Eternal Paradox Season 5 is well underway. How go your battles, Captain?
The first Conquest event of the season took place last weekend, with the top three spots being claimed by SquareXII, BTB-I and Eternals. Of course, there’s a lot of battle left in the season. Time will tell if these early leaders can hold their advantage through the next two Conquest battles.
Today we’ll set aside Conquest, however, and focus on another aspect of the fight for the Ring. The Arena is different from meeting on the field in a large set piece battle. Eight Mercenaries enter the Arena… no soldiers to hide behind, just two teams duking it out to see who is best.
Arena Overview
The Arena measures the strength of your Mercenaries, but also your battle tactics and persistence to achieve victory. Each Arena season lasts one week. You’ll have seven days to climb the leaderboard and improve your ranking.
As you win in the Arena, you’ll advance through five ranks – each with three tiers within them:
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
- Master
- Legend
As your rank increases, so too will your rewards from each win and your eventual prizes at the end of the Arena season. While these ladder ranks boost your resource and Honor gains, what matters for Arena Victory Points is your rank versus other players.
You can always see your relative rank displayed on the front page of the Arena. At the end of each Arena season, players will receive AVP based on their final position. At the end of each full season of Eternal Paradox, players will receive $ETIME based on their AVP rank. 20% of the total seasonal ETIME reward goes to the Arena. The top finisher gets 15% of that portion of the seasonal prize, scaling down to .02% at rank 120.
Each battle costs one Arena Point, which can be refreshed through Arena Point items or by spending Diamonds to get additional points. 10 points will cost 500 Diamonds the first time each day, but each consecutive purchase will make the price go up.
When you win Arena battles, you will receive Honor Points. These can be spent in the Honor Shop to get Mercenary Gear rewards or Summoning Stones.
Arena Edge
The Arena relies mostly on the strength of your Mercenaries. This is your Mercenary’s overall stats, however, which can be boosted in several key ways:
- Mercenary Level
- Mercenary Rank
- Skill Level
- Mercenary Equipment
- Mercenary Research
- Awakening boosts
- Rarity bonuses
- Immortal Stats
Obviously, pumping up your Mercenaries and Mercenary Research is always a good policy to perform well in the Arena.
There are other ways to get an edge, though. Many of the other ways to boost your Mercenary stats for the Arena are frequently overlooked by players. These are a little bit harder to reach than the above, and it’ll take more grind typically to get less bonus. For the top of the leaderboard though, this kind of refining endgame stats is another crucial tool in their kit.
Land
One of the buffs that can be assigned to Legendary or Ancient Land is “Arena Mercenary Speed +10”. Speed is a very small stat typically, with 10 being comparable to a decent piece of Mercenary Gear.
With only four Mercenaries on the field, getting to take the first shot can be the difference between victory and defeat. Keep your eyes peeled for great land to park on and soak up some speed buffs.
Contribution
The “Mercenary” section of Mercenary Group Attributes contains big bonuses for your team. Contribution doesn’t come easy, however, so you’ll have to make some critical decisions about what to prioritize.
It is worth noting, however, that Mercenary Group Attributes can be refunded and respent easily. Maybe at those crucial points in the Arena it’s worth reallocating your points?
Titles and Skins
Certain titles and skins give boosts to large groups of Mercenaries. This will also affect their performance in the Arena, and even a little bit can be a lot of help.
These items don’t come around often, and you may have to work hard to get your hands on the best titles. If you can get them they’ll provide a welcome boost to your Mercenaries.
Collection
The Mercenary Collection can be accessed through the Tavern. Here you get to assign Mercenaries to certain pre-set groups based around a theme. When you complete a set you’ll receive a bonus. The size of the bonus depends on the Rank of the Mercenaries assigned.
There is only one Mercenary Collection currently available that influences the Arena… but it’s a direct boost to Mercenary Speed. As we’ve already stressed, the chance to strike first is potentially a huge advantage.
Fighting for Glory
The Arena is a different sort of test for a Captain, but great rewards await the victors!
Aside from the obviously nice prize of $ETIME based on your AVP at the end of a Season, you can also fight for the prestigious titles and skins awarded to the victors:
- God of the Arena title: +5% Mercenary Attack, 1st place in AVP
- King of the Arena title: +3% Mercenary Attack, 2nd or 3rd in AVP
- Lord of the Arena title: +2% Mercenary Attack, 4th through 10th in AVP
First place in AVP will also receive the Dragon Castle skin for the next season, granting +5 Mercenary speed!
There are many rewards to be gained in the Arena… but you’ll never grasp them if you don’t get in there and do battle!
We’ll be back next week with a brief breakdown of the meta in the Arena, along with some tips on how to build a winning team. Until then, level up those Mercenaries and get after that leaderboard! There’s only two days left in this week’s Arena competition!
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