How Good is Zenobia? Empires and Puzzles Review
Zenobia appeared at the Summoning Gate yesterday, as part of the season 4 (Underwild) event & update. And when you see her Special skills, you’ll immediately think of that big purple dragon. But is she better?
In this post, I’ll compare Zenobia with Jabberwock (big purple dragon or BPD), and will also look at Zenobia in isolation, to find out how she measures up as a stand-alone Hero.
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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.
Zenobia’s Element, Class, Special Skills, Passives & Talents
Here are her key stats & facts.
Element: Fire (Red)
Class: Cleric
Mana Speed: Average
Special Skills: 1) Deals 320% damage to the enemies on the edges of the enemy formation. If there is only one enemy alive, the damage is doubled. 2) Alters the power of Fire shields on the board. When an attacking Hero casts the special, shields are enhanced with +64% attack. When a defending Hero casts the special, shields are weakened with -57% attack.
Passive: INCREASE BUFF DURATION ~ Duration of the first 3 buffs this Hero receives from Special Skills is increased by 1 turn.
Talent: MANASHIELD ~ +35% chance to resist any negative mana status effects or effects that prevent the use of Special Skills.
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 Zenobia worth Levelling? (Empires and Puzzles)
Yes. Zenobia is a solid Hero who will excel in the Titan Arena. And, we’ve all faced Jabberwock enough to know you have to protect your love handles, or this type will chop them off.
As for Raids and Defense? That depends on your roster; while I don’t expect to see Zenobia in many top Defense teams, she does fill the role of 5-star Red Hero quite adequately.
The truth is, she’s not a show stopper in my eyes, not like we’ve seen recently -with Heroes who will destroy the Earth and all that inhabit her, on a FAST charge.
But, Zenobia does have a role to play on the right team, and if you’re C2P or F2P, then you have to make the most of Heroes like her.
Related: How good is Xnolphod?
Zenobia Compared to Jabberwock & Other Heroes (Dual Sting)
Here they are together, the lovely Zenobia, and the big purple dragon guy…
Note: Jabberwock has 20 emblems attached in this screenshot
And the detail…
| Hero | Mana Speed | Damage | Secondary |
| Zenobia | Average | Deals 320% damage to the enemies on the edges. If there’s only one enemy alive, the damage is doubled. | Alters the power of Fire shields on the board. When an attacking Hero casts the special, shields are enhanced with +64% attack. When a defending Hero casts the special, shields are weakened with -57% attack. |
| Jabberwock | Fast | Deals 300% damage to the enemies on the edges. If there’s only one enemy alive, the damage is doubled. | The enemies on the edges receive 258 Poison damage over 3 turns. |
| Devana | Average | Deals 255% damage to the target and nearby enemies. | Summons a Lynx Minion with 35% HP and 35% attack inherited from the caster. Before the Lynx Minion hits the target, it destroys all Minions from the target. Also Dispels buffs from the target and nearby enemies. |
| Killhare | Average | 300% to all enemies. | All other allies receive -20% defense for 3 turns. |
| Cobalt _Mid Ninja | Average | 325% to Target and nearby | 85% chance to bypass defensive buffs. |
She’s not as strong as the others on this list. And looking at Jabberwock specifically, I’d prefer him over Zenobia. And that’s because his damage is more direct, he’s not reliant on tiles, and he’s FAST.
As far as direct damage goes, Zenobia only hits the outer two Heroes, while the competition on this list (excluding BPD) hit three, or all of them.
Zenobia does face stiff competition here, but how likely are you to get any of them? Jabberwock’s from Wonderland and is only available once every five months. Killhare is Springvale, and Cobalt is from the Ninja Tower.
They are all very rare.
Zenobia is here, hits for 320% (640% for a Titan or a single victim), and is much more available. Let’s take a look at her Enhanced Shields:
Zenobia’s Enhanced Shields (Empires and Puzzles)
On Attack, Zenobia will enhance Red Shields for +64% attack. A significant advantage if you’re playing more than one Fire Hero.
This enhancement, along with her primary (which will do double the damage to a solitary enemy), is what makes Zenobia such a devastating Titan hunter.
On Defense, Zenobia will weaken shields by -57% attack. A useful skill to pair with a Green tank, maybe?
I think you can make a good go of Zenobia, but it will take some experimentation (assuming you want more than a bit of Titan bashing, and the occasional Raid/Map level).
Zenobia, Empires and Puzzles Underwild Hero
My final thoughts:
An average player should welcome Zenobia as a valued addition to the squad. As it happens, I would take her over my other options (Elena, Reuben, & Yang Mai), any day of the week.
It’s a quandary really; I like her AVERAGE mana speed for what she does (her Special skills). I just don’t like her mana speed when compared to others in her class.
But it doesn’t matter, because Zenobia was born to sneak into Titan’s lairs and steal their souls. If they made her any quicker, they’d have to Buff a whole bunch of Titans to balance it out…
Old Cynic’s Hero Grade: Archangel
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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I suspect she would be great flank for a green tank in a traditional V formation. That said, I don’t think either green tanks or traditional V formations have much relevance to raids anymore.
What up Bro? Love your site and your work my man, and with Telly having retired, you’re one of the few sources of E&P info left out there, so grats on that and keep it up, ‘tis good sheet!
Now, in terms of Zenobia, so, I agree with you, but I also disagree, it’s all dependent on the type of match and your opponents team makeup or Titan. So, I’ve made it a point to always run solid in just about everything. Reason being that you get such a huge bonus to tile damage that it ends up being worth it, even if you have slightly less powerful heroes than you’d be able to put together in a rainbow, not to mention that any Elemental Links will work on the whole team without the new Year bonus, whatever it’s called.
For Defense, it’s another story, it’s Rainbow almost all day and there I’d take Jabba, but for raids and Titans, imo, Solid simply owns, so while I would prefer Jabba over Zen in a 🌈 , I gotta go with Zen at almost all other times. I know you mentioned that it depends on how many red heroes you got on your team and that’s absolutely true, but since Solid’s my thing, Zen wins the contest to me.
Titan’s a no-brainer, but for Raids, it all depends on the makeup of the other team. Generally, you see Rainbows all with a shared tank color, but some of the more experienced players are supporting/flanking their tank with 2 heroes that counters the tank’s counter color as a specific defense against Solids, making it more difficult to go with one, but in those situations, I might just choose to go with the Solid that counters those two rather than the tank. At that point it depends on who the heroes are specifically, but even in that situation, if I’m goin’ Solid, she’s in there, hands down.
I mean, not only is your tile damage so powerful at that point that you can usually one shot a countered tank with one set of tiles(3), but with Zen’s added tile damage on top of it, it’s just crazy, forget it if you ever get a gem and an even halfway decent board, it’s over, almost guaranteed, but yeah, overall I’d take her over Jabba any day and that says something, cuz I wanted Jabba for so long, honestly, I still do, just for my purple Solid tho. 😎 Cheers.
Hey MC, thanks. I’m not always right, but I will present a point of view!
I can’t disagree with you, Zen is a modern hero with all the perks, + she has her own unique skillset. But if you like her and Jabber, you’re gonna love a new Underwild hero coming soon (maybe you’ve heard of him):
Zekeena -In short, we’re looking at 300% damage to the first target, 450% damage to a random second, + random second gets -56% defense for 3 turns.
I wouldn’t mind any of these heroes. Today, I pulled Zen’s little sister; Zila Lei, and I’m actually thinking about levelling her… Modern 4* are like a poor mans 5*…
Thanks for visiting and reading!
You do present a point of view and it’s appreciated. I wasn’t trying to say that you were wrong or anything, just that I disagreed, but only because I tend to run Solid color teams, where she really shines, you are right otherwise. =)
Oh, and apparently I was mistaken….Telly is now back, I guess there was a boycott going on among the higher levels, because of the way the devs have initiated a time of stat inflation due to the buyout of the company or whatever, as a result of that little boycott, I was forced to look elsewhere for discussions and that’s how I discovered your site, and now I’m forever a fan, so it worked out for everyone. =)
Hey MC, this is all speculation and personal opinion. I’m happy for you to share what’s, what. And thanks for the support, it means alot.
Oldcynic, here is my experience with ZILA LEI. I have 2. The first is LB at 75 with 18 emblems, path attack defence.
Her stats: 848 | 762 | 1413.
At 3 | 60 the second is 563 | 541 | 1025.
Looked for something comparable regarding the stats and here is my URAEUS 4-80 with 14 emblems 838 | 763 | 1435.
Conclusions:
1. Zila must be maxed to shine
2. When maxed LB and emblemed, she is much better than some 5*. She is pretty solid and her attack is very strong.
I would recommend to ascend her, you will not regret it
Hey Richard, thanks for the advice. As it happens, I did level her and she is really useful as you say -a solid 4-Star hero.
I put emblems on her and she’s currently in the line-up for the Tournament (Bloody Battle) about to start. You’re right, I do not regret it at all.
Thanks for commenting, and for providing feedback earlier on Ludwig!
Zenobia is great!! And I have to correct you; her power does not rely on the tiles. Her hits are always the same, no matter how many red tiles there are. They do however indeed get a lot stronger and I also take down a blue tank (even Krampus) with just a few of those enhanced tiles.
I’m in the luxury position to have all wing-killers (Zenobia, Jabberwock and little sister Zila Lei) and I just love both 5*. Zila Lei hits like a little sister so not that enthusiastic about her.
Both Jabberwock and Zenobia are real Mother-killers. It is just fun to charge them and then take out Mother North or other healers that have been placed on the wing…
Hey JanG, thanks for the feedback. I don’t think I say her main hit is reliant on tiles, just that she enhances tiles. Anyway, you’re lucky to have them all. I pulled Zila Lei too, she looks good and I’m thinking about levelling her… not sure!
Thanks for stopping by!