The conclusion of Season 6 has come… congratulations to all the victors!
As Captains across Elysium tend to their wounds and gather their forces for the next battle, let’s take a moment to appreciate the successes of the past before we focus on the struggles of the future.
Need a refresher on starting out? Check out this guide to getting your best foot forward right away in a new season:
The battle for Elysium is long, and many Captain’s strategies will fall short of victory. Still, there are those that persist and triumph. The few rise to the top to gain Elysium’s true power!
Total $ETIME in seasonal rewards: ~926k
Battle Power — 20% of Season Rewards
Think you’re powerful? How did your overall effort stack up against the other Captains?
Hello World
DubstepRod
Sydney
Elof
beckoned
Arena — 20% of Season Rewards
No soldiers, no resource management… just battle. Did the arena lead you to glory or defeat?
DubstepRod
OwO
Tired
CaptWusl
Mr.Geologist
Conquest — 60% of Season Rewards
This is what you all prepared for. The great battle that pits guild against guild, Captain against Captain. Was your battle for The Ring successful?
Elof
Jeryyyyy
HelloWorld
Inywer
LordHeLL
Especially Honorable Mention
This season only one player achieved top 10 in all three rankings…
Congratulations to DubstepRod! At 6th in Conquest, 1st in Arena and 2nd in Battle Power, DubstepRod dominated the leaderboards this season!!!
EDIT: We actually have another rank dominator… Elof! Elof changed their name to “Tired” at the end of the season… and who couldn’t blame them for being tired… 1st place in Conquest, 3rd place in Arena and 4th place in Battle Power.
“Tired” at 3rd place in the Arena is, in fact, Elof! This means they too were an overwhelming force in this season… we salute them!
Check your final rankings in the following table! Shown are top 100 in Conquest and Battle Power and the top 50 in Arena!
In season 6 we saw epic battles, unexpected outcomes and a new level of competition never before seen in Elysium. The battles that will come in Season 7 are up to the Captains who fight them… but if the escalation of the past is any indication, we’d expect to see more intense confrontations for power.
Unlike some previous seasons, Season 6 brought four guilds in the top of the Conquest ranks that were actively competing for the win. Fierce competition yields major fun… who will rise to the top next season? Will we see a new power rise to challenge The Ring, or will the rulers of previous seasons come back fighting and dominate Elysium once again?
Season 7 brings an all-new Mercenary, new season features and season Mercenaries, and above all else an entirely new chance to claim The Ring.
Keep an eye on Discord in the first week for daily codes… you’ll need supplies to get your war started.
We’re not going to dive into the seasonal meta until you get a chance to hop in the game in the next hours. Stay agile in your tactics… you have no idea how a new Mercenary or new meta will affect your strategy. Those who capitalize on these opportunities are often among the victors.
Good luck in your coming battles Captains… and thank you for an amazing Season 6!
Don’t forget to update your game before Season 7’s launch at 5pm PT!
The war is subsiding. The Ring has come to a halt, and today BTB held the power with a clear victory over some tough competition!
This season was close… down to the wire right to the end. Unlike last season, a clear guild winner for the overall season is a difficult call. BTB probably has the most representation at the top ranks of Conquest Victory Points… but EPx and GFX members are right up there as well.
Let’s go to Alex and Torsten for the details!
Alex: Torsten!? I thought I took care of you already
Torsten: Seasons ago filthy pirate. Haven’t you figured this out yet?
Alex: Ooo, well I do believe that I may have some idea of the cyclical snafu we seem to be caught in… but I suppose life’s about small pleasures. Think fast Torsten! — BOOOOOOOM
Torsten: Na, not enough juice this time little man. Got that bomb resisting Immortal stat up since we last met.
Alex: Immortal wha? What nonsense are you talking!? You know what, never mind. We have a battle to discuss.
Opening Moments
The opening minutes of the Conquest were intense, with guilds quickly enacting their individual strategies. BTB jumped out to an early lead in the first period, with S12 and EPx just behind. GFX got a slow start, trailing BTB by nearly half just before the end of the first period.
Point totals before the end of period 1
The end of the first act didn’t lessen the tension, as each of the top three guilds gained around 800 points from the bonus, putting more distance between them and GFX, who only added around 600 to their total.
The Ring Enters Play
As The Ring of Ruin opened, it was still anybody’s game. FUN struck the first blow, taking the Ring almost immediately after it opened. OzK was quick to come snag it out of their hands, however. FUN took it back… but then EPx conquered it and settled in for the long haul.
This decision would be impactful. With 16 Ruins and four guilds competing hard, there just aren’t enough for everyone. The max Ruins that any guild can hold is five — after that you can’t start new rallies to take more Ruins. EPx holding the Ring gave them a critical advantage over their other two close contenders.
Score at the halfway mark of Conquest (:45)
BTB, EPx and S12 stayed tightly clustered, but GFX couldn’t maintain consistent control over as many Ruins through this second period and started to slip behind further.
Final Push
EPx continued to dominate the Ring, but they were unable to close the gap on BTB as the latter sat on a consistent 5 Ruins the whole first hour.
Score after second bonus (1:00)
The second bonus scoring put some more distance between BTB and their closely trailing EPX, and some extra distance between EPx and their trailing S12. GFX gained just less than BTB in the second period, but they gained enough to keep them in the battle for the final push.
The scoreboard only got closer as we approached the end… BTB’s score was high, but not high enough that it couldn’t be caught with a big enough bonus. EPx still had the Ring, and that could mean big changes at final scoring.
In the end, nothing was sure before the final bonus scoring. GFX made a massive sprint to the bonus at the end to not only catch up to S12, but overtake them by 400 points. BTB’s consistent gameplay and control over Ruins paid off, and they ended up chasing out to a dominating 1000+ point lead over EPx!
Congratulations to BTB on this amazing strategic victory… but also, congratulations to everyone who participated! There wasn’t a dull battle among the Conquests this season. We can’t wait for the exciting battles to come!
Alex: I’m not sure we’ve had one that close in a long time. You know, I heard everyone ganged up on S12 in a secret alliance.
Torsten: I think that’s stupid. That would mean so many people had to cooperate… plus I saw them all attacking each other. Still, mutual enemies can complicate everything. Or maybe simplify it depending on your perspective.
Alex: I don’t particularly know about all that. I was just trying to spill some tea! BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Torsten: Ugggh, I forgot how annoying you are.
Alex: Well, maybe you don’t reappear next season then?
Torsten: Do you think I chose to be here with you?
Alex: Point taken. On that note, outro time mysterious voice!
Thanks Alex and Torsten for the great coverage… and the emotional reunion!
The season isn’t over yet! There’s a final arena competition to wrap up in a few days. You have a little less than three days to bulk up that battle power! It’s not over until it’s over!
We’ll see you again very soon to discuss the winners of Season 6 and the dawn of Season 7!
Season 6 of Eternal Paradox is nearing its epic conclusion. Are you prepared to fight for The Ring?
Alex: Fight is basically all I do, mysterious voice.
Emma: Yes, that is apparent from all the giggling and horseplay.
Alex: Oh yeah? And meanwhile you’re blinding us all with your constant cheeriness.
Emma: I was indeed cheering when I defeated you at the Storm Ruins last weekend.
Alex: Hey! That one wasn’t fair. The sun was in my eyes!
Emma: Indeed… it was bright. Good thing I can beat you with my eyes closed.
The Road to Conquest
The second Conquest event of Season 6 has wrapped up… and it was definitely an interesting battle!
This Conquest involved battles all across Elysium and some unexpected results. While S12 has historically controlled 4-5 ruins for the first 30 minutes and forced everyone to play catch up, this time they encountered extreme resistance from other guilds early on. The result was the Ring of Ruin opening with all 4 guilds at the top of the leaderboard in surprising proximity to each other.
It was a hard fought conquest again and we were again fighting the whole server. We are proud of our members who did a great job. In the end it was a close result.
-CaptWusl, leader of S12
While the leaders were close, it was GFX sitting in front at the end of the first period. Through the second period, BTB and EPX continued to challenge each other and S12 so that none of them were really able to break away. During this time the Ring exchanged hands several times with Ozknights (OzK) getting in on the action and holding the central point for significant amounts of time. Throughout the second period, three of the four guilds fought each other while GFX went largely unnoticed as they quietly held ruins and extended their lead.
We can do it guys! Just need a final push!
-HumPlays, Leader of EPx
During the third period the action heated up, but for most guilds it was too little too late. S12 made huge gains on their point total relative to other guilds during this time, but they were unable to hinder the other guilds enough to catch up. Each GFX ruin they took seemed to be replaced with another right away. In a photo finish at the end, EPx nudged BTB out of second place with just a handful of points to further shake up the rankings!
Score with ~13 minutes to go. S12 made a valiant and explosive bid to catch up at the end, but fell short in the final minutes.
The conquest was tough and challenging, the score was tight and the last seconds decided the ranking to a great extent.
-OMH, leader of BTB
Congratulations to all the top guilds and captains!
GFGroup (GFX)
Eternals (EPx)
BTB-I (BTB)
SQUARE12 (S12)
Whether a player’s season is awful, good or great, everyone enjoys when his guild places good on a leaderboard. Over the course of the few seasons we all have built up relationships. It Is sad to see players leaving because of “imbalances”. Especially when a “game” is so time consuming… And make no mistake, Top 1 would mean nothing if there are very few left to play with and enjoy the ride together.
-Domin0, leader of GFX
The Coming Battle
While the reigning champs may have been unseated for two conquests in a row, they’re probably not planning on staying out of the top spot.
It’s no secret that S12 has dominated the last few seasons… but it seems like their rival guilds are trying out new tactics to see how competitive these battles can really be. S12 is powerful, however. They will adapt and come back hard in the third conquest, when their power is at its full zenith.
With the top four spots in the rankings being thoroughly scrambled up compared to the first conquest, we’re somewhere we haven’t been since maybe season 1 or season 2… there really is no favorite for the season win at this point. It’s anybody’s game. Whoever wants it the most and strategizes the best in conquest 3 will take the Season 6 title.
The top 64 places on the individual conquest leaderboard are all a mishmash of EPx and GFX, but S12 and BTB are biding their time just below. If the first two conquests this season are any indication, absolutely anything could happen in the third… it’s still anyone’s game!
Time will tell though. The final conquest of season 6 is only 10 days away. Will you be ready?
Battle Looms
Alex: …And frankly Emma, I’d have beaten you any other day! You had to get the help of multiple guilds to beat me!
Emma: It is not help, boom man. You have simply made too many enemies and now you reap your harvest.
Alex: Well, to show you that I’m not too salty I’ve gotten you a present Emma. I hope you like it.
Emma: That is very thoughtful of you, pirate. I accept your gift. You honor my – BOOOOOOOOM
Alex: Mwuahahahahha… buhbye Emma! It was fun hosting with you! Roll credits, disembodied voice!
Greetings Captains! Hopefully your battles in Season 6 are going well. The first Conquest is just behind us, but there’s always a battle raging in the arena!
We’ve discussed arena tactics and team composition in the past, but today we’re going to talk about the shifting landscape of teams in PvP within Eternal Paradox. What may work in one season may not in another. You’ve got to be in touch with the meta strategy to really be competitive within the arena.
Arena Meta
The arena meta is somewhat flexible. Unlike other games that have shifting rulesets, Mercenaries are pretty consistent in their abilities in the arena. You can reliably assume that your team from last season will fill about the same role in the next, and battles themselves don’t really change.
There are, however, a few reasons that the meta strategy shifts over time. First, there’s season features. Each season, three Mercenaries have a huge boost to their stats. This makes them exceptionally suited to winning in the arena.
In the case of Season 6, Laila, Laction and Bianca are all boosted for the season.
That 100% bonus is pretty significant. For Bianca, that represents more attack than she’ll get from a 7* Weapon. Laction has incredibly powerful crits this season as well, and Laila’s boosted HP makes her shields a HUGE factor in arena combat.
In addition to these seasonal buffs, there are also the season special features that can influence the balance of power within the arena.
In season 6, this means a significant attack speed boost to all water mercenaries. Definitely more in favor of Bianca and Laila here.
Team Evolution
While the abilities of Mercenaries are consistent from season to season, the buffs and features of each season combined with the appearance of new Mercenaries can slowly shift what teams are popular.
In season 1 and 2, you were very likely to see a lot of the following strategy at the top levels of arena combat:
That fast Val meta is definitely still around. As more Mercenaries are introduced though, new strategies arise to combat the reigning teams.
Just a few seasons ago, you were far more likely to see battles that started like this:
When Jin Ryu entered the battle as a new Mercenary, his leader skill with a full team stun after their first hit changed the arena meta entirely! This strategy is still incredibly useful, but the evolution of the game has also brought new tactics.
The Laila Meta
This season Laila has 100% increased HP. She also has this monster of a leader skill. It definitely gains more power from that seasonal buff:
So right away at the start of the battle, your team gets a shield as big as Layla’s health and almost guaranteed evasion from attacks. That’s big. The one hit KO Val strategy is stopped in its tracks entirely by this gambit.
Throw in Laila’s ultimate skill on her first move, and you’ve got an even bigger defensive bulwark. Even if you’ve chiseled away that shield to damage one opponent, they’re getting a full heal. That’s not even mentioning the two hit barriers or the debuff immunity – that puts a serious limit on strategies like Alex’s bombs or Laction’s stacking debuffs.
Suddenly, the meta starts to look a lot like this:
It’s not impossible to fight to victory against a Laila team with a different team composition, but the fast KO strategies of previous seasons have definitely been slowed down.
The rise of Laila makes a lot of other Mercenaries useful in ways they weren’t before. Lucas or William’s shields can refresh or match up to Laila’s, giving you as much endurance as your enemies! Getting a sleep or stun across with Zarkhan or Wang could stop Laila’s ultimate skill before that second set of shields… in fact, why not hop in with Camilla and just silence everyone from the start?
Fighting for Victory
The arena is calling, Captains! How will you fight in this season’s meta?
Get out there and try different combos. See what works with this season’s popular teams. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a new OP combo that dominates everybody!
A new battle begins… will this conflict lead you to glory or ruin?
Really that’s up to you. In this war, so much depends on how good of a start you get. While we’re all anxiously awaiting Elysium to open back up to Captains, let’s take a look at some of the best ways to get a great start when the servers open back up for Season 7!
The first week of a season is the absolute best time to get involved in Eternal Paradox and the fight for the ring. Eyeing that 900k+ pile of $ETIME that just got distributed to players at the end Season 6? The battle for the next set of rewards starts today!
Eternal Paradox is a team game. While you could play a whole season solo if you really wanted to, there are some things that you just can’t do on your own.
Conquest, Followers of Doom (pictured above), Guild Festival, Guild Arena… there are tons of activities in Eternal Paradox that are only for guilds… don’t be shy. Join a guild!
The sooner you get into a guild in a season the better. Every support that your guild provides decreases building or research time by 2% of the remaining total. That adds up! Even before 20+ guild member supports are possible with guild research, a -20% time to your buildings can make a HUGE difference when you’re starting out.
Guilds don’t just help you grow though. This is a war game, and there are Captains out there who want to take your stuff. Having a guild tag by your name will make them think twice about whether they want to start something that may be costly on both sides. Your guild mates can also stand by you and help defend when you need it.
While you’re clicking like mad in the first hours to get a solid foundation, don’t forget about rallies. Rallying with your guild to strike some early blows on the Black Sun Cult could give you a big advantage with extra experience and those huge “First Kill” bonuses. Get out there and get some loot from those cultists… the guild that fights together wins together.
Even at low levels a first kill can provide a high amount of resources.
First Order of Business
The tutorial prompts will walk you through the very first things you need to do to get started, but don’t stop there. You need to keep those timers ticking in the early days as much as possible. Don’t worry, once your timers on building, training and research get longer there will be time to slow down and take a breath.
Buildings
Keep that HQ going up in the first days. All your buildings are gated behind that, so make sure you leave yourself room to grow. Prioritize the Academy and one barracks early on… keep all your troops training, but push one barracks higher than the others to get you a concentrated power element to work with.
Note that the Harvester and resource gathering buildings give most of their increased resources at levels 6, 11, 16, 21 and 26. While it can be good to push up your Harvester early on for some extra resources, don’t get lost halfway between 6 and 11! The levels in between provide very little increased production, so consider them a stepping stone to level 6 or level 11.
Research
There are a lot of options to start with on research, but command and resources should be early focuses. Resource research makes all your fortress upgrades more affordable, therefore it’s less beneficial the later in the season you get it completed.
Command increases a wide array of factors, but most importantly it can help reduce your research and building time. Even a 3% decrease in building time can end up meaning hundreds of hours of construction saved over the course of a season… definitely worth prioritizing early on.
Try to save research into Mercenary and Soldier for day two and beyond. These are incredibly powerful boosts, but they won’t do much for you on the first day compared to getting command and resource head starts.
Soldiers
Like we said above, concentrate on one barracks first. That doesn’t mean you’ll neglect the others though… keep those timers running! Choose one to tier up faster than the others but keep every barracks training, even if it’s only training level 1s.
As your army gets to be more formidable and you start advancing a second group of soldiers, don’t be afraid to tier up rather than train. Tiering up a bunch of tier 2s to tier 3 soldiers saves you a massive amount of time in training. Don’t think of your low tier soldiers as waste or fodder… think of them as high tier soldiers who just haven’t finished their training yet!
Later on, you’ll inevitably be creating T1s to keep your high tier soldiers alive. This can wait for now. Don’t bother including T1s in your attacks to protect T3 or T4 soldiers. At this point in the season, your troop numbers are just too small to spare the power. Some of your highest tier soldiers will die along the way, but they’ll be replaced one hundred fold or more by the time first Conquest rolls around… there’s still time to build up your army!
Mercenaries
Choose a group of hunting mercenaries and work on them first. You want hunting synergy here with the barracks that you’ve decided to push upwards first. If that’s your fire barracks, choose four fire Mercenaries. If it’s tempest, choose storm Mercs… you get it.
These will likely be your primary hunting mercenaries for a few weeks if not the whole season, so choose wisely. If you can’t make a whole team with hunting synergy, consider getting creative. Zoe increases the synergy her troop can have in a battle, for instance. Bianca has a command skill that provides an extra flat bonus that can be used to make up for some missing synergy.
Don’t worry about your light and dark Mercenaries yet. It’ll be a while before you unlock barracks for those soldiers, so their war synergy does nothing for you at the start.
Other Tips and Best Practices
Use Up Your Stamina!
During the early days of a season you won’t have a very high maximum stamina. Don’t forget to use it frequently to hunt and do challenge stages. Running yourself dry on stamina is fine… missing out on a few hundred stamina because you were capped out could make you lose ground relative to other Captains.
You have to work your way up to higher level monsters, so make sure you keep pushing yourself and challenging the next tier.
Don’t push too hard though and lose all your soldiers early!
Don’t Forget About Shakram!
Shakram Legions are easy to overlook early on. You’re not getting a ton of use from T1 and T2 captives, and you don’t get experience from them.
They can, however, be your best source of resources in the beginning. Especially with the ‘First Kill’ bonuses, you can get set up with the supplies you need to never stop building if you keep putting pressure on the legion. You don’t need to push up too high, even low level Shakram legions provide a big boost to resources.
Explore!
Exploration points can be commonly neglected early on. You don’t need a bunch of Awakening Stones in the early game, but there’s more than just those in there! Jackpot chests can contain big bonuses like stamina, itemized resources or speedups. Even without jackpot chests, you’ll find speedups and XP potions in the ruins… no reason to waste those points by letting them cap out!
Don’t Be Shy… Get Out There and FIGHT!
Again, Eternal Paradox is a war game. Other Captains have stuff you want – maybe you just go take it?
PK points are probably the easiest thing to just ignore in the early game, but Captains who take a little while to scout out some opponents and launch an attack or two will be set up for success. More resources for you, less resources for the opponent… what’s not to love?
Good Fortune in the Battle!
Season 7 will launch at 5pm PT today, September 24th.
Are you ready for the coming battle? Get out there and fight for the future of Elysium!
