).

Hero Grade for Claeg (Empires and Puzzles)

I am returning to basic grading (Meek, Warrior, Archangel, Deity) because, towards the end of my last run in E&P, things got overly complicated.

Now, my goal is to provide a general indication of a Hero’s value (or lack thereof), not to track every Hero in the game with microscopic precision.

I want to be able to review Heroes without the added stress of breaking down the Deities into 3 Tiers, although you are welcome to!

So for my grading, the question is:

Is this Hero’s Special capable of/likely to change the outcome of a battle? No way.

If not, do they still bring enough to the party to help defeat the deities? Nope.

Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Warrior

I am loath to give Claeg a Warrior grade because it feels like I’m pinning an Employee of the Month badge onto a complete dosser. But, for me, his Stats make him more viable than many older Heroes with a similar function.

[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]

Enjoyed the post? Please help me by:

• Sharing it with your alliance
• Giving it a “Like” when you see it on Social Media
• Subscribing

Want more Empires and Puzzles? Click here.

You can find all my latest posts over here.

Copyright (words & graphic design): oldcynic.com
Images used by way of review/tutorial
Empires & Puzzles is owned by Small Giant Games/Zynga Games