How Good is Ruby? Empires and Puzzles Review
Ruby is a new 5-Star Hero from the Empires and Puzzles Ninja Tower. And it’s fair to say, she’s gonna raise some eyebrows (and reduce some mana) over the coming months.
Let’s get straight to it.
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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.
Ruby’s Element, Class, Special Skills, & Talents
Ruby’s core data:
Element: Fire (Red)
Class: Barbarian
Mana Speed: Ninja
Family Bonus: For 2/3 Heroes: 5% / 10% chance to dodge. 5% / 10% chance to counterattack with 60% / 90% damage
Special Skills (Crimson Calamity):
First Mana Charge: 1. Deals 290% damage to the target. 2. Reduces the mana of the target by 25%. 3. The target gets -14% mana generation for 2 turns.
Second Mana Charge: 1. Deals 330% damage to the target and nearby enemies. 2. Reduces the mana of the targets by 50%. 3. The targets receive -24% mana generation for 3 turns.
Third Mana Charge: 1. Deals 370% damage to all enemies. 2. Reduces the mana of all enemies by 100%. 3. All enemies receive -34% mana generation for 4 turns.
Talent: WOUND ~ +30% chance to apply bleeding from any normal attack.
Is Ruby worth Levelling? (Empires and Puzzles)
Yes. Ruby is another significant leap forward for Empires & Puzzles.
The question most people will actually ask is, does she go too far?
Ruby’s Special Skills (Crimson Calamity)
Looking at each of her Specials in isolation, let’s see if we can identify where we lost the handle with Ruby.
Her tier-1 Special is OK and somewhat reasonable:
Ninja Mana Charge 1 (Ruby – Empires & Puzzles)
Dealing 290% to the target, reducing their mana by 25%, and leaving them with -14% mana generation.
I mean, Ninja x1 is 5 tiles (faster than Very Fast). And Chao, a Fast 4-Star Hero, hits his target for 315% and reduces their mana by 25%.
So, Ruby doesn’t seem too overkill, just yet.
We still sipping our coffee? Feeling cool, calm, and collected, right?
Ninja Mana Charge 2 (Ruby – Empires & Puzzles)
Stage two expands on the idea a little:
Dealing 330% to three targets, reducing their mana by 50%, and leaving them with -24% mana generation for 3 turns.
There, in Bold!
I think I did it… That’s the first sign that Ruby’s insane.
Breaking it down, the 330% damage to three targets isn’t unheard of. We all know Quenell (Fast) just set the bar at 320%-520%.
And here, Ruby is on her second charge, which is 10 tiles -or, Average speed.
Hell, Cobalt will give you 325% to three targets on his second mana charge, too.
The issue here is the significant Mana reduction… To three targets.
The -24% mana generation is just a cherry on top.
But on we go… I wonder how much stronger Ruby will get.
Ninja Mana Charge 3 (Ruby – Empires & Puzzles)
370% damage to all enemies. OK. Cool. It’s becoming more common. That’s fine.
Reduces the mana of all enemies by 100%.
Well.
It seems we have a Hero here who can both slap you silly and strip you of all your mana.
So, your healer’s charged and ready to give aid, but nope! Ruby made it zero.
Your hitter’s about to put some knuckles to cheekbone, but nope! Ruby made it zero.
And so on, and so forth.
Then, she’ll leave you with -34% mana generation for 4 turns.
MMMmmm… Let’s change the subject. Let’s talk about Damage.
370% is top-end stuff.
Here’s a nice table to illustrate it:
| Hero | Mana Speed | Damage | Secondary |
| Ruby | Ninja 3 | Deals 370% damage to all enemies | 😂 |
| Cristobal Tier-2 | Slow | Deals 200% damage to all enemies… or 400% if more than 50% HP | 50% chance to give -20% attack to all enemies that are not Nature (green) |
| Milena Tier-2 | Slow | Deals 390% damage to all enemies | Dispels buffs from all enemies. 50% chance to give 25% mana to all allies that are not Ice (blue) |
| Killhare | Average | Deals 300% damage to all enemies | All allies get -20% defense |
| Cobalt Ninja-3 | Slow | Deals 360% damage to all enemies | 100% chance to bypass defensive buffs (including counterattack) |
| Onyx Ninja-3 | Slow | Deals 350% damage to all enemies | All enemies are immune to new buffs for 5 turns. Dispels all buffs from all enemies |
| Bobo | Slow | Deals 320% damage to all enemies | Enemy with the highest base defense gets -60% defense for 4 turns. Enemy with the highest base attack gets -60% attack for 4 turns. These can not be cleansed. |
Related: My Best Empires and Puzzles Tips!
Ruby – Empires and Puzzles Ninja Tower
My final thoughts:
We all know Ruby’s insanely strong, but she’s also attached to the Ninja Tower, so I don’t expect (hope?) to see too many of her out there in the wild…
There’s no way of talking this one down, -if Ruby is in the opposing team, you might have to go Elementally strong against her, Tank or not.
And I don’t even want to imagine her sitting next to Ludwig or Xnolphod.
Her second and third charges are going to be the real Game Changers here, and that info should be used when facing her.
Also, Heroes who can stop her are going to be more valuable than ever -Heroes like Bai Yeong, Poseidon, Lepiota, and dare I say, Balbar.
As for playing her in your Raid team?
Here’s my technical 3-step guide:
- Try not to fire her off on the first Ninja charge
- Press her face when it’s flashing
- Smile
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Deity ⭐⭐★
Question: Who else can Stop Ruby?
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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Err yeah, sick. That triple charge makes Milena, who was only just released, look like a season 1 hero. Ridiculous. This isn’t power creep, it’s a power jump.
You have to laugh, she’s so powerful. I watched a video of her in action… made me smile.
A friend in another alliance showed me his attack team which he refuses to play on defense because the ninja random thing is a slight certainty issue
Mica-Ruby-Ludwig-Quenell-Ariel.
Scary. Shared damage at faster than very fast may give ludwig an unstoppable chance at shooting without being killed even by color stacks. Plus both the wings buff mana to ludicrous speed. Oh, and thats before Ludwig takes his flankers to time travel mana speed. And when he does that, you have possibly the games 2 most vicious multi hitters who can shoot brutal shots probably firing 3x in 5 turns…or say 2 in 6(The initial Ludwig shot and hopefully Quen shoots same turn or next if you wanna let Quen get even meaner before she shoots). But she will be fully recharged in 3 to shoot again.
Then again 2 turns later.
Oh, and that team has all colors so no lost tiles. Not that uou need any because Ludwigs mana pumping is tile free.
I have to admit, Raiding was a lot easier 3 /4 months ago. Now you’re facing a wall of trouble. I find working on my Defense team is even more important now, so I don’t lose what little I managed to gain, when I was on!
Yeah when I read her card I was a bit incredulous.
At her Very Fast+ charge she is one of the strongest mana cutters in overall affect, and that’s just at charge 1. By charge 2, sure she slowed down a bit to get there, but when firing off she immediately screws over 3 heroes hitting them for great damage, reducing their mana by half and slowing their mana gen by a quarter. Finally, the last charge is realistically even better than Alfrike’s special because hers is random targeting and in theory can focus on one or two heroes, or mainly hit heroes who were in a good position to take a hit (high health and low mana charge). Ruby’s is beyond that, all heroes will take the hit. Obviously some mitigation can occur to help stop the effects, but everyone is targeted regardless.
Normally I would declare her to be the GREATEST HERO OF ALL TIME!!!!!!…….but lol, even despite being amazing we have had a slew of really crazy characters since Starfall Circus first dropped and Ruby just adds to that craziness.
That said, if you see her on Defense fight fire with fire, mana cutters/blockers, reflectors, and field nothing but Clerics 😛
“if you see her on defense”… run.
🙂
It will be interesting to see how prevalent she becomes. We need more heroes (HotM?) who can either contain her strike or stop her ability to remove your mana. I love Control heroes, but with so many super-strong heroes out there, they’re not quite cutting it!
Fortunately I have Bai Yeong, and I have Zocc, so messing around with her should not be too hard. 370 to all, well… I saw a video on YouTube once where Cobalt did the dirty, and that was mega nasty. Ruby… let’s just say bye bye babe now comes in red, I mean ruin…
I was just saying, with so many Monsters, Bai Yeong needs a team to deploy each battle!
So true, all he needs is a team that can keep him alive long enough to peck Ruby to death…
I just pulled her and have a ton of training swords and about 100 rope so I’ll be trying to level her quickly. See just how OP she is when she’s at 3rd ascension. I expect she’s going to be in all my teams. I can’t imagine them nerfing her because they knew what they were doing making a card like that.
😄 I agree with you, it’s unlikely they’ll nerf her. There have been some pretty crazy Monsters in the last 6 months, none which I expect to be nerfed.
Well, it seems like you’re a Made man now, moving up in the world. It’s only the best from here… fine cars, good meals, etc etc… Congrats!
yeah, the onward overstat stuffing continues. They are releasing 1 uber-stat uber-special hero after another on a weekly basis and have been for months. This is of course to cover their poorly negotiated purchase deal to aquire the game property. They are encouraging spending to get these heroes…and who knows if its working…but I am kinda offended already. I had a decent stable that was 3 years of building. I had most of the season 1, and 2 5 stars. a healthy chunk of the 3s, a few 4s. I can bring 7 or 8 very stout 5 star lineups which allows me to have decent flexibility in wars or events requiring flexibility and numbers.
As of the past 6 or so months, at least 25% of my heroes, classics like Justice, Telluria, Misandra. and several others cannot ever get into battle because they are so incredibly underpowered against the recent heroes. The simple stat numbers are ridiculous. Justiuce was once ranked as the vbest tank in the game because her defense stat was leaps and bounds higher than any other. Stick her in the middle, shes unkillable before her allies shoot off 2 or 3 specials and turn the tide in their favor.
Now she doesnt even rate in the top 20 for tanks…possibly not in the top 50. Shes slow, and her defense level is barely middling. Many snipers have higher base defense than the one time best defensive tank hero in the game. And without any additional mega special effects (she does a blind which is OK, not devastating by any means especially at slow speed) she simply doesnt get the job done.
And shes one of many.
Do I want newer super heroes? sure. Do I wanna HAVE TO buy them for cash or watch my years built and years of spending roster be obsoleted for a fast cash grab for Small Giant to solve their debt issues? I find it…unfair and unpleasant. But, life is often that way…just happens to be this game this time.
Hey TLK, for my part I love seeing these heroes, but don’t ever really hope of getting them. The odds are too steep. Thanks for sharing your opinion.
It’s unreal that SG releases Ruby in this form… I just can’t stop laughing when I read her hero card.
I played against her yesterday for the first time. I was comfortably winning until she fired off. Devastating.
I tried to pick him/her, but i took Shale 🙁
Sorry, I got Shale too. 😒
I don’t have any of the Ninja heroes. When I saw Ruby i was flabbergasted.
At least it is going to be interesting to watch the forum riots.
Ruby definitely feels like a cornerstone moment. But how many people actually have her? Hopefully, just a few!
Thanks for commenting!
I ended up getting 2 of her. I maxed one with emblems immediately and the other is 3/70
Congrats! Doesn’t get better than Ruby -There’s no way in hell I’d get rid of a second either.
Pulled Ruby today… Can’t explain how excited I am!!!
I was wondering who to give my 6 precious rings. Captain Nemo or Saoirse, both waiting at 3/70, or Russell, Lady Loki, Elena or Azlar (all on 1/1). Never even considered Reuben…
But now I’ve pulled Ruby, she will clearly be prioritized over all the bunch above and sit next to my QoH (LB, +20), Zenobia (+10), GM (+20) and BT (LB, C, +20) for mono red team.
Will probably also put her in my defense together with Pengi, MN, Hanitra and Jabberwock.
HAhaha -I’m real jealous! Congrats Jan, enjoy. I hope you win loads of cups!
Got Ruby. 2-60 on the bench. Presently maxing Nadezhda. I will consider Ruby for next red ascend.
Got a second Ruby! Should I consider maxing 2?
Congrats Richard, I’d deffo keep hold of her for now. If you run out of options, you’ll have her sitting in the wings. I tend to like versatility, so other deities first, 2nd Ruby after. However, if you have a game-plan for playing two, that may be worthwhile. Which way are you leaning?