Roc Vs. Costumed Roc (Empires and Puzzles) Review
Roc is a 5-Star Legendary Hero from the Empires and Puzzles’ Sand Empire Event, and he just got his own costume, which is totally badass. But, I’m declaring a complete conflict of interest on this one…
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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.
Full Disclosure (the Roc files):
I’ll be honest, when the Sand Event started I checked out Roc and even called him a star, but I didn’t plan on reviewing him. Mainly because I was still finessing that Defense Team guide, and was also coming off the back of two nerfs.
See, I had just reviewed Azmia and Kalo, both of whom were subsequently lined up for “fixing” when I was accused of being an SG Collaborator.
That’s right. I was purposely, or by sheer ignorance, highlighting these Heroes for SG to spay!
I was told to keep my observations to 5-Star Heroes so that F2P/C2P players might continue to enjoy their 4-Star demigods.
Well, even though it was all completely tongue-in-cheek, it got me questioning my entire existence.
Then, Dynasty of Dunes swung around, and I clocked Horus.
I saw all those esoteric symbols and was like, “Yeah, I’m gonna blow this one wide open!”.
I even created the post.
But as soon as I started writing, I could feel the old Egyptian God looming over me… his All-Seeing Eye was everywhere, watching my oversized stubby fingers smash these keys and judging my every word.
I was like, “Dude, you can not tell jokes about no Gods”.
So yeah, I backed off.
Then yesterday, on a single free pull from grinding the Normal levels of the Sand Empire Event, I got Costumed Roc.
What are the chances of that?! [1.6%]
And, Roc is a Holy Hero and I roc… with Holy Heroes!
Anyway, why is C.Roc such a badass? Let’s find out.
Costumed Roc‘s Old Cynic Review
Costumed Roc is a new elite Hero in Empires & Puzzles, and that’s not the type of Hero I’m used to getting my hands on.
Just check out his Special, on Average speed:
Beach Party: 1. All enemies receive 660 Sand damage over 4 turns, 2. All enemies get -44% Defense for 3 turns, 3. Dispels buffs from all enemies.
Tell me that’s not Badassery.
- 660 Sand damage is a decent amount of damage
- -44% Defense is a Slow Legendary trick (Isarnia)
- Dispelling buffs on top?
But don’t take my word for it, gimme a sec and I’ll get out the tables.
Roc Vs. Costumed Roc (Empires and Puzzles)
Let’s start by comparing the original Roc to his Costumed counterpart:
| Hero | Mana Speed | Ailment I | Ailment II | And… | Class |
| Roc | Average (10 tiles) | All enemies receive 315 Sand damage over 3 turns | All enemies get -50% decrease healing for 2 turns (can not be cleansed) | Cleanses status ailments from all allies | Barbarian |
| Costumed Roc | Average (10 tiles) | All enemies receive 660 Sand damage over 4 turns | All enemies get -44% Defense for 3 turns | Dispels buffs from all enemies | Fighter |
I’m not here for plain old Roc, but we have to at least go through the motions:
315 Sand damage is OK. -50% healing, cool, cool. Cleanse, yeah -showers are good.
Barbarian? That’s a +30% chance of applying bleeding from any normal attack.
And Fighter Class? A +30% chance to revive with 1 HP…. Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a Winner!
Costumed Roc is soo much better than his shadow.
In fact, don’t even look at it.
Don’t be rude, tho.
Costumed Roc Vs. Empires and Puzzles!
When it comes to Defense-Down, Roc levies enough pressure for it to be of real concern:
- Costumed Santa Claus: -54% on a Slow (4 turns)
- Costumed Vivica: -44% on a Slow (4 turns)
- Isarnia: -44% on a Slow (6 turns)
- Costumed Roc: -44% on an Average (3 turns)
- Frigg: -8% to -44% on a Fast (3 turns)
- Morel: -34% on a Fast (3 turns)
- Guan Yu: -25% to -70% (for target and NB) on an Average (3 turns)
- Costumed Finley: -56% (for targets hit) on a Fast (3 turns)
And Damage-Over-Time?
Well, we know he does double the Sand damage of his non-costumed counterpart.
But there are some really dreadful infections going around in E&P:
| Hero | Mana Speed | Damage over time |
| Costumed Roc | Average (10 tiles) | All enemies receive 660 Sand damage over 4 turns |
| Costumed Gravemaker | Very Fast (6.5 tiles) | All enemies receive 274 Burn damage over 2 turns |
| Emilio | Very Fast (6.5 tiles) | All enemies receive 415 Burn damage over 5 turns |
| Jean Francois | Fast (8 tiles) | All enemies receive 302 Burn damage over 2 turns |
| Dark Lord | Fast (8 tiles) | The target and NB receive 64 Poison damage for 4 turns |
| Vela | Fast (8 tiles) | All enemies receive 156 Water damage over 3 turns |
| Rana | Average (10 tiles) | The target and NB receive 584 Water damage over 4 turns |
| Rayne | Average (10 tiles) | The target receive 1300 Poison damage over 5 turns (contagious) |
| Yunan | Slow (12 tiles) | All enemies receive 600 Sand damage over 5 turns |
660 Sand damage over 4 turns is about half what Rayne does, not bad at all.
Of course, all of these Heroes have their own unique skill sets which contribute to their overall value.
Roc, in all his glory
Costumed Roc: An unbiased assessment
I’m loving the shades, the bandana, and the drinks carton. This guy’s living the dream!
He’s so Carefree.
And that’s just what I need in my life. I’m turning over a new leaf and Roc’s leading the way.
But before I do, let me highlight a few more positives:
- You can’t hurt him with Counterattack, coz he ain’t hitting you,
- He has a Costume Bonus of 3% Attack, 3% Defense, 6% Health, and 1% Mana, and
- He took that drink carton off a kid who’s crying now. -Looking at his empty hand and crying real tears. Like you’ll be crying, when I come and take all your Cups with my new Roc!
Costumed Roc’s Hero Grade (Empires and Puzzles)
My final thoughts:
Roc’s far from the best Hero in the game, but he’s definitely worth levelling.
-44% Defense, attached to your enemies’ foreheads, is bound to have a significant impact on the outcome of a battle.
Of course, there’s a lot of Sand damage going on as well, and a very handy Dispel to boot.
I hope you’ll excuse my overzealous tone today, but you must appreciate, it’s rare for me to obtain such a fine Hero.
Oh, and to all you folk who saw fit to steal all my cups following Azmia’s nerf…
Please prepare to restore them to their rightful owner 😁
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 ⭐★★
As for the original? I think he’s a Warrior.
What are your thoughts? Did I get it wrong, or 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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Images used by way of review/tutorial – Copyright owned by Empires & Puzzles: Small Giant Games
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I grade him: juicebox/10
The gargoyle card being poison-immune out of the box, and fire/waterproof potentially, has placed a not-insignificant advantage onto sand/drain damage.
Thanks for that, fantastic point. I went to test it out, very cool.
I never wanted Roc when I first saw him, but when I tested him with the costume in beta, I found myself taking him along on every test drive of the other heroes who were also being tested.
For an average speed hero Roc is is a star performer now.
I can’t recall how many times I complained in the forum, and on my beta application, that Roc needs some live and attention, and now li and behold, he does. Congratulations on pulling him
Thanks Cornelius, I’m levelling him as a priority.
Great hero, congratulations.
Cheers byzanthia.
i´d like one.
660 dot sanddamage is fresh out of the box without talents and limitbreaking… its gonna be far worse once the hero is properly maxed out. (as an example on DoT scaling.. my Dark Lord hurts for 227/turn… )
Average speed is not as bad as many would like to think, it has its most useful breaking point at 12%..
Many say the costumebonus 1% mana is nothing… but a lvl 11 manatroop, a lvl 19 talent node and this measly 1% costumebonus hits 12% exactly.
i.e you dont need your best troop on this bird, you can spare it for your sniper.
And by the time your sniper is ready to lay waste of your enemies this bird has dispelled them and lowered their defense significally without recieving any retaliation.
Roc is not bad, not bad at all.
Deity or not, i´d like one.
Yes, he’s levelling up very well. Already got him on raids and loving it. Thanks for sharing Cougar!
227 from Dark Lord is limitbroken, maxtalent, and lvl 30 manatroop.
I want to put my players to the maximum can you give me something for that??
Sorry Marcos, I don’t have anything like that! I wish!
Thank you for your review. Dark lord after being buffed can deal 180 per turn, and with mana troop 24, he can do 224 poison damage each turn.
Thanks AngelTears!
I have regular Roc and Rana from maybe 2 years ago and never leveled them beyond 3/70 since I think the summer summons are weak. Your review of costume Roc seems spot on, never considered even pulling. Now I’m somewhat tempted- but odds are I’ll be disappointed unless I’m prepared to spend some serious cash!
I haven’t had much luck with summons in recent months despite fact that I was spending more than ever. Not like thousands but a hundred in December is more than I used to do for the whole year. Then again in January… Eventually I was able to get some heroes some even good ones *(still not worth the money tbh and it wasn’t any new OP hero either). I pulled this month’s HotM which was rather lucky pull because I did single 10 summons. Then I thought I will stop because I don’t have mats for levelling my existing roster anyway. And today no idea why I decided to do a single EHtoken pull. I’m saving them for Christmas hoping for Mr. OP Pengi (I have some minion summoners including Frosth).
And what do you know? C Roc. So of course I went here right away to see your thoughts and I’m really pleasantly surprised with my luck today… what’s even better is that I have also thousands of emblems for him because for years I was only able to pull single barbarian – Azlar. Aaand. now there’s a big dilemma ahead of me because I could even limit break him (/or Kara…). Will probably do him (that’s what she said).
Now I will be a bit silly and say that I hate his stupid costume so much, I’d be willing not levelling him, but he’s one of my few deyties, so I kinda have to lol
Congrats Bobo! I think what people are missing about C.Roc, and why he’s such a Deity, is that he inflicts -44% Defense at Ave, and he does substantial damage. Once the -44% goes on, my lot jump on and get to slapping. Now add his Sand damage, and we quickly win. I have been over the moon with him and hope he’s as good for you! Please check out my No.1 in the World post, which really highlights his value.
found it and will read it shortly (after meetings). I briefly saw your defense and it’s amazing how you can utilize epic heroes. I read some of your reviews on the new ones, also I own couple of them, but haven’t been able to fully ascend them yet. interesting fact about my current defense is that it’s rather defensive (only one offensive hero is Ursena – who hardly add much value to the team).
with that said I go 2/3 MN.C Frosth Ferant Hanitra and Ursena – all limit broken with all emblems on them. I’m in the process of levelling up Onyx who is my only “OP” dark hero and he will replace Ursena (I do have emblems and aethers for him too)
Now. My defense is actually pretty successful. not as much as yours tbh – but as long as I don’t poke the top 100-200, win/loss ratio is many times positive (so I can stay around 2700 cups) *once I attack top 100 I can go down almost -500 cups in 15mins offline with the same def team… don’t ask me how because everything in E&P is random, right? no patterns…
My guess is that it’s a combo of MN reviving, Frosth providing additional HP with his minions; Ferant (despite nerfed) doing dmg by reflecting – and Hanitra is basically Kadi C. without attack but very efficient at times. Also Frosth and Hanitra provide some extra mana for the whole team.
Yet, I struggle to build competetive defense team that would survive more attacks even when I go above 2800 ~ 2900 cups
As I mentioned I’m not that lucky with my pulls and I don’t have many OP heroes.
** List of 5-Star heroes **
** List of 4-Star heroes **
** List of 3-Star heroes **
I’m thinking once I have aethers if I should do Kalo or rather Brynhild
But the million dollar question is – do you think I can utilize my epic roster into my legendary team, so that my def. will be more sustainable?
*fun fact – in offense I do mono Ice Frida C.Isarnia Glenda Finley Raffaele
If I get at least avg. boards and I got to trigger them all together that attack will kill any team (even 5200+ that I faced the other day)
cos dispells buffs; cleanses status; def down; ice def down; +40% on special for Finley and C.Isarnia… but it only works if I get the boards. sometimes I can exchange 250 emblems on the boards (+35 initial) and not to get them triggered. on the worst cases I don’t even trigger Finley… because – random 😀
First off, it’s lucky you should ask this question after I published my definitive, How to build a Defense Team guide!
You’ll see, that while I’m happy to give you an opinion on heroes, I try to stay away from building Defenses because I could easily end up doing it all day!
That said, I’m happy to give you some feedback:
* Generally speaking, if you have a solid 5-Star hero to fill the role, then go that way. I wud’ve, if I had them.
* Looking at your list of 5-Stars (I removed them to make the comment scrollable), you have plenty to be able to field all 5-Star heroes. You just need synergy, which helpfully, my Defense guide will help you find.
* As mentioned above, your recent pull of C.Roc is a game-changer for both Offense and Defense.
* Kalo is still used at the highest level (in the top 50). He is a gamble which some are happy to take.
* Farrant is still awesome and is still in contention for useful in the Legendary world.
* And Brynhild? In truth, she’s a specialist who just so happened to aid me. Rushing to level her with your roster may be a waste of resources. I would still do it, but it’s not an A1 priority.
I hope this helps Bobo!
I drew c. Roc and am currently leveling him but my abilities are different then the one you posted. Mine has 208 sand dame over 4 turns and -30 defense over 3 turns. Why are they different then your c.roc
Hi Chad. His skill will improve as you level him, and his sand damage will also be influenced by emblems. He’s a powerful Hero, congrats 🎉 I hope you like him!
I feel silly now, thanks for the help
They buffed his costume bonus now to 5-5-10-5 (the costume standard)
I use him on every yellow team i ever use. He does 1000 dot dmg over 4 turns with half decent troopts. And i even use him in high end pve battles with Franz and Peridot. Those 3 do 3200 dot dmg in 4 turns in boss round.