Sanctuary of Gargoyles – Empires and Puzzles Guide with Heroes
Sanctuary of Gargoyles is a brand new Empires and Puzzles Challenge Event, which brings with it, a bundle of awesome new Heroes. In this guide, I’ll provide a general overview, and we’ll also take a look at all the new Heroes.
While I won’t be providing a detailed analysis of each new Hero, I will provide an early opinion, and invite you to share your own.
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MENU (Empires and Puzzles Sanctuary of Gargoyles)
1. Sanctuary of Gargoyles Guide
2. Monsters and Bosses Chart
3. Gargoyles Family Bonus
4. All 5 Star Sanctuary of Gargoyles Heroes
Arco
El Duque
Gaillard
Goseck
Hohenwerf
Penolite
Kemeny (new)
Matrera (new)
5. All 4 Star Sanctuary of Gargoyles Heroes
Bellerive
Kalo
6. All 3 Star Sanctuary of Gargoyles Heroes
Budatin
Soroca
Caveat: The post represents game-play speculation and personal opinion. It is not advice. As this information is based on early Beta, it may not be correct at the time of release, please check in-game to be sure.
Sanctuary of Gargoyles | Empires and Puzzles
Sanctuary of Gargoyles is an Empires and Puzzles Challenge Event, due to get its first outing on Thursday 12th May 2022.
The Event Summoning Portal will run for 4 days, ending on Monday 16th May 2022.
You might recognise 2 of the Heroes from the Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Penolite and Gaillard), as both were released back in November 2021, as part of the Black Friday Special.
Alongside them, there are 8 new Heroes, and we’ll check ’em out in a sec.
First, though, we’ll review the Challenge rules, gameplay features, and the End Stage Bosses.
Special Gameplay Rules for the Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Empires and Puzzles)
Sanctuary of Gargoyles will consist of the usual three difficulty modes: Rare, Epic, and Legendary, with 10 Stages in each (30 Stages in total).
There will be a special effect in play for this event: Stoneskin.
This effect will be shown as a meter at the top of the stage level, like the Rage meter we saw in the Slayers of Fell Shadows.
The Stoneskin effect will harden the skin of the enemies, every time you use a Special Skill or Battle item.
-The higher the Stoneskin meter, the less damage they receive.
Each use of a Special Skill or Battle item will increase the meter by 10%, with a maximum of 50%. (The percentage shown in the meter is the amount of reduced damage the enemies receive.)
The meter will also reduce by 10%, for each turn you take without using a Special Skill or Battle item.
If the Stoneskin meter reaches the maximum of 50%, the following will be applied on the next turn:
- All enemies receive Gargoyle’s Stoneskin Buff: The next time they receive damage, it is dropped to 1 damage.
- All enemies receive 5% health
- Cleanses all status ailments from all enemies
After activation, the Stoneskin meter will reset to 0%.
As the goal is to get the highest score possible, to aim for that top-tier loot, this Stoneskin effect could prove quite challenging.
Gargoyle Heroes Challenge Event Boost
Sanctuary of Gargoyles Heroes will enjoy an additional bonus when they’re used in this event.
For the event stages, Heroes of the Gargoyle family will bypass Elemental Barriers (Nature), and enjoy +20% increased attack, defense, and health.
Awesome.
All the Bosses, for All the Stages, in the Sanctuary of Gargoyles
The Sanctuary of Gargoyles event will have a Nature/Green Elemental Barrier (reflect) for all stages.
Here are the Monsters and the End Bosses you’ll be facing!
| STAGE | MONSTERS | END BOSS |
| 1 | Holy and Nature | Soroca (Ice) |
| 2 | Ice and Nature | Kalo (Nature) and Budatin (Dark) |
| 3 | Holy and Nature | Bellerive (Holy) and Goseck (Dark) |
| 4 | Nature and Holy | Hohenwerf (Fire) and Arco (Nature) |
| 5 | Ice and Nature | El Duque (Fire), Penolite (Holy) and Gaillard (Ice) |
| 6 | Nature and Holy | Soroca (Ice), Hohenwerf (Fire) and Kalo (Nature) |
| 7 | Nature and Holy | Arco (Nature), Budatin (Dark) and Penolite (Holy) |
| 8 | Ice and Nature | Bellerive (Holy), El Duque (Fire) and Gaillard (Ice) |
| 9 | Ice and Nature | Arco (Nature), Penolite (Holy) and Hohenwerf (Fire) |
| 10 | Nature and Holy | Goseck (Dark), El Duque (Fire) and Gaillard (Ice) |
Sanctuary of Gargoyles Challenge Coins
The Sanctuary of Gargoyles Event will make use of the existing Challenge Event Coins, requiring 10 of them for 1 free summons.
As with other Challenge Events, you’ll earn coins from completing each of the three difficulty tiers, 3 coins from completing Rare, 5 coins from Epic, and 7 coins from Legendary.
You’ll have a chance to pick up an extra coin by encountering random bonus chests within the stages.
You’ll also have a chance of winning more Challenge Coins from the Event’s loot rewards, by finishing in the top 3 tiers.
And finally, there are normally event offers on sale.
Sanctuary of Gargoyles Family Bonus
The Gargoyle’s family bonus gives Gargoyle Heroes immunity to damage over time effects, increasing the types of damage immunity, with the number of Gargoyle Heroes used in battle:
Gargoyle Family Bonus
Family Bonus (for 1/2/3 Heroes) Immune to Poison damage / Immune to Poison and Burn damage / Immune to Poison, Burn and Water damage.
This skill really suits the Gargoyles, because how do you infect a stone? Where’s Rayne at?
All of the Gargoyle Heroes share the same Passive skill:
Gargoyle’s Stoneskin Passive Skill
Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next X times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
The number of times they receive reduced damage (X) will change depending on their Mana Speed.
You’ll see each Hero’s individual X number alongside their review, below.
This is an awesome level of protection.
All Heroes in Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Empires and Puzzles)
I’m sure I’ll be reviewing many of them in full over the coming months. But for now, let’s see what we’ve got:
Thes Heroes were subsequently Buffed or Nerfed by the developers. Details have been updated to reflect the changes.
5-Star Legendary Heroes: Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Empires and Puzzles)
There are six 5-Star Heroes in the Gargoyles Family, two of which we’ve seen already.
Arco (Empires and Puzzles)
Arco: Nature, Wizard, Average
Gargoyles of Redemption: 1. Replaces all Fiends on all allies with Gargoyle Minions. 2. Summons a Gargoyle Minion for each ally, with 30% HP and 20% attack inherited from the caster. 3. All allies have their health boosted by 75 HP for each Minion owned by allies.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Well then. That’s one hell of a party trick to get us started.
I’m assuming the Replacements are the same as the 30% – 20% Gargoyle Minions he summons himself.
If so, those are some weighty minions. In fact, they’re only 1% lighter than Hulda’s (31%).
The 75 HP boosted health per minion is significant, -that’s 375 HP (minimum) healing for all allies, for his Gargoyle Minions alone.
Pengi owners must be frothing at the mouth in anticipation of this one.
But, Arco won’t need to be part of a Super Minion squad, or even to face Fiend summoners, to look good.
-He’s a fantastic Hero on his own merit.
El Duque (Empires and Puzzles)
El Duque: Fire, Monk, Very Fast
Fists of Atonement: 1. Deals 355% damage to the target and minor damage to nearby enemies. 2. Stack (Max 10): The target and nearby enemies get -9% defense.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 2 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Wow, now we’re talking.
This guy is Very Fast!
He’ll hit 3 of your sorry bunch of rag-tag Heroes (1 for 355% damage, and half that for the other 2), then get down and push out 50, just to let you know, it ain’t no thang.
And when he’s done, he has the audacity to slap a Stacked Defense-Down on you…
No, no, no. This guy’s a straight-up p*ss taker.
You heard it from me folks, -if you haven’t already, it’s time to invest in a solid counterattacker 😉.
Might I recommend Azmia? She performs her role ever so proficiently.
For ref, Master Lepus hits the target for 410% and issues minor damage to nearby enemies, on a Fast charge.
Gaillard (Empires and Puzzles)
Gaillard: Ice, Sorcerer, Fast
Educated Exorcism: 1. Deals 540% damage to the target. 2. All allies are immune to incoming negative effects and damage from Fiends for 4 turns. 3. All allies are immune to new Fiends for 4 turns.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 3 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: We’ve already seen Gaillard, -he’s one of the previously released Gargoyle Family members.
That goes for Penolite, too.
And that’s great news because I’ve already written reviews for them!
You can find Gaillard’s full review here.
Goseck (Empires and Puzzles)
Goseck: Dark, Barbarian, Slow
Revengeful Smite: 1. Deals 350% damage to all. 2. The less HP the caster has, the more damage they will deal, up to 700%.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 5 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Woah!
Up to 700% damage.
Let me grab something to hold on to… got a dizzy spell coming on…
“…let the clouds drift away and focus only on your breath…”
It’s OK, I’m back.
700% is some crazy stuff. Thank goodness he’s slow.
It’s leagues above what anybody else is doing. -This truck needs avoiding!
Do not let this heavy-handed b*st%#d come near you or your loved ones. Call the cops on sight.
Leave it for them to deal with.
…just walk away.
Alright, if you must deal, counterattack, dodge, make him miss, and even taunt (all the F2P/C2P players flexing right about now).
God be with you.
You can find Goseck’s full review here.
Hohenwerf (Empires and Puzzles)
Hohenwerf: Fire, Barbarian, Fast
Possessor of Penance: 1. Deals 450% damage to the target. 2. Summons a Gargoyle Fiend for the target. The Gargoyle Fiend absorbs healing and disappears when it has absorbed health equal to 30% of its owner’s max health. 3. The Gargoyle Fiend forces its owner to cast Mindless Attack on a random ally when mana is full, for as long as the owner has Gargoyle Fiends. This effect can’t be dispelled. 4. The Gargoyle Fiend explodes after 4 turns, dealing 150 damage to the target.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 3 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC (Updated): Hohenwert is a superstar; an offensive powerhouse with all the impenetrable traits of the Gargoyles Family.
He’s quick, does a solid amount of damage, and his Fiend possesses Mindless Attack. A fantastic Hero for controlling Defenses. A truly elite attacker.
He’s not a 1-tap show stopper, but I think he’ll prove quite influential in battle, -and just imagine facing a team with no healers…
On that note, Esme needs a passive that makes her immune to Fiends, impho…
Penolite (Empires and Puzzles)
Penolite: Holy, Ranger, Average
Radiant Rapid-Fire: 1. Deals 245% damage to all. 2. Deals 490% damage against Minion and Fiend summoners. 3. All enemies get -50% decrease for any healing received for 4 turns.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: As mentioned above, both Penolite and Gaillard were initially released a few months back, before the rest of the Gargoyles Family.
And as a result, I already have a full review of her waiting right here…
Want more Penolite? Read her full review here.
Kemeny (Empires and Puzzles)
Kemeny: Dark, Sorcerer, Average
Cry for Absolution: 1. Deals 330% damage to all enemies. 2. Deals an additional 65% damage per Status Ailment the caster has, up to 655% total damage.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Kemeny is a new addition to the Gargoyle Family.
Matrera (Empires and Puzzles)
Matrera: Ice, Rogue, Average
Heretic Slayer: 1. Deals 650% damage to the target. 2. If the target dies, the excess damage is dealt to each nearby enemy. 3. The target and nearby enemies get -40% attack for 4 turns.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Matrera is a new addition to the Gargoyle Family.
4-Star Epic Heroes: Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Empires and Puzzles)
There are two 4-Star Heroes in Sanctuary of Gargoyles.
Bellerive (Empires and Puzzles)
Bellerive: Holy, Rogue, Average
Sanction of Heresy: 1. Deals 420% damage to the target. 2. If target dies, the excess damage is dealt to each nearby enemy.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Bellerive doesn’t believe in waste.
Every drop of her slap will either reach your face or your mate’s face… so ain’t no point in slipping or sliding.
Still, none of my Top 10 4-Star Heroes have much to worry about here.
If you’re looking for a really strong 4-Star Hero, check out the new Season 5 bunch… (Or check out the other 4-Star on this list; Kalo)
As for Bellerive? She’s too slow for me.
Average mana speed for 420%, which spills over, isn’t enough. While it’s a real decent hit, I need more from a Hero.
Kalo (Empires and Puzzles)
Kalo: Nature, Sorcerer, Average
Resurrection of the Fallen: 1. Deals 135% damage to all. 2. If no allies have fallen, deals 270% damage to all. 3. Casts the Special Skills of all fallen allies.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Hold up a sec… This is something different…
This tastes like fine wine right here.
Is this the good stuff? Stuff from the cellar? Berries and roses? French vineyards on a midsummer afternoon?
With steak and salad, with fish and vegetables?
For true connoisseurs?!
Kalo is not playing around. Someone up at HQ been thinking real hard about this Special right here.
I mean, this is not your average set of Skills I’m looking at.
I’m wondering if the Boss himself rolled up the old shirt sleeves, loosened the tie, and told Tobey to hold onto his coffee.
And he pulled it off! Kalo is a genius Hero.
“You did it, Boss, -you’ve still got it!”
“Nobody likes a kiss a**, Tobey”
“What a guy.”
Want more Kalo? Read his full review here.
3-Star Rare Heroes: Sanctuary of Gargoyles (Empires and Puzzles)
There are two 3-Star Heroes in Sanctuary of Gargoyles.
Budatin (Empires and Puzzles)
Budatin: Dark, Wizard, Average
Abiding Dogma: 1. Alters the power of all Dark shields on the board. When attacking the shields become enhanced and give +37% more mana. When defending, the shields become weakened and give -30% less mana.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: Alright, this could be useful.
Playing with mana is cool, defo something worth looking into.
It’s difficult to place too much value on this skill because he’s a 3-Star Hero, and it’s also situational.
Still, if I didn’t have better, I’d explore the idea.
Soroca (Empires and Puzzles)
Soroca: Ice, Paladin, Average
Faithful Force: 1. Deals 235% damage to the target. 2. Deals an additional 10% damage per Ice shield on the board, up to 335% damage in total.
Passive: Every time this Gargoyle casts a Special Skill, their Stoneskin hardens. The next 4 times they receive damage, it is dropped to 1. This effect can’t be dispelled.
OC: If I’m reading it right, Soroca will hit for up to 570% damage.
However, as the Special description is a little ambiguous, there’s a chance Soroca will only hit for a maximum of 335%.
Either way, it’s not enough to change my overall view of him, because Bjorn will give me 550% damage shared over 2 targets for the same Speed.
Sanctuary of Gargoyles – Empires and Puzzles Guide
Bish Bash Bosh, as they say.
Another one in the bag.
I’m like a fighter on the ropes, waving SG in…
“Come on, keep throwing ’em at me, you can’t hurt me!”
I’m joking! Sanctuary of Gargoyles is another great event with some really strong Heroes.
My picks?
We already know Penolite’s awesome.
From there, El Duque has to be seen as pure evil. I’ll defo review him.
I figure at some point Goseck’s gonna be introduced to Ludwig, and I’m sure they’ll get on like a house on fire.
And finally, Kalo… Well, well, well. This 4-Star right here is about to take the world by storm.
How many Defenses will he appear on? Only time will tell.
What do you make of these new Heroes? Why not let me know in the comments below?
Spot an error? Just let me know and I’ll update it.
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Images used by way of review/tutorial – Copyright owned by Empires & Puzzles: Small Giant Games
That 4* that fires the special of all fallen heroes is sick. Imagine him in a rush tournament with Mother North and a bunch of AOE heroes, tucked away in the corner with full +shield emblems. Resurrect everyone, cast four AOEs, and then they all cast their specials too that turn or the next…
Frankly, crazy stuff. Who wouldn’t use Kalo, 4-Star or not? So strong!
My reading of Soroca is that the overall damage maxes out at 335% total. Even if that is not the case, since it is impossible to have 34 blue tiles on the board at the same time, the max damage actually achievable would be substantially less than 570%. Overall this hero just seems very weak and boring, especially considering all the fun (or at least interesting) stuff the higher tier gargoyles do.
You know, that’s how I read it initially and I couldn’t work out, why even bother? So, I assumed it must be this way, to at least be something.
Either way, as you say, not great at all.
The tile thing doesn’t make sense either. Why require 34 out of 35 tiles to hit the max? No, not great at all.
Thanks for weighing in. I’ll update the overall damage once confirmed.
It’s for sure 10 tiles for extra 100% damage and total of 335% because it’s only logical and impossible to have 33 tiles of same color as they would already be matched
I got super lucky and got both Penolite and Gaillard on 30 pulls during Black Friday Summon. I thought being the old heroes, their power will be a little bit lower than the new ones, turns out they get some boost of stats. The family bonus is also very nice. At least it works well going against Rayne. The stoneskin being according to the speed of the heroes is insane. Previously it was only once, now 3 times for average, even 5 for slow? Killing them has just got harder. I faced Peno in defence, that 3 times 1 damage is anoyying as heck, and its undispellable. I tried using minion summoners to get the extra hit to quickly neutralize the stoneskin but that backfires with being smacked by irritated peno instead. Lol.
That Kalo guy will be the main highlight of this portal.
Hey MIB! I’d say you lucked out. The Stoneskin additional turns was a strong buff, and Penolite was already top drawer.
Kalo Kalo Kalo… He looks ridiculous on paper, I agree with your sentiments!
I spent my first 25euro’s in a year on this event and, besides the ever praised VALEN (twice) I got budatin, soroco (whom I already fed to jabberwock), Bellerive (méh, don’t know about her/it) and… Padabam: Kalo! After reading your full review he’s definitely getting a lb from me! Thanks again for the review, always fun!
Congrats Duende, a great hero for sure. Should be a lot of fun!
Valen you mean? Yeah, he’s just peachy 😂😅
Well I’ve got all the 5* gargoyles fully maxed and LB. NOT Hohenwerf yet. Not yet much emblems but they are already awesome. The passive against faire water and poison is very strong.
Dude
I’m trying out Bellerive. Curious to discover if the usage of the leftover hit is meh or awesome. I’m landing on awesome. Opens a hole and then widens the hole with the leftovers. Great feature for raids. So much waste in other hero specials. No waste here. The stone skin…. gotta love it. Can take a direct hit from a sniper and nothing happens. Gonna be a great hero.
I got a Free Summons and I got…Wu Kong. As I don’t use him I fed him away to my (sitting on the bench) C. Wu Kong who eats every Wu Kong I get.
😄 Sorry Cap, awful thing to find a Wu Kong. Need the patience of a saint to love that one!
Between WTK, Gargoyles and Underworld, which summon portal would you spend money on if you were to spend money on summon portals?
Hello! I don’t like to suggest the idea of a best portal because I try not to influence people’s spending! The way I see it, these heroes matter if you’ve got them or if you’re facing them. But if I say ‘this portal’ folk might spend when they otherwise wouldn’t have.