How to Set Up a Defense Team in Empires and Puzzles
How do you set up (or build) a Defense Team in Empires and Puzzles? It’s a question I get asked a lot, so today I’m going to share my process.
It goes without saying, I don’t claim to be an expert. However, I feel I’ve been playing long enough, and have had enough exposure to varying views via this blog, to be able to construct this guide.
I’m going to be covering a lot of information here, and I hope it proves useful for both the new P2P players, who are seeking to build Top Tier Defenses, and also the new F2P/C2P players, who may find building Defense Teams especially challenging due to a lack of quality heroes and, in general, online guidance.
And finally, if you’re one of the large pool of experienced players who frequent this blog, you are invited and welcome to add your own thoughts/tips/contributions, to the comments below.
Before we start, please support me by sharing a link to this post, it really does help. Thank you!
This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Why Doesn’t the Old Cynic Set Up Defense Teams on Request?
Setting up a strong Defense Team involves a lot of elements, all of which I’m about to cover in this post, and in short, I simply don’t have the time to build lots of teams. It’s just not reasonable for me to do.
Sure, I can pick out your best heroes. But as we’ll discover, a good Defense Team is about much more, -it’s about finding synergy.
If you’d like a vice-versa opinion on a couple of heroes, I’m happy to offer that. But if you want me to build a team for you, I’m going to refer you here!
I hope you understand.
I have long promised a post about building a Defense Team, and as my personality type hates letting folk down, here it is.
Related Reading
Before we get into the guide, it’s worth noting a number of other posts on this website which all add to the conversation. They explain many of the concepts which I’ll later touch on in this guide:
- The Ultimate Raid Strategy Guide – Concerning the methods used to win a battle
- The Complete Colour Stacking Guide – Concerning Team Stacking
- Empires and Puzzles Troops: A Complete Guide – A comprehensive guide to Troops. Guest contributor: David P.
- 1% Raid Tournament Guide – A comprehensive guide to building Defensive and Offensive Teams for Tournaments. Guest contributor: GamerrFreddie
- Stop Using Mono Tanks …in War – An insightful argument concerning the importance of Defense Team synergy. Guest contributor: Romain De Camas
- How to Read E&P Hero Cards – A guide to understanding Hero Cards
- Empires and Puzzles Jargon Buster – In case any of the words in this post draw a blank!
How to Set Up a Defense Team | Empires and Puzzles
Setting up a Defense Team can be a subjective affair, after all, our personal experiences and more importantly, our available rosters, play a big part in the equation.
Personally, I lean towards seeking synergy above all else when facing the problem of Team building.
In the years I’ve played the game, I’ve been most impressed by the dogged Teams, which create systematic loops, -making victory, a hard thing to obtain.
That’s the type of team I try to create myself, albeit, with a vastly inferior roster.
And, it’s that method which I’ll be sharing with you today, and hopefully, it will help you build a reasonable team with your own rag-tag bunch of rejects, -as I have with mine.
However, if you’re a P2P player wanting to know what your best Defensive Team looks like, there are a number of shortcuts available to you, which I’ll cover next.
Shortcuts to building the Best Elite Empires and Puzzles Defense Team (P2P Top Tier)
While the fundamentals are the same (synergy will be the cornerstone of this post), players who have access to all of the best heroes in empires and puzzles, have at least a few handy pointers available to them.
The Leaderboard Top 100 (Empires and Puzzles)
The first is the in-game Top 100 Leader board, which can be found in the RAIDS tab, just under your raid tier. Press the button called, ‘LEADERBOARD’.
The following is a list of the current Top 100 players in the world based on Cups held.
A short peruse here will show you what some of the best players in the world have constructed for use as their Defense Team.
Take a moment to see what heroes are being fielded, and Where.
Also, try to understand why they’ve been positioned that way (formation and order). What are the benefits?
The Top Alliances (Empires and Puzzles)
To take it a step further, hit the ‘TOP ALLIANCES’ tab, and select one of the top alliances to review.
There’s a lot of good info here to be found, and interestingly, you’ll see that some of the top alliances share similarly designed Defenses. -A common example is the use of Xnolphod as Tank.
Now, I don’t presume to talk for these alliances, but it’s clear that research, experimentation, and organisation, has occurred.
And all of that energy has been invested with two things in mind: Obtaining and Retaining Cups.
So, you don’t have to read about Xnolphod, to understand that he should be considered a viable Tank option.
Instead, you’ll have clear evidence laid out before you, from the people who play this game at the highest level, that good ‘ol Xnolphod, may be worth a punt.
Join an Organised Alliance (Empires and Puzzles)
If you want to, why not join an Organised Alliance and get some pointers, firsthand?
It doesn’t have to be a Top Tier Clan, so long as the players are committed, and it’s all relatively well organised.
Many Alliances, regardless of status, have off-game communications via Line & Discord. And many like to help others with their Defense Teams.
So, while you may not find a single player with access to all of your heroes, you’re bound to find a pool of experienced players who have access to or are very familiar with, your roster.
Find Defense Team Synergy Yourself (Empires and Puzzles)
If you’re a new P2P player, your goal is ultimately the same as everybody else’s, -to find the most absurd amount of synergy you can.
To create a team capable of frustrating the living daylights out of any invader.
So, the rest of this guide should help you, too.
Universal Laws Of Setting Up a Defense (Empires & Puzzles Tips)
There are generally accepted rules that, on the whole, offer clear benefits when setting up a Defense Team. That’s not to say you can’t break these rules, but if you’re unsure, it’s easier to simply follow them.
- You don’t need to include every type of hero in your Defense – You don’t even need to field healers (for example) if you’d prefer not to. It’s all about finding what works best
- ‘Rainbow Teams’ are generally more advantageous (Read my Colour Stacking Guide for more)
- Speed Kills – If your heroes can fire off first, they stand a better chance of winning!
- If playing a Defense-Down hero, try and place them to the Left. That goes for Cleansers and Dispellers, too
- Some 4-Star heroes can contribute to a solid Defense
- 3-Star heroes are too weak to be effective in the Diamond League
- Don’t play a sniper as Tank
- Mother North is not a Tank
- It’s your Team, so do what you want – This is also my general rule for playing the game
Is your Strongest Team, your Best Team? Defense Synergy…
The main argument I’m going to make in this post is based on creating synergy.
What do I mean by that?
I mean, putting a team together which when viewed in their single parts may not be considered worthy of particular merit, however, when fielded together, makes the invader say,
“Huh… wasn’t expecting that.”
Play heroes who complement each other’s skillset.
Of course, if you have all the best heroes, simply seek synergy.
But even if you don’t, there’s still hope… sometimes.
The best way for me to explain what I mean is by sharing my recently destroyed Defence (destroyed by SG when they nerfed Azmia):
A number of pointers:
- I’m generally a very C2P player, with my recent blog pulls being my biggest splurge to date.
- There are three 4-Star heroes in my Defense, although I could’ve fielded five 5-Star heroes (we’ll cover this later).
- I owe a general apology to the world over my stance on the White Wizard.
Explaining my budget Defense Team (Empires and Puzzles)
Pre-nerf, this team was holding me near 2700 cups.
That may not seem a lot for some players, but for me, it was an outstanding feat, especially as I don’t Raid as much as I’d like to.
Let’s break the entire thing down, and share my general process.
First, let’s look at the Formation
I used to run the Reverse formation because I found it to be the most frustrating to deal with. I also liked the layout and generally got better results with it.
However, once I levelled Azmia, I saw an opportunity to try something a little different.
I wanted her to fire off ASAP, but didn’t want to leave her out front alone. So, the Double formation made more sense. However, it was just another piece of experimentation.
-If it didn’t work, I would have moved on and tried something else.
Now, let’s go over the Team build and layout.
Choosing my Defense Team Tank (Empires and Puzzles)
This team was all designed to make the most out of Azmia. -To keep her protected so she could keep that (once) awesome counterattack going.
I wanted a co-Tank for that reason, and Freya seemed like a good choice (based on my roster).
I really value her ability to reverse, or simply increase, Defense. Also, she creates a solid meat market out front with her minions. And most importantly, she’s quicker than Azmia, at Fast.
Both of these heroes offer Team-wide protections and also get on with the work of inflicting harm on those who would steal our Pork.
Tank Tip: For me, choosing a Tank is about selecting a hero who does a lot, ideally both Defensively and Offensively. Telluria was a beloved Tank because she did it all, including messing with mana.
There are loads of good options for Tank, including:
Remember, a ‘weak’ Tank for somebody else, might actually be your best choice.
If you don’t have a better option, Buddy might make a great Tank for you. Because, when he fires off he summons a bunch of minions, inflicts -Attack, and inflicts -Defense, on 3 enemy targets.
In fact, he would make a better Tank than some 5-Star snipers/controllers, like Malosi for example.
The Rest of the Squad (Gormek)
Now that we have a little protection going on, we need heroes capable of winning this thing.
Since I didn’t have El Naddaha, Finley, Guan Yu, Eloise, Rayne, Congalach, Penolite, or Mr. Pengi to hand, I went with plain old Gormek.
He’s an Average speed Fire hitter who, importantly, inflicts -34% Defense on 3 enemy targets. Imagine that with Freya’s minions peppering away.
Of course, my 4-Stars are Limit Broken, Emblemed, and fully insured.
While he’s not gonna win the battle by himself, he’s still the most offensive hero in my line-up.
Attrition is my Dream. And, his -34% Defense offers me some hope of p*ssing off and ejecting, any overreaching invader.
Left-Wing Tip: The Left Wing is an important spot because it houses the first hero to activate on the next turn.
That’s why so often, you’ll see a Defense-Down hero there, like Morel, Frigg, Costumed White Rabbit, and Finley.
And that’s why I put Gormek there.
Also, the Left Wing is the traditional spot for Mother North, because it gets the most out of her Special Skills (-should she revive any heroes who are fully charged, they’ll go off on that turn).
On the Right Corner is Devana (Empires and Puzzles)
Devana occupies the right corner because she’s a solid stand-alone hero.
She does so much, which I’ve documented, and I especially like her anti-minion… minion.
She also Dispels three targets, and that’s a theme I wanted to continue, with the centre spot…
Right-Wing Tip: This spot is great for big hitters (Mr. Pengi, Quenell, Cristobal), because they can take advantage of any ailments (or buffs) inflicted by the heroes before them.
It’s also a great spot to sit a free-radical, like Kalo.
The Right-Wing is also traditionally home to the common sniper.
Melendor, The White Wizard (Centre – Flank)
Costumed Melendor will regenerate health for all allies, cast +46% defense for 3 turns, and Dispel buffs from all enemies.
While experimenting, I first went with Franz in this spot, but he proved too slow. I also tested C. Jack O’Hare, but he never got me more Cups.
C. Melendor, I imagine, added to a reoccurring loop:
- Defense-Up (Freya + Melendor)
- Healing (Azmia + Melendor)
- Dispel (Melendor + Devana)
Plus, I got Defense-down from Gormek, Cleanse from Azmia (60% chance), and a tiny bit of minion control from Devana.
Flank Tip: I guess Melendor is playing in a Flank-type position here in my lineup. Flanks are great for Dodge heroes, Summoners, healers, and Taunters.
Flank heroes are the most interchangeable, once you have your core Defense Team set up.
You can also tell a more aggressive team by the heroes fielded in these spots. For example, Elizabeth, Hannah, Big hitters, and Defense-Down heroes, are also fielded here.
Defense Team Hero Element Positioning (Empires and Puzzles)
Let’s reprint my Defense Team so you don’t have to keep scrolling back up:
Another way to gain an advantage is by placing heroes with due regard to their element. That means, understanding the colour wheel:
- Yellow (Holy) is strong against Purple (Dark), but weak against Yellow
- Purple is strong against Yellow, but weak against Purple
- Red (Fire) is strong against Green (Nature), but weak against Blue (Ice)
- Blue is strong against Red, but weak against Green
- Green is strong against Blue, but weak against Red
With that in mind, and as much as it falls in line with your other criteria, positioning weak next to their element opposite, is a great idea.
I placed Gormek (Red) to the Left, and Azmia (Blue) next to him.
So, if an invader goes Green (Nature) mono in order to target Azmia, there’s a chance Gormek could benefit from Green tiles hitting him (as they’re weak against him).
Therefore, helping him to charge his mana while taking as little damage as possible.
Defense Team Review (Empires and Puzzles)
This was a solid little Defense Team while it lasted, -with Azmia grabbing a fair few Cups:
All-in-all, I can say from testing, that it was Melendor (despite how much he has grown on me) who was the weakest link. Followed by, Gormek.
However, there was obviously enough synergy to get some wins, so overall, I was happy.
Who was left sitting on the bench?
As mentioned above, I could’ve fielded a full 5-Star team, and here’s a list of the key heroes I left behind:
- Hanitra (because I was playing Azmia and wanted her Counterattack to… count)
- Esme (actually a very good defensive hero, I even tried to field 2 Ice heroes to fit her in)
- Master Lepus (because I’m playing Azmia)
- Magni (a solid old-timer, but past his prime + Ice + sniper)
- Elkanen (a weak’ish Nature old timer)
- Reuben (an OK Fire 5-Star hero, but without another 2020 HotM, he loses out on a key strength)
- Elena (I think you’re getting the point. A bunch of old 5-Star heroes from here on in, many of whom were collected from TC20)
How do you Experiment with a Defense Team?
When I talk about experimenting, I’m talking about putting a Defense Team together and letting them defend the castle while you’re away. For maybe a day or two.
See how things go. Review the data. See how many you win and lose, and take a look at the teams who manage to steal your Cups.
Are your Cups going up? -That’s generally a good indication of a good Defense Team.
How to Test a Defense Team (Empires and Puzzles)
Finally, once I’m satisfied I have a half-decent Defense Team on my hands, I’ll ask an alliance member to ‘Battle’ them.
Often, this is actually my wife, where I can watch firsthand, my team’s performance.
I tend to put together a new Defense Team every few months or so, if my team’s losing too many Cups, or if I happen to get a new hero who’s worth shaking things up for.
Like Azmia.
If I had Kalo, he’d also be worth the effort, especially given my limited roster.
Picking a War Defense Team (Empires and Puzzles)
I believe all of my observations also apply to War Defense Teams.
The 1% Tournament guide is also especially useful for seeing how to respond to the different types of War Effects.
For example, prioritising your powerhouse slow heroes, in a Very Fast War.
And for that reason, I’m not going to duplicate information here.
My view is, that it comes down to finding the best synergy for each War. But remember, some you win some you lose, it’s all part of the learning process.
I say that because Wars are less forgiving. You don’t have the luxury of 2 days to test conditions, you simply have to be prepared to start recording data for future wars, or be willing to shoot from the hip.
Building a Defense Team in Empires and Puzzles
I hope this helps somebody, but please bear in mind, I don’t claim to be the master of the universe… I just play the game a lot.
If you’ve got tips to share, please do. New players are always looking for this sort of information, and I’d love for there to be enough here to empower them to start experimenting with their own rosters.
My best tip is to think about what you’re trying to achieve. Try to imagine how you want your team to respond to tiles. And, build a team around that concept.
For me, I wanted Amzia to fire off first, or to be protected until she did (Freya).
Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that.
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
The new Magic Troops increase mana boost to 20% at max and can shave tiles even faster than the original Mana troops. There are breakpoints where Mana and Magic Troops increase mana boost. They are levels 1, 5, 11, 17, 23 and 29. Comparing Mana & Magic troops at the breakpoints gives these results: level 1 – both 5% boost (base level mana boost): level 5 – Mana 7%, Magic 8%: level 11 – Mana 9% Magic 11%: level 17 – Mana 11% Magic 14%: level 23 – Mana 13% Magic 17% (Magic is now beyond the max a Mana troop can boost): level 29 – Mana 15% Magic 20%. The Mana troop has higher Attack and Defense stats and the Magic has higher Health stats but Mana is where the difference really matters. The extra 5% opens up possibilities that were impossible before. With the right combinations of Class, Family, Costume and Magic troop mana boost a Fast hero can potentially be hitting at 6 tiles (Very Fast Speed), a Slow hero at 9 tiles (Ludicrous Speed) and a Very Slow hero at 10 tiles. Very Fast heroes just need a level 11 troop of either kind to shave .5 tiles off to knock it down to 6 but further shaving is immaterial. Average heroes can use either kind of troop to reduce 10 tiles to 9 but, again, further shaving is immaterial. Food for thought.
Thanks Dave!
Cynic, what are some are your favorite examples of synergistic buffs/debuffs? +Attack/-Defense is a given, Pengi is of course great with summoners, and Franz’s debuff works with pretty much everything, but I’m curious as to synergies you like that are a little less obvious – a couple of mine are Sif/Wolfgang + Taunter or Wilbur + Snow White (either version).
Hey Holodigm, I’ve mentioned the key pairing in my Defense as Amiza and Freya, as they complement each others defensive weaknesses, creating a very nice little united front. When I look at my Raids of late, I am impressed with the Mother North c. Ariel link up, really creating a cornerstone of health and recovery for a team while allowing space for a different option for powerful Dark.
You didn’t say there is one big difference between building raid and war defense:
– Raid defense has to survive only one attack, and before next is fully healed back.
– War defense stands against next attack in a state in which it was after previous attack.
So a raid defense just has to destroy attacker faster than he is able to destroy it, no matter the cost. War defense must not only destroy enemy, but also come out of the battle in a good shape to be able to fight next battle.
Other diffeence is that in wars there is no tiebreaker, so it is much more possibility to win battle by just surviving 10 minutes.
These to factors make healers much more important in war defense than in raid defense.
As I have seen, attackers often seek healerless defences in wars and attack them more, as they give better chance to get good score from attack.
Merci pour linfo sur les raids.
No worries! Pas de soucis!
Hi.
Lets say you teoretically had the pleasure to shoose from all existing heroes in the game to date. LB and 20 emblems.
What formation and wich heroes would you take?. To make, in you head the strongest possible over all RAID defence team for most situations?
Hey Linus, I’d have to get Hulda in there. My starting point, with all the current heroes, goes something like this:
C.MN | Krampus | C.Guardian Kong (I can see why Santa’s here due to Defense-Down*) | Hulda | Penolite (ideally Mr. P but he’s Ice)
Thanks for visiting!
Since I am mainly F2P/sometimes very C2P I have to make due with who I have when it comes to Defense. My current War Defense is as follows:
Guardian Owl, c.Kiril, Bertila, c.Sabina and c.Marjana
All have 20 Emblems except GO who has 9 (they really need to make it easier to get them for him).
c.Kiril is LB and soon c.Marjana will be as well.
How can I improve this team until I get more Heroes leveled up?
Also, in Raids I am seeing a lot of teams with 2-3 Healers. I think the worst I ever faced early in the game was 3 Healers and 2 Perfect Riposte (set so everyone was covered). Later is was 3 Healers, Deadly Riposte and Wu Kong.
Oh Yes, Minions = Meat Shields 🙂
Hey Old Cynic,
I hope you’re summer is going well. I thought you mentioned this somewhere, but may have missed it.
What’s your raid defense win %? I’d say mine is roughly 60% and am curious if you know how that measures up in E&P land?
If you have the time would love to get your opinion on my defense team one of these days. Take it easy!
Hey Nurgles, it’s hot in the UK at the moment and we aren’t used to this sort of weather! It’s the shock factor that gets you.
I’m not sure on my defense win-rate, it deffo goes up and down. At the moment it keeps me around the 2700 mark which I figure is good. Message me on my fb Messenger and I’ll take a look… but I’m no expert!
Hello I started this game when season 5 launched, and ofcourse i understud if I want to play I need to P2P so on…
I’ve won rank 1 like 6 times and been rank 3 in world. And rhino i have best defense team in the whole game, becose lvl 11 troops behind my heroes I’m at 2800+ and attackers are almost all lvl 30 mana troops behind so it’s so so hard to defend becose of the troops are too slow mana on me and I cannot buy the levels for them but still doing great, not sure I want to share this team 😉 i just think why people don’t see the synergy, I’ve won almost insane attack teams with 30lvl mana troop or magic or ninja troops, and I wonder how i pulled this off and relay would be great. But somethines insane victory’s of the best players.. I’m satisfied and waiting to lvl up troops to 23 but it takes time.love the game, so much thinking and people whine about its all about the board, I have proved to my alliance that I can go to top 10 with like 12 attack , did it last time and got to rank 25 then used 5 more attack and rank 7 , so there was difficult boards but you need to have couple ways to win if the tiles don’t match, of those 17 attacks I lost 3 to same guy and won 14 and was rank 7, and I can do it whenever I want to fast. So it’s not the board except when you need like yellow tales and 4 to 5 turns won’t get it and you lose, then it’s the board. My top trophies is 3181
Wow, that sounds impressive for starting just after Season 5! Congrats! This is a fun game and there’s so much to aim for and achieve. Thanks for sharing!
If you were to assemble a rainbow defense team consisting of the best heroes from one family, which family would you use? WTK, Gargoyles or Underwild? Thanks!
Hey there, I’m a huge fan of the Gargoyles. Their Gargoyle Skin is a cheat code and some of them are super powerful. That said, off the top of my head, I suspect Underwild might produce a more balanced Defense. But the Gargoyles are awesome.
Thanks for visiting!
I have gazelle, khonshu, azmia as the tank which she is limit broken to 70, ahmose and roughian for war defense in that order in the standard basic formation… is there a better order to put them in or should I leave it the way it is ?
NEVER put a taunter as a tank. It must be placed in flank. Why? bécasse as tank it will be dead before firing. For example, I’ve got 2 Ludwig, one at 85 and one at 90. The issue with the 90 is that he begins the fight.with taunt for 4 turns, but without the bonus protection, sure he is quickly dead as a tank.
Hey Richard, I agree and have removed them from that list. Unless the hero is multifaceted or it’s a rush event, I wouldn’t either. This post is a bit older now. Ludwig is better protected and more irritating to face on a flank imv, too.
I should add as advocate, the benefit of him as tank is the hope of him charging his two wings, or as a multi-tank in the relevant formation. But again, I’ve personally tended to play him on a flank.
Thanks for commenting.
•Xnolphod and Alfrike with a lvl 29 magic or stix mana troop allows Alfrike to fire in 9 tiles and she gets the 20% mana increase.
•Tarlak and Ares on titans flanked with 2 strong color snipers = win!!!
•Alfrike and Grimble is a good combination to.
•Almur, Franz, Marcel is the optimal firing order allowing for a 1500 hit average.
•Almur and Sun Shangxiang gives 5k single tile hits. So Franz and Sun hits are going to be amazing! And yes the bigger the the troop the bigger the damage.
•c. Mother North, Franz, Treevil, (Frida, Anzogh) family link gives 92 defense.
•Mother North, Krampus, Franz, Lady of the Lake, Alfrike in Rush Attack 5 stars
•Bold Tusk, Wilbur, Franz, g. Falcon, Scarlett
•Ferrus and Magic family talerus pair well
•Pairing c. Snow white, c. Kiril, Tremor would trigger 800 dmg to all followed by her hit of 500 % to all. Would be an instant 1800 hp DMG to all heroes.
• g. Hippo and Cinnamon pair well in that order with Hippo as a tank.
•Ludwig is slow, but can speed up mana for 6 turns for near by heroes until they are at 100% and has great synergy with Grimble and is best on offense. Senan at tank and Ludwig on right flank or Senan in the 3rd position and Ludwig in 4th position.
•Xnolphod, Senan, Saoirse, Toxicandra on offense. The synergy is super crazy good!
•Xnolphod makes slow heroes fast and fast heroes very fast. Once he fires you have a problem. Even if you dispell him. Now you need a second dispell for the heroes that flank him because their mana charge is separate from Xnolphod. Limit break him for sustainability. He is very good in Rush wars and not bad in Towers. He has been nerfed. He was once the purple tank at one time. Using Xnolphod as tank should be considered a viable tank option just look at those who play this game at the highest level.
•Diaochan has minions that steals buffs randomly for 3 turns and provides 35% hp for all allies and is fast. And with other family members she gets more mana. She’s best on offense and acts as a dispeller. Pairing her with other mana producing heroes or minion heroes is a plus. And her minions boost her mana just by themselves. She is still good on defense though.
•Charon is a the most survivable hero with a high defense and hp. Best on offense. First charge is boosted health. Second is regeneration. Pairing him with G. Hippo he charges mana making them faster.
• Hawthorn is good on offense and defense. He regenerates, gives mana, reflects for 4 turns. Good in Rush wars and boost health. He doesn’t cleanse so pairing him with El Nada
• Nyx has three different charges with different specials and is awesome on offense. She does damage, increases attack, decrease defense. She resist defense down and elemental down. I think she got a buff and is even better than before. Goes off in 5 tiles. Best on offense especially if you pair her with other mana heroes. Defense is maybe 50/50 sometimes she’s good sometimes she’s not.
• 8. Obakan 2nd costume does damage and mana boost, counterattack for 3 turns is incredible. Regenerates mana with each hit. On offense he does decent amounts of damage especially if you pair him with elemental or defense down in addition to family bonus. As a tank with 2nd costume he becomes a fighter and revives. If you have Luna that’s a good option to stop this ability, but if not good luck! Toon version boost in stats and versatility running at fast speed.
• Bastet deals damage and gives 45% dodge to all allies with each dodge you get 5% defense. Passive gives additional damage and dispells the last status buff. One of the most annoying heroes to deal with on defense. On offense she is very good. Deals a good amount of damage paired with elemental defense down and defense down. She also makes your heroes more survivable. Best in flank position on defense.
• G. Panther does damage, -34% defense down on dark. And makes them immune to status effects for 3 turns. She is so good she has been nerfed twice. Top tier hero and paired with any 2 heroes mentioned will destroy most unless they are limit broken. Good on defense or attack.
• 1. OG Aramis deals damage, boost health of all allies by 30% of all damage dealt. And all allies are immune to status effects which isn’t dispellable. And he gets the cover effect which is one of the best passives in the game still to this day. A very versatile hero. Only downside is he is running at average. If he were fast he would be overpowered. Paired with elemental defense down he is strong on offense like c. Domitia. He is good on events. Or Aramis at right flank and Hurricane at right wing.
• Amethyst has chance to dodge and counterattack with at least 2 ninjas. Damage and fiend attack increases with each charge. With the right mana troops she charges at 4 tiles. 2 of her with elemental defense down would be explosive! Amethyst, Nyx, and Sergie would kill most teams. Best on offense.
• 7. Hurricane at average speed runs 410% damage to target and nearby, status ailments refreshed, 1228 burn damage over 4 turns and getting 50% heal per turn of burn damage, 5%-20% increase in HP with family bonus. 150% damage of hunter’s mark to random enemy and can stack up to 1500 in total. And hunter’s vigor is his second passive gives +20% attack against holy heroes for 3 turns and can be active in addition to other effects that alter attack. Milady de Winter, Kitty or Knuckles are good counters against him. These 4* heroes reflect his fire back on his own team (and can “one shot” his own team). Anne, Jove, or Camilla flanking Hurricane would probably be hard to deal with also. Imagine G. Panther, c. Obakan, Xnolphod, Hurricane, Senan
• Acidfire paired with Farrah
4. Farrah deals massive amounts of damage at fast speed. 500% damage to target and additional 200% to random enemies as there are dark tiles on the board is insane! Up to 12 hits consecutively. Then giving defense down increasing the damage for 4 turns. This is the dark Brittany I’m looking for!
3. Acidfire is an offensive juggernaut running at fast. Extremely difficult to deal with. She does 355% damage to 3 with an attack stat of over a 1000% without Emblems. -225% wither on attack and -225 defense every time she fires. And reflects to a random on the opposing team hitting 3. Kinda like Milady de Winters effect.
2. Luna is as annoying as an itch you can’t scratch. A great defensive hero. There’s nothing quiet like her. Recovers 20% health for herself and nearby allies. But at the end of each turn the little Moon beam targets a random enemy for 3 turns doing a small amount of damage, but reducing mana by 5% each turn. She is everything Waterpipe is and more. Once she goes off its a wrap. Tuck and run!
9. Phorcy’s is good attacking and defensive hero. A master of taunt at fast speed. And gives a minion which adds 5% mana each turn. And you can’t hit the heroes on either side of him for 3 turns. This makes him very good at defense. Insanely good hero to level in a heartbeat.
c. Quintus master of mindless attacks and Rush wars.
Rothfort hits hard with a unique talent.
c. Sartana toon get dispell and jinx which increases her damage.
I’ve considered running Senan, Saoirse, and Cillian and like a Boldtusk or something. Boost health of all heroes.
Ukkonen is an incredible support hero and immunity to buff dispells is a sought after skill. If you level him up place him in at tank and try him out with heroes that have powerful buffs like g. Hippo, Darkfeather, Luna, c. Obakan and you too will believe.
10. Deadboot very fast mad hatter effect takes dispellable status buffs from the enemy and distributes them on his allies. Deals a truck load of damage and additional damage per transferable effect buff. Up to 625% damage in total with the -160% wither effect.
Griffex is niche, but good in Rush war.
Kemeny paired with Louni
6. Shaklebolt is a unique hero a little difficult to deal with. Deals much damage to 3 and steals mana from all 3 and distributes it to himself and nearby. Really good as a tank or flank defense set up. Good on offense coping all the dispellable buffs from enemies distributes them on allies. And his constuct core deals extra damage.
Tweedles is good. Taunt buster.
Umbria is good by herself especially if your opponent doesn’t have a cleanse above 40%. But according to a comment becomes better if she is paired with a pet specifically Waddles. Every time Umbria hits Waddles hits. Any time a fiend is summoned to any enemy, Waddles does 85% damage to all enemies. This effect can only be activated once per turn. And when a minion is summoned to any Allie Waddles gains 5% health and 5% mana once per turn.
If 2nd c. Gazelle is on offense and has heroes like Rhys, Zukean, 2nd c. Anne, c. Leonidas, and Odin. She makes them all take -50% damage received plus every hero hits 2× harder. And Rhys gives everyone mana back faster than they should. And the new Blue or Red hero that gives 200%-250% attack which doesn’t stack with the goblins buff. But will stack with g. Gazelle. And then c. Snow White goes off you now break hearts and hopes. Or c. Gazelle 110% and Xiawangmu that could boost Snow White attack 150% well you get the idea!
5. Darkfeather placed in the right place with the right team inflicts increases attack and increased defense on all allies. Everyone is becoming more difficult to kill each turn. And now it’s too late he has gone off and you realize I’m not going to make it.
Honorable Mention is Xie Zi Jing
The gargoyles may be the only counter to her because of their resistance to poison.
•Franz, Hammertusk, Tarlak, g. Chameleon, Gelert against a mystic titian
Best Hitting Green Titan Team
Jott, Frida, Franz, Athena, Miki
Best Hitting Blue Titian
Tyr, Gravemaker, Santa, g. Falcon, Miki
Best Hitting Yellow Titian
Ursena, Jabberwocky, g. Panther, Kunchen, Miki
I haven’t been researching like I used to but this is the best up to date info I have. I hope it helps someone. Wish they had something like this when I started. It would have helped bunches!