How Good is Xnolphod? Empires and Puzzles Review
Xnolphod is a brand new season 4 (Underwild) 5-star Hero, just made available to pull at the Empires and Puzzles Summoning Gate. And my initial assessment is very positive…
In fact, when I saw him for the first time this morning, I approached the Summoning Gate with my 2-PULLS hoping that like Charlie, I’d beat the odds and find a Golden Ticket.
It wasn’t to be, so instead of Levelling him, I’ll be reviewing him.
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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.
Xnolphod’s Element, Class, Special Skills, Passives & Talents
✨This Hero was nerfed after this review. Details have been updated, however, the review remains the same ✨
Here are his key stats & facts.
Element: Dark (Purple)
Class: Sorcerer
Mana Speed: Average
Special Skills: 1) Recovers 32% 40% health for all allies. 2) Alters the power of all Dark Shields on the board. When an attacking Hero casts the special, the enhanced shields give 37% more mana. When a defending Hero casts the special, the shields become weakened and give -30% less mana. 3) Increase the mana of all allies by 20% 10%.
Passive: DECREASE AILMENT DURATION – Duration of the first 3 status ailments this Hero receives from special skills is decreased by 1 turn.
Talent: DELAY ~ +15% chance to drop the mana generation of the enemy by -50% for 2 turns after dealing damage. The effect is applied at the end of the turn.
Family Bonus (for 1/2/3/4/5 Underwild Heroes): 25% / 30% / 35% / 40% / 45% chance to spawn an Underwild Gem on board when this Hero casts Special Skill. The Underwild Gem deals 50 damage to a random enemy each turn.
Is Xnolphod worth Levelling? (Empires and Puzzles)
Yes, although he might not be high on your list if you already have 5-star healers.
I think Xnolphod is awesome, and that’s because he’s a good healer who does this…. : Increase the mana of all allies by 20%.
-Simple. I think the potential is massive, and it’s why I wanted to pull him. I was daydreaming a Raid, and it went like this:
- Xnolphod charges his Special first because that’s the way the tiles went
- 2 of my other 4 Heroes are nearly charged
- Xnolphod fires off and immediately those 2 Heroes become fully charged
- They do damage they otherwise, wouldn’t have done (yet)
- This changes the course of the battle
- As I return to the board, I see the remaining purple tiles are now enhanced, helping Xnolphod charge up again
- And thus goes the circle of life…
Xnolphod the Mana maker…
Not only is Xnolphod an accomplished healer, but he’s also a significant mana booster; primarily to ALL allies with that +20% boost, but also to Purple allies (himself included) with the enhanced tiles:
- Alters the power of all Dark Shields on the board. When an attacking Hero casts the special, the enhanced shields give 37% more mana.
And you put him on Defense, and he’ll slow down opposing Purples, as they try to charge up:
- When a defending Hero casts the special, the shields become weakened and give -30% less mana. (Note: his Talent may also help here with a 15% chance to slow enemy mana generation by 50%).
Related: Top 10 Best Heroes in Empires and Puzzles
Xnolphod Compared to other Purple/Dark Healers (Empires & Puzzles)
There are a few 5-star Purple healers to look at. I’ve also thrown in Garnet, Ariel, and Vivica for good measure:
| Hero | Mana Speed | Healing | Secondary |
| Xnolphod | Average | Recovers 32% health for all allies | Increases the mana of all allies by 20% & decent tile shifting for mana |
| Kunchin | Slow | Recovers 42% health for all allies | All enemies get -34% defense for 4 turns & Dispels status ailments from all allies. Element link: +46% defense against Holy for 4 turns |
| Zulag | Average | The caster and nearby regenerate 612 HP over 4 turns | The caster and nearby get +46% defense for 4 turns, caster and nearby get +74% defense against Special Skills for 4 turns. Element Link: Summons a Dark Minion |
| Aerons | Average | All allies regenerate 459 HP over 3 turns | The caster and nearby are immune to new status ailments for 3 turns & Dispels status ailments from nearby. Element Link: + 5% attack and + 5% defense for 6 turns |
| Garnet _Mid Ninja | Average | Boosts health of all allies by 400. If health exceeds max HP, it is added on top | All allies are immune to new status ailments for 3 turns |
| Ariel | Average | Recovers 40% health for all allies | All allies get +24% mana generation for 4 turns & Dispels status ailments from all allies |
| Vivica | Slow | Recovers 44% health for all allies | All allies get +63% defense for 4 turns & Dispels status ailments from all allies |
Kunchin may be Xnolphod’s main competition, but he shouldn’t be -because he’s SLOW. The only time it’d be fair to compare these two, is if you happen to have them both.
Again though, Xnolphod is a mana magnet, and his ability to get the whole team moving is where his value is.
Is Healing Xnolphod’s weakness? (Empires and Puzzles)
Healing 32% for all allies is a little low, but it’s still perfectly acceptable as a main healer. Looking at the list, Ariel compares well against him. But where she increases mana generation, Xnolphod stamps the mana into existence.
His healing is also much better than what our recent HotM offers us (Alexandrine -Also AVERAGE), at 18% guaranteed.
The only thing Xnolphod is missing is CLEANSING. And that’s a big thing to miss in today’s game. After all, that’s what keeps C.Rigard so well employed.
Xnolphod, Empires and Puzzles Underwild Hero
My final thoughts:
I like Xnolphod a lot. Currently, I run Rigard alongside Freya, so for me, it would be a simple upgrade.
My personal team aside, this 20% mana boost thing attached to his Special, has the potential of making a SLOW Hero AVERAGE or triggering a Hero who isn’t yet fully baked. —It may speed up the entire team…
…You could go into a turn with only Xnolphod humming, just to have the rest of the mob light up on you…
But of course, the proof is in the pudding, and I look forward to playing against him to see if my suspicions are confirmed.
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Deity ⭐★★
This Hero was subsequently Buffed or Nerfed by the developers. Details have been updated to reflect the changes.
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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I got lucky and pulled him (well, unlucky in that I pulled two of him instead of another hero besides him…). It’s been a very long time since I got an event 5-star so I’m pretty happy.
He will go into my purple mono stack for sure. Although, I do wish that he cleansed… with the amount of debuffs in the game, that’s desperately needed. Almost every other healer cleanses so this is a big negative for him. But a great hero! Thanks for the quick review after his release!
Hey congrats! V.lucky. You’ve gotta let me know how he plays in a few months, once you have him levelled. Yep, cleansing is needed, but what a lot he offers for AVERAGE… Good luck with him!
I tried an insane combination: Alfrike Ludwig Xnolphod Ludwig Alfrike. WELL, whenever Xnolphod fires his special, it is garanteed game over. All the other get charged and it becomes an infinite loop with the 2 Wolfgang charging their neighbours, the 2 Alfrike casting their 10 dark cubes (no chance to miss) Xnolphod healing and boosting mana and the 2 Ludwig taunting. Now, I realize that this is a luxury team you seldom will see
Sorry, I meant the 2 LUDWIG, not Wolfgang. My mistake because I have also 2 Wolfgang. And I also rue another extremely powerful and fun team: OCTROS WOLFGANG LUDWIG QUENELL ARIEL. All DEITIES IMHO. You were right in your reviews. For me, XNOLPHOD and ALFRIKE are also deities.
That sounds crazy -do you ever lose with a team like that?
In just a few months, the Top 100 has become a minefield, stuffed with Super-strong teams. I like it, because I remember facing the same old teams, repeatedly.
That said, it’s hard to compete -and I’m starting to realise players have some difficult choices to make, if they happen to pull a few of these new Monsters -because there’s not enough Mats to go around.
Thanks for the info!
Omgosh pair him with Rhys the mana generating synergy is insane cast rhys first then xnol, then fhys again, rinse and repeat
I didn’t get him, but he certainly has a place on my yellow titan team. This is where I believe he will shine. Mana, mana, mana all the way. Perfect for most things and even though he does not cleanse, I guess no one is perfect, even in E&P…
Yes, I agree. Something has to give and with healers, it’s sometimes Cleansing. But that’s fine with me.
Thanks for stopping by!
Was fortunate to pull him using my free coins. He is my first (and only) 5 star dark healer so is now a priority since I have been using costumed Rigard. Hopefully he can be a good replacement as I was thinking about limit breaking Rigard before he popped in. Any thought about a comparison?
Congrats David. Had I pulled him, I would have replaced Rigard for him in my team. What I’d lose with Cleansing, I’d replace with Mana generation. -Yes, you’ll also lose attack-up and incremental healing, but still, your other 4 heroes will get a lot quicker if he fires off.
I think the potential is there for Xnolphod to be a key hero in Empires and Puzzles (for now), but it will take real game experience to test it out. I hope he works out for you. It would be fun to hear from you after you’ve levelled him, but I won’t hold you to it!
Just an FYI – I just got him to 3.70, special maxed at 8 and his power is 699. Alas I am 2 tabards short of final ascension but I will be trying him out in some lower level raids, farming and titans and will get back with a report as soon as possible.
I look forward to hearing how he does. Thanks David.
I finally maxed Xnolphod and had enough emblems to give him 9 talents. Wow, I can’t say enough about how good he is. I breezed through the three new Underwild levels on both normal and hard with my mono purple team. He makes Hannah play on steroids and boosts her speed to match Clarissa (who is very fast). He speeds up the whole team, and because of that speed, his healing of 32% is compounded when he hits a second time. I predict he will be on top teams everywhere in no time. Hope they don’t nerf him.
Hey David, thanks for the update. I don’t think they’ll nerf him because as you said, people will want to pull him. They seem to be producing OP hero after OP hero at the moment, and it looks more like a new range of heroes as opposed to OP at this point -which makes sense to move the user-base forward. Anyway, enjoy your wins!
I have Xnolphod. It’s absolute fantastic on attack. He replaces Rigard, or Freya if I need cleansing. If he fires once, is almost game over. Just once. Then, the mana boost cycle starts and you are always firing an especial. BUT there’s a problem that SG has to fix quickly. Like cornelius, I thougt it will be great on titans, But the truth is that his special animation i EXTREMELY SLOW. There’s the “normal” animation and, if any hero gets his mana full, it shows another animation that prevents you for doing anything but waiting. Have you played the Magic tower with the mana boost at the boss wave? It’s like that.
Looking back at the last month or so, Xnolphod is the one hero I wish I got. He would have fitted in sooo well. (Motega 2nd).
Re. the animation, I’m not sure if they’ll fix it… They might just see it as a Cost of running him. Congrats though, he is awesome.
Thanks for commenting!
I was so lucky pulling him, Zenobia and Lidenbrock in a x10. Also got Motega from magic tower free pull. I am levelling Xnolphod, Zenobia and Motega together and they already look super powerful even before final ascension. He accelerates everything, it’s amazing.
Sounds like you got all my luck, please return my heroes ASAP.
Congrats, what list to choose from… who’s the best from that lot?
I did not yet use Lidenbrock. Out of the other 3, I cannot choose. They are great at what they do. Xnolphod puts everyone on steroids, Motega is very flexible since he can summon minions or fiends, Zenobia hits like a truck.
Which path. I just leveled him up
Hello, I take everyone health/Defense/mana. As Xnolphod is a healer, it makes sense to take him that way, but it’s up to you.
The stats were not updated throughout the article. The 10% mana boost isn’t THAT helpful unfortunately, although 40% healing is great, and if there’s a lot of purple tiles the boosted tile mana can get at least the dark heroes going. It’s still down to the tile gods, in that case though.