Jove, Guardian Hippo, and Xenda (Empires and Puzzles) Playing Catch Up
Jove, Guardian Hippo, and Xenda, are 3 Empires and Puzzles Heroes that I didn’t have time to cover when they were first released and in an effort to have most of the top-tier Heroes represented on my Rankings Page, I wanted to double back and talk some smack about these guys.
I was lucky enough to test them out in Beta and found them all to be very powerful, but one, in particular, was soo powerful that it made reviewing them completely pointless. But who?
No. 1 on this list…
This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Jove – Empires and Puzzles
Key Facts: Holy (Yellow), Fast, Ranger, Masquerade Family
Special Skills (Strike From the Skies): 1. Deals 530% damage to the target and minor damage to all other enemies. 2. All enemies get -65% decrease for any healing received for 3 turns. 3. All enemies get -75% less Mana from Special Skills for 3 turns.
Passive Skill: CLEANSE ON MINION DEATH ~ This character is cleansed of Status Ailments when a Minion owned by them is destroyed.
Talent: PIERCE ~ +25% chance to bypass defensive buffs when attacking. This includes counterattacks.
Jove Review (Empires and Puzzles)
Jove is the Hero I alluded to above and I won’t lie, when first released, I simply rolled my eyes. I mean really, -he’s sooo powerful; what’s the point in saying anything?
When I was testing him, he was often the main factor in the outcome of a battle; he quickly fired off, then we all collected our brownie points and f#~ked off back home.
Jove is the type of OP Hero that can make Empires and Puzzles too easy and is capable of zapping some of the joy outta the process of winning.
But maybe I’m just bitter coz he keeps backhanding my Raid Team.
From memory, my easiest runs in Beta have come from M&M, Jove, Anne, Furdinand, the new Ninjas, and recently, the Limit Breakers x2.
There may have been others in between, but that’s what comes to mind. Oh, fun-wise, a big gorilla en route called Thunderclap is a riot.
Let’s move on coz the other two on this list are no slouches, either…
Hero Grade for Jove (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 ⭐⭐⭐
Xenda – Empires and Puzzles
Key Facts: Fire (Red), Average, Fighter, Underwild Family
Special Skills (Underworld Blaze): 1. Deals 250% damage to all enemies. 2. All enemies receive 292 Burn damage over 4 turns. The caster absorbs 15% of dealt Burn damage as health. 3. The caster steals generated Mana of all enemies over 4 turns starting low and increasing every turn until on the last turn all the generated Mana is stolen.
Passive Skill: SPECIAL SKILL DAMAGE REDUCTION ~ Received damage is reduced by -20% for the first 3 times this character receives damage from Special Skills.
Talent: Revive ~ +30% chance to revive with 1 HP after a fatal attack. The revive is applied at the end of the turn.
Xenda Review (Empires and Puzzles)
When Xenda was first released, I remember not having the time to dig into how the Mana stealing system worked, like I did recently with Gilligan.
Anyway, Xenda and Guardian Hippo have a lot in common in that they’re not straight-out killers like Jove. -They both leave a little window of hope for the opposition.
But the level of devastation they can produce should not be overlooked.
C. Hel is similar to Xenda, but it’s Xenda I want to deal with today. She’s an absolute wrecking ball.
When she fires off, even if she’s the last Hero on the battlefield, she can potentially wipe out an entire opposing team.
And when surrounded by elite Heroes, she’s an unearthly menace.
On Offense, when she fires, it’s like subduing all of the enemy team as she steals Mana and quickly gathers herself to slap em down, again.
It’s horrible.
And due to her oppressive loop of Pain, a little Burn damage, a little Self Healing, and a whole bunch of immoral Mana Stealing… I have no qualms about grading her highly.
Hero Grade for Xenda (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 ⭐⭐⭐
Guardian Hippo – Empires and Puzzles
Key Facts: Ice (Blue), Fast, Barbarian, Guardian Family
Special Skills (Brutal Support): 1. For the next 3 turns, this character deals 225% damage to all enemies each time any other ally casts their Special Skill. 2. All allies get +34% Mana generation for 3 turns
Talent: WOUND ~ +30% chance to apply bleeding from any normal attack.
Guardian Hippo Review (Empires and Puzzles)
We all know Guardian Hippo’s a great Hero, but there seems to be some division about just how great she is.
If I were to explain the value of Guardian Hippo to somebody who doesn’t have her or hasn’t played against her, I would say that she’s the type of Hero that needs to get a foothold in order to be effective.
Meaning, if she can fire off first/early in a battle, she can immediately become Over Powered (OP), hitting all enemies for 225% each time one of her allies uses their Special Skills.
She also speeds up her allies by +34% Mana generation for 3 turns.
She’s similar to Lady of the Lake, in that when she manages to get a foothold, she can dominate. The differences are glaringly obvious tho;
Coz G. Hippo is Fast, not Slow. And G. Hippo won’t limit Mana, but will slap the living daylights outta the opposition… and, she even slaps through Taunt!
Guardian Hippo can provide a fantastic secondary path to victory. ~If your other Heroes aren’t succeeding, the Hippo’s passive abilities could easily overwhelm as the old Staff warms up.
The problem with G. Hippo is that she can be devastating in one battle and invisible in another. She’s also stronger on Offense, where you can manage the flow of battle, than on Defense.
On Defense, there are a number of Control options available to Raiders, as I’m only too aware, running Malosi, C. Roc, and Devana.
That said, I do believe Guardian Hippo can be a part of a solid Defense, and as we know, once she gets a foothold it can often signal the end.
Guardian Hippo is, in my view, one of the most powerful and versatile Heroes in Empires and Puzzles. -Really playing up to the current Super Quick Meta and offering synergy like no other.
Hero Grade for Guardian Hippo (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 ⭐⭐⭐
Jove, G. Hippo, and Xenda (Empires and Puzzles)
My final thoughts:
Jove, Guardian Hippo, and Xenda are all excellent Empires and Puzzles Heroes, but are they OP or not?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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Images used by way of review/tutorial – Copyright owned by Empires & Puzzles: Small Giant/Zynga Games
Fantatic job. OC.
Straight to the point and very welcomed analyses.
I have never faced Jove, I do not fully understand his power. Xenda looks super cool and I would like to get him, perhaps on the Q42027 Soul Exchange. Regarding Guardian Hippo I think her best scenario in defence is where there are two of them on the flanks (no words if the tank is Ludwig).
Considering the passive abilities and the longer ability lists of each new character: Do you think E$P is becoming a too complex game? I mean, overcomplex. The other day my mom -who used to play Candy Crush- saw me playing and she was interested, but when I started explaining how it works she said: Ok, thank you but no, thank you.
Are we on a complexity creep too?
I hope this time it does not end on the spam folder, despite it is actually spam.
About your question i would say “yes and no” about complexity. There is a lot of heroes, some with unique abilities but what i have seen is that many people go mono team for attack and don’t care about synergy anymore. After all, this game is more and more about luck (puzzle) and less strategy (when complexity/diversity should add strategy). You depend too much on puzzle’s luck so why care about synergy and strategy ? I have been trying mono in attack for 1 or 2 weeks and i must stay it works pretty well even if the attack team has 4200 power and defense team has 5300, for example. Defense teams are so dangerous now that rainbow or even 3-1-1 with synergy will hardly work as ennemy fires too quickly and blast your team before you even use a single skill.
I run a ton of 3-1-1 and 3-2 usually C. MN+ guan yu, 2x c caedmon or xiaotu if minion abilities are annoying. But it really depends on who you have.
It’s Interesting, you should mention mono… I’m finding that the majority of teams that successfully raid against me (Serandite, Ahmose, Milena, Jove, and Bastet) are mono. It may take them a few tries to crack the ole egg, but eventually, they succeed. Good read, by the way.
It’s funny you should say this coz I was wondering the same thing… Is it all too complex for new players?
I have noticed they did a bunch of promoting recently, so I’m sure they’re gonna find out!
My impression is that it’s getting to be too much to take on casually, but it’s really hard to tell without speaking to a pool of new players. I do think they could’ve slowed down; this game couldn’ve made money for decades, as far as I can see, and maybe it still will. But I’ve never understood the pressure to get all the milk now (PS. The modern world).
The new LB2 will add another layer… In short, I think a lot of people are trying to answer your question and only time will tell.
No Spam this time 😁
When I see they defetead me with a mono team I always think: “You have no honour”
I
The newer players don’t have full rosters to match up against all the newer heros so the only way to compete is to go mono and hope for a good board.
Xenda not at all op – hippo in the right circumstances but this only applies to offense use
Jove absolutely and absurdly op on off and def but hey hes ep’s moneymaker so these ep crooks do not give a flyin f~*k about balance for him
That seems like a fair assessment; Xenda isn’t, Hippo sometimes, Jove always. Thanks for sharing Baller!
Jove means win quickly, if the fight goes long enough for him to fire more than once I am going to lose. I have him and put him everywhere except titans.
xenda’s mana control is a pain because I don’t usually focus on them first and they fire regularly. But needs good other heroes.
G hippo can be strong but it never feels like that they are the difference between winning and losing.
Here is a fun question for you, who do you think is going to be in the fated summons refresh in april?
Hey f5alcon, I do. I thought I saw it somewhere that it was April. Also in Beta there’s a countdown currently at 28d 10h which would make it around the 5/6th of April. That said, they could change it, bring it forward or push it back; so don’t know nothing for sure!
I was thinking about this last week. If I am allowed to play I will gamble.
Considering they are about to release costumes for the 4th season heroes, I think they will replace the row with classic heroes.
From Atlantis it will be Atmos, Misandra, Inari, Mok Arr and it becomes interesting because Mitsuko is the only red hero, unless they give Oceanus, but it is still new…
From Valhalla I think there will be Heimdall, Fenrir, Sif, Salmon Loki and Baldur.
From Underwild Lughaidh, Russula, Akkorog, Dr. Moreau and Elizabeth (these two only because their costumes will be OP)
Finally, for the HOTM, I would say Gregorion, Raffaelle, Khiona, Delilah and Zimkitha.
My Jove is fully emblemed and is about to get limit broken tomorrow when the omega event happens. Thanks to Jove I’ve been playing this game all the time since Black Friday. Before Jove my best hitter was Tahir, and I used to think he hits hard. Thanks to Jove I rapidly got into diamond league and stayed there. Thanks to Jove I’ve been studying the game all the time and improving quite a bit both in theory and practice. He belongs in almost every team I have. He’s fun to play with!
I also maxed Guardian Hippo recently and slapped a few emblems on her, but so far she hasn’t been nearly as impressive at least on defence. I tend to lose cups if I put her in my rainbow defence instead of Ariel, who has been my blue mainstay for quite some time. I feel like Hippo needs a lot of support and synergy to function properly. Someone on Reddit said that Hippo works best with very fast/charge heroes in every other position.
Congrats Yorka, Jove is such a powerful hero to own. Yes, everything quick around Hippo so she keeps firing is my opinion, too. Problem is getting hold of worthwhile quick heroes!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
From someone who has none of these heroes, (c2p), I always look twice before tackling teams with them.
That being said, they are not invincible and, given that we are still board dependent, I can take them down using teams that comprised of the old guard. This is where strategy and synergy are still needed.
These days I can come across teams of heroes I don’t have and some I’ve never seen before 🤣
😁 That moment you’re pressing their head with your thumb trying to remember what they do!
You’re right, they’re not invincible but you do need some luck on them tiles. Thanks for sharing Helen!
Im just here waiting for the portal where Jove will be in opens. Biding my time… With him, my super duper Mono Yellow team will be perfect. lol
Jove makes every team super duper! Good to see you MIB
I have Xenda, and find her to be quite useful, but I would say that the biggest thing that keeps her from being OP is that her mana steal debuff overwrites itself, so you cannot really take full advantage of it most of the time. Typically, after she fires I find she charges again quite quickly due to the mana steal, and then I have to decide whether to cast again for the damage, or hold the cast in order to prevent the enemy from gaining mana (which also prevents Xenda from taking advantage of the mana steal while she is at full). So it’s kind of a trade off between damage and mana control.
For reference, the debuff steals 25% mana on the first turn, 50% on the second, 75% on the third and 100% on the last turn.
Nice problem to have there Maraj! 😉 Thanks for the numbers, that’s really helpful.
I ended up with a pair of Joves, but only leveled one. I haven’t seen the priority in limit breaking him, though, really. I have pulled some amazing yellow lately. Those last lb mats went to Furdinand and I feel like he’s more of a game changer than Jove. Honestly I wasn’t thinking of giving Jove the next ones, either. Hachiko and probably Nemesis seem more important. Love those mighty pets.
Oh dear, you have chosen a busy line of work trying to keep up with Zynga as they continues to avalanche new heroes and content upon us.
Good job keeping up this far, youre a star =)
😅 Good to see you’re still about. It’s supposed to be a hobby heavily predicated on the opportunity to tell silly stories…
I can’t cover them all, but then, that’s not entirely my intent. Thanks for reading, as always!
Thanks OC – We have had a flurry of exceptional heroes recently, with more super elemental heroes still to come.
When you get time would love a catch upon Jequn. He has slotted in so well in my very fast yellow/purple team (Motega, Rhys, Kage, Khonshu) with his cross colour support.
He appears stellar – but with the quality of the team he is in its hard to tell. Would love your objective take on him when you get time
Hi CB, I can’t make any promises but if he fits in somewhere I will. I’ve been busy working on a tool for the LB2 which I hope people find useful.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to share how you’re finding Jequn!
I use G Hippo, El Naddaha, Diachon, C Heimdall, & Roughian & Nurgib on my war defense team and it does pretty well also as my defense team in raids. I do have G Hippo limit broke 2x the rest fully emblemed except Diachon (still working on her). Just pulled Jove today and will replace Diachon once Jove is leveled. Should make an even better defense team.
Congrats Whitemarlin, Jove is coveted by 99% of players who don’t have him 😄