May: Empires & Puzzles May 25 HOTM

May is the Empires & Puzzles May 2025 Hero of the Month (HOTM), and being the first HOTM to cast Growth definitely makes her stand out.

But does she do enough to justify using up your much-needed lifeluck to pull her?

Let’s analyse her abilities and come to a conclusion!

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May’s Stats and Special Skills (Bounty of the Spring)

Key Facts: Holy (Yellow), Average, Monk, Legends 2025

Special Skills (Bounty of the Spring): 1. Growth: All allies get 150 Attack and 150 Defense. 2. Summon a Carrot Minion for each ally with 25% HP inherited from the caster. 3. When summoned, the Carrot Minion gives +20% mana generation for its owner for as long as the owner has Carrot Minions. (Can’t be dispelled) (Affects only mana generated from matching tiles or mana gained by the defense team at the end of their turn) 3. [Element Link] Gives all Holy allies +30% Defense against Special Skills for 4 turns (can’t be dispelled).

Passive Skills: 1. RESIST MINION REMOVAL ~ This character has innate resistance against Minion removal. 2. MANA ON BUFF ~ This character gains 5% mana when they receive a buff or a positive stack.

Talent: WITHSTAND ~ +30% chance to resist negative status effects.

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

Legends 2025 Family Bonus: Not active yet.

The review format: First, a “Newbie” review for new players. Then, a “Veteran” review for experienced players. Then, some key facts for both to consider. Lastly, the Hero Grade, which is universal and reflects the Hero’s true value.

May NEWBIE Review (Empires & Puzzles)

Hello, Newbie 👋, I hope you are doing well.

Have you handed out any hidings yet?

How did it make you feel? Giddy and excited?

Yes, that’s the dopamine on offer here.

My name is the Old Cynic. I blog about Empires and Puzzles. And you should really subscribe to my blog. All the cool kids already have.

You wanna know if May will help you get more dopamine?

Help you do another good slap-a-dap-dap?

Yes. Yes, she will!

Level her up and consider fielding her as the Tank or on the Flank.

Why?

Because she is not buffing her allies with Status Effects, but with Growth, which has significantly fewer counters compared to Status Effects. And they stack!

In most battles, especially at your level, a Growth buff will endure for the entirety of the match.

Alongside her generous buff, May summons a decent-sized Minion for each ally, which provides +20% Mana generation for them while present.

AND, May herself has a Passive that protects against Minion Removal.

May is doing a reasonable amount to aid her team offensively and defensively: Growth buffs, pseudo-healing via Minions, and Mana enhancement.

She is a really useful Hero that you’ll likely get productivity out of for many months to come.

(Sadly, it looks like May’s Minions don’t attack, so they will just float and look pretty.)

May VETERAN Review (Empires & Puzzles)

I really like Stacks because you can’t, or couldn’t, really counter them.

It seems to me that Stacks became Growth and Wither; however, since their origins, they have become so widespread that they may as well be called Undispellable Status Effects.

Of course, I wanted those Goblin Village Heroes as soon as they appeared (Darkfeather in particular). They represented an in-game cheat code.

I did pull Goldie, the very decent 4-Star Goblin. But she can only give me a taste of what those guys were doing offensively in their primes.

In today’s game, Goblin Heroes are few and far between on Defense. Garrison Heroes are much more popular as they remove Wither with their Passive Skill and create unrivalled Mega Minions.

-And I imagine with Growth and Wither now being firmly out of the Meta, it’s the right time to gift us May.

Do I think May can challenge the absolute top Heroes?

No.

For me, a more reasonable question is, can May offer something to lower- to mid-tier players?

And to that, my answer is a solid Yes.

I continue to use Ludwig on offence; it’s hard not to.

He protects his mates from all the monsters out there: A true friend. Yet more, he has a tendency to turn regular Joes into full-blown superstars.

And when I see May, I imagine her standing next to Ludwig.

Compounding her Growth with Ludwig’s motivational talks. That’s how to leverage May, in my view.

Even if you miss out on the Minions due to a counter, you still have the Growth.

May Vs. Empires & Puzzles (Growth & Wither Heroes)

Comparing May with the competition:

I’m surprised by the table.

May looks good when compared with other Growth Heroes.

I mean, her 150 buff to Attack and Defense is right up there with Darkfeather’s 180, and Quari’s 200.

And for me, Growth is a premium Skill that offers a unique way to win a battle. So, May’s 150 is nice.

That said, Darkfeather’s other Skills offer solid healing and an offensive utility.

And Quari does a whole heap of direct damage while also creating Boosted health on the back end.

Whereas May is the most disarmed Hero here. Her Minions will not be a problem for any higher-end player (they don’t even attack), and that simply leaves her Growth buff.

And by itself, a single charge of May’s Growth won’t be the common deciding factor in a battle.

However, multiple stat buffs will definitely have an impact:

May’s Old Cynic Review

Final Thoughts:

For my own established roster, I can state clearly that I would level May up if she appeared at the portal for me.

More than that, I hope to pull her.

There are lots of good HOTMS going through Beta at the moment. And while they are specialist who perform a specific task extremely well, they do not offer the general inclusiveness that May does.

May is a solid general support Hero for a budgeted mid-level player. It’s the Growth that really adds value here.

Ideally, you get her to charge multiple times to really benefit (which is why Lord Ludwig makes sense).

There are lots of counters to May’s Minions, but that’s a known hazard. It’s what we have to take into consideration with every Hero.

May is a great one-button helper, and for many, many players, this will be the closest they’ve ever come to an effective Growth Hero outside of a slapping.

Hero Grade for May (Empires and Puzzles)

I have returned to basic grading (Meek, Warrior, Archangel, Deity) because things were 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.

So, for my grading, the question is:

Is this Hero’s Special capable of/likely to change the outcome of a battle? On occasion.

If not, do they still bring enough to the party to help defeat the deities? In most cases, no. However, Growth does offer a hope of victory. In my view, May is an…

Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Archangel

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

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